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Pakistan move up to #7 in ICC Test Rankings after beating Sri Lanka [Update Post #116]

Pretty rapid descent for a team that was ranked #1 only 3 years ago.


Pakistan historically hangs around 100 points. They over shot to 110 points and it happened to be that no other team was at a higher point in those same months, otherwise 110 is not normally high enough for rank 1.

Now they have undershot with 80 points. I expect Pakistan to come near 95-100 points again.

110-80 in 3 years is 30 points drop. Not too huge, but gets exaggerated due to start point being at 110 points. If start was 125 points then drop of 30 points won't take a team to rank 8.

I don't recall it exactly, but I won't be surprised if Indians had a similar drop in points after getting blanked 0-8 overseas when they were rank 1. They did not get to rank 8 due to starting from a higher point.
 
I am a bit shocked to see Pakistan at #8. I don't think I ever saw them in that position.

If Pakistan beat SL 2-0, they can come back to #7 or #6.

It is important for Pakistan to whitewash both SL and BD.
 
The timing for Australia series wasn't right, look like the stars are also not favouring us
 
I tend to dis agree - I have seen WIN V England series and part of , WIN v IND & WIN V AFG as well.

In a proper 3-4 Test series, WIN will beat PAK almost every where. The equation doesn't work like whose who (results against other teams) - WIN got us all-out for 43, then lost both Test in BD by some margin.... we managed to lose to AFGs, a month later they were robbed by WIN .....

indirect comparison is often misleading because different team offers different proposition - WIN batsmen will play PAK bowlers and vice verse. After Lyon show with Pink ball, I don't think PAK batsmen are going to figure out Rakeem's off-spinners and straight one too easily, fast bowling comparison is not even a contest.

It's not that conclusive as you are suggesting.

West Indies are not consistent enough imo. Outside West Indies, their record is terrible. That's why I think Pakistan are a little better.
 
There is some absolutely scandalous posting on this thread.
When you are recycling a team which is what Pak was doing post the last overseas cycle, you will have mixed results.

The previous regime put some good groundwork in place for this teams results to improve home and away in test cricket after an initial bedding down period. During this transition time the only thing missing was the step up from Azhar and Asad ( which would have seen us NOT LOSE the Sri lanka series and WIN the NZ series in the UAE.- we lost chasing 135 and 170 first game of both series (which wouldn't have happened with MISYOU)

Otherwise the team transition in tests was progressing OK.
They weren't all going to start averaging 50 with the bat and 25 with the ball from their first games.

The previous regime persisted with Babar, inducted imam and reinducted Masood. Haris played very well in the UAE too. Abbas also got into the team and looked the part

The template was being set for overseas test cricket with shadab and faheem at 7 and 8. Note these players would have needed a couple years to get to the high performing stage and the likes of Azhar Asad Sarfaraz and Yasir Amir were meant to lead the team during this transition( Yasir did in UAE to be fair)

Mickey finally got shot of the likes of hafeez and people like Imran from the test side and was putting together a younger fitter team. Misbah just needed to come and carry on, but he has cut it up and started again, but as is his way has gone for the like of Imran and ifti in the first elevens. Naseem and Musa probably only got selected as wahab and Amir dropped out.

We didn't need to revert back to 6+1+4 combo and go back to older players in the eleven.

Stop just looking at ranking and look a bit at the context of team development.
I fully expect a line up of

Imam
Shan
Haris
Asad/Azhar
Babar
Rizwan
Shadab

to score plenty of runs in the UAE now that Shan imam and haris have had 10-12 games under there belt. This is the real essence of PLANNING. Shadab and faheem are still between 5-8 which is noway near enough for them to start being optimally productive.

Is misbah just going to drop the likes of haris imam Abbas and pick other players and restart the whole process?

There is no need to as these younger players were doing fine and we all know which guys have pulled this test team down when they were meant to be ready to step up. We have replaced one with Rizwan, so again progress on that front to building a better line up.

Unfortunately I can forsee a case where fawad comes in but comes in for the wrong players!
 
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There is some absolutely scandalous posting on this thread.
When you are recycling a team which is what Pak was doing post the last overseas cycle, you will have mixed results.

The previous regime put some good groundwork in place for this teams results to improve home and away in test cricket after an initial bedding down period. During this transition time the only thing missing was the step up from Azhar and Asad ( which would have seen us NOT LOSE the Sri lanka series and WIN the NZ series in the UAE.- we lost chasing 135 and 170 first game of both series (which wouldn't have happened with MISYOU)

Otherwise the team transition in tests was progressing OK.
They weren't all going to start averaging 50 with the bat and 25 with the ball from their first games.

The previous regime persisted with Babar, inducted imam and reinducted Masood. Haris played very well in the UAE too. Abbas also got into the team and looked the part

The template was being set for overseas test cricket with shadab and faheem at 7 and 8. Note these players would have needed a couple years to get to the high performing stage and the likes of Azhar Asad Sarfaraz and Yasir Amir were meant to lead the team during this transition( Yasir did in UAE to be fair)

Mickey finally got shot of the likes of hafeez and people like Imran from the test side and was putting together a younger fitter team. Misbah just needed to come and carry on, but he has cut it up and started again, but as is his way has gone for the like of Imran and ifti in the first elevens. Naseem and Musa probably only got selected as wahab and Amir dropped out.

We didn't need to revert back to 6+1+4 combo and go back to older players in the eleven.

Stop just looking at ranking and look a bit at the context of team development.
I fully expect a line up of

Imam
Shan
Haris
Asad/Azhar
Babar
Rizwan
Shadab

to score plenty of runs in the UAE now that Shan imam and haris have had 10-12 games under there belt. This is the real essence of PLANNING. Shadab and faheem are still between 5-8 which is noway near enough for them to start being optimally productive.

Is misbah just going to drop the likes of haris imam Abbas and pick other players and restart the whole process?

There is no need to as these younger players were doing fine and we all know which guys have pulled this test team down when they were meant to be ready to step up. We have replaced one with Rizwan, so again progress on that front to building a better line up.

Unfortunately I can forsee a case where fawad comes in but comes in for the wrong players!

Good post, in summary: Misbah has started the process to destroy our cricket.
 
I think Misbah is getting unnecessary blame for all the wrongs in Pakistan cricket. He has selected the best possible bowling line up to challenge Australia in Australia. Maybe he missed a trick by not picking a fast bowling allrounder like Amad Butt or Faheem Ashraf but considering all the resources and form at disposal, this was the best possible squad.

For the future, PCB has to identify future players and send them on A tours to Australia to really hone and develop skills, else I'm afraid these performances will keep repeating.
 
I think Misbah is getting unnecessary blame for all the wrongs in Pakistan cricket. He has selected the best possible bowling line up to challenge Australia in Australia. Maybe he missed a trick by not picking a fast bowling allrounder like Amad Butt or Faheem Ashraf but considering all the resources and form at disposal, this was the best possible squad.

For the future, PCB has to identify future players and send them on A tours to Australia to really hone and develop skills, else I'm afraid these performances will keep repeating.

Yasir Shah, Imran Khan snr, Ifti, Musa Khan? Seriously? Yes, the Aussies were shaking in their boots at the prospect.
 
I think Misbah is getting unnecessary blame for all the wrongs in Pakistan cricket. He has selected the best possible bowling line up to challenge Australia in Australia. Maybe he missed a trick by not picking a fast bowling allrounder like Amad Butt or Faheem Ashraf but considering all the resources and form at disposal, this was the best possible squad.

For the future, PCB has to identify future players and send them on A tours to Australia to really hone and develop skills, else I'm afraid these performances will keep repeating.

He got it totall wrong.

You need 5 bowling options. 4 quick and 1 spinner when you play in SENA
The spinner on first 3 days is just to bowl 1 over before lunch, 2 overs before tea, and a few after tea and to the tail.

Your 4th seamer is the allrounder who is there to bowl dry whilst your main 3 quicks rotate.
We only had 4 bowling options and one of them was Yasir. He had a repeat show of 2016!!

So no this is not the best possible bowling line up
We had the players as well to play like I have written above. Rizwan at 6 and shadab at 7 is a much better bat already than iftikhar for test cricket. Then u can have ammad/ faheem at 8 with your 3 best quicks. Not Imran khan!!
 
Yasir Shah, Imran Khan snr, Ifti, Musa Khan? Seriously? Yes, the Aussies were shaking in their boots at the prospect.

With Amir and Wahab not available, Naseem and Musa indeed originally looked like a progressive step before the series. Ifti was a blunder and either Faheem or Amad should have been selected of course. Imran took a 5 wicket haul in the warm up match and Yasir is the best spinner of Pakistan.
 
With Amir and Wahab not available, Naseem and Musa indeed originally looked like a progressive step before the series. Ifti was a blunder and either Faheem or Amad should have been selected of course. Imran took a 5 wicket haul in the warm up match and Yasir is the best spinner of Pakistan.

Bro... I'm going to save my energy as the reply to your claims have been responded multiple times elsewhere on these boards.

I would add though, how can you say with a straight face this was the best attack available when it's just been humiliated in both Tests, getting like 2 wickets for over 600 runs combined in the 1st innings of each Test.

Let that sink in, truly horrific numbers.
 
Bro... I'm going to save my energy as the reply to your claims have been responded multiple times elsewhere on these boards.

I would add though, how can you say with a straight face this was the best attack available when it's just been humiliated in both Tests, getting like 2 wickets for over 600 runs combined in the 1st innings of each Test.

Let that sink in, truly horrific numbers.

That's why I said progressive steps before the series. I was happy and hopeful after the initial squad was announced. I was happy that the likes of Hafeez, Sarfraz were discarded. However it didn't really go well which I acknowledge. Shaheen and Naseem are clearly the future of Pakistan bowling. However the selections of Ifti and Musa didn't work out. Imran Khan I will still say would have done well in pink ball test. That was a tactical error. Shadab would have done the same as Yasir Shah minus the runs if we was played. You tell me what the ideal combination should have been!
 
He got it totall wrong.

You need 5 bowling options. 4 quick and 1 spinner when you play in SENA
The spinner on first 3 days is just to bowl 1 over before lunch, 2 overs before tea, and a few after tea and to the tail.

Your 4th seamer is the allrounder who is there to bowl dry whilst your main 3 quicks rotate.
We only had 4 bowling options and one of them was Yasir. He had a repeat show of 2016!!

So no this is not the best possible bowling line up
We had the players as well to play like I have written above. Rizwan at 6 and shadab at 7 is a much better bat already than iftikhar for test cricket. Then u can have ammad/ faheem at 8 with your 3 best quicks. Not Imran khan!!

The best possible bowlers were selected but they lack discipline at this level yet. That is the core of the issue.
 
That's why I said progressive steps before the series. I was happy and hopeful after the initial squad was announced. I was happy that the likes of Hafeez, Sarfraz were discarded. However it didn't really go well which I acknowledge. Shaheen and Naseem are clearly the future of Pakistan bowling. However the selections of Ifti and Musa didn't work out. Imran Khan I will still say would have done well in pink ball test. That was a tactical error. Shadab would have done the same as Yasir Shah minus the runs if we was played. You tell me what the ideal combination should have been!

Ideal combination
Shadab
Faheem
Abbas
Naseem
Shaheen.

You would not have had the spinner having to bowl the overs Yasir did and the other 4 bowlers wouldn't go at 6 an over like Musa and yasir

This was our last overseas test before this tour.
https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...africa-vs-pakistan-3rd-test-pak-in-sa-2018-19
 
Ideal combination
Shadab
Faheem
Abbas
Naseem
Shaheen.

You would not have had the spinner having to bowl the overs Yasir did and the other 4 bowlers wouldn't go at 6 an over like Musa and yasir

This was our last overseas test before this tour.
https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...africa-vs-pakistan-3rd-test-pak-in-sa-2018-19

Agreed. Except Faheem I don't think anyone else would have made any difference to this tour. Our bowlers are still learning. We need to give them time. They will definitely come good in the next tours.
 
Agreed. Except Faheem I don't think anyone else would have made any difference to this tour. Our bowlers are still learning. We need to give them time. They will definitely come good in the next tours.

Ok, so we send bowlers away to tough Test tours to learn? No amount of learning is going to help Yasir, he always gets smacked in Oz. Besides, learning isn't Pakistani players biggest forte which was exemplified by the fact of the fast bowlers bowling from the wrong side of the wicket to David Warner.

Should the focus not be on developing or picking an attack that can actually win you games before we send them to these tours?

Musa and maybe Naseem will get discarded so the time issue will be irrelevant.
 
Ok, so we send bowlers away to tough Test tours to learn? No amount of learning is going to help Yasir, he always gets smacked in Oz. Besides, learning isn't Pakistani players biggest forte which was exemplified by the fact of the fast bowlers bowling from the wrong side of the wicket to David Warner.

Should the focus not be on developing or picking an attack that can actually win you games before we send them to these tours?

Musa and maybe Naseem will get discarded so the time issue will be irrelevant.

PCB were foolish to expect 16 year old Naseem - howmuchever talented he may be - to floor Australia in Australia. We need to organize more A tours to identify talent that can perform in overseas conditions. Considering PCB never did that, Yasir, who is easily the best spinner in Pakistan, was selected. He didn't perform, that's another matter. Shadab Khan would have performed equally bad, if not worse if went instead of Yasir.
 
What has misbah been doing for the past 10 years?

He knew he was going to retire he also knew Younis khan is going to retire so why did he not groom anyone?

That isn't a misbah problem. It was a Mickey problem at that time.
 
Based on australian series alone?

Well we were 7th or 6th so dropped down right after. Conversely if we had drawn or won we would have stayed the same or moved up. Simples.
 
Well we were 7th or 6th so dropped down right after. Conversely if we had drawn or won we would have stayed the same or moved up. Simples.

Pakistan had a very poor home run thanks to Sarfraz the best ever captain. Every team loses mostly away games but are strong at home even SL beat Aus and SA at home yet we were beaten by NZ, SL and Aus managed to draw the series. We were bound to go down at record 8 position after that debacle at home.
 
Pakistan had a very poor home run thanks to Sarfraz the best ever captain. Every team loses mostly away games but are strong at home even SL beat Aus and SA at home yet we were beaten by NZ, SL and Aus managed to draw the series. We were bound to go down at record 8 position after that debacle at home.

We were beaten by NZ in UAE, i am amazed at some of the excuses people are coming up with for mickey and sarfraz
 
We were beaten by NZ in UAE, i am amazed at some of the excuses people are coming up with for mickey and sarfraz

He couldn't even keep his belly fit forget about the team. How do you view your captain going into the world cup with such fitness standards? It looked embarrassing as a Pak fan to see my captain in such a poor shape who doesn't perform with the bat and fumbles behind the stumps. Sarfrsz was simply overhyped which got to his mind and of course mafias sitting in the media tried to portray him some victim of regional bias which madr sure he had excuses up in his bag. I will always be thankful to Wasim and Misbah for getting us rid of this embarrassment.
 
From what I see in the ICC rankings predictor, even a drawn series where both sides win no matches will put Pakistan to number 7 - Surely we can do that!
 
He couldn't even keep his belly fit forget about the team. How do you view your captain going into the world cup with such fitness standards? It looked embarrassing as a Pak fan to see my captain in such a poor shape who doesn't perform with the bat and fumbles behind the stumps. Sarfrsz was simply overhyped which got to his mind and of course mafias sitting in the media tried to portray him some victim of regional bias which madr sure he had excuses up in his bag. I will always be thankful to Wasim and Misbah for getting us rid of this embarrassment.

MIckey Arthur can sit as a pundit and spout all he can, but the truth is that he took the team to WC without knowning his best 11, let alone having a settled best 11. NZ test series in UAE was an embarrasment, Azhar ali and asad shafiq regressed under him. A lot of this is also on Sarfraz. Pakistan became number 1 in T20s by playing in UAE where 150 was a par score, when did we win a t20 series where we played on 200+ type pitches.
 
Mickey knew his best eleven

Imam
Fakhar
Babar
Hafeez
Malik/Harris
Sarfaraz
Imad
Shadab
Faheem
Hasan
Amir
Wahab/Shaheen

The team picked itself. Faheem got dropped at the 11th hour. I don't think it was his decision. He should have been kept in ( you don't need many runs from your number 8 when Hasan/Wahab at 9 is also capable of striking a couple of sixes)

People do go in and out of form and Hasan sucked, but this is far from saying he didn't know his best 11. That's tosh

NZ test series was only an embarrassment because of Asad and Azhar and sarfaraz. I'm not sure we were in a position to do much about that at the stage as we had just lost misyou. When u are developing a team you want good progression and we won 12 to 13 days out of the 15 across the 3 test matches.

PP just overreacts. Not his fault we couldn't chase 170 in test 1 of that series ( Azhar sarfaraz and shafiq should be able to that eyes closed) or because we failed to chase 135 in first test in SL series( same again for Azhar Asad and shafiq)
 
MIckey Arthur can sit as a pundit and spout all he can, but the truth is that he took the team to WC without knowning his best 11, let alone having a settled best 11. NZ test series in UAE was an embarrasment, Azhar ali and asad shafiq regressed under him. A lot of this is also on Sarfraz. Pakistan became number 1 in T20s by playing in UAE where 150 was a par score, when did we win a t20 series where we played on 200+ type pitches.

Mickey knew his best eleven

Imam
Fakhar
Babar
Hafeez
Malik/Harris
Sarfaraz
Imad
Shadab
Faheem
Hasan
Amir
Wahab/Shaheen

The team picked itself. Faheem got dropped at the 11th hour. I don't think it was his decision. He should have been kept in ( you don't need many runs from your number 8 when Hasan/Wahab at 9 is also capable of striking a couple of sixes)

People do go in and out of form and Hasan sucked, but this is far from saying he didn't know his best 11. That's tosh

NZ test series was only an embarrassment because of Asad and Azhar and sarfaraz. I'm not sure we were in a position to do much about that at the stage as we had just lost misyou. When u are developing a team you want good progression and we won 12 to 13 days out of the 15 across the 3 test matches.

PP just overreacts. Not his fault we couldn't chase 170 in test 1 of that series ( Azhar sarfaraz and shafiq should be able to that eyes closed) or because we failed to chase 135 in first test in SL series( same again for Azhar Asad and shafiq)

Should have quoted u
 
From what I see in the ICC rankings predictor, even a drawn series where both sides win no matches will put Pakistan to number 7 - Surely we can do that!

Anything less than 2 wins is unacceptable.
Lakmal and Pradeep are both out. They could have caused havoc but we should be able to score big now. I'm backing our younger batters to come good
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pakistan move up to number 7 in the updated ICC Test Rankings <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PAKvSL?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PAKvSL</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a> <a href="https://t.co/fmoPYm9osz">pic.twitter.com/fmoPYm9osz</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1209355991814414336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
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