Can the Champion Trophy winners Sarfaraz Ahmed's cornered tigers keep the series alive?

[The intelligent Supporter]

Hey Mods please add a poll here.

I just want to see how the PPers stand on their backing of this side turning it around after the first two performances. To make the thread more insightful, maybe add a reason why you think so.

Thanks

 

[babajee]

If Azhar, Imam and Rumman are swapped for Fakhar, Haris and Yamin then I back the cornered tigers to emerge

 

[The intelligent Supporter]

If Azhar, Imam and Rumman are swapped for Fakhar, Haris and Yamin then I back the cornered tigers to emerge

We have to be realistic here. no way they are gonna make three swaps. Altough i agree with all three of your suggestions fully but its Pak team management we are talking about.

lets say fakhar in for imam only , realistically. does your prediction change?

 

[Deewana]

Winning this series from here will need a bigger effort then winning the CT

 

[Syed1]

I'll be happy if we win one match from this point. We keep harping about batting but in both matches our bowling has also failed spectacularly.

 

[babajee]

We have to be realistic here. no way they are gonna make three swaps. Altough i agree with all three of your suggestions fully but its Pak team management we are talking about.

lets say fakhar in for imam only , realistically. does your prediction change?

Azhar loses us the match as soon as he steps out to bat. First game he wasted the review and second game he completely killed all the momentum and put pressure on Babar and Hafeez.

Unless Azhar can find his “CT form” then it’s gonna be difficult for us to win.

 

[The intelligent Supporter]

Winning this series from here will need a bigger effort then winning the CT

I disagree when you consider the form India and England were in. India in their last game had smashed the Bangla to all parts

England hot favs and in home conditions

2nd game was gonna be way closer than it did if no rain had occured and NZ middle order is not tested at all. If we get top 3 we could be all over them

 

[The intelligent Supporter]

Azhar loses us the match as soon as he steps out to bat. First game he wasted the review and second game he completely killed all the momentum and put pressure on Babar and Hafeez.

Unless Azhar can find his “CT form” then it’s gonna be difficult for us to win.

I agree. He is such a limited batsman and if he hasnt a good boy speaking English he would be no where close to this LOI squad

 

[Azeem Zafar]

I was hoping for a 3-2 result in our favour before the start of series but we haven't been able to even compete well in first 2 ODI's, Kiwis were too strong for us in their home conditions. I will be quite susprised if our 'Young Team' can manage to win 2 out of next 3 ODI's somehow.

 

[The intelligent Supporter]

I was hoping for a 3-2 result in our favour before the start of series but we haven't been able to even compete well in first 2 ODI's, Kiwis were too strong for us in their home conditions. I will be quite susprised if our 'Young Team' can manage to win 2 out of next 3 ODI's somehow.

We competed well in 2nd odi. From 141/7 so 247/9 is incredible recovery and then Munro for 0 and Kane cheap had us poised perfectly to force some bad shots. Rain really didnt help or it could have been a close one with pitch getting drier and uneven

 

[babajee]

I'll be happy if we win one match from this point. We keep harping about batting but in both matches our bowling has also failed spectacularly.

First game could have been totally different had Sarfraz held onto that catch..

 

[Syed1]

First game could have been totally different had Sarfraz held onto that catch..

He wanted to go one way but his tummy went the other way hence he went no where

 

[The intelligent Supporter]

First game could have been totally different had Sarfraz held onto that catch..

Exactly , its little moments where we faltered and then NZ never gave us a chance to comeback.

The 2nd game in full 50 overs was going to be a good contest with Momentum on our side before the rain

 

[Plumb]

First game could have been totally different had Sarfraz held onto that catch..

You think NZ batting lineup wouldn't be able to score another 100+ runs if KW was out at that time? I don't think so, NZ batting looks really good at this point. Santner and southee are decent bats and can smash it out of park at their will.

On another hand our bowling doesn't look threatening at all, batting lets not talk about it

 

[Hasan123]

Not confident but let's see what happens. You never know which Pakistan could turn up lol.

 

[shaz619]

We don't have the best track record when down by 2-0 in such series

 

[Azeem Zafar]

Lets be realistic, 246 was not going to be enough for this NZ batting line up even with Kane & Munro gone. Guptill managed to spent some on crease in first ODI & he was looking set to play a big one, Taylor's record against Pakistan is phenomenal & he was already middling it well before the rain break. Latham/Nicholls & Santer completes a good enough lower order for NZ. Though I was alos glued to my screen hoping for an extraordinary bowling performance but deep down I knew well that we're atleast 30 runs short.

 

[Rayyman]

Pakistan will win the next game InshaAllah

 

[Deewana]

We don't have the best track record when down by 2-0 in such series

don't remember last time we went 2-0 down? yup just remembered it it was in england 2016 what followed was a humbling conceding 444 .
but don't think any team has a good record being 2 nil down

 

[The intelligent Supporter]

Lets be realistic, 246 was not going to be enough for this NZ batting line up even with Kane & Munro gone. Guptill managed to spent some on crease in first ODI & he was looking set to play a big one, Taylor's record against Pakistan is phenomenal & he was already middling it well before the rain break. Latham/Nicholls & Santer completes a good enough lower order for NZ. Though I was alos glued to my screen hoping for an extraordinary bowling performance but deep down I knew well that we're atleast 30 runs short.

Guptill was having serious back issues and spent hours with the Physio working on it during rain. He could have been bounced out or retired hurt

Taylor was not allowed to freely play his shots and hassan was bowling very well to him stump to stump

Also you are not taking into account the spin that could have come into play with the dry surface and the bounce getting uneven. Shadab high on confidence from his batting and with BBL experience could have used that surface to good use exposing NZ middle order.

I agree of course we were short 30-40 runs but from 141/7 , could not have asked for better recovery

 

[The intelligent Supporter]

Pakistan will win the next game InshaAllah

there we go , another 5 pm watch party coming up , hopefully result is better this time

 

[Deewana]

come on Pakistan win this game fgs..so that tuesday's odi has some meaning planning to watch it in the class with mu guys

 

[The intelligent Supporter]

come on Pakistan win this game fgs..so that tuesday's odi has some meaning planning to watch it in the class with mu guys

mu guys?

 

[The intelligent Supporter]

Also long time no see,

Where is the spirit squad now a days?

 

[shokz1408]

Yes, but I say that out of hope only. Hopefully we win tomorrow, for if we lose tomorrow I'm not interested in our performances in the 4th or 5th odi.

 

[RagingJ]

Can they? Yes.

Will they? No idea.

Couple of game changing moments for Pak in the first two games that went New Zealand's way, such as dropped catches, umpiring decision etc. which if went the other way, Pak would have at least looked competitive.

We will see once the team sheet is out.

 

[MMHS]

3rd Game is at Dunedin's University Oval, which is one of the low scoring grounds in NZ. I think, it some what evens out that predicted 35 runs gap in 1st PP, which brings two teams closer. Not sure whom & where PAK'll bring changes, but Kiwis probably'll bring G'homme for Astle, which gives them more balance.

FZ, MoHa, Babar
Sarfraz, Hari, Malik
Yamin, Shadab, Fahim, Hasan, Amir

Not impossible, but improbable.

 

[Adnan_Ilyas]

Not too sure just hope we win one or two games, winning the series will be amazing.

 

[PakLFC]

Yes, the tigers will roar in the next match! NZ will then win the fourth ODI taking the series with it.

 

[TeymurBlake]

They could win the next game but I'm not sure. Having Fakhar back will be a massive boost, Hafeez also seems to have found form which is surprising, hopefully Haris will come in for Azhar but that's unlikely, hopefully Babar will fire in this match and hopefully Sarfaraz does something with the bat besides his captaincy. I really hope we win but I'm not confident.

 

[Sadevdesai]

Winning the CT was definitely a huge achievement ..... but now, aren’t we taking that victory little too far !!

 

[The intelligent Supporter]

Winning the CT was definitely a huge achievement ..... but now, aren’t we taking that victory little too far !!

It is just the analogy to the MUST WIN nature of the situation . Nothing else

 

[giri26]

Even though it is a possibility, winning 3 games in a row in NZ against the hosts is a tough proposition. I do expect that Pakistan will win a game or 2 but NZ will take the series.

 

[Bilal7]

Expect us to win a couple of matches at least. If Babar, Hassan and Amir get into form, we'll thrash them.

 

[Sadevdesai]

Now .... 3 from 3 .... not possible !!!

 

[Rayyman]

I was watching an ODI highlight from a 2011 ODI. NZ v PAK

That XI was composed of 8 players either in or past their prime. And 3 youngsters.

Those 3 youngsters were Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal and Wahab Riaz.

These three were supposed to turn out to be good players for Pakistan.

Instead, we look at the recent CT. They were all selected. Incidentally, their exits allowed Pakistan to win the tournament. Umar Akmal would have probably disrupted the team chemistry with his shenanigans, he was sent home though due to fitness issues and a team man in Haris was selected over him. There were no dressing room issues thereafter. Ahmed Shehzad played in the first game and failed. His failure allowed Fakhar to come in and single handedly carry the batting lineup. Wahab Riaz played one game and he alone lost that game for Pakistan. Every game without Wahab was won and Junaid did a fine job in replacing him.

It's just sad to see how the touted youngsters failed repeatedly from 2011-2017. The six years that saw Pakistan go from a top ODI team to minnows.

But their replacements have done well and once again have made Pakistan a relatively good team.

The CT victory showed talent in youngsters. But let's hope these players in this NZ tour don't turn out to be failures like those in the previous NZ tour.

 

[Humza_Razzaque]

If Babar starts scoring then we definately can ,At the moment our anchor hasnt been performing as a result we are not being able to put on a decent total

 

[MoJoJoJo]

He wanted to go one way but his tummy went the other way hence he went no where

You are the most sarcastic poster on PP

 

[MoJoJoJo]

Rumours are emerging that there will be two changes for third odi..
Fakhar in for imam/azhar (most probably imam because seniority culture always prevail in pak )
Yamin/haris in for ruman (most probably yamin because you cannot replace a bowler wd a batting allrounder)

 

[Chief Destroyer]

No. We didn't bring any damn replacements thanks to our selector who wasn't even in the country to watch the current tournament.

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Can Pakistan defeat New Zealand in the 3rd ODI? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NZvPak?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NZvPak</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a></p>— PakPassion.net (@PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/PakPassion/status/951796895789322240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

No, they will lose this series 1-4.

Kiwis limited overs side is very strong.

 

[Shafi]

Sarfraz will not drop Hafeez,Azhar or Rummon until 4th match and Inzamam will not drop them after 1 series so we have to suffer longer. It will be 3-0.

 

[Shafi]

I would rather Take 5-0 loss for the sake of any Azhar or Hafeez

 

[shokz1408]

The thing is with champions trophy when we won the last 4 games in a row, they were against different teams. This is quite different, its the same team thats destroyed us for 2 games in their home, winning 3 in a row from here would be a much harder task.

 

[The intelligent Supporter]

The thing is with champions trophy when we won the last 4 games in a row, they were against different teams. This is quite different, its the same team thats destroyed us for 2 games in their home, winning 3 in a row from here would be a much harder task.

Very valid point. Easier to adjust to the bowling for this opposition.

 

[UN talkz]

Why not... it will be 6-2 including a clean sweep in T20Is with Shehzad being MoS in T20I series

 

[The intelligent Supporter]

I would rather Take 5-0 loss for the sake of any Azhar or Hafeez

I dont think Hafeez is going anywhere.

Not only are we dumping millions on his bowling action work, his 50 in the final.

 

[The intelligent Supporter]

Why not... it will be 6-2 including a clean sweep in T20Is with Shehzad being MoS in T20I series

Bruh, I am just taking about the 3rd ODI in this thread to keep the series alive. I like your sarcastic optimism.

 

[Arsalan Pro]

Of course they can, Pakistan will thrash New Zealand in this match.

 

[Amjid Javed]

3-0 Kiwis coming up and once we lose series 4-1 or 5-0 at end of it we might get rid of dead wood like Azhar, Hafeez, Malik.

 

[The intelligent Supporter]

Very close going in the poll so far. Almost evenly matched

 

[MRSN]

Not confident but let's see what happens. You never know which Pakistan could turn up lol.

if bowlers don't deliver then we know which Pakistani side will turn up..lol

 

[UN talkz]

Bruh, I am just taking about the 3rd ODI in this thread to keep the series alive. I like your sarcastic optimism.

Always be optimistic...
I voted 3-2 in favour of England in Ashes Poll

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Open the bowling with Amir and Faheem, save rumman as 2nd change from the end with the wind. Bring Shoaib Malik in after the powerplay.
In batting, get Fakhar and Hafeez in, Babar and Haris to follow. Maybe get Hassan in if second or third wicket falls around 25th over. He can whack a few like Narine, plus on these small boundaries, he certainly can. It was thought once Sarfraz becomes the leader, Pak wont suffer from slow start to the series or comprehensive losses, but it has been happening still.

Otherwise I dont think going in with someone like Amir Yamin can change our fortunes.

 

[Cricket World]

Fully agree with you