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"I don't think we need to press the panic button" : Sarfaraz Ahmed

Abdullah719

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"As a captain, I didn't do well" : Sarfaraz Ahmed

Post match comments after Asia Cup loss to Bangladesh:

"Not feeling good, but the performance wasn't good. As a captain, I didn't do well. So I think as a team and as a captain, I didn't lead well"

"We didn't field well, our batting collapsed and as a team we didn't do well in any department"

"Fakhar was our main player, Shadab and Nawaz had opportunities, but we need to play well if we need to win against good teams. Our batting collapse hurt us. Shaheen is our plus point."


Sarfaraz Ahmed at a press conference after Pakistan were eliminated from the Asia Cup:

"It's completely true that the Pakistan team looked like a different team to the one that one the CT. If we talk about the Asia Cup, I don't think we did well at any point. Our batting was not good, in fielding we dropped a lot of catches, and the bowling today was better but overall as a team, we didn't perform well"

"The World Cup is quite far away yet, so we will look ahead to the upcoming series against Australia and New Zealand, we'll have to look at our mistakes here"

"In batting, we lost a lot of early wickets and exposed the middle order to the new ball which makes things difficult as it's not easy to bat under lights, we have to work on not losing early wickets"

"In bowling, we have to take wickets upfront and then also in the middle overs, which has been a success of ours in the past"

"It's an alarm bell for us to see what's suddenly happened. In the CT in the first match, we didn't do anything well, in NZ we lost 5-0 but our performances weren't so bad. But here, it's too much and for me as a captain, it set off alarm bells. We will have to sit down and see what went wrong and try to fix things"

"We have other players as well but for this team, I know we didn't do well at all but we still have talented players like Fakhar Zaman. He's a regular since 1 year, but he couldn't perform here, we'll have to keep backing him. Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq who performed well, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, these are the guys we'll need to go forward. We'll also have to look at those on the bench and give them chances etc"

"Changes will happen but I don't think we need to press the panic button. I accept the mistakes we've done as a team, and I myself have not done well as a captain. We have to back the guys. Of course, we will have to look at which players are best suited to which positions and whether there are players outside the team who can play a role"

"I accept that my performances weren't good due to which the team lost. I should have performed well as a captain but I didn't and due to that, the team lost"

"We don't have experienced players, it's a young team and we have to back them. Fakhar Zaman has performed well but he failed in one tournament, that doesn't mean he isn't a good player, of course he made mistakes and he realises that as well"

"Since I became captain in 2017, there were no senior players in the team besides Hafeez bhai and Shoaib bhai. Hafeez bhai was in the squad for the last series but we couldn't find a spot for him in the playing XI. Shoaib bhai was never sidelined, he has been a constant in the team. Junaid was also a team regular in 2017, he missed a series in New Zealand due to injury. There is no question of sidelining him"

"As a Pakistani captain, there is always pressure. Obviously when you don't perform and the Pakistan team is losing, the pressure increases. The truth is that this is a part of life, changes will happen but these are the boys we have. We'll try some performing youngsters in the A team and the selection committee will pick who they deem to be fit for national team selection"

"The doors aren't close for anyone, whoever performs will be selected if there are spots available in the national team"

"In this tournament, our batting looked to be short. We tried to induct Haris Sohail in the team but we needed to get wickets in the middle-overs so we played Shadab and Nawaz. But unfortunately, the move didn't work"

"In terms of bowling, we brought 6 pacers here as the weather is very hot so everyone got a chance. We tried to give more chances to the best possible bowlers for each match. The batsmen were the same throughout but they didn't perform and I think the batting was more at fault, due to which we failed in this tournament"
 
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He is going to be the captain till the world cup. It is impossible that he will be changed now so close to the world cup. Simply wont happen. So i hope he gets his act together and learns from this horror show.
 
Captaincy was ok but batting was atrocious where you cant hit simple full tosses.

Btw I am ok with criticism (deserving) against the team from all sides but not from ex-cricketers who were shady characters and lost matches to India and never won an important match against them (in world cups). Átleast our young team achieved something.

Now working as analysts but never provide any solution just criticizing and hardly know about domestic. They should rather work for improvemnt of our cricket agr itna he khayal hai.
 
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which other captain has come out and admit that his forms is not good? he also hints that NAwaz and Shadab time is running out
 
Pakistan still have 8 months for the World Cup and they will play plenty of cricket in between. Sack this guy and simply back the next guy to do the job. Sarfaraz isn’t good enough to make it in the XI, maybe not even in the squad at the moment even just as a player
 
World Cup is still far.

Give it to Malik and Hafeez as his deputy.

Long term planning never works for Pakistan anyway.

2009 and 2017 victories came after late changes.
 
Pakistan still have 8 months for the World Cup and they will play plenty of cricket in between. Sack this guy and simply back the next guy to do the job. Sarfaraz isn’t good enough to make it in the XI, maybe not even in the squad at the moment even just as a player

Not happening. 8 months is nothing. Believe it or not, sarfaraz will lead in world cup
 
Professor can win the cup for us.

He's extremely shrewd.
 
Captaincy was ok but batting was atrocious where you cant hit simple full tosses.

Btw I am ok with criticism (deserving) against the team from all sides but not from ex-cricketers who were shady characters and lost matches to India and never won an important match against them (in world cups). Átleast our young team achieved something.

Now working as analysts but never provide any solution just criticizing and hardly know about domestic. They should rather work for improvemnt of our cricket agr itna he khayal hai.
Pak ex-cricketer analysts are the absolute worst. Cant think of a sensible one going around atm.
 
professor will win us the WC :vk2 like he did the 2011 WC... Hahahaha Dale Styn says hi:23:
 
Not happening. 8 months is nothing. Believe it or not, sarfaraz will lead in world cup

We are practically walking into a major implosion with him as captain as it is. He must have lost the dressing room in these past 2 weeks with his erratic decision making and self promotion. I’m sensing another 2007 on the cards. This is exactly the time when Pakistan started to decline before the disastrous World Cup campaign that unfolded 7-8 months later. Pakistan can see the writing on the wall, this is not a panic post but we can avoid a major humiliation if they make this change now.
 
The worst part was to promote himself up the order again knowing his batting form is woeful.

He wont resign but should do to give us a better chance going forward.
 
I think if there is one player who will not be dropped but needs to be dropped for Pakistan to have ANY chance of winning WC is Sarfraz.
 
8 days is more than enough for garbage cleaning - people are talking like what BCCI would have faced to replace MS Dhoni in 2010, 8 months before WC!!!!

I understand pankha base are fuming to have a go at me, but trust me - I am genuinely hurt today to see the state of PAK team. From Zaheer, Javed, Malik, Ul Haq, even Misbah to this tool batting at 4 for PAK? Never would have believed just about 15 years back that I'll see this in my life time.
 
I've never been a fan of his, but there's one thing I felt in his favour today and I could be wrong since I haven't watched too much of Pak bowling. He was way more gentle dealing with Shaeen Afridi than he is with the others.

So at least he is not just wildly hot tempered.
 
He should've gone for the kill when Bangladesh were 12/3.

Yep, Mushfiqur would've been out caught for like 2 had there been a second slip, which means Bangladesh probably would;ve been all out sub 200, and I was reading commentary and multiple times Hasan produced the edge but no slip. His captaincy is a myth.
 
Looking at Sarfaraz batting through out the asia cup, it looked like great Lala (Afridi) got into his mind senseless hitting without thinking about context of the game. If that is way he would like to bat then he need to open the innings like a hitter and come late down the order. Sending him 1 or 2 down is waste, pakistan need some stable who can hold the innings.
 
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8 days is more than enough for garbage cleaning - people are talking like what BCCI would have faced to replace MS Dhoni in 2010, 8 months before WC!!!!

I understand pankha base are fuming to have a go at me, but trust me - I am genuinely hurt today to see the state of PAK team. From Zaheer, Javed, Malik, Ul Haq, even Misbah to this tool batting at 4 for PAK? Never would have believed just about 15 years back that I'll see this in my life time.


I believe that more than 100%.

I have been following the game close to 30 years and in that time I can say I have seen very few people who understand Pak cricket better than you do.

It is an emotionally draining experience to see the team/player you love following with passion, go down deeper and deeper in the hole of mediocrity over last 20 or so years. I can understand your pain.

I hope you ignore the trolls here and not stop posting here. I am one of those people who would definitely miss reading your opinion

Great job on your home team reaching final, India favorite to me but I have a feeling that BD is capable of punching above its weight, I would give BD more chance of winning if they bat 2nd and are chasing with their backs to the wall.
 
Let's be honest, he was always suspect as a WK batsmen.

Keeping isn't great and he's a pretty one dimensional batsmen who struggles overseas.

It was poor to choose him as captain in the first place because it was only a matter of time before his place in the side began getting questioned.
 
It's funny how cricket and even life is a year ago this man was a hero and now he is seen as a villain
 
He did not do well as a player. Yeah he was good last year I think. That is in the past now.
 
Arthur is a no nonsense guy and he supports Sarfraz. No captaincy changes until the WC I'm sure
 
Arthur is a no nonsense guy and he supports Sarfraz. No captaincy changes until the WC I'm sure

Arthur and Sarfaraz are half the reason we are here and the other half is Inzi the revolutionary.
 
Are we expecting any resignation from either captain, head coach or chief selector?
 
Arthur is a no nonsense guy and he supports Sarfraz. No captaincy changes until the WC I'm sure

Arthur is professional & experienced from his brawl with Smith & Clarke :) He was supporting Azhar as well and he'll support Sarfraz as long as PCB is backing the Captain, even if PAK finishes 10th in WC.
 
That was Afridi captaining

that wasn't the point, such a senior player failed on big occasions and hide behind his bowling most of his career. But kept on saying nothing wrong with my technique...:misbah
 
Mohammed Hafeez is said to be like Virat Kohli in the field. His captaining style is excellent.
 
If the captain is not performing and not performing for a while, how can he lead the team and command respect from his team mates?

I was no fan of Misbah at all and saw through his stats, batting average but that atleast gave him some credibility to lead the team. Sarfraz has no such stake right now.
 
Sarfaraz Ahmed at a press conference after Pakistan were eliminated from the Asia Cup:

"It's completely true that the Pakistan team looked like a different team to the one that one the CT. If we talk about the Asia Cup, I don't think we did well at any point. Our batting was not good, in fielding we dropped a lot of catches, and the bowling today was better but overall as a team, we didn't perform well"

"The World Cup is quite far away yet, so we will look ahead to the upcoming series against Australia and New Zealand, we'll have to look at our mistakes here"

"In batting, we lost a lot of early wickets and exposed the middle order to the new ball which makes things difficult as it's not easy to bat under lights, we have to work on not losing early wickets"

"In bowling, we have to take wickets upfront and then also in the middle overs, which has been a success of ours in the past"

"It's an alarm bell for us to see what's suddenly happened. In the CT in the first match, we didn't do anything well, in NZ we lost 5-0 but our performances weren't so bad. But here, it's too much and for me as a captain, it set off alarm bells. We will have to sit down and see what went wrong and try to fix things"

"We have other players as well but for this team, I know we didn't do well at all but we still have talented players like Fakhar Zaman. He's a regular since 1 year, but he couldn't perform here, we'll have to keep backing him. Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq who performed well, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, these are the guys we'll need to go forward. We'll also have to look at those on the bench and give them chances etc"

"Changes will happen but I don't think we need to press the panic button. I accept the mistakes we've done as a team, and I myself have not done well as a captain. We have to back the guys. Of course, we will have to look at which players are best suited to which positions and whether there are players outside the team who can play a role"

"I accept that my performances weren't good due to which the team lost. I should have performed well as a captain but I didn't and due to that, the team lost"

"We don't have experienced players, it's a young team and we have to back them. Fakhar Zaman has performed well but he failed in one tournament, that doesn't mean he isn't a good player, of course he made mistakes and he realises that as well"

"Since I became captain in 2017, there were no senior players in the team besides Hafeez bhai and Shoaib bhai. Hafeez bhai was in the squad for the last series but we couldn't find a spot for him in the playing XI. Shoaib bhai was never sidelined, he has been a constant in the team. Junaid was also a team regular in 2017, he missed a series in New Zealand due to injury. There is no question of sidelining him"

"As a Pakistani captain, there is always pressure. Obviously when you don't perform and the Pakistan team is losing, the pressure increases. The truth is that this is a part of life, changes will happen but these are the boys we have. We'll try some performing youngsters in the A team and the selection committee will pick who they deem to be fit for national team selection"

"The doors aren't close for anyone, whoever performs will be selected if there are spots available in the national team"

"In this tournament, our batting looked to be short. We tried to induct Haris Sohail in the team but we needed to get wickets in the middle-overs so we played Shadab and Nawaz. But unfortunately, the move didn't work"

"In terms of bowling, we brought 6 pacers here as the weather is very hot so everyone got a chance. We tried to give more chances to the best possible bowlers for each match. The batsmen were the same throughout but they didn't perform and I think the batting was more at fault, due to which we failed in this tournament"
 
Pretty sensible comments. Glad to hear youngsters will be picked for the A tours and it is being treated as a gateway to the national team.

No questions about the lack of specialist spinners in the squad?
 
Pretty sensible comments. Glad to hear youngsters will be picked for the A tours and it is being treated as a gateway to the national team.

No questions about the lack of specialist spinners in the squad?

The questions are generally quite stupid.

There were two in particular that were practically goading him (after he had accepted responsibility and he said he didn't perform).

The first one of these said "Sorry if you feel bad but your on field performance, captaincy and batting was underpar, we lost in NZ and lost to India so as a fielding and batting captain, what do you think of yourself".

The next one was even worse. "In the last 15 matches you didn't perform, do you think you should be sidelined for 2-6 matches so that someone can come in and the teams gains in confidence, and also you can come to realise that you need to perform again?"

There was another question based on a media 'rumour' that seems to be gaining traction, that Mickey is hell bent on sidelining senior players (in order to solidify his grip on the team). (Read: We need Hafeez back etc.)
 
The questions are generally quite stupid.

There were two in particular that were practically goading him (after he had accepted responsibility and he said he didn't perform).

The first one of these said "Sorry if you feel bad but your on field performance, captaincy and batting was underpar, we lost in NZ and lost to India so as a fielding and batting captain, what do you think of yourself".

The next one was even worse. "In the last 15 matches you didn't perform, do you think you should be sidelined for 2-6 matches so that someone can come in and the teams gains in confidence, and also you can come to realise that you need to perform again?"

There was another question based on a media 'rumour' that seems to be gaining traction, that Mickey is hell bent on sidelining senior players (in order to solidify his grip on the team). (Read: We need Hafeez back etc.)

Media is going to ask these questions if the decisions of the coach and captain are not paying off for the team.
 
Media is going to ask these questions if the decisions of the coach and captain are not paying off for the team.

There is a way to ask questions without coming across as insolent. Those two questions could have been better worded, it sounded as though the point was just to get a reaction rather than to get any actual useful comments.

I mean, what is he going to say - Yes please drop me I am horrible?
 
The questions are generally quite stupid.

There were two in particular that were practically goading him (after he had accepted responsibility and he said he didn't perform).

The first one of these said "Sorry if you feel bad but your on field performance, captaincy and batting was underpar, we lost in NZ and lost to India so as a fielding and batting captain, what do you think of yourself".

The next one was even worse. "In the last 15 matches you didn't perform, do you think you should be sidelined for 2-6 matches so that someone can come in and the teams gains in confidence, and also you can come to realise that you need to perform again?"

There was another question based on a media 'rumour' that seems to be gaining traction, that Mickey is hell bent on sidelining senior players (in order to solidify his grip on the team). (Read: We need Hafeez back etc.)

I'm sorry but these questions are utterly ridiculous. Pakistani journalists are genuinely some of the worst I have come across- they are unprofessional and don't even bother hiding their agendas/biases. The sports media has to start taking some responsibility- it's the circus they create that creates such instability and stifles progress.

By the way, even if Mickey does want to sideline senior players (read: TTFs) why is that such a bad thing? Half of these senior players come out with statements like "fitness doesn't matter in cricket" which tells you everything you need to know.

It's pathetic and it's very disillusioning at times.
 
Media is going to ask these questions if the decisions of the coach and captain are not paying off for the team.

Be glad that he doesn't abuse media like our captain kholi does. He kept calm despite the pressure he must in.
 
Some debating points for fans - I am stating a statement, please come with counter argument or show your agreement ... but, please don't remain silent. You can agree, disagree or not sure.

1. Among 12 Test/ODI/T20 teams, Sarfraz is the worst WK-batsman on pure W keeping & batting merit. Hare are the 12 sets:

AUS: Paine, ENG: Butlar/Bairstowe, IND: MSD/Pant, NZ: Watling/Latham/Blundell, SAF: Kok/Klaasan, ZIM: B Taylor, SRL: Mendis/Perera/Dickwella, BD: Mushi, AFG: Shahzad, IRL: Nail O'brian, WIN: Hope/Charles .... may be WIN WKs give him a fight for wooden spoon.

2. Among 12 ODi/Test teams, he is the worst Captain. Here are 12 sets:

AUS: Paine/Finch (Smith), ENG: Root/Morgan, IND: VK (Sharma), SRL: Chandimal, WIN: Holder/Barthwaite, SAF: Faf, NZ: Williamson, AFG: Asghar, IRL: Poterfield, ZIM: Cremar (?), BD: Mash/Shakib

May be, when he was in charge Angelo could have given him fight, but Thisara is comfortably better, probably Tharanga as well.

PS: Since I have considered IRL & AFG Captains, obviously I am not considering W/L stats or team rank for this one. This is my personal ranking, based on what I have seen Captains leading their sides & using their resources, but that's subjective - posters can come with own logic & have their say in a civilized manner. Obviously we know Sarfraz has won an U19 WC & a CT as captain which Richi Benaud couldn't do either, while he averages 37, 34 & 30 in 3 formats of cricket and Mushi averages lower than him in Test and almost identical in T20.
 
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Pakistani fans are devoted to supporting mediocrity. Hence Sarfraz' position is safe, he will have enough backers.
 
Pakistani fans are devoted to supporting mediocrity. Hence Sarfraz' position is safe, he will have enough backers.

Nobody is backing him. It is quite established that his ability with the bat is as good as Hasan Ali's. Not to mention his mediocre keeping. However, the fact is that he will lead Pakistan in world cup whether we like it or not. He will not be removed. Things simply dont work in Pakistan like this especially just 7-8 months before world cup. I will be pleasantly surprised if proven wrong.
 
I love this guy.Far better than our media favs Akmals.
But, if he really wants to go ahead with the team, he has to start with himself. Improve fitness, and start performing. If needed come early in the batting, bear the blows, show some bravery and win some games.
 
Atleast he accepted he is wrong unlike our former captains put all the blame on players and no talent in Pakistan
 
I love this guy.Far better than our media favs Akmals.
But, if he really wants to go ahead with the team, he has to start with himself. Improve fitness, and start performing. If needed come early in the batting, bear the blows, show some bravery and win some games.

Should he be tried as opener?

Think we need to experiment with our top order in the upcoming games...
 
Be glad that he doesn't abuse media like our captain kholi does. He kept calm despite the pressure he must in.

Kohli can afford to do that, Sarfaraz cannot, given his own contribution to the team. Also, there are times when the media needs to be put in their place (given our so called journos, more often than not) and I don't mind if a player does that, as long as he is not being abusive. Problem here is that Sarfaraz's own form is so bad that he just doesn't have the room to handle the media in an aggressive manner.
 
Yes getting humiliated to India twice without their best batsman playing, losing to Bangladesh without their two best players Tamim/Shakib - but true there is no need to panic yet.... Let's wait 6 months or so when we next play Hong Kong and see what happens there.
 
At least he takes responsibility which is refreshing to see but he really needs to step up or resign if he can't. We can't afford to carry him to the world cup if he continues with his current form.
 
We can jaywalk our way to the World Cup, get knocked out early, and then start panicking.
 
Dont think players need to panic

Its the Selection Committee that needs to be worried!
 
Better selections and better leadership required. Playing specialists is the way to move forwardt
 
A lot of Sarfaraz's issues has to with the fact that he's a captain, keeper and batsman in all three formats. That's a ridiculous amount of work load. Not sustainable at all.

We need three captains in three formats. Sarfaraz for odi's, may be shafiq for tests, and who cares about t20Is. Sarfaraz shouldn't even play in them. T20s should solely be used for grooming young players.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sarfaraz Ahmed "When you don’t perform the pressure builds up, if I say that I have not slept for six nights then no one will accept it" <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AsiaCup2018?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AsiaCup2018</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1045281373693579265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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we do because you suck and have done for a while

nothing amazing about his captaincy skills
rubbish batsman
average wk
 
Sensible comments but he really shouldn't think he was entirely to blame for the losses. His captaincy was poor throughout, but the bowlers and batsmen, including himself, were shocking too.

They have to induct players from the A side if they perform, otherwise try out those in the domestic sphere.
 
I agree with him. But I do think that we need to redefine the roles given to each and every player in the 11. Take Haris Sohail as an example. Against Afghanistan his role should have been to rotate the strike and give as much strike as possible to Shoaib Malik. If there are spinners operating from both ends, it’s the job of players like Sarfraz, Malik and Haris in the middle to milk them for singles. It’s shouldn’t be the role of Asif Ali to slog them out of the park because of his inability to read the spinners. Instead, it should be on Asif Ali to play the last 10 overs of pure pace and hurt them pacers badly. Similarly, the role of Amir shouldn’t be about opening the bowling. Leave that to junaid and shaheen. If we are only going with one spinner then it should be the role Hasan and Amir to bowl in the middle and death overs. The role of spinner should be about giving the ball as much flight as possible. Shahdab, as much I like his bowling, have a tendency to bowl half trackers in his attempt to bowl googlies. His role should be about bowling leg spin. Googlie should be a surprise weapon. I would also love to see a rotation policy between Yasir Shah and Shahdab in the spin department. Panicking right won’t do any good.
 
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Some debating points for fans - I am stating a statement, please come with counter argument or show your agreement ... but, please don't remain silent. You can agree, disagree or not sure.

1. Among 12 Test/ODI/T20 teams, Sarfraz is the worst WK-batsman on pure W keeping & batting merit. Hare are the 12 sets:

AUS: Paine, ENG: Butlar/Bairstowe, IND: MSD/Pant, NZ: Watling/Latham/Blundell, SAF: Kok/Klaasan, ZIM: B Taylor, SRL: Mendis/Perera/Dickwella, BD: Mushi, AFG: Shahzad, IRL: Nail O'brian, WIN: Hope/Charles .... may be WIN WKs give him a fight for wooden spoon.

2. Among 12 ODi/Test teams, he is the worst Captain. Here are 12 sets:

AUS: Paine/Finch (Smith), ENG: Root/Morgan, IND: VK (Sharma), SRL: Chandimal, WIN: Holder/Barthwaite, SAF: Faf, NZ: Williamson, AFG: Asghar, IRL: Poterfield, ZIM: Cremar (?), BD: Mash/Shakib

May be, when he was in charge Angelo could have given him fight, but Thisara is comfortably better, probably Tharanga as well.

PS: Since I have considered IRL & AFG Captains, obviously I am not considering W/L stats or team rank for this one. This is my personal ranking, based on what I have seen Captains leading their sides & using their resources, but that's subjective - posters can come with own logic & have their say in a civilized manner. Obviously we know Sarfraz has won an U19 WC & a CT as captain which Richi Benaud couldn't do either, while he averages 37, 34 & 30 in 3 formats of cricket and Mushi averages lower than him in Test and almost identical in T20.

Gold! Potw. Mediocre players can never become leaders. That's a fact.
 
We can jaywalk our way to the World Cup, get knocked out early, and then start panicking.

Most of the fans here are still living in some mythical world where they will go into world cup with this same team and captain and come out as champions. You have to be very very lucky to get past group stage with so many passengers in the team.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sarfaraz Ahmed "When you don’t perform the pressure builds up, if I say that I have not slept for six nights then no one will accept it" <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AsiaCup2018?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AsiaCup2018</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1045281373693579265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Should've taken some meds to get sleep then. That is unprofessional, how can you perform when you are too tensed to even get some sleep??
 
Haven't slept or not is irrelevant. Not sure if he's trying to get sympathy or speaking from his heart or a combination of both, but we aren't winning and were thoroughly embarrassed.

He didn't show a winning mentality after going 12/3, similar to captains before him, and it led to our loss.

He didn't show any batting prowess at all and has not scored runs in how many years?

Babar, Fakhar, Hasan Ali all deserve a lot of criticism for a very poor performance, but they're all young and they will be on the team for years to come. I'm sure they will come back, that is a separate conversation, but your captain has done what exactly?

He's neither a scoring threat, he's not a bold captain threat, he's not the best keeper in the country, so what is his purpose? We could make Mohammad Nawaz captain and expect the same results, so now that he is stripped of what he is solely on the team for, what do we have left?

The answer is nothing.

Captaincy is such an overrated facet of the game. When people applaud and cheer for Imran Khan, they pretend that he didn't have an incredible squad. He had most of the best Pakistani all time players on his all time teams. That whole "we had the heart of a lion" mentality is ridiculous. You win with good teams.

Sarfraz doesn't score runs with the bat, so he has no place in the team. He should be replaced with Harris or someone else (I'm not too learned on the Pakistani domestic circuit). It's asinine to continue with him as a passenger on the team.

He shouldn't be captain, he shouldn't be on the team. It's time. We can't pretend that his one WC 50 against Australia should be applauded forever, nor him being in the right place at the right time when Fakhar and Hasan Ali won him the CT with him watching on the sidelines.

I honestly can't remember the last time Sarfraz was key to a victory. It has to be in the years.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sarfaraz Ahmed "When you don’t perform the pressure builds up, if I say that I have not slept for six nights then no one will accept it" <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AsiaCup2018?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AsiaCup2018</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1045281373693579265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

That's cheap shot at getting sympathy from fans. Quite pathetic try to be honest.
 
You know I get what [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] is saying. However I think we really need to caveat whats been happening to our cricket over the last decade.

we dont play at home, money is tight, hardly any A tours, domestic cricket is a shambles need I go on?

Its all well and good saying sack the captain and give it to Malik (laughable really)..but then what? Sometimes you just have to accept what the situation is and make do. We have a pool of about 20-25 players of varying abilities who are trying their best. They have (inmho) done as well as can be possibily imagined.

You cannot expect consistency when we have are in such a weird phase. Its not going to happen.

Also another thing to think about. And this is for the prejudiced amongst us. Perhaps Bangladesh arent as bad as we try to make out through our arrogance. And perhaps we arent as good as many here actually think we are. Asia now has four major competitive sides with Afghanistan also in the mix. all four of the other sides other than Pakistan have the benefit of playing regularly against decent opposition most of the time.

We dont. We play in the UAE..which is good for the odd tournament but thats about it..You cant play our ODI style here...you just cant..our record is abysmal here and there is a reason..

So yes you can be all heartbroken about yester years but they didnt have to sacrifice what these players have to..I stillmaintain my opinion..this last decade has given us one of our best test teams ever..and our best ever t20 side..the ODI side is not as good but they will get better once cricket comes back to pakistan..until then I'm prepared to go through the pain..

No other team has had to endure what we have and what we continue to..this is the price you pay when your not the BCCI's friend...we will pay it and come out on the other side..
 
We haven’t Fared well against any of the top 5 sides in the world since last year, and a miserable asia cup sums it up. If he’s still there at wc next year expect a group exit.

I rather have Fawad Alam Hafeez and Shafiq back at least they can bat. Poor excuses for a poor batsmen.
 
Should've taken some meds to get sleep then. That is unprofessional, how can you perform when you are too tensed to even get some sleep??

Sleep meds are not recommended honestly, even when we give our exams for Medicine, Sleep meds can actually mess up your thought processes in the morning..
 
Even an injured/unfit Mushrafe shown more leadersip quality than him. He is such a meek character and yet has audacity to shout at other players.
 
I blame our scheduling.... since our champions trophy victory we haven't exactly had an ideal schedule. Besides the New Zealand series we have been living in a false sense of superiority. Of thrashing our oppositions, etc etc... then the t20 rankings have been washing away the sins of ODI... we lost to nz but forgot everything after the 2-1 win in t20s....

English series being tied 1-1 made us forget all our woes in Limited overs, then we polished those doubts out by thrashing Zim 5-0... the t20 win against Aus in the (Minus starc cummins hazelwood) made us feel even more superior....

This is a rude but much needed wake up call... the perils of chasing runs is still a problem that we are no where near to fixing soon.

We did show against Afghanistan that we can do it, but in a knockout situation. A 240 becomes a 270 and we didn't look like doing that at all
 
Haven't slept or not is irrelevant. Not sure if he's trying to get sympathy or speaking from his heart or a combination of both, but we aren't winning and were thoroughly embarrassed.

He didn't show a winning mentality after going 12/3, similar to captains before him, and it led to our loss.

He didn't show any batting prowess at all and has not scored runs in how many years?

Babar, Fakhar, Hasan Ali all deserve a lot of criticism for a very poor performance, but they're all young and they will be on the team for years to come. I'm sure they will come back, that is a separate conversation, but your captain has done what exactly?

He's neither a scoring threat, he's not a bold captain threat, he's not the best keeper in the country, so what is his purpose? We could make Mohammad Nawaz captain and expect the same results, so now that he is stripped of what he is solely on the team for, what do we have left?

The answer is nothing.

Captaincy is such an overrated facet of the game. When people applaud and cheer for Imran Khan, they pretend that he didn't have an incredible squad. He had most of the best Pakistani all time players on his all time teams. That whole "we had the heart of a lion" mentality is ridiculous. You win with good teams.

Sarfraz doesn't score runs with the bat, so he has no place in the team. He should be replaced with Harris or someone else (I'm not too learned on the Pakistani domestic circuit). It's asinine to continue with him as a passenger on the team.

He shouldn't be captain, he shouldn't be on the team. It's time. We can't pretend that his one WC 50 against Australia should be applauded forever, nor him being in the right place at the right time when Fakhar and Hasan Ali won him the CT with him watching on the sidelines.

I honestly can't remember the last time Sarfraz was key to a victory. It has to be in the years.

Yes its an overrated part of the game, so we should make Azhar Ali captain again...
 
You know I get what [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] is saying. However I think we really need to caveat whats been happening to our cricket over the last decade.

we dont play at home, money is tight, hardly any A tours, domestic cricket is a shambles need I go on?

Its all well and good saying sack the captain and give it to Malik (laughable really)..but then what? Sometimes you just have to accept what the situation is and make do. We have a pool of about 20-25 players of varying abilities who are trying their best. They have (inmho) done as well as can be possibily imagined.

You cannot expect consistency when we have are in such a weird phase. Its not going to happen.

Also another thing to think about. And this is for the prejudiced amongst us. Perhaps Bangladesh arent as bad as we try to make out through our arrogance. And perhaps we arent as good as many here actually think we are. Asia now has four major competitive sides with Afghanistan also in the mix. all four of the other sides other than Pakistan have the benefit of playing regularly against decent opposition most of the time.

We dont. We play in the UAE..which is good for the odd tournament but thats about it..You cant play our ODI style here...you just cant..our record is abysmal here and there is a reason..

So yes you can be all heartbroken about yester years but they didnt have to sacrifice what these players have to..I stillmaintain my opinion..this last decade has given us one of our best test teams ever..and our best ever t20 side..the ODI side is not as good but they will get better once cricket comes back to pakistan..until then I'm prepared to go through the pain..

No other team has had to endure what we have and what we continue to..this is the price you pay when your not the BCCI's friend...we will pay it and come out on the other side..

I don't disagree with you - many of the points in your post I have written several times .......

Having said that - THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON TO PAMPER SUCH A MEDIOCRE CRICKETER AS CAPTAIN & HIDE HIM AS WK. Or, I'll have to say PAK cricket is in such a state that this 12th by 12th (his position as WK & Captain in the ranks) guy is the savior.

He is trying to protect his chair through that panic button caution and trying to earn some cheap sympathy through that sleep comment. Any sportsman can't stay without sleep for long - mind might be anxious, but body won't hold. When a mother loses here baby, she cries, mourns for hours, even days, without food or even water - still at one point she goes into sleep, simply body can't held any more ...... this guy must be more hurt than a mom who has just lost her kid.

Double mutton biriyani, followed by mid day sleep - that's the recipe for double chin in mid 30s - SIX days story won't work, better script needed for someone following PAK cricket over 30 years.
 
Yes its an overrated part of the game, so we should make Azhar Ali captain again...

Don't do that.

Do not misappropriate one thing for another.

So I said Sarfraz should be kicked out, did I mention the return of Azhar Ali?

This tactic to deflect blame by positioning oneself on something the other didn't mention is a poor one.

Neither should be captain.

As of right now, Malik should be interim captain, until one of the kids is mature enough to do so. I didn't think he should have been selected a few years ago but he has proved me wrong with his excellent performances over the years.
 
Don't do that.

Do not misappropriate one thing for another.

So I said Sarfraz should be kicked out, did I mention the return of Azhar Ali?

This tactic to deflect blame by positioning oneself on something the other didn't mention is a poor one.

Neither should be captain.

As of right now, Malik should be interim captain, until one of the kids is mature enough to do so. I didn't think he should have been selected a few years ago but he has proved me wrong with his excellent performances over the years.

It is not about deflecting criticism.The simple question is have we progressed as a limited over team since Azhar Ali was captain or not? I think we have, but it is not as big as we were made out to be before the tournament started. We started off with the favorites tag... and having tied down the opposition for 240 you would think you had one leg in the final. Alas the pressure of chasing came down on us, the 240 became a 300 for us... like it has always been.. We are still weak chasers in 2018
 
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