Pakistan batsman - Lacking intent or ability?

[ahmedwaqas92]

The horrendous batting display against India got me thinking something very interesting about this Pakistan batting lineup and I thought this could be a genuine question that I would like to know the answer for?

It's true that a lot of our players aren't the most gifted when it comes to Batsmanship however what I fail to realize is why are they not even trying to play with a positive approach and a flair for boundaries ? It's as if they WANT TO PLAY THIS WAY....

What has happened to the attacking nature of batsmen that we used to produce earlier ?? Saeed Anwar, Ijaz Ahmed, Amir Sohail heck even Imran Farhat and Yasir Hammed were much better stroke makers than the lot we have at the moment. Is it the fear of failure that's causing this or have they specifically been instructed by the management to take a consolidatory approach towards the game ?? I really want to know man !!!

Also I agree with the analogy that their limitations, as a batsman might force them to play this way and rightly so as well however, at least with a limited batsmen who has the correct attacking mindset will got for his shots....

He'll miss a few, top edge a few but in the end you'd know that this person is trying to actually win the game and has the correct intent. He will eventually get out due to incapabilty etc etc but you wouldn't fault the lad for anything else but his own limitations as a cricketer and I'd take solace in the fact that at least we gave it a good go.

Either way we are getting out for scores of 140-150 with or without the approach we have currently but by showing intent we somewhat give ourselves an outside chance of overhauling the modern ODI batting requirements...

Lack of ability is what we can all agree upon but why is there a lack of intent is something I really what to know..........

 

[cricketInsight]

Yesterday we saw Hafeez struggling to just play 135 kph bowlers with a straight bat - that is a lack of ability/form.

Ahmed Shehzad & Babar Azam needs to show more intent early on but it looks as if they arent confident enough until they have face 30 odd balls which is too late.

Shehzad was trying to "rotate the strike" but the only thing he could do was the third man single - couldnt place it anywhere else for a single - that again is a lack of ability to rotate strike.

 

[cricketInsight]

Similarly, Azhar doesn't have the ability to rotate the strike - this is just not his game but somehow he still manages to appear more capable than Hafeez & Shehzad.

 

[Nil Dhumrojal]

Some lack of intent (shehzad etc) and some lack of ability(azhar,wahab etc).

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Intent, ability, fitness, etc. etc. Getting really annoying now.

Did we not all know that with Shehzad, Azhar and Hafeez in the top 4 we had no chance of winning? Every single person on this forum knew. Why are you guys still crying like babies? We had these issues before playing India. We didn't just suddenly find out after playing them. The game's over. Move on.

 

[Slog]

Intent, ability, fitness, etc. etc. Getting really annoying now.

Did we not all know that with Shehzad, Azhar and Hafeez in the top 4 we had no chance of winning? Every single person on this forum knew. Why are you guys still crying like babies? We had these issues before playing India. We didn't just suddenly find out after playing them. The game's over. Move on.

I think shock is at the gulf between the 2 sides and how far we were behind the eight ball.

At no point in the match could you point and say Pakistan is on top.

It was boys against men

 

[Chief Destroyer]

I think shock is at the gulf between the 2 sides and how far we were behind the eight ball.

At no point in the match could you point and say Pakistan is on top.

It was boys against men

It was expected man. They're a seasoned team ranked #3 for a reason. We took ourselves completely out of the game when we decided to bowl first thinking the ball's gonna swing because of overcast. It was never gonna happen and I told everyone before this tournament started. Don't be fooled by the overcast conditions. The kookaburra doesn't swing much in England.

 

[Lynx]

Lack of intent and lack of ability, both. With the way Azhar played, you really can't fault him for not trying, he did the best he could. However, Shahzad and Hafeez in particular have been displaying a lack of intent to score runs for God knows how long. It's like they're playing pre planned dot balls, and not playing the ball on merit. Babar, too, needs to show more intent.

 

[Pete Rose]

All of the above and whatever else everyone is saying in the other threads

 

[Abid Z]

True the ball didn't swing at all. Even Bhuvi couldn't swing it which says something,

 

[hisham_ashraf]

Lack of brain:ahmed

 

[Abid Z]

It was expected man. They're a seasoned team ranked #3 for a reason. We took ourselves completely out of the game when we decided to bowl first thinking the ball's gonna swing because of overcast. It was never gonna happen and I told everyone before this tournament started. Don't be fooled by the overcast conditions. The kookaburra doesn't swing much in England.

The best bowler on display by far was yadav. Of course bumrah is quite unique but yadav with his easy run up and med-fast bowling hit a perfect line and length.

I remember Shane warne saying that Hafeez was just waiting for a bad ball to cash in but yadav is too good for that.

So it's just about lack of ability and fear of losing. Our bowlers fail to settle into rhythm if things don't go their way and we have completely the wrong guys. Imad wasim is no jadeja and Ahmed shehzad is not good enough to shine dhawans boots.

 

[Savak]

Teams from India, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand have the ability to put the good balls away, they have the guts to improvise and do things to put the baller of their games when the bowler is sticking to a particular line/length i.e. come down the track, back away and give themselves room, move around the wicket to manufacture a shot on the leg side, changing their shot at the last minute, dilscoop, reverse flick, sweeps e.t.c. If they cannot attack a ball, they will play it with soft hands, they will drop it and run the quick single.

Pakistan in contrast operate in the 80's and 90's mode where if the bowler is keeping things tight by bowling to his field, they will continue to block and block, hoping that the bowler will eventually serve something on a platter which they can dispatch to the boundary. Pretty Misbah like batting to be honest .

 

[Madplayer]

Unique threads are being made after the debacle.

On topic i would sum it up like this :

Their is lack of ability but its the consciousness of lack of ability which causes these players to lose the intent as well. They simply dont believe they can do it even though they might lie that they are confident.

Lack of ability minus the lack of intent would at least give you marginally better results. That can be done if these incapable players develop confidence somehow.

 

[dauntless]

Lack of ability you can't expect someone like shehzad to smash fast bowlers he is not good enough he can play only leg side hoicks with no feet movement.most of the batsman fall in this category. Just mpt good enough.

 

[Markhor]

All this talk of "selfishness" or "lack of intent" is nonsense.

If these batsmen could hit innings of 70 off 35, they would, but they can't as they're NOT GOOD ENOUGH. They're too limited and don't have the range of shots to maintain a higher strike rate.

 

[JibranAnsari]

It is both , the hafeez azhar partnership showed both. Hafeez and azhar tried to hit a few but failed but then they went on to play 32 dots in their 51 balls partnership. If its not the display of both then i dont know what is.

 

[JibranAnsari]

All this talk of "selfishness" or "lack of intent" is nonsense.

If these batsmen could hit innings of 70 off 35, they would, but they can't as they're NOT GOOD ENOUGH. They're too limited and don't have the range of shots to maintain a higher strike rate.

They are too worried about losing their wicket , there is always some peecentage of risk when you are playing scoring shots but we are not willing to take that risk. Its the amalgamation of both , intent and ability.

 

[ahmedwaqas92]

All this talk of "selfishness" or "lack of intent" is nonsense.

If these batsmen could hit innings of 70 off 35, they would, but they can't as they're NOT GOOD ENOUGH. They're too limited and don't have the range of shots to maintain a higher strike rate.

I would argue that if I know I am about to get fired due to incompetence at my workplace, and if I value my job, I'd probably get my act straight and do everything in my power to not let that happen. If they continue to play like how they're playing at the moment, eventually due to peer and public pressure they would essentially get dropped.

If a batsmen is actually facing such a scenario he would at times try and slog a bit or even try to replicate the modern day batting method albeit even blindly slogging or hacking at a few balls. However, what I am seeing is that even with such an axe hanging over their head they blokes just keep on digging a hole for themselves by employing this 1960s method of batting.

I simply just don't understand how a person can be so immune to what's totally required around him. Or is it that they have been given assurances that they won't be dropped and can continue in the manner as seen on TV against India ??

I am well and truly looking for someone to explain me this !!

 

[zuhaib_ah]

If you were to ever see these players perform at domestic level, they are the best that we have. They perform with aggression.. Its just something to do with international level and their insecurity of loosing their place.. Their approach is to stick to the wicket as long as you can even if you don't score runs.