At this moment, is Pakistan the weakest (established) team participating in the 2019 World Cup?

[Rana]

key in the question itself, "this moment". That means right now, considering how Bangladesh have beaten Pak recently and have displayed amazing ODI skills as we speak. Sri Lanka absolutely mauling England in their last game should give them the assurance that they can beat anyone on their day, and they usually turn up very well to ICC events. West Indies displaying two back to back solid performances with the bat against India, something Pakistan have not been able to do at all really in the past 5 years.

These teams who Pakistan should fancy to beat look like they are about to peak at the right time, let alone the stronger units. Do remember that the Australian side to turn up at the world cup would be reinvigorated with the return of Smith and Warner.

Pakistan right at this moment look seriously behind everyone!

 

[Abdullah]

key in the question itself, "this moment". That means right now, considering how Bangladesh have beaten Pak recently and have displayed amazing ODI skills as we speak. Sri Lanka absolutely mauling England in their last game should give them the assurance that they can beat anyone on their day, and they usually turn up very well to ICC events. West Indies displaying two back to back solid performances with the bat against India, something Pakistan have not been able to do at all really in the past 5 years.

These teams who Pakistan should fancy to beat look like they are about to peak at the right time, let alone the stronger units. Do remember that the Australian side to turn up at the world cup would be reinvigorated with the return of Smith and Warner.

Pakistan right at this moment look seriously behind everyone!

Just how we like it. Bring it on!!

 

[msb314]

Wow from being one of the favorites a few weeks ago (due to English conditions) to now being the weakest team in the WC!

 

[Gotham Cronie]

You seriously think Pakistan is behind Sri Lanka?

Didn't they white wash them last time the played?

 

[Rana]

Wow from being one of the favorites a few weeks ago (due to English conditions) to now being the weakest team in the WC!

LOL at English conditions, they are the flattest pitches in the world today! Pakistan will accumalate a decent 270 odd batting first as compared to the par 340

 

[Rana]

You seriously think Pakistan is behind Sri Lanka?

Didn't they white wash them last time the played?

Right at this moment? I believe so. Also, Sri Lanka as traditionally been a side that has always had a decent ICC tournament. You can bash them all you want during the 4 years, but boy do they turn up to every big tournament and have a decent run!

 

[AMSS]

Looks like the stars are aligning for cornered tigers to do their thing.

 

[Hamza_]

With Uncles like Hafeez and Shoaib.

Surely

 

[Syed1]

There is a difference in pitches in UAE and UK. Our main weapon is fast bowling which was nullified in UAE. You will see a different Pakistan in the WC.

 

[ARK Rafay]

There is a difference in pitches in UAE and UK. Our main weapon is fast bowling which was nullified in UAE. You will see a different Pakistan in the WC.

Absolutely.

We're not the weakest. But the player's pool we have for the WC will do better in English condition than UAE.

 

[Swashbuckler]

Hell no, in English conditions Pakistan will always be a factor because their style of bowling is most suited to exploit chinks in modern era batsmen over there. I have Pakistan as among the top 3 favorites along with England and NZ, comfortably ahead of the highly flawed Team India and even the 5 time World Champions.

You guys worry for no reason. Last 20 years in ICC events in UK you won 2009 WT20 and 2017 CT. Finalists in 1999 WC and SFists in 2004 CT. The only flop show was 2013 CT, otherwise if history is an indicator all teams will be very wary and respectful of Pakistan.

 

[StreetSmart]

by the end of the NZ series, we will be able to say something. By the return of Imad and the way, Junaid is bowling Pakistan will not be an easy team to defeat.

 

[austerlitz]

Format is against pakistan.Format demands consistency.Also in the CT no one had studied young pak team.Now all these players zaman,hasan ali,babar azam have been well studied by opposition.But pakistan is certainly not the weakest.

They have to beat 2 out of NZ,SA,Aus,ENG,IND and not slip up against bang,wi,sl,afg to have a chance.Easily doable.Ideally you want to win 7 to make sure,but 6 wins will be enough with good RR.In semis and finals anything can happen.

 

[DeadBall]

Pakistan cricket at its best, one minute up, rest of the year down.

 

[topspin]

The two mains problem are firstly; Pakistan's batting - it is infested with accumulators who other than Fakhar cannot switch gears against pace. Secondly other than FZ and Malik, the team isn't that great against quality spin. There is enough quality in the bowling attack but Sarfraz is a shoddy captain, keeper as well as batsman.

Truth is Pakistan's batting line up is a one man army - they need Sharjeel back ASAP and ideally playing the next PSL. I don't condone corruption and fixing even in the slightest but in his case I don't believe there is concrete evidence against him. What I think happened - Sethi spoke prematurely and had to cover his back, so as a result had to conjure up a ban to save his credibility.

Imam isn't good enough to bat at 90+ SR especially outside Asia. We just don't have a second opener. I know Fakhar was poor at the Asia Cup but we also have to embrace the fact that his game revolves around taking risk and at times it just won't pay off, which is what happened on such slow wickets in UAE.

Whereas a year ago in the CT, he performed in every single game and was for me the main man in Pakistan's triumph albeit with Hasan Ali getting the Man of the Tournament award (after taking 3fers in nearly every game).

Asia Cup proved that the batting is Fakhar or nothing. If he performs (as we saw in the CT) he sets a great foundation for the other batsmen such as Babar to accumulate while he dismantles the opposition's bowling attack.

Babar Azam cannot lead from the front because firstly he is a timid player and secondly he can't switch up the gears when required as we saw yesterday. Australia's inability to play spin made his innings look better than what it actually was. In addition his record in England is just poor - no half centuries, SR of 76 after 7 matches between 2016-2017. I think 2019 will be another bad year in England for him.

Asif Ali is a good hitter of pace but bats like an amateur against spin. Faheem, Sarfraz and Shadab are not good enough to be batting down the lower order. As unfortunate as it may sound we may need Hafeez to play that hitting role, firstly because he is better than those 3 names and we need to balance out Asif Ali's deficiencies hitting against spin. But history tells us he finds a way to bat himself in the top order - however he is a number 5/6/7 at best.

 

[Darkrai]

At the moment we are a decent team. We are not as bad as the performance we gave in the Asia cup.

I think Faheem and Shadab should not be played as all-rounders. They do not have the ability to play match winning innings, relying on them to bale us out would be disastrous. They should play as bowlers, if we do not have better options.

Asif Ali does not belong in the ODI team. He has done nothing in the domestic, nor has he shown he has the ability required to play an ODI. His selection was very poor for many obvious reasons. It makes the selection committee look incompetent.

Not selecting proper spinners has also been the downfall of this Pakistan team. This childish stubbornness from the coach and the selection committee has been puzzling. I think we should search for quality spinners, or try to develop the spinners using the resources able to the PCB.

We need two things, quality spinners and quality explosive lower order batsmen at 5, 6 and 7. If sarfraz can man-up and bat at 4 and Malik at 5 then at 6 and 7 we need quality batsmen with Asif level hitting ability who can actually play match winning innings against good sides.

I think with few changes this team will be fine. The big question is will the selection committee be able realize the changes needed.

 

[Hasan123]

Our main issue is batting. Fakhar and Babar aren't an issue but the rest of our batting lack shots and acceleration against pace. Don't see the team in the Asia Cup chasing 300 plus.

I think our best tactic maybe to just go for wickets if we have to bat 2nd. There is no point in being defensive as most batting line ups will take our bowling apart with wickets in hands on flat pitches. So we need to look for wickets. So that will mean Sarfraz will need to set attacking fields with our main bowlers

 

[CricketDon]

key in the question itself, "this moment". That means right now, considering how Bangladesh have beaten Pak recently and have displayed amazing ODI skills as we speak. Sri Lanka absolutely mauling England in their last game should give them the assurance that they can beat anyone on their day, and they usually turn up very well to ICC events. West Indies displaying two back to back solid performances with the bat against India, something Pakistan have not been able to do at all really in the past 5 years.

These teams who Pakistan should fancy to beat look like they are about to peak at the right time, let alone the stronger units. Do remember that the Australian side to turn up at the world cup would be reinvigorated with the return of Smith and Warner.

Pakistan right at this moment look seriously behind everyone!

Lol Sri Lanka win one game and suddenly they ahead

 

[Buffet]

SL has done worse than Pakistan in recent times.

 

[Rana]

Billy Stanlake, Australian c team bowler is bowling at 90mph

We don’t have a 90mph bowler in our frontline

 

[Markhor]

My main concerns revolve around the batting generally, but specifically the secondary opener and #6 position. On paper I just don't see how this team scores 300 on a regular basis. Honestly, people describe the Champions Trophy as a turning point for our ODI fortunes but apart from the final v India last year, how many decent Pakistani ODI batting performances against top teams have we seen since ?

What explains this Pakistani obsession of pairing an aggressive opener with a "solid" opener in ODI cricket ? The game has changed - look at NZ who open with Guptill and Munro, England have Roy and Bairstow whilst India have Dhawan and Sharma. These teams are scoring 65-70 without breaking sweat in the first PowerPlay. Look, Imam is a gritty batsman with a lot of heart. I think he has a future in Test cricket but his ODI SR is an issue - good bowling teams won't allow you to make up for a slow start.

I'm not as critical of Asif Ali as others. He is a very clean hitter of pace and is one of the few big boundary hitters in our squad. But he's all at sea against spin. I see him better suited to open with Fakhar in T20Is to turbocharge the start of the innings than someone constructing an innings in ODI cricket. I think he's better the fewer overs he has to play with.

That's not to say I'm not worried about our senior batsmen ! Babar and Malik don't possess a good record in England whilst teams are doing their homework against Fakhar who is currently having a terrible white ball season in UAE. Meanwhile, Sarfraz has been a liability with the bat in ODIs since the Champions Trophy.

What also worries me is the anxiety that spreads throughout the team whenever we lose wickets. In the past we had the calming influence of a Javed Miandad or Inzamam-ul-Haq in the middle order. Even Misbah despite his SR issues could prevent a collapse. Now, I feel as soon as one wicket goes down, we lose more in a heap. Sarfraz has to lead from the front and stop the panic from setting in as we saw against India twice and against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup.

The format of the World Cup demands consistency which isn't Pakistan's strong suit. The good thing is we've four series before the World Cup all against quality sides to get our combination right.

 

[gazza619]

Billy Stanlake, Australian c team bowler is bowling at 90mph

We don’t have a 90mph bowler in our frontline

He is not a C team bowler

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Well I think India has the weakest team because we have the worst selectors in this world according to some arm chair experts here.