Pakistan missing spin trio of Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Hafeez in Dubai

[proud_pakistani]

After seeing the first few games it has become evident fast bowling is not going to win us games on the dust bowls of UAE. We needed to follow Misbah Ul Haq's manual of choking teams with spin in the UAE which we haven't done and our tactics and selections have not reflected that.

If UAE is to stay Pakistan's home turf either we need to get Hafeez back bowling the way he was or we need an alternative. The way Hafeez would open the bowling with spin and not allow the batsmen any freebies was a key to our success in UAE.

Shadab is a good bowler but being a wrist spinner he will go for runs at times. Shadab needs 2 support spinners. Ideally Imad and Hafeez (pre-action change) would be ideal.

 

[SensiblePakFan]

Yes Misbah's era has gone by.

 

[SensiblePakFan]

Luckily the next WC is in England where this team really comes into its own.

 

[Dr_Bassim]

Luckily the next WC is in England where this team really comes into its own.

That is an issue.

Although I do believe England is a good hunting ground for Pakistan, but with Australia, New Zealand and South African pace battery, I don't think Pakistan stand a good chance of winning it.

They can't score off Bhuvi or Bumrah, how do you expect them to score on much better wickets against Boult, Southee, Starc, Hazlewood , Ngidi and Rabada.

Trust me the Champions Trophy is not the equivalent of a World Cup and Australia would be favorites to win it, barring any upset because they bring their A game in World Cups.

 

[Something]

Yeah. We're also missing Waqar, Wasim, and Saeed Anwar

 

[Cric1234]

Imad can be brought in to open the bowling and Raza or Gohar to support Shadab and put pressure on batsmen in UAE long term it's the best option.

 

[proud_pakistani]

Yeah. We're also missing Waqar, Wasim, and Saeed Anwar

You miss the point. We were an average team in Misbah's era but won because of a specific tactic in specific conditions. Thats what we should work on while playing in Dubai or else we need to change our home ground.

 

[hussain.r97]

You miss the point. We were an average team in Misbah's era but won because of a specific tactic in specific conditions. Thats what we should work on while playing in Dubai or else we need to change our home ground.

I still don't understand what Inzamam, Mickey, and Sarfaraz are thinking, playing 3 fast bowlers and no specialist spinners. Even lower ranked team like Afghanistan know how to adapt their strategies to these types of conditions, but Pakistan going in with no real plan.

Dropping Amir or Hasan for a specialist spinner like Zafar Gohar, Mohammad Asghar, or Raza Hasan would have been almost ideal. A trio of one of them, Shadab, and Nawaz is what was needed here. I really hope they learn their lesson, and go in with spinners for the Australia and New Zealand series.

 

[proud_pakistani]

I still don't understand what Inzamam, Mickey, and Sarfaraz are thinking, playing 3 fast bowlers and no specialist spinners. Even lower ranked team like Afghanistan know how to adapt their strategies to these types of conditions, but Pakistan going in with no real plan.

Dropping Amir or Hasan for a specialist spinner like Zafar Gohar, Mohammad Asghar, or Raza Hasan would have been almost ideal. A trio of one of them, Shadab, and Nawaz is what was needed here. I really hope they learn their lesson, and go in with spinners for the Australia and New Zealand series.

Exactly my point. However, I would say ideally we need an off-spinner and someone else besides Nawaz. I am not too convinced by Nawaz tbh.

 

[rizrox]

We played spinners under Misbah but our LOI record in UAE wasn't great either ....we lost the series against England 1-4 after handing them a 3-0 drubbing in tests ...we even lost a series against New Zealand ,Australia and South Africa each if I remember correctly ..only managed to win against teams like Sri Lanka and West Indies .

 

[SensiblePakFan]

We played spinners under Misbah but our LOI record in UAE wasn't great either ....we lost the series against England 1-4 after handing them a 3-0 drubbing in tests ...we even lost a series against New Zealand ,Australia and South Africa each if I remember correctly ..only managed to win against teams like Sri Lanka and West Indies .

Our batting problems were quite extreme then, we never had bowling issues like we are having now, which could have easily been avoided before the Cup started by selecting spinners.

 

[SensiblePakFan]

And not just the UAE, the whole subcontinent, Misbah's record is pretty good.

 

[hussain.r97]

Exactly my point. However, I would say ideally we need an off-spinner and someone else besides Nawaz. I am not too convinced by Nawaz tbh.

An off-spinner would be ideal, but I can't think of a good Pakistani off-spinner at the moment. Anyone in the domestic circuit?

 

[proud_pakistani]

An off-spinner would be ideal, but I can't think of a good Pakistani off-spinner at the moment. Anyone in the domestic circuit?

Only one I know is Bilal Asif who has played for Pakistan.

 

[proud_pakistani]

We played spinners under Misbah but our LOI record in UAE wasn't great either ....we lost the series against England 1-4 after handing them a 3-0 drubbing in tests ...we even lost a series against New Zealand ,Australia and South Africa each if I remember correctly ..only managed to win against teams like Sri Lanka and West Indies .

Our bowling was pretty solid, despite the record. We only lost because our batsmen couldn't score over 200 runs in LOIs. Now our batting is slightly better but bowling is poor.

 

[Hasan123]

We are missing a spinner like Ajmal without a doubt. Even though he was a chucker, before that he was a genuine match winner in LO.

 

[proud_pakistani]

We are missing a spinner like Ajmal without a doubt. Even though he was a chucker, before that he was a genuine match winner in LO.

Shadab has got potential but being a wrist spinner is never easy in ODIs. Pakistan perhaps need to try out Bilal Asif again.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

If you want that kind of control, just recall hafeez and ask him and Malik to chuck it to their hearts content in the final. 20 overs of control in the middle overs guaranteed. Don't expect spinners with legal actions to provide anywhere near that kind of control.

 

[Sirris]

I am missing Wasim Akram, Inzamam-ul-haq and Saeed Anwer.

How much back in time are we willing to go in our nostalgia?

 

[Hasan123]

Shadab has got potential but being a wrist spinner is never easy in ODIs. Pakistan perhaps need to try out Bilal Asif again.

Shadab does have potential but as of now he shouldn't be the front line spinner in Asian conditions. He should be selected alongside a specialist spinner.

Gohar/Asghar/Raza would suffice .

 

[Markhor]

Pakistan of all teams should know after 8 years in their adopted home of UAE that you need at least 25-30 overs of spin on these dry, slow wickets.

On these surfaces you choke the opposition batting by taking pace off the ball yet we selected 6 pacers in the squad.

We have Junaid keeping the bench warm despite ALREADY having three left arm seamers in the squad, with not a single specialist spinner in reserve.

 

[Amion171]

Hafeez should be called back

He has good temprement
Which new players dont have

But wait

Hafeez is not friendly with captain
So they will not take him ..

 

[proud_pakistani]

If you want that kind of control, just recall hafeez and ask him and Malik to chuck it to their hearts content in the final. 20 overs of control in the middle overs guaranteed. Don't expect spinners with legal actions to provide anywhere near that kind of control.

India got that control with Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. What is your point

 

[proud_pakistani]

I am missing Wasim Akram, Inzamam-ul-haq and Saeed Anwer.

How much back in time are we willing to go in our nostalgia?

Being nostalgic. Isnt the point, the point is we need quality spin to win on such surfaces.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

India got that control with Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. What is your point

Kuldeep and chahal only provide control when they pick wickets in the middle overs. Quite different when they don't and they get hit for boundaries as well. Hafeez and Ajmal typically used to give you 20 overs, 80 runs and 3/4 wickets in the middle overs. The point was that style of play where Pakistan used to choke by spin is no longer feasible. Its the batting and catching you need to focus on. Not spin bowling!

 

[Pete Rose]

Pakistan is missing playin Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and West Indies

 

[Mamoon]

Being nostalgic. Isnt the point, the point is we need quality spin to win on such surfaces.

We won nothing in the UAE against quality teams when we had Ajmal, Hafeez (both at their chucking best) as well as Afridi.

The biggest problem was and is our inept batting. On average, we regularly score 40-50 runs below par, and no bowling attack can cover that gap.

You put runs on the board and even mediocre bowlers will look good.

 

[OmaIR1]

Maybe but when these three played India I don't remember them having a huge afffect - against other teams, yes.

 

[MMHS]

UAE is the worst place for PAK team (not saying other places will make them top notch), as it's against the core strength of the cricket country. Previously, it was only bad because of the Captain & coaching staff, who at least understood UAE wickets. Now, least said about Captain is better, while the coach is clue less about UAE - I am putting exact lines from his latest comments about tactics of bowling in UAE -

: .........we didn't stick to our plans which is to hit hard lengths and the top of off with the seamers and then hopefully put them under pressure in the middle overs". This script is perfect for Durban, not Dubai.

This actually tells me that 6 pacers were asked by the team management, not only Ul Haq's fault; while he had to pick Nawaz as the only spinner, otherwise Captain dynamic won't facilitate his nephew's stay in team for long.

Batting is a big issue, but I don't think it's new - in last 15 years, PAK was never among top 6 batting units. Lots of batsmen have come with a bang & got filtered out in couple of years time because of poor basics & even worse coaching/mentoring - Babar is only exception and that's why despite all criticism, I actually rate him.

 

[Savak]

We won nothing in the UAE against quality teams when we had Ajmal, Hafeez (both at their chucking best) as well as Afridi.

The biggest problem was and is our inept batting. On average, we regularly score 40-50 runs below par, and no bowling attack can cover that gap.

You put runs on the board and even mediocre bowlers will look good.

I don't agree no bowling attack can cover the gap, quality bowlers will always give you a run for their money. Teams like Australia, South Africa, England will make you sweat for even par totals. The Pakistan team cannot chase 200-250 runs against them.

People keep criticizing our batting but historically our batting has always been weak and inconsistent, it is our bowling which has been more consistent and has bailed us out but our bowling I would say is even more over rated and inept compared to our batting. They will struggle to defend 300 runs against quality teams.

 

[Mamoon]

I don't agree no bowling attack can cover the gap, quality bowlers will always give you a run for their money. Teams like Australia, South Africa, England will make you sweat for even par totals. The Pakistan team cannot chase 200-250 runs against them.

People keep criticizing our batting but historically our batting has always been weak and inconsistent, it is our bowling which has been more consistent and has bailed us out but our bowling I would say is even more over rated and inept compared to our batting. They will struggle to defend 300 runs against quality teams.

Our bowling is undoubtedly poor, but if you give the Pakistani batsmen to Bumrah, Yadav, Chahal and Bhuvneshwar, they would still lose more often than not.

We should be running team close and not get thumped, but if you are consistently scoring below par, you cannot blame the bowlers for not winning you matches.

Scoreboard pressure always has a big impact, and teams have been winning Limited Overs games on the back of their batting. England have become the #1 ODI team in the world with practically a lollipop attack.

 

[proud_pakistani]

We won nothing in the UAE against quality teams when we had Ajmal, Hafeez (both at their chucking best) as well as Afridi.

The biggest problem was and is our inept batting. On average, we regularly score 40-50 runs below par, and no bowling attack can cover that gap.

You put runs on the board and even mediocre bowlers will look good.

Question isn't about winning or losing. As you said our batting was inept which is why we did not win much but with the trio we would push teams very hard even when we scored 190 odd. Even now, Afghanistan are using spin as their main force in the UAE. I am not saying the batting shouldn't improve. My point is tactically it does not make sense having 4 fast bowlers and Fahim Ashraf also in the squad. Junaid or Shaheen could easily have stayed home and we could have taken Asghar or Zafar Gohar. That would at the very least give us an option in the squad. Amir, Shaheen and Usman in the squad makes it extremely one dimensional.