Pakistan has the opportunity to reach #5 in the Test Rankings if they whitewash South Africa

[aloo paratha]

Even if we lose 2-0 in NZ, we can still reach #5 as long as we whitewash South Africa. Some other results would have to go in our favor though. South Africa need to whitewash Sri Lanka, and England need to at least draw the series in Sri Lanka. Both these results are those that are likely to happen. If SL draw the series with SA and get whitewashed by England, we can also reach #5.

We really need to rise in the rankings, we must whitewash South Africa.

 

[Mamoon]

We can do if temporarily but we will be back at our rightful place of 6th and 7th.

New Zealand are number 1 now but in the long run, they will compete with South Africa for number 4 spot behind the Big 3.

Pakistan, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will fight it out for 6, 7 and below.

Pakistan is in the league of tier 2 teams like Sri Lanka, West Indies and Bangladesh now.

It also shows the misery of our fans who are making threads about how Pakistan can be number 5 after the South Africa series as if it something to be proud of and happy about.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Whitewashing SA should be easy enough. They have been minnows in Asia since 2014.

 

[Mamoon]

Choti choti khushiyan.

 

[aloo paratha]

We can do if temporarily but we will be back at our rightful place of 6th and 7th.

New Zealand are number 1 now but in the long run, they will compete with South Africa for number 4 spot behind the Big 3.

Pakistan, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will fight it out for 6, 7 and below.

Pakistan is in the league of tier 2 teams like Sri Lanka, West Indies and Bangladesh now.

It also shows the misery of our fans who are making threads about how Pakistan can be number 5 after the South Africa series as if it something to be proud of and happy about.

You gotta start somewhere. Nobody is gonna teleport us to #1

 

[MMHS]

Whitewashing SA should be easy enough. They have been minnows in Asia since 2014.

Also, apart from Kock & Rabada, none of this SAF team would make PAK C .... and PAK is at home this time, not in UAE.

 

[Titan24]

Pak also had the opportunity to be no 3 in the test rankings if they would have just won the series against NZ back in UAE.

Pak has been and inconsistent team unfortunately, so while definitely Pak should have an advantage at home but nothing can be said for sure. It would be a good series win if Pak team is able to achieve that.

 

[Line and Length]

Also, apart from Kock & Rabada, none of this SAF team would make PAK C .... and PAK is at home this time, not in UAE.

Du Plessis, Elgar and Markram would would definitely be be in our Test team in this hypothetical scenario. Hell, probably even Ngidi.

 

[HappyWarsFan]

In 2021 and 2022, we have chances to gain a lot of ranking points.

We have series vs SA (H), ZIM (A), WI (A), Bangladesh (A), ENG (H), SL (A), AUS (H), NZ (H).

Let's use this time to build a settled team and climb the rankings. A lot of these series are very winnable if we can build a team.

Hopefully by 2023 there will be a good and set team similiar to Misbahs 2011 or 2016 teams that had success away.

 

[Rana]

Also, apart from Kock & Rabada, none of this SAF team would make PAK C .... and PAK is at home this time, not in UAE.

Kock and Rabada might just make Bangladesh F

 

[deep82]

Markaram
Elgar
Rassie Van
Duplesis
De Cock
Bavuma
Mulder/Prerotous
Maharaj
Rabada
Ngini
Norje

Quite a solid team. Make no mistake, its going to be hard grind. Saffers aren't getting rolled over.

 

[HappyWarsFan]

Also, apart from Kock & Rabada, none of this SAF team would make PAK C .... and PAK is at home this time, not in UAE.

Is this sarcastic? Genuinely curious what you think about the SAF series. Do you think Pakistan can crash them 2-0?

 

[Mesozoic]

Also, apart from Kock & Rabada, none of this SAF team would make PAK C .... and PAK is at home this time, not in UAE.

Hain?

Faf ? Elgar? Nortje?

 

[MMHS]

Is this sarcastic? Genuinely curious what you think about the SAF series. Do you think Pakistan can crash them 2-0?

No - this was quoted by [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION], the most popular poster in PP these days.

No, I don’t think PAK can crash them, in fact not sure if they can even win the series, provided that SAF sends their best squad within the limitations of quota.

PAK starts as favourites by a whisker, but SAF are not going to be easy meat - if toss goes in their favour, they’ll trouble PAK. I’ll be waiting to see PAK batting second against Rabada, Nortje, Shamshi, Mahraj & Moulder.

 

[aloo paratha]

Pak also had the opportunity to be no 3 in the test rankings if they would have just won the series against NZ back in UAE.

Pak has been and inconsistent team unfortunately, so while definitely Pak should have an advantage at home but nothing can be said for sure. It would be a good series win if Pak team is able to achieve that.

Mickey's one specialist spinner policy really cost us bad.

Picking a proper spinner alongside Yasir is crucial to beating SENA teams in Asia. Need Sajid Khan or Zafar Gohar to play this series.

 

[HappyWarsFan]

No - this was quoted by [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION], the most popular poster in PP these days.

No, I don’t think PAK can crash them, in fact not sure if they can even win the series, provided that SAF sends their best squad within the limitations of quota.

PAK starts as favourites by a whisker, but SAF are not going to be easy meat - if toss goes in their favour, they’ll trouble PAK. I’ll be waiting to see PAK batting second against Rabada, Nortje, Shamshi, Mahraj & Moulder.

Ah, I don't even read Junaids posts these days at all because it's all rubbish. Last I heard he wanted Mohammad Nawaz at no 5 for tests though.

I think Pakistan are favourites. This SA team is in transition and a lot of the players aren't great. It will not be easy for sure but 2-0 is doable. Reasonably, I think PAK will just edge the series 1-0.

 

[aloo paratha]

No - this was quoted by [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION], the most popular poster in PP these days.

No, I don’t think PAK can crash them, in fact not sure if they can even win the series, provided that SAF sends their best squad within the limitations of quota.

PAK starts as favourites by a whisker, but SAF are not going to be easy meat - if toss goes in their favour, they’ll trouble PAK. I’ll be waiting to see PAK batting second against Rabada, Nortje, Shamshi, Mahraj & Moulder.

Nobody should take Junaids seriously

 

[Junaids]

No - this was quoted by [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION], the most popular poster in PP these days.

No, I don’t think PAK can crash them, in fact not sure if they can even win the series, provided that SAF sends their best squad within the limitations of quota.

PAK starts as favourites by a whisker, but SAF are not going to be easy meat - if toss goes in their favour, they’ll trouble PAK. I’ll be waiting to see PAK batting second against Rabada, Nortje, Shamshi, Mahraj & Moulder.

Ah, I don't even read Junaids posts these days at all because it's all rubbish. Last I heard he wanted Mohammad Nawaz at no 5 for tests though.

I think Pakistan are favourites. This SA team is in transition and a lot of the players aren't great. It will not be easy for sure but 2-0 is doable. Reasonably, I think PAK will just edge the series 1-0.

Thank you for the kind words.

I don’t consider this to be the real Pakistan team.

There are literally only 3 survivors from the final Inzamam/Arthur Test team 23 months ago.

Misbah has systematically discarded almost every player in his peak years and replaced him with someone much older or much younger.

So the current time is PINO - Pakistan In Name Only.

 

[Bhaijaan]

Wishing Pakistan the best to reach #5 rank. With hard work and passion, it is possible. Never believe anything else.

 

[Ab Fan]

We can do if temporarily but we will be back at our rightful place of 6th and 7th.

New Zealand are number 1 now but in the long run, they will compete with South Africa for number 4 spot behind the Big 3.

Pakistan, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will fight it out for 6, 7 and below.

Pakistan is in the league of tier 2 teams like Sri Lanka, West Indies and Bangladesh now.

It also shows the misery of our fans who are making threads about how Pakistan can be number 5 after the South Africa series as if it something to be proud of and happy about.

New Zealand have become no.1 ranked test team first time ever.

On one side, Kane has led NZ to no.1 ranked test team, while on other side, Root's batting and captaincy both has disappointed and they are currently a distant 4th ranked team even after having the legendary Stokes in their XI. Its a failure of batsmanship and leadership for Root in his reign .

 

[UzmanBeast]

Good chance for Pakistan to win.

Need to test out some players like Gohar, Shakeel, Imran Butt, etc.

Very good opportunity to create a team for the new decade which can hopefully take us to greater heights in test cricket.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

Good chance for Pakistan to win.

Need to test out some players like Gohar, Shakeel, Imran Butt, etc.

Very good opportunity to create a team for the new decade which can hopefully take us to greater heights in test cricket.

There are more deserving players than Imran butt. He has done nothing to be mentioned in every single thread. People have fallen to the Misbahs trap of eye washing selection in him.

He had one single season of good scores, where every other batsman made good scores in that season for fun. he is been playing fc for 8 years since 2012 and managed only 36.11 as avg with just 10 centuries across 130+ inns. If at all need to give chance ,Rohail should be given the debut for his century against NZ A

The most deserving of the youngster lot is Usman Salahuddin, with an experience of 200+ inns and 24 centuries avg 47+ in fc . He also had a double ton for CP recently.

I’m sure Wasim knows more about domestic players and will select a good squad.

 

[Titan24]

Mickey's one specialist spinner policy really cost us bad.

Picking a proper spinner alongside Yasir is crucial to beating SENA teams in Asia. Need Sajid Khan or Zafar Gohar to play this series.

Against NZ Mickey tried to mend the mistake he made against Srl but, I dont think he selected the right spinner in Bilal Asif. While Bilal didnt do too badly but his lack of wicket taking ability and effectiveness especially in the last part of the tests when spinners are supposed to win matches in UAE was pretty disappointing. There were number of better spinners than Bilal statistically at that time and stats of SLAs in UAE were also ignored by the management back then.

In Pakistan it will all depend upon how the pitches prepared as in Pakistan there is liberty to prepare more variety of wickets. Against Srl and BD it was good to see decent pace and bounce and 3 seamers playing which Pak did. Against SAF they will have to adjust their pitch preparation and plans in such a way that their strengths can be minimized and weaknesses can be exploited.

I want Pak to win but, it would be great if at the same time if Pak keeps on playing on surfaces where there is some help (without neutralizing the home advantage) for pacers too as it will help develop pacers as well as will help batsmen to adjust in other surfaces around. Indian conditions in last couple of years have been pretty good, they have kept home advantage but at the same time pitches are not just rank turners like before where pacers dont get to grow much and batsmen also dont get to learn much about playing in different conditions.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Also, apart from Kock & Rabada, none of this SAF team would make PAK C .... and PAK is at home this time, not in UAE.

But even Rabada is coming back from an injury and he has not been the same after that back stress fracture. Saffers will find it hard to exert pressure with their bowling. They dont have a skiddy quick like steyn to bowl swing/reverse and maharaj too is ineffective nowadays. They were terrible in India and our wickets are better for bowlers than Pakistani pitches . Dont you think SA are the underdogs here.

 

[MMHS]

But even Rabada is coming back from an injury and he has not been the same after that back stress fracture. Saffers will find it hard to exert pressure with their bowling. They dont have a skiddy quick like steyn to bowl swing/reverse and maharaj too is ineffective nowadays. They were terrible in India and our wickets are better for bowlers than Pakistani pitches . Dont you think SA are the underdogs here.

No, I don’t think SAF are underdog. That’s why even when STL were 340-6 after day 1, I said SAF can bat for two days and effectively bat once.

They are a brilliant cricket team - just going through a bad patch and wasn’t helped by selfish individuals like De Villiers. They’ll come back hard. PAK pitches are not better for anything - PAK might dead bat there for 5-6 sessions but won’t score quickly enough to get 20 SAF wickets with this attack on a typical rubbish Pakistani wicket, that too in January February when any team under a little trouble will change box & thigh pads every alternate overs until umpires call light metre.

If it’s an underprepared green, uneven track - even Sipamla will blow PAK batting. If it’s a dry, rank turner, toss will become the result.

Overall PAK can win 8-9 of the 15 sessions, so you can say they can win a boxing match by points but on wickets where they can put a KO punch, SAF also will have their chances.

Gap between teams often can’t be seen in Test cricket from the margin - this NZ Test went to last minutes because Rana ji had played a blinder, by far best effort of his entire career, saving follow on by a whisker and PAK batted out time against tiered bowlers on second innings - 9 times out of 10 PAK would have been all out for around 150, Max 170, being enforced to follow on and Kiwis winning by innings inside 10, Max 11 sessions .... the gap is that wide. SAF isn’t far behind NZ in Test cricket and still miles ahead of PAK.

These days every team is home bully, and I am not sure if any of these SAF players ever played in PAK (may be T20 for World XI), so PAK starts as little favourite at home but even this SAF will crash PAK into pieces at home, which I can’t say the opposite.

 

[Rana]

Lol

You can bet your house Pakistan will not be feeding spinners like Hasaranga to bowl out SF at home next month. Even if Misbah has to resort to bringing the 46 year old Nauman Ali to pick wickets he will do it....and the old **** will take protea poles.

 

[MMHS]

Thank you for the kind words.

I don’t consider this to be the real Pakistan team.

There are literally only 3 survivors from the final Inzamam/Arthur Test team 23 months ago.

Misbah has systematically discarded almost every player in his peak years and replaced him with someone much older or much younger.

So the current time is PINO - Pakistan In Name Only.

I hope poster will take you more seriously this time. I am not sure though - that Inzi/Arthur's PAK cost SAF Boards 6 days of gate and tv money ..... guess how.

So, what do you reckon - these Sami Aslam, Imran Butt, Ehsan Adil, Mo Nawaz, Amad Butt, Haider Ali, Ruhail Nazir .... will force SAF excluding Kock & Rabada to PAK D ..... I even didn't mention that Kock is also not sure as Rizwan is better WK batsman than Kock ......

I can put by reputation at stake here - this Misbah's team with Babar would have beaten Arthur's dynamic Test team more times than they would have lost. They are not eye catching but quite resilient - Arthur's team won't have saved Southampton or this Test in NZ batting 3 times.

 

[shariqnoor]

The fact that the series is in Pakistan makes we wonder if SA will be the one whitewashing Pakistan. Pakistan is a terrible team in Pakistan conditions. They are only decent in UAE.

 

[Suleiman]

Yes this team can whitewash South Africa, fend off the yajooj majooj and stop Thanos from erasing the universe.

 

[Hasan123]

South Africa have Australia after the series, they do well against Australia so we wouldn't be 5th for very long lol if they beat Australia.

Should be a good series I'm honest. Pakistan have home advantage, but South Africa would prefer to play on a track with carry and not a dead wicket like UAE. If South Africa score runs, they have the bowling attack to trouble us.

 

[szrana007]

The fact that the series is in Pakistan makes we wonder if SA will be the one whitewashing Pakistan. Pakistan is a terrible team in Pakistan conditions. They are only decent in UAE.

Why do you think so? Since 2001 Pakistan has the W/L ratio of 3.0 at home, which is the 3rd best behind only Australia and India. If you are thinking about 1995-2000 era, then know that was an era stained by match fixing and infighting which led Pakistan to severely underperform at home. Still overall Pakistan's W/L ratio of 2.63 is the best of all teams at home, showing how strong Pakistan has been at home historically.

 

[szrana007]

South Africa have Australia after the series, they do well against Australia so we wouldn't be 5th for very long lol if they beat Australia.

Should be a good series I'm honest. Pakistan have home advantage, but South Africa would prefer to play on a track with carry and not a dead wicket like UAE. If South Africa score runs, they have the bowling attack to trouble us.

Aussies will smash this current SA side. Australia have only lost 1 series in SA, since SA came back into international cricket in 1992.

 

[Hasan123]

Aussies will smash this current SA side. Australia have only lost 1 series in SA, since SA came back into international cricket in 1992.

Amazing record .

But South Africa have beaten Australia in their last 2 test series. The 1 from 2018,South Africa current test team have a majority of those players still around. Wouldn't rule South Africa out.

 

[Markhor]

Are they still persisting with home umpires ? Might need to recall the old gang of Khizer Hayat, Shakoor Rana and Shakeel Khan

Seriously though, given how poorly SAF have travelled to Asia in past few years there's little excuse not to win this series.

We cannot carry Azhar for another series however and I'm running out of patience with Haris. We also need to inject some experience into the attack with Hasan Ali.

 

[szrana007]

Are they still persisting with home umpires ? Might need to recall the old gang of Khizer Hayat, Shakoor Rana and Shakeel Khan

Seriously though, given how poorly SAF have travelled to Asia in past few years there's little excuse not to win this series.

We cannot carry Azhar for another series however and I'm running out of patience with Haris. We also need to inject some experience into the attack with Hasan Ali.

With that old gang of umpires Pakistan was unbeatable at home

 

[Snatch]

Should be a good battle between sides ranked 5th and 6th. I feel South Africa is the stronger side by far but you never know. If Pakistan keep winning every toss as they have been that could help but surely their toss luck will run out soon.

 

[UzmanBeast]

There are more deserving players than Imran butt. He has done nothing to be mentioned in every single thread. People have fallen to the Misbahs trap of eye washing selection in him.

He had one single season of good scores, where every other batsman made good scores in that season for fun. he is been playing fc for 8 years since 2012 and managed only 36.11 as avg with just 10 centuries across 130+ inns. If at all need to give chance ,Rohail should be given the debut for his century against NZ A

The most deserving of the youngster lot is Usman Salahuddin, with an experience of 200+ inns and 24 centuries avg 47+ in fc . He also had a double ton for CP recently.

I’m sure Wasim knows more about domestic players and will select a good squad.

Wasim will have a lot of knowledge.

 

[Kaddy]

We will have to see what type of pitches are prepared for this series. I am curious to know what is Pakistan's home advantage.

From 1995 to 2007, Pakistan lost their home series to almost all the test playing nations at least once except NZ, even they drew in 95 despite being a very weak side

 

[szrana007]

We will have to see what type of pitches are prepared for this series. I am curious to know what is Pakistan's home advantage.

From 1995 to 2007, Pakistan lost their home series to almost all the test playing nations at least once except NZ, even they drew in 95 despite being a very weak side

Since 2001, Pakistan have lost only 2 home series, to India in 2004 and SA in 2007.

 

[szrana007]

We will have to see what type of pitches are prepared for this series. I am curious to know what is Pakistan's home advantage.

From 1995 to 2007, Pakistan lost their home series to almost all the test playing nations at least once except NZ, even they drew in 95 despite being a very weak side

Since 2001, Pakistan have lost only 2 home series, to India in 2004 and SA in 2007.

 

[Kaddy]

Are they still persisting with home umpires ? Might need to recall the old gang of Khizer Hayat, Shakoor Rana and Shakeel Khan

Seriously though, given how poorly SAF have travelled to Asia in past few years there's little excuse not to win this series.

We cannot carry Azhar for another series however and I'm running out of patience with Haris. We also need to inject some experience into the attack with Hasan Ali.

Shakoor Rana has died long back in 2001.

 

[Kaddy]

Since 2001, Pakistan have lost only 2 home series, to India in 2004 and SA in 2007.

Actually you are right since 2001 lost only to India & South Africa (though lost to Australia in 2002 as well but it was in Sri Lanka & UAE)

Moreover, I just noticed that Pakistan didn't lose any home series against West Indies at home during that period.

 

[szrana007]

Actually you are right since 2001 lost only to India & South Africa (though lost to Australia in 2002 as well but it was in Sri Lanka & UAE)

Moreover, I just noticed that Pakistan didn't lose any home series against West Indies at home during that period.

Yes, Pakistan's W/L ratio at home since 2001 is 3.0 which is the 3rd best after India and Australia, albeit with a smaller sample size because Pakistan didn't play at home in the last decade.

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/e...2001;spanval1=span;template=results;type=team

 

[Cryin Out Loud]

Also, apart from Kock & Rabada, none of this SAF team would make PAK C .... and PAK is at home this time, not in UAE.

You're getting carried away.

 

[shamaan]

Pakistan are slight faviroutes but it should be a good series

 

[tyron_woodley]

Markaram
Elgar
Rassie Van
Duplesis
De Cock
Bavuma
Mulder/Prerotous
Maharaj
Rabada
Ngini
Norje

Quite a solid team. Make no mistake, its going to be hard grind. Saffers aren't getting rolled over.

Honestly saffers might beat Pakistan. Overall they are still a quality side. Wait and watch. I love India. Then saffers and Pakistan.

But Pakistan will be mildly surprised imo unless they prepare spin tracks. Can they handle Maharaj?

 

[Ab Fan]

Pakistan will win the series.

 

[Thunderbolt14]

Pakistan will win the series.

Depends entirely on whether the right people are played. Saud, Kamran, Zafar Gohar, Sajid Khan, and Hassan Ali need to be there.

Otherwise, I’m expecting 1-0 SA to be honest if it’s the same team playing against NZ.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

Depends entirely on whether the right people are played. Saud, Kamran, Zafar Gohar, Sajid Khan, and Hassan Ali need to be there.

Otherwise, I’m expecting 1-0 SA to be honest if it’s the same team playing against NZ.

Pakistan always have a good team to compete but always selects the wrong 11 and add to that with wrong batting order.

Azhar Ali should have never been dropped from opening the inns, I’m quite disappointed in this aspect with Mickey when he moved him to no.3 once Mis|You retired. I believe that he accepted to do that save Babar or otherwise Babar would have been dropped from tests if that trend continues where Babar failing at 3 and shafiq not standing up to perform at 4.

 

[RyanRyan10]

Pakistan will win easily

SA best batsmen average close to 40. Rabada has an average away record. They don't have any quality spinner. Abbas will run through SA line up in at least 2 out of 4 innings. Babar will have Bradman-esque series. One of the openers will hit 2 100s or 1 100 & 2 50s. Yasir will do the damage in the 2nd innings. Expecting Pak to win both matches one-sided.

 

[aloo paratha]

And they've done it, up to #5 in the rankings now. We have comparatively easier series' in the next 2 years, hopefully we can get to the top 3.

 

[gazza619]

Abbas will run through SA line up in at least 2 out of 4 innings. Babar will have Bradman-esque series. One of the openers will hit 2 100s or 1 100 & 2 50s. Yasir will do the damage in the 2nd innings

All of that was false, Pakistan still won though. Hope we know what our weaknesses are.

 

[Square Drive]

Good call [MENTION=138508]aloo paratha[/MENTION]

 

[Giannis]

I don't even like aloo parathas but you're right lmaoo