Matthew Hayden's advice to India: "You've got to be conservative against Shaheen Afridi"

[MenInG]

Matthew Hayden speaking to Star Sports:

"You've got to be conservative against Shaheen Afridi. Remember back to the (T20) World Cup (in the UAE in 2021) more recently. Shaheen was able to take early wickets,"

"We'll never forget that ball that he bowled to Rohit Sharma, so a little bit of caution against Shaheen Afridi. If it's swinging, look to play out those first three overs,"

"India is playing against Pakistan's pace trio. This is one of the spiciest competitions on the planet. We've got Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, and Naseem (Shah). Three very different types of bowlers and unique bowlers, which require unique plans from Team India.

"Firstly, the conditions here in Kandy tend to have quite a lot of bounce, so you've got to watch that out, especially Haris Rauf. He'll want to really hustle in and hit the top of off stump.

"And I think with Naseem, even though he will shape the ball, Pakistan can be in a position to advance forward with India managing to take them out of play by aggressive plays against someone like Naseem,"

"Put him (Naseem) under pressure, feel like you are in front of the game. All in all, though, I think it's going to be Team India that's going to win. I think they've got a deeper, classier batting lineup, and I think they've got form on the board as well."

 

[MenInG]

Interesting that Hayden puts India as favourites.

 

[ex-q-zit]

India needs to see of the new ball and save wickets. Shaheen is lethal with the new ball but is equally ineffective with the old ball. If Gill and Sharma can weather the Shaheen-Naseem storm then India can go on to build a comepetitive total.

I think this is the first time in almost a decade that Pakistan go in as favourite. Indian team is still not settled especially the batting. On paper Pakistan is the better team but cricket is played on the field so hope it will be as tightly contested as was in Melbourne last year.

 

[Usman Chadda]

India needs to see of the new ball and save wickets. Shaheen is lethal with the new ball but is equally ineffective with the old ball. If Gill and Sharma can weather the Shaheen-Naseem storm then India can go on to build a comepetitive total.

I think this is the first time in almost a decade that Pakistan go in as favourite. Indian team is still not settled especially the batting. On paper Pakistan is the better team but cricket is played on the field so hope it will be as tightly contested as was in Melbourne last year.

Pakistan never do well with the favorites tag. Underdog suits us better to be fair.

 

[MenInG]

Hayden has the inside track on Pakistan as he was our mentor but interesting to see his comments no Naseem - Does he know something about Naseem's mental make-up?

 

[RidiculousMan]

Realistically speaking, Pakistan's only chance of restricting India on a sub par or even a par total is to take wickets with the new balls.

If that doesn't happen. It will be very difficult for our bowlers to provide consistent breakthroughs in the middle. Remember that Pakistan's spin attack has worst record of taking wickets in the middle overs.

More so it's going to be Pakistan's batting that will be determining where the game swings.

It could be a rain affected game so defending can be difficult. If Pakistan is chasing a par or higher total than that's not going to be easier either.

 

[RidiculousMan]

Hayden has the inside track on Pakistan as he was our mentor but interesting to see his comments no Naseem - Does he know something about Naseem's mental make-up?

Could be. But I also believe this is a mental part of the game that you will have to overcome sooner or later if you are to progress in this sport.

 

[pakfan54588]

India need to make sure no wicket fall in the first 10 overs even if score is 40/0 .If they do that they will already be way ahead of the game .our spinners are toothless and can easily be dominated if put under pressure

 

[Rana]

You’ve got to open with a left hander

Simple.

 

[ex-q-zit]

Pakistan never do well with the favorites tag. Underdog suits us better to be fair.

To be fair it puts pressure on India too. In Wc2021 India went in as favourites and lost. In Wc2022 Pak went in a favourites and lost. Pitches in Sl are so slow hence teams should look to bat first and aim at 270 instead of 350. anything above 270 should be competitive here.

 

[Major]

Shubman gill can be a problem for us

 

[Devadwal]

Shubman gill can be a problem for us

He is sitting duck against incoming delivery so he is not a big threat

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Pakistan never do well with the favorites tag. Underdog suits us better to be fair.

Hard to say that when Pakistan have never been favourites against India in over 17 years in this format. Since 2006 India tour of Pakistan, India have consistently been the better side. It's the first time in a long time that I genuinely feel Pakistan have the edge over India . Higher ranked side, quality and varied bowling attack, batting depth, more experience playing in these conditions - not sure how anyone can say PAK are not favourites?

 

[Devadwal]

Hard to say that when Pakistan have never been favourites against India in over 17 years in this format. Since 2006 India tour of Pakistan, India have consistently been the better side. It's the first time in a long time that I genuinely feel Pakistan have the edge over India . Higher ranked side, quality and varied bowling attack, batting depth, more experience playing in these conditions - not sure how anyone can say PAK are not favouri

Pakistan were favourite in 2018 Asia cup where virat was rested and india hammered Pakistan in both games

 

[SamNJ]

Shubman gill can be a problem for us

Too many weaknesses.

 

[Ahmed216]

Interesting that Hayden puts India as favourites.

I think Pak are the favourites. They are very confident and determined and have decent ability to back that up

 

[ask_analyse_act]

Pakistan announced their 11 shows they are confident , slight feeling is that they will miss Saud Shakeel and an extra pacer in place of Nawaz... India is weak against pace , Wasim jnr who also bowls 140+ would be handy here i think..

 

[Zeshan547]

Pakistan announced their 11 shows they are confident , slight feeling is that they will miss Saud Shakeel and an extra pacer in place of Nawaz... India is weak against pace , Wasim jnr who also bowls 140+ would be handy here i think..

It's Palakelle not MCG, so extra pacer don't make much sense here but agree on Saud for Agha, That decision can cost us the match i am afraid , and i am a big No for announcing the XI a day before match6 because with rain and other variable it can change conditions plus you allow opposition to plan according to your playing XI so it's complete non sense.

 

[JattMaula]

Lala Jr has played 3 matches against India. One he turned single-handedly and in others he was ok.

Our batters need to play out couple of overs. But both of the openers are susceptible to incoming balls and Hitman has history of falling over to left armers.

 

[Cover Drive Six]

Indian batters v (Shaheen Afridi/Haris Rauf/Naseem Shah)

Rohit - 47 runs, 3 Dismissals
Kohli - 107 runs, 1 Dismissal
Rahul - 22 runs, 3 Dismissals
Surya - 22 runs, 2 Dismissals
Hardik - 47 runs, 1 Dismissal
Jadeja - 19 runs, 0 Dismissal

 

[Justcrazy]

Shaheen is good bowler , I think India would look to play his first spell off and make sure not to give wickets to him. I think Naseem will be more effective in this game. Again the game will be decieded how Pakistan fields , if they keep cool and grab opportunities , they will put India under big pressure.

 

[Firebat]

No amount of advice is going to stop a 147kph inswinging rocket at your middle stump. Aggression against Shaheen has not been India's downfall in previous games, it's just some unplayable deliveries and some vulnerable technique.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Kohli is one who has the total command against quality pace bowling. Despite of Rohit's heroics of last 13 years, new ball left armers has been his bane.
The only time I thought Kohli looked scratchy and out of form was in the 2019 wc match vs Pakistan but even there he went on to score 70 something.

 

[Ali T]

He should be advising the Pakistani's considering he was part of the Pakistan team for a while !

 

[MenInG]

He should be advising the Pakistani's considering he was part of the Pakistan team for a while !

Yes, I found his remarks on Naseem a bit of inside info type thing - not too professional. It will be assumed that he knows something about Naseem's mental make-up.

 

[MenInG]

Very interesting first over.

 

[Saj]

Watchful openers so far.

Put the bad ball away.

Best way to do it.

 

[Asad T]

Watchful openers so far.

Put the bad ball away.

Best way to do it.

They know Shaheen will look to bowl it full and have so far anticipated it well

 

[Adi.k]

I think Shaheen still has courage and power to put under pressure any batting lineup.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Despite Hayden's advice Shaheen managed to claim four of the top wickets against India suggesting that they may not have heeded Hayden's counsel seriously.

 

[MenInG]

Shoaib Akhtar in a presser:

"Yeh Rohit Sharma woh Rohit Sharma hai hi nahi. Yeh uska stunt double hai. Shaheen uske dimaag mein baith gaya hai. (This is not the same Rohit Sharma. This one's a stunt double. Shaheen has conquered his mind). I have never seen him change his stance, but what was happening there? Stance change kara, beat hua, bowled hua (He changed his stance and got bowled). Shaheen is subconsciously in his mind. This is what pressure of IND vs PAK match does to players,”

 

[MenInG]

Aaqib Javed's advice to India batters:

"They need to forget who is bowling. They are missing half volleys, they are not attacking, they are not thinking of scoring runs. They need to be hitting fours, they shouldn't just think of surviving."

"That's the worst thing one can do. Whatever be your technique, you are Kohli because you play like a Kohli. All of a sudden you can't become Chanderpaul."

 

[DeadlyVenom]

You’ve got to open with a left hander

Simple.

He is more effective against left handers in PP overs in T20. Im sure it will be a similar story in ODIs.

 

[Asad T]

Clearly, the strategy was the opposite, attack Shaheen and defend Naseem
But kudos to the Indians for mustering the courage to attack our pacers
We'll need to think out of the box to get some wickets

 

[Saj]

This will I hope in future get Shaheen thinking and have a Plan B.

As today it seemed he just had the one idea, bowl full and stump to stump with the ball mostly coming back into the right-handers, which was easy for them both, especially Gill.

 

[Asad T]

This will I hope in future get Shaheen thinking and have a Plan B.

As today it seemed he just had the one idea, bowl full and stump to stump with the ball mostly coming back into the right-handers, which was easy for them both, especially Gill.

Indeed,

Plan A, bowl full with inswing, attack the stumps
Plan B, bowl length

I guess his plan C was to then bowl around the wicket and bowl away cutters to the right hander, which worked in the end. He's a smart bowler and i'm sure (as you say) he will learn from this and will build his repertoire

 

[Major]

Aaqib Javed's advice to India batters:

"They need to forget who is bowling. They are missing half volleys, they are not attacking, they are not thinking of scoring runs. They need to be hitting fours, they shouldn't just think of surviving."

"That's the worst thing one can do. Whatever be your technique, you are Kohli because you play like a Kohli. All of a sudden you can't become Chanderpaul."

well aqibs advice turned out to be right.

 

[Stewie]

This will I hope in future get Shaheen thinking and have a Plan B.

As today it seemed he just had the one idea, bowl full and stump to stump with the ball mostly coming back into the right-handers, which was easy for them both, especially Gill.

I think sometimes you have to go back to conventional bowling… setting up batsmen by drawing them across by bowling wide or pushing them back by bowling length or short of length before you slip in the knock out delivery.

This is how fast bowling has traditionally worked if you remember how during the golden era of test and ODI cricket bowlers used to set up batsmen.

In this day and age of high scoring, batsmen are going for every ball so the bowlers try to knock them out with every ball as well. Sometimes it will work and sometimes it won’t. The batsmen have the conditions heavily n their favor these days. Agains top batsmen of the world, even if you have five top pacers of the world operating, you won’t get them all out for 200 or less 10 times out 10.

That’s when you think on your feet and adapt. Stop over using the ball that’s leaking runs and go on the defensive a bit. First try to slow things down. Fast bowling has been defanged a lot and you have to think like a spinner a bit now.

 

[sweep_shot]

Aaqib's advice is far more effective than Hayden's advice.

I feel like best way to deal with a good bowler sometimes is to attack him.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

well aqibs advice turned out to be right.

It was always better advice. There is no point looking to survive high-quality pace bowling. Look to take him on aggressively and if it comes off, good. If not, you're dead meat anyway. You need an aggressive left hander to increase chances of success

 

[Bhaijaan]

We like to play fire with fire. It is this conservative approach of Hayden which kept him in the shadows of Adam
Gilchrist as a swashbuckling opener.

 

[Usman Chadda]

Shaheen did not look fit either, never have I seen him bowl so much legside filth.

Our pacers’ workload should have been managed. This was a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[Rana]

Go hard at Shaheen and watch Pakistan crumble

 

[MenInG]

Go hard at Shaheen and watch Pakistan crumble

Depends if Shaheen has a backup in the shape of Naseem and Rauf.

 

[Savak]

Indians did the total opposite, they went hard after Shaheen and he vilted under the pressure and Pakistan became demoralized after seeing what happened to their premier bowler.

 

[Mamoon]

Now we can see why Hayden totally failed in two stints with Pakistan.

He is clueless.

 

[BouncerGuy]

Indians did the total opposite, they went hard after Shaheen and he vilted under the pressure and Pakistan became demoralized after seeing what happened to their premier bowler.

Shaheen totally looked lost in that game after the initial attack. He was still under that pressure against Sri Lanka. No way he was 100 percent in the game.

 

[Mamoon]

Shaheen has become embarrassingly slow.

It is a joke to see him bowl 135 kph with his frame. There are probably faster bowlers than him in Bangladesh U19 team.

 

[Rana]

Depends if Shaheen has a backup in the shape of Naseem and Rauf.

And what will Rauf do? He is the whipping boy of SENA’s well oiled batting units.

 

[RyanRyan10]

And what will Rauf do? He is the whipping boy of SENA’s well oiled batting units.

Dilbar Hussain would do better than Rauf?

 

[RexRex]

Shaheen has become embarrassingly slow.

It is a joke to see him bowl 135 kph with his frame. There are probably faster bowlers than him in Bangladesh U19 team.

Seems like a fitness problem ? He hasn't been bowling in the nets.

 

[MenInG]

HELLO!

Suggest we leave the personal stuff now.

Any more and we could have restrictions placed.

This is not your local paan shop guys.

 

[Mamoon]

Seems like a fitness problem ? He hasn't been bowling in the nets.

Possibly yes, but if it is a long-term issue then he is not going to fulfill his potential.

Shaheen was rapid and at his height, he was capable of running through lineups even when he wasn’t at his best.

With his current trundling, he has no room for error. He has to bowl exceptionally well, like in the first game against India, to be impactful.

 

[BouncerGuy]

Possibly yes, but if it is a long-term issue then he is not going to fulfill his potential.

Shaheen was rapid and at his height, he was capable of running through lineups even when he wasn’t at his best.

With his current trundling, he has no room for error. He has to bowl exceptionally well, like in the first game against India, to be impactful.

I think shaheen is still feeling the effects of that thrashing by Indian batting line. But if there is any fitness issue then he should have been resting as well.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

now after watching asia cup match between India and Pakistan, hayden has changed his mind and gave the same advise to shaheen

 

[hassan918]

It is a good advice and I think Indian batters are aware of the fact that they need to give respect to Shaheen in his first spell when the ball is brand new.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

@Mamoon is right. Shaheen is not the monster bowler who was swinging it northwards of 145 kph back in 2021. His elbow issues etc. are not allowing him to hit those speeds.

He can't attack the full lengths like he used to. In 2nd match he got full and our batters smashed him apart.

At his current pace, he has to bowl like he did in the first match vs India after initial rain break.

Bowl tight to off stump and hold those lengths back. I don't think it comes naturally to him but he has no choice .

Skilled, aggresive batsmen will tear him apart if he bowls full at this speed

 

[Savak]

Gill and Rohit know what to do with Shaheen.

 

[Mockingbird]

You’ve got to open with a left hander

Simple.

Ishan Kishan should then open with Gill

 

[jeeteshssaxena]

Shaheen isn't the same threat to indian batters as Amir and despite being taller and faster he loses control a lot of times and is prone to getting hit.

The thing with Amir was that even when he failed to crack open the top order he still never let the pressure fade away as he was always tight in his line.

Haris Rauf doesn't even look like much of a threat, he is a good bowler and will do well against other side but he is exactly the kind which Indian batters love to hit, fast, bouncy but gun barrel straight.