Pakistan's preparations for the South Africa tour

[AFM]

Seeing the success in England, it's clear we need a month's preparation in SA before the Tests.

Only one warm up game is scheduled in Dec 19. Pakistan could take a Pak 'A' team for meaningful practice alongside the main squad and leave as soon as the NZ series finish.

Thoughts?

 

[aloo paratha]

Need to get there at least 2 weeks before the first test. When does NZ series end?

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

Go with similar team with probably addition of Hussain Talat.
They will do good.

Our main worry should be in Asia where we are yet to find a world class player against spin. I have hopes from Usman and Haris though. Both of them can hit daddy hundreds. Fakhar can also be a good addition in Asia.

 

[babajee]

Fakhar needs to open in SA
[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION]

 

[Markhor]

Who knew when you actually prepare for an overseas tour properly you have a better chance of succeeding ?!

Our preparation for England tours have been excellent recently but compare this to the way we prepare for Australia and New Zealand tours.

Last time our only tour match in NZ was rained off and we played one FC match against an Australian outfit that resembled a club 2nd XI.

 

[Hasan123]

I hope we arrive early and have competitive warm up games.

 

[Surf]

I don't think Haris is cut out for tests anymore and Azhar is too old same for Asad nor can they score big hundred which is a must.. So drop these guys and get Saad Ali, Saud, Fakhar for the Aus series Im sure they wouldn't do any worse at UAE. Only worry is there're lefties but skills, and technique wise, and with good FC performances they can do well at this level.

 

[Prince of Pakistan]

I don't think Haris is cut out for tests anymore and Azhar is too old same for Asad nor can they score big hundred which is a must.. So drop these guys and get Saad Ali, Saud, Fakhar for the Aus series Im sure they wouldn't do any worse at UAE. Only worry is there're lefties but skills, and technique wise, and with good FC performances they can do well at this level.

For some reason Haris gives away his wicket after 70/80 balls in ODI and Tests. Probably got to do with him tiring and losing focus.

 

[Junaids]

Need to get there at least 2 weeks before the first test. When does NZ series end?

Why not host New Zealand IN South Africa?

This Pakistan team is better suited to playing there than in the UAE!

 

[Bilal7]

Who's going to pay for all that cost? You're talking the travel expenses of 30 men for a month. Pretty steep for a single series.

We should just request CSA to hold one more practice match or send a few of our main players to go play in their FC competition.

 

[Rahul1]

ABD and Morkel are retired. Amla is well past it. Steyn is injured most of the time. Pakistan won't get a better opportunity to win a series in SA.

 

[hadi123]

Why not host New Zealand IN South Africa?

This Pakistan team is better suited to playing there than in the UAE!

Hosting other teams in other countries isn't that simple bro.

 

[Fahdi]

There are plenty of Test specialists in the team. They can be sent to SA early along with some up and coming talent to form an A team. Azhar, Asad, Usman, Saad, Abbas; at least these guys will be well prepared.

 

[Junaids]

Who's going to pay for all that cost? You're talking the travel expenses of 30 men for a month. Pretty steep for a single series.

We should just request CSA to hold one more practice match or send a few of our main players to go play in their FC competition.

Hotels and flights in South Africa are dirt cheap, and SuperSport don’t have to fly in the TV broadcast facilities like in the UAE.

The hosts also pay for New Zealand’s flights, which would be cheaper to Johannesburg than to Dubai.

The only argument for hosting in the UAE is a mistaken belief that this Pakistan team is better on a slow, flat wicket.

But considering that New Zealand drew 1-1 on their last UAE tour, since which time Pakistan’s spin attack has deteriorated, it’s a crazy gamble to host them in the UAE and then turn up unprepared in South Africa.

I would look to:

1) Play 2 Tests in Zimbabwe 5-18 November.

2) Play NZ in 3 Tests in small, unused venues in South Africa 22 November to 14 December.

3) Play the 3 Tests versus South Africa as planned with the First Test on 26 December.

 

[IAJ]

ABD and Morkel are retired. Amla is well past it. Steyn is injured most of the time. Pakistan won't get a better opportunity to win a series in SA.

I feel I read similar posts before every foreign tour, that this is the best and only time to beat xyz. The issue is that in foreign conditions, even if you meet a local club side you will struggle so it doesn’t matter if some big names are missing.

 

[Abdullah719]

The tour match is over.

Is that enough? Though there really wasn't time in the schedule for anything else, I suppose.

 

[Saj]

I always prefer to see Pakistan playing a couple of warm-up matches before the 1st Test.

Despite the win, I feel they are undercooked.

 

[Junaids]

I always prefer to see Pakistan playing a couple of warm-up matches before the 1st Test.

Despite the win, I feel they are undercooked.

It’s appalling.

They should have played the NZ Tests first, followed by the 20 and 50 overs games, so that Arthur and the Test Specialists could have been in South Africa for the last 3 weeks.

 

[Zeeraq]

If we had T20Is and ODIs first as New Zealand had in UAE it would've helped a lot to get acclimatize with conditions.

 

[Junaids]

Why not host New Zealand IN South Africa?

This Pakistan team is better suited to playing there than in the UAE!

Hotels and flights in South Africa are dirt cheap, and SuperSport don’t have to fly in the TV broadcast facilities like in the UAE.

The hosts also pay for New Zealand’s flights, which would be cheaper to Johannesburg than to Dubai.

The only argument for hosting in the UAE is a mistaken belief that this Pakistan team is better on a slow, flat wicket.

But considering that New Zealand drew 1-1 on their last UAE tour, since which time Pakistan’s spin attack has deteriorated, it’s a crazy gamble to host them in the UAE and then turn up unprepared in South Africa.

I would look to:

1) Play 2 Tests in Zimbabwe 5-18 November.

2) Play NZ in 3 Tests in small, unused venues in South Africa 22 November to 14 December.

3) Play the 3 Tests versus South Africa as planned with the First Test on 26 December.

Sometime I hate to be proved correct.

 

[hadi123]

Sometime I hate to be proved correct.

Dude, it's not that simple for a team to host another team in any country i.e. in this case Pakistan hosting New Zealand in South Africa. That's not how it works. There's lots of logistics to do.

 

[Junaids]

Why not host New Zealand IN South Africa?

This Pakistan team is better suited to playing there than in the UAE!

Hotels and flights in South Africa are dirt cheap, and SuperSport don’t have to fly in the TV broadcast facilities like in the UAE.

The hosts also pay for New Zealand’s flights, which would be cheaper to Johannesburg than to Dubai.

The only argument for hosting in the UAE is a mistaken belief that this Pakistan team is better on a slow, flat wicket.

But considering that New Zealand drew 1-1 on their last UAE tour, since which time Pakistan’s spin attack has deteriorated, it’s a crazy gamble to host them in the UAE and then turn up unprepared in South Africa.

I would look to:

1) Play 2 Tests in Zimbabwe 5-18 November.

2) Play NZ in 3 Tests in small, unused venues in South Africa 22 November to 14 December.

3) Play the 3 Tests versus South Africa as planned with the First Test on 26 December.

Dude, it's not that simple for a team to host another team in any country i.e. in this case Pakistan hosting New Zealand in South Africa. That's not how it works. There's lots of logistics to do.

Even so - and it would have been much cheaper than playing in the UAE - the PCB could just have played the New Zealand Tests in the UAE before the 20 and 50 over series.

That way the Test team would have already been acclimatising to the pace and bounce in South Africa for the last three weeks, even if they just practised against one another on a school pitch.

 

[Markhor]

South Africa were staging their T20 league - why would they let an international series clash with their own product ?

 

[hadi123]

Even so - and it would have been much cheaper than playing in the UAE - the PCB could just have played the New Zealand Tests in the UAE before the 20 and 50 over series.

That way the Test team would have already been acclimatising to the pace and bounce in South Africa for the last three weeks, even if they just practised against one another on a school pitch.

I agree with your point that Tests vs NZ should have been first, would have made sense anyway as Aus series finished with tests also but no way would we be able to play them in SA, that's not how it works. But yeah if the tests were first then the likes of Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq etc could have gone to SA to acclimatize

 

[Pete Rose]

Pakistani played three tour games on their last test tour to South Africa. The first one was a 4-day, the second was a two day, and the third was a list A game.
They went on to dismiss South Africa for an encouraging sub 250 score pretty much on the first day of the first match. Despite all the tour games, they played true to their pedigree and were dismissed for under 50. No amount of prep was going to help that lot.

My personal feeling is that Pakistani batsmen will give a better account of themselves on this tour than the past.

 

[Usman Chadda]

Pakistani played three tour games on their last test tour to South Africa. The first one was a 4-day, the second was a two day, and the third was a list A game.
They went on to dismiss South Africa for an encouraging sub 250 score pretty much on the first day of the first match. Despite all the tour games, they played true to their pedigree and were dismissed for under 50. No amount of prep was going to help that lot.

My personal feeling is that Pakistani batsmen will give a better account of themselves on this tour than the past.

Tall claims. Keep in mind the last test tour had Younis and Misbah, yet we got hammered. This time we have a batting line-up that couldn't survive Ajaz Patel and Ian Somerville

 

[Pete Rose]

Tall claims. Keep in mind the last test tour had Younis and Misbah, yet we got hammered. This time we have a batting line-up that couldn't survive Ajaz Patel and Ian Somerville

I dont rank Misbah in South Africa and Australia. And they wont face any spinners here. Lead scorer for Pakistan was Shafiq. But given his mental fortitude is declining by the minute, I hope he gets his centiry in the first game so we get an improbable win. Thereafter we can rest him in the second and third game so that he can forego his sequence of four ducks.

 

[The Viper]

Shame that there was only one tour match but the promising thing is that the three best batsman are finding touch.

 

[Abdullah719]

Good point by [MENTION=53290]Markhor[/MENTION] in the match thread regarding the T20s against NZ/AUS.

 

[MenInG]

Pakistan should have been here earlier - simple.

 

[Plumb]

Yes we would have scored 400+ had we played 2 more warm ups...

Get realistic this is the batsmen we have who are past their expiry date nothing more can be expected. And we are not doing much at our first class level to produce technically correct batsmen. Wait for PSL4 and we 'll find a test player...

 

[Hasan123]

Would rather have not played those T20s against Australia and New Zealand. Would rather have had extra time in South Africa preparing for the tests.

 

[Savak]

Coming a month earlier is a must in these conditions. We keep making the same mistake again and again on every SA tour, its like no one in the Pakistan team, team management, PCB gives a damn about even trying to do well

 

[Savak]

Pakistan's criminal lack of preparation for the tours of Australia and South Africa

Have seen this numerous times in the past and just watching the proceedings, what really hurts the most is that this South African team probably had the weakest batting line up in ages and watching the struggles in every department particularly batting, bowling, it is abundantly clear the team was massively under prepared for these conditions.

Fault lies with the players mostly because their work ethic and amount of preparation they do behind the scenes needs to be questioned. Was reading an interview where Pujara attributed his success in Australia to the massive preperations he had done behind the scenes for the conditions he would be faced with by practicing for long hours against a fast, bouncy plastic ball socked in water. I doubt any of our batsmen have this sort of work ethic.

I question the preparation and tactical decision making of the team management as well, why on earth would you select the likes of Faheem Ashraf and Shadab Khan knowing full well a 4 bowler combination with a spinner is not going to work in conditions which do not suit spin. Didn't playing Shadab Khan and Faheem Ashraf in England and Ireland provide the team with an extra batting option and a bowling option and provided maximum opportunities for the pacers to be fully fresh in all spells. In those series, if I remember clearly, Amir was operating at an average speed of 85-87 mph and was bowling in short sharp bursts. Faheem and Shadab also rescued the team from precarious positions by scoring valuable runs down the order. I am sorry but the selection of the playing eleven was just flawed.

Also blame needs to go to the PCB, why was the team not in South Africa atleast a month in advance, how much would it have cost to arrange for 2-3 practice games before the first test match? Most importantly why can't the PCB insist on holding the T-20 and ODI series before the test series to give the players maximum chance to acclimitize in tough conditions. NZ did the same in UAE against us, they lost the T-20 series, tied the ODI series and won the test series.

Poor pathetic planning and deep desire for Pakistan to do well at all levels.

 

[Usman]

Pakistan's lack of preparation unforgivable

Everyone knows that a tour of South Africa is difficult. It's probably the most difficult place to tour in fact, especially for teams from Asia who spend their lives playing on very different wickets. Pakistan's struggles on this tour should therefore come as no surprise.

What is surprising, and in my view unforgivable, is the lack of preparation given to the team. Pakistan arrived in South Africa days before the first test match. They played one tour game on 19 December and before anyone had time to blink, the team were thrust into a test match against the most potent bowling line up in the world on some of the most challenging wickets in the world. That is simply not a fair contest.

This is all a world away from the careful planning that went into the test series played in England last year. Pakistan arrived well in advance of that series, played multiple practice matches, played Ireland in a test match and had ample time to aclimatise before going into that first test match against England. What was the result? Pakistan beat England in the first test match of the English summer, played in MAY - England never lose test matches played in May, because conditions are inevitably too challenging for touring teams. That is what adequate preparation can do to you.

Today, for the first time in the entire test series, we are seeing glimpses of what these batsmen are capable of. But it's taken until the series is effectively lost before the players have started to aclimatise. Planning for this tour has been atrocious. We set up our batsmen to fail and then complain when the inevitable happens. This is not a way to play international cricket, it's a way to destroy careers.

 

[AAli98]

They could have gone 6 months before & played 20 1st class games, the result was going to be 3-0.

Azhar asad sarfraz have run there race theyr not going to improve theyr batting like numbers. 9 10 11.

The bowlers are will ball 2 hit me balls per over.. very very poor team.

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Faf du Plessis "we have had some big teams coming to South Africa in the last 2 years and we've beat them. They've all come here with very good bowling attacks and Pakistan is no different, they are a serious bowling team" <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SAvPAK?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SAvPAK</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1081849040143290370?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sarfaraz Ahmed "if we had played 2 or 3 practice matches in South Africa before the Test series the position would have been different" <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SAvPAK?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SAvPAK</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1081850126740668418?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Amjid Javed]

Usual excuses from sarfraz in press confrence. Please leave useless player and captain.

 

[ARK Rafay]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sarfaraz Ahmed "if we had played 2 or 3 practice matches in South Africa before the Test series the position would have been different" <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SAvPAK?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SAvPAK</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1081850126740668418?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

So now they've played 1 practice games and 2 international. Let's see what excuse Sarfraz will come up after the 3rd test

 

[Mamoon]

You can play 20 practice games. When you are not good enough, you are not good enough.

 

[Prince of Pakistan]

You can play 20 practice games. When you are not good enough, you are not good enough.

Don't think he has the guts to say this in public. It would be the first step and might force some people in the PCB to wake up.

 

[The Viper]

Playing more practice games did work in England but doubt it would have made much of a difference here.

 

[MMHS]

Fakhar needs to open in SA

[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION]

You know, I have seen lot - it’s tough to catch me on click bait

Test cricket is tough, opening is tougher & for a hack like Fakhar opening in SAF is toughest job.

 

[babajee]

You know, I have seen lot - it’s tough to catch me on click bait

Test cricket is tough, opening is tougher & for a hack like Fakhar opening in SAF is toughest job.

Wait for next SA tour.

 

[Saj]

So now they've played 1 practice games and 2 international. Let's see what excuse Sarfraz will come up after the 3rd test

Maybe, we needed 4 or 5 warm-up matches

 

[Junaids]

Maybe, we needed 4 or 5 warm-up matches

There were ways to do this.

The simplest way would have been to host the New Zealand Tests in South Africa, at secondary centres like East London, Potchefstroom and Bloemfontein. It would have been much cheaper than 4 extra weeks in the UAE.

The second option would have been to play the New Zealand 20 and 50 overs series in the UAE AFTER the Test series.

That way the Test team would have finished in the UAE by around 20 November, and could have flown ahead to Mickey's hometown of East London in South Africa and practiced for a month at a school or even in a park like they did in England.

People tend not to understand that labour in South Africa is incredibly cheap and ensures that hotels, transport and even TV production costs are really low.

Consider this as a preparation regime:

Tuesday 19 November: End of Third Third Test v NZ at Abu Dhabi.

19-30 November: Limited overs matches v NZ in UAE for the non-Test players

Friday 22 November: Test team flies with Mickey Arthur to South Africa along with 10 handpicked Pakistan A and Pakistan Under-19 players.

Thursday 28 November to Monday 2 December: Pakistan v Pakistan A at East London (Mickey's home town)

Thursday 5 December to Sunday 8 December: First Test v Zimbabwe at Bulawayo

Friday 13 December to Monday 16 December: Second Test v Zimbabwe at Harare

Thursday 19 to Saturday 21 December: same side match that really happened.

This extended tour would have been cheap, dirt cheap. Thirteen twin rooms in the best hotel in East London and Zimbabwe for an extra 15 nights would cost $20,000, even with food and transport you'd have change from $40,000.

Whereas to host a team in the UAE, the PCB budgets $10,000 PER DAY.

So for the cost of 4 days less in the UAE, the PCB could have had an extra fortnight in Southern Africa including two Tests in Zimbabwe.

The Ireland Test was the perfect way to prepare for England. They only needed to follow their own masterplan.

 

[gazza619]

There were ways to do this.

The simplest way would have been to host the New Zealand Tests in South Africa, at secondary centres like East London, Potchefstroom and Bloemfontein. It would have been much cheaper than 4 extra weeks in the UAE.

The second option would have been to play the New Zealand 20 and 50 overs series in the UAE AFTER the Test series.

That way the Test team would have finished in the UAE by around 20 November, and could have flown ahead to Mickey's hometown of East London in South Africa and practiced for a month at a school or even in a park like they did in England.

People tend not to understand that labour in South Africa is incredibly cheap and ensures that hotels, transport and even TV production costs are really low.

Consider this as a preparation regime:

Tuesday 19 November: End of Third Third Test v NZ at Abu Dhabi.

19-30 November: Limited overs matches v NZ in UAE for the non-Test players

Friday 22 November: Test team flies with Mickey Arthur to South Africa along with 10 handpicked Pakistan A and Pakistan Under-19 players.

Thursday 28 November to Monday 2 December: Pakistan v Pakistan A at East London (Mickey's home town)

Thursday 5 December to Sunday 8 December: First Test v Zimbabwe at Bulawayo

Friday 13 December to Monday 16 December: Second Test v Zimbabwe at Harare

Thursday 19 to Saturday 21 December: same side match that really happened.

This extended tour would have been cheap, dirt cheap. Thirteen twin rooms in the best hotel in East London and Zimbabwe for an extra 15 nights would cost $20,000, even with food and transport you'd have change from $40,000.

Whereas to host a team in the UAE, the PCB budgets $10,000 PER DAY.

So for the cost of 4 days less in the UAE, the PCB could have had an extra fortnight in Southern Africa including two Tests in Zimbabwe.

The Ireland Test was the perfect way to prepare for England. They only needed to follow their own masterplan.

Genuis! PCB needs to hire a mind like yours.

 

[Junaids]

Genuis! PCB needs to hire a mind like yours.

Imagine if Pakistan had picked a squad suitable for southern Africa and done my itinerary.

Openers: Azhar Ali, Shan Masood, Sami Aslam

Middle order: Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Rizwan

Wicketkeeper: Sarfraz Ahmed

All-rounders: Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan

Spinner: Yasir Shah

Quicks: Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali, Ehsan Adil, Wahab Riaz

The back-up players could have played the Second Test in Zimbabwe so that we could see whether Sami Aslam, Umar Akmal, Faheem Ashraf and Ehsan Adil were ready if required now in South Africa.

Instead Inzamam has left a threadbare squad, half of whom are rusty.

 

[gazza619]

Imagine if Pakistan had picked a squad suitable for southern Africa and done my itinerary.

Openers: Azhar Ali, Shan Masood, Sami Aslam

Middle order: Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Rizwan

Wicketkeeper: Sarfraz Ahmed

All-rounders: Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan

Spinner: Yasir Shah

Quicks: Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali, Ehsan Adil, Wahab Riaz

The back-up players could have played the Second Test in Zimbabwe so that we could see whether Sami Aslam, Umar Akmal, Faheem Ashraf and Ehsan Adil were ready if required now in South Africa.

Instead Inzamam has left a threadbare squad, half of whom are rusty.

Yeah that looks like the perfect squad tbh.

I would have only made one change and picked Raza Hasan instead of Shadab Khan. I think Raza’s bowling and batting abilities are arguably better than Shadab’s. Plus we had a leggie in Yasir anyways. Dont need two.

 

[SportsWarrior]

There were ways to do this.

The simplest way would have been to host the New Zealand Tests in South Africa, at secondary centres like East London, Potchefstroom and Bloemfontein. It would have been much cheaper than 4 extra weeks in the UAE.

The second option would have been to play the New Zealand 20 and 50 overs series in the UAE AFTER the Test series.

That way the Test team would have finished in the UAE by around 20 November, and could have flown ahead to Mickey's hometown of East London in South Africa and practiced for a month at a school or even in a park like they did in England.

People tend not to understand that labour in South Africa is incredibly cheap and ensures that hotels, transport and even TV production costs are really low.

Consider this as a preparation regime:

Tuesday 19 November: End of Third Third Test v NZ at Abu Dhabi.

19-30 November: Limited overs matches v NZ in UAE for the non-Test players

Friday 22 November: Test team flies with Mickey Arthur to South Africa along with 10 handpicked Pakistan A and Pakistan Under-19 players.

Thursday 28 November to Monday 2 December: Pakistan v Pakistan A at East London (Mickey's home town)

Thursday 5 December to Sunday 8 December: First Test v Zimbabwe at Bulawayo

Friday 13 December to Monday 16 December: Second Test v Zimbabwe at Harare

Thursday 19 to Saturday 21 December: same side match that really happened.

This extended tour would have been cheap, dirt cheap. Thirteen twin rooms in the best hotel in East London and Zimbabwe for an extra 15 nights would cost $20,000, even with food and transport you'd have change from $40,000.

Whereas to host a team in the UAE, the PCB budgets $10,000 PER DAY.

So for the cost of 4 days less in the UAE, the PCB could have had an extra fortnight in Southern Africa including two Tests in Zimbabwe.

The Ireland Test was the perfect way to prepare for England. They only needed to follow their own masterplan.

NZ would have whitewashed Pak if they had played in SA. NZ bowling will match Pak and batting will be much better than that of Pak's. Yasir also would have been a non factor and wouldn't have won that one customary game for them

 

[PakLFC]

I feel no thought or planning was put in to this tour. After the NZ defeat we just went to RSA like zombies with a "jo hoga dekha jayega" attitude. We got exactly what we deserved with this third rate team of ours. Leave out the if's, but's and imagines.

 

[Junaids]

NZ would have whitewashed Pak if they had played in SA. NZ bowling will match Pak and batting will be much better than that of Pak's. Yasir also would have been a non factor and wouldn't have won that one customary game for them

But they lost to New Zealand anyway, in front of tiny crowds.

I'd rather have done that in South Africa, against the lesser pace of Boult, Southee and Wagner, and learned that Fakhar Zaman and Yasir Shah were not going to perform against South Africa in the big series.

 

[SportsWarrior]

More practice games always helps.. Look at how many practice games teams used to play couple of decades back. i understand it is difficult to play that many in this age for a country like India which is busy all year around. But for Pak who generally have between tours they need to play more. It was ridiculous that India played none in SA.. i can't believe our team management can be so dumb

 

[SportsWarrior]

But they lost to New Zealand anyway, in front of tiny crowds.

I'd rather have done that in South Africa, against the lesser pace of Boult, Southee and Wagner, and learned that Fakhar Zaman and Yasir Shah were not going to perform against South Africa in the big series.

Hindsight is 20/20. they lost but were not expected to. Probability of winning against NZ at UAE is very high and probability of winning against SA in SA is quite low. no one will give up an higher probability reward to chase an ridiculously lower probability reward. Pak has to win all their home matches convincingly first and they have better chances of doing that at UAE against NZ than at SA. If Pak were playing against, SL, BD or Zim your logic holds up. Even ZIm is a risky proposition as they have bowlers who can exploit SA tracks although Pak should be them

 

[Hasan123]

Imagine if Pakistan had picked a squad suitable for southern Africa and done my itinerary.

Openers: Azhar Ali, Shan Masood, Sami Aslam

Middle order: Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Rizwan

Wicketkeeper: Sarfraz Ahmed

All-rounders: Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan

Spinner: Yasir Shah

Quicks: Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali, Ehsan Adil, Wahab Riaz

The back-up players could have played the Second Test in Zimbabwe so that we could see whether Sami Aslam, Umar Akmal, Faheem Ashraf and Ehsan Adil were ready if required now in South Africa.

Instead Inzamam has left a threadbare squad, half of whom are rusty.

You would not have selected Shan before the squad was announced. Stop lying.

 

[Savak]

I feel no thought or planning was put in to this tour. After the NZ defeat we just went to RSA like zombies with a "jo hoga dekha jayega" attitude. We got exactly what we deserved with this third rate team of ours. Leave out the if's, but's and imagines.

The players could argue that with the FTP the way that it is, it is hard to come to Australia and SA one month in advance. I wish the Pakistani players especially the test players would take it upon themselves to opt out of any useless ODI, T-20 series or a UAE test series before the tour giving the bench players a go instead while the players personally head to SA and try their best to acclimitize as much as possible with a month's headstart.

 

[Savak]

More practice games always helps.. Look at how many practice games teams used to play couple of decades back. i understand it is difficult to play that many in this age for a country like India which is busy all year around. But for Pak who generally have between tours they need to play more. It was ridiculous that India played none in SA.. i can't believe our team management can be so dumb

More than practice games, it is the quality of preparation and practice each individual does. Pujara in his interviews had already mentioned he had planned for the tour of Australia for months planning on the line of attack the likes of Starc, Hazelwood, Cummins, Lyon would bowl, which shots he could reasonably play, which he would need to avoid, practicing for the pace and bounce and practicing in the nets for hours and hours.

The amount of hours you put in the nets is how you condition your mind to long batting. Look at Shan Masood, practicing with a private batting coach in England for 3-4 hours a day and what it has done to his batting now. If the likes of Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal had put this amount of hard work and effort into becoming the best versions of themselves, they would not find themselves out of the team.

 

[Markhor]

The players could argue that with the FTP the way that it is, it is hard to come to Australia and SA one month in advance. I wish the Pakistani players especially the test players would take it upon themselves to opt out of any useless ODI, T-20 series or a UAE test series before the tour giving the bench players a go instead while the players personally head to SA and try their best to acclimitize as much as possible with a month's headstart.

What was the point of 3 T20Is against BOTH Australia and New Zealand ? Chop them down to one, play two Tests against New Zealand instead of three (could've at least escaped with face saving 1-1) and you've saved yourselves some days to fit in another practice match in South Africa.

Not surprising our best batting performance has come after five innings on tour.

 

[Saj]

Regarding the matter of preparation:

Pakistan's last 'A' tour of South Africa was in 2003. I mean, what is going on, 16 years ago !

Why haven't they sent 'A' teams to South Africa for 16 years. This is just pathetic of the PCB.

 

[Junaids]

You would not have selected Shan before the squad was announced. Stop lying.

I’ve admitted that I was wrong about him. And that I’m delighted to have been proved wrong!

 

[Hasan123]

I’ve admitted that I was wrong about him. And that I’m delighted to have been proved wrong!

I feel the same way. But don't include him in squad you would have sent to SA before he came good.

 

[Savak]

Regarding the matter of preparation:

Pakistan's last 'A' tour of South Africa was in 2003. I mean, what is going on, 16 years ago !

Why haven't they sent 'A' teams to South Africa for 16 years. This is just pathetic of the PCB.

These tours were all cancelled under Ijaz Butt onwards as they were viewed as heavy out of pocket expenditures which gave the PCB nothing in return and to be fair, the financial health of the PCB at the time was not very healthy either.

But surely now with the PSL, the PCB can now make the investments necessary.

 

[Savak]

What was the point of 3 T20Is against BOTH Australia and New Zealand ? Chop them down to one, play two Tests against New Zealand instead of three (could've at least escaped with face saving 1-1) and you've saved yourselves some days to fit in another practice match in South Africa.

Not surprising our best batting performance has come after five innings on tour.

India and the Big 5 plays their bench and fringe players in these T-20 games especially bilateral T-20 games, but Pakistan for some reason plays its best eleven against Minnows and in these T-20 leagues.