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New Zealand v Pakistan | 1st T20I | Auckland | Jan 12 | Pre-Match Discussion

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hitthestump said:
Ok, so let's hear why. Because you have to essentially argue against the following:

- Rizwan has the best average as opener in t20's
- He is well experienced in the role
- He strikes at 130sr which is similar/better than his competition
- He is the top run scorer in t20's for Pakistan over a consistent period
- He is the top scorer of PSL
- He was the top scorer in the most recent Australian series (despite playing one less game than everyone else)
- He also had the best strike rate of all Pakistani batsmen in the test series

And there's stuff i've probably missed out too. But anyway, what's your case to say that playing Rizwan as opener is not the correct decision?

The thing is...we tend to hear a lot of crying, wailing and banging fists, but rarely is anyone able to actually articulate an argument as to why Rizwan is not the best opener in Pakistan.

Maybe you'll be the first?
Click to expand...
How has any of this benefitted Pakistan? Why don’t you tell us the reason??
 
Dr_Bassim said:
He was in ICU and got up the next day to play for his country.

What were they giving him in ICU?
Click to expand...
Riz being in hospital and coming out and playing when the country needed him is not to be under estimated.

In no way can you question his character, integrity and desire to wear that green jersey.
 
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I hope we get to see Jamal play
seems to be a really expensive T20 bowler, but worth trying him after his series in Aus
 
YousafTheBeast said:
No Stat or ranking will ever convince me that Rizwan is better than Imran Nazir in T20s.

Imran Nazir

Big Gap

Everyone else.
Click to expand...
Absolute cheetah player was Nazir.

Pakistan’s best ever T20 openers regardless of inflated stats (no particular order)

1. Imran Nazir
2. Sharjeel Khan
3. Fakhar Zaman
4. Kamran Akmal
5. Mohammad Hafeez

I’ve shortlisted these 5 players because I believe they had the bat speed and ability to attack pace. All of them were high quality cricketers too.

Imran Farhat and Yasir Hameed were decent. Farhat in particular was an exciting prospect but I think Misbah completely destroyed his approach to the game around 2012-13. He started off as a very exciting opener.
 
Rana said:
Absolute cheetah player was Nazir.

Pakistan’s best ever T20 openers regardless of inflated stats (no particular order)

1. Imran Nazir
2. Sharjeel Khan
3. Fakhar Zaman
4. Kamran Akmal
5. Mohammad Hafeez

I’ve shortlisted these 5 players because I believe they had the bat speed and ability to attack pace. All of them were high quality cricketers too.

Imran Farhat and Yasir Hameed were decent. Farhat in particular was an exciting prospect but I think Misbah completely destroyed his approach to the game around 2012-13. He started off as a very exciting opener.
Click to expand...

Can’t believe we lost Nazir when he was 30 due to arthritis…he still had 7-10 years of international cricket left in him, and now we’ve possibly lost Sharjeel Khan who last played for Pakistan when he was 31.🤦🏻‍♂️
 
Rana said:
Imran Farhat and Yasir Hameed were decent.
Click to expand...
in t20s? Nowhere near making it into the current t20 team. Odis yes but no t20. they were not that good until we think 110 the 120-strike rate is good to go. Imran had a strike rate of 108 in 7 t20Is and Yasir had never played international t20 game i think but even in domestic cricket, he played with 112 strike rate. If you think this is good then I am happy to keep Rizwan and Babar as my first choice.

Now back to the topic please

This series, Pakistan can experiment with Saim, fakhar and farhan in different games and maybe rest Babar and riz.
 
Captains of both teams are posing with a trophy. Exciting series is to start tomorrow.

1704947383595.png1704947556304.png
 
Final practice session for Men in Green ahead of the series opener against New Zealand.

1704947587959.png1704947613920.png1704947654670.png1704947676450.png1704947696899.png
 
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The amount of media coverage, and training shown for this useless T20 series in embarrassingly ridiculous.

The team (mainly think tank) let us down big time when the real cricket was on.
 
The captains of both Pakistan and New Zealand met each other and posed with the trophy before the series opener.

 
gazza619 said:
The amount of media coverage, and training shown for this useless T20 series in embarrassingly ridiculous.

The team (mainly think tank) let us down big time when the real cricket was on.
Click to expand...
Big hype for this series from the Pak side. Watching the videos it seems like the boys have been training for the last two months.
 
Rana said:
Absolute cheetah player was Nazir.

Pakistan’s best ever T20 openers regardless of inflated stats (no particular order)

1. Imran Nazir
2. Sharjeel Khan
3. Fakhar Zaman
4. Kamran Akmal
5. Mohammad Hafeez

I’ve shortlisted these 5 players because I believe they had the bat speed and ability to attack pace. All of them were high quality cricketers too.

Imran Farhat and Yasir Hameed were decent. Farhat in particular was an exciting prospect but I think Misbah completely destroyed his approach to the game around 2012-13. He started off as a very exciting opener.
Click to expand...
Shahid Afridi
 
BouncerGuy said:
in t20s? Nowhere near making it into the current t20 team. Odis yes but no t20. they were not that good until we think 110 the 120-strike rate is good to go. Imran had a strike rate of 108 in 7 t20Is and Yasir had never played international t20 game i think but even in domestic cricket, he played with 112 strike rate. If you think this is good then I am happy to keep Rizwan and Babar as my first choice.

Now back to the topic please

This series, Pakistan can experiment with Saim, fakhar and farhan in different games and maybe rest Babar and riz.
Click to expand...
Those were the early days of T20s no one new about strike rates, What a good score was etc.
 
Rana said:
Afridi was too hit and miss, he hardly ever played as an opener and wasn’t very good. I would say he was great at number 3 or 6
Click to expand...
Fair enough but i reckon afridi and nazir opening in T20s regularly would of been spectacular for the supporters like in the ODIs.
 
Shoaib Akhtar 100 MPH said:
Fair enough but i reckon afridi and nazir opening in T20s regularly would of been spectacular for the supporters like in the ODIs.
Click to expand...
I don’t think Afridi fancied the new ball at all unlike Nazir. His technique (or lack of it) was exposed against good fast bowlers who hit the deck with a bit of swing with the newie. Nazir loved the pace and used it to his advantage, same with all the others I mentioned. Afridi was a killer of spin. He used to take down pace when his eye was set but the guy didn’t respect spinners at all. That’s where he basically built his brand. Many careers of spinners were ended by Shahid Khan Afridi in white ball cricket.
 
Rana said:
I don’t think Afridi fancied the new ball at all unlike Nazir. His technique (or lack of it) was exposed against good fast bowlers who hit the deck with a bit of swing with the newie. Nazir loved the pace and used it to his advantage, same with all the others I mentioned. Afridi was a killer of spin. He used to take down pace when his eye was set but the guy didn’t respect spinners at all. That’s where he basically built his brand. Many careers of spinners were ended by Shahid Khan Afridi in white ball cricket.
Click to expand...
You have a point rana saab.
I would open him against the indians as he enjoyed their lack of pace. :afridi
 
Shaheen Shah Afridi-led Pakistan eye series win against New Zealand to kick off T20 World Cup preparations

Pakistan are set to face New Zealand in a five-match T20I series, with the first match scheduled to be played on 12 January at Eden Park in Auckland. First ball of the match will be bowled at 1110 PKT. This will mark left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi’s first assignment as captain, having taken over the reins from Babar Azam.

Fourth-ranked Pakistan last played T20Is back in April 2023, when they faced New Zealand at home for a five-match series played in Lahore and Rawalpindi. Wicketkeepe-batter Mohammad Rizwan, who has been named Shaheen’s vice-captain, was Pakistan’s leading run-getter in the series. Right-arm pacer Haris Rauf was the most successful bowler during that assignment.

Leg-spinner Usama Mir, pacer Mohammad Abbas Afridi and wicketkeeper-batter Haseebullah are the uncapped players in the squad while the returning trio of Sahibzada Farhan, Azam Khan and Aamir Jamal also adds depth to the squad.

Spinner Abrar Ahmed, who was initially part of the squad, has been ruled out owing to an injury he sustained last month during Pakistan’s Test tour of Australia.

Shaheen Shah Afridi, in the pre-series press conference, said: “It is a great honour and a proud moment to be captaining Pakistan. We are a good T20 side and that has reflected in our performances the past few years. We have done well in World Cups but have not been able to finish as we wanted. We will focus on getting the results we want in big tournaments.

“We have 17 games before the World Cup, which is later this year. We want to make sure we have our combination locked in time for that but we also want to ensure that we have a strong bench, in case of injuries during the tournament. We will be testing our younger talent and rotating the players so that by the time we play the series in England, we have clarity about our combination.”

Pakistan’s squad for tour of New Zealand: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Mohammad Rizwan (vice-captain, wicket-keeper), Aamir Jamal, Abbas Afridi, Azam Khan (wicket-keeper), Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah (wicket-keeper), Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Usama Mir and Zaman Khan.

Full schedule:

1st T20 – 12 January 2024 at Eden Park, Auckland

2nd T20 – 14 January 2024 at Seddon Park, Hamilton

3rd T20 – 17 January 2024 at University Oval, Dunedin

4th T20 – 19 January 2024 at Hagley Oval, Christchurch

5th T20 – 21 January 2024 at Hagley Oval, Christchurch

PCB
 
Usama should never get a call. He should drastically improve before getting a call.
 
Otherwise it seems a good squad to me. I m impressed by the slower deliveries bowled by Abbas Afridi.
 
Would be idiotic to play Fakhar in middle order then what is the use of Azam Khan, play every player to their strength not sure what Hafeez is trying to achieve.

Fakhar
Saim
Farhan
Rizwan
Azam Khan +
Abbas
Jamal
WasimJr
SSA c
Nawaz
Zaman
 
I would play the following team:

Saim
Rizwan
Babar
Fakhar
Azam
Iftikhar
Jamal
Usama/Nawaz
Wasim
Shaheen
Rauf
 
hitthestump said:
Ok, so let's hear why. Because you have to essentially argue against the following:

- Rizwan has the best average as opener in t20's
- He is well experienced in the role
- He strikes at 130sr which is similar/better than his competition
- He is the top run scorer in t20's for Pakistan over a consistent period
- He is the top scorer of PSL
- He was the top scorer in the most recent Australian series (despite playing one less game than everyone else)
- He also had the best strike rate of all Pakistani batsmen in the test series

And there's stuff i've probably missed out too. But anyway, what's your case to say that playing Rizwan as opener is not the correct decision?

The thing is...we tend to hear a lot of crying, wailing and banging fists, but rarely is anyone able to actually articulate an argument as to why Rizwan is not the best opener in Pakistan.

Maybe you'll be the first?
Click to expand...

The problem is you see T20 cricket the same way it was played 10 years ago.

You need to understand that there is no room for accumulators in the modern game of T20 cricket, especially for those who are opening the batting.

If Pakistan had no suitable alternatives, I would agree with you but I would much rather have a dynamic opening pair such as Saim Ayub and Fakhar.

The T20I stats of both Rizwan and Babar have been inflated by all the bashing of B/C/D string and minnow bowling attacks.

It was after the 2022 Asia Cup Final, when I realised Pakistan could do better than the RizBar opening combination. I specifically forewarned you about the reality check that was to follow from all this because I knew they would be exposed. The penny should have dropped after the horror show we witnessed from this pair in the 2022 WT20.

They have both let Pakistan down in the 2021 WT20 semi-final, 2022 Asia Cup final and throughout the 2022 WT20. When are you going to wake up?
 
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