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Have Pakistan become T20I minnows?

Whenever such threads appear, Pakistan does the unthinkable and wins. :P 2009 T20 World Cup and 2017 CT come to mind. Are Pakistani posters just looking for some reverse jinx magic?
 
The short answer is yes.

But hey have been T20 minnows for a while now. They rank number 7.


They should start selecting players on the basis of PSL performances only, which last for only 3 weeks in the entire year.

They should pick cricketers from the domestic circuit who handle pressure daily, during the entire season.
 
I thought so but on second consideration no.
Not minnows yet because we regularly beat minnows.

Basically it’s
Top teams
Pak
Minnows
 
Still asking this question???

Pakistan, with the current squad, can beat the number 7-8 side at best.. No way this team is gonna win anything and be top 5...
 
Depends on how you want to look at it, cricket is played by 8-10 countries out of which 4 boards run professionally.

If you are ranked near at the end of those 8-10 countries then you will be considered a minnow.

However, if you beat teams worse than you consistently and only lose to teams in top 6, then you shouldn’t be considered a minnow but a mediocre team.

I think from Pakistan’s perspective they are an average team and the results show. If stars align they can win against better teams.
 
Muhammad Saad said:
We need star players and match winners to be considered top team again.
Click to expand...

Pakistan's bowling is very good (minus Rauf). I think bowling is in good shape.

Batting requires improvement. I think Pakistan need to go for batters with good techniques instead of random T20 hacks. They need to find more batters like Farhan and H Nawaz.
 
The batting middle order is minnow level there can't be any doubts on that. Overall, the team is slightly above minnow status.
 
sweep_shot said:
Pakistan's bowling is very good (minus Rauf). I think bowling is in good shape.

Batting requires improvement. I think Pakistan need to go for batters with good techniques instead of random T20 hacks. They need to find more batters like Farhan and H Nawaz.
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Take away spin friendly condition and then it will also be poor..Shaheen will anyway fail in the world cup..he will be back to his form after this Asia cup..
 
We’ve ruined our side ever since nov 2022 when we got to the final of t20 cup. Overreacted to a final loss.

Since then we have chopped and changed the side, experimented, merry go around with captains. And mentally destroyed our best batsman in Babar with taking away, giving back and taking away again captaincy. Changes can be made but gradually and in a logical way.

I think the shoehorning of Saim as an opener despite failing again and again has really hurt the side too. It’s not his fault, he was too young and hasn’t developed his game fully yet. But every single opener struggles to bat with him and looks better batting with others. You can’t build stability at top with him.
 
It was also a stupid decision to break the promising / developing opening combo of Fakhar and Farhan who did well in the few games in the Asia Cup that they opened together. Such random, illogical changes do not help a player’s confidence.

Saim is wasting too many balls at the top of the order and should bat at 2- or 3-down. Farhan and Babar partly lost their wickets because of him because the RRR had crept up to > 12.
 
T20I was once our strongest suite (not because of our batting but because of our bowling). Now the game has evolved and only strong batting teams usu win games. You need at least 3-4 batsmen who can bat with a SR of 150 +/-

Our pp was extremely poor scoring @ < 6 rpo (34/2 to be precise). RSA were 74/1 after 6 overs!!! That tells you everything that’s wrong with this team.
 
AZulfi said:
It was also a stupid decision to break the promising / developing opening combo of Fakhar and Farhan who did well in the few games in the Asia Cup that they opened together. Such random, illogical changes do not help a player’s confidence.

Saim is wasting too many balls at the top of the order and should bat at 2- or 3-down. Farhan and Babar partly lost their wickets because of him because the RRR had crept up to > 12.
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Nearly all our options have made way for Saim. Abdullah and Haris were there first being tested for internationals. As soon as Saim came on the scene either chucked out of the side to make way or shuffled around to make space. Rizwan and Babar broken up with different combos Rizwan-Saim, Babar-Saim before relapsing back to Rizwan and Babar last minute because Saim was just too bad to go into the tournament as opener. Usman never given a proper run, playing at different positions, never getting a long run as an opener or other positions despite outperforming everyone in PSL and domestic. Farhan being given a shot at opening very late despite being carried out in the squads for a while. Fakhar playing at 3 until again finally Saim was so bad, that in the latter tournament stages we moved fakhar up. And now tournament has ended, fakhar has lost his opening space to Saim.

We are trying to at all costs make Saim succeed as opener. He has played nearly 50 t20s now, and might have one of the worst records I’ve seen for that many matches. He has performed worse than all of the competing youngsters, haris, Abdullah (has hardly been given t20 chances as a result), Hasan Nawaz, irfan niazi have all outperformed him. And yet Saim is the only one who held onto his spot.

We are just so desperate for Saim to be that next big thing, we’re ready to neglect the rest of the squad and team to do so. And we’ve put all our eggs into one basket which has not paid off.

And I’m sure having such a terrible record after so many games, and seeing his competition and team mates all get dropped around him, puts him under huge pressure now every time he steps onto the crease.
 
Pakistan strategy seems to be loading the side with hacks and put up big total with series of cameos. That doesn't work most of the time. Because new batsman can't play the same way another batsman

In the last 1 year if you look at the stay at the crease among players dismissed



0-9 balls - - 131 players (dicarded not outs for this category)
10-19 balls - 75 players (discarded not outs for this cateogry)
20-29 balls - 33 players
30-39 balls - 15 players
40-49 balls - 9 players
50-59 balls - 2 players
60-120 balls - 1 player


Basically pakistan batsmen don't last more than 10 balls most of the time. It will be interesting to see how long top 6 stay at the crease
 
Pakistan top 6 got out before facing 10 balls 85 times in the last 1 year.

Hasan Nawaz 12 times
Salman Agha 11 times
Saim Ayub 11 times
Md Haris 9 times
Farhan 8 times
Usman khan 6 times

These are the main culprits.
 
Pakistan have been minnows for a while in all formats. They do show occasional flashes of brilliance which gives false hope for their unsuspecting fans.
 
AZulfi said:
T20I was once our strongest suite (not because of our batting but because of our bowling).
Click to expand...
Now every team loaded their batting till 8/9. It gives them additional cushion of going hard.every team is blessed with either spin or pace ars. Almost all the big teams got left handers at top to handle shaheen too. As a result no impact at top is resulting in far higher scores for opposition.
 
Have not seen a more over rated overly backed player than Saim Ayub. The South African and Australian series of 2024 was an anomaly. Opposition teams have worked him out and know where to put the fielders in relation to his hook, pull and cut shots and hence it is so easy for the opposition bowlers to have him caught on the boundary. He doesn't have the discipline to find the gaps in the field.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
Pakistan strategy seems to be loading the side with hacks and put up big total with series of cameos. That doesn't work most of the time. Because new batsman can't play the same way another batsman

In the last 1 year if you look at the stay at the crease among players dismissed



0-9 balls - - 131 players (dicarded not outs for this category)
10-19 balls - 75 players (discarded not outs for this cateogry)
20-29 balls - 33 players
30-39 balls - 15 players
40-49 balls - 9 players
50-59 balls - 2 players
60-120 balls - 1 player


Basically pakistan batsmen don't last more than 10 balls most of the time. It will be interesting to see how long top 6 stay at the crease
Click to expand...
Very true. Strategy seems to be either Shaheen coming good, or tullaybaaz batsmen winning a lottery. It's more about hoping to get lucky than a concrete strategy to earn the win.
 
To an outsider, the management’s approach seems uncertain. They don’t seem to be able to decide what their approach should be. First, they continued with safety first approach keeping Babar, Rizwan and the ilk going, then they overhauled totally bringing in new unproven dashers, then discarded the ones who could potentially score quickly within 6(?) months, bringing back “stability”. Results against good teams didn’t change much, almost all failures.
To a neutral observer, it points to a shortage of good enough T20 players that can play according to the new T20 standards. Looks like PCB has its task cut out. Can they discover new talent or develop current personnel on hand?
 
jnaveen1980 said:
Pakistan strategy seems to be loading the side with hacks and put up big total with series of cameos. That doesn't work most of the time. Because new batsman can't play the same way another batsman

In the last 1 year if you look at the stay at the crease among players dismissed



0-9 balls - - 131 players (dicarded not outs for this category)
10-19 balls - 75 players (discarded not outs for this cateogry)
20-29 balls - 33 players
30-39 balls - 15 players
40-49 balls - 9 players
50-59 balls - 2 players
60-120 balls - 1 player


Basically pakistan batsmen don't last more than 10 balls most of the time. It will be interesting to see how long top 6 stay at the crease
Click to expand...
These are our modern day hacks that people hyped to the moon... LOL
 
The way our batters bat, that should give an idea about the calibre of our T20 batting. Selectors are too dumb to figure out what’s wrong either as they are happy selecting on franchise’s orders or other factors.

Not one of these guys can play proper cricketing strokes and clear the circle. All hoiks and lofted strokes, that too are not executed with any decent form of consistency. Look at someone like Nissanka, who can go at a faster pace than these guys with a blindfold on as he plays proper cricketing shots on merit.

We are stuck in the mindset that any quicker scoring batsman has to be a power hitter, so now everyone including Babar and Salman also want to score the same way. Just look at the horrendous nets’ videos and the amount of cross batted rubbish that is being attempted.

I mean, it’s a complete joke and nobody is even looking at this aspect due to how much chaos there is in the system.
 
T20 is not a blocking game anymore. Pakistan doesn't possess 6-7 hitters who would get after bowling. Most of **** batters don't have an all out aggressive game which likes of India, England & now even Australia play in T20Is.
 
Aang_The_last_airbender said:
Whenever such threads appear, Pakistan does the unthinkable and wins. :P 2009 T20 World Cup and 2017 CT come to mind. Are Pakistani posters just looking for some reverse jinx magic?
Click to expand...
It will be good for cricket if Pakistan wins. But how Pakistan won 2017 CT? After their first match against India, Pakistan had developed a bowling combination which was able to choke the opposition in the middle order and dry up runs. All the bowlers did well especially Hassan Ali. Most of the bowlers who did well in 2017 CT are not yet in the retirement age. But why they are not regulars anymore? Why Pakistan could not forge such a bowling combination after 2017 CT?
 
The performance is firmly minnow level because both batting and bowling departments are not functioning. The rhetoric of 'pulling things back' gives cushion to non-performing players to continue doing how they please.

How can one team bat at 12rpo in the power play, while the other struggles to bat at 6rpo on the same wicket? What is wrong there? Batting or bowling? Both departments lack discipline which is a sign of minnows.

Looking at these current 'cricketers', the only message they are sending to the youngsters watching them is how to do corruption and get inside the PCB payroll and purchase plots/houses.
 
They are just above the minnow tier. But this isn't anything new so not sure why this question is being brought up now. Pakistan lost to USA in 2024, and leading up to that tournament lost a T20 to Ireland and a series to NZ D 4-1. Pakistan have been an incredibly poor T20I team for close to two years now...maybe longer.
 
Even during some of Pakistan's worst years as an ODI team, T20 was the one format where they seemed to excel at. Pakistan were trailblazers in this format and I think their teams from 2007-2009 really showed other teams the way in T20 cricket. 2021 T20 World Cup was the last time Pakistan looked like a truly elite team in this format. 2022 they didn't have the best batting/combination but the bowling was still good enough to win matches and managed to carry them to a World Cup final. Since then though, it's all been downhill.
 
Pakistan does lot of chop and changes. They should introduce one or two new player per series.
 
sweep_shot said:
No. That's a bit harsh.

Pakistan are better than Windies, SL, BD, and Afghanistan.

I think Pakistan are #6 in the world currently.

That's not minnow. That's being mid-tier.
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Disagree.

Mid-tier would mean Pakistan can compete with the top teams and win the odd game or two.

We can’t.

New Zealand is the actual mid-tier team where they will lose most games against top-tier teams but win the odd game or two.

India, Australia, England and South Africa are playing on a different stratosphere to be honest.
 
sweep_shot said:
No. That's a bit harsh.

Pakistan are better than Windies, SL, BD, and Afghanistan.

I think Pakistan are #6 in the world currently.

That's not minnow. That's being mid-tier.
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They're either #6 or #7 and are competing with Windies for that.

There's a clear gap between the Top 5 sides and the rest though.
 
This is a format designed to bridge the gap between minnows and top dogs as batsmen don't need to spend too much time. But once the big dogs started paying attention (thanks to T20 leagues going around the world ) they have left a gap between them and lower teams. Players have to be marketable. To do that you have to be good at T20 cricket. Look where Brevis was. where Brevis is now.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
This is a format designed to bridge the gap between minnows and top dogs as batsmen don't need to spend too much time. But once the big dogs started paying attention (thanks to T20 leagues going around the world ) they have left a gap between them and lower teams. Players have to be marketable. To do that you have to be good at T20 cricket. Look where Brevis was. where Brevis is now.
Click to expand...
It’s still the case but now it only means you can have one-off close games against top teams like Pakistan and Sri Lanka vs India in the Asia Cup.

India will thrash both sides in longer formats with much bigger margins.
 
Usman Chadda said:
It’s still the case but now it only means you can have one-off close games against top teams like Pakistan and Sri Lanka vs India in the Asia Cup.

India will thrash both sides in longer formats with much bigger margins.
Click to expand...
Conditions also play a part. Afghanistan put away Australia like minnow in the 2024 world cup. Then Afghanistan was destroyed in the semi final. Australia lost a T20 series in BD went on to win the cup same year. Same with England who lost in BD, lost to ireland went on to win the world T20. If you have a good depth and role specific players you can surprise anyone. Equally strong sides are often seperated by one or two individuals stepping up.
 
Power play strike rate for each team for the year 2025

England 10.98
India 10.41
Australia 10.19
New zealand 9.85
Srilanka 8.96
West Indies 8.24
South Africa 8.00
Bangladesh 7.78
Pakistan 7.36
Afghanistan 6.65
 
Power play run rate comparisons between 2023 & 2025. Pakistan has a negative growth.

Screenshot-2025-10-29-181403.jpg
 
Not minnows. Mid tier yes.
Minnow would mean also even and half time losing to other minnows.
At the moment most days we easily beat minnows.
We have definitely dropped out of being a top tier team across all formats.
There was a time we used to feature in top 4 teams. It would be a huge upset if we get into any international semi final.

Only aberration in all this is the odi series victories in Australia and South Africa that provided some random glimmer of hope. But they chopped and changed quite a bit and other teams brought their A teams to subsequent games. Some of the architects of those victories are not active in playing eleven of white ball sides like Sufyaan, Abbas, KG, etc.
 
I will say bottom of the mid tier.pak lost to nz c/d side with out much competition .Pakistan lost a t20 series in bng while wi won it.pak won it in wi.i will say the gap is not much there among all the bottom 4/5 teams.unless pak/bottom tier improves, gap is increasing day by day.if pak cant get a good core group in 2 years, they will be as effective as wi. In that case its occasional surprises regular drama.

Earlier few pak fans used to say,if pak lost to india in bilaterals then pak will get exposed and try to develop to escape from embarrassment.With asia cup , its evident now that pcb is more focused on pr drama for every failure than fixing the problem.
 
Pakistan has become a minow overall in all format tbh. PCB did not pay attention to grassroot level and did not groom the next generation properly and it's clearly showing. Apart from 2-3 players, rest will have a hard time making it into SL/BD side, let alone some top ranked team.
 
Rana said:
Do you remember when you were getting overconfident when Rizwan was ODI captain? Do you remember what I told you at the time?
Click to expand...
Instead of doing riz babar, riz babar in every post, might as well just answer the real stuff asked.
 
BouncerGuy said:
Instead of doing riz babar, riz babar in every post, might as well just answer the real stuff asked.
Click to expand...
No. Meri marzi. I’ll answer how I want.

And what do you mean instead of doing RizBar every post? My Jihad against Pakistan cricket is to purge out those two and their pathetic fans/mindset from Pakistan cricket.

Why should I stop my efforts until it is done?
 
Rana said:
No. Meri marzi. I’ll answer how I want.

And what do you mean instead of doing RizBar every post? My Jihad against Pakistan cricket is to purge out those two and their pathetic fans/mindset from Pakistan cricket.

Why should I stop my efforts until it is done?
Click to expand...
Ok bro... Take care then
 
Country’s sports culture matters over talent etc, SA Kiwis Aus keep producing players inspite of lack of population is because how they grow up playing all kind of sports. I think Dhoni and Yuvi are the only ones i recall who were into different kind of sports and outdoors in India.

I think cricket in India is becoming like soccer(football) now that everyone needs to be trained from a young age for leagues etc..
 
Pakistan new talent is sadly hot and cold , add to it the inconsistent policies by selector is not helping the cause.

Hassan Nawaz started as an opener then sent to no.3 then floated in middle order , PCB is just shaking his confidence, now a weak captain like Agha whose one performances are dodgy is chopping and changing him every game.

PCB did the same Muhammad Nawaz dropped since 2022 selected again back in 2024 and merry Go around till Hesson took over.

Infact they did the same with WasimJr. And Happy Heart.
 
Reality is most countries won’t outperform the wealth and cricketing structure. India, England, Australia all have their advantage there. South Africa might not be rich as a country but they have it too given their rich upper class, but it can seen their struggles when trying to build their teams with majority black players. Rich white families dominate cricket in South Africa, and it’s an unfortunate advantage they will have over black players.

The rest of these countries don’t have the wealth and thus the infrastructure to properly compete with the others. It’s a sad fact of reality. Yes they have in the past, but times are changing and the advantage of being a wealthier country and infrastructure becomes a bigger advantage every day.

So we can’t really say whether it’s India, Australia or Pakistan or Sri Lanka etc that any are punching above their weight. They’re about in line with it.

New Zealand is the only side which punches above their weight. Despite being a wealthy country, its population is too small, nor its cricketing history significant enough to be competing with the best on paper. They have done it via a strong focus on fielding and fitness. I remember even a former cricketer saying something along the lines that New Zealand knows they can’t match in terms of talent, so they work extra hard to make it up in fielding. Even I remember New Zealand giving longer runs to average cricketers, not as much chopping and changing, just trying to get the best out of them. Being a professional team that tries to maximise every facet has done them well.

Pakistan should face reality and try to aim to over perform like New Zealand. Try to maximise fitness, fielding, team chemistry etc. Accept that we are underdogs and try to punch above our weight realistically.

Instead we dream about discovering more talent than countries like India, England, Australia without having the wealth in infrastructure to produce it. It doesn’t make sense why we should produce more talent than them.

People cry when the likes of India, England etc do better than us. But really what annoys me more is when I see New Zealand do better than us. It just shows what can you achieve when you focus on real controllable things then hoping on talent.
 
ads101 said:
Reality is most countries won’t outperform the wealth and cricketing structure. India, England, Australia all have their advantage there. South Africa might not be rich as a country but they have it too given their rich upper class, but it can seen their struggles when trying to build their teams with majority black players. Rich white families dominate cricket in South Africa, and it’s an unfortunate advantage they will have over black players.

The rest of these countries don’t have the wealth and thus the infrastructure to properly compete with the others. It’s a sad fact of reality. Yes they have in the past, but times are changing and the advantage of being a wealthier country and infrastructure becomes a bigger advantage every day.

So we can’t really say whether it’s India, Australia or Pakistan or Sri Lanka etc that any are punching above their weight. They’re about in line with it.

New Zealand is the only side which punches above their weight. Despite being a wealthy country, its population is too small, nor its cricketing history significant enough to be competing with the best on paper. They have done it via a strong focus on fielding and fitness. I remember even a former cricketer saying something along the lines that New Zealand knows they can’t match in terms of talent, so they work extra hard to make it up in fielding. Even I remember New Zealand giving longer runs to average cricketers, not as much chopping and changing, just trying to get the best out of them. Being a professional team that tries to maximise every facet has done them well.

Pakistan should face reality and try to aim to over perform like New Zealand. Try to maximise fitness, fielding, team chemistry etc. Accept that we are underdogs and try to punch above our weight realistically.

Instead we dream about discovering more talent than countries like India, England, Australia without having the wealth in infrastructure to produce it. It doesn’t make sense why we should produce more talent than them.

People cry when the likes of India, England etc do better than us. But really what annoys me more is when I see New Zealand do better than us. It just shows what can you achieve when you focus on real controllable things then hoping on talent.
Click to expand...
Nz has a strong think tank. Outstanding strategy based team. Pakistan think tank is non existent. Plus Nz is always a great fielding side.
 
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