Pakistan's ODI preparations as we head for next World Cup in 2023

[Amjid Javed]

Pakistan havent played an ODI since the 2019 Cricket world cup and the scheduling of ODI game and series going into the next one is pretty Pathetic to say the least. We need to be able to put together a team which will compete at the next world cup in India but also be competitive overall as well. With Misbah currently in charge i can see usual TTFs being picked. Also the schedule Pakistan has doesnt allow much scope for team building or possible experiementing.

FTP Plan 2020-2023 (ODIs)

Nov 2020 - 3 ODIs vs Zimbabwe
July 2021 - 3 ODIs vs England
Sep 2021 - 3 ODIs vs Afghanistan
Oct 2021 - 3 ODIs vs New Zealand
Dec 2021 - 3 ODIs vs W.I
March 2022 - 3 ODIs vs Aus
March 2022 - 3 ODIs vs SRL
October 2022 - 5 ODIs vs Eng
Nov 2022 - 3 ODIs vs NZ

29 ODIs in total Across pretty much a 2 year period so Pakistan really does need to put some planning into their ODI selections for 1st time in over 20 years as almost every world cup since 1999 the team has been littered with poor selections and a team under prepared and not balanced going into a world cup.

 

[Varun]

Pakistan haven't played an ODI in over a year!

Has this ever happened to a mainstream team in modern cricket history?

 

[Varun]

29 ODIs in total Across pretty much a 2 year period so Pakistan really does need to put some planning into their ODI selections for 1st time in over 20 years as almost every world cup since 1999 the team has been littered with poor selections and a team under prepared and not balanced going into a world cup.

Anyway, that's Pakistan's signature style. If they win a tournament it's not because they actually planned for it years in advance - it would be because they flicked on the afterburners and looped through a roller-coaster in said tournament itself.

 

[Deewana Mastana]

Just 12 ODI's in 2021 is not good really is it?!

Overall having just 29 games in 2 years for me that is not much as I would have had around 35-40 as enough games before the WC but with so many different T20 leagues around it really does cut the international calendar up a lot and takes a lot of precedence over a global tournament.

Pakistan really need to start the planning and get the players in and around the team and get them up to scratch in the next 1-2 years but knowing them they might just sit back and relax.

 

[TrentDevil]

Read somewhere Pak will be playing 3 ODIs against South Africa instead of T20Is

 

[Mesozoic]

Pakistan did play an ODI series against Sri Lanka at home IIRC.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Read somewhere Pak will be playing 3 ODIs against South Africa instead of T20Is

Pakistan should have been scheduled to have been in S.A now playing 3 ODIs and 3 T20s

 

[Amjid Javed]

Pakistan did play an ODI series against Sri Lanka at home IIRC.

Sorry you are right, even so we need to be playing a lot more ODI cricket between now and next world cup.

 

[szrana007]

There is also an ODI Asia Cup scheduled to be in 2022. Add that to the list as well.

 

[Markhor]

1) Identify a core group of 16-17 players to work with. Misbah's addiction to chopping and changing means players are always uncertain about their places knowing 1-2 bad performances and they'll be chucked out.

2) Identify 2-3 specialist spinners to invest in who should work day and night with Mushtaq Ahmed and Saqlain Mushtaq. You cannot win a World Cup in Asian conditions without a matchwinning spinner.

3) Hire a renowned data analyst who can identify the opposition's strengths and weaknesses, and help formulate a gameplan. Opposition research and planning is badly neglected by the current management.

 

[Afhan Ali]

1) Identify a core group of 16-17 players to work with. Misbah's addiction to chopping and changing means players are always uncertain about their places knowing 1-2 bad performances and they'll be chucked out.

2) Identify 2-3 specialist spinners to invest in who should work day and night with Mushtaq Ahmed and Saqlain Mushtaq. You cannot win a World Cup in Asian conditions without a matchwinning spinner.

3) Hire a renowned data analyst who can identify the opposition's strengths and weaknesses, and help formulate a gameplan. Opposition research and planning is badly neglected by the current management.

Zafar Gohar, Shadab Khan, Usman Qadir and Sajid Khan should be these spinner. With 2 play in almost every odi and t20 in Asia.

 

[HappyWarsFan]

Hafeez will be the captain at age 43

 

[shamaan]

Just 12 ODI's in 2021 is not good really is it?!

Overall having just 29 games in 2 years for me that is not much as I would have had around 35-40 as enough games before the WC but with so many different T20 leagues around it really does cut the international calendar up a lot and takes a lot of precedence over a global tournament.

Pakistan really need to start the planning and get the players in and around the team and get them up to scratch in the next 1-2 years but knowing them they might just sit back and relax.

They have south africa in either january or after psl
Asia cup in 2022

All together proberly around 38 games

 

[shamaan]

1) Identify a core group of 16-17 players to work with. Misbah's addiction to chopping and changing means players are always uncertain about their places knowing 1-2 bad performances and they'll be chucked out.

2) Identify 2-3 specialist spinners to invest in who should work day and night with Mushtaq Ahmed and Saqlain Mushtaq. You cannot win a World Cup in Asian conditions without a matchwinning spinner.

3) Hire a renowned data analyst who can identify the opposition's strengths and weaknesses, and help formulate a gameplan. Opposition research and planning is badly neglected by the current management.

Misbah will be gone by then.

Gohar qadir shadab

 

[shamaan]

1) Identify a core group of 16-17 players to work with. Misbah's addiction to chopping and changing means players are always uncertain about their places knowing 1-2 bad performances and they'll be chucked out.

2) Identify 2-3 specialist spinners to invest in who should work day and night with Mushtaq Ahmed and Saqlain Mushtaq. You cannot win a World Cup in Asian conditions without a matchwinning spinner.

3) Hire a renowned data analyst who can identify the opposition's strengths and weaknesses, and help formulate a gameplan. Opposition research and planning is badly neglected by the current management.

Openers
Sharjeel
Imaam
Zeeshan malik
Haider

Middle over
Abdullah shafiqu
Babar
Rohail nazir
Saud shakeel

Lower order
Khushdil
Azam khan
Hassan moshin

All rounders
Ammad butt
Shadab khan

Spinners
Shadab
Gohar
Qadir

Fast bowlers
Shaheen
Akif
Rauf
Husnain

That's my 20 man squad I have not included amir haris sohail fakhar or imad wasim

 

[CleverSir]

1) Identify a core group of 16-17 players to work with. Misbah's addiction to chopping and changing means players are always uncertain about their places knowing 1-2 bad performances and they'll be chucked out.

2) Identify 2-3 specialist spinners to invest in who should work day and night with Mushtaq Ahmed and Saqlain Mushtaq. You cannot win a World Cup in Asian conditions without a matchwinning spinner.

3) Hire a renowned data analyst who can identify the opposition's strengths and weaknesses, and help formulate a gameplan. Opposition research and planning is badly neglected by the current management.

Excellent points. However I'll say 1 should already have happened by now. With regards to your second point, I would even venture to say pick 5-10 spinners and put them up at the NHPC for the next 2 years and have them constantly bowling and working under Saqlain and Mushtaq. Spinners only mature the more they bowl. Let them bowl their hearts out for the next 2 years under those 2 really good coaches. Try them out in matches along the way.

As for your third point, Grant Bradbun (the director of coaching performance at the NHPC) needs to go out and hire the Multan Sultans game analyst and have him run analyst coaching courses with a handful of young data hungry professionals from Pakistani universities to teach them his work. The PCB then needs to assign these analysts to the 6 association teams for next season.

 

[Ahson8]

Guys like Zeeshan Malik, Abdullah Shafique, Rohail Nazir, Mohammad Haris, Usman Qadir, Zafar Gohar, Mohammad Hasnain, Nasim Shah and Mohammad Musa need to be developed within these next 3 years.