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Pakistan v Sri Lanka | 1st Test | Abu Dhabi | Sep 28 - Oct 2, 2017 | Pre-Match Thread

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Abdullah719

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Pakistan Squad: Sarfaraz Ahmed† (c), Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Bilal Asif, Haris Sohail, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asghar, Sami Aslam, Shan Masood, Usman Salahuddin, Wahab Riaz, Yasir Shah

Sri Lanka Squad: LD Chandimal (c), HDRL Thirimanne, N Dickwella†, ANPR Fernando, MVT Fernando, PLS Gamage, HMRKB Herath, FDM Karunaratne, RAS Lakmal, BKG Mendis, MDK Perera, SR Samarawickreme, PADLR Sandakan, ARS Silva, JK Silva
 
Ideal team IMO

1. Sami Aslam
2. Azhar Ali
3. Babar Azam
4. Haris Sohail
5. Usman Salahuddin
6. Asad Shafiq
7. Sarfaraz Ahmed
8. Hasan Ali
9. Yasir Shah
10. Muhammad Amir
11. Muhammad Abbas



That middle order tho wow wow wow


Also mouth watering prospect of seeing Harry and Bobby bat together.
 
Syed1 said:
Ideal team IMO

1. Sami Aslam
2. Azhar Ali
3. Babar Azam
4. Haris Sohail
5. Usman Salahuddin
6. Asad Shafiq
7. Sarfaraz Ahmed
8. Hasan Ali
9. Yasir Shah
10. Muhammad Amir
11. Muhammad Abbas



That middle order tho wow wow wow


Also mouth watering prospect of seeing Harry and Bobby bat together.
Click to expand...

Harry and Bobby got nothing on Sami and Ajju. :saslam :azhar2
 
my playing eleven..
Azhar
SAMI
BAbar
haris
usman
sarfarz
shafiq
amir
hassan/wahab
yasir
asghar
 
Last edited:
SarfiBabarHaris said:
Khuda k liye Azhar sai open krwana. Darpok :(
Click to expand...

So Azhar Ali had no problem opening in England, Australia, New Zealand, West Indies... but he is "darpok" if coach sends him at one-down against the mighty Lankans?


It would be tactically wrong by Mickey but nothing to do with bravery or cowardice.
 
Syed1 said:
So Azhar Ali had no problem opening in England, Australia, New Zealand, West Indies... but he is "darpok" if coach sends him at one-down against the mighty Lankans?


It would be tactically wrong by Mickey but nothing to do with bravery or cowardice.
Click to expand...

I don't think he is calling Azhar darpok.

It's a defensive move by the management (if they opt for it).
 
i will like sarfu to bat higher to give necesoory impetus to the batting unit..
 
Syed1 said:
So Azhar Ali had no problem opening in England, Australia, New Zealand, West Indies... but he is "darpok" if coach sends him at one-down against the mighty Lankans?


It would be tactically wrong by Mickey but nothing to do with bravery or cowardice.
Click to expand...

would u like shafiq to come after sarfu..sarfu will be great if he comes at 6...??
 
Syed1 said:
So Azhar Ali had no problem opening in England, Australia, New Zealand, West Indies... but he is "darpok" if coach sends him at one-down against the mighty Lankans?


It would be tactically wrong by Mickey but nothing to do with bravery or cowardice.
Click to expand...

Management is worried that our middle order will become too inexperienced.. Thats my feeling listening to their press conferneces and interviews.. Technically Azhar should open as he had great stats in last year as opener but dar rahy hain. This false 'experience' has already damaged us too much. Best players in the team should be selected imo. We will do fine.
 
SarfiBabarHaris said:
Management is worried that our middle order will become too inexperienced.. Thats my feeling listening to their press conferneces and interviews.. Technically Azhar should open as he had great stats in last year as opener but dar rahy hain. This false 'experience' has already damaged us too much. Best players in the team should be selected imo. We will do fine.
Click to expand...

I'm afraid if they mess around with Azhar's position too much it might effect his performance. Remember there was a time when Azhar was barely clinging onto his place in the side and had to rescue his career series after series, but ever since he has been sent to open he hasn't looked back.

Mickey has legit concerns that middle order is too inexperienced, to counter that golden boy Shafiq should be sent at 5.
 
DRsohail said:
would u like shafiq to come after sarfu..sarfu will be great if he comes at 6...??
Click to expand...

No I think Shafiq should bat higher, at 5 maybe and Salahuddin can be sent at 6. Saifi plays well with the tail and is good for scoring quick runs at the end of an innings.
 
Syed1 said:
I'm afraid if they mess around with Azhar's position too much it might effect his performance. Remember there was a time when Azhar was barely clinging onto his place in the side and had to rescue his career series after series, but ever since he has been sent to open he hasn't looked back.

Mickey has legit concerns that middle order is too inexperienced, to counter that golden boy Shafiq should be sent at 5.
Click to expand...

that golden boy is karachicite..itni nafrat apno k liay...
 
Syed1 said:
No I think Shafiq should bat higher, at 5 maybe and Salahuddin can be sent at 6. Saifi plays well with the tail and is good for scoring quick runs at the end of an innings.
Click to expand...

ya got it...shafiq scores with a snail,s pace so he cant do it there......i think few months or may be few tests from this series onward i see his place in team to be in doubt..such a fearful character,,,,we have just wasted our resources on the wrong person...
 
Syed1 said:
Ideal team IMO

1. Sami Aslam
2. Azhar Ali
3. Babar Azam
4. Haris Sohail
5. Usman Salahuddin
6. Asad Shafiq
7. Sarfaraz Ahmed
8. Hasan Ali
9. Yasir Shah
10. Muhammad Amir
11. Muhammad Abbas



That middle order tho wow wow wow


Also mouth watering prospect of seeing Harry and Bobby bat together.
Click to expand...

Good XI.

BUT 3 pacers in the UAE won't happen.

I think Abbas will sit for Bilal Asif since SL has 4-5 left-handers.

Batting lineup is good although you'd probably want to split the youngsters. Azam, Sohail, and Salahuddin are relatively inexperienced.

Shafiq should bat at #5 IMO.
 
A good series for Usman Salahuddin and Haris Sohail to make a positive start to their Test careers. There's more life in the dodo than in the Abu Dhabi pitch and the Sri Lankan bowling attack is a shadow of its former self.

Big series for Asad Shafiq. He won't have his hand held by Younis and Misbah anymore, he needs to step up and deal with the responsibility of being a senior batsman with 7 years of investment behind him. I'd move him to 4 and assess his future after the England tour.

As for the bowling - 2 pacers and 2 spinners should be the formula with Azhar and Haris as the part-time options.

I'd like to see an XI of - Azhar, Aslam, Babar, Shafiq, Salahuddin, Haris, Sarfraz, Amir, Yasir, Ali, Asghar.
 
looking forward to see Sami Aslam, if he is able to increase his strike rate(Not that he should be batting with 100+ but hopefully not in the 30s). He did improve it in demoestic ODIs.
expecting few debuts in this test series, hopefully everyone gets a good start to boost their confidence.
 
Ideally:

Azhar
Sami
Haris
Babar
Shafiq
Salahuddin
Sarfraz
Amir
Hasan
Yasir
Asghar

For the Second test I'd like to see Abbas, maybe since it is DN match we may see 3 pacers.
 
1) Azhar Ali
2) Sami Aslam
3) Haris Sohail
4) Asad Shafiq
5) Babar Azam
6) Usman Salahuddin
7) Sarfraz Ahmed
8) Mohammad Amir
9) Yasir Shah
10) Hasan Ali
11) Mohammad Asghar
 
Any idea of how the wicket is?

No way, no way, no way PAK should go to an Abu Dhabi Test in September with one spinner. This is one reason I thought Bilal should be picked as 5th bowler - another reason is that, I don't think PAK is going to debut 2 batsmen at 4 & 5, so if they play 6 batsmen, almost certainly Shan or Ahmed will open with Sami & Azhar, to my disgust will come down to 3, put one of Usman or Haris out. It's better to go in a Test match with 5 specialist bowlers, than Shan as opener - this guy Bilal actually can bat a bit.

No amount of grass or moisture can sustain in UAE in SEP. Only series where pacers came into the game with conventional new ball bowling was PAK-ENG (3-0) series, played in DEC-JAN, because of the weather & early morning moisture, that stayed till lunch. Only way I see 3 fast bowlers effectively coming in any UAE venue is, if they can prepare similar wickets like WACA. Similar weather, air moisture, heat, sun light and surface moisture like Gulf; but they use almost 95% compact red clay with very fine grains on the top 4-5" layer of WACA wicket, which is built on the hardest of bases - rock & concrete. So, it becomes like a hard, burnt, scratchy pan cake with lots of crack on the top layer - but that HIGH clay % doesn't allow the top surface to crumble like Indian wickets, neither that hard base allows the wicket to die down like PAK or WI wickets. If it's watered perfectly, WACA is the best batting wicket in world, but if groundsmen keep slight moisture & a tinge of green on it, it's the dream wicket for a fast bowler & slip cordon - over 75% dismissals at WACA are caught, mostly behind batsmen.

What I wrote here, if someone translate it to PCB's head farmer in the best possible Urdu or Pujabi, still it'll go at least 2 floors above forehead, so not requesting anyone ......
 
Will be an ATG batting lineup in the future:

Sami
Azhar
Haris
Babar
Usman
 
Azhar needs to bat at 3 and Assad at 4, followed by Babar at 5 and one of the new guys at 6. The openers are just too dull and the poor SR will put unnecessary pressure on the middle order. Sami Aslam has deteriorated from the player that mixed attack and defence to a guy that cant get the ball off the square. Shan has exactly the same problem.
 
Despite the two retirements, the top seven should be pretty obvious in my opinion.

I personally think it's the bowling which presents more of a debate (a result of bench strength and the correct spin/pace balance).
 
This will be the playing 11 in my opinion -

Shan Masood
Sami Aslam
Azhar Ali
Babar Azam
Asad Shafiq
Haris Sohail / Usman
Sarfaraz Ahmed
Bilal Asif / Mohammad Asghar
Mohammad Amir
Yasir Shah
Hasan Ali

The real question is, which one of Haris and Usman will debut for Pakistan. I feel it will be Usman as he was with the squad against WI as well. Haris fitness may still not be what the team management wants. I think they will opt for a 2nd spinner instead of a 3rd pacer because Yasir Shah's fitness is borderline.
 
[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] what is your ideal XI ? I don't feel compatible playing one spinner. We're also lacking an A/R or is Bilal Asif meant to be one, his stats are not impressive at the FC level. The new ball will talk for the seamers for a short period and then wicket will flatten out / crumble as usual with spinners coming into the equation later on
 
Yaasir said:
This will be the playing 11 in my opinion -

Shan Masood
Sami Aslam
Azhar Ali
Babar Azam
Asad Shafiq
Haris Sohail / Usman
Sarfaraz Ahmed
Bilal Asif / Mohammad Asghar
Mohammad Amir
Yasir Shah
Hasan Ali

The real question is, which one of Haris and Usman will debut for Pakistan. I feel it will be Usman as he was with the squad against WI as well. Haris fitness may still not be what the team management wants. I think they will opt for a 2nd spinner instead of a 3rd pacer because Yasir Shah's fitness is borderline.
Click to expand...

I haven't seem Bilal Asif but if he can't bat I rather give Asghar a go as the 2nd spinner in that line up you've posted.
 
Both sohail and usman need to debut and no shan masood please for god sake! :facepalm:

Moving Azhar to 3 makes no sense when we dont have two decent test quality openers in our rankings to replace that change!
 
shaz619 said:
[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] what is your ideal XI ? I don't feel compatible playing one spinner. We're also lacking an A/R or is Bilal Asif meant to be one, his stats are not impressive at the FC level. The new ball will talk for the seamers for a short period and then wicket will flatten out / crumble as usual with spinners coming into the equation later on
Click to expand...

At least 4.5 bowlers, if not 5.0.

I see this Test series as a contest between time & PAK bowlers on what has to be the worst wicket for Test cricket for a team like PAK. Someone posted PAK's ODI result in UAE in last 7-8 years - that's pathetic, because ODI ends in a definitive W/L result & PAK lost to everyone semi decent, including a NZ side missing some starters. But Test results like 1-1 against SAF, NZ, SRL and losing a Test against WI (& drawing one against Poms) are probably worse result for this team in comparison.

Didn't like Bilal's selection, but considering the lefties in SRL lineup, I'll bear with him. Also, if they pick Wahab, that means all 4 bowlers' (Amir, Wahab, Yasir & Asghar) stock ball leaves right handers on what has to be the slowest & lowest wickets around. Might not matter against this SRL side, but I could have betted any amount on Sanga scoring 300+ in 2 Tests in this series.

I'll play Bilal for sure, or 5 specialist bowlers - Wahab over Abbas. 4 batsmen are fixed, so Haris makes my XI over Usman, one reason can be enough is the presence of Hearth in SRL line up.
 
Finally some cricket at last.Looking forward to see amir hasan and wahab.
 
Azhar
Sami
Babar
Haris/Usman.
Shafiq
Sarfraz
Yasir
Amir
Hasan
Abbas
BIlal.
 
Last edited:
As per reports the final 12 have been finalized with the tie between Hassan and Bilal Asif subject to pitch condition. Azhar Ali to go back to 3. Harris to debut as he bowls useful spin
This will be the team

1. Sami
2. Shan M
3. Azhar A
4. Asad S.
5. Babar A.
6. Harris S
7. Sarfraz
8. Amir
9. Yasir
10. Hassan/Bilal A. ( likely debut for Asif given the hot conditions and spinning wicket at offering)
11. M. Abbas
 
Last edited by a moderator:
arehaan said:
As per reports final 12 have been finalized with the tie between Hassan and Bilal Asif subject to pitch condition. Azhar Ali to go back to 3. Harris to debut as he bowls useful spin
This will be the team

1. Sami
2. Shan M
3. Azhar A
4. Asad S.
5. Babar A.
6. Harris S
7. Sarfraz
8. Amir
9. Yasir
10. Hassan/Bilal A. ( likely debut for Asif given the hot conditions and spinning wicket at offering)
11. M. Abbas
Click to expand...

It will be a travesty if Shan of Pakistan is picked over Haris and Usman. Feeling bad for them :(
 
Last edited by a moderator:
SarfiBabarHaris said:
Azhar
Sami
Haris
Babar
Usman

This should be our top 5. This series and longterm too.
Click to expand...

You want to hide Shafiq at 6? It's a tough one but I personally think it's time he took more responsibility.
 
kingusama92 said:
Good XI.

BUT 3 pacers in the UAE won't happen.

I think Abbas will sit for Bilal Asif since SL has 4-5 left-handers.

Batting lineup is good although you'd probably want to split the youngsters. Azam, Sohail, and Salahuddin are relatively inexperienced.

Shafiq should bat at #5 IMO.
Click to expand...

They better not ... goodness sake why is this mug even in the squad :mou
 
Does anyone know if Yasir has passed his fitness test because it was due few days back I thought? And is Azhar Ali injured or fit for the game as well?
 
backfootpunch said:
Does anyone know if Yasir has passed his fitness test because it was due few days back I thought? And is Azhar Ali injured or fit for the game as well?
Click to expand...

Yasir has passed his fitness test with a score of 17.5 in the Yo-yo test, Azhar Ali has some problems in his knee but will still play by the help of injections.
 
Arsalan Pro said:
Yasir has passed his fitness test with a score of 17.5 in the Yo-yo test, Azhar Ali has some problems in his knee but will still play by the help of injections.
Click to expand...

What on God's green earth is a yo-yo test?
 
I think playing Abbas on UAE pitches is a bad idea. He relies on seam movement as bowler but on dry pitches of Dubai the only thing that will help the fast bowlers is reverse swing. But he doesn't have the pace for it. That's why M. Amir and Hassan Ali are a better option.

And no, Wahab is not an option even though he has pace, he has absolutely no brain.
 
shaz619 said:
I haven't seem Bilal Asif but if he can't bat I rather give Asghar a go as the 2nd spinner in that line up you've posted.
Click to expand...

I think the reason why Bilal Asif is in contention is because he is an off spinner and also the fact that he can bat a bit.
 
What I want


1. Sami
2. Azhar
3. Asad
4. Haris
5. Babar
6. Usman - not a fan but i hope he proves me wrong
7. Sarfraz
8. Bilal Asif
9. Amir
10. Yasir
11. Abbas

What I expect

1. Dad's Dream :facepalm:
2. Sami
3. Azhar Ali - big mistake to have him at 3
4. Asad
5. Babar
6. Haris
7. Sarfraz
8. Bilal
9. Yasir
10. Amir
11. Abbas
 
How is Haris Sohail's bowling? What does he ball? I remember him throwing a few overs in the 2015 WC
 
Harris Sohail is not a test match bowler whatsoever. He does not get any spin, he is basically a much inferior version of Imad Wasim. Harris should be selected in the test team purely for his batting.
 
SarfiBabarHaris said:
Shafiq shouldn't be in our test side. Had enough chances.
Click to expand...

Who would you play in front of him?

I think I would give him the next two series and see how he takes on the added responsibility- he has certainly shown signs of maturing and his century vs Australia showed a side to Shafiq that we hadn't really seen too much of before. Maybe it's a sign of things to come.

From a management point of view I can understand why they are keeping their faith in him, not least because they don't want to replace three middle order batsmen in one go!
 
Your batting line up for first Test v Sri Lanka

The players available for selection are:
Azhar Ali, Shan Masood, Sami Aslam, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Usman Salahuddin, Sarfraz Ahmed

From these my top 7 would be

1. Sami Aslam
2. Azhar Ali
3. Babar Azam
4. Asad Shafiq,
5. Usman Salahuddin
6. Harris Sohail
7. Sarfaraz Ahmed

One thing I notice is that despite such an inflated 18 member squad there are only a pool of 7 batsmen to pick 6 batsmen

ridiculous
 
Slog said:
The players available for selection are:
Azhar Ali, Shan Masood, Sami Aslam, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Usman Salahuddin, Sarfraz Ahmed

From these my top 7 would be

1. Sami Aslam
2. Azhar Ali
3. Babar Azam
4. Asad Shafiq,
5. Usman Salahuddin
6. Harris Sohail
7. Sarfaraz Ahmed

One thing I notice is that despite such an inflated 18 member squad there are only a pool of 7 batsmen to pick 6 batsmen

ridiculous
Click to expand...

It is a 16 member squad not 18.

My batting order would be:

Azhar Ali
Sami Aslam
Babar Azam
Asad Shafiq
Haris Sohail
Usman Salahuddin
Sarfraz Ahmed
 
sami aslam
azhar ali
babar azam
asad shafique
usman salahuddin
sarfraz ahmed
bilal asif
yasir shah
mohd aamer
wahab riaz
mir hamza
 
Mickey is smart enough, to debut just one batsman

Logically, it would be,


1.Shan(Experienced)(Experienced, but not good though)

2.Sami(Inexperienced)

3.Azhar(Experienced)

4.Babar (Inexperienced)

5.Asad (Experienced)

6.Haris (Debut)(5th bowler)

7.Sarfraz(Experienced)

8.Yasir

9.Amir

10.Abbas

11.(Hassan/ Wahab/ Asghar(debut))(depending on the pitch)

Mickey would give Shan, both the matches (Knowing he would fail). He wouldn't want to take him to the UK, and see Anderson eating him for lunch and dinner. He would be dropped from the squad, stating he did not perform well, and also he has got many chances.

So your three openers for the tour of England would be

1.Sami
2.Azhar
3. Imam/ Salman

Your line up would be settled by then,

Sami
Azhar
Haris
Babar
Usman
Asad
Sarfraz
 
Playing XI

Azhar Ali
Sami Aslam/Shan Masood
Babar Azam/Usman Salahuddin
Asad Shafiq
Harris Sohail
Sarfraz Ahmad
Bilal Asif
Mohammad Amir
Yasir Shah
Wahab Riaz/Hassan Ali
Mohammad Abbas/Mohammad Asghar/Usman Khan Shanwari
 
Azhar
Sami
Babar
Harris
Asad
Sarfraz
Bilal Asif
Amir
Hasan
Yasir
Asghar

Didn't really want Bilal in the squad but with Lanka lefties and also the fact we need a 5th bowler he should play. Wouldn't debut 2 new batsmen so I'll take Harris over Usman. Also Azhar's batting is much more suited to opening then batting at 3, also he's done well as an opener so I wouldn't change what's working. Babar should stay at 3, I think this is the position where he can thrive . Asad should move up the order . He needs to step up as one of our more senior players. Asghar should play as he can be a good foil for Yasir.
 
Hasan123 said:
Azhar
Sami
Babar
Harris
Asad
Sarfraz
Bilal Asif
Amir
Hasan
Yasir
Asghar

Didn't really want Bilal in the squad but with Lanka lefties and also the fact we need a 5th bowler he should play. Wouldn't debut 2 new batsmen so I'll take Harris over Usman. Also Azhar's batting is much more suited to opening then batting at 3, also he's done well as an opener so I wouldn't change what's working. Babar should stay at 3, I think this is the position where he can thrive . Asad should move up the order . He needs to step up as one of our more senior players. Asghar should play as he can be a good foil for Yasir.
Click to expand...

Good balanced team based on the resources we have in the squad, Bilal Asif doesn't look that great on paper but I've not seen him perform before; I'd not mind Hafeez in the same slot but he's too old now and we need to look to the future. Our batting looks thin, a lot depends on Shafiq and Sarfraz being more consistent whilst looking for those big scores after they get a start because the newbies (Sami/Harris) deserve a long rope; Babar needs to stop being a baby as well, now is the time to stand up we've given him enough chances to settle into the team. No complaints on the bowling front. We need to ASAP develop a pace bowling A/R and spin bowling A/R though it will add so much depth to our team, having someone like a Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes in the team would be a godsend.
 
Apparently, Sarfraz has confirmed that Azhar Ali will bat at three and Asad Shafiq at four.
 
Slog said:
The players available for selection are:
Azhar Ali, Shan Masood, Sami Aslam, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Usman Salahuddin, Sarfraz Ahmed

From these my top 7 would be

1. Sami Aslam
2. Azhar Ali
3. Babar Azam
4. Asad Shafiq,
5. Usman Salahuddin
6. Harris Sohail
7. Sarfaraz Ahmed

One thing I notice is that despite such an inflated 18 member squad there are only a pool of 7 batsmen to pick 6 batsmen

ridiculous
Click to expand...

We only have 6 batsmen in the squad and a walking wicket in shan Masood, so the 6 batsmen pick themselves.
 
Sultan Baba said:
Playing XI

Azhar Ali
Sami Aslam/Shan Masood
Babar Azam/Usman Salahuddin
Asad Shafiq
Harris Sohail
Sarfraz Ahmad
Bilal Asif
Mohammad Amir
Yasir Shah
Wahab Riaz/Hassan Ali
Mohammad Abbas/Mohammad Asghar/Usman Khan Shanwari
Click to expand...

how is it a playing 11 when you have named all 16 players
 
With Mathews being sidelined, it will be surprising if SL crosses 150 mark even once in this series, gonna be a funny series this.
 
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