Pakistan vs New Zealand | 5th T20I | Lahore | 27th April | Pre Match Discussion

[Barragan]

What is the purpose of an extra bowler?

Shaheen, Amir, Naseem and Imad should be the main bowlers and that's it.

Rest should be covered by Shadab, Iftikhar and Saim.

One of Iftikhar or Azam Khan or another power hitter should be at 7.

Imad at best no. 8!

 

[amvbfm]

As long as Shadab plays as an allrounder the team will never be balanced. It appalls me how even many "experts" rate him as a genuine allrounder and ask for him to be played in the top order.

 

[emranabbas]

What is the purpose of an extra bowler?

Shaheen, Amir, Naseem and Imad should be the main bowlers and that's it.

Rest should be covered by Shadab, Iftikhar and Saim.

One of Iftikhar or Azam Khan or another power hitter should be at 7.

Imad at best no. 8!

We need abrar as a specialist spinner

Drop rizwan

And only play 2 out of chacha shadab and imad

 

[Barragan]

We need abrar as a specialist spinner

Drop rizwan

And only play 2 out of chacha shadab and imad

Why is Abrar needed?

He is no better than Imad in this format.

Pak team is struggling heavily in the batting department and it needs to be sorted asap.

 

[ads101]

1. Saim
2. Usman
3. Babar
4. Fakhar (wanted him to open, but he is performing here now)
5. Imad (try him up the order)
6. Irfan
7. Iftikhar (I’d drop him but there is no one else in the squad)
8. Shadab
9. Amir
10. Naseem
11. Shaheen

 

[mominsaigol]

Drop chacha for good. Don't care if we win or lose.

Drop chacha forever. And after this series boot Babar put too.

Idc who he is, a player who hasn't performed since 2022 needs to be dropped for lack of form.

As I said earlier Babar has gone the shehzad and misbah route

 

[jattafridi]

Miss u Rizwan bradman

Same team

Pakistan Will win

 

[Nikhil_cric]

What is the purpose of an extra bowler?

Shaheen, Amir, Naseem and Imad should be the main bowlers and that's it.

Rest should be covered by Shadab, Iftikhar and Saim.

One of Iftikhar or Azam Khan or another power hitter should be at 7.

Imad at best no. 8!

Rizwan , Azam and Irfan Niazi are all out of the series .

 

[FearlessRoar]

I will not watch this match because I'm extremely angry at PCB system.

 

[mominsaigol]

I will not watch this match because I'm extremely angry at PCB system.

Don't worry, abhi England series aur world cup bacha hoa hai.

Plenty of anger to come.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Don't worry, abhi England series aur world cup bacha hoa hai.

Plenty of anger to come.

to phir him "na" hi smajhain?

 

[mominsaigol]

to phir him "na" hi smajhain?

I think we need tonorganise a series against Uganda.

 

[FearlessRoar]

Don't worry, abhi England series aur world cup bacha hoa hai.

Plenty of anger to come.

I don't know why they don't feel ashamed. We as fans can't tolerate it. I don't know how they are handling this humiliation.

 

[FearlessRoar]

Instead of watching Pakistan play, it's better to watch a high quality horror movie.

 

[mominsaigol]

I don't know why they don't feel ashamed. We as fans can't tolerate it. I don't know how they are handling this humiliation.

Bro when has babar ever felt ashamed?

He only wants captaincy to open, he went tonextreme lengths for a petty thing. Even though in wc 2023 he was crying after the sa game after giving nawaz the last over.

 

[mominsaigol]

Instead of watching Pakistan play, it's better to watch a high quality horror movie.

And what Is Pakistan? A Low quality horror movie . Trust me mate, we've been watching in HD in 1440 p. We've seen everything lol.

 

[FearlessRoar]

Babar hasn't performed well in T20Is, he doesn't even deserve a place in the T20I squad, and yet we've made him the T20I captain.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Pakistan has too many bits and pieces players.

 

[FearlessRoar]

And what Is Pakistan? A Low quality horror movie . Trust me mate, we've been watching in HD in 1440 p. We've seen everything lol.

I watched an ultra HD horror movie tonight, the moment Pakistan lost and the weakest New Zealand team took a 2-1 lead.

 

[FearlessRoar]

Pakistan has too many bits and pieces players.

Top quality players like Sahibzada Farhan and yorker specialist Mohammad Ali are missing.

 

[Barragan]

Rizwan , Azam and Irfan Niazi are all out of the series .

Agha and Farhan are in the reserves.

Get them in the line up.

Batting is far too weak and needs a massive patch up, with batting extended to no. 7

 

[mominsaigol]

Top quality players like Sahibzada Farhan and yorker specialist Mohammad Ali are missing.

Bro I just wanna say, idk if you saw the post or not, but I remember a few months back being made fun of because I said pur emerging acc team was better then our t20 team and people laughed.

To put it into context here's our emerging acc team batting line up

1) Saim Ayub
2) Shabzada farhan
3) Omair bin aziz
4) Tayyab Tahir
5) Muhammad Haris
6) Qasim Akram
7) Mubashir Khan
8) Mehran Mumtaz
9) Muhammad wasim jnr
10) Sufiyan Mustqeem
11) Arshad Iqbal.

^^ How is this team even kn t20 not better? The batting order is set and so is the bowling?

Sufiyan is ironically a better spinner then usama by miles.

And the batting line up has balls to attack.

 

[BouncerGuy]

I think Farhan should come in now for Saim to open and Usama should be kicked out for Abrar. Rest of the team should stay same

 

[RKhan_Cricket]

Drop Rizwan, Babar, Iftikhar, Shadab, and Fakhar after this World Cup. Keep them for other formats. Build your squad by injecting only young blood. We should accept this reality, and it doesn't matter how much we support individual favorites. At the end, we should always think about the team before the individuals. So for this World Cup, I have already lost hope, and next will be in 2026. We have two good years. It should be clear from now on that we don't need accumulators, and this format is not for having a good average. You go out and smash. But not the blind smash; there should be technique plus an aggressive mindset, like Travis Head, Jason Roy, or Abhishek Sharma.

 

[Rana]

Drop Rizwan, Babar, Iftikhar, Shadab, and Fakhar after this World Cup. Keep them for other formats. Build your squad by injecting only young blood. We should accept this reality, and it doesn't matter how much we support individual favorites. At the end, we should always think about the team before the individuals. So for this World Cup, I have already lost hope, and next will be in 2026. We have two good years. It should be clear from now on that we don't need accumulators, and this format is not for having a good average. You go out and smash. But not the blind smash; there should be technique plus an aggressive mindset, like Travis Head, Jason Roy, or Abhishek Sharma.

If you know you are going to lose with accumulators now, you might as well try and win with hitters all the way through.

No point saying let’s reset after the World Cup.

 

[Rana]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1783575509542089190

Morpheus Yasir Hameed

 

[YousafTheBeast]

Why is Abrar needed?

He is no better than Imad in this format.

Pak team is struggling heavily in the batting department and it needs to be sorted asap.

Our batting is struggling because we have too many mediocre all rounders in our team.

There’s absolutely no need to play Ifthikar, Imad, Shadab and Abrar/Usama in the same XI, especially when you’re playing 3 pacers.

Take two spinners out and play 2 genuine batsmen.

 

[Human786]

ridiculous arriving 1-2 in home series against this 2nd Kiwi 11 - ab kya discuss karen ? Water the pitch like crazy , let whatever grass can sprout grow , play all your top pacers & hope you win the toss & can bowl !!!

 

[Savak]

Raining heavily in Lahore, final match likely to be rained off.

 

[Savak]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1783575509542089190

Morpheus Yasir Hameed

Haider Hack Ali the savior now. Its one thing playing for a supportive management in IU, another thing under the dressing room controlled by Babar Azam.

 

[RidiculousMan]

I'm not convinced with Usman Khan and Usama Mir in international Cricket so far.

I hope management is also thinking of couple other players to try in the Ireland series.

 

[RKhan_Cricket]

If you know you are going to lose with accumulators now, you might as well try and win with hitters all the way through.

No point saying let’s reset after the World Cup.

They're not going to change this year, that's for sure, and also, in typical Pakistani style, we will witness some great comebacks from them in this World Cup. But in the end, they will fall short, as usual. I am now moving on from this World Cup and thinking about the Champions Trophy in 2025.I will start watching cricket interestingly again after this World Cup; I can't bear more humiliation. You won't believe I am more worried about Pakistan vs. Canada and Ireland than India.

 

[TeymurBlake]

They must drop Usama Mir. His bowling isn't improving. He's too expensive as well as loose with his bowling. He can hit a few sixes but that's it. Abrar Ahmed has firmly taken over him.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

They must drop Usama Mir. His bowling isn't improving. He's too expensive as well as loose with his bowling. He can hit a few sixes but that's it. Abrar Ahmed has firmly taken over him.

Yeah, he's a useless bowler.

There's no point in picking him up when he can't bat and leaks so many runs. Abrar is a way better option compared to him

 

[Shafi]

We were lucky in the first match. Had we bat earlier NZ could have won that match. NZ missed out another 4-1 whitewash.

 

[Shafi]

They're not going to change this year, that's for sure, and also, in typical Pakistani style, we will witness some great comebacks from them in this World Cup. But in the end, they will fall short, as usual. I am now moving on from this World Cup and thinking about the Champions Trophy in 2025.I will start watching cricket interestingly again after this World Cup; I can't bear more humiliation. You won't believe I am more worried about Pakistan vs. Canada and Ireland than India.

They will not change next year either as Babar will still be captain and will convince these so-called yes man selectors that we don't have time for experiment. Unless Naqvi, Wahab (Moyo, Razzaq, Shafiq) and Babar removed same will continues even 2028 with same excuse. Hopefully there will be no World Cup for 2 years till 2030 so our selectors may do some experiments.

 

[Barragan]

Our batting is struggling because we have too many mediocre all rounders in our team.

There’s absolutely no need to play Ifthikar, Imad, Shadab and Abrar/Usama in the same XI, especially when you’re playing 3 pacers.

Take two spinners out and play 2 genuine batsmen.

That is wrong.

Iftikhar is a batsman, who can bowl well.

Imad is a quality bowler in this format and just so happens to be good with the bat as well.

Shadab was good with the ball, but better with bat nowadays.

Iftikhar just has been failing in his primary role, whilst Imad is better than Abrar as a bowler in this format.

 

[Deewana Mastana]

Is Pakistan winning or losing the series tonight?

 

[Shoaib Akhtar 100 MPH]

1. Saim
2. Usman
3. Babar
4. Fakhar (wanted him to open, but he is performing here now)
5. Imad (try him up the order)
6. Irfan
7. Iftikhar (I’d drop him but there is no one else in the squad)
8. Shadab
9. Amir
10. Naseem
11. Shaheen

Irfan is injured and Usman is an atrocious WK but for todays game ok.

 

[Shoaib Akhtar 100 MPH]

Is Pakistan winning or losing the series tonight?

Neither. Drawing.

 

[Deewana Mastana]

Neither. Drawing.

Oh yeah lol

 

[mominsaigol]

Is Pakistan winning or losing the series tonight?

We can't win, only draw

 

[ads101]

Irfan is injured and Usman is an atrocious WK but for todays game ok.

Didn’t realise. I’d probably just play Haseebullah as we’ve run out of batsmen. I don’t really want to go with a batsman short. And maybe usman can focus on batting. But I’d play Haseebullah down at 6 as I wouldn’t want him competing with Saim or usman right now. Tbh Haris would have been a better fit.

 

[Shoaib Akhtar 100 MPH]

Didn’t realise. I’d probably just play Haseebullah as we’ve run out of batsmen. I don’t really want to go with a batsman short. And maybe usman can focus on batting. But I’d play Haseebullah down at 6 as I wouldn’t want him competing with Saim or usman right now. Tbh Haris would have been a better fit.

Fair enough bro.

 

[Shafi]

Babar will never learn. He is same clueless, stubborn and dumb captain but then again Naqvi hasn't knowledge about cricket just like Zaka and Wahab co are Yes men.

 

[YousafTheBeast]

That is wrong.

Iftikhar is a batsman, who can bowl well.

Imad is a quality bowler in this format and just so happens to be good with the bat as well.

Shadab was good with the ball, but better with bat nowadays.

Iftikhar just has been failing in his primary role, whilst Imad is better than Abrar as a bowler in this format.

This is our current line up (injured first choice players available) :

Saim Ayub
Babar Azam
Mohammad Rizwan
Usman Khan/Fakhar Zaman
Ifthikar Ahmed
Irfan Niazi /Imad Wasim
Shadab Khan
Shaheen Afridi
Mohammad Amir
Naseem Shah
Abrar Ahmed / Usama

6 bowlers that can bowl 4 overs and 1 that can bowl a minimum of 2 overs.

They’re going to play a specialist spinner (Abrar/Usama) with Shadab, Ifthikar and Imad/Irfan in the XI, which just completely destroys the balance of the team, you either back Shadab as a leggie which is his main role in the team let’s not forget, or you replace him with Abrar/Usama.

A much more balanced team would look like this:

Saim Ayub
Babar Azam (c)
Usman Khan
Fakhar Zaman
Ifthikar / or another batsman
Mohammad Haris (wk)
———————————————

6 genuine batsmen

———————————————
Imad Wasim
Shadab Khan
———————————————-
2 bowling All rounders
————————————————
Naseem Shah
Shaheen Afridi
Mohammad Amir
————————————————
3 pace bowlers.

 

[Barragan]

What is the purpose of an extra bowler?

Shaheen, Amir, Naseem and Imad should be the main bowlers and that's it.

Rest should be covered by Shadab, Iftikhar and Saim.

One of Iftikhar or Azam Khan or another power hitter should be at 7.

Imad at best no. 8!

Again, too many bowlers!