Pakistan's Limited Overs teams - turned a corner?

[Saj]

Impressive stats for the limited overs teams:

Pakistan last 9 T20Is: Won 8, Lost 1

Pakistan last 7 ODIs: Won 6, Lost 1

Seems like the limited overs teams are hitting form and have turned a corner.

Some good finds and it seems like the future looks ok.

 

[Syed1]

Coincides with Sarfaraz's ascension to the throne.

 

[waleed88]

We have always been a good side at home, see Babar Azam playing that t20 knock, I have never seen him play like that in UAE or abroad...
Its just that we have gotten decent in adapting to away conditions

 

[aloo paratha]

I remember how terrible we were in LO games from 2014 to 2016. Since the England tour we looked like we had potential but still needed to work hard. This team has come a long way and I'm really proud of them.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

After removing Misbah and his prodigy from captaincy. No surprise there.

 

[Plumb]

Finally ..... lots of people don't agree that only positive/attacking mindset can change the fortune of the team. This is what Sarfi brings to the team. I can't wait to see his captaincy in Tests. In addition we have a few young players who are brilliant in the field. Still need to get rid of a couple of deadwood from the team...

 

[Square Drive]

Was always gonna happen once Saifi took over.

 

[marlonbrowndo]

Sarfrazs captaincy and mickeys coaching are the 2 biggest factors.

 

[Hasan123]

LO team is progressing nicely under Sarfraz and Mickey .

 

[mak36]

Sarfaraz, Mickey and Inzi seem to have formed a clear strategy and have implemented it with great success so far. They are now reaping the rewards of their work.

However, whilst the LOI teams are definitely on the right track there is still work to be done. PCT still needs (i) some power hitters and (ii) 1/2 seam bowling all-rounders. This squad shows some efforts to address the latter issue, but not much to address the former.

 

[troodon]

CT was all about Fakhar Zaman to me. He is the guy that carried Pak on his shoulders and gave decent to great scores to defend. Pak always had and has the bowling to defend scores over 250 in ODI's and over 150 in T20's most of the times.

The turnaround for me is the top order aggressive batting. The middle and lower order were simply cashing in on the starts given by Fakhar. He is the game changer for me.

As per today's match against World XI, that is a terrible bowling line up. Thisara, Sammy, Cutting, Elliott should never bowl. 200 was easy against that dud attack. Morkel is half decent and Tahir is the only real threat in that lineup. The moment Pak scored 160, it was game over for World XI. They were not going to chase it against Pak spinners. Tamim and Amla are good T20 batsmen. The rest are below average. Miller has not fired in a long long time. Sammy should retire.

Overall, the induction of young talent in Fakhar, Hasan Ali has done wonders for Pak team. Babar Azam is an upcoming player. Great potential. If he pans out unlike Umar Akmal, Pak will be a serious contender for 2019 WC.

Don't know whay Ahmed Shezad is still in the team. Azhar Ali is much better than him if Pak wants someone to play the anchor role next to Fakhar.

 

[mak36]

CT was all about Fakhar Zaman to me. He is the guy that carried Pak on his shoulders and gave decent to great scores to defend.

Other than the final, Pakistan batted second in all their CT games.

As per today's match against World XI, that is a terrible bowling line up. Thisara, Sammy, Cutting, Elliott should never bowl. Morkel is half decent and Tahir is the only real threat in that lineup.

Morkel is a very good bowler, as is Tahir. Elliott and Sammy have proven themselves to be handy t20 bowlers- just look at their stats.

Tamim and Amla are good T20 batsmen. The rest are below average.

"Good" is an understatement. Also, since when were the likes of Faf Du Plessis, Perera and David Miller "below average"?

Sammy should retire.

I can only assume you didn't watch him bat today.

 

[yasir]

Pakistan is becoming a modern LOI unit, going in right direction...Fielding is getting lot better and consistent, bowlers are more confident and have tool sets to operate in modern day env...Amir, Hasan, Raees, Shadab are all good bowlers, there are more in the works...

Credit goes to many thing not just one person...PSL has helped a lot, Azhar as bowling coach was big blessing, he can relate to modern day Cricket and talk to guys in their language(by that I don't mean Urdu/Punjab, rather context of modern day Cricket, he has played everywhere including IPL and was key allrounder wherever he played)...Mickey as a head coach has been working surprisingly, it did not work for AUS/SA that much, players has bought into his process oriented culture somewhat. Sarfraz and Inzi has done great too, Sarfi has been effective like Javed he can communicate very well, even though it looks raw from the outside, well guys are somewhat raw anyway...Lets see where we go from here, most of the remaining seniors are still question mark, good thing is that they know it, its going to be hard to survive in new ENV

 

[The_Odd_One]

All credit goes to Mickey Arthur and Sarfraz Ahmed. Once, they get rid of the remaining TTFs, their team will do even better.

 

[todfod 11]

We have always been a good side at home, see Babar Azam playing that t20 knock, I have never seen him play like that in UAE or abroad...
Its just that we have gotten decent in adapting to away conditions

He is more confident now also CPL has helped a little.

 

[Leo23]

misbah was a burden to our limited overs cricket and so was his successor Azhar

it is no surprise that we are looking good without them

 

[ads101]

We've got better players. We've gone from just having one good bowler in Amir, to having three good pacers in Amir, Hasan and Junaid (even Raees could step in and do a great job) and two really good spinners in Imad and Shadab. A lot of them weren't in the team before.

In batting we've had Fakhar and Babar come into the team. And of course we've upgraded on captains who is a tactically better option in LOI than past few captains.

Bowling while really looks like a force now and is arguably the best in the LOI format (in the past we've overrated our attack, but now it definitely looks strong) now with both great pacers and spinners, batting's still not great.

 

[Angrez Pakistani]

The one missing link in this team is a world class right arm off-spinner. Otherwise, the team is almost complete.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Still not convinced by pakistans batting in ODIs, recent sucsess was pretty much built on good bowling and Also fakhar Zaman doing well at top of the order. Players like Azhar, hafeez and Malik are not top quality ODI batsmen and need to improve or be replaced in longterm of pakistan to do well on ODIs over a long time period.

 

[Hamza_]

I'll agree with [MENTION=16]Amjid Javed[/MENTION]

We need to bring in new opener in place of Azhar as well Haris Sohail in for Hafeez

 

[Markhor]

Under Mickey Arthur the changes he's made in personnel and improvement in tactics, fitness and fielding have been noticeable.

Sarfraz has proven himself a tactically astute captain. He rotates his bowlers well and is more active on the field than Azhar - you see him constantly pushing and talking to his bowlers each over.

However we are not the finished article, we need to introduce another hard hitting opener to partner Fakhar Zaman.

 

[ToeCrusher2]

Coincides with Sarfaraz's ascension to the throne.

Coincides with removal of waqar as a coach

 

[Amjid Javed]

Major worry with batting is if Fakhar Zaman gets out early the rest of batsmen do not score quickly enough or big enough early on.

 

[Bilal7]

Inzamam-ul-Haq can be thanked for that. One by one the TTFs were removed and good, new players were introduced.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

It has to do with 1 man: Sarfraz Ahmed

Pak under Sarfraz defeated England in t20 after losing 4-1 in odis under Azhar. Lost 4-1 to Australia under Azhar / Hafeez but won Champions Trophy soon after with almost similar team (Fakhar instead of Sharjeel). Won 2 t20 series against world champs WI who defeated India.

There are other small factors like Mickey, Azhar Mehmood, PSL etc but we always had few capable people. The major factor is Sarfraz and anyone who denies it is a hater or totally clueless.

 

[waleed88]

He is more confident now also CPL has helped a little.

he failed to perfrom in cpl

 

[todfod 11]

he failed to perfrom in cpl

with CPL experience he has learned to play his shots more freely and feel more confident. Before he use to get stuck.

 

[Bilal7]

It has to do with 1 man: Sarfraz Ahmed

Pak under Sarfraz defeated England in t20 after losing 4-1 in odis under Azhar. Lost 4-1 to Australia under Azhar / Hafeez but won Champions Trophy soon after with almost similar team (Fakhar instead of Sharjeel). Won 2 t20 series against world champs WI who defeated India.

There are other small factors like Mickey, Azhar Mehmood, PSL etc but we always had few capable people. The major factor is Sarfraz and anyone who denies it is a hater or totally clueless.

Without Inzamam's backing, Sarfaraz would have never been captain.

 

[Firebreaker]

If they keep on playing like how they played today,They would similar fate as their ladies in 2019 WC

 

[Buffet]

Pakistan used to play for avoiding collapse. If you do that all the time then you get whatever result Pakistan got earlier.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

Without Inzamam's backing, Sarfaraz would have never been captain.

Yes we cant discount backing of Inzamam.

 

[Markhor]

It has to do with 1 man: Sarfraz Ahmed

Pak under Sarfraz defeated England in t20 after losing 4-1 in odis under Azhar. Lost 4-1 to Australia under Azhar / Hafeez but won Champions Trophy soon after with almost similar team (Fakhar instead of Sharjeel). Won 2 t20 series against world champs WI who defeated India.

There are other small factors like Mickey, Azhar Mehmood, PSL etc but we always had few capable people. The major factor is Sarfraz and anyone who denies it is a hater or totally clueless.

Sarfraz has definitely made a positive impact.

But PSL is definitely not a minor factor - it has massively helped our youngsters in exposing them to pressure situations and big match environments in front of large audiences. Its made the transition to internationals easier for them as these players can rub shoulders and learn from the biggest names in world cricket.

Sharjeel Khan, Khalid Latif, Hasan Ali, Shadab Khan and Fakhar Zaman would not have been introduced to the national team without PSL factor. Its also got the players fitter and improved fielding.

It hurt our LOI teams that PCB dragged their feet for so long in not setting up PSL sooner.