Pakistan's dilemma? How to develop a side which can compete outside UAE while playing mostly in UAE?

[Savak]

The likes of Amir, Ruman, Hasan Ali, Shadab, Imad Wasim, Fahim Ashraf looked decent in UAE pitches, the bowlers have played so much cricket there that they know how to bowl on those pitches.

Pakistan's performances outside the UAE i.e. England tour 2016, Australia/NZ series 2016-17, now NZ series 2018 have clearly shown that this team has absolutely no idea or concept on what to do exactly on those surfaces.

Pakistan will be unable to develop a side that can compete in England, Australia/New Zealand, South Africa by constantly playing in the UAE. On these wickets you need players who can play horizontal bat shots, cut and pull shots, players who attack rather than graft, you need proper wicket taking pacers, fast bowling allrounders and a wicket taking spinner.

The first step towards getting better in the long run is to get out of UAE for starters and playing on fast batting wickets where the ball comes on to the bat so that we can develop batsmen who can play shots all around the wicket, batsmen who have the confidence to attack from ball one, bowlers who are encouraged to bend their backs, who learn how to bowl to batsmen going after them, who learn how to not panick when attacked and who have the confidence their batsmen can chase a score of 300 plus.

It is similar to the way the Indians became a decent ODI and T-20 side in the last 10 years.

 

[Boi]

They don't even beat these teams in the UAE lol. Problem lies in domestic cricket and the quality of batsmen being given a chance. Need genuine strokemakers in the side but don't think there are many when the likes of Shan Masood are topping donestic List A batting charts.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Its batting in alien conditions which has been the issue for decades now.

Arrange as many U-17s, U-19's matches abroad for upcoming batsmen, only when the next generation are comfortable with pace, bounce and windy/rainy conditions will we see a Pakistan batting like their hosts in places such as NZ,SA and Aus.

 

[PakSarZameen]

Horses for Courses.

Make your top 7:

Fakhar Zaman
Babar Azam
Umar Akmal
Haris Sohail
Hussain Talat
Muhammad Hafeez
Sarfraz Ahmed

with Sohaib Maqsood somewhere in there.

 

[MMHS]

UAE is given, can't change that - but what is possible is to replicate "outside UAE" condition in domestics. Unfortunately, UAE is better than PAK's domestic wickets.

 

[SensiblePakFan]

We play well in every country except New Zealand cause of the wind, give our team a break, They won a trophy for god's sake...........

 

[Sarwar89]

Well even the so called golden generation of Pakistan cricketers rarely performed in Australia. Last time Pakistan competed well in Australia was in 1990, when under Imran they narrowly lost Test Series 1-0. In South Africa their best performance came 20 years ago in 1-1 Test Series Draw. They did draw 2-2 in England but lost there in 2006 and 2010 badly.
Actually golden generation also lost home test series to Sri lanka, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Eng Ind and Australia. Something this lot did not face from 2007-2017 thanks to Misbah. And golden generation failed to win a test series in West indies. Something this lot has done it 2017. Tell you what I am happy with this current lot. Golden generation failed in 1999 final and this lot won in 2017 final. Golden generation never beat india in big match in icc cups unlike this generation.

 

[SensiblePakFan]

We won an Odi series in South Africa....

 

[Varun]

This is a conundrum facing every side in the world.

 

[giri26]

To be frank, all the teams suffer the same fate, unless if you are SA.

 

[Sarwar89]

We won an Odi series in South Africa....

Who really cares about odi meaningless series. What matters is Test series win away from home

 

[indipper]

Create better tracks in Pakistan. Enable local batsman to build innings for long.

 

[Fahdi]

My Question is Who have we beaten in the UAE when it comes to ODIs?

New Zealand beat us the last time they toured there.
England have beaten us each time they toured.
South Africa beat us last 2 times as well.
Australia have beaten us when they toured the UAE.

So who have we won against? SriLanka and West Indies.

We have been largely inept when it comes to LO cricket. Quality teams beat us left right and centre. You remember the last time UAE made pitches up to the mark for modern day ODIs? It was the England tour where we got whipped. English batsman thrashed us and scored 350 in a game. The thing is the same players were playing then as well: Malik, Hafeez and Azhar.

 

[Markhor]

There's no easy solutions. We can't get out of UAE as long as international teams are unwilling to tour Pakistan. However the curators should try to inject more pace and bounce in the wickets. Our batsmen look clueless when the ball bounces more than stump high because they're so used to playing on dead wickets where the keeper is the collecting the ball by his knees.

A lot is said about Pakistan's domestic pitches - certainly the FC wickets are appalling but the pitches for 50 over and T20 tournaments aren't as bad, they're usually flat and encourage batsmen to hit through the line. The PCB took the right step of organising the Departmental One Day trophy in the South.

However when the top batsmen of the tournament include: Shan Masood, Kamran Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Salman Butt and Ahmed Shehzad then clearly the standard of these tournaments are in question.

Well even the so called golden generation of Pakistan cricketers rarely performed in Australia. Last time Pakistan competed well in Australia was in 1990, when under Imran they narrowly lost Test Series 1-0. In South Africa their best performance came 20 years ago in 1-1 Test Series Draw. They did draw 2-2 in England but lost there in 2006 and 2010 badly.
Actually golden generation also lost home test series to Sri lanka, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Eng Ind and Australia. Something this lot did not face from 2007-2017 thanks to Misbah. And golden generation failed to win a test series in West indies. Something this lot has done it 2017. Tell you what I am happy with this current lot. Golden generation failed in 1999 final and this lot won in 2017 final. Golden generation never beat india in big match in icc cups unlike this generation.

Well said - these ex-90s stars turned pundits should look in the mirror instead of bashing the current team to no end.

 

[DRsohail]

There's no easy solutions. We can't get out of UAE as long as international teams are unwilling to tour Pakistan. However the curators should try to inject more pace and bounce in the wickets. Our batsmen look clueless when the ball bounces more than stump high because they're so used to playing on dead wickets where the keeper is the collecting the ball by his knees.

A lot is said about Pakistan's domestic pitches - certainly the FC wickets are appalling but the pitches for 50 over and T20 tournaments aren't as bad, they're usually flat and encourage batsmen to hit through the line. The PCB took the right step of organising the Departmental One Day trophy in the South.

However when the top batsmen of the tournament include: Shan Masood, Kamran Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Salman Butt and Ahmed Shehzad then clearly the standard of these tournaments are in question.



Well said - these ex-90s stars turned pundits should look in the mirror instead of bashing the current team to no end.

Golden generation weer always competitive if you go by history.take one series out of misbah in england what he has left with..series against WI which even bangladesh can mange these days with proper planning.

 

[Markhor]

Golden generation weer always competitive if you go by history.take one series out of misbah in england what he has left with..series against WI which even bangladesh can mange these days with proper planning.

In case you forgot, we didn't just draw with England away and beat West Indies - we also beat New Zealand away in 2011, Sri Lanka in 2015 and Bangladesh in 2015 (the same BAN team that whitewashed us 4-0 in LOIs).

A team should at least have a strong home base but the 90s legends for all the hype couldn't even achieve that. We drew with a weak NZ, lost to England, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe - not in UAE but our ACTUAL home on pitches these guys grew up on.

And of course, this bunch actually beat India when it mattered in a major tournament. So these pundits should stop crying and look at their own record.

The 1980s team under Imran was our best team as far as competing home and away is concerned (beat England in 87, drew with WI in 88, PROPERLY competing in Australia in 1990, winning WC92 and a glut of ODI tournaments) whereas the post-92 team was all hype but little substance.

 

[DRsohail]

In case you forgot, we didn't just draw with England away and beat West Indies - we also beat New Zealand away in 2011, Sri Lanka in 2015 and Bangladesh in 2015 (the same BAN team that whitewashed us 4-0 in LOIs).

A team should at least have a strong home base but the 90s legends for all the hype couldn't even achieve that. We drew with a weak NZ, lost to England, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe - not in UAE but our ACTUAL home on pitches these guys grew up on.

And of course, this bunch actually beat India when it mattered in a major tournament. So these pundits should stop crying and look at their own record.

The 1980s team under Imran was our best team as far as competing home and away is concerned (beat England in 87, drew with WI in 88, PROPERLY competing in Australia in 1990, winning WC92 and a glut of ODI tournaments) whereas the post-92 team was all hype but little substance.

Ge this team to pakistan an d you will see how many they can win.But of course we shouledit when due but that 90s we were persistently in top 3 ranks which i can.t see except a fluke one.