Champions Trophy is a big test for Mickey Arthur and Sarfraz Ahmed

[Hawkeye]

Mickey Arthur, touted as one of the best coaches in the world, led South Africa to an unbeaten run in their golden period recently.

Regarded by some as the potential savior of Pakistan cricket, he's been coaching the team for more than a year now. The ups and downs in this period have been attributed to him "settling down", but high hopes from him and an expected change in typical batting strategy for the big tournament coming ahead.

Can he finally deliver? Let's see.

Sarfraz, widely known for his integrity (i.e. dhoka nahi dega), burst on to the captaincy scene with a marvelous win against the West Indies.

He's well known for aggression - be it when batting or him shouting at the bowler/fielders from behind the stumps. A lot of cricket followers hope that he'll channel that aggression into an overall batting strategy as well, especially in a tournament where the competition is Australia & England.


If the results or the way Pak plays isn't what you were hoping for, what will be your reaction for both?

I'm guessing it's only the 2nd series for Sarf as captain, so can't blame him much.

 

[phoenix363]

The sarcasm/ trolling is a bit too clear. Perhaps some more subtlety next time.

But we can let you off given how much of a hard time you are going through right now. First Kami dropped and now the recent embarrassment by Umar.

No surprises that you are hoping for Pakistan to lose/sarfaraz to be exposed given that your favourites arent playing.

 

[GreenShirts]

Mickey has been a disappointment as a coach so far tbh.We've improved our fitness and fielding,yes,but Mickey did not turn out to be the saviour he was meant to be.Won't blame Sarfraz if the team doesn't do well in the CT.

 

[Slog]

I dont care about the results so much because no one has a magic wand/

I want good, fighting performances with an attempt to play modern cricket

 

[Pete Rose]

To remind again: this is our batting line up for the tournament: Azhar ali, Shehzad, Hafeez, Babar,Malik, sarfaraz.
There will be:
- no major wins
- no fighting performances
- no modern cricket

 

[ExpressPacer]

If we pull off an upset, that's another thing because even the likes of Kenya have made it to World Cup Semi-finals but analytically speaking, Pakistan are in no position to put your money on and frankly speaking, they don't deserve to go too far ahead into the tournament either.

The selectors have opted for batsmen who are stuck in the 70's, playing at strike rates that are even below 70.
Most of the players are unfit and can't even dream to match the fitness of modern day athletes. Our bowlers make the team because of nepotism and guys like Sohail Khan who topped the lists for Pakistan's biggest tournament and even performed in England, didn't make the team. And these are only few of the factors. Sarfra - who was touted a lot for being an amazing captain completely loses it when things go wrong, something I highlighted in the following post: http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/s...-s-behaviour-as-captain&p=9189562#post9189562

However, yes, indeed, there will most definitely be a test for Mickey Arthur, who honestly has done his entire best to make Pakistan a better team and we were on the road to success with the opening quandary finally having been performed under Sharjeel. Nobody, no coach, no player, no senior, no manager, nobody was able to make use of the beast we had in Sharjeel Khan but Mickey transformed him into a world beater. But, now he's gone. He also broke through Pakistani barriers of nepotism and seniority and introduced Babar Azam at No.3 and cemented his position there. So, thus far, Mickey has lived up to his reputation and I'm sure he'll do the same in the CT.

 

[BA56]

Taking a knife to a gunfight and expecting to win, you are bound to be disappointed.

 

[todfod 11]

Blames should go to the selectors tbh.. A team consisting of azhar hafeez and shehzad in baati g and junaid and wahab in bowling is bound to fail..

 

[Markhor]

Thanks to the selectors (and thanks to the antics of Sharjeel and Latif), Mickey and Sarfraz are being asked to make chicken salad out of chicken dung.

If we, somehow and someway despite carrying nearly half a dozen passengers in the squad, make it out of the group stage it'll be an achievement in itself.

 

[KyoOne]

Mickey pinned high hopes for future on Babar and Sharjeel. One of them is gone, and no prominent big hitters around. Not Mickey fault.

How he develops the team post-CT will be his real test (with Azhar and Misbah gone for good)

 

[TalhaSyed]

Is this basically a thread to decide if we should bash the captain, coach or someone else (aka. the selectors) if we do poorly in a competition which starts in over a weeks time......?



At times I feel Pakistani fans are amongst the most passionate and exuberant cricket fans in the world.

That is of course only when the team is doing well.

The second things go south, a large chunk of Pakistani fans are amongst the most cynical, illogical and impatient fans in the world, who just like putting blame on various authority figures.

What makes it worse is that they actually believe that if their accused authority figure was replaced, the team would start winning matches over night & they refuse to accept the fact that the Pakistani team can struggle, can have a shortage of decent players and can require time to gel and grow into a formidable team.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

Yeah big test for Sarfraz Ahmed who was given a team ranked no 8th and one of his best player lost in fixing scandal. Its his second assignment only and we have big expectations. What did Misbah and Afridi achieved in global tournaments even after having time to build and stable teams? Talk about having different standards for different players.

His real test will be after CT, how he builds the team, the result in next 2 years and which core of players, according to their roles, he will move forward with.

 

[IMMY69]

Sorry to be negative but the Weather has been great this week SO i'm expecting rain come 4th June 2017.

 

[Hawkeye]

I dont care about the results so much because no one has a magic wand/

I want good, fighting performances with an attempt to play modern cricket

Exactly - that's what I want.

We may not be able to win the tournie, but, do we notice a shift in how the team manages their batting strategy?

Will Shehzad and others be allowed to make 30-50 in 10 overs?

 

[Hawkeye]

Is this basically a thread to decide if we should bash the captain, coach or someone else (aka. the selectors) if we do poorly in a competition which starts in over a weeks time......?



At times I feel Pakistani fans are amongst the most passionate and exuberant cricket fans in the world.

That is of course only when the team is doing well.

The second things go south, a large chunk of Pakistani fans are amongst the most cynical, illogical and impatient fans in the world, who just like putting blame on various authority figures.

What makes it worse is that they actually believe that if their accused authority figure was replaced, the team would start winning matches over night & they refuse to accept the fact that the Pakistani team can struggle, can have a shortage of decent players and can require time to gel and grow into a formidable team.

On the contrary, a thread to find out what excuses are lined up for the non-performance of management et. al.

I don't care about winning.

However, I absolutely DO care about what strategy the team plays with, especially our batting. NO batsman can be allowed to score at 60s, 70s, or even early 80s strike rate if the coach/captain does NOt allow that.

They'll either play fast or get out trying.

Are we going to notice any strategy change? If not, what's the long list of excuses lined up to save the decision makers?

 

[Hasan123]

Inzi has picked a rubbish squad which has made the task tougher for Arthur and Sarfraz

 

[Hawkeye]

Inzi has picked a rubbish squad which has made the task tougher for Arthur and Sarfraz

It's up to the decision makers to decide the strategy.

If you see the intent, even in the rubbish squad, you'll know it. Even if winning isn't the ultimate result.

 

[Hasan123]

It's up to the decision makers to decide the strategy.

If you see the intent, even in the rubbish squad, you'll know it. Even if winning isn't the ultimate result.

Can't expect the likes of Azhar, Shehzad, and Hafeez to score at 90 plus strike rates vs the likes of Rabada, Starc, etc.

 

[Hawkeye]

Can't expect the likes of Azhar, Shehzad, and Hafeez to score at 90 plus strike rates vs the likes of Rabada, Starc, etc.

Squad and selections have been done with coach/captain's say. Don't forget coach/captain has full selection rights given to them by Inzi.

And, you can see intent there too. Players will either try to score fast or get out trying.

 

[Hasan123]

Squad and selections have been done with coach/captain's say. Don't forget coach/captain has full selection rights given to them by Inzi.

And, you can see intent there too. Players will either try to score fast or get out trying.

So if Shehzad and Azhar get trying to slog 1st ball, will you call that intent?

They can try but ultimately it's against there natural game so not going to blame Sarfraz for there limitations.

 

[Hawkeye]

So if Shehzad and Azhar get trying to slog 1st ball, will you call that intent?

They can try but ultimately it's against there natural game so not going to blame Sarfraz for there limitations.

They won't get out first ball, and both can accelerate if willing to. Strategy + selection will get a blame for intent.

Can't blame only the selector, as coach+cap+selectors are involved in this management.

 

[Jabo]

Nah

It's a

Test for Malik to see if he can perform in England.
For Babar as it's his first tournament.

 

[Syed1]

As far as I see it there are only three passengers in left in the squad, Azhar, Shehzad and Hafeez. Now it depends on MA and SA whether they will play all three or two or one. I think Azhar is the lesser evil from all three and if he is opening with someone like Fakhar he will not be a MASSIVE hindrance to the side's progress.

Our bowling is world class and arguably the best in the world.

 

[cricketInsight]

Here's something for context:

Pakistan is the lowest ranked team in the CT. When was the last time Pakstan went into a global competition ranked the lowest?

This should ground or bury any lofty expectation.

 

[Hawkeye]

As far as I see it there are only three passengers in left in the squad, Azhar, Shehzad and Hafeez. Now it depends on MA and SA whether they will play all three or two or one. I think Azhar is the lesser evil from all three and if he is opening with someone like Fakhar he will not be a MASSIVE hindrance to the side's progress.

Our bowling is world class and arguably the best in the world.

Cool, I like it. So you shouldn't be making excuses if the team don't play with intent .

 

[zn426]

People are so down on CMA.
Give him a break people. As has been stated, he lost his only attacking opener and his chance to do something big in this tournament.
So what are you expecting? Sure, they could have done right and not picked Shehzad and hafeez, but they did anyway.
Even if you play Zaman as an opener with Azhar, put Babar and Sarfraz at 3 and 4, and put Haris and Malik at 5 and 6 it's tough to say we would have cleared the group stage.
This simply is not a good team and to expect it to be is unfair given the losses in personnel the last five months and the trash domestic structure.

 

[ahmedwaqas92]

People are so down on CMA.
Give him a break people. As has been stated, he lost his only attacking opener and his chance to do something big in this tournament.
So what are you expecting? Sure, they could have done right and not picked Shehzad and hafeez, but they did anyway.
Even if you play Zaman as an opener with Azhar, put Babar and Sarfraz at 3 and 4, and put Haris and Malik at 5 and 6 it's tough to say we would have cleared the group stage.
This simply is not a good team and to expect it to be is unfair given the losses in personnel the last five months and the trash domestic structure.

People aren't Bashing Ustaad Micky for these things which are out of his control... he is the guy running the show on a tour/tournament, which in essence means taking the tough call of dropping a senior in any given game and playing people who are more deserving.

From what we've seen so far he actually prefers TTF seniors as opposed to Upcoming lads and therefore in his short stint we have seen the like of Shehzad / K Akmal / Hafeez make rounds of the team like there is no tomorrow.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

The practice games will give a clue on the strategy on what MA & SA thinks about. There are so many probabilities to choose from on making a strategy out of the 15 member squad. To explain few

Playing with 4 seamers and 3 spinner allrounders in imad shadab hafeez
Can use Haris as an opener as a replacement for sharjeel to pair with Azhar. This can also stem early collapses as both are good against pace by doing so 100/1 is possible in 19 overs
Bench azhar and shehzad. Play hafeez and Fakhar as openers with Haris at 4
Bench Haris and Fakhar to play azhar and shehzad

To me

Haris Azhar babar Hafeez sarfraz Malik imad shadab Amir hasan junaid

Is a better lineup. Against India they need to play four seamers 2 spinner allrounders so they can drop azhar and play hafeez as opener and from no.4 everybody moves one slot up.

 

[srh]

To remind again: this is our batting line up for the tournament: Azhar ali, Shehzad, Hafeez, Babar,Malik, sarfaraz.
There will be:
- no major wins
- no fighting performances
- no modern cricket

agreed. I would not blame Sarfraz though, you work with what you have and its not pretty

 

[sshakir411]

Akmal mafia still sour about Junior getting booted home

 

[yasir]

Inzi has picked a rubbish squad which has made the task tougher for Arthur and Sarfraz

We can blame you ever we want, but we don't have enough fuel to compete with big boys. Last fast bowler was debute in 2010, the only 150 SR batsman was just ban. How many we have seen in PSL that can be classify as fast bowler or power strikers?? - non, what selectors and coach can do??

Kami or UA or XYZ from domestic will do nothing special, we are minnows right now, nobody can change that reality in a year or so. There is nothing in the pipeline that is exciting. We don't have single bowler who can bowl 145 clicks or batsman who can strike 145 clicks at 145 SR, other teams (AUS/ENGG/SA) has several players. Those players are bench mark of LOI cricket... nit picking on selectors, coaches is not going to produce that level of talent... You cannot run Toyota like Ferrari

 

[Hasan123]

We can blame you ever we want, but we don't have enough fuel to compete with big boys. Last fast bowler was debute in 2010, the only 150 SR batsman was just ban. How many we have seen in PSL that can be classify as fast bowler or power strikers?? - non, what selectors and coach can do??

Kami or UA or XYZ from domestic will do nothing special, we are minnows right now, nobody can change that reality in a year or so. There is nothing in the pipeline that is exciting. We don't have single bowler who can bowl 145 clicks or batsman who can strike 145 clicks at 145 SR, other teams (AUS/ENGG/SA) has several players. Those players are bench mark of LOI cricket... nit picking on selectors, coaches is not going to produce that level of talent... You cannot run Toyota like Ferrari ������

There is some decent talent in domestic cricket. Problem is the structure and environment doesn't always allow them to prosper.

 

[BA56]

Could this be Mickey Arthur's last tourney as Pakistan coach?

First of all let's begin with the obvious, this team isn't good enough to win the Champions Trophy and will most likely lose to India and South Africa and may be win against Sri Lanka.

It wouldn't be Mickeys fault, the team as it is now is not good enough and some trivial selections and fixing players haven't helped in this regard. I like what Mickey is doing and given time and some freedom to deal with the players his way I think he will build a competitive team for 2019.

But all of this most likely won't happen because Mickey just upset the hierarchy by sending back Umar Akmal. Some context here is that obviously someone important wanted Umar selected, as despite failing the last SEVEN fitness tests and having done nothing of note for Pakistan Cricket in the last 3 years of cricket he was still selected. Now that Mickey has sent Umar back, the leash has been shortened, and the eventual failure at the CT will be pinned on Mickey and add the disastrous tours of Australia (not disastrous IMO) and New Zealand, the media and the bigwigs will get the scape goat in Mickey and the man of the system who quietly plays the unfit Akmal will be brought back in.

This is how Pakistan cricket works.

 

[TeymurBlake]

Yeah pretty much. PCB looks for scapegoats, when they get rid of Mickey, they will potentially look at Inzi. Its just a full circle that's it. As long as the PCB is happy making money they don't really care about the sport. But when they found out that their's a good chance that Pakistan could miss out on the 2019 World Cup that's when they realised something must change. PCB is without a doubt a joke. With that being said they have made laugh alot. But your statement is quite accurate

 

[Mamoon]

He will take the team to the 2019 World Cup, there will be no managerial changes this year or next year. He is trying to build something with this team and the PCB can see that.

 

[Hawkeye]

Shehzad in his latest interview, re. the dot balls said he'll continue to play like that and what team management demands of him.

Seems like the coach/captain aren't doing the job they're supposed to do with changing their decades old strategy, and push for a fast start via the openers.

What I'll be looking for is a shift in strategy and if players are asked to play fast. This is a test for Mickey Arthur.

 

[shaz619]

Mickey I know you read these threads, ignore them. A friend regularly bumps into him and I know what his goals are but I won't spew them but at the same time we shouldn't have unrealistic expectations and appreciate the fact that we're going to be a force with time but I would appreciate some patience.

 

[BA56]

Mickey I know you read these threads, ignore them. A friend regularly bumps into him and I know what his goals are but I won't spew them but at the same time we shouldn't have unrealistic expectations and appreciate the fact that we're going to be a force with time but I would appreciate some patience.

Again I am not asking for Mickey to be gone, intact I'd like him to stay till 2019 at least, but it's just a comment on how things usually work in Pakistan cricket. Inevitable bad performance at big tournament and coach being sacked and when you add Mickey ruffling some bigwig feathers by sending Umar back, he's walking a tight rope.

 

[Hawkeye]

So, Sarfraz & Mickey start the tournament with the most defensive move, by bowling a darter and ensuring NO WICKETS are taken from this end.

What's up?