Improvements needed in next games for Pakistan in the ICC World Cup 2019

[ahmedzee]

May be they can also ask Aamir to play as one down and quickly send Afridi from Pakistan to captain the side.

bus kar de...rulaye ga kia

 

[zulfiqar]

I'll give my take on our concerns: lower-order hitting, bowling attack and captaincy.

Lower order: I don't agree with people calling for Asif to be dropped. This is the early stage of the tournament and we need to identify a batsman who can bat at a good strike rate, and Asif might be able to fill that role. Ideally we should have figured this position out prior to the tournament but different players had varying levels of success at that spot - and it's my opinion that Asif should be given an extended go. Let him play versus Sri Lanka and then Australia as well!

The spot for which Imad Wasim is contending for is that of Shoaib Malik's. Pakistan think-tank need to figure out which of these two players we're going to use. The only way I see both playing is if Asif flops in the next 2 games. I think management dropped Imad because of his lame dismissal against WI - but I still think he has a role to play this tournament and his bowling can be quite valuable for us. But if Shoaib Malik can pick up a wicket in a couple of overs and not give away many runs like he did today, he's just as good a choice.

Bowling attack: We have a great template to work with: Wahab to try to strike and bowl in the death, Amir to contain/build pressure and bowl in the death, and then Hassan Ali to find his form back and become the monster he was a couple years back! Shadab did really well today and much like Hassan he bowls and fields with passion, and adds valuable quick runs with the bat. These four are good, but I would use the SL game to try to switch it up and bring in one new pacer in place of Wahab (Husnain) or Amir (Shaheen) to give them rest and keep the guys on the bench match-ready. I would keep playing Hassan as he's one of the fittest players we have and he showed signs of returning to his previous best.

Captaincy: Today Sarfaraz was great at the death. He can't help be a bit emotional but overall he was very composed - quite impressed. Made the right changes as well (though they kind of picked themselves). Middle overs is where he needs to get more creative -keeping slips for new batsmen or when you bring back someone to get you a wicket is a start. Also, the coach needs to be charged with keeping the guys fit because this is a very long tournament and we have 7-9 games to go. This is why I suggested rotating Amir/Wahab for the game against SL.

I would change nothing about our top order. Fakhar/Imam/Babar the best top 3 Pakistan has - and they showed today that they are good as anyone else in the tournament! Truly class players and now Hafeez is joining the party as well!

LES GO PAKISTAN!

 

[dhump]

bus kar de...rulaye ga kia

Check the post I quoted.

Match jetne ke bad poori team hi idhar udhar kardo.

 

[RickyG]

Really. Imad is a dud.

So is Malik on current form. You either play an all-rounder who can slog like Imad. Or you play a batsman like Haris Sohail.

Malik doesn't offer you anything.

 

[Plumb]

So is Malik on current form. You either play an all-rounder who can slog like Imad. Or you play a batsman like Haris Sohail.

Malik doesn't offer you anything.

He got the key wicket today. I don't like his batting at the moment but if for any reason HAfeez and shaddy go for runs he can bowl. Only for this reason I would keep him and play the same team in next game. That will give the playing 11 more confidence and they will do even better next game

 

[Rayyman]

So is Malik on current form. You either play an all-rounder who can slog like Imad. Or you play a batsman like Haris Sohail.

Malik doesn't offer you anything.

See Imad should be in the best XI, but in this tournament they have to rotate the players. And Imad imo is not needed against SL who have lefties and play spin well.

 

[Captain caveman]

Batting wise should open with fakhar - potentially lethal opening partnership.
Imam or haris can bat at 5.
Fielding - keep a slip for the pacers.
Bring the field in to stop easy singles.

Bowling been fine so far.

 

[mak36]

Hafeez is not leaving the #4 spot after today's innings.

Today simply confirmed he is a completely different batsman when he comes in after 20 overs. If Pak lose two wickets early he is not the man you want out in the middle.

 

[Markhor]

Fielding is still slack, England were pinching 2s that should've been 1s.

Also there were two drops and a missed stumping.

 

[Markhor]

[MENTION=113]zulfiqar[/MENTION]

I totally agree, I can't understand the calls to drop Asif Ali. Bristol and Taunton where we play next are grounds so why on earth should we drop our cleanest hitter ?

 

[gazza619]

I am not convinced at Sarfraz being our number 5. Will persist with him though as we dont have many options.

I would drop Malik as he cant hit a ball even if his life was on the line.

My strategy would be:
Drop Malik
Bring in imad

 

[topspin]

I am not convinced at Sarfraz being our number 5. Will persist with him though as we dont have many options.

I would drop Malik as he cant hit a ball even if his life was on the line.

My strategy would be:
Drop Malik
Bring in imad

Agreed

 

[Abdullah]

Yeah, as for changes:

Haris Sohail in for Asif Ali. I know people will say what. Asif ali is a hit or a miss & poor in field. Haris bring in assurity to the team. Will make our batting order a lot more stronger.

Need to replace Hassan Ali with Hasnain if he couldn't pick wickets.

I think imam and Babar have to hold it together and then we can afford to have Asif in the line up.
Also we have shadab down the order to avert a collapse ( he can be promoted up ahead of Asif)

 

[zulfiqar]

Today simply confirmed he is a completely different batsman when he comes in after 20 overs. If Pak lose two wickets early he is not the man you want out in the middle.

Good comment. If we lose two wickets I'd rather have Sarfaraz go out in the middle tbh!

 

[Savak]

For me the bowling performance is still unacceptable, you cant be conceeding 300 runs in every game. You need to take wickets up front and in the middle, the bowlers need to learn the art of keeping things tight in the middle and the captain himself needs to attack with his field placings, too many edges went through the slips.

Also as far as the batting is concerned, when you have a platform of 279/4 in 43 overs, you need to get to 360-370.

 

[adil79]

For me the bowling performance is still unacceptable, you cant be conceeding 300 runs in every game. You need to take wickets up front and in the middle, the bowlers need to learn the art of keeping things tight in the middle and the captain himself needs to attack with his field placings, too many edges went through the slips.

Also as far as the batting is concerned, when you have a platform of 279/4 in 43 overs, you need to get to 360-370.

I am surprised why many don't consider this analysis to be better compared to delusions prevailing here. We should be able to defend 300. I don't care about the ground size etc. Wickets are the only thing that contain an opposition. If you can't take wickets, opposition will eventually run you down even if you score 350.

And yes, we couldn't score 370 because frankly, our lower order wasted too many deliveries. Credit goes to captain for that. Kept on hitting big shots and missing out on those, when he could have nudged those down for single or double. At least 4-5 occasions that happened. Also, there were at least 4-5 occasions when they converted 2s into 1s, instead of 1s into 2s. All thanks to mighty fitness of our sarfraz. This is why fitness is so important.

And don't forget that the catch of root. If it were any good wicket keeper, he would have snapped out of the babar's hands. Also, when wahab was on, looking for wickets, he didn't have a slip on. I remember whenever ponting brought his main striker for wickets, he used to have a slip on as mark waugh or later Mathew Haddin. Why couldn't we do so?

Where is our intent to pick wickets? What kind of shoddy scheme of bowling are we following? There were only 10% yorkers in last 10 overs, when they could have easily been at least 30%. I would call for at least 80% yorkers, but since they are hard to bowl, then at least bowl 50%. What our bowlers are training in camps? Are they just mimicking bowling machines?

So so stupid.

 

[Shafi]

Only 1 change Imad for Malik will do great job.
Give plenty of rests to our fast bowlers to be fresh and rearing to go.
Let them practice catches an extra hour. Give them rest enough to overcome fatigue.

 

[hussain.r97]

1) Though we defended, our bowling still has room to improve. Amir, Shadab, and Hafeez were the only ones who genuinely bowled well. I see everyone going crazy over Wahab, but the fact is that, apart from the wicket he got up front, he got smashed around and then took a few cheap wickets after Amir removed Buttler. He needs to get rid of the customary 1-2 bad balls per over, or he will lose us games. Hasan Ali also wasn't at his best, didn't really look threatening.

2) Fielding needs to improve, we can't just let go of chances like that. On wickets this flat, the stakes are much higher.

3) Lower order hitting is still a bit of a problem. While Sarfraz scored runs, I feel like we were 20 runs short of where we could've been if we had a clean striker of the ball at the crease. Sarfraz is most effective between 25-35 overs, after that he becomes a bit of a liability.

 

[LordEddardStark]

1) Though we defended, our bowling still has room to improve. Amir, Shadab, and Hafeez were the only ones who genuinely bowled well. I see everyone going crazy over Wahab, but the fact is that, apart from the wicket he got up front, he got smashed around and then took a few cheap wickets after Amir removed Buttler. He needs to get rid of the customary 1-2 bad balls per over, or he will lose us games. Hasan Ali also wasn't at his best, didn't really look threatening.

2) Fielding needs to improve, we can't just let go of chances like that. On wickets this flat, the stakes are much higher.

3) Lower order hitting is still a bit of a problem. While Sarfraz scored runs, I feel like we were 20 runs short of where we could've been if we had a clean striker of the ball at the crease. Sarfraz is most effective between 25-35 overs, after that he becomes a bit of a liability.

Very true. Everyone is going gaga over Wahab, however one thing this match has shown us is that Wahab is still the same spray gun of 2 years before and cannot be relied to defend a score below 300. Even during last over when all it needed was one Yorker to dismiss number 10 & 11, he couldn't do it. Rather both tailenders scored 2 boundaries off him. Hassan and Aamir we're better at death than him today. Our batting will not score 350 every match and this kind of bowling will lose match more often than win for us.

 

[TeymurBlake]

For me personally I would swap Malik with Haris. I would keep Hafeez at No.4 and move Haris to No.5. I would give Asif another couple of games and move him to No.6. These are the only changes I would make for now, we'll see what happens after the Sri Lanka game. I would keep Imad out for a considerable amount of time. Cause we don't need him.

 

[hadi123]

Our fielding still leaves a lot to be desired. This is the Cricket World Cup. Even half chances need to be taken here, as it could cost you big time.

 

[Ashraful_Rox]

Open with Asif Ali for a boom boom innings and play Imam at 3

 

[Titan24]

Very true. Everyone is going gaga over Wahab, however one thing this match has shown us is that Wahab is still the same spray gun of 2 years before and cannot be relied to defend a score below 300. Even during last over when all it needed was one Yorker to dismiss number 10 & 11, he couldn't do it. Rather both tailenders scored 2 boundaries off him. Hassan and Aamir we're better at death than him today. Our batting will not score 350 every match and this kind of bowling will lose match more often than win for us.

Wahab had 2-3 edges gone to boundary, he got the key wicket of Bairstow and removed Moen Ali and Woakes just at the right time. Last ball he bowled was with a short run up. He is definitely looking a better death bowler than Junaid and the juniors (Shaheen and Hasnaian) at the moment.

We have lost quite a few matches like that in past when team needed around 35-40 off 18 or so. Wahab's two wicket in the 2nd last over shouldnt be ignored just because some people dont have fond memories of him though he was the best performer for Pak in 2015 WC as well.

On green and assisting surfaces I would play Shaheen over him any day but on flat and dry surfaces, Amir, Hassan and Wahab are the way to go at the moment.

 

[indianpanacea]

Fakhar
Babar
Malik
Hafeez
Sarfaraz
Asif
Shahdab
Wahab
Hannah
Amir
Shaheen

 

[Cricket World]

Proactive and attacking captaincy e.g. keep slip for Wahab and Amir.

 

[Plumb]

So Fielding remains one of the department where we are still behind and that can cost us future games.... any quick fixes

 

[DRsohail]

Hafiz at 5 and Haris at 4.

 

[Plumb]

Dr. Nouman wants Hafeez to open with fakhar and drop Imam lol I think not a good move.... Hafeez need to play #5 or 6