Test series versus South Africa - What can Pakistan learn from Sri Lanka?

[Ali_Pakistan]

I look at this SL series win in a different way and also think that there is lot more for Pakistani selectors to learn from this SL side. SL has given chances to the new players to bring freshness in the team. And the confidence of the youngsters has done wonders for this SL side.
Pakistani selectors needs to learn from SL to get rid of mental midgets and low confidence players from the team. Guys like Asad and Azhar should go now and bring in some fresh top performers from the domestics in the national side. One should keep trying until they find the best combination.
Thoughts guys ?

 

[Abdullah]

Agree - they have done this without chandimal herath Matthews

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

Back the young talent!

The dropped Chandimal for this series.

 

[Ahmed216]

I look at this SL series win in a different way and also think that there is lot more for Pakistani selectors to learn from this SL side. SL has given chances to the new players to bring freshness in the team. And the confidence of the youngsters has done wonders for this SL side.
Pakistani selectors needs to learn from SL to get rid of mental midgets and low confidence players from the team. Guys like Asad and Azhar should go now and bring in some fresh top performers from the domestics in the national side. One should keep trying until they find the best combination.
Thoughts guys ?

Not happening in Pak

 

[Tyler Durden]

These are the names from the playing 11 during their recent SA test series!

Imam
Fakhar
Shan
Babar
Hasan Ali
Shaheen
Abbas

That makes it 7 new players out of 11. How many new players would you need? Even if you make an entire team with new players, the results are going to be the same! Pakistan is simply not good enough! That's the fact!

 

[Josh]

Remove Azhar, Shafique and sarfaraz and bring in new batters. Remove Amir and bring in young talent.

 

[AFM]

To not let Steve Rixon go.

He's part of the SL coaching staff. He was also there when we drew in England 2016, beat WI away and beat England in Lords in May.

 

[AFM]

But seriously just let oldies go. No Matthews, no Chandimal and no Herath.

Brilliant performance. They are about to achieve something that no Asian cricketer has. From Tendy and Akram to Murali and Sanga.

 

[Ali_Pakistan]

These are the names from the playing 11 during their recent SA test series!

Imam
Fakhar
Shan
Babar
Hasan Ali
Shaheen
Abbas

That makes it 7 new players out of 11. How many new players would you need? Even if you make an entire team with new players, the results are going to be the same! Pakistan is simply not good enough! That's the fact!

You know where the problem lies. What was the performance of seniors like Asad, Azhar and Sarfraz. Just keep giving youngsters chances and get rid of non performers from the team. To me that is the recipe for success.

 

[Shafi]

As if PCB really concern about that. PCB doesn't have any vision or plan for future. They more worry about bowlers but doesn't give a damn to find even 2 young batsmen and keep recycling same old garbage TTF over and over again.
Our test will be whitewashed by Sri Lanka easily.
What we need a strict coach like Hature. Micky is just a yes man so as Inzi.

 

[Usman Chadda]

Pakistan should learn to tough it out. I see too many softies in out current team. This Lanka team got man-handled by a weak Australian team, only to comfortably beat South Africa just now.

Kusal Perera was an inspiring factor.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Pakistan wont learn anything as they wont have the balls to drop sarfraz, azhar and shafiq. SL will beat pakistan again in UAE and the same TTFs will be sent to Australia.

 

[MRSN]

Pakistan wont learn anything as they wont have the balls to drop sarfraz, azhar and shafiq. SL will beat pakistan again in UAE and the same TTFs will be sent to Australia.

agreed. SL would not have won if they carried their old players playing for the sake of their past performances.

 

[Junaids]

PREPARE!

Pakistan arrived in South Africa from the UAE, played 1 First Class match and failed to adapt to the conditions - notably Olivier's unsubtle short-pitched attack.

Sri Lanka played 2 Tests in New Zealand and then 2 more in identical conditions to South Africa in Australia.

By the time they played their first two Tests in South Africa they had ALREADY adapted to the pace, bounce and sideways movement.

It's that easy. It's about acclimatisation, not selection.

 

[in_cutter]

Ind has conquered Aus. SL has conquered SA.

Pakistan has been left behind. Some catching up to do.

 

[Amjid Javed]

agreed. SL would not have won if they carried their old players playing for the sake of their past performances.

The likes of chandimal and matthews when they have been dropped by selectors as they havent performed. But with inzi and arthur see azhar and Asad back bone of the batting no matter what. This is why pakistani cricket will remain mediocre.

 

[Saj]

The wickets that Sri Lanka played on were better than what Pakistan played on, but take nothing away from Sri Lanka's excellent performances.

They fought hard, they played as a team, they played with heart and they exploited the weaknesses of this South African team.

Pakistan meanwhile were mentally weak, lacked heart, lacked fight and were tactically clueless.

 

[Ali_Pakistan]

PREPARE!

Pakistan arrived in South Africa from the UAE, played 1 First Class match and failed to adapt to the conditions - notably Olivier's unsubtle short-pitched attack.

Sri Lanka played 2 Tests in New Zealand and then 2 more in identical conditions to South Africa in Australia.

By the time they played their first two Tests in South Africa they had ALREADY adapted to the pace, bounce and sideways movement.

It's that easy. It's about acclimatisation, not selection.

Acclimatisation to the conditions is important but if you look at SL they were giving youngsters and omitting the non performing seniors. On the other hand Pakistani seniors were given all the oppotunities and still they fall short. Acclimatisation also comes with intent and ability and willingness to improve and our seniors lacked all these traits.

 

[jnaveen1980]

This is all fun for discussion. In reality they played Olivier better than Pakistan did. Hence not even a single win was possible. Pakistan was totally bounced out.

 

[Ali_Pakistan]

Pakistan meanwhile were mentally weak, lacked heart, lacked fight and were tactically clueless.[/QUOTE]

Basically this.

 

[jnaveen1980]

After seeing them bullied, terrorized by bouncers of guys like Cummins, Starc, Jhye Richardson i expected them to totally surrender with bat against Rabada, Olivier, Steyn. But they took the blows manfully. First innings first test. Last 2 wicket partnership that is when they showed their immense courage. It rubbed onto everyone.

 

[Junaids]

The wickets that Sri Lanka played on were better than what Pakistan played on, but take nothing away from Sri Lanka's excellent performances.

They fought hard, they played as a team, they played with heart and they exploited the weaknesses of this South African team.

Pakistan meanwhile were mentally weak, lacked heart, lacked fight and were tactically clueless.

Sri Lanka’s First Test in South Africa was ten weeks after they arrived in New Zealand.

They’d just played 4 Tests in Australia and NZ.

Whereas Pakistan got bounced out by a nobody like Olivier.

 

[Navdeep Srivastava]

Sri Lanka’s First Test in South Africa was ten weeks after they arrived in New Zealand.

They’d just played 4 Tests in Australia and NZ.

Whereas Pakistan got bounced out by a nobody like Olivier.

Pakistani lost in Australia 3-0 after playing NZ 2 test. So in short Lanka deserve credit, because Lankan confidence were down after loosing again and again and they were eliminated from the first round of Asia cup and right now if Pak travelled Australia, they will still find a way to loose.

 

[a_tahir]

Back the young talent!

The dropped Chandimal for this series.

This.

Should have brought in Saad Ali.

 

[a_tahir]

Ind has conquered Aus. SL has conquered SA.

Pakistan has been left behind. Some catching up to do.

We were the first asian team to an odis series in SA.

 

[Saj]

Also credit to the Sri Lankan coaching staff who prepared their team really well and had a proper gameplan for their team.

Shows that if you prepare your team well and know your own strengths then that can make a difference.

At the moment the Pakistan Test team seems to be in a dzae, not knowing what they are supposed to be doing.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Three things:

(1) Sri Lanka got some chastening lessons in New Zealand and Australia. The kind of pitches they played on in Australia and the way their batsmen performed must have opened their eyes to their short-comings and made them think that surely, the pitches in South Africa cannot get any tougher.

(2) They took a chance on youngsters like Oshada Fernando, Embuldeniya, Vishwa Fernando. Brought in a new captain. Dropped the fledgling Chandimal. In hindsight, these changes could have gone either way as SA is probably one of the toughest places to debut but Sri Lanka were desperate enough to try anything and luckily for them it not only worked but these players played starring roles in winning them the series.

(3) Kusal Perera. I think most teams would have lost the first test being in the situation that Sri Lanka were chasing 304. But Kusal Perera single-handedly played one of the greatest test innings ever and it's effect showed in the way Sri Lanka won the second test. They never let themselves out of the game.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

It's also important to note that they were not only better prepared but also learnt from their mistakes in Australia, New Zealand. Their seamers were also very consistent with their lengths.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Certain teams have strengths that can nullify the strengths of certain other teams. This is why we see a wild and unpredictable series wins. You would think Yasir shaw a pedigree spinner compared to this Dhananjaya the part timer. Did you guys see Shan Masood taking Markram out? May be SA has a weakness against average bowlers?

 

[jnaveen1980]

Sreesant has rarely won any matches for India in SENA countries except in South Africa. couple of times if i am right.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/...a-1st-test-india-tour-of-south-africa-2006-07

 

[MMHS]

I was impressed most in this series by the new ball skills of SRL pacers. This SAF attack actually isn't what it was in past and couple of their stalwarts are living on their past glory while Olivier cashed on PAK batting to be honest. If Rabada doesn't click, SAF will struggle to get a side all-out twice effectively. In this series (& the PAK one as well in 2nd & 3rd Test), what I have seen is their lack of penetration in 2nd innings without the extra "zip' from typical SAF tracks.

SAF wickets are a bit different - it's a sort of mixture between AUS & ENG. AUS tracks are hard & bouncy but it's heartless for medium pacers for lack of green grass while ENG tracks are green, but softer to bang it in therefore apart from top blocks, we have seen two different types of bowlers doing well in two different countries. SAF tracks are hard & bouncy, but it has green grass as well and being at the tip of continental cape, wind is much stronger in SAF, and 3 of their venues are at the highest altitude among Test venues .... all this makes it a fantastic destination for any type of pacer.

BUT, what it still needs is discipline by new ball, hitting right length and making new ball play, which SRL pacers did brilliantly and they kept SAF in check always - if not by wicket, but kept the run rate down, so that batsmen don't run away with the game; later pacers came back with multiple strikes. There is only one 5for by a spinner and I don't think any pacer had a 4for either, but all 3 stuck to their task brilliantly and they did get some bonus wickets from Dimuth's gentle pace.

I think, this is probably the biggest difference with PAK & SRL here. SRL bowled first both times and went to first lunch in commanding position; PAK bowled first once and SAF raced to like 170/1 at probably 4+/over. Also, SRL picked a genuine finger spinner who turns the ball (guy had like 125 FC wickets in 21 games!!!!) and bats at 11 , and SAF has always been weak against SLAO spin. In terms of batting, apart from first few overs, SRL always tried to keep scoring at a good rate, which can't happen with Azhar Ali at 3 - Babar & Shan were positive, later Asad as well and they did score some runs, but it was the bowling that was really depressing.

 

[shariqnoor]

Invest in a bowling attack.

Pakistan has one of the worst bowling attacks in recent times when it comes to playing away from home. This begging attack has not been able to get 20 wickets in a match almost all of the time in NZ, SA and Australia.

 

[Hasan123]

Arrive early for tours outside of Asia.
Select batters who have a good shot range and aren't specialist blockers especially against pace
Improve the quality of new ball bowling at first class level.

 

[Barragan]

Get rid of low quality batsmen like shafiq and get proper batsmen in the 11.

SL chased down 300 in 4th innings in the 1st Test and only lost 2 wkts again in the 4th innings of the 2nd Test.

Just goes to show, how poor Pak batsmen were (excluding Shan and Babar) and changes need to be made.

 

[The Viper]

Pick more stroke makers on tougher wickets rather than attritional players like Azhar. Look how the likes of Perera and Mendis played. Now that is easier said than done but getting rid of players like Azhar needs to be the first step.

 

[Savak]

Lol, had it not been for Perrera's heroics and flukes, it could have been a different series. To be honest Pakistan has backed and tried youngsters, they have not availed their chances, compared to the Misbah era, Pakistan under Mickey, Sarfaraz and Inzi have tried many new players.

The bowlers are over rated, they failed Pakistan and failed to keep us competitive in SA, the sooner Pakistan gets over the myth of Amir and starts treating all the bowlers the same and gives all the bowlers an equal chance on merit the better it will be in the long run.

 

[Savak]

PREPARE!

Pakistan arrived in South Africa from the UAE, played 1 First Class match and failed to adapt to the conditions - notably Olivier's unsubtle short-pitched attack.

Sri Lanka played 2 Tests in New Zealand and then 2 more in identical conditions to South Africa in Australia.

By the time they played their first two Tests in South Africa they had ALREADY adapted to the pace, bounce and sideways movement.

It's that easy. It's about acclimatisation, not selection.

Nope, it is about selection as well. In South Africa you need to play your shots, you cannot grind here, in the few innings that Pakistani batsmen clicked, they played their shots. Azhar Ali type night watchmen can never excel in conditions like South Africa.

 

[Savak]

I was impressed most in this series by the new ball skills of SRL pacers. This SAF attack actually isn't what it was in past and couple of their stalwarts are living on their past glory while Olivier cashed on PAK batting to be honest. If Rabada doesn't click, SAF will struggle to get a side all-out twice effectively. In this series (& the PAK one as well in 2nd & 3rd Test), what I have seen is their lack of penetration in 2nd innings without the extra "zip' from typical SAF tracks.

SAF wickets are a bit different - it's a sort of mixture between AUS & ENG. AUS tracks are hard & bouncy but it's heartless for medium pacers for lack of green grass while ENG tracks are green, but softer to bang it in therefore apart from top blocks, we have seen two different types of bowlers doing well in two different countries. SAF tracks are hard & bouncy, but it has green grass as well and being at the tip of continental cape, wind is much stronger in SAF, and 3 of their venues are at the highest altitude among Test venues .... all this makes it a fantastic destination for any type of pacer.

BUT, what it still needs is discipline by new ball, hitting right length and making new ball play, which SRL pacers did brilliantly and they kept SAF in check always - if not by wicket, but kept the run rate down, so that batsmen don't run away with the game; later pacers came back with multiple strikes. There is only one 5for by a spinner and I don't think any pacer had a 4for either, but all 3 stuck to their task brilliantly and they did get some bonus wickets from Dimuth's gentle pace.

I think, this is probably the biggest difference with PAK & SRL here. SRL bowled first both times and went to first lunch in commanding position; PAK bowled first once and SAF raced to like 170/1 at probably 4+/over. Also, SRL picked a genuine finger spinner who turns the ball (guy had like 125 FC wickets in 21 games!!!!) and bats at 11 , and SAF has always been weak against SLAO spin. In terms of batting, apart from first few overs, SRL always tried to keep scoring at a good rate, which can't happen with Azhar Ali at 3 - Babar & Shan were positive, later Asad as well and they did score some runs, but it was the bowling that was really depressing.

I was looking at Sri Lanka's bowling attack and they had 5-6 bowlers. That is the biggest difference. Pakistan played with 4 bowlers and the end result was that the bowlers from their second spell onwards ran out of gas and with Yasir being ineffective there were 3 bowlers. In the final test match where Pakistan went with 5 bowling options, the bowling attack looked much more penetrative and were able to keep the pressure up throughout the day.

Pakistan has got to accept the reality that in SENA conditions you need a minimum of 5 bowling options including a spinner who can guaranteed keep things tight.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

There's nothing to learn. Sri Lanka has different types of bowlers, so they adjusted differently. Copying other teams never work.

 

[MMHS]

I was looking at Sri Lanka's bowling attack and they had 5-6 bowlers. That is the biggest difference. Pakistan played with 4 bowlers and the end result was that the bowlers from their second spell onwards ran out of gas and with Yasir being ineffective there were 3 bowlers. In the final test match where Pakistan went with 5 bowling options, the bowling attack looked much more penetrative and were able to keep the pressure up throughout the day.

Pakistan has got to accept the reality that in SENA conditions you need a minimum of 5 bowling options including a spinner who can guaranteed keep things tight.

SRL had 4 bowlers & couple of batsmen who makes the team on batting merit, but can bowl few overs. PAK also could have that with Shan, Fakhar & Azhar - Captain didn’t have the clue, neither coach had the tips. Yet Shan did take a vital wicket and he was under bowled.

On top of that SRL bowled with 3 regular bowlers for almost entire 2nd Test and these 3 brought the game back from 70/2 or so, effectively 150/2, blowing SAF 2nd time for 125. PAK played 5 full bowlers in 2nd Test and allowed SAF to reach 200 for 2 down at 4+ in day 1; then allowed SAF’s last pair to take 2nd Innings total to 300+ from 44/4.

We can find many excuses, but truth is that there is a genuine lack of striking skill with new ball; infact apart from Amir every one opened floodgate with newball and there is absolutely no stamina for aTest attack. And, this is probably one of the most severe decline of a particular skill by any nation in a game - something like the day Latinos start to forget dribbling & play English style hit & run game.

These things happen when
1. T20 takes the lead role in countries cricket
2. FC cricket is played on T20 score level wicket (& ODI duration innings)
3. Fast bowlers are picked on their certificate age after being born as 5 to 7 years old
4. Spinners are picked on their batting and accuracy on docile wickets rather than their skills of turn & flight

Since Bangladesh has lost 3-0 NZ, therefore I am not sure if I am qualified enough to write this .... but instead of mincing words let’s be honest at least for once - even there was a severe lack of pace in first spell with 4 pacers in XI and still PP was happy....and I do agree, still PAK pace attack is better than BD that seems to be quite satisfying these days, such is the standard.

 

[Justcrazy]

Ind has conquered Aus. SL has conquered SA.

Pakistan has been left behind. Some catching up to do.

They will conquer Zimbabwe

 

[Justcrazy]

I was looking at Sri Lanka's bowling attack and they had 5-6 bowlers. That is the biggest difference. Pakistan played with 4 bowlers and the end result was that the bowlers from their second spell onwards ran out of gas and with Yasir being ineffective there were 3 bowlers. In the final test match where Pakistan went with 5 bowling options, the bowling attack looked much more penetrative and were able to keep the pressure up throughout the day.

Pakistan has got to accept the reality that in SENA conditions you need a minimum of 5 bowling options including a spinner who can guaranteed keep things tight.

You need to play specialists , that is what Pakistan is not doing. They expecting Shadab and faheem to be Test quality bowlers , that is not going to happen.