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"Pakistan could lose to Netherlands but then go on a run, they're mercurial" : Nasser Hussain

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Nasser Hussain speaking on a Youtube channel about Pakistan's chances at the World Cup 2023:

A great tournament side, mainly because of that bowling attack. In any tournament, whether it be T20, 50 overs if you have genuine wicket-takers - I think Eoin Morgan said it a long time ago - the only way nowadays to stop the run-rate is to get wickets. If you don't take wickets, on some of the flat pitches in India in particular, you're looking at chasing 400, so you have to have wicket-taking bowlers in there - with Shaheen Shah Afridi up front and Haris Rauf.

They're gonna miss Naseem Shah, I think that is a big blow for them, but any seamer that takes part for Pakistan [will be dangerous] - they have seamers as long as your arm, they'll keep coming at you.

They have Babar Azam, that high quality, still just #1 one ranked batter, given that Shubman Gill's pushing him.

They're a very good tournament side. They've got Netherlands up first game - they could lose that! That is Pakistan for you - but then they'll go on a run. Look at the last World T20, they were out of it and then suddenly there they are in the final. They are mercurial because that is the brand and style of cricket they play, they're an incredibly watchable side.

I just think they need to get par and above with their batting. Sometimes Babar and Rizwan bat time because they're worried about the length of their batting [order] and 50 overs becomes a long time.

It's not like England - Bairstow and Buttler and everyone can go hard because you have Livingstone, Curran, Woakes, Moeen, even Wood as we saw in the Ashes - you have so much batting down the order, so England can go hard and recover.

Sometimes I think [Pakistan's mindset is] "50 overs is a long time, we'll get to a par score and then our bowlers will be able to defend that". Fakhar Zaman for example, he's a fabulous player, if he can get him off to a flyer and then Rizwan and Babar just knock it around to get an above par score. If they get an above par score against any team in that World Cup, you're in trouble.
 
Yes Nasser, one minute down, next minute up.
 
Nasser at it again.

Yeah mercury happened in T20 World Cup because South Africa lost to Netherlands.

If anything, you can be sure Pakistan will be depending on scenarios to reach semis.
Pakistan did win their semi finals.
And the semi finalist was gonna be South Africa had they not lost to Netherlands. As much posters bash Pakistan for losig to zimbabwe, what about SA?
 
Pakistan did win their semi finals.
And the semi finalist was gonna be South Africa had they not lost to Netherlands. As much posters bash Pakistan for losig to zimbabwe, what about SA?
Exactly. No one talks or criticises about other teams losing to minnows or getting through by attrition, or luck, only Pakistan gets the criticism!

Still Pakistan had to win the SF to play in the final, but nope, the haters will completely ignore that!
 
When Pak is on a Roll, it's like a truck hitting you from all side. Don't be surprised to see your team loose first couple of matches and then boom, playing in the final. This is something I have seen with team Pak in CT and T20 WC. It always surprised me, but 3rd time won't be a surprise lol
 
When Pak is on a Roll, it's like a truck hitting you from all side. Don't be surprised to see your team loose first couple of matches and then boom, playing in the final. This is something I have seen with team Pak in CT and T20 WC. It always surprised me, but 3rd time won't be a surprise lol
but this is not going to happen all the time, they have to perform from the 1st match else this sort of format wont allow u to get back into the tournament.
 
This is the same Nasir Hussain who said Pakistan doesn't have players like SKY or Pandya. Yup the haters were all agreeing with Nas then!

Time and time again, commentators after commentators say the same thing about Pakistan in tournaments - it's not only Nas!

Nas is simply at the receiving end of the hate since his famous "One minute down, next minute up" line after Kohli was deceived in 2 consecutive balls in the CT17 final.
 
but this is not going to happen all the time, they have to perform from the 1st match else this sort of format wont allow u to get back into the tournament.
I think it's safe to say that a team winning 6-7 out of 9 games will make it to the semis. Pak has the potential to most definitely do that this time around.
 
I think it's safe to say that a team winning 6-7 out of 9 games will make it to the semis. Pak has the potential to most definitely do that this time around.
trust me 6 to 7 wins either wont make sure ur spot in semis because if u remeber in 2019 pakistan knocked out of the tournament even after beating England and NZ in their round matches, so this time i think its going to happen that sort of Run Rate drama again for qualifications.

So teams will try to secure victories with substantial run rate advantages to increase their chances of qualifying for the semi-finals more comfortably.
 
Pakistan did win their semi finals.
And the semi finalist was gonna be South Africa had they not lost to Netherlands. As much posters bash Pakistan for losig to zimbabwe, what about SA?
We do bash South Africa though? They've literally become a meme as to how they play world cups.

They literally have the most embrassing world cups or the worst luck, in the t20 world cup, they were destroying Zimbabwe but rain gives zim a lucky point as match was tied.

Similarly the NZ vs SA warmup match was close, but rain let NZ win.

Against nedtherlands, one of their players got injured and couldn't even run between the crease lol.

Their world cup endeavours despite having a strong team and looking good before the cups,

Always ends up with them losing so horrifically and rain and Drs always going against them and their players who are perfectly fit, getting injured beyond repair.

It's literally a curse that everyone memes at this point, so it's nothing new lol, Pakistan losing to Zimbabwe however is a shock and doesn't usually happen.

South Africa with An all star team of de Villiers, quiton, Hashim amla etc somehow managed to lose to 2015 pakistan when we were playing with the likes of Ahmed shehzad, YK, Sohaib maqsood, Umar akmal and shahid afridi as our front line batters 😂😂😂, this team got bowled put by 2015 West indies lol for 160.

As I said, SA ever since I've been watching cricket plays horrifically in cups we've all gotten use to it. Even rana in his post mentioned that logically South Africa currently on paper stomps us, but given how they are in world cups, no clue what will happen, we can't say anything about SA XD.
 
This WC is a longer format 9 games. Chances of a fluke qualification diminish vastly. You have to be very consistent to qualify. Minimum of 6 wins needed. 7 to be absolutely safe. 5 possible too depending on run rates and other teams but risky. That's why teams like nz afg bang wont qualify because they wont be consistent winners.
 
Exactly. No one talks or criticises about other teams losing to minnows or getting through by attrition, or luck, only Pakistan gets the criticism!

Still Pakistan had to win the SF to play in the final, but nope, the haters will completely ignore that!
Again not really no, South Africa have the most embrassing world cups that they've become a meme, so bashing them is pointless now.

In 2015 they somehow lost embrassingly to 2015 Pakistan composed of shehzad, YK, Umar akmal, Maqsood and Shahid afridi, all players who weren't ever good at odi and on top of that were in the worst forms of their lives at this point so much so that Ireland and West indies bowling was troubling them.

In t20 world cup, one of their players got injured and he couldn't even run between the wickets against medtherlands, they were smocking Zimbabwe but rain gave Zimbabwe a lucky point and the match was tied.

Ever since I started watching cricket SA has such a strong team before world cups, but when WC happens, rain and Drs goes against them, their perfectly fit players get injured horrifically beyond repair, and they somehow lose to minnows consistently. It's so common its a meme on twitter now lol.

The thing with Pakistan however is that we don't normally lose to Zimbabwe especially in world cups, and both Zimbabwe and India games were won games that we botched basically. That's why we were angry at Pakistan. We didn't lose as much as we made the other team win by throwing it away in a silly fashion.

Theirs no point for bashing SA especially when their endeavours are now common, literally in the warmup game, NZ vs SA was a close even game and SA had a slight lead, but rain came and SA lost. Its almost as if GOD hates SA lol.
 
When Pak is on a Roll, it's like a truck hitting you from all side. Don't be surprised to see your team loose first couple of matches and then boom, playing in the final. This is something I have seen with team Pak in CT and T20 WC. It always surprised me, but 3rd time won't be a surprise lol
I mean tbf, with the CT everyone was united and the team wasn't weak, people thought it was weak due to it undergoing a transition after landing on rank no 8, in reality we got that no 8 spot because we were still playing Shehzad, Saeed ajmal played in the Bangladesh series and post action he was a garbo spin bowler, Babar and hafeez were just now transitioning to 3 and 4, Haris sohail and imad waseem were just now entering with maqsood and umar akmal permanent leaving.

The team wasn't bad on paper, not the best team, but azhar kept pace with fakhar, Fakhar was in Red hot form, so was hasan Ali and Amir. Haris sohail was class and Babar and hafeez made no 3 and no 4 their own, Sarfi wasn't bad in the middle order in 2017 either. So pretty balanced team.

In t20 world cup, t20 is a format in which you can win against bigger teams, in odi the better team usually wins, but bazzball style approach that haris and shan massod and chacha were doing works just fine in t20( Doesn't always work but you can get the job done)

Problem rn is that its odi, and agha, Nawaz/Usama, Shadab, make for a pathetic middle order. Chacha and saud are fine, But rizwan with a low SR is a liability at 4 regardless of how consistent he is, if he was opening it would be better. Fakhar is out of form and if imam and Abdullah open then might as well throw the match away already.

The t20 2021 team was still settled besides fakhar who was batting out of position, the 2017 team was set.

The 2023 team isn't set due to injuries and alot of positions being question marks with things at the top with openers regarding fakhar and the middle not sorted.

That's the issue this time around, last time we had set teams, this time we don't.
 
Again not really no, South Africa have the most embrassing world cups that they've become a meme, so bashing them is pointless now.

In 2015 they somehow lost embrassingly to 2015 Pakistan composed of shehzad, YK, Umar akmal, Maqsood and Shahid afridi, all players who weren't ever good at odi and on top of that were in the worst forms of their lives at this point so much so that Ireland and West indies bowling was troubling them.

In t20 world cup, one of their players got injured and he couldn't even run between the wickets against medtherlands, they were smocking Zimbabwe but rain gave Zimbabwe a lucky point and the match was tied.

Ever since I started watching cricket SA has such a strong team before world cups, but when WC happens, rain and Drs goes against them, their perfectly fit players get injured horrifically beyond repair, and they somehow lose to minnows consistently. It's so common its a meme on twitter now lol.

The thing with Pakistan however is that we don't normally lose to Zimbabwe especially in world cups, and both Zimbabwe and India games were won games that we botched basically. That's why we were angry at Pakistan. We didn't lose as much as we made the other team win by throwing it away in a silly fashion.

Theirs no point for bashing SA especially when their endeavours are now common, literally in the warmup game, NZ vs SA was a close even game and SA had a slight lead, but rain came and SA lost. Its almost as if GOD hates SA lol.
Lets talk England then.

1992 WC, everyone talks about how the rain saved Pakistan in the qualifiers vs England after being skittled for 73 runs, but no one, talks about how the rain saved England in the SF resulting in SA needing 21 off 1 ball! That's how England got to the 1992 final, the rain!

Fast forward to 2019 WC, the haters harp.on about how every Pakistan win is a fluke but England never beat NZ's score in the final and won on a technicality (most number of boundaries), which no one was counting! Pure fluke win - the greatest of all fluke wins!

Or how about West Indies in the 2012 T20 WC shared a point against Ireland, that resulted in a high NRR thereby qualifying for the Super 8, all by the virtue of a higher NRR thanks to the rain.

There are countless examples. Every team needs a bit of luck in a tournament, but Pakistan are the ones at the receiving end - win or lose.
 
This WC is a longer format 9 games. Chances of a fluke qualification diminish vastly. You have to be very consistent to qualify. Minimum of 6 wins needed. 7 to be absolutely safe. 5 possible too depending on run rates and other teams but risky. That's why teams like nz afg bang wont qualify because they wont be consistent winners.

The problem is based of our performance in the warmup we are in no condition to beat SENA or India.

South Africa vs NZ was close and going to the wire before rain ruined everything.

Against us however NZ treated us as a joke, they gave us a minnow treatment by smacking us with part timers. Not once were they uncomfortable while bowling or batting while chasing. Babar on the other hand looked constipated when the camera panned to him during the field lol.
 
Pakistan did win their semi finals.
And the semi finalist was gonna be South Africa had they not lost to Netherlands. As much posters bash Pakistan for losig to zimbabwe, what about SA?
Is South Africa the benchmark of World Cup success?
 
Is South Africa the benchmark of World Cup success?
you try to discredit Pakistan reaching the finals of an ICC event, when in the same group another opponent failed to reach the semi finals
 
Lets talk England then.

1992 WC, everyone talks about how the rain saved Pakistan in the qualifiers vs England after being skittled for 73 runs, but no one, talks about how the rain saved England in the SF resulting in SA needing 21 off 1 ball! That's how England got to the 1992 final, the rain!

Fast forward to 2019 WC, the haters harp.on about how every Pakistan win is a fluke but England never beat NZ's score in the final and won on a technicality (most number of boundaries), which no one was counting! Pure fluke win - the greatest of all fluke wins!

Or how about West Indies in the 2012 T20 WC shared a point against Ireland, that resulted in a high NRR thereby qualifying for the Super 8, all by the virtue of a higher NRR thanks to the rain.

There are countless examples. Every team needs a bit of luck in a tournament, but Pakistan are the ones at the receiving end - win or lose.

The fluke thing I agree, I'm not hating bro, I'm not a hater that for some reason based of our past conversations you've relegated me to 😂😂.

Even CT 2017, the SA win and the Sri lanka win was a fluke but if you read my comments I praise pakistan on cloud 9, for smacking England and India, I literally shut every poster up who tries to say we fluked the CT 2017, Sarfaraz led well.

If you want to know why I bash Pakistan under misbah and under babar is because

Under sarfraz we played like a winning unit. All this stats stats nonsense means nothing I'm a cup, to win a cup you need mentality, you need to play with a united front and you also like you mentioned, need a little luck. I don't bash Pakistan for 2021 t20 semi final loss against Australia cause we played like a collective unit and gave Australia hell, we did thrash India by 10 wickets that cup as well, no shame in losing to aus.

Problem is 2017-2021 is the last time we played as a united front.

Under babar, we are clearly NOT selecting or playing our best team, nor are we united.

Players are too concerned with personal agendas or milestones or fighting amongst themselves like saud and Abdullah are depratly fighting for their place. In order to get a place in the squad and on the playing 11, it's not via merit, it's by licking babar's boots and liking his twitter posts.

The mentality is not their this time, because we are fighting amongst ourselves. Azhar Ali in CT cared more about his team, he's defensive but he actually played unnaturally for his standards cause he made an effort to strike and keep pace with fakhar, Similarly fakhar smashed a 100 not because of his milestone but because he wanted to cremate India, Same with hafeez and babar who played unselfishly thay day, same with amir.

Imam on the other hand will go on his merry way and needs hand holding, Rizwan knowing full well saud is likely the better option wont try a new position and will just throw a hissyfit for his no 4, if Pakistan are in a good position and let's say they made 280 for 1 wicket in 45 obers and a wicket falls, we need chacha in to finish the innings, Rizzu rather then admitting thay chacha should be sent in this situation to benefit the country, he'll cry and whine as to how he am accumulator shpuld be sent.

It's the mentality + milestone nature + bootlicking that will cause our downfall and will continue to cause it. Pur Captain praised shadab like no tmr, but threw zaman Khan under the bus, Theirs just no unity this time around.


It's the same with misbah, he once said the entire team was trash because they sacked him as a coach for losing to Zimbabwe but as soon as he is sacked and we bring foreign coaches, we smash India by 10 wickets and give aus a fight of their lives.

Misbah also said the entire team was trash when asked why he bats at no 5 rather then at no 3 cause his 80 ball 40's ain't helping, only to then get defensive when asked why sarfi wasn't opening and why jamshed was by saying jamshed doesn't have enough chances.

Like what chances bro? It's a world cup 💀.
 
Is South Africa the benchmark of World Cup success?
No, but it just so happens that Netherlands beat SA which paved the way for Pakistan.

Had Netherlands beaten Australia or England then the same logic applies.

Every team needs a bit of luck in a tournament.
 
The fluke thing I agree, I'm not hating bro, I'm not a hater that for some reason based of our past conversations you've relegated me to 😂😂.

Even CT 2017, the SA win and the Sri lanka win was a fluke but if you read my comments I praise pakistan on cloud 9, for smacking England and India, I literally shut every poster up who tries to say we fluked the CT 2017, Sarfaraz led well.

If you want to know why I bash Pakistan under misbah and under babar is because

Under sarfraz we played like a winning unit. All this stats stats nonsense means nothing I'm a cup, to win a cup you need mentality, you need to play with a united front and you also like you mentioned, need a little luck. I don't bash Pakistan for 2021 t20 semi final loss against Australia cause we played like a collective unit and gave Australia hell, we did thrash India by 10 wickets that cup as well, no shame in losing to aus.

Problem is 2017-2021 is the last time we played as a united front.

Under babar, we are clearly NOT selecting or playing our best team, nor are we united.

Players are too concerned with personal agendas or milestones or fighting amongst themselves like saud and Abdullah are depratly fighting for their place. In order to get a place in the squad and on the playing 11, it's not via merit, it's by licking babar's boots and liking his twitter posts.

The mentality is not their this time, because we are fighting amongst ourselves. Azhar Ali in CT cared more about his team, he's defensive but he actually played unnaturally for his standards cause he made an effort to strike and keep pace with fakhar, Similarly fakhar smashed a 100 not because of his milestone but because he wanted to cremate India, Same with hafeez and babar who played unselfishly thay day, same with amir.

Imam on the other hand will go on his merry way and needs hand holding, Rizwan knowing full well saud is likely the better option wont try a new position and will just throw a hissyfit for his no 4, if Pakistan are in a good position and let's say they made 280 for 1 wicket in 45 obers and a wicket falls, we need chacha in to finish the innings, Rizzu rather then admitting thay chacha should be sent in this situation to benefit the country, he'll cry and whine as to how he am accumulator shpuld be sent.

It's the mentality + milestone nature + bootlicking that will cause our downfall and will continue to cause it. Pur Captain praised shadab like no tmr, but threw zaman Khan under the bus, Theirs just no unity this time around.


It's the same with misbah, he once said the entire team was trash because they sacked him as a coach for losing to Zimbabwe but as soon as he is sacked and we bring foreign coaches, we smash India by 10 wickets and give aus a fight of their lives.

Misbah also said the entire team was trash when asked why he bats at no 5 rather then at no 3 cause his 80 ball 40's ain't helping, only to then get defensive when asked why sarfi wasn't opening and why jamshed was by saying jamshed doesn't have enough chances.

Like what chances bro? It's a world cup 💀.
I must have missed your comments. CT17 cannot be a fluke. To win 1 match it is debatable, but to win 4 matches on the trott, and beating England, and then India in the final, cannot be a fluke.

The only reason the haters (not you) shout fluke is they had their money on India beating Pakistan, and India side that had peak Kohli, a cricket board that was so confident that India would win (previous India CT wins were rain affected games), that BCCI had agreed that CT17 would be the last Champions Trophy, ever.

Well after India were humiliated, BCCI muscled ICC into another CT tournament, in 2025. The CT17 loss still hurts India and their fans, but they find solace by claiming it was a fluke for Pakistan.

If haters of Pakistan are consistent in their logic then I got no problem, but not only are they inconsistent in their hate, but they are extremely bias against Pakistan too.

What the CT17 did prove is that Pakistan are unstoppable when there is unity and jazba - and this is exactly what Nas is eluding too with his comments.
 
I mean tbf, with the CT everyone was united and the team wasn't weak, people thought it was weak due to it undergoing a transition after landing on rank no 8, in reality we got that no 8 spot because we were still playing Shehzad, Saeed ajmal played in the Bangladesh series and post action he was a garbo spin bowler, Babar and hafeez were just now transitioning to 3 and 4, Haris sohail and imad waseem were just now entering with maqsood and umar akmal permanent leaving.

The team wasn't bad on paper, not the best team, but azhar kept pace with fakhar, Fakhar was in Red hot form, so was hasan Ali and Amir. Haris sohail was class and Babar and hafeez made no 3 and no 4 their own, Sarfi wasn't bad in the middle order in 2017 either. So pretty balanced team.

In t20 world cup, t20 is a format in which you can win against bigger teams, in odi the better team usually wins, but bazzball style approach that haris and shan massod and chacha were doing works just fine in t20( Doesn't always work but you can get the job done)

Problem rn is that its odi, and agha, Nawaz/Usama, Shadab, make for a pathetic middle order. Chacha and saud are fine, But rizwan with a low SR is a liability at 4 regardless of how consistent he is, if he was opening it would be better. Fakhar is out of form and if imam and Abdullah open then might as well throw the match away already.

The t20 2021 team was still settled besides fakhar who was batting out of position, the 2017 team was set.

The 2023 team isn't set due to injuries and alot of positions being question marks with things at the top with openers regarding fakhar and the middle not sorted.

That's the issue this time around, last time we had set teams, this time we don't.
So here is another way of looking at it. Apart from Eng/Aus (and possibly IND), who else is Top notch these days? NZ, sure but on Paper they are never that strong. SA, ok, but do you think they will make it to the Semi final? BD/SL/AFG - will probably win a match here and there but not really going to be there in the semi (cricket is a funny game, yes, I know but statistically speaking, they are too weak). It's not that you always look at your team, look around your team too and see who has the capability of making it into the Semi. And from Semi to lifting the cup is just 2 good games away.
 
I must have missed your comments. CT17 cannot be a fluke. To win 1 match it is debatable, but to win 4 matches on the trott, and beating England, and then India in the final, cannot be a fluke.

The only reason the haters (not you) shout fluke is they had their money on India beating Pakistan, and India side that had peak Kohli, a cricket board that was so confident that India would win (previous India CT wins were rain affected games), that BCCI had agreed that CT17 would be the last Champions Trophy, ever.

Well after India were humiliated, BCCI muscled ICC into another CT tournament, in 2025. The CT17 loss still hurts India and their fans, but they find solace by claiming it was a fluke for Pakistan.

If haters of Pakistan are consistent in their logic then I got no problem, but not only are they inconsistent in their hate, but they are extremely bias against Pakistan too.

What the CT17 did prove is that Pakistan are unstoppable when there is unity and jazba - and this is exactly what Nas is eluding too with his comments.
I have advocated and supported and shut everyone up who has ever taken away any credibility for CT 2017 from us.

I have also shut everyone up who has mocked us for 2021 t20 world cup.

I am not a Pakistan hater, however as I said before, rn with babar their is no unity the same with misbah. According to babar, Saim ayub is not selected because he lacks experience in List A even though Abdullah is 100x more inexperienced in List A then saim, Abdullah is in because babar has a love affair with Abdullah's technique.

Rn to play, you gotta lick babar's boots in twitter lol.

Babar threw Zaman Khan under the bus and humiliated the guy publicly, but for shadab and nawaz who were even worse then zaman, He praised them like theirs no tmr.

Misbah use to do the same, thrashing his entire team rather then blaming his coaching, because as soon as he departs we humiliated India by 10 wickets.

We are not going to win the World Cup 2023 because we lack unity period. Look at how NZ was playing warmup against us analysing their strengths and weaknesses and look how we were playing, giving rizzu and babar their milestone marks.

If the captain can't even support then team and we are fighting amongst ourselves then how do you expect me to support the team? Am I hater then?

This was a trait that was absent during 2017 CT trophy when all of us were in unity and their was no name blaming. Same with 2021 t20 when we were under foreign coaches and misbah was sacked. The players cried when we lost to aus by the barest of margins and babar straight up told the squad saying, no one should point fingers at anyone, we did our best.

Now babar is like "Zaman Khan, You're trash horrible bowler, but shadab and nawaz you guys are the 2nd coming of Shane Warne, excellent Asia cup bowling, you getting thrashed is not your fault, you Golden boys"

What we had in 2017-2021 is absent here in 2023, same way it was absent when misbah was coaching and misbah was captaining. I will not support a team that is fighting amongst themselves and isn't in unity and playing for milestones. As you said, Naz talks about unity, Ask yourself, is unity present? Like it was in 2017-2021.

About you're haters point, I already told you, Various trolls on the forumn who deliberately say illogical things to cause Internet drama and getting a kick out of triggering people. It's nothing new.
 
No, but it just so happens that Netherlands beat SA which paved the way for Pakistan.

Had Netherlands beaten Australia or England then the same logic applies.

Every team needs a bit of luck in a tournament.
Every team needs luck but the "mercurial" and "unpredictable" tag is wrongly accorded to Pakistan as Nasser keeps repeating.

I think I hate it when our team is called "unpredictable". We are miserably predictable. We have been predictable for ages and people like to think "unpredictability" is something to romanticize.

Let me tell you how predictable we are. The last time Pakistan won the ODI world Cup, 25 percent of our viewers were not even born and 50 percent were in just getting rid of their diapers.

The last time Pakistan reached the final of the ODI World Cup was when I was in Junior High School. We predictably crashed out of 2003 World Cup and 2007 World Cups and we managed to muck up a "laid on a platter semifinal" in 2011 in Mohali by watching paint dry while the other side came to win.

We were predictable in 2015 as well and in 2019 as well and we are going to be predictable in this World Cup as well.

You can bookmark this post.

There were only a few instances where we were unpredictable and managed to win despite no expectations. I can count a handful of those moments. T20 2009 World Cup where no one was giving us a chance and everything clicked and we dominated EVERY match of the tournament. CT 2017 where we played out of our skins to dominate every single match and win the CT 17. For the sake of argument, one could say 1992 as well, where Imran somehow managed to win.

But from 1992 to 2023, EVERYTHING has been so predictable about the 50 overs team, that I find it laughable people are thinking that something unpredictable will happen.

The best thing that could happen is Pakistan win 5 to 6 matches, depend on lucking out ( some matches get rained off, Netherlands beat another high-fi team ) and Pakistan sneak into semi finals.

But even if that does happen, the raucous fans will fool everyone again and say we are "unpredictable" when it will simply take a sheer amount of luck to make it to semis after winning 5 to 6 matches.
 
So here is another way of looking at it. Apart from Eng/Aus (and possibly IND), who else is Top notch these days? NZ, sure but on Paper they are never that strong. SA, ok, but do you think they will make it to the Semi final? BD/SL/AFG - will probably win a match here and there but not really going to be there in the semi (cricket is a funny game, yes, I know but statistically speaking, they are too weak). It's not that you always look at your team, look around your team too and see who has the capability of making it into the Semi. And from Semi to lifting the cup is just 2 good games away.
NZ gave us a minnow treatment lol. Conway, Mitchell, Williamson, Mark Chapman, Glenn Philips, followed with an excellent bowling line up. Their one of the strongest teams in the tournament same with SA ( Assuming the curse doesn't apply) what drugs are you on bro?

Wdym by possibly India, their probs the strongest side in this cup lol, England based of warm up games aren't liking the conditions XD.

I have looked around my team. NZ the team that gave us the minnow treatment, India the team that mocked us, and their current counterparts England, SA and Australia are far far far statically ahead of us atm.
 
you try to discredit Pakistan reaching the finals of an ICC event, when in the same group another opponent failed to reach the semi finals

Pakistan had to reach the semi final first darling.

Remind me, how did Pakistan reach the semi?

Oh yes.

The little sidefooter you swept under the table, the odds of Netherlands beating South Africa at 500-1 which somehow managed to make you smile.
 
Every team needs luck but the "mercurial" and "unpredictable" tag is wrongly accorded to Pakistan as Nasser keeps repeating.

I think I hate it when our team is called "unpredictable". We are miserably predictable. We have been predictable for ages and people like to think "unpredictability" is something to romanticize.

Let me tell you how predictable we are. The last time Pakistan won the ODI world Cup, 25 percent of our viewers were not even born and 50 percent were in just getting rid of their diapers.

The last time Pakistan reached the final of the ODI World Cup was when I was in Junior High School. We predictably crashed out of 2003 World Cup and 2007 World Cups and we managed to muck up a "laid on a platter semifinal" in 2011 in Mohali by watching paint dry while the other side came to win.

We were predictable in 2015 as well and in 2019 as well and we are going to be predictable in this World Cup as well.

You can bookmark this post.

There were only a few instances where we were unpredictable and managed to win despite no expectations. I can count a handful of those moments. T20 2009 World Cup where no one was giving us a chance and everything clicked and we dominated EVERY match of the tournament. CT 2017 where we played out of our skins to dominate every single match and win the CT 17. For the sake of argument, one could say 1992 as well, where Imran somehow managed to win.

But from 1992 to 2023, EVERYTHING has been so predictable about the 50 overs team, that I find it laughable people are thinking that something unpredictable will happen.

The best thing that could happen is Pakistan win 5 to 6 matches, depend on lucking out ( some matches get rained off, Netherlands beat another high-fi team ) and Pakistan sneak into semi finals.

But even if that does happen, the raucous fans will fool everyone again and say we are "unpredictable" when it will simply take a sheer amount of luck to make it to semis after winning 5 to 6 matches.

Being unpredictable is not always in the context of winning.

1987 WC, Pakistan had topped the group but unpredictably lost the SF to Australia.

1999 WC Pakistan easily had the best team in the tournament and breezed through to the final, then of course were runners up with an unpredictable meagur performance in that final.

Unpredictably lost to Ireland in 2007 WC.

List goes on.

This is precisely what makes Pakistan one of the most unpredictable teams in Cricket, you don't know which Pakistan will turn up on the day.
 
Pakistan had to reach the semi final first darling.

Remind me, how did Pakistan reach the semi?

Oh yes.

The little sidefooter you swept under the table, the odds of Netherlands beating South Africa at 500-1 which somehow managed to make you smile.
I remember the odds, Netherlands were 55 to 1, but as most people know T20 is a 50/50 game and shocks do happen. The same Netherland team qualified for the 2023 World Cup.

Plenty of other shock horrors in T20, only recently Nepal, yes Nepal, registered the highest ever score in T20 international history - 314/3, and in that innings, the fastest perfect 50 was also scored, Dipendra Singh hits 6 sixes in a row before collecting 14 runs from his next three balls to set an almost unbreakable record.

T20 will provide shock and horror results, expect more as the T20 expands internationally - it is the nature of the format/game.
 
Pakistan had to reach the semi final first darling.

Remind me, how did Pakistan reach the semi?

Oh yes.

The little sidefooter you swept under the table, the odds of Netherlands beating South Africa at 500-1 which somehow managed to make you smile.
no it does not work that way sweety.

In a group stage, there are other teams playing. ICC tournaments do not mean that other teams are just there for no reason. They are also good enough.

The champion team, England lost to Ireland in the same tournament. The other team that was suppose to qualify, South Africa did not beacuse they lost. We lost to zimbabwe. We took advantage of it.

India and Nz were the only teams that didnt lose to minnows, did they reach the finals? No they did not. The three teams that lost to minnows, two of them made it to the finals by winning their semi finals against good teams.

But still you want to bash Pakistan, while ignore other teams.

The champion team lost to Ireland of all teams....
 
I remember the odds, Netherlands were 55 to 1, but as most people know T20 is a 50/50 game and shocks do happen. The same Netherland team qualified for the 2023 World Cup.

Plenty of other shock horrors in T20, only recently Nepal, yes Nepal, registered the highest ever score in T20 international history - 314/3, and in that innings, the fastest perfect 50 was also scored, Dipendra Singh hits 6 sixes in a row before collecting 14 runs from his next three balls to set an almost unbreakable record.

T20 will provide shock and horror results, expect more as the T20 expands internationally - it is the nature of the format/game.
the champion team lost to Ireland in the same tournament.
 
I remember the odds, Netherlands were 55 to 1, but as most people know T20 is a 50/50 game and shocks do happen. The same Netherland team qualified for the 2023 World Cup.

Plenty of other shock horrors in T20, only recently Nepal, yes Nepal, registered the highest ever score in T20 international history - 314/3, and in that innings, the fastest perfect 50 was also scored, Dipendra Singh hits 6 sixes in a row before collecting 14 runs from his next three balls to set an almost unbreakable record.

T20 will provide shock and horror results, expect more as the T20 expands internationally - it is the nature of the format/game.
I don't mind the fact Pakistan reached the final
no it does not work that way sweety.

In a group stage, there are other teams playing. ICC tournaments do not mean that other teams are just there for no reason. They are also good enough.

The champion team, England lost to Ireland in the same tournament. The other team that was suppose to qualify, South Africa did not beacuse they lost. We lost to zimbabwe. We took advantage of it.

India and Nz were the only teams that didnt lose to minnows, did they reach the finals? No they did not. The three teams that lost to minnows, two of them made it to the finals by winning their semi finals against good teams.

But still you want to bash Pakistan, while ignore other teams.

The champion team lost to Ireland of all teams....

Irrelevant blob of text.

How did Pakistan reach the semi final?

They waited to see if Netherlands could beat South Africa with a 55-1 ratio odd (@Technics 1210 thanks for the odds).
 
the champion team lost to Ireland in the same tournament.

I am going to try one more time.

Which of the 14 participating teams which reached the semi final depended on ANOTHER TEAM's result to sneak into the semi finals?
 
the champion team lost to Ireland in the same tournament.
Indeed, and in 2011, England lost to Ireland to after Kevin O'Brien chased down a mammoth score.

England also lost to a one off to Scotland in 2018, where Scotland score over 370 runs! 2018 when England were warming up for the 2019 World Cup!

As the games expand, shock results will be an expectation. Netherlands in their warm up game had Australia at 166/7!
 
Netherlands has nothing to lose. So they will try to put their best foot forward. Same Netherlands as a world cup preparation they played Karnataka team domestic team. They were 36/9 in one of the match against them. Then they added 87 for 10th wicket and lost by 142 runs. In another innings Karnataka beat them 6 or 7 wickets.
 
For me, unpredictably makes a tournament exciting.

Ironically I found the ICC tournaments from 1999 to 2007 boring as Australia were winning everything. I think there is a stat where Australia had not lost a single WC ODI game from the 1999 Final right up to the point Pakistan beat Australia in 2011 WC. Their world cup legacy started with Pakistan, and ended with Pakistan!

Roll on the 6th! Pakistan vs Netherlands is going to be a belter! And yes, I am hoping Nasir Hussain will be commentating!
 
I don't mind the fact Pakistan reached the final


Irrelevant blob of text.

How did Pakistan reach the semi final?

They waited to see if Netherlands could beat South Africa with a 55-1 ratio odd (@Technics 1210 thanks for the odds).
You do know that South Africa reaching the semi finals, they had to rely on zimbabwe beating Pakistan.

Forget that,

1992 world cup was where the team had to rely on other results. World T20 2009 was also where we relied on results, and in the Champions trophy 2017 it was the same.

The only time we played we never relied on results was World T20 2007 and World T20 2021.
 
NZ gave us a minnow treatment lol. Conway, Mitchell, Williamson, Mark Chapman, Glenn Philips, followed with an excellent bowling line up. Their one of the strongest teams in the tournament same with SA ( Assuming the curse doesn't apply) what drugs are you on bro?

Wdym by possibly India, their probs the strongest side in this cup lol, England based of warm up games aren't liking the conditions XD.

I have looked around my team. NZ the team that gave us the minnow treatment, India the team that mocked us, and their current counterparts England, SA and Australia are far far far statically ahead of us atm.
I follow ind more being one. We are one of the top team but no where close to our best, let's be honest here. Like I said, NZ sure but on paper they are never strong. On the field is a different story, hence they always make it to Semi atleast. I have watched enough SA cricket to know that they just don't do well in WC when it matters. They are always one of the top team on paper and on the field, but during Trophy collecting tournament, they somehow always choke. Hope that they actually make it to the finals for once!
 
I follow ind more being one. We are one of the top team but no where close to our best, let's be honest here. Like I said, NZ sure but on paper they are never strong. On the field is a different story, hence they always make it to Semi atleast. I have watched enough SA cricket to know that they just don't do well in WC when it matters. They are always one of the top team on paper and on the field, but during Trophy collecting tournament, they somehow always choke. Hope that they actually make it to the finals for once!

I still don't understand the whole on paper NZ is weak.

Darly Mitchell, Kane Williamson, Mark chapman, Glenn Philips, Devon Conway etc are not weak batsmen on paper, the batting lineup is more stable them England's current lineup since people like Harry Brook are volatile and don't seem to have a clear and defined role.

Same with bowling, it's not weak.

Only spin department with satner and sodhi is weak.

They are not weak on paper, their easily the most balanced team of the tournament.

England is more dangerous but as we saw against bamgaldesh in the warm up their also more volatile and can either score 400+ or be bowled out for less then a 100.

India suffers from having a horrific tail, meaning shpuld a collapse happens theirs zero recovery.

England, India, Australia on paper are better but NZ has the most balanced team of the tournament.

2019 was different, in 2019 they had a killer pace attack but the batting was weak and relied on Williamson, Rn almost all their batsmen are superior to all of our batsmen minus babar.
 
Every team needs luck but the "mercurial" and "unpredictable" tag is wrongly accorded to Pakistan as Nasser keeps repeating.

I think I hate it when our team is called "unpredictable". We are miserably predictable. We have been predictable for ages and people like to think "unpredictability" is something to romanticize.

Let me tell you how predictable we are. The last time Pakistan won the ODI world Cup, 25 percent of our viewers were not even born and 50 percent were in just getting rid of their diapers.

The last time Pakistan reached the final of the ODI World Cup was when I was in Junior High School. We predictably crashed out of 2003 World Cup and 2007 World Cups and we managed to muck up a "laid on a platter semifinal" in 2011 in Mohali by watching paint dry while the other side came to win.

We were predictable in 2015 as well and in 2019 as well and we are going to be predictable in this World Cup as well.

You can bookmark this post.

There were only a few instances where we were unpredictable and managed to win despite no expectations. I can count a handful of those moments. T20 2009 World Cup where no one was giving us a chance and everything clicked and we dominated EVERY match of the tournament. CT 2017 where we played out of our skins to dominate every single match and win the CT 17. For the sake of argument, one could say 1992 as well, where Imran somehow managed to win.

But from 1992 to 2023, EVERYTHING has been so predictable about the 50 overs team, that I find it laughable people are thinking that something unpredictable will happen.

The best thing that could happen is Pakistan win 5 to 6 matches, depend on lucking out ( some matches get rained off, Netherlands beat another high-fi team ) and Pakistan sneak into semi finals.

But even if that does happen, the raucous fans will fool everyone again and say we are "unpredictable" when it will simply take a sheer amount of luck to make it to semis after winning 5 to 6 matches.
so basically whatever happens, nothing's going to be satisfactory for you.
 
so basically whatever happens, nothing's going to be satisfactory for you.
Its been 30 years since Pakistan won the ODI World Cup.

If we win, I would be highly satisfied.

Most people are aiming for semi finals only.

Not good enough.
 
Nasser sounding more and more like Chat GPT given a voice and talking about cricket. SKY loves building their narratives, don't they? :)
 
no it does not work that way sweety.

In a group stage, there are other teams playing. ICC tournaments do not mean that other teams are just there for no reason. They are also good enough.

The champion team, England lost to Ireland in the same tournament. The other team that was suppose to qualify, South Africa did not beacuse they lost. We lost to zimbabwe. We took advantage of it.

India and Nz were the only teams that didnt lose to minnows, did they reach the finals? No they did not. The three teams that lost to minnows, two of them made it to the finals by winning their semi finals against good teams.

But still you want to bash Pakistan, while ignore other teams.

The champion team lost to Ireland of all teams....
Good post. And points hypocrisy correctly.

Pakistan is a very good tournament team; Nasser is on point.
 
Good post. And points hypocrisy correctly.

Pakistan is a very good tournament team; Nasser is on point.
Fake romance commonly hides ugly truths

Lets talk facts shall we?


In ODI world Cups



2019 world cup semi finals. Ind aus eng nz
2015 world cup semi finals sa nz eng aus
2011 world cup semi fimals pak india nz Sl
2007 world cup semi finals. Sa aus sl nz
2003 world cup semi finals. Aus sl ind kenya
1999 world cup semi finals. Aus nz sa pak
1996 world cup semi finals. Sl india WI aus



Since 1992 Aus has reached semi finals of World cup 6 Times

Since 1992 Nz has reached semi finals of World Cup 5 times

Since 1992 Sri Lanka has reached semi finals of World Cup 4 times.

Since 1992 India has reached semi finals of World Cup 4 times.

Since 1992 SA has reached semi finals of World Cup 3 times.

Since 1992, Pakistan has reached the semi finals of world cup only a grand total of TWO TIMES in 1999 and 2011.

That means in the last 30 years, PAKISTAN has reached the semi finals only twice.

Yet somehow they are an ODI world cup tournament team.

Fabrications of the highest degree.
 
Fake romance commonly hides ugly truths

Lets talk facts shall we?


In ODI world Cups



2019 world cup semi finals. Ind aus eng nz
2015 world cup semi finals sa nz eng aus
2011 world cup semi fimals pak india nz Sl
2007 world cup semi finals. Sa aus sl nz
2003 world cup semi finals. Aus sl ind kenya
1999 world cup semi finals. Aus nz sa pak
1996 world cup semi finals. Sl india WI aus



Since 1992 Aus has reached semi finals of World cup 6 Times

Since 1992 Nz has reached semi finals of World Cup 5 times

Since 1992 Sri Lanka has reached semi finals of World Cup 4 times.

Since 1992 India has reached semi finals of World Cup 4 times.

Since 1992 SA has reached semi finals of World Cup 3 times.

Since 1992, Pakistan has reached the semi finals of world cup only a grand total of TWO TIMES in 1999 and 2011.

That means in the last 30 years, PAKISTAN has reached the semi finals only twice.

Yet somehow they are an ODI world cup tournament team.

Fabrications of the highest degree.
The only one fabricating here is you.

Nasser said good tournament team. No mention of ODI. In fact he used T20 as an example.
 
Nasser sounding more and more like Chat GPT given a voice and talking about cricket. SKY loves building their narratives, don't they? :)
Most of the SKY commentators played in an era where the Pakistan team was the complete opposite of England.

They have a bit of a complex when it comes to Pakistan and have fond memories of Pakistani players.

I guess its the same as the Indian hype machine generated by the players who have played IPL.
 
He might also be referring to that champions trophy run. That was an excellent comeback from Team Pakistan, to be honest. Out of nowhere they came back and won that.
 
Most of the SKY commentators played in an era where the Pakistan team was the complete opposite of England.

They have a bit of a complex when it comes to Pakistan and have fond memories of Pakistani players.

I guess its the same as the Indian hype machine generated by the players who have played IPL.
I agree. But considering that Indians pay virtually nothing( 400 rupees per year) to watch the World Cup and IPL and domestic internationals were streamed for free on the JioCinema App, you'd expect SKY(my cousin tells me it is very expensive in the UK?) to have better standards than Indian broadcasters and not indulge in parroting narratives like Nasser does.
 
The only one fabricating here is you.

Nasser said good tournament team. No mention of ODI. In fact he used T20 as an example.

Really?

Yeah if all the matches are 20 overs in this World Cup, then sure.

Pakistan has a good chance of winning.

For the record, Pakistan have always been good in T20, and they are a good T20 team.

But when people extrapolate it into ODIs where we are struggling for last 10 years due to outdated methods, it pisses me off.

Nasser has no clue what he is saying.

If Pakistan win the World Cup, they can prove me wrong.
 
I agree. But considering that Indians pay virtually nothing( 400 rupees per year) to watch the World Cup and IPL and domestic internationals were streamed for free on the JioCinema App, you'd expect SKY(my cousin tells me it is very expensive in the UK?) to have better standards than Indian broadcasters and not indulge in parroting narratives like Nasser does.

Only SKY sports package without SKY TV connection or internet costs you 35£/month.

For example, I have BT TV where I get all BT Sports channels + all SKY sports package (using Now TV) plus BT internet and I am paying close to 100£ a month.
 
Only SKY sports package without SKY TV connection or internet costs you 35£/month.

For example, I have BT TV where I get all BT Sports channels + all SKY sports package (using Now TV) plus BT internet and I am paying close to 100£ a month.
So, 420 quid a year just to watch this :O We get sports and a whole lot more content for 1/100th of that. Man, SKY are overrated frauds
 
So, 420 quid a year just to watch this :O We get sports and a whole lot more content for 1/100th of that. Man, SKY are overrated frauds

Yes it is very expensive but TBF the standard of broadcasting in SKY is much better than Star Sports India. I know you get what you pay but Disney hotstar is absolutely atrocious. All they do is buttering big name Indian cricketers for promoting their channel and the cricket talk shows feels more like bollywood entertainment. Without going into much details, Sky sports is much better and professional broadcaster albeit extremely expensive.
 
Yes it is very expensive but TBF the standard of broadcasting in SKY is much better than Star Sports India. I know you get what you pay but Disney hotstar is absolutely atrocious. All they do is buttering big name Indian cricketers for promoting their channel and the cricket talk shows feels more like bollywood entertainment. Without going into much details, Sky sports is much better and professional broadcaster albeit extremely expensive.
I know that. I never said they are on the same level at all. Star Sports is quite bad. But when you consider that I can get all of the sports and all of Disney's other content etc. for a miniscule portion of what one has to pay for Sky's sports coverage alone which involves listening to Nasser's cliches all year long, i think it's alright
 
Only SKY sports package without SKY TV connection or internet costs you 35£/month.

For example, I have BT TV where I get all BT Sports channels + all SKY sports package (using Now TV) plus BT internet and I am paying close to 100£ a month.
You pay for SS & TNT Sports???? Lolz
 
So, 420 quid a year just to watch this :O We get sports and a whole lot more content for 1/100th of that. Man, SKY are overrated frauds
Err you do realise young man India & UK are two different countries with slightly different purchasing powers?

Yes we in UK do pay more for our services, but the flip side of the coin is we get paid a lot more and in certain cases a 100X of our Indian based colleagues.

SKY are not over rated frauds, just because Mr Ambani is currently subsidising costs in India currently.
 
So, 420 quid a year just to watch this :O We get sports and a whole lot more content for 1/100th of that. Man, SKY are overrated frauds
Cricket is really just an after thought especially LOI cricket.

Theres no real post match analysis or talkshows about cricket on Sky, well at least not to the same level as the SC.

They make their money through subscribers interested in Football.

For most UK viewers the WC is irrelevant. Its a tournament made up of teams that play each other all the time. So they need to try and create some narratives to market it, even if they are sometimes lazy narratives.

Nassers comments barely make a ripple in the UK media. On the other hand had it been Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher talking about any premiership side the comments would have dominated, social media, tik tok and the print media.
 
I know that. I never said they are on the same level at all. Star Sports is quite bad. But when you consider that I can get all of the sports and all of Disney's other content etc. for a miniscule portion of what one has to pay for Sky's sports coverage alone which involves listening to Nasser's cliches all year long, i think it's alright
And you do realise young man, that SKY doesnt sell channels individually- its either all sports channels or none, so you are not just getting Cricket but other channels and quite honestly other than Asians, not a lot of folks subscribe to SS for cricket only.

So before you mutter more about SS pricing vs India, think about this.
 
So, 420 quid a year just to watch this :O We get sports and a whole lot more content for 1/100th of that. Man, SKY are overrated frauds
He is getting fleeced, SKY Cricket is £9.99 a month, and if you go for the entire sports package it is £24.99 / month.
 
Its been 30 years since Pakistan won the ODI World Cup.

If we win, I would be highly satisfied.

Most people are aiming for semi finals only.

Not good enough.
I don't understand.

When fans say they expect Pakistan to win the WC (aiming for the WC and not just the SF), then you see a string of LOLs, and hear cries of delusion, team is pathetic, Babar is useless captain, etc. The haters come on in full brute force and they alledgly support Pakistan!

Just take a look at the predictions thread, anyone predicting Pakistan will be in the final, let alone will win the WC, is met with nothing but contempt.

And when Pakistan to get to a SF, it's the same - fluke win, had to rely on other results etc (as if no other team has had to!)

Every genuine fan wants their team to win, but in Pakistan's case, when they do win, even at match level, haters come out with the classic - it is a fluke because the opposition had an off-day.

By the way, when India won the WC in 2011, it was after 28 years. Not to say anything of England who won the WC for the first time in the tournament's history after being runners-up 3 times. West Indies have not won it since 1979, so not sure what you point is.
 
He is getting fleeced, SKY Cricket is £9.99 a month, and if you go for the entire sports package it is £24.99 / month.
Fair enough, if Sky have started debundling the channels now, good on them. Been 8 odd years since I cut the cord and not looked back since.

Howevver Sky viewing beats Star/Ten Sports/DD/PTV viewing hands down- full screen, no miserable ads running down at the bottom or by the side and no irritating ads in between deliveries or wickets, less said about Indian/Pakistani commentators the better.
 
Fair enough, if Sky have started debundling the channels now, good on them. Been 8 odd years since I cut the cord and not looked back since.

Howevver Sky viewing beats Star/Ten Sports/DD/PTV viewing hands down- full screen, no miserable ads running down at the bottom or by the side and no irritating ads in between deliveries or wickets, less said about Indian/Pakistani commentators the better.

SKY Cricket is totally worth it for £9.99/month even though I have he full package IMO.

ICC Tournaments, England home series, and even some international series are totally worth it.

TNT (Formally BT sports) is not worth it now. They used to do a one off monthly subscription which was great for a month or 2, but now they force customers to sign up for a minimum of 12 months.
 
So, 420 quid a year just to watch this :O We get sports and a whole lot more content for 1/100th of that. Man, SKY are overrated frauds
Not legally you're not . £38 per month for just Sky Sports and Entertainment, HD for entertainment additional £5 pm
 
Fair enough, if Sky have started debundling the channels now, good on them. Been 8 odd years since I cut the cord and not looked back since.

Howevver Sky viewing beats Star/Ten Sports/DD/PTV viewing hands down- full screen, no miserable ads running down at the bottom or by the side and no irritating ads in between deliveries or wickets, less said about Indian/Pakistani commentators the better.

It hasn't...guy is clueless like in most topics...LOL.

If you take SKY TV, you get all your generic free channels and then you have the option to add Sky Sports and/or Sky Movies. If you add Sky Sports, you by default get all 8 Sports channels. There is no option of just picking cricket channel. However there are some channels like Sky Sports Racing which comes extra as they are digital of At the Races.

If you are not with SKY TV, the only legal way to watch Sky Sports is by Now TV. If you take Sky Sports via now TV, you get all 11 Sky Sports channel by default...irrespective you take a day pass or monthly subscription.
 
It hasn't...guy is clueless like in most topics...LOL.

If you take SKY TV, you get all your generic free channels and then you have the option to add Sky Sports and/or Sky Movies. If you add Sky Sports, you by default get all 8 Sports channels. There is no option of just picking cricket channel. However there are some channels like Sky Sports Racing which comes extra as they are digital of At the Races.

If you are not with SKY TV, the only legal way to watch Sky Sports is by Now TV. If you take Sky Sports via now TV, you get all 11 Sky Sports channel by default...irrespective you take a day pass or monthly subscription.
SKY offer debundled sports channels.

You have to call them.

You would know this if you actually live in the UK.
 
I don't understand.

When fans say they expect Pakistan to win the WC (aiming for the WC and not just the SF), then you see a string of LOLs, and hear cries of delusion, team is pathetic, Babar is useless captain, etc. The haters come on in full brute force and they alledgly support Pakistan!

Just take a look at the predictions thread, anyone predicting Pakistan will be in the final, let alone will win the WC, is met with nothing but contempt.

And when Pakistan to get to a SF, it's the same - fluke win, had to rely on other results etc (as if no other team has had to!)

Every genuine fan wants their team to win, but in Pakistan's case, when they do win, even at match level, haters come out with the classic - it is a fluke because the opposition had an off-day.

By the way, when India won the WC in 2011, it was after 28 years. Not to say anything of England who won the WC for the first time in the tournament's history after being runners-up 3 times. West Indies have not won it since 1979, so not sure what you point is.

But no one calls India or England or West Indies a tournament team or mercurial or unpredictable.

Nor they want to be tagged as such.

We want to reward mediocrity and inconsistency.

That is my point.
 
Nasser Hussain knows Pakistan cricket very well. Can't forget his lines during the champions trophy “Pakistan Cricket at its best: One minute down, Next minute up”
 
I still don't understand the whole on paper NZ is weak.

Darly Mitchell, Kane Williamson, Mark chapman, Glenn Philips, Devon Conway etc are not weak batsmen on paper, the batting lineup is more stable them England's current lineup since people like Harry Brook are volatile and don't seem to have a clear and defined role.

Same with bowling, it's not weak.

Only spin department with satner and sodhi is weak.

They are not weak on paper, their easily the most balanced team of the tournament.

England is more dangerous but as we saw against bamgaldesh in the warm up their also more volatile and can either score 400+ or be bowled out for less then a 100.

India suffers from having a horrific tail, meaning shpuld a collapse happens theirs zero recovery.

England, India, Australia on paper are better but NZ has the most balanced team of the tournament.

2019 was different, in 2019 they had a killer pace attack but the batting was weak and relied on Williamson, Rn almost all their batsmen are superior to all of our batsmen minus babar.
What I mean is historically speaking, NZ team on paper doesn't strike fear. But on field is a different beast. Punches way way above their weight. It's not like when you look at Eng team and start sheeting bricks just by looking at the names in the 11.
 
What I mean is historically speaking, NZ team on paper doesn't strike fear. But on field is a different beast. Punches way way above their weight. It's not like when you look at Eng team and start sheeting bricks just by looking at the names in the 11.
England team is volatile, they play bazzball more or less. It works most of the time cause they got quality batsmen but even their all star 2019 team got upset by weaker teams cause their the type that can collapse cause they play one way pretty much, and not always according to the situation.

Their stronger then NZ but NZ is more balanced.

NZ is the most balanced team this WC alongside Aus.

Eng and India aren't balanced but their strongest players are single handed match winners something which is absent from aus and NZ.

Like Smith and Warner are good but I don't see them single handidely winning entire games like Butler can.
 
People and pundits should stop calling our current team mercurial, unpredictable etc etc. We were labeled these terms in the 90s and 00's because we had world class performers like Wasim, Waqar, Saeed, Inzi, Mushy, Saqi, Shoaib etc etc and despite them we used to underperform. One day we will beat Australia and the next day we will lose to Zimbabwe. No one knew how we will play on a particular day. That's how we got labeled 'unpredictable'.

Like all Pakistan teams the current team is also talented but the problem is compared to the teams of the past, this team only has talent and nothing else. In an age of coaches, video analysis, mentors etc they lack the mental strength and skills to improve their game. A lot of the blame goes to our media as well, who make talented rookies into world class performers even if he performs against an average team. And nowadays quite a few teams are average. If a player becomes a star after a handful of games why would he improve his game. Shahid Afridi is the best example of a media darling who wasted his talent.

And then our obsession with the shorter formats and the World Cups. We take these bilateral T20 and ODI's so seriously that instead of grooming our talented youngsters we end up playing our best XI even against minnows.

Ignoring vital Test series has made us produce players with limited skills who are focused only on the shorter formats and leagues. In the last two decades we haven't won a series in England and failed even to draw a Test in Australia. No, doubt Australia doesn't takes us seriously.

And no other team praises their World Cup triumph as Pakistan does. We ignore our other great historic wins achieved in the 70 years of our cricketing history. For us are only achievement is winning the 1992 World Cup.
 
Pak are not unpredictable any more they’re predictably bad very bad. They just don’t know how to play odis.
 
I don't understand.

When fans say they expect Pakistan to win the WC (aiming for the WC and not just the SF), then you see a string of LOLs, and hear cries of delusion, team is pathetic, Babar is useless captain, etc. The haters come on in full brute force and they alledgly support Pakistan!

Just take a look at the predictions thread, anyone predicting Pakistan will be in the final, let alone will win the WC, is met with nothing but contempt.

And when Pakistan to get to a SF, it's the same - fluke win, had to rely on other results etc (as if no other team has had to!)

Every genuine fan wants their team to win, but in Pakistan's case, when they do win, even at match level, haters come out with the classic - it is a fluke because the opposition had an off-day.

By the way, when India won the WC in 2011, it was after 28 years. Not to say anything of England who won the WC for the first time in the tournament's history after being runners-up 3 times. West Indies have not won it since 1979, so not sure what you point is.
Bhai sahb, we need to be realistic too.

There is a thread ridiculing Athar Ali Khan for suggesting Bangla will make the semi finals.

There’s probably other teams saying the same about us.

We have a poor team. Miracles do happen like last year’s final appearance. But you don’t predict miracles because it’s not possible. Have to go by what you have.

Weak bowling attacks can get by if they can pile on the runs by the bucket load. We can’t do that either
 
Bhai sahb, we need to be realistic too.

There is a thread ridiculing Athar Ali Khan for suggesting Bangla will make the semi finals.

There’s probably other teams saying the same about us.

We have a poor team. Miracles do happen like last year’s final appearance. But you don’t predict miracles because it’s not possible. Have to go by what you have.

Weak bowling attacks can get by if they can pile on the runs by the bucket load. We can’t do that either
Why are fans focusing on last years final appearance, and not mentioning the WC T20 the year before that where Pakistan won all its group matches, thrashed India by 10 wickets, but ultimately lost in the SF?

Did we have a poor team in both WC T20s?

Let me be realistic. I think what has always been lacking in Pakistan team is unity and jazba. The problem is just we never know when these 2 factors come into existence.

Jazba is one thing, but unity? Heck even Pak fans are not unified based on anything common.

Here's the thing, I have witnessed Pakistan snatch victory in matches and win tournaments from the jaws of defeat, and I have witnessed Pakistan lose matches and gifted tournaments from the jaws of victory.

This unpredictably is exactly why I think Pakistan can go all the way in every tournament, because no one knows which Pakistan will turn up on the day let alone the tournament!
 
Why are fans focusing on last years final appearance, and not mentioning the WC T20 the year before that where Pakistan won all its group matches, thrashed India by 10 wickets, but ultimately lost in the SF?

Did we have a poor team in both WC T20s?

Let me be realistic. I think what has always been lacking in Pakistan team is unity and jazba. The problem is just we never know when these 2 factors come into existence.

Jazba is one thing, but unity? Heck even Pak fans are not unified based on anything common.

Here's the thing, I have witnessed Pakistan snatch victory in matches and win tournaments from the jaws of defeat, and I have witnessed Pakistan lose matches and gifted tournaments from the jaws of victory.

This unpredictably is exactly why I think Pakistan can go all the way in every tournament, because no one knows which Pakistan will turn up on the day let alone the tournament!
What you’ve said above applies to many Pakistan teams, not this one. There are no matchwinners left. We have a team full of steady eddies and mediocrity that can achieve no heights due to their lack of guts and intelligence.

I love the passion mate, but unfortunately this team is not good enough nor do they play with any gutso. You give me a brave Pakistan team picked on merit, and even if they’re the worst team in the world I’ll back them to the hilt, but sorry this team ain’t it. Cowards must suffer cowards’ fate
 
What you’ve said above applies to many Pakistan teams, not this one. There are no matchwinners left. We have a team full of steady eddies and mediocrity that can achieve no heights due to their lack of guts and intelligence.

I love the passion mate, but unfortunately this team is not good enough nor do they play with any gutso. You give me a brave Pakistan team picked on merit, and even if they’re the worst team in the world I’ll back them to the hilt, but sorry this team ain’t it. Cowards must suffer cowards’ fate
I don’t think that last part is true. the team is never picked on merit and your favorites are always the best players that are sitting on the bench.

Imad Wasim with an ODI average of 44.5 has suddenly become everybody’s favorite cricketer because he is ‘brave’.

Muhammad Amir, who can’t even complete four overs in a T20 before breaking down, is seen as the savior of this bowling attack. He is ‘brave’.

Sarfraz Ahmed, who can barely go at a SR of 80 in LOI cricket, is now seen as the savior to replace one of the best LOI batsman Pakistan has produced. People bigging up Saifi are ignorant of the filth that he faced when he was part of the ODI and T20 teams, hiding behind Hasan Ali at some points of his career. I guess that constitutes as ‘brave’?

Now the young fans here want Saim Ayub in the team, when the lad doesn’t even have that many FC runs under his belt to begin with. You want to chuck someone in a 50-over game just because he could play a few T20 knocks?
 
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