Listing reasons for Pakistan's defeat in 2nd ODI vs England

[LordEddardStark]

I guess everyone will agree that this time it was our bowling that cost us the match rather than batting. However for me the prime reasons were:

1. Sarfaraz's obsession with handing Faheem Ashraf the new ball. In T20s this trick might have come good because batsmen are trying to hit from the beginning but in ODIs you need wickets in the power play to capitulate opposite team. Hassan Ali should have been given new ball instead.

2. Lack of wicket taking bowlers. Only Shaheen and Hassan in today's eleven could've been termed as somewhat threatening, though they were tonked around too. But Imad, Yasir & Faheem were fairly innocuous.

3. Yasir Shah. The lesser said about him, the better.

4. Faheem Ashraf, the batsman. I don't know who started this rumor that this guy was an all-rounder but everyone and their grandmother certainly believed it. He was so hyped to the Moon that Islamabad United bought him in the Platinum category. Suffice to say that he should the one heading home to make place for Aamir after this series.

Any thoughts?

 

[Farhan93]

Imam
Babar
Yasir

.

These three should be replaced by Abid,Hafeez and Shadab ASAP.

 

[Technics 1210]

Yassir Shah.

 

[Ronaldo7]

It just wasn't a good bowling pitch. Even if Jofra was here I don't think England would have fared any better. This match shows that Faheem isn't needed (a lot of matches have done before tbh). Take out Faheem and bring Amir. Easy. You get a half decent all rounder player over a bits and pieces player.

 

[superman]

Imam
Babar
Yasir

.

These three should be replaced by Abid,Hafeez and Shadab ASAP.

So you think Faheem merits a place?

 

[Ronaldo7]

Imam
Babar
Yasir

.

These three should be replaced by Abid,Hafeez and Shadab ASAP.

You want babar to get replaced??

LOLOLOL.

 

[PerfectionPersonified]

Stupid and incapable captaan

 

[LordEddardStark]

It just wasn't a good bowling pitch. Even if Jofra was here I don't think England would have fared any better. This match shows that Faheem isn't needed (a lot of matches have done before tbh). Take out Faheem and bring Amir. Easy. You get a half decent all rounder player over a bits and pieces player.

Aamir for Faheem and Junaid for Yasir in next match. Shadab will come in for World cup anyway.

 

[Khan12]

Imam
Babar
Yasir

.

These three should be replaced by Abid,Hafeez and Shadab ASAP.

Have you lost your marbles? Babar.

 

[LordEddardStark]

Stupid and incapable captaan

True. The captain never had a plan. I don't know why but with the passing time Sarfaraz is losing that attacking instinct, which seemed to distinguish him from Azhar and co.

 

[Usman Chadda]

Imad and Faheem couldn't do their bit. Asif got out at a crucial stage.

Props to the team for fighting this hard.

 

[PerfectionPersonified]

Based on performance, Fahim Ashraf bats worse than Amir. Amir should be brought in, Amir himself does not deserve but he cant donworse than this muppet.

 

[Farhan93]

You want babar to get replaced??

LOLOLOL.

He didn't fail for the first time today in pressure situation. Hitting single boundary in mammoth Chase is unacceptable, he was the reason Fakhar lost his wicket. It's been happening again and again.. At least Hafeez plays with intent esp on such flat tracks.. Stop defending/overhyping babar from now on. We have seen enough

 

[aloo paratha]

Copied and pasted from the other thread with a bot added on:

-Playing Faheem
-Playing Yasir
-Open the bowling with Faheem instead of Hasan
-Bowling Yasir too much/ Not bowling Haris enough
-Playing defensive at the 40th over mark by bowling with Faheem instead of trying to take wickets with Hasan
-Imam batting at a SR of 79 for 45 balls when the required SR was 125
-Babar's stupid shot (a bit unfortunate)
-Haris' inability to hit big
-Having Sarfraz come in to bat too late
-Sarfraz' inability to hit big
-Sending Faheem in to bat before Hasan

 

[Farhan93]

So you think Faheem merits a place?

We don't have any other option. Hasan been poor too for sometime, should we drop him as well.? Junaid can come in to the side in place of yasir then you can replace faheem with shadab

 

[aloo paratha]

He didn't fail for the first time today in pressure situation. Hitting single boundary in mammoth Chase is unacceptable, he was the reason Fakhar lost his wicket. It's been happening again and again.. At least Hafeez plays with intent esp on such flat tracks.. Stop defending/overhyping babar from now on. We have seen enough

No it's not. stop lying to yourself. Babar played perfectly fine until his dismissal which was a bit unfortunate. He batted at a SR of 100, while Fakhar at the other end was going to town.

 

[Tapori]

Poor shot selection but actually the match was lost with very poor bowling selections and at the death bowling.
Though credit must be given to England's batting
Don't understand Harris as a player.

 

[Ronaldo7]

We don't have any other option. Hasan been poor too for sometime, should we drop him as well.? Junaid can come in to the side in place of yasir then you can replace faheem with shadab

At least Hasan doesn't average 300.

 

[CricVet]

Some people sounds like have never held a proper cricket bat. Babar was doing great. His dismissal was unfortunate and you will not see him getting out like that in many innings.

 

[Farhan93]

Have you lost your marbles? Babar.

You fans like to see softies like Babar in the team despite his constant failures in big matches/pressure situation , no wonder we are where we are in the rankings. This kind of mentality of always defending our favourites is destroying our cricket .There are lot of people here who used to think before today's match that Fakhar isn't Good enough. Lol.

Our fan Base is indeed ridiculous

 

[Markhor]

A big worry is where are the wickets with the new ball ? I've never had such little faith that we'll take wickets up front as I do now. Keep letting opponents getting off to flyers and don't be surprised to concede 350 plus.

I also cannot express how infuriating it is, after three years of evidence to the contrary, that the management thinks Yasir Shah has some utility in white ball cricket.

 

[LordEddardStark]

He didn't fail for the first time today in pressure situation. Hitting single boundary in mammoth Chase is unacceptable, he was the reason Fakhar lost his wicket. It's been happening again and again.. At least Hafeez plays with intent esp on such flat tracks.. Stop defending/overhyping babar from now on. We have seen enough

Babar played perfectly till 30 over Mark as per the plan. When he was going at 100 SR, why did he need a boundary anyway. Please remember Pakistan reached this close to the total not because of boundaries every other ball but because of this sensible batting approach of pacing the innings and the plan was going smoothly till the unfortunate dismissals for both Fakhar and Babar in couple of overs.

 

[Abdullah719]

A big worry is where are the wickets with the new ball ? I've never had such little faith that we'll take wickets up front as I do now.

It's only going to get worse if Faheem keeps opening the bowling.

 

[Farhan93]

No it's not. stop lying to yourself. Babar played perfectly fine until his dismissal which was a bit unfortunate. He batted at a SR of 100, while Fakhar at the other end was going to town.

Hitting just 1 boundary while chasing 373 is unacceptable, he was either playing for his avg , which he usually does, or he's not got the ability to thrive on big occasions. If you still think otherwise you are just fooling yourself. It's been four years since his debut and he never played inning of note in a big match. Fakhar has already done it few times in just 2 years. That's a difference between a champion batsman and overhyped mediocre player

 

[thecrusade911]

Talking strictly about where we lost match, we lost it in last 5 overs. Chase was going beautifully until Baber and Fakhar were batting. We were on it when Asif and Sarfaraz were batting. Asif's wicket and we lost the match.

 

[Farhan93]

Some people sounds like have never held a proper cricket bat. Babar was doing great. His dismissal was unfortunate and you will not see him getting out like that in many innings.

He gets out on rubbish deliverers very frequently who are you fooling?

 

[Kroll]

Some people sounds like have never held a proper cricket bat. Babar was doing great. His dismissal was unfortunate and you will not see him getting out like that in many innings.

Babar's bit of a soft lad, needs to show more grit. Otherwise it will be one excuse after another.

 

[Pakpak]

I guess everyone will agree that this time it was our bowling that cost us the match rather than batting. However for me the prime reasons were:

1. Sarfaraz's obsession with handing Faheem Ashraf the new ball. In T20s this trick might have come good because batsmen are trying to hit from the beginning but in ODIs you need wickets in the power play to capitulate opposite team. Hassan Ali should have been given new ball instead.

2. Lack of wicket taking bowlers. Only Shaheen and Hassan in today's eleven could've been termed as somewhat threatening, though they were tonked around too. But Imad, Yasir & Faheem were fairly innocuous.

3. Yasir Shah. The lesser said about him, the better.

4. Faheem Ashraf, the batsman. I don't know who started this rumor that this guy was an all-rounder but everyone and their grandmother certainly believed it. He was so hyped to the Moon that Islamabad United bought him in the Platinum category. Suffice to say that he should the one heading home to make place for Aamir after this series.

Any thoughts?

For being King in the North, off with your head!

 

[Farhan93]

Babar played perfectly till 30 over Mark as per the plan. When he was going at 100 SR, why did he need a boundary anyway. Please remember Pakistan reached this close to the total not because of boundaries every other ball but because of this sensible batting approach of pacing the innings and the plan was going smoothly till the unfortunate dismissals for both Fakhar and Babar in couple of overs.

It was all Fakhar, without him match would have been over in side 10 overs,not even exaggerating. He was playing from both ends and covering pathetic batting of nephew and everyone's favorite Babar, you can't expect one player to single handedly chase down such a huge score. Please admit imam was terrible as always and Babar failed again in a big match. Can't defend our favourites forever can we?

 

[Titan24]

It's only going to get worse if Faheem keeps opening the bowling.

Agreed, if common sense prevailed they should have opened with Hasan Ali along with Shaheen. He is a wicket taker and we are struggling to take wickets with the new ball. Hasan had really good in swing going with the new ball in PSL.

 

[LordEddardStark]

It was all Fakhar, without him match would have been over in side 10 overs,not even exaggerating. He was playing from both ends and covering pathetic batting of nephew and everyone's favorite Babar, you can't expect one player to single handedly chase down such a huge score. Please admit imam was terrible as always and Babar failed again in a big match. Can't defend our favourites forever can we?

No one is defending anyone. Fakhar was definitely the star today and everyone agrees that what he lacks in talent, he compensates it with mental fortitude. But you can be right about Imam, but not Babar. Babar was playing perfectly and scoring just one boundary alone is not a sufficient reason to downplay his innings. He held his own in that partnership and it's unfortunate that he got out at that time when both were accelerating but his innings was nowhere as bad as you are making it.

 

[Farhan93]

No one is defending anyone. Fakhar was definitely the star today and everyone agrees that what he lacks in talent, he compensates it with mental fortitude. But you can be right about Imam, but not Babar. Babar was playing perfectly and scoring just one boundary alone is not a sufficient reason to downplay his innings. He held his own in that partnership and it's unfortunate that he got out at that time when both were accelerating but his innings was nowhere as bad as you are making it.

"He held his own"

M sorry, but any decent batsman could have done that so why all the hype about babar? People call him a number 1 batsman in Pakistan and one of the best batsmen in the world. what was no 1 about that innings? Haris could have done that too maybe even in a better way had he batted at 3, Abid Ali could have done that or any decent FC batsman could have done that. You need to understand that pitch was extremely flat we needed more from babar than just nudging the ball here and there we were chasing 373 and he was playing like we were chasing 260. So if he's 'no 1' as he himself claims and his fans too , he got to do better than that but it does not happen ,everytime tough/big match or situation arrives babar becomes meek and gets out while contributing nothing... it has been happening for years now.

Either put pressure on him as fans to improve and stop defending his mediocrity or just admit that hes just a good batsman not great or worldclass.

Our only match winner in batting is Fakhar Zaman but hes been made to cover up the mediocrity of Imam and babar for too long now it's not fair to him as well as to Pakistan. he needs better batsmen around him at 1 and 3.. (Sharjeel,Abid,Haris etc)

 

[Syed1]

35(44) at a SR of 79 when the ball is hard and new and the field is up. If that isn't selfishness idk what is.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Faheem and Yasir should not be part of WC team.Faheem is not an all rounder.It is better to play a specialist bowler instead of Faheem.

 

[saeedhk]

Imam’s slow batting. Was a turtle on a flat pitch.
Faheem Ashraf. This guy shouldn’t even be playing PSL, let alone international cricket. He brings nothing to the team. Azhar Mehmood and Mickey just love him too much. Pakistan rather play with 10 players than him in the team.

 

[CricVet]

Babar's bit of a soft lad, needs to show more grit. Otherwise it will be one excuse after another.

Good luck finding Rocky Balboa in Pak to play cricket.

If you want proper well built athletes, then pray for a miracle to happen in Pakistan which will change our daily lifestyle and cause schools to harness the potential. We can’t compete in this world without proper schooling from early age.

 

[Ami]

Yasir Shah has to go obviously...Shadab better bowler and of course a batter, when fit. His batting will mean he can bat at 8.

Serious rethink about Faheem's batting ability, a few boundries would have done the trick...so when Shadab comes back Amir/Junaid can replace him.

Hasan to come ahead of Faheem...

With the above 3 corrections we would have been closer or even won today.

 

[Arsalan Pro]

Imam's slow innings in a big target.

Faheem's normal routine.

Yasir's garbage bowling.

Hasan and Shaheen bowling at the death with no plan.

Sarfraz's inability to hit big.

 

[aloo paratha]

Hitting just 1 boundary while chasing 373 is unacceptable, he was either playing for his avg , which he usually does, or he's not got the ability to thrive on big occasions. If you still think otherwise you are just fooling yourself. It's been four years since his debut and he never played inning of note in a big match. Fakhar has already done it few times in just 2 years. That's a difference between a champion batsman and overhyped mediocre player

Yes Babar is the king of soft runs, but he's the best we've got. Only hitting one boundary is not a problem, his strike rate was still very good. The real problem with his innings today was that he failed to kick on.

 

[moghul]

Many reasons but if I have to pick one, that's idiotic captaincy. When a fake allrounder is opening your bowling, you should expect nothing but blazing start by the opposing team.

 

[Farhan93]

Yes Babar is the king of soft runs, but he's the best we've got. Only hitting one boundary is not a problem, his strike rate was still very good. The real problem with his innings today was that he failed to kick on.

he always fails to kick on..

his strike rate wasn't good in the context of the match it was looking fine because Fakhar was playing from both ends almost and covering up babar's strike rate of 90s.. when you are chasing score like 373 the least a player like babar could do is to keep his strike rate between 100-110, if not more, to help his partner but Babar put all the pressure on fakhar to score from his end as well.. why do we call him a top player than if he can't even helpout a better player in Fakhar in such a score? and that's not happened for the first time...babar always does that whenever we need him to dominate the opponent or to help out players like Sharjeel or Fakhar. he failed Sharjeel in Aus 2017 , today he failed Fakhar .. that's my issue with him and his fans...

 

[Farhan93]

Many reasons but if I have to pick one, that's idiotic captaincy. When a fake allrounder is opening your bowling, you should expect nothing but blazing start by the opposing team.

what your 'strike bowler' did in the middle of the innings and at the end?...stop blaming captain, our bowling was rubbish.. no captain could have done better...

 

[Hasan123]

Our death bowling is pathetic.

 

[Shaddy86]

Despite Amir's lack of wicket taking ability in the recent past, he's our best bowler in high scoring games like these, since his return he has not once conceded more than 5.45 rpo in an innings. His average economy is 4.94!! There wasn't a single wicket taking bowler from both sides yesterday, it was all about containing on a dead track and Amir would have made the difference.

 

[Destroyer88]

1. inclusion of faheem instead of junaid/aamir
2. Bowling with yasir for too long when it was clearly seen that yasir didnt learn to change his lengths or speeds.. kept on giving long hops in the hope of a wicket only to be smashed to the fence each time
3. Imam's overly cautious attitude when batting. I am convinced this guy only plays for his pretty average. 36 off 44 absolutely bizzare. No positive intent tbh
4. Sending haris over sarfaraz. I might have gambled with imad maybe but maybe sarfaraz would have been a better choice over haris. Haris i believe is another thorn in the side when it comes to batting. Batted absolutely selfishly in the uae series and has never won us any games. Bowling is mediocre and usually found wanting in such situations
5. Bowlers didnt learn when they were being hit around the park. Slower balls..yorkers...varying pace nothing was being done
6. No slips nothing, very defensive mindaet to begin with
7. Chasing mentality of sarfaraz

 

[Kroll]

Good luck finding Rocky Balboa in Pak to play cricket.

If you want proper well built athletes, then pray for a miracle to happen in Pakistan which will change our daily lifestyle and cause schools to harness the potential. We can’t compete in this world without proper schooling from early age.

I mean in terms of mental fortitude, some of his dismissals indicate not putting as much of a price on his wicket as he should be.

 

[Farhan93]

Despite Amir's lack of wicket taking ability in the recent past, he's our best bowler in high scoring games like these, since his return he has not once conceded more than 5.45 rpo in an innings. His average economy is 4.94!! There wasn't a single wicket taking bowler from both sides yesterday, it was all about containing on a dead track and Amir would have made the difference.

Amir is worse than all of our bowlers

 

[PakLFC]

1) Gave away to many runes in the last five overs.
2) We don't have a batsman like Jos Butler
3) Faheem Ashraf contributes nothing to the side. Get him out!

 

[Angrez Pakistani]

Scoring a run-a-ball fifty while chasing 9 runs in over with a tired batsman on the other end is criminal. As for the Imam - automatic choice - Ul Haq is concerned, the less said about him the better. But our bowling is the major disappointment.

 

[Kroll]

Don't have the quality to beat teams like England. Another thing, Bairstow stopped at least two certain boundaries with his fielding, can any of our players do that?

 

[Ronaldo7]

Don't have the quality to beat teams like England. Another thing, Bairstow stopped at least two certain boundaries with his fielding, can any of our players do that?

Wdym don't have the quality??
They nearly won yesterday.

 

[Kroll]

Wdym don't have the quality??
They nearly won yesterday.

Nearly being the key word.

 

[Abdullah]

"He held his own"

M sorry, but any decent batsman could have done that so why all the hype about babar? People call him a number 1 batsman in Pakistan and one of the best batsmen in the world. what was no 1 about that innings? Haris could have done that too maybe even in a better way had he batted at 3, Abid Ali could have done that or any decent FC batsman could have done that. You need to understand that pitch was extremely flat we needed more from babar than just nudging the ball here and there we were chasing 373 and he was playing like we were chasing 260. So if he's 'no 1' as he himself claims and his fans too , he got to do better than that but it does not happen ,everytime tough/big match or situation arrives babar becomes meek and gets out while contributing nothing... it has been happening for years now.

Either put pressure on him as fans to improve and stop defending his mediocrity or just admit that hes just a good batsman not great or worldclass.

Our only match winner in batting is Fakhar Zaman but hes been made to cover up the mediocrity of Imam and babar for too long now it's not fair to him as well as to Pakistan. he needs better batsmen around him at 1 and 3.. (Sharjeel,Abid,Haris etc)

O bhaijan . You are not going to listen to anybody here, but as per the sky commentators at the game yesterday, they said Babar was playing a perfect Innings.
It's called providing the foil to the other player.
In a team u have different roles of player
If England had 6 Joe roots in their top 6, they wouldn't keep scoring 350+s like they do. That is not to say that Joe root is rubbish and shouldn't be In the team. Root can't chase 350 by himself either as the main player, and nor can Babar, but he can definitely provide a great foil to others who will take more risk.
It's a nuanced game and you clearly haven't grapsed it.
You can quote me in your reply but don't expect me to respond, because like I said go and see what the sky commentators thought about Babars risk free batting yesterdAy, and then you can decide whether to accept or not.
You are not gonna accept it from anybody here

 

[Batman]

In bowling Faheem and Yasir. Lack of wicket taking deliveries.

In batting Imam, Babar and Harris. Lacking strike rate issue.

 

[Farhan93]

Wdym don't have the quality??
They nearly won yesterday.

only because of Fakhar.. you can't win consistently with the likes of babar,imam,haris,malik . Fakhar alone can't cover up their pathetic batting in every high scoring match. We would have beaten England comfortably had we selected our team on merit. we should have also called sharjeel back for the worldcup, if WC is highscoring how do you think we will cope? We needed Sharjeel/Fakhar opening combo for the WC but we messed it up. Now, we can still tinker and make our line up better if :
1 we open with Fakhar/Abid
2 force babar to maintain his strike rate around 95 we don't need his 100s or his 50+ avg we need better SR from him. and if match is high scoring like yesterdays he should be forced to keep his strike rate 110+ to ease the burden on Fakhar. if he can't do that drop him and stick with Haris at 3.
3. Get Hafeez into the ASAP.
4. Replace Yasir with Shadab ASAP

 

[Farhan93]

O bhaijan . You are not going to listen to anybody here, but as per the sky commentators at the game yesterday, they said Babar was playing a perfect Innings.
It's called providing the foil to the other player.
In a team u have different roles of player
If England had 6 Joe roots in their top 6, they wouldn't keep scoring 350+s like they do. That is not to say that Joe root is rubbish and shouldn't be In the team. Root can't chase 350 by himself either as the main player, and nor can Babar, but he can definitely provide a great foil to others who will take more risk.
It's a nuanced game and you clearly haven't grapsed it.
You can quote me in your reply but don't expect me to respond, because like I said go and see what the sky commentators thought about Babars risk free batting yesterdAy, and then you can decide whether to accept or not.
You are not gonna accept it from anybody here

So you would rather trust sky commentators than your own sense? lol

bhai,no one is saying Babar to become chris gayle, but when your side chase scores like 373 you can't expect one player like Fakhar to maintain strike rate of 160 as well as to score big century while you maintain strike rate of 90-100 and hit only 1 four while consuming 50+ deliveries. if you are a team player and not selfish and you call yourself no 1 batsman in the country and in the world you have to do better than that. what was no 1 about that innings? I can reply you long but I won't for now.. you should make your opinions by watching matches closely instead of trusting commentators. commentators still call our bowling world class and amir a world class bowler..do you really think they are right about all the things they say? use your own head and cricketing knowledge..

 

[shockbound]

These were one of those games where luck had us more than our weak spots.

But we are always weak about estimating the power hitting we require at the end vs the one we got, it cost us this game as well.

Yes Imam was slow along with Babar but they cant be blamed for this game as it wasnt out of hand even when they left. Imam may cost us games in future but this one was passable for him.

The core reason I was able to spot was lack of hitting experience and execution at lower-order. You could see Sarfaraz and co wasting wide deliveries with ones and twos even dots. Those were the balls where they should have thrown kitchen sinks out to reach anywhere close to target before death bowling could choke them out.

Rest was fine. It was among healthier games for Pakistan where we were unfortunately not able to apply ourselves at the death. Those 3-4 missed or singled deliveries made the difference.

 

[Farhan93]

These were one of those games where luck had us more than our weak spots.

But we are always weak about estimating the power hitting we require at the end vs the one we got, it cost us this game as well.

Yes Imam was slow along with Babar but they cant be blamed for this game as it wasnt out of hand even when they left. Imam may cost us games in future but this one was passable for him.

The core reason I was able to spot was lack of hitting experience and execution at lower-order. You could see Sarfaraz and co wasting wide deliveries with ones and twos even dots. Those were the balls where they should have thrown kitchen sinks out to reach anywhere close to target before death bowling could choke them out.

Rest was fine. It was among healthier games for Pakistan where we were unfortunately not able to apply ourselves at the death. Those 3-4 missed or singled deliveries made the difference.

Imam was a biggest culprit along side our bowling. Don't defend him. He made a Hash of first PP where any decent opener would have gone with a strike rate of 120+ and supported Fakhar..

 

[shockbound]

Imam was a biggest culprit along side our bowling. Don't defend him. He made a Hash of first PP where any decent opener would have gone with a strike rate of 120+ and supported Fakhar..

Agree! But he had lesser impact over outcome of this specific game as he went away early this time. His century would have downed Pakistan for sure. Lets discount him for this innings as this game was decently balanced till last few overs. It was the lower order's dumbness which ultimately took the game out of our hands.

 

[Pete Rose]

late order all rounders, and late order bowling.

 

[Farhan93]

Agree! But he had lesser impact over outcome of this specific game as he went away early this time. His century would have downed Pakistan for sure. Lets discount him for this innings as this game was decently balanced till last few overs. It was the lower order's dumbness which ultimately took the game out of our hands.

I think we would have won with any decent opener alongside Fakhar, it should have not gotten into the later part of the innings in the first place because of the blinder played by Fakhar but sadly Imam and Babar ruined it all for him and Pakistan. If Abid was there alongside Fakhar we would have won in 46-47th over... Imam was a biggest culprit ..I can't ignore that

 

[Abdullah]

So you would rather trust sky commentators than your own sense? lol

bhai,no one is saying Babar to become chris gayle, but when your side chase scores like 373 you can't expect one player like Fakhar to maintain strike rate of 160 as well as to score big century while you maintain strike rate of 90-100 and hit only 1 four while consuming 50+ deliveries. if you are a team player and not selfish and you call yourself no 1 batsman in the country and in the world you have to do better than that. what was no 1 about that innings? I can reply you long but I won't for now.. you should make your opinions by watching matches closely instead of trusting commentators. commentators still call our bowling world class and amir a world class bowler..do you really think they are right about all the things they say? use your own head and cricketing knowledge..

Just to address your comprehension fail, i watched all of the innings and it so happened the commentators echoed my thoughts exactly about Babars innings being perfect for the situation, rather than me taking my lead from them.

Just to be clear, you can criticise Babar for not going on, but not for scoring 50 off 50 hitting only one boundary

 

[hadi123]

Yasir Shah. He bowled absolute tripe, a toddler would have been able to smash him

 

[aukhan]

Sarfraz - Poor Captaincy, Poor team selection, Poor batting in the death overs.
Imam - Useless as usual.
Yasir - Blame goes to Inzimam for selecting him and Sarfraz for playing him.

 

[Couch Cricketer]

Depth overs batting and bowling. Getting hit 75 in the last 5 mostly cost us the match. And batting at the end we needed to go for big overs a few overs earlier than we did. So that a good 4-5 run over does not make the chase almost impossible and we stay in the game

 

[Farhan93]

Just to address your comprehension fail, i watched all of the innings and it so happened the commentators echoed my thoughts exactly about Babars innings being perfect for the situation, rather than me taking my lead from them.

Just to be clear, you can criticise Babar for not going on, but not for scoring 50 off 50 hitting only one boundary

Problem with you is you are a blind Babar fan who can't accepts facts. As I said, Commentators speak rubbish most of the times they still call Amir a worldclass bowler would you also agree with that? Use your own head , if you consider babar the best batsman in Pakistan and one of the best in the world then he should have been a mainstay of our chase of 373 rather than playing as a second fiddle and scoring no boundaries. this is not just acceptable from the ' no 1 batsman' . My issue is either don't call him the best and accept he is just a good batsman who does nothing special when we really need him or prove with facts that he won us few matches in these 4 years against big teams or prevailed in pressure situation.Please prove it and I will counter you and prove it to you he has always failed in big matches/pressure situations. he is not a kid anymore that you would say he is still learning and will become better there are no signs of improvement ,4 years already have been passed almost 25-30 % of his career has been over . how long will you keep calling him world class and no 1 batsman??

I repeat, I consider Fakhar our best batsman in all 3 formats even he looks ugly or whatever ,fact is he performs in big matches /pressure situation he has proved that multiple times in just 2 years.. yet he's not called as a best batsman in the side or world class.
Respect ur real performers and put pressure on other chickens who have been failing us again and again instead of defending their useless performances

 

[Technics 1210]

A big worry is where are the wickets with the new ball ? I've never had such little faith that we'll take wickets up front as I do now. Keep letting opponents getting off to flyers and don't be surprised to concede 350 plus.

I also cannot express how infuriating it is, after three years of evidence to the contrary, that the management thinks Yasir Shah has some utility in white ball cricket.

To be fair, England didn't take many wickets with the new ball either, and neither did England get off to a flyer. It was Butler in the last 5 overs which was carnage.

 

[Technics 1210]

"He held his own"

M sorry, but any decent batsman could have done that so why all the hype about babar? People call him a number 1 batsman in Pakistan and one of the best batsmen in the world. what was no 1 about that innings? Haris could have done that too maybe even in a better way had he batted at 3, Abid Ali could have done that or any decent FC batsman could have done that. You need to understand that pitch was extremely flat we needed more from babar than just nudging the ball here and there we were chasing 373 and he was playing like we were chasing 260. So if he's 'no 1' as he himself claims and his fans too , he got to do better than that but it does not happen ,everytime tough/big match or situation arrives babar becomes meek and gets out while contributing nothing... it has been happening for years now.

Either put pressure on him as fans to improve and stop defending his mediocrity or just admit that hes just a good batsman not great or worldclass.

Our only match winner in batting is Fakhar Zaman but hes been made to cover up the mediocrity of Imam and babar for too long now it's not fair to him as well as to Pakistan. he needs better batsmen around him at 1 and 3.. (Sharjeel,Abid,Haris etc)

There's no pleasing some people.

I have to ask, did you have a bet on Babar? Sounds like you lost plentiful money.

As it has been mentioned many times, this loss was more down to our bowling, and not batting, and to lose by 12 runs chasing a mammoth score is testament to this fact. Why not blame Yassir Shah for his awful bowling? We lost by 12 runs, 2 sixes - how many boundaries did Yassir give away?

 

[Snowflake]

1) Poor death bowling. You will loose 9/10 matches when chasing 350+

2) Imam with his overly cautious approach in PP

3) Haaris and Sarfraz's inability to hit

4) Faheem's general uselessness

 

[Farhan93]

There's no pleasing some people.

I have to ask, did you have a bet on Babar? Sounds like you lost plentiful money.

As it has been mentioned many times, this loss was more down to our bowling, and not batting, and to lose by 12 runs chasing a mammoth score is testament to this fact. Why not blame Yassir Shah for his awful bowling? We lost by 12 runs, 2 sixes - how many boundaries did Yassir give away?

Instead of getting personal,you would do better if you answer and defend babar with facts. Bowling was very ordinary but even if yasir wasn't there we still would have considered alot of runs because pitch was flat. England have flattest pitches in the world nowadays and outfield is always quick so batsmen can score quickly with ease yet we saw our so called no 1 batsman hit only one boundary and was scoring with strike rate of less than 100 when we needed him to score with atleast 110-115 , Why fans like you just can't accept that his approach was wrong or he doesnt have an ability perform in highscoring matches like these or even in low scoring pressure matches? Supporting Babar is more important than Pakistan for some people,reminds me of blind Misbah fans.

 

[Technics 1210]

Instead of getting personal,you would do better if you answer and defend babar with facts. Bowling was very ordinary but even if yasir wasn't there we still would have considered alot of runs because pitch was flat. England have flattest pitches in the world nowadays and outfield is always quick so batsmen can score quickly with ease yet we saw our so called no 1 batsman hit only one boundary and was scoring with strike rate of less than 100 when we needed him to score with atleast 110-115 , Why fans like you just can't accept that his approach was wrong or he doesnt have an ability perform in highscoring matches like these or even in low scoring pressure matches? Supporting Babar is more important than Pakistan for some people,reminds me of blind Misbah fans.

Getting personal? I just asked you a question because you exhibit the perfect trait of someone who lost out big. If you think this was getting personal, then not only is the trail hot, but there is no need to explain as it is pretty clear where the fault lies.

Your argument is weak. How comes England did not score quickly at the start on the same flat pitch? Pakistan were either level, or ahead in the RRR for a good period of time. In case you hadn't noticed, Pakistan started falling behind the RRR when Babar was out.

Batting is not about maintaining a SR throughout the match, it is about knowing when to accelerate, and when to decelerate in an innings. Pakistan had paced the innings perfectly but just fell short.

Yes we should support Babar, heck we should support our team despite player weaknesses and opinions, but no, the wrist slitters like yourself are out with all the knives/daggers/swords.

As I said, there is no pleasing *fans* like you.

 

[Farhan93]

Getting personal? I just asked you a question because you exhibit the perfect trait of someone who lost out big. If you think this was getting personal, then not only is the trail hot, but there is no need to explain as it is pretty clear where the fault lies.

Your argument is weak. How comes England did not score quickly at the start on the same flat pitch? Pakistan were either level, or ahead in the RRR for a good period of time. In case you hadn't noticed, Pakistan started falling behind the RRR when Babar was out.

Batting is not about maintaining a SR throughout the match, it is about knowing when to accelerate, and when to decelerate in an innings. Pakistan had paced the innings perfectly but just fell short.

Yes we should support Babar, heck we should support our team despite player weaknesses and opinions, but no, the wrist slitters like yourself are out with all the knives/daggers/swords.

As I said, there is no pleasing *fans* like you.

Let me remind you, Both of their openers had much higher SR than your imam through out the innings, and Roy was not even at his best as he's returning from back spasm but he finished his innings with a SR of 88 and your favorite Imam with a SR of 79 while chasing 373. When you chase you expect your both openers to share burden if one is going at 140+ atleast other can maintain run a ball or atleast a SR of 95,96-97, especially a player like Imam who can't even accelerate that even if he is slow at the start he could cover that up by scoring 20-25 runs on 8-9 deliveries at some stage of his innings, he can't do that infact he doesn't even want to do that because he knows all he has to do is to maintain his avg and he will remain in the team forever whatever the SR is.

Check the Career SR of Roy and Bairstow ,please. And you want Fakhar alone to compete with them while Imam should keep playing with a SR of 71,79? just because he is a nephew and has avg of 54 ? Is it fair on Fakhar and Pakistan what do you honestly think ? As I said ,England have flattest pitch, quick outfields, best conditions for batters especially openers to score runs with a strike rate close to 100 ..if Imam cannot do that even in England then he should not be playing for Pakistan and Pakistan do have better openers.. Abid Ali is sitting on the bench getting wasted...why don't give him 5 consecutive matches to prove his worth? Give him a consistent runs and you will know how poor and selfish Imam was when you will see even a test opener like Abid scoring quickly than Imam and supporting Fakhar well. But that won't happen Abid won't be given a fair run as that will expose Imam's inability or selfishness whatever it is and Inzi won't let that happen.

Keep your ego aside for a moment and think neutrally and honestly ,also check some facts and figures :

1- Imam's SR against top 9 sides and compare that to any other opener in the world
2- RR in England in the past 3 years to get aware of the fact that how easy it's to become to score quick runs there yet imam is struggling

 

[Technics 1210]

Let me remind you, Both of their openers had much higher SR than your imam through out the innings, and Roy was not even at his best as he's returning from back spasm but he finished his innings with a SR of 88 and your favorite Imam with a SR of 79 while chasing 373. When you chase you expect your both openers to share burden if one is going at 140+ atleast other can maintain run a ball or atleast a SR of 95,96-97, especially a player like Imam who can't even accelerate that even if he is slow at the start he could cover that up by scoring 20-25 runs on 8-9 deliveries at some stage of his innings, he can't do that infact he doesn't even want to do that because he knows all he has to do is to maintain his avg and he will remain in the team forever whatever the SR is.

Check the Career SR of Roy and Bairstow ,please. And you want Fakhar alone to compete with them while Imam should keep playing with a SR of 71,79? just because he is a nephew and has avg of 54 ? Is it fair on Fakhar and Pakistan what do you honestly think ? As I said ,England have flattest pitch, quick outfields, best conditions for batters especially openers to score runs with a strike rate close to 100 ..if Imam cannot do that even in England then he should not be playing for Pakistan and Pakistan do have better openers.. Abid Ali is sitting on the bench getting wasted...why don't give him 5 consecutive matches to prove his worth? Give him a consistent runs and you will know how poor and selfish Imam was when you will see even a test opener like Abid scoring quickly than Imam and supporting Fakhar well. But that won't happen Abid won't be given a fair run as that will expose Imam's inability or selfishness whatever it is and Inzi won't let that happen.

Keep your ego aside for a moment and think neutrally and honestly ,also check some facts and figures :

1- Imam's SR against top 9 sides and compare that to any other opener in the world
2- RR in England in the past 3 years to get aware of the fact that how easy it's to become to score quick runs there yet imam is struggling

Now be honest, had Pakistan won the match, would your criticism of Babar been as relentless as it is now? I don't think so, for obvious reasons.

What is it with you and SR? Even with England's opener SR being higher than Imam blah blah blah, Pakistan only lost by 12 runs. This was not a 50, 100, or a 200 run defeat - it was just 12 runs!

And where did I say I want Fakhar to compete alone while Imam should keep playing with a low SR? You are just making stuff up.

By the way, Imam is not my favourite, don't know where you got that from - time to sharpen your pencil?

 

[Farhan93]

Now be honest, had Pakistan won the match, would your criticism of Babar been as relentless as it is now? I don't think so, for obvious reasons.

What is it with you and SR? Even with England's opener SR being higher than Imam blah blah blah, Pakistan only lost by 12 runs. This was not a 50, 100, or a 200 run defeat - it was just 12 runs!

And where did I say I want Fakhar to compete alone while Imam should keep playing with a low SR? You are just making stuff up.

By the way, Imam is not my favourite, don't know where you got that from - time to sharpen your pencil?

Had Pakistan won the match ,I would have said openly we won because of Fakhar and contributions by Asif Ali and Sarfraz... wouldn't have mentioned Imam and Babar..Because both of them made the task even more difficult...Fakhar was going with a SR of 140 for heavens sake...it was not his duty alone to keep up the RR and take risks after every 2 balls he should have gone with a SR of 125-130 and his partners in imam and babar should have supported him and kept SRs around 110..that would have been very good..but such is the brilliance of Fakhar that despite taking risks he still managed to score big hundred 138. no other Pakistani batsman can ever do that if his partners play so poorly and slowly..We got closer only because of Fakhar and if we had won that would have been because of him only and cameos of Asif and Sarfraz I would have still called out Babar and Imam for their poor batting.

Me and SR? o bhai that's because SR matters, there is a reason why England are so successful in modern times because of their batsmen high strike rates...In modern flat conditions, what doyou want to see?when ball doesn't swing, no reverse swing, boundaries are short, bats are big, field restriction rules favor batsmen.. you still want to see or are satisfied with batsmen playing with a strike rate 75 or even 80 for no reason ? or maybe the reason is that they want to maintain their avgs so their place in the side can't be questioned

 

[Technics 1210]

Had Pakistan won the match ,I would have said openly we won because of Fakhar and contributions by Asif Ali and Sarfraz... wouldn't have mentioned Imam and Babar..Because both of them made the task even more difficult...Fakhar was going with a SR of 140 for heavens sake...it was not his duty alone to keep up the RR and take risks after every 2 balls he should have gone with a SR of 125-130 and his partners in imam and babar should have supported him and kept SRs around 110..that would have been very good..but such is the brilliance of Fakhar that despite taking risks he still managed to score big hundred 138. no other Pakistani batsman can ever do that if his partners play so poorly and slowly..We got closer only because of Fakhar and if we had won that would have been because of him only and cameos of Asif and Sarfraz I would have still called out Babar and Imam for their poor batting.

Me and SR? o bhai that's because SR matters, there is a reason why England are so successful in modern times because of their batsmen high strike rates...In modern flat conditions, what doyou want to see?when ball doesn't swing, no reverse swing, boundaries are short, bats are big, field restriction rules favor batsmen.. you still want to see or satisfied with batsman playing with a strike rate 75 or even 80 for no reason ?

England’s average SR in the match was 126
Pakistan’s average SR in the match was 120

Why blame one batsman for a difference in SR of 6?

I am not saying SR does not matter, it does in LoIs, but like I said SR is all about acceleration/deceleration. You cannot expect a batsman to hit a boundary on every ball or every over.

I am satisfied to see Pakistan can score above 350 even with a batsman scoring at a SR of 75!

 

[Abdullah]

Problem with you is you are a blind Babar fan who can't accepts facts. As I said, Commentators speak rubbish most of the times they still call Amir a worldclass bowler would you also agree with that? Use your own head , if you consider babar the best batsman in Pakistan and one of the best in the world then he should have been a mainstay of our chase of 373 rather than playing as a second fiddle and scoring no boundaries. this is not just acceptable from the ' no 1 batsman' . My issue is either don't call him the best and accept he is just a good batsman who does nothing special when we really need him or prove with facts that he won us few matches in these 4 years against big teams or prevailed in pressure situation.Please prove it and I will counter you and prove it to you he has always failed in big matches/pressure situations. he is not a kid anymore that you would say he is still learning and will become better there are no signs of improvement ,4 years already have been passed almost 25-30 % of his career has been over . how long will you keep calling him world class and no 1 batsman??

I repeat, I consider Fakhar our best batsman in all 3 formats even he looks ugly or whatever ,fact is he performs in big matches /pressure situation he has proved that multiple times in just 2 years.. yet he's not called as a best batsman in the side or world class.
Respect ur real performers and put pressure on other chickens who have been failing us again and again instead of defending their useless performances

It's a team game. Babar inning was perfect until he got out.
Read my last post again, Babar can be criticised for not going further last innings.

I guess the likes of you deserve Malik's and hafeezs and akmals

 

[Chokli]

It's a team game. Babar inning was perfect until he got out.
Read my last post again, Babar can be criticised for not going further last innings.

I guess the likes of you deserve Malik's and hafeezs and akmals

Babar "I don't need powerhitting" Azam, after playing 51 balls should have scored at least 60 or so runs.

It was far from perfect.

 

[Technics 1210]

Had Pakistan lost multiple wickets in the initial powerplays then the same people crying over SR would come out with lines like - Pakistani batsmen do not know how to build an innings.

Like I said, there is no pleasing some fans.

Utterly hilarious.

 

[Farhan93]

England’s average SR in the match was 126
Pakistan’s average SR in the match was 120

Why blame one batsman for a difference in SR of 6?

I am not saying SR does not matter, it does in LoIs, but like I said SR is all about acceleration/deceleration. You cannot expect a batsman to hit a boundary on every ball or every over.

I am satisfied to see Pakistan can score above 350 even with a batsman scoring at a SR of 75!

It's because of Fakhar we scored 350. Take out Fakhar who would have done that for you?Answer me honestly..

And take out Babar and Imam in the team and induct Abid and Hafeez in the team we would have still scored 350 or maybe even won the match because Abid would have done alot better than Imam..

So, Point is Babar's inning was useless and Imam's inning was damaging for our cause. we need to replace Imam with Abid and Babar should not be called as a best batsman in the country anymore

 

[Technics 1210]

It's because of Fakhar we scored 350. Take out Fakhar who would have done that for you?Answer me honestly..

And take out Babar and Imam in the team and induct Abid and Hafeez in the team we would have still scored 350 or maybe even won the match because Abid would have done alot better than Imam..

So, Point is Babar's inning was useless and Imam's inning was damaging for our cause. we need to replace Imam with Abid and Babar should not be called as a best batsman in the country anymore

It's because of Buttler, England went flying past 300. You might as well say England won because of Buttler's innings! No wait, that's exactly what happened.

Also, best is not about scoring the most runs - best is about playing the situation, and Babar was playing well. Remember, we lost by 12 runs, and scoring rate declined once Babar was out.