Areas of improvement for Pakistan in ODIs

[tandapanii]

Mera first thread.

Always remember the first time.

So, as the ODI series is pretty much done and dusted and Pakistan have played really well...mostly, let's look at where they can improve. For me, there are 3 key facets to turn a good team into a great one.

1. Pakistan's best batsman, Babar Azam must go into a higher gear at times. I know he hasnt had to deal with a large score but he needs to show the intent in hitting sixes and fours and get back to scoring at a sr of 88-90. Pakistan need someone beyond Fakhar and before Malik who can do that. Speaking of...

2. The opening slot. Ali hasn't been all that convincing but is smart. Shehzads time is up. Imam has had a great debut but looks too one dimensional. There needs to be another Fakhar/Sharjeel style of batsman at the top to get the innings off quickly. Like Warner/Finch or QDK/Amla.

3. To Imad or not to Imad? That is the question. Pakistan have a solid core of main bowlers, with an attack built around Hasan and Shadab, with Amir/Raees/Junaid probably the most likely to get games. WIth Malik able to fill in some overs and Hafeez probably not, is Imad needed? Or could another spinning all rounder who can bat better get the call up? I dont see the point in Imad if he hits a good ball maybe once in 6 or 7 matches because his bowling can be duplicated by a number of better players in Pakistan.

What do you all think?

 

[Dingolfy]

Catching.You guys still drop too many and that will prove costly against better teams.

 

[za1ntc]

Catching.You guys still drop too many and that will prove costly against better teams.

we have hardly dropped anything for a while now..

 

[ManFan]

1) An Aggressive Opener to Partner Fakhar: No option except Farhan but debuting him in NZ would be a good start as the boundaries are very short.
2) Babar at 3, Haris at 4, Sarfraz at 5.
3) No Malik or Hafeez.
4) Replace Imad with Raza Hasan in Asia and Fahim outside Asia.
5) Introduce Shaheen Shah Afridi in the team so the attack can look something like this:
New Ball:
Amir
Shaheen ( bowl a spell of 7 with the new )
Junaid
Middle Overs:
Hasan
Fahim
Shadab
Death:
Shaheen ( finish quota with economical 3 overs )
Amir
Hasan
Junaid

 

[Dingolfy]

we have hardly dropped anything for a while now..

Seems like you have not watched the second ODI. Four catches were dropped and one Babar Azam took in the slips is something you would expect from somebody like Nehra, not from a 23 year old batsman.He was extremely lucky to hold on to that. Your dropped catches enabled India to score excess of 300 in the first match in CT.

 

[Yaasir]

The main issue is openers. Fakhar I'm not worried about. We need to find him a suitable partner. Shahzad or Imam are not the answer. Sarfaraz must stop being a coward and must come open the innings because his bromance with Imad is never gonna end but we need to somehow fit Fahim Ashraf in the playing 11.

 

[mueez14]

No major improvements needed..just right selection of 11.. and some adjustments of position..
Sarfraz should come 2 down and hafeez should come as pinch hitter down the order .. switch them..
Babar open with fakhar and haris on number 3..
Fahim ashraf in place of imad wasim as we need hitting in lower order..
Amir in place of junaid when fully fit..

 

[Markhor]

I agree with cold water AKA tandapanii, we need another hard hitting opener to partner Fakhar Zaman. Maybe Sahibzada Farhan can fulfil that role but I think selectors are waiting for him to get a few more matches under his belt in domestic.

As for Imad's selection, I'd say that's determined by the conditions. We can go 3 pacers/3 spinners (Imad, Shadab and Malik) in Asia, West Indies and Zimbabwe and 4 pacers/2 spinners (Shadab and Malik) outside those countries.

With Hafeez's action reported yet again, I think we should move on from him as I don't see enough value in him being a specialist batsman. I'd replace him with Haris Sohail who is better equipped to play pace.

 

[mueez14]

1.Babar
2.Fakhar
3.Haris
4.Sarfaraz
5.Shoaib
6.Umar akmal/Hafeez ( if allowed to bowl then play as bowling allrounder who bowls 10 overs and does hitting in last overs which he is good at) other wise umar akmal as we need 2 hitters him and fahim..
7.Fahim ashraf
8.Shadab
9.Hasan ali
10.Amir
11.Raees

Extras
Shinwari, junaid, shaheen, ghulam mudassar, ahsan ali, zeeshan malik, sahibzada, umar amin, sohail khan...
Keep rotating fast bowlers to keep them fit

 

[anonymous_guy]

A bowler who can bowl Yorkers consistently in the death overs like Bhumra or Umar Gul(during the period of 2009-2011).

After taking 5 or 6 wickets quickly Pakistani bowlers allow the opposition to score a decent total, this has been a trend since the Champions Trophy, the best example being the match vs South Africa where they got 5/6 wickets cheaply then Miller and Rabada took the score to 220 and in the 2nd innings Morkel shook the Pakistani top order.
Babar, Malik and rain saved Pakistan in that match.

Summary:- They need a bowler who could clean up the tail.

 

[Syed1]

Number 6 and 7 batting slots. Saifi is batting too low he has to be at 4 or max 5. Imad is not a reliable hitter.


Other than that most bases are covered. The openers slots will continue to be revolving doors. We have a monstrous middle order though.

 

[mueez14]

Amir hasan junaid shaheen fahim shadab??????? 6 bowlers including one bowling allrounder
7th is wicketkeeper sarfi..
So u will play with 4 genuine bats in pak team which is considered to be weekest batting in the world??? Mind boggling
And from where on earth shaheen came whe n rumman is playing and proving ok? That is problem with u guys..make heroes in one spell or innings and then the hero becomes zero later on

 

[Justcrazy]

Get rid of hafeez. Bring in harris .

Imad has to be replaced by Fahim .

 

[tandapanii]

Catching.You guys still drop too many and that will prove costly against better teams.

Not really, that ODI where a few catches were dropped is now the exception, not the rule. The fielding has gotten better and better over a period of 18 months.

1) An Aggressive Opener to Partner Fakhar: No option except Farhan but debuting him in NZ would be a good start as the boundaries are very short.
2) Babar at 3, Haris at 4, Sarfraz at 5.
3) No Malik or Hafeez.
4) Replace Imad with Raza Hasan in Asia and Fahim outside Asia.
5) Introduce Shaheen Shah Afridi in the team so the attack can look something like this:
New Ball:
Amir
Shaheen ( bowl a spell of 7 with the new )
Junaid
Middle Overs:
Hasan
Fahim
Shadab
Death:
Shaheen ( finish quota with economical 3 overs )
Amir
Hasan
Junaid

drop Malik? Why? He is the teams best striking batsman and bowls very handy off spin, hopefully he bowls more now that Hafeez cant.

I agree with cold water AKA tandapanii, we need another hard hitting opener to partner Fakhar Zaman. Maybe Sahibzada Farhan can fulfil that role but I think selectors are waiting for him to get a few more matches under his belt in domestic.

As for Imad's selection, I'd say that's determined by the conditions. We can go 3 pacers/3 spinners (Imad, Shadab and Malik) in Asia, West Indies and Zimbabwe and 4 pacers/2 spinners (Shadab and Malik) outside those countries.

With Hafeez's action reported yet again, I think we should move on from him as I don't see enough value in him being a specialist batsman. I'd replace him with Haris Sohail who is better equipped to play pace.

Cold water is my American cousin.

And yeah, Malik should bowl more and Haris, who I keep hearing so much about, might as well come in and take his shot.

 

[tandapanii]

A bowler who can bowl Yorkers consistently in the death overs like Bhumra or Umar Gul(during the period of 2009-2011).

After taking 5 or 6 wickets quickly Pakistani bowlers allow the opposition to score a decent total, this has been a trend since the Champions Trophy, the best example being the match vs South Africa where they got 5/6 wickets cheaply then Miller and Rabada took the score to 220 and in the 2nd innings Morkel shook the Pakistani top order.
Babar, Malik and rain saved Pakistan in that match.

Summary:- They need a bowler who could clean up the tail.

A decent total would be 250-270 by modern standards, how many teams have scored that against Pakistan lately?

And please never mention Bumrah the minnow eater in the same sentence as Gul.

 

[anonymous_guy]

A decent total would be 250-270 by modern standards, how many teams have scored that against Pakistan lately?

And please never mention Bumrah the minnow eater in the same sentence as Gul.

Bhumra is massively underrated.
He is bowling quiet well nowadays, taking wickets upfront with the new ball, beating the batsmen with swing and then demolishing the tail and being miserly at the same time.

As far as taking wickets against lesser teams in concerned, well it is his job, he takes wickets against them, they don't offer him their wickets.

It's not just against minnows that he is good, he has performed against England, Australia ,Sri Lanka and now against New Zealand.

Currently he is the best when it comes to delivering Yorkers.

 

[Kianig89]

Need two solid openers have still reservation on Fakhar Imam et al.

Need a good no. 4 batsman Sarfraz/Harris can do it Tail needs to improve their long handle

As for forseeable future tail will be Hasan/Amir/Rumman/Junaid

Azhar/Imam

Fakhar

Babar

Haris

Malik

Sarfraz

Shadab

Imad/Ffahem

Has an

Ruman

Juanid

 

[last_knight]

Fakhar
Babar/Haris
Haris/Babar
Sarfaraz
Malik
Talat
Imad/Fahim
Shadab
Hasan
Amir
Raees

Bench : Junaid, Shinwari, Shaheen Shah, Imam, Zeeshan Malik.

Should play Fahim in dead rubbers and promote him to #3/4. Same for Talat.

Fahim should have played 4th ODI of current series and had have batted at 4.

 

[tandapanii]

Bhumra is massively underrated.
He is bowling quiet well nowadays, taking wickets upfront with the new ball, beating the batsmen with swing and then demolishing the tail and being miserly at the same time.

As far as taking wickets against lesser teams in concerned, well it is his job, he takes wickets against them, they don't offer him their wickets.

It's not just against minnows that he is good, he has performed against England, Australia ,Sri Lanka and now against New Zealand.

Currently he is the best when it comes to delivering Yorkers.

BUmrah is underrated? Before the CT he was being labelled the next Waqar when it came to yorkers.

Oh, and can you find me these magical performances against Australia? And England?

Half his wickets have come against SL and Zimb lol

And when he was hyped up and called upon to do well in the CT, he averaged over 50 and took 2 wickets.

Aag lag gahi gandhi jee, tanda hsower lo!

 

[UN talkz]

This one is easiest to explain - RH was banned. He is more experienced, performing well these days and he can bat. Actually, Raja is a better spinner overall. These are selections that can be explained far better than picking both Imad & Nawaz in T20 squad.

Besides, Arthur didn't play Asghar in either of the Test on wickets that probably suits him most, which indicates that he doesn't rate Asghar that high. Ideally, before Asghar, Gohar should have got a go.

I am talking about Playing XI here.... Raza should definitely be there in the squad, but when selecting playing XI Ashgar should be considered first, bcz he has waited a whole year for that.

Regarding Ashgar isn't good enough, i said earlier why did they select him then and persisted with him..... They should have let him play domestic instead. He missed majority of domestic matches bcz he was with national team... although warming the bench.

 

[khurram39]

Not to do much with bowling line up. Just set opening combination of batting and include one proper batsman against Hafeez and Imad. Do need only one of those and I think Hafeez wins the battle with his clear bowling action.