South Africa defeat Pakistan by seven wickets in 5th ODI to seal 3-2 series win

[jagatk]

Pakistan need to rethink there strategy before WC , they need to look at India , and use two specialist spinners in middle order

The 2 spinners also need to be good, we did it with ashwin and jaddu before trying kulcha look how that went.

 

[Faisalabadimunda]

Quite a surrender to be honest, was expecting better fight. By no means 240 should be such walk in the park at Newlands under light.

Agree. Really dissapointed

 

[Pakhs]

The 2 spinners also need to be good, we did it with ashwin and jaddu before trying kulcha look how that went.

Yes the two spinners have to be good but to begin with minimum they should be specialists and not all rounders. But then again India are able to carry such a long tail because of their star studded top order.

 

[Chokli]

Quite a surrender to be honest, was expecting better fight. By no means 240 should be such walk in the park at Newlands under light.

the difference was imam, if he had scored runs and kept one end from falling... they would have been able to score a better total.

imam fails and they fall like dominos.

lol at shadab at 7 19(42).

i think i mentioned to you imad would be much better at 7

 

[Visaal-E-Yaar]

Pakistan need to rethink there strategy before WC , they need to look at India , and use two specialist spinners in middle order

And who can bat well. Cant afford 2 full time spinners. Need good all-rounders.

 

[Pakhs]

Anyway this game is up time to go home

 

[HGhazanfar]

Do you think Imam making a century off 120/130 balls would have been sufficient - it was more about not scoring 30 more runs between overs 20-40 and loosing too many wickets so the charge in the final 10 overs fell 20 runs short. Why do you live in the past where you think an anchor innings is the solution. Look at the top teams - they play their shots from the start (England, India) - you just have to be smart and be able to rotate the strike and not eat up dots and hit a boundary every other over. If there are weaker bowlers in between you can go for a couple 20 run overs and completely push the pressure on the bowlers

 

[Visaal-E-Yaar]

Need 3 quick wickets here

 

[Chokli]

Anyway this game is up time to go home

you were correct about rizwan btw.

looked good in the pakistan A matches but looked quite poor here.... thought he would have worked on his game

not sure what the issue is, looked all at sea.

 

[Visaal-E-Yaar]

Give an over to fakhar

 

[Chokli]

Do you think Imam making a century off 120/130 balls would have been sufficient - it was more about not scoring 30 more runs between overs 20-40 and loosing too many wickets so the charge in the final 10 overs fell 20 runs short. Why do you live in the past where you think an anchor innings is the solution. Look at the top teams - they play their shots from the start (England, India) - you just have to be smart and be able to rotate the strike and not eat up dots and hit a boundary every other over. If there are weaker bowlers in between you can go for a couple 20 run overs and completely push the pressure on the bowlers

an anchor is exactly what you needed today.

stop looking at india and england, we don't have good enough players like them.

need to make the best of what we have

 

[Rayyman]

Poor bowling performance. Credit to SA, they outplayed us here in their home conditions, but I'm impressed that Pakistan came back from 5-0 in NZ to make it 3-2 in SA. It may be disappointing atm, but the next ODI series is in just a month from now. Hoping Pakistan can win that series iA.

 

[Plumb]

keeping Shadab on for his 10th over great captaincy... haven't brought back shaheen nice going captain

 

[topspin]

you didn't expose anything, you did a poor job at defending umar akmal as our best batsman and match winner.

and look what happened, imam left early and you barely touched 250 let alone 350... tryna blame him for not getting more runs when he's the only reason you were posting good totals to begin with

asif ali at 6 is not the solution.

although i think umar can be better at 4 than hafeez.

Umar Akmal is no longer the best batsman but if he proves form in the PSL and fitness, he would be an ideal replacement for Malik in the team and bat at 4 instead of Hafeez (who can come in at 5).

Imam bottled it today, today was the day where he could afford to score a ton at 85-90 SR. 3rd ODI was a 340+ pitch.

My view on Asif Ali is neutral because he was dropped prematurely when he was always going to struggle on slow pitches against spin. But he is a gifted striker against pace who bats better when there’s more pace on offer from the surface. At present he doesn’t warrant a place in the XI but if he was persisted, so he could develop his ability to rotate strike and thus build an innings he would have been more or less the finisher we’ve been crying out for. I don’t see any other better hitting options and the problem with this batting unit is the sheer abundance of accumulators.

 

[Visaal-E-Yaar]

Shaba shaba, swing kar yaar

 

[HGhazanfar]

No improvement in bowling either - I start to question Azhar Mahmood, I have never seen Shadab bowl a perfect length in any of his matches thus far.

If its not the coaches then we must get rid of players that dont show an attitude or execution to learn. They can continue to play domestic T20 leagues and stay happy. Never going to become big players.

 

[Pakhs]

you were correct about rizwan btw.

looked good in the pakistan A matches but looked quite poor here.... thought he would have worked on his game

not sure what the issue is, looked all at sea.

He doesnt have a technique I saw that the first time. Please remember international bowlers are different class and to score any runs consistently against them you need a technique. His technique is just like Amir. Coming down the wicket consistently is not an option that will ever work against quicker and taller international bowlers only baz was able to do it with some success but usually your head position moves and it becomes a huge risky shot. Even Imam cant do it how will he do it?

 

[MMHS]

the difference was imam, if he had scored runs and kept one end from falling... they would have been able to score a better total.

imam fails and they fall like dominos.

lol at shadab at 7 19(42).

i think i mentioned to you imad would be much better at 7

Imam isn't the solution, neither difference. Today, PAK had excellent platform at 108/2 or so at 5+... then 4-5-6, made like 60 of 110; had Imam been there (Or Sarfraz instead of Rizwan), that 108/2 would have been 78/2 and 240 ending at 210. What PAK is missing is Umar Akmal at 5, unpopular comment, but he is the only solution, but obviously he has to be fit & focused. These Imam, MoHa, Malik, Haris, Sarfraz ... are just number cruncher - there is only one batsman Babar, and I give BoD to Fakhar - at least if the guy plays 50 balls, he'll get a 50, and if he can play 100 balls, he'll often win the game.

Some of the PAK posters here should look back their posts in last 3 days and it was poetic justice for boasting this Batting & Bowling line up among top 4 in world ..... more importantly that middle order

 

[HGhazanfar]

Wasnt your typical bowling friendly pitch - that being said we need bowlers who can create wickets rather than rely on the batsmen gifting wickets by playing shots

 

[Haripotter]

Shadab being treated like a part timer

 

[Visaal-E-Yaar]

No improvement in bowling either - I start to question Azhar Mahmood, I have never seen Shadab bowl a perfect length in any of his matches thus far.

If its not the coaches then we must get rid of players that dont show an attitude or execution to learn. They can continue to play domestic T20 leagues and stay happy. Never going to become big players.

We had this discussion on PP before like 76257 times. 19 WC is months away now and we didnt finalize team yet. Still looking for changes. Simply we have no plan for WC so far.

 

[HGhazanfar]

I agree Umar Akmal, Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam play their shots and appear to play the modern game these other batsmen will just try to accumulate runs for their own stats and saving their own spots.

Also, it may be that these three are very talented and have the ability to create shots and not rely on bowlers to bowl full or short (waste high)

 

[Green Patriot]

How can Shadab be smiling rn?

Don't they feel any sort of guilt or dejection at such below par performances.
As a fan i feel miserable,they should atleast pretend to be downcast,such cheery smiles are hard to digest

 

[babajee]

Imam isn't the solution, neither difference. Today, PAK had excellent platform at 108/2 or so at 5+... then 4-5-6, made like 60 of 110; had Imam been there (Or Sarfraz instead of Rizwan), that 108/2 would have been 78/2 and 240 ending at 210. What PAK is missing is Umar Akmal at 5, unpopular comment, but he is the only solution, but obviously he has to be fit & focused. These Imam, MoHa, Malik, Haris, Sarfraz ... are just number cruncher - there is only one batsman Babar, and I give BoD to Fakhar - at least if the guy plays 50 balls, he'll get a 50, and if he can play 100 balls, he'll often win the game.

Some of the PAK posters here should look back their posts in last 3 days and it was poetic justice for boasting this Batting & Bowling line up among top 4 in world ..... more importantly that middle order

So Umar at 5 will sort our middle order woes?

 

[Ummii]

How can Shadab be smiling rn?

Don't they feel any sort of guilt or dejection at such below par performances.
As a fan i feel miserable,they should atleast pretend to be downcast,such cheery smiles are hard to digest

begairti hai

 

[Visaal-E-Yaar]

I agree Umar Akmal, Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam play their shots and appear to play the modern game these other batsmen will just try to accumulate runs for their own stats and saving their own spots.

Also, it may be that these three are very talented and have the ability to create shots and not rely on bowlers to bowl full or short (waste high)

I have never saw hafeez playing selfish.

 

[dravidthewall]

Please take hatric

 

[MMHS]

For me, Rv Dussen is MoS - his best 2 efforts gone unnoticed, one for Amla special and one for Andile's game of life; but guy has been rock solid, scored vital runs and has been cool under pressure. Brilliant Test No. 3 in prospect and he should have been in Test series long back.

 

[rhony]

Do you think Imam making a century off 120/130 balls would have been sufficient - it was more about not scoring 30 more runs between overs 20-40 and loosing too many wickets so the charge in the final 10 overs fell 20 runs short. Why do you live in the past where you think an anchor innings is the solution. Look at the top teams - they play their shots from the start (England, India) - you just have to be smart and be able to rotate the strike and not eat up dots and hit a boundary every other over. If there are weaker bowlers in between you can go for a couple 20 run overs and completely push the pressure on the bowlers

Two things are very important. Always score atleast a par score. Take wickets with the new ball. Taht;s where the issues are.

 

[Visaal-E-Yaar]

Please take hatric

Yes take double hattrick plz

 

[rhony]

For me, Rv Dussen is MoS - his best 2 efforts gone unnoticed, one for Amla special and one for Andile's game of life; but guy has been rock solid, scored vital runs and has been cool under pressure. Brilliant Test No. 3 in prospect and he should have been in Test series long back.

Absolutely agree. Very calm and is playing as if he played 150 ODIs already. He was the difference

 

[MMHS]

So Umar at 5 will sort our middle order woes?

You have to take a chance - might work, might not; but these 3 at 4-6 are certain to fail in WC. None of them were ever world class, neither can play under pressure and very much single dimensional/predictable.

 

[Tracer Bullet]

Rv dussen dhoni

 

[Visaal-E-Yaar]

Dussen finished in style

 

[jnaveen1980]

Thumped with 60 balls to spare. 3 fifties.

 

[abhay]

this is what is called bossing

 

[jnaveen1980]

Rv dussen dhoni

Just that he finished 10 overs earlier lol

 

[Green Patriot]

Dussen seems a good find.

 

[jnaveen1980]

South Africa's perennial problem is inability to get going against spinners in the middle overs. They have found a gem in van dessen.

 

[babajee]

You have to take a chance - might work, might not; but these 3 at 4-6 are certain to fail in WC. None of them were ever world class, neither can play under pressure and very much single dimensional/predictable.

Hafeez still has some utility I feel coming in after the 25th over.

 

[jnaveen1980]

This match completely exposed Pakistan's middle order.

 

[Destroyer88]

Rubbish absolutely rubbish. A team of mental midgets being coached by mindless stupidly aggresive coach, a captain who has nothing but expletives to say to his own players. Dissappointing.

 

[WengerOut]

This match completely exposed Pakistan's middle order.

If that is the case, they are lucky. India, well....

 

[dravidthewall]

Shahdab 10 overs 78 no wicket

 

[MMHS]

Hafeez still has some utility I feel coming in after the 25th over.

May be one of the 3 can stay, and Hafeez probably at better shape now; but other 2 are specialist Captains. Ideally, both should be out of the squad, Shan/Imam-Babar opening, FZ at 3, Hafeez at 4 (though I still think Maqsood should have been invested more), Umar at 5, and if Sarfraz has to Captain, he'll keep and bat at 6. No point, playing Shan and make him bat at 6.

 

[HGhazanfar]

We continue to shoot ourselves in the leg. This is all coaching and continuing to persist with players that neither improve, offer something with the bat or bowl. What is the point of playing a team of fielders that are told to focus on fitness. Poor selection and planning.

 

[x_KINGKHAN_x]

Since when did Pakistani bowling become so toothless

 

[Abdullah]

Is Van Der dussen some clutch geezer or what??!!

 

[MenInG]

CRICKET SOUTH AFRICA (CSA) today congratulated the Standard Bank Proteas on winning the Momentum ODI Series against Pakistan. They clinched the five-match series 3-2 today when they won the series decider by 7 wickets at PPC Newlands in Cape Town today.

“Congratulations to our Proteas on their fourth successive ODI series win, following their previous successes away to Sri Lanka and Australia and at home to Zimbabwe,” commented CSA Chief Executive Thabang Moroe.

“This result against a team who are the current ICC Champions Trophy holders is a significant achievement and bodes extremely well for the ICC Men’s World Cup in England later this year.

“It shows that our vision 2019 concept is well on track and it is pleasing to see the depth of talent that is coming to the fore in all departments.

“It has been particularly encouraging to see the way that newcomers such as Reeza Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen have come through the system in the past few months.

“We now look forward to the upcoming series against Sri Lanka with very healthy competition emerging for places in our World Cup squad,” concluded Mr. Moroe.

CSA Media Release

 

[jnaveen1980]

They must include Hasan Ali in each and every match.

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pakistan 108/2 after 20.3 overs<br>Pakistan 240/8 after 50 overs<br><br>In the last 29.3 overs they only scored 132/6<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/1090675202139267077?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[jnaveen1980]

I really backed Amir. Looks like he has regressed as a bowler. May be in swinging conditions he can do something.

 

[HGhazanfar]

I have played with and see better batsmen on local grounds that can hold a bat better than Imad, Faheem, Shadab and Sarfraz. Your team relies on 3 international level batters Babar, Fakhar (inconsistently), Imam (for his selfish runs), Hafeez, the other international bat in Malik hasn't performed in ages. How do you expect to win.

Bowlers - keep selecting Amir as if the hope is he will give you that one match winning spell that comes every 2 years. Why can't we just try a new younger bowler with potential - trust me theres many. Shaheem was thrown in and he looks better than all the other seasoned bowlers.

 

[Darkness]

So frustrating to follow Pakistan cricket.... We certainly looked better side in most matches

 

[HGhazanfar]

*** does Imam mean by "I was in good nick in Asia Cup and in Newzealand" Before this series you haven't done much.

 

[BDfanforever]

Relax man. It's just a game. 5th game was a dud but the others were very close. Pak youngsters can hold their heads high. Malik should just leave. He cost Pak 2 games. the third one and this

Pak is currently 3W and 6L against top sides in last 9 games. However, it is sufficient to be Bossing RSA, firm favorites for WC, and bashing lesser teams like BD for consolation.

 

[Etherealistic]

Not surprising. This Pak team cannot play under pressure.

 

[Saj]

THE Standard Bank Proteas produced by far their most complete performance of the entire series as they cruised to a seven-wicket victory with 10 overs to spare in the final Momentum ODI against Pakistan at PPC Newlands this evening.

The result gave them an overall 3-2 series victory over the ICC Champions Trophy holders and was their fourth series win in a row following their recent successes against Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Australia.

Appropriately, this was the Proteas 50th victory over Pakistan in the ODI format.

The victory was also significant as far as the ICC Men’s World Cup prospects are concerned as the Proteas made significant changes both to their playing XI and to the tactics on the day. They played all three batting all-rounders – Wiaan Mulder, Dwaine Pretorius and Andile Phehlukwayo – in their squad in an attempt to shorten their suspect lower order although as things turned out none of them was needed in that discipline.

It meant that David Miller, of their established top six, had to sit the game out.

What it did do, however, was to give the Proteas a six-man attack for the first time in the series and with it the flexibility that enabled Faf du Plessis to vary his tactics effectively. He opened the bowling with Imran Tahir and used his frontline attackers extensively in the first half of the Pakistan innings with Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada both bowling 7 overs out of the first 26.

The all-rounders also played their part, sharing five wickets between them with Phehlukwayo going past the milestone of 50 dismissals in the process.

Pakistan had the same batting problem that has plagued them for most of their tour with wickets falling at regular intervals and only one partnership being posted in excess of 50 runs.

Fakhar Zaman, benefiting from a life on 20, made his team’s top score of 70 (73 balls, 10 fours).

The Pakistan total of 240 looked on the light side and so it proved to be as the Proteas batted solidly throughout their top order, sparked by Quinton de Kock’s first significant knock of the series (83 off 58 balls, 11 fours and 3 sixes). Like Fakhar, he had his stroke of luck when he was caught in the covers on 12, only to be reprieved by a no ball referral.

He and Hashim Amla put on 39 for the first wicket and they were followed by stands of 61, 46 and finally an unbroken 95 between Du Plessis and Rassie van der Dussen. Both batsmen reached their half-centuries with Van der Dussen finishing as South Africa’s leading runs scorer in a magnificent debut series.

The Proteas will also take a lot of encouragement out of the fact that they played the Pakistan spinners effectively and with confidence – another important pointer looking ahead to the World Cup.

De Kock was named Momentum Man of the match and Imam-ul-Haq the Momentum Man of the Series for being the leading runs scorer.

 

[Mahee]

did not expect pakistan to win even a single match ...but they won two matches....great effort from pakistan

 

[hadi123]

So disappointed with this result. I felt we had a really good chance to win this series.

Oh well, still some positives to take from this series.

 

[Savak]

Umar Akmal has been out of the side for way too long. For a team lacking firepower his non stop exclusion in the last 4 years is frankly extremely criminal now

 

[Jabo]

Pathetic

240 was never enough

 

[Mueez]

Umar Akmal has been out of the side for way too long. For a team lacking firepower his non stop exclusion in the last 4 years is frankly extremely criminal now

I don’t see him making a comeback under Mickey Arthur after his false accusations against Mickey

 

[topspin]

Imam isn't the solution, neither difference. Today, PAK had excellent platform at 108/2 or so at 5+... then 4-5-6, made like 60 of 110; had Imam been there (Or Sarfraz instead of Rizwan), that 108/2 would have been 78/2 and 240 ending at 210. What PAK is missing is Umar Akmal at 5, unpopular comment, but he is the only solution, but obviously he has to be fit & focused. These Imam, MoHa, Malik, Haris, Sarfraz ... are just number cruncher - there is only one batsman Babar, and I give BoD to Fakhar - at least if the guy plays 50 balls, he'll get a 50, and if he can play 100 balls, he'll often win the game.

Some of the PAK posters here should look back their posts in last 3 days and it was poetic justice for boasting this Batting & Bowling line up among top 4 in world ..... more importantly that middle order

This is exactly what I've tried to tell [MENTION=147429]Chokli[/MENTION] - in a less detailed version of course

 

[Napa]

Rubbish absolutely rubbish. A team of mental midgets being coached by mindless stupidly aggresive coach, a captain who has nothing but expletives to say to his own players. Dissappointing.

Malik was using expletives? That seems out of character for him.

 

[Napa]

India trashed this SA team 4-1 and Pakistan is going to lose 3-2. India is trashing a full strength NZ in NZ while Pakistan lost 5-0. Makes for very depressing reading and shows that the rankings of the respective teams don't lie. For far too long we have carried players who choke in crunch games, need to move on after the 2019 WC.

All this is true, but even as an Indian I have to tell you... in English conditions, with a motivated Amir bowling, the Indian top order can collapse along with the rest of the batting. Happened in Asia Cup (though India won that match) and happened in CT. I really don't have much faith in Rohit and Dhawan negotiating Amir in English conditions, hope I am proven wrong.

Fakhar scoring 40+ is also ominous for India if it means he has figured out his problems.

 

[Hbomb00]

Not surprising. This Pak team cannot play under pressure.

You can't defend a total of 240 when your day is off....

 

[Xoib]

All this is true, but even as an Indian I have to tell you... in English conditions, with a motivated Amir bowling, the Indian top order can collapse along with the rest of the batting. Happened in Asia Cup (though India won that match) and happened in CT. I really don't have much faith in Rohit and Dhawan negotiating Amir in English conditions, hope I am proven wrong.

Fakhar scoring 40+ is also ominous for India if it means he has figured out his problems.

Amir has major fitness issues which he is trying to hide or delay so he does not miss out on World CUp and PSL pay day.

No way can a bowler suddenly regress from 135-145 to 125-135 in a matter of of six months. He should go under the knife and come back fully fit this current Amir will not trouble namabia let alone India.

 

[Napa]

Amir has major fitness issues which he is trying to hide or delay so he does not miss out on World CUp and PSL pay day.

No way can a bowler suddenly regress from 135-145 to 125-135 in a matter of of six months. He should go under the knife and come back fully fit this current Amir will not trouble namabia let alone India.

I think a bit differently. I believe Amir is simply not motivated unless it is a very big game, like a WC game against India. He just doesn't care for the "smaller" games. Maybe it is his strategy to not wear out his body bowling in the "smaller" games.

I think Amir (followed by Fakhar and Azam) remain the best bet for Pakistan to finally win one against India in the WC.

 

[CadPakFan]

I knew the game was over after De Kock got out on a no-ball by Shinwari, you can't let him play such a horrible shot like that and get away with it.

 

[a_tahir]

I think a bit differently. I believe Amir is simply not motivated unless it is a very big game, like a WC game against India. He just doesn't care for the "smaller" games. Maybe it is his strategy to not wear out his body bowling in the "smaller" games.

I think Amir (followed by Fakhar and Azam) remain the best bet for Pakistan to finally win one against India in the WC.

So the Asia cup games against India weren't important?

 

[MenInG]

 

[Napa]

So the Asia cup games against India weren't important?

I think playing India is always important for Amir, but the conditions in UAE don't suit his bowling. English conditions are more suited, though he did get hammered by Indian batsmen in the group game of the CT.

 

[Chokli]

Imam isn't the solution, neither difference. Today, PAK had excellent platform at 108/2 or so at 5+... then 4-5-6, made like 60 of 110; had Imam been there (Or Sarfraz instead of Rizwan), that 108/2 would have been 78/2 and 240 ending at 210. What PAK is missing is Umar Akmal at 5, unpopular comment, but he is the only solution, but obviously he has to be fit & focused. These Imam, MoHa, Malik, Haris, Sarfraz ... are just number cruncher - there is only one batsman Babar, and I give BoD to Fakhar - at least if the guy plays 50 balls, he'll get a 50, and if he can play 100 balls, he'll often win the game.

Some of the PAK posters here should look back their posts in last 3 days and it was poetic justice for boasting this Batting & Bowling line up among top 4 in world ..... more importantly that middle order

Well when he is scoring Pakistan is winning matches and actually managed to score 300 for a change. With Imam we've actually been able to chase something more than 250, if Imam wasn't holding his end together then they would have collapsed as evident in the 2nd ODI and 5th ODI.

After Imam and Babar Pakistan doesn't have any batsman that can hold one end and keep the score ticking. The examples are there for you to see.

I don't know why you fail to understand the impact Imam has had in this series, there is a reason he won man of the series and someone like Van Der Dussen didn't (who also scored a sh!t ton of runs).

I don't remember Umar Akmal having as big of an impact that Imam has had so far. Umar played 116 ODIs and he was only impact in his first year or so.

Only in Pakistan would a player who is not in side became the solution when at one point he was a part of the problem. If he wasn't the solution then, how the hell is he going to be the solution NOW?

 

[Chokli]

Umar Akmal is no longer the best batsman but if he proves form in the PSL and fitness, he would be an ideal replacement for Malik in the team and bat at 4 instead of Hafeez (who can come in at 5).

Imam bottled it today, today was the day where he could afford to score a ton at 85-90 SR. 3rd ODI was a 340+ pitch.

My view on Asif Ali is neutral because he was dropped prematurely when he was always going to struggle on slow pitches against spin. But he is a gifted striker against pace who bats better when there’s more pace on offer from the surface. At present he doesn’t warrant a place in the XI but if he was persisted, so he could develop his ability to rotate strike and thus build an innings he would have been more or less the finisher we’ve been crying out for. I don’t see any other better hitting options and the problem with this batting unit is the sheer abundance of accumulators.

Lol come on mannnn, if you want me to admit he was our best batsman then fine I'll admit it BUT only from 2009 to the beginning of 2011. He was just as unreliable as the current middle order later on, one thing I might add is that he should have been given a consistent run at 3 or 4.

He played good knocks in the World T20s but nothing to consider him as the best Pakistani batsman.

Anyway, he got some odd 30s and 40s last year versus Australia but he gained a shi!t ton of weight and didn't look like his former self (obviously, age) but he needs to keep working on his fitness.

Well Imam can't score in every damn match, he ain't Bradman. But if he did get a start, I'm sure Pakistan would have reached a better total... I mean you saw what happened once Babar left, they fell like a pack of cards.

That's the same thing that would have happened in the 317 match. Imam isn't good enough to help you reach 350 alone, but without Imam Pak wouldn't even reach 260 odd... Sad but it's the truth... He's young though and he's already improved, I was expecting him to fail so Shan Masood could get a run but Imam impressed me.

I wouldn't say he was dropped prematuerly. He got a good run of games, consistent games, without getting dropped and all he could muster up was a 30 odd versus Australia in Zimbabwe. Hell even Hasan Ali and Imad Wasim have done a better job playing Asif Alis role than Asif Ali did.

That's the thing with Asif Ali, he needs pretty much everything going for him in order for him to get a score and when he does get that score he'll score big in 1 out of the 10 matches.

Do we really want to give Asif Ali a batsman's slot when he'll only come off once in a blue moon? He is a poor mans Shahid Afridi, that in and of it self should tell you something about Asif Ali. I'd put him in the Pakistan A side and see how he does there, Pakistan is just too weak of a batting line up to carry Asif Ali in the hope one day he'll finally come off. If he does come off it's not going to be in every match and we simply can't afford to have a walking wicket, at least when we had Afridi you knew what he was capable of and he had his bowling as well.

Better option would be to have batsman that can play at a strike rate of 100-110, Imad has done pretty decent so far which is a great plus.

 

[Cric_lover4487]

Pakistan team also needs their Kul-cha combo.

 

[MMHS]

Well when he is scoring Pakistan is winning matches and actually managed to score 300 for a change. With Imam we've actually been able to chase something more than 250, if Imam wasn't holding his end together then they would have collapsed as evident in the 2nd ODI and 5th ODI.

After Imam and Babar Pakistan doesn't have any batsman that can hold one end and keep the score ticking. The examples are there for you to see.

I don't know why you fail to understand the impact Imam has had in this series, there is a reason he won man of the series and someone like Van Der Dussen didn't (who also scored a sh!t ton of runs).

I don't remember Umar Akmal having as big of an impact that Imam has had so far. Umar played 116 ODIs and he was only impact in his first year or so.

Only in Pakistan would a player who is not in side became the solution when at one point he was a part of the problem. If he wasn't the solution then, how the hell is he going to be the solution NOW?

His MoS was undeserved - you don't give MoS from losing side, when there is a batsman instrumental in winning the series. SAF had been a great host and they honored a young cricketer.

Coming Imam, as I said he has time in his hand to prove me wrong, and he has the backing to be confident of not being dropped for whatever he does (otherwise after Test series, he shouldn't be in ODI team - now, this ODI series will be used as a reference to pick him in next Test series), so good luck to him - won't mind if he really makes it count after being picked with that sort of domestic records.

 

[Chokli]

His MoS was undeserved - you don't give MoS from losing side, when there is a batsman instrumental in winning the series. SAF had been a great host and they honored a young cricketer.

Coming Imam, as I said he has time in his hand to prove me wrong, and he has the backing to be confident of not being dropped for whatever he does (otherwise after Test series, he shouldn't be in ODI team - now, this ODI series will be used as a reference to pick him in next Test series), so good luck to him - won't mind if he really makes it count after being picked with that sort of domestic records.

Lol okay mate.