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Is it time to accept this as a dark era in our cricket or are you still optimistic about the future?

ShahKhan007

ShahKhan007

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I have resigned and accepted this as a dark period in our cricket. We have no openers or middle order batsman coming through and worse we are unable to develop proper fast bowlers or even a decent spinner.

If you are optimistic what is keeping you hopeful?
 
We won a trophy a year back during a similar dark era.

So it finished after that and are we back to dark era now?
 
Dr_Bassim said:
We won a trophy a year back during a similar dark era.

So it finished after that and are we back to dark era now?
Click to expand...

We are not producing top quality players anymore. The team is on a downward spiral. One unexpected tournament win doesn't change reality.
 
Honestly, in 5/6 years with these same players we’ll be one of the top sides! No player starts his career of as a star, we have many young players and it’ll be very beneficial for the future! Once these players gain all the experience at international level we’ll be a force to reckon with!

Just look at India, they rely on two 30 year old budday at the top, once they’re gone they’ll be at the same phase as we are in right now!
 
We will come back. Team is back down to Earth, and now the team management will hopefully learn how to assess conditions. Plus our team is inexperienced, hopefully they put in the hard work and learn from the upcoming matches against NZ, Aus, SA and England.

On a side note, maybe it's this optimism that makes me even more sad once we lose.
 
Haha yarrr kia ho gya hai sb ko..

0 and 1 pr zindagi nai chalti.. This was overall a poor tournament for us irrespective of quality of teams. We got some good reality checks especially the importance of a specialist spinner in UAE.
 
SarfiBabarHaris said:
Haha yarrr kia ho gya hai sb ko..

0 and 1 pr zindagi nai chalti.. This was overall a poor tournament for us irrespective of quality of teams. We got some good reality checks especially the importance of a specialist spinner in UAE.
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Pakistan doesn't have much time before they are pushed into a gruelling schedule, where they will take on teams on a different level to the opposition they just humiliated themselves against in the Asia Cup. With all due respect to this Indian side, but Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and England will thrash this team around like a rag doll in the coming months. Our team is suddenly in tatters and this just feels hopeless as a Pakistani fan.
 
YousafTheBeast said:
Honestly, in 5/6 years with these same players we’ll be one of the top sides!
Click to expand...

You're going to be very disappointed.

Amir and Junaid are already 28+ and going downhill. Sarfraz is 33 at least and finished. Malik has 2 years left. Fakhar is also 29. He will only go downhill after 33. Asif and Nawaz are club level and no amount of experience will change that.

PCT is in trouble at the moment, whether you like it or not.
 
Optimistic. But they have to make the right decisions and start picking the right players for the modern format and start holding players accountable.
 
We have not been produced any top level cricketers for a long time. No doubt we're on a downward spiral at the moment.

However I'll say that we still got a good chance at the world cup next year.
 
Usman Chadda said:
Pakistan doesn't have much time before they are pushed into a gruelling schedule, where they will take on teams on a different level to the opposition they just humiliated themselves against in the Asia Cup. With all due respect to this Indian side, but Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and England will thrash this team around like a rag doll in the coming months. Our team is suddenly in tatters and this just feels hopeless as a Pakistani fan.
Click to expand...

I felt that they fell pray to their own hype like Abdullah said.

Barring some players this is the best lot we have got and we have to work with them and get the most out of them. If they can win CT by winning 4 matches in CT on the trot against quality oppositions, draw a test series in England with a v.young team and get to no 1 rankings from no 8 in t20s in an year they can make their way back here too.

I see the drubbing here as a good reality check and a part of me is happy.

The next agenda should be to get a quality spinner both for UAE tests and odis.
 
SarfiBabarHaris said:
I felt that they fell pray to their own hype like Abdullah said.

Barring some players this is the best lot we have got and we have to work with them and get the most out of them. If they can win CT by winning 4 matches in CT on the trot against quality oppositions, draw a test series in England with a v.young team and get to no 1 rankings from no 8 in t20s in an year they can make their way back here too.

I see the drubbing here as a good reality check and a part of me is happy.

The next agenda should be to get a quality spinner both for UAE tests and odis.
Click to expand...
I believe this team needs a full time psychiatrist aswell. For all the talk about lack of skill and talent, I refuse to believe these players don't have the skill to compete against Afghanistan and a weakened Bangladesh. The team looked mentally shot since that first game against India. What exactly happened behind the scenes, we will probably find out in the coming days when the media starts over-reacting as usual.

Feel sorry for Sarfraz, Mickey and Inzi. All three will be slaughtered on media, before an important series against Australia.
 
I think it's not a dark era just a series of bad things , bad captaincy , bad planning, bad team selection considering conditions , bad shot selection and so on I do think Pakistan will bounce back and it will make the players Hungry again and not be over confident I do think some changes are made for the World Cup
 
Enough of these threads. Talent is coming through. We won the CT a year ago, beat Australia in Tri National final few months ago. We had too many players going out of form at the same time, either through fatigue or simply been found out. I have full faith in Fakhar, Babar, Hassan and Amir to go back and work on their game.
 
explain to me how given Pakistan's record since 2005/06 can you pick this to be a dark era? Pakistan have been consistently bad for over 13 years!! besides the CT final, what else you got?
 
Our batting dark era started after the likes of Inzi, Younis and Yousaf retired. We have still to find able replacements. The bowling is fine.
 
As long as you use the same players, expect the same results.

Pick a fresh bunch like 2003 and groom them.

The likes of Malik, Sarfraz, Asif, Imad, Nawaz, are all well beyond their expiration date.

Fakhar, Babar, Shadab, and Hasan are decent but they are hit or miss.

It’s simply time to give those far more deserving a chance.

Even if they fail, at least they know their place in the team will not be questioned.
 
I have to agree, it's been a pretty awful era for a number of years now. The only hope is the future.
 
Here me out: (And I have been following Cricket than most of the people here - since late 70s) Seen the SL'an rise, Zim, Kenya, BD - Ire, Afghans. Seen WI fade, invincible Australia, Pak-NZ punching above their weight. Ind-Eng dominating. SA churn out talents like there is no end. All this teaches us fans one thing. Have patience!!!

It is okay to be upset and rightly so after your beloved team just lost. But this is not the end of all worlds. Imam is an upgrade than Azhar. Fakhar just needs to calm down. Babar (best batmen) so just take it easy on him. Sarfraz is off form. That can happen to the best of them. S Malik, you need experience. Pick your poison on him or Hafeez. Toss up. Now with the bowling unit, the next WC will be at England where all these bowlers will exceed expectation for sure. This team just won you a cup unexpectedly a year back. They have the talent. You can win one or two games by fluke. Not a tournament.

You as a fan are allowed to criticize the players approach or work. You can't call them out on their effort. They always give 100%. You, as a fan, must have faith on this bunch because these are the cream of the crop. A young team will fail sometimes. In paper, experience wise, if you compare, just see how many games Mash, Mushfiq, Riyad played. Your top four players experience combined can't come close to any of these (give and take a little) three. And then there is Tamim and Shakib.

Imagine how many games we (Bangladesh) lost with these players. Now they know how to win.

These Pak boys are very talented and there is no doubt about that. Just have patience.
 
Unless you fix your domestics and improve the level of your batting and fielding, this would be the same.You are still playing 90's cricket which would do no good in this era.
 
BD-fan said:
Here me out: (And I have been following Cricket than most of the people here - since late 70s) Seen the SL'an rise, Zim, Kenya, BD - Ire, Afghans. Seen WI fade, invincible Australia, Pak-NZ punching above their weight. Ind-Eng dominating. SA churn out talents like there is no end. All this teaches us fans one thing. Have patience!!!

It is okay to be upset and rightly so after your beloved team just lost. But this is not the end of all worlds. Imam is an upgrade than Azhar. Fakhar just needs to calm down. Babar (best batmen) so just take it easy on him. Sarfraz is off form. That can happen to the best of them. S Malik, you need experience. Pick your poison on him or Hafeez. Toss up. Now with the bowling unit, the next WC will be at England where all these bowlers will exceed expectation for sure. This team just won you a cup unexpectedly a year back. They have the talent. You can win one or two games by fluke. Not a tournament.

You as a fan are allowed to criticize the players approach or work. You can't call them out on their effort. They always give 100%. You, as a fan, must have faith on this bunch because these are the cream of the crop. A young team will fail sometimes. In paper, experience wise, if you compare, just see how many games Mash, Mushfiq, Riyad played. Your top four players experience combined can't come close to any of these (give and take a little) three. And then there is Tamim and Shakib.

Imagine how many games we (Bangladesh) lost with these players. Now they know how to win.

These Pak boys are very talented and there is no doubt about that. Just have patience.
Click to expand...

Well said!
 
I think the team is goood, it was just bad planning from the start.. PCT took it too lightly so they didnt plan well against any opposition. Inzy didnt pick up the right team, no specialist spinner was picked. No decent batsmen in middle order. Sarafarz cant bat at 4 or 5 no way he is just not good enough.. he is tooo old his age say 30 but he is atleast 37(if u meet him u l know what i mean).
Bowlers had no plan, captain had no plan, coach have no idea about UAe pitches.
 
YousafTheBeast said:
Honestly, in 5/6 years with these same players we’ll be one of the top sides! No player starts his career of as a star, we have many young players and it’ll be very beneficial for the future! Once these players gain all the experience at international level we’ll be a force to reckon with!

Just look at India, they rely on two 30 year old budday at the top, once they’re gone they’ll be at the same phase as we are in right now!
Click to expand...
Lol.Our U19 kids won a WC demolishing everyone and Prithvi Shaw is already making waves.We have very good domestic structure, quality infrastructure and coaches.So our system will always churn out good players.And unless you fix yours, such failures would happen again and again.
 
BD-fan said:
Here me out: (And I have been following Cricket than most of the people here - since late 70s) Seen the SL'an rise, Zim, Kenya, BD - Ire, Afghans. Seen WI fade, invincible Australia, Pak-NZ punching above their weight. Ind-Eng dominating. SA churn out talents like there is no end. All this teaches us fans one thing. Have patience!!!

It is okay to be upset and rightly so after your beloved team just lost. But this is not the end of all worlds. Imam is an upgrade than Azhar. Fakhar just needs to calm down. Babar (best batmen) so just take it easy on him. Sarfraz is off form. That can happen to the best of them. S Malik, you need experience. Pick your poison on him or Hafeez. Toss up. Now with the bowling unit, the next WC will be at England where all these bowlers will exceed expectation for sure. This team just won you a cup unexpectedly a year back. They have the talent. You can win one or two games by fluke. Not a tournament.

You as a fan are allowed to criticize the players approach or work. You can't call them out on their effort. They always give 100%. You, as a fan, must have faith on this bunch because these are the cream of the crop. A young team will fail sometimes. In paper, experience wise, if you compare, just see how many games Mash, Mushfiq, Riyad played. Your top four players experience combined can't come close to any of these (give and take a little) three. And then there is Tamim and Shakib.

Imagine how many games we (Bangladesh) lost with these players. Now they know how to win.

These Pak boys are very talented and there is no doubt about that. Just have patience.
Click to expand...

Thank you.
 
YousafTheBeast said:
Honestly, in 5/6 years with these same players we’ll be one of the top sides! No player starts his career of as a star, we have many young players and it’ll be very beneficial for the future! Once these players gain all the experience at international level we’ll be a force to reckon with!

Just look at India, they rely on two 30 year old budday at the top, once they’re gone they’ll be at the same phase as we are in right now!
Click to expand...

Are you joking,Prithvi shaw and KL rahul are licking their lips to replace sharma and dhawan.
Gill will replace kohli.
Abhishek sharma will be our new yuvraj.
Pant will replace dhoni.
 
the_outsider said:
You're going to be very disappointed.

Amir and Junaid are already 28+ and going downhill. Sarfraz is 33 at least and finished. Malik has 2 years left. Fakhar is also 29. He will only go downhill after 33. Asif and Nawaz are club level and no amount of experience will change that.

PCT is in trouble at the moment, whether you like it or not.
Click to expand...

Hmm Let's see

Fakhar - 28 (Still fairly young for a batsman)
Imam - 22 (Young)
Babar - 23 (Young)
Sarfraz - 31 (Neither old nor young but experienced)
Shoaib Malik - 36 (Every team needs at least one experienced player)
Asif Ali - 26 (Fairly Young)
Shadab Khan - 19 (Very Young)
Faheem Ashraf - 24 (Young)
Mohammad Amir - 26 (Fairly Young)
Junaid Khan - 28 (A bit older but can still easily go for another 4-6 years)
Hasan Ali - 24 (Young)
Shaheen Shah Afridi - 18 (Very Young)

So out of the 12 players that have come to my mind

Over Age 30 - 2/12
Over Age 25 - 6/12
Average age of Team - 25
 
It's typically Pakistan.

Some day we will be excellent and the other day terribly miserable.

Wouldn't surprise me if we reach the semis in the WC in the UK. Pak are good there!

Ps. Could have done better in the UAE as well if we made better selections.
 
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Knee jerk reaction like usual. One bad tournament does not equal dark era, we just need Pakistan and their management to learn a lesson from this and improve upon the Pakistan team
 
Dingolfy said:
Lol.Our U19 kids won a WC demolishing everyone and Prithvi Shaw is already making waves.We have very good domestic structure, quality infrastructure and coaches.So our system will always churn out good players.And unless you fix yours, such failures would happen again and again.
Click to expand...

no not true

india will suffer and is having lack of good talent -not for lack of availability but lack of chances
 
austerlitz said:
Are you joking,Prithvi shaw and KL rahul are licking their lips to replace sharma and dhawan.
Gill will replace kohli.
Abhishek sharma will be our new yuvraj.
Pant will replace dhoni.
Click to expand...

unless dhoni stays on till 40-looks like he is paying everybody to allow him to play!
 
austerlitz said:
Are you joking,Prithvi shaw and KL rahul are licking their lips to replace sharma and dhawan.
Gill will replace kohli.
Abhishek sharma will be our new yuvraj.
Pant will replace dhoni.
Click to expand...

Yeah but will they start performing to the level of Rohit, Dhawan, Kohli etc from the word go Nah I dont think so, in international cricket young players take time to develop unless they are 25 above and lots of experience on their back and there is no exception to that in the last 5 years except maybe Rabada or now Imam who started performinf from the word go but still are learning to win cruicial matches for their sides.
 
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QalandarFan said:
Hmm Let's see

Fakhar - 28 (Still fairly young for a batsman)
Imam - 22 (Young)
Babar - 23 (Young)
Sarfraz - 31 (Neither old nor young but experienced)
Shoaib Malik - 36 (Every team needs at least one experienced player)
Asif Ali - 26 (Fairly Young)
Shadab Khan - 19 (Very Young)
Faheem Ashraf - 24 (Young)
Mohammad Amir - 26 (Fairly Young)
Junaid Khan - 28 (A bit older but can still easily go for another 4-6 years)
Hasan Ali - 24 (Young)
Shaheen Shah Afridi - 18 (Very Young)

So out of the 12 players that have come to my mind

Over Age 30 - 2/12
Over Age 25 - 6/12
Average age of Team - 25
Click to expand...

Sarfraz is 33 and Malik is 37.

People like Amir and Asif are done. Doesn't matter what their ages are.

In 5 years time Fakhar and Junaid will be 33 and well past their prime.

Your hope of this team becoming better after 5 years is based on poor calculations.
 
the_outsider said:
You're going to be very disappointed.

Amir and Junaid are already 28+ and going downhill. Sarfraz is 33 at least and finished. Malik has 2 years left. Fakhar is also 29. He will only go downhill after 33. Asif and Nawaz are club level and no amount of experience will change that.

PCT is in trouble at the moment, whether you like it or not.
Click to expand...

Most players peak in there 30’s, half of our team are mid 20s
 
YousafTheBeast said:
Also Kevin Pietersen peaked in 2011-12, he was 31-32 then!
Click to expand...

If you're expecting every Pakistani batsman to have a career graph like KP then it's clear why fans of PCT go through such emotions. You should have realistic expectations from your players based on their abilities. This is not a team of KPs and Tendulkars, if you haven't noticed.
 
the_outsider said:
If you're expecting every Pakistani batsman to have a career graph like KP then it's clear why fans of PCT go through such emotions. You should have realistic expectations from your players based on their abilities. This is not a team of KPs and Tendulkars, if you haven't noticed.
Click to expand...

Didn’t say every pak player, nobody knew that kohli would become an ATG at the start of his career, did they? Let these players play 40+ games and we’ll see their true abilities!
 
aloo paratha said:
We will come back. Team is back down to Earth, and now the team management will hopefully learn how to assess conditions. Plus our team is inexperienced, hopefully they put in the hard work and learn from the upcoming matches against NZ, Aus, SA and England.

On a side note, maybe it's this optimism that makes me even more sad once we lose.
Click to expand...

Not happening. Heard this too many times already.
 
the_outsider said:
Sarfraz is 33 and Malik is 37.

People like Amir and Asif are done. Doesn't matter what their ages are.

In 5 years time Fakhar and Junaid will be 33 and well past their prime.

Your hope of this team becoming better after 5 years is based on poor calculations.
Click to expand...

Bending facts to prove a point. I’m not even going to try to argue with you.
 
YousafTheBeast said:
Honestly, in 5/6 years with these same players we’ll be one of the top sides! No player starts his career of as a star, we have many young players and it’ll be very beneficial for the future! Once these players gain all the experience at international level we’ll be a force to reckon with!

Just look at India, they rely on two 30 year old budday at the top, once they’re gone they’ll be at the same phase as we are in right now!
Click to expand...

5 stages of grief.
 
Our fans never stop, I can still see it:

"Now we will win the 2019 Cricket World Cup"
 
This kind of performance was indeed shocking but it's not the end of the world.

Considering there weren't any positives for the team, besides maybe Shaheen, it will be difficult for the team to move forward. But, for now, i think the best thing to do would be to give these players few for chances. If they do not perform in these upcoming tours, we can look at their alternatives. However, there are some obvious weaknesses, such as lower order and spin bowling. We should be already looking to strengthen these areas for the next series.

:48:
 
First team which experienes golden era and dark era 2-3 times a year. Visit Zim and they enter into golden era. Facing top 6 ranked teams bring them to dark era.
 
It certainly is a dark era when your best batsman is Malik and best available choice for captain is galli mohalla standard Sarfaraz. Lower order needs to be fixed and spin bowling. Stop playing bits and pieces like Asif Shadab Nawaz Sarfaraz
 
wasim-fan said:
5 stages of grief.
Click to expand...

Yes. Denial is the first.
Also repeating same mistakes again and again and expect different results. First and foremost we need to sack Sarfraz and make someone captain who can make team on merit. Having passengers like him and bits and pieces cricketers like Nawaz is not going to help our cause.
 
KingKhanWC said:
A few changes and a smarter captain is all is needed. Plenty of talent in Pakistan.
Click to expand...

We've been hearing this same song since Imran Khan's days. No doubt there is talent, but all countries have similar talent, but they also have more professionalism and better work ethic to go with it. Pakistan has failed to move with the times, and it is no surprise to see BD and Afghanistan catching up quickly while Pakistan stands still.
 
LMAO !!!!

How many WC did we win in our Golden Era ? Pakistan is an unpredictable team, one day we beat the world champs and the next day we bottle it against mediocre sides.

This knee jerk reaction from us fans is unbelievable. I dont like sarfraz, but lets give him time, he did won us a tournament which we never won before.
 
Dr_Bassim said:
We won a trophy a year back during a similar dark era.

So it finished after that and are we back to dark era now?
Click to expand...

Reality is Pakistan has been **** poor against Top teams in last 10 years. CT is the only tournament where they string together 3-4 win against top teams which is making fans delusional.

Pakistan’s Win-Loss against SA, AUS, IND, ENG, NZ

Last 1 Year 0-7
Last 2 years 4-12
Last 3 years 6-21
Last 4 years 9-31
Last 5 years 13-36
Last 10 years 30-72
 
Since the heart breaking 2007 World Cup exit and loss to Ireland, my relationship with Pakistan cricket changed once and for all. From that day I decided I will not take Pakistan cricket seriously and emotionally until I am convinced that the players and those running Pakistan cricket are taking things as seriously and emotionally. That day hasn't yet arrived.

My strategy as a fan since then is always expect the worst when Pakistan play, enjoy the comedy of errors, and of course if they perform well and exceed your expectations then it's a bonus, just enjoy while it lasts. :)

Result - no longer a stressed and disappointed Pakistani cricket fan
 
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