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Seriously, does the Pakistan think tank even understand cricket?

A

asifp

ODI Debutant
Joined
Nov 21, 2005
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I am honestly perplexed at who is making these off field decisions in Test cricket for Pakistan. it is beyond shocking.

For the Australia series, it was the first time I heard the home team make pitches to negate the strength of the opposition rather than play to your own strengths. The format to beat Australia was there from the 2014 and 2018 tours, yet we decided to create flat pattas at home and lose the series.

Now, coming to Sri Lanka it gets even better. Even casual cricket fans know that Sri Lanka is a spin heaven. You don't need more than 2 fast bowlers in the team, but need 2-3 genuine spinners and here we are playing 3 fast bowlers, one of whom we are not even bowling anymore.

We dropped Nauman and Sajid cause they failed on the flast pattas at home against Australia, so they can watch Aga Salman bowl 15 overs on these absolute spin paradise? How stupid. Both of them would have been a handful here.

We drop Fawad, the guy that make 160 plus on debut against Herath and is known to be excellent against spin. Sure he failed against Australia, but that was the genuine pace of Starc that got him. Sri Lanka does not have that.

We are losing games due to the really horrible thinking off the field. It feels like guys running the show are serious clowns who have no idea about critical thinking and analysis. Replace Aga with Fawad and drop a fat bowler for a genuine spinner and we are right in to win this march.
 
Pakistan are acting like they are a SENA team. Even their worst spinners are better than most spinners that those teams have. When they select one or two spinners in Galle: a freaking spinner's paradise, its because they have no one capable they can field.

Pakistan could have easily selected Nauman over Hasan or Naseem.

The Agha Salman selection is also an utterly deluded one. Especially considering that Fawad averages 97 against spin in test cricket.
 
Pakistan has this huge fascination of wanting to play a combination of 5 batsmen, Keeper, 1 AR and 4 bowlers (5 Bowlers in some case)

1) Playing just 5 Batsmen which includes a top 3 of tail enders Imam / Abdullah and Azhar is asking for trouble

2) The so call all rounder in team is not good enough to be batting at number 7

3) The 5 man bowling attack has no runs to play with due to weak batting and lack of runs on board. Also the 5th bowler is under used.

Pakistan needs to start picking 6 solid batsmen, from these the likes of Saud Shakeel or Kamran Ghulam ( can act as 5th bowler like hafeez use to in the UAE)

instead we have fake all rounders in bits and pieces players like Agha Salman playing.

Its Almost like hes been picked so if he fails fawad can comeback rather then picking a solid proper batsmen

poor captaincy and pathetic team selections here and same was case in 3rd test vs Aussies.
 
What can you expect when a fraud becomes a coach!!! This guy doen't know anything about coaching. took money from PCB for fixing Ajmal's action and did nothing. Bluffed teams like England, Bangladesh.... about spin..
Ramiz needs to be hold accountable for appoint him otherwise he needs to go as well along with M Wasim for selecting some useless players like Hasan, Azhar, Nauman, Sarfraz, Fawad.....
 
Shafi said:
What can you expect when a fraud becomes a coach!!! This guy doen't know anything about coaching. took money from PCB for fixing Ajmal's action and did nothing. Bluffed teams like England, Bangladesh.... about spin..
Ramiz needs to be hold accountable for appoint him otherwise he needs to go as well along with M Wasim for selecting some useless players like Hasan, Azhar, Nauman, Sarfraz, Fawad.....
Click to expand...

Is saqlain our permanent coach?
 
Faiz1978 said:
question is whats is basis of his selection , he has not bowled single over in second inning
Click to expand...

Whats the same basis for picking are top 3? unless its a road they dont score any runs.

Yes picking 3 seamers here was pointless.
 
Bhai even the most casual fans can see the blunder that was this team composition from miles away and many even here called it out before a ball was bowled, on this pitch Shaheen,. Hassan, yasir and Nawaz were more than enough and rest pack it with whatever batsman you have and compensate quality of batting with quantity, mean more batsman but no let's pick, Rizwan babar and nine tailenders, it's miracle of we somehow pull this heist but it would be despite this selection not due to. Such a clueless thick tank. Even fawad and saud would have as much Bowling impact as Naseem and agha had, and how we would have loved them as two extra batsman here. We alwys shoot our self on foot.
 
Sri Lanka are better than you think - especially after the drawn series vs Australia.
 
Takes new ball and then bowls Agha while Saheen sucks his thumb one can't be that dumb even if they tried
 
Shafi said:
What can you expect when a fraud becomes a coach!!! This guy doen't know anything about coaching. took money from PCB for fixing Ajmal's action and did nothing. Bluffed teams like England, Bangladesh.... about spin..
Ramiz needs to be hold accountable for appoint him otherwise he needs to go as well along with M Wasim for selecting some useless players like Hasan, Azhar, Nauman, Sarfraz, Fawad.....
Click to expand...

How is Hasan a useless player. He is arguably best test match bowler currently in PCT, almost better than Shaheen. His LOI cricket's performance is being mixed up with his Test bowling, and is criticised for that.
Since, his comeback last year, he has just 1 bad series against Aus, which was equally bad for all Pakistani bowlers
It seems you have some personal bias/agenda against Hasan. You are just criticising anything regarding Hasan.
 
Xoib said:
We are not a great side but the tactical and strategic blunders make a bad side look worse.
Click to expand...

We are close to minnow level zero wins in SENA on the the last tours drew against Windies away and lost to Australia at home minnow level results.

When you bring in every ex player as coach assistant coach or otherwise expect this picking the slowest batsmen you can find in domestic then selecting and discarding bowlers based on one bad series, not selecting attacking batsmen the list goes on Pakistan will remain a mediocre team for some time to come.
 
asifp said:
I am honestly perplexed at who is making these off field decisions in Test cricket for Pakistan. it is beyond shocking.

For the Australia series, it was the first time I heard the home team make pitches to negate the strength of the opposition rather than play to your own strengths. The format to beat Australia was there from the 2014 and 2018 tours, yet we decided to create flat pattas at home and lose the series.

Now, coming to Sri Lanka it gets even better. Even casual cricket fans know that Sri Lanka is a spin heaven. You don't need more than 2 fast bowlers in the team, but need 2-3 genuine spinners and here we are playing 3 fast bowlers, one of whom we are not even bowling anymore.

We dropped Nauman and Sajid cause they failed on the flast pattas at home against Australia, so they can watch Aga Salman bowl 15 overs on these absolute spin paradise? How stupid. Both of them would have been a handful here.

We drop Fawad, the guy that make 160 plus on debut against Herath and is known to be excellent against spin. Sure he failed against Australia, but that was the genuine pace of Starc that got him. Sri Lanka does not have that.

We are losing games due to the really horrible thinking off the field. It feels like guys running the show are serious clowns who have no idea about critical thinking and analysis. Replace Aga with Fawad and drop a fat bowler for a genuine spinner and we are right in to win this march.
Click to expand...

I completely agree with everything you have said. Its beyond a schoolboy error, its a massive tactical error and perhaps our think tank is non-existent.

In Sajid Khan we had a guy who picked up 8 wickets in an innings under closing circumstances to hand us a remarkable win in Bangladesh. Yes he had a horrid tour against Australia but wickets in that series were simply pathetic. In similar conditions that of Bangladesh the guy has now been dropped. This selection committee is a joke.

In Yasir Shah we have a guy who averages an economy >4 every innings and he is our lead spinner on this tour.

I don't like Fawad one bit but after you selected him and you don't play him against a spin heavy attack that just shows in poor game awareness from our think tank.

We are playing 3 seamers on a spinning wicket and our AR Nawaz is way more attacking than our frontline spinner Yasir Shah just shows how bad our overall thinking has been.
 
waheed_sofi said:
How is Hasan a useless player. He is arguably best test match bowler currently in PCT, almost better than Shaheen. His LOI cricket's performance is being mixed up with his Test bowling, and is criticised for that.
Since, his comeback last year, he has just 1 bad series against Aus, which was equally bad for all Pakistani bowlers
It seems you have some personal bias/agenda against Hasan. You are just criticising anything regarding Hasan.
Click to expand...

He isn't better than Shaheen. Australia series was tough but not 'equally' bad for all. Shaheen's 36 average was a lot better than Hasan's 96.

Against West Indies, Hasan again was underwhelming. While Shaheen had a whirlwind 18 wickets, he had 6.

He is good though, and should be in the test team for now.
 
I still don't understand the reason why we went with 3 seamers. Awful decision.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
OP missed the opportunity to deliver a much better headline.

All he had to do was replace 'understand cricket' with 'think'.
 
Sajid Khan is easily the best spinner in Pak.

yasir is dusted, but still in the team for no reason.

Don't understand why Ghulam was dropped because he could have done the same job as agha, but he is several times a better batsman.
 
Most of the times their selections or lineup don't make sense so this is pretty on par.

Remember the times when Pakistan played 3 pacers & 1 spinner in UAE. I am not sure what their obsession is with playing pace in conditions where spin decides who will be the winner.

It's also odd how they continue to delude themselves into thinking their batting lineup is better than it really is. How many times over the past 3 years or so have Pakistan even managed to get 300+ outside of home conditions? Yet they continue to keep going batsmen short or unwilling to give deserving ones a chance like Saud & Ghulam.

A bit annoying to keep seeing players debuted in foreign conditions instead of at home. If you want a player to succeed and keep his confidence, play him in conditions that he is familiar with so he can perform.
 
Not trying to turn this into an India-Pak thing. But India and Pakistan have tended to compare with each other over the years. Is it possible all the hype and talk about the new Indian pace bowlers is clouding the Pakistani thinktank. They belong to a previous era where Pakistan prided itself on its pace bowling resources. Maybe it's now an ego thing where they can't bear to imagine their team fielding a primarily spin attack while India goes with 3-4 pace bowlers on their overseas tours.
 
Don't worry. Pak can still win this match. This total can be chased. Pak have done it once on this pitch. Just stay positive and hope for the best
 
Nasty Naz said:
Most of the times their selections or lineup don't make sense so this is pretty on par.

Remember the times when Pakistan played 3 pacers & 1 spinner in UAE. I am not sure what their obsession is with playing pace in conditions where spin decides who will be the winner.

It's also odd how they continue to delude themselves into thinking their batting lineup is better than it really is. How many times over the past 3 years or so have Pakistan even managed to get 300+ outside of home conditions? Yet they continue to keep going batsmen short or unwilling to give deserving ones a chance like Saud & Ghulam.

A bit annoying to keep seeing players debuted in foreign conditions instead of at home. If you want a player to succeed and keep his confidence, play him in conditions that he is familiar with so he can perform.
Click to expand...

Looked it up and this is how it breaks down since 2019 on the road for Pakistan for 300+ scores:

1 vs Bangladesh (2 matches)
1 vs WI (2 matches)
0 vs NZ (2 matches)
1 vs England (3 matches)
2 vs Australia (2 matches)
0 vs SA (3 matches)

So only 5 times have Pakistan managed to cross 300 in 14 matches in the past 3+ years on the road (I am not including matches vs Zimbabwe). It's a very brittle lineup and until they fix that, they will continue to remain extremely inconsistent.
 
pillionrider said:
Not trying to turn this into an India-Pak thing. But India and Pakistan have tended to compare with each other over the years. Is it possible all the hype and talk about the new Indian pace bowlers is clouding the Pakistani thinktank. They belong to a previous era where Pakistan prided itself on its pace bowling resources. Maybe it's now an ego thing where they can't bear to imagine their team fielding a primarily spin attack while India goes with 3-4 pace bowlers on their overseas tours.
Click to expand...

And they blame pakistanis for cooking wild stories...

The only cricketer who created any obsession in Pakistan is Kohli. You can see many players within pakistan team who try to emulate him even his mannerisms. Tbf, he had his positive qualities.

The India pace hype is non existent in Pakistan.
We are busy hyping our own pace like always.
What you are trying to suggest here is wishful thinking at best.

Babar simply was put in doubt about his spinners because of the Australia series, pretty much everyone was tbf.
 
asifp said:
I am honestly perplexed at who is making these off field decisions in Test cricket for Pakistan. it is beyond shocking.

For the Australia series, it was the first time I heard the home team make pitches to negate the strength of the opposition rather than play to your own strengths. The format to beat Australia was there from the 2014 and 2018 tours, yet we decided to create flat pattas at home and lose the series.

Now, coming to Sri Lanka it gets even better. Even casual cricket fans know that Sri Lanka is a spin heaven. You don't need more than 2 fast bowlers in the team, but need 2-3 genuine spinners and here we are playing 3 fast bowlers, one of whom we are not even bowling anymore.

We dropped Nauman and Sajid cause they failed on the flast pattas at home against Australia, so they can watch Aga Salman bowl 15 overs on these absolute spin paradise? How stupid. Both of them would have been a handful here.

We drop Fawad, the guy that make 160 plus on debut against Herath and is known to be excellent against spin. Sure he failed against Australia, but that was the genuine pace of Starc that got him. Sri Lanka does not have that.

We are losing games due to the really horrible thinking off the field. It feels like guys running the show are serious clowns who have no idea about critical thinking and analysis. Replace Aga with Fawad and drop a fat bowler for a genuine spinner and we are right in to win this march.
Click to expand...

I have been sayign since the WC that Ramix Raja has failed at the most important task he had had, appointing a new coach. Our tactics were questionable against autralia, and if Babar was making those calls you need a better support structure around him. In Sri Lanka, our tactics were questionable from day 1, handing debut to a agha salman, going with nawaz and naseem, there is very little thinking going into decisions. Saqlain should not have carried on beyond the WC last yera, Ramiz Raja is more concerned about making videos and campy messages instead of focussing on his job.
 
pillionrider said:
Not trying to turn this into an India-Pak thing. But India and Pakistan have tended to compare with each other over the years. Is it possible all the hype and talk about the new Indian pace bowlers is clouding the Pakistani thinktank. They belong to a previous era where Pakistan prided itself on its pace bowling resources. Maybe it's now an ego thing where they can't bear to imagine their team fielding a primarily spin attack while India goes with 3-4 pace bowlers on their overseas tours.
Click to expand...

India has pool of real fast bowlers , they do rotate them smartly , Indian pace battery is excellent .
 
Nasty Naz said:
Looked it up and this is how it breaks down since 2019 on the road for Pakistan for 300+ scores:

1 vs Bangladesh (2 matches)
1 vs WI (2 matches)
0 vs NZ (2 matches)
1 vs England (3 matches)
2 vs Australia (2 matches)
0 vs SA (3 matches)

So only 5 times have Pakistan managed to cross 300 in 14 matches in the past 3+ years on the road (I am not including matches vs Zimbabwe). It's a very brittle lineup and until they fix that, they will continue to remain extremely inconsistent.
Click to expand...

I am sure India would be even worse. Pak has a solid top order. They can make a fight out of it and possibly win.
 
Former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad has a very simple solution for the Pakistan cricket team in order to resolve the middle-order issues that has been an area of concern for Babar Azam in the build up to the T20 World Cup 2022 scheduled to be played in Australia in October. Miandad believes that 2-3 innings is a good enough opportunity for any player to showcase his skills and if he doesn’t perform when the opportunity presents itself, then it is time to replace him.

“If I give a player 2-3 innings and he doesn’t perform, I will replace him,” Miandad was seen talking to reporters.

Playing for Pakistan is a big enough challenge and only the best players in the country should get the opportunity to represent the country, reckons the former Pakistan batting great.

“Aap Pakistan ke liye khel rahe ho. Ye meri ghar ki team nahi hai. Itni badi aawam hain, isme se saare aa sakte hain. Competition bohot hai. (You are playing for Pakistan. This is not my personal team. We have such a big population, and there’s a lot of competition),” said Miandad.

Talking about the mindset of the players, the 65-year-old said that some of these players need to understand that they will have to perform in every match, or else the team will not improve.

“These players have to realise that they have to perform in every match. If you don’t perform, your team will not improve,” the former Pakistan captain further added.

https://www.cricketcountry.com/news...-he-doesnt-perform-i-will-replace-him-1044524
 
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