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The brave new order - Young Pakistan emerges from the shadows

fight_club

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Pakistan had the match under their fold. Ferguson charge was on and as he dished out another short on outside off Haris backed away.

Freeze that frame and pop a question like a quiz "What happens next?"

"Oh he must have whacked the leather out of it" Wrong, Haris waits and than waits a little more. Ferguson 90 mph delivers are like those bullets fired in Matrix which comes at super slow motion and Haris just bisected the field with a precession of a surgeon and just timed it without any sign of violence.

I know you might be wondering why am I not talking about the genius of Babar Azam. I certainly will but for me Haris has been the most impactful batsman in Pakistan team and every second he has spend on the crease is worth the gold.

A shell shocked Ian smith for the life of his could not comprehend as to why Haris was not played and if Pakistan doesn't make it the Semis this question will be river batting in the entire country.

Sarfaraz lost a crucial toss. It was a very subcontinental pitch where ball was griping and holding up their was no swing on offer but thankfully Kiwis had the worst possible openers for the surface.

Why Amir has gone wicketless on subcontinent pitches was amply visible on Edgbaston surface where something extra was needed. Having lost pace and with no help on offer he looked the most ineffective bowler today with his worst figure

While, Haris had his revenge in the last game, a 19 year old youngster who was also discarded for out of form Hasan wanted to prove a thing or two today and in my opinion he should have been Man of the match as he alone setup the match for Pakistan.

I have been praying for Shaheen to hit the right length. With his pace and height once he start hitting the right area he will always find something on offer on these England pitches.

The way he set up Rossy who took an off stump stance to ensure he can leave them easily but than he pitched one on the leg Rossy playing within crease has to play at it because of the length and it just went away with the angle kissing his bat sarfaraz dived and plucked it with his outstreched hand.

I screamed so loud my neighbour might have jumped from the balcony.

Amir was supposedly the leader of the pace attack but an inspired Shaheen took that mattal like a man possessed. He kept hitting that spot in the pitch from where just a little movement was making life hell for the batsmen.

He bowled 3 maiden for crying out loud thats crazy stuff if McGrath would have seen this spell he would have surly hugged him his consistency was phenonmenal and class of that spell much beyond his age.

For all his guile Amir has lost that Zing and spice and boy did Shaheen brought some spice in this attack "You Betchaa" smithy will nod.

I knew with Haris in this side 240 was very much chaseable but no one can shrugg off those heart wrenching Batting Collapse and those ghost were always going to be lurking around when Pakistan has to chase in a high pressure situation but time has finally come for a bold new pakistan to emerge from those shadow and that day had finally arrived.

Pakistan started well and I wouldn't blame openers especially Imam who got an absolute snorter from Lochie. The pitch certainly was bit difficult especially if you do not play with full face or backfoot cuts when you try to work your wrists on these slow surface ball is gonna hold up.

Pakistan chase had few hickups but Babar was looking in Majestic touch and runs kept coming at fair pace. Boult vs Babar was going to be a mini battle within the battle and their was this firecracker of a over early in the innimg.

Boult beat Babar with the 1st one and he had no idea about it the 2nd one pitched up met with a gorgeous cover drive 3rd one beats him again and 4th goes for boundary. 2 all score even they both had a smile at the end and I had goosebump all over.


Lets come to another "Senior" Hafeez.

Pakistan dressing room has amazing ability to shut its door on comman sense. Bad decisions and Seniors goes hand in hand

Hafeez is not a top order batsmen and his last 4 dismissals have been to part time bowlers any other team would have fired him or least dropped him for a game but Pakistan cricket cant have those privileges.

Hafeez has to come in crucial situations play a 20 30 and than hole out to the worst part timer in the town.

Can someone please tell him that its embarrassing as hell.

Talking about embarrassing the way he looked like a scared school boy finding his.own batting number and Ferguson pace a little too hot to handle. "Sir you got couple of hits on you helmet did they knock some sense into you?" Number 4 is doesnt belong to you get the hell out of here bat at no.5 or 6 where you belong.

Sohail has earned that spot and I would be seriously disappointed if I see Hafeez walking out to bat at 4 again. This sharade must stop now.

Sohail might have thought he has just landed in a minefield.

Forget about all the spiting, jumping and turning from Santaner but when Williamsom started to turn it like Murli you know in your heart that this target will nwed you to go through fire and brim stone the question is do you have the ability and most importantanly Guts for the battle.

Sohail has shades of Inzy in his lazy elegance when he handles pace but I do see a liitle swagger of Basit and Street smartness of Miandad.

He was going to battle it out and not get out to some ugle swipe he doesnt do that. When going got too hot to handle he counter attacked Santner by stepping out and depositing him to stand. "A left hook after taking many punches" just to let the opponent that he is still in the fight and in mood for blood.

Thats the kind of courage you want to see from a Pakistani batsmen because they might have all the talent in the world they just chicken out at the first sight of pressure.

Babar couldnt have played innings of his life without Haris at the other end. He is the most gifted batsmen in the team but mentally he has not been thier under pressure but Pakistan Cindrella men Haris is making all the difference.

Babar has finally started his journey from the most talentes to one of the greats. This was the hundred both he and Pakistan needed and I am sure as hell that their are many more to come.

This a new Pakistan emerging slowly but surely from the shadow of past the young blood is in no mood to slow down its flow and its flexing its muscle screaming for it to be trusted and givem more opportunities.

Time to rejoice and celebrate a historic win on a day when seniors came second and youngsters got them over the line.

Pakistan cricket is shining like radiant new bride history recons something special the dreams live on so does the smile..

Fight_Club
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Mods, please edit the post. I posted it from mobile and excuse me for typos
 
Very beautifully written, time for Hafeez to go too, commentator mentioned couple times how easily he threw his wicket away, I would personally play Asif (not my first choice but what we have) instead of Hafeez.
Imagine
Imam
Fakhar
Babar
Harris
Sarfraz
Asif
Imad
 
Great post. I wonder if Harris played vs us (India), match would have been more exciting than a one sided contest. Pak were 110-1, what they needed at that point was a run a ball partnership. Anyways, Harris is a great addition to Pak batting lineup. Congratulations to Pak fans. Still, Cant fathom why Malik was preferred over him.
 
Nice post. Key is to show consistency throughout the cup now for their chances. Babar Azam has always looked a classy player with time on his hands when playing quicks similar to Rohit, but sometimes he needs to step up a gear, specially chasing big targets. Not seen much of Harris Sohail, but he looked very good yesterday.

If Pakistan batting can play consistently well then they can pose a big threat to anyone.
 
When did Haris hit Santner to stands???? Did I miss any part of yesterday's game??

Yes, he did hit a 93 mts six of him when the bowler gave him the extra flight, he was in his 20s I guess. Before that hit, he was struggling a bit to cope with the turn and extra bounce which Santner was getting.
 
Don't count your chickens yet as we heard the same thing after 2015 WC. Knowing Pakistan, they'll be itching to bring back the seniors.
 
Great post. I wonder if Harris played vs us (India), match would have been more exciting than a one sided contest. Pak were 110-1, what they needed at that point was a run a ball partnership. Anyways, Harris is a great addition to Pak batting lineup. Congratulations to Pak fans. Still, Cant fathom why Malik was preferred over him.

Thanks, I do agree that Haris might have made it little less one sided but I am damn sure he wiuld have won pakistan match against Australia

Thanks everyone for kind words
 
I don't want to spoil the fun, but to be honest this team needs to show consistency. I would consider this performance as one off, if we get knocked out! I think with the win against NZ, 92 WC similarities ended as well, looking at this team (inconsistency factor), I think we will be knocked out! And the celebrations after the win against NZ were over the top I reckon, but in Asia it happens, I find it cringeworthy most of the times. If we had won the WC, the celebrations would have made sense. The 92 WC similarities have ended now, we must be 'mentally' prepared for an exit as well.
 
i soooooo agree with you ... Harris Sohail has been the man behind our fortune change... In both games he helped Babar to gain his confidence and eased him to play the way he wanted bcz Harris himself was making sure we were never behind the 8 ball... amazing ... and someone really needs to be fired (even if we win the WC ) for benching him in any game in the WC .....

For Shaheen, he was struggling but much worse was Hassan Ali.. I would pick Shaheen over hassan ali any day bcz he is hungry, he has the height, he has both way swing and he is classy ... Hassan Ali was just rubbish

Haffez, for me needs to play.. he needs to have his mind clear on when and how hard to hit ... he keeps going into shell and isnt able to blast his way out ... his bowling is also very handy ...

for future, we need to groom harris to take "Haffez the bowler" role... he needs to work to get his bowling good and shld be bowling 5-7 overs every game...
 
Once again proved that picking players with good domestic numbers has tremendous benefit.

The following players need to get a look in:

Saud Shakeel - 49 @ 85
Saad Ali - 47 @ 87
Khushdil Shah - 47 @ 98
Adil Amin - 46 @ 82


There has hardly been a player who had mediocre domestic stats but went onto be a GOAT at international level. Fakhar, Babar and Haris all had List A averages in the high 40s-50s before their debut.


Btw Hussain Talat has a List A average of 36 @ 88. Asif Ali has a List A average of 27 @ 110. Amir Yamin
24 @ 99. Select average players and then ask why team performance is so bad?
 
Once again proved that picking players with good domestic numbers has tremendous benefit.

The following players need to get a look in:

Saud Shakeel - 49 @ 85
Saad Ali - 47 @ 87
Khushdil Shah - 47 @ 98
Adil Amin - 46 @ 82


There has hardly been a player who had mediocre domestic stats but went onto be a GOAT at international level. Fakhar, Babar and Haris all had List A averages in the high 40s-50s before their debut.


Btw Hussain Talat has a List A average of 36 @ 88. Asif Ali has a List A average of 27 @ 110. Amir Yamin
24 @ 99. Select average players and then ask why team performance is so bad?

Saif Badar should be the next number 5 batsman for Pakistan in LOIs. If he isn't selected, Pakistani fans should riot. I have never been wrong in the talent i identified so far. I identified Haris in 2011, i identified Babar way before people knew about him, i identified saud shakeel as the best left hand u19 batsman when people were going nuts over Sami Aslam and now i have identified Saif Badar.

Saif is young, only 21 i think. Should be in the team immediately after world cup. Admittedly, he needs to work on temperament. But he should be selected for the national team.
 
Pakistan had the match under their fold. Ferguson charge was on and as he dished out another short on outside off Haris backed away.

Freeze that frame and pop a question like a quiz "What happens next?"

"Oh he must have whacked the leather out of it" Wrong, Haris waits and than waits a little more. Ferguson 90 mph delivers are like those bullets fired in Matrix which comes at super slow motion and Haris just bisected the field with a precession of a surgeon and just timed it without any sign of violence.

I know you might be wondering why am I not talking about the genius of Babar Azam. I certainly will but for me Haris has been the most impactful batsman in Pakistan team and every second he has spend on the crease is worth the gold.

A shell shocked Ian smith for the life of his could not comprehend as to why Haris was not played and if Pakistan doesn't make it the Semis this question will be river batting in the entire country.

Sarfaraz lost a crucial toss. It was a very subcontinental pitch where ball was griping and holding up their was no swing on offer but thankfully Kiwis had the worst possible openers for the surface.

Why Amir has gone wicketless on subcontinent pitches was amply visible on Edgbaston surface where something extra was needed. Having lost pace and with no help on offer he looked the most ineffective bowler today with his worst figure

While, Haris had his revenge in the last game, a 19 year old youngster who was also discarded for out of form Hasan wanted to prove a thing or two today and in my opinion he should have been Man of the match as he alone setup the match for Pakistan.

I have been praying for Shaheen to hit the right length. With his pace and height once he start hitting the right area he will always find something on offer on these England pitches.

The way he set up Rossy who took an off stump stance to ensure he can leave them easily but than he pitched one on the leg Rossy playing within crease has to play at it because of the length and it just went away with the angle kissing his bat sarfaraz dived and plucked it with his outstreched hand.

I screamed so loud my neighbour might have jumped from the balcony.

Amir was supposedly the leader of the pace attack but an inspired Shaheen took that mattal like a man possessed. He kept hitting that spot in the pitch from where just a little movement was making life hell for the batsmen.

He bowled 3 maiden for crying out loud thats crazy stuff if McGrath would have seen this spell he would have surly hugged him his consistency was phenonmenal and class of that spell much beyond his age.

For all his guile Amir has lost that Zing and spice and boy did Shaheen brought some spice in this attack "You Betchaa" smithy will nod.

I knew with Haris in this side 240 was very much chaseable but no one can shrugg off those heart wrenching Batting Collapse and those ghost were always going to be lurking around when Pakistan has to chase in a high pressure situation but time has finally come for a bold new pakistan to emerge from those shadow and that day had finally arrived.

Pakistan started well and I wouldn't blame openers especially Imam who got an absolute snorter from Lochie. The pitch certainly was bit difficult especially if you do not play with full face or backfoot cuts when you try to work your wrists on these slow surface ball is gonna hold up.

Pakistan chase had few hickups but Babar was looking in Majestic touch and runs kept coming at fair pace. Boult vs Babar was going to be a mini battle within the battle and their was this firecracker of a over early in the innimg.

Boult beat Babar with the 1st one and he had no idea about it the 2nd one pitched up met with a gorgeous cover drive 3rd one beats him again and 4th goes for boundary. 2 all score even they both had a smile at the end and I had goosebump all over.


Lets come to another "Senior" Hafeez.

Pakistan dressing room has amazing ability to shut its door on comman sense. Bad decisions and Seniors goes hand in hand

Hafeez is not a top order batsmen and his last 4 dismissals have been to part time bowlers any other team would have fired him or least dropped him for a game but Pakistan cricket cant have those privileges.

Hafeez has to come in crucial situations play a 20 30 and than hole out to the worst part timer in the town.

Can someone please tell him that its embarrassing as hell.

Talking about embarrassing the way he looked like a scared school boy finding his.own batting number and Ferguson pace a little too hot to handle. "Sir you got couple of hits on you helmet did they knock some sense into you?" Number 4 is doesnt belong to you get the hell out of here bat at no.5 or 6 where you belong.

Sohail has earned that spot and I would be seriously disappointed if I see Hafeez walking out to bat at 4 again. This sharade must stop now.

Sohail might have thought he has just landed in a minefield.

Forget about all the spiting, jumping and turning from Santaner but when Williamsom started to turn it like Murli you know in your heart that this target will nwed you to go through fire and brim stone the question is do you have the ability and most importantanly Guts for the battle.

Sohail has shades of Inzy in his lazy elegance when he handles pace but I do see a liitle swagger of Basit and Street smartness of Miandad.

He was going to battle it out and not get out to some ugle swipe he doesnt do that. When going got too hot to handle he counter attacked Santner by stepping out and depositing him to stand. "A left hook after taking many punches" just to let the opponent that he is still in the fight and in mood for blood.

Thats the kind of courage you want to see from a Pakistani batsmen because they might have all the talent in the world they just chicken out at the first sight of pressure.

Babar couldnt have played innings of his life without Haris at the other end. He is the most gifted batsmen in the team but mentally he has not been thier under pressure but Pakistan Cindrella men Haris is making all the difference.

Babar has finally started his journey from the most talentes to one of the greats. This was the hundred both he and Pakistan needed and I am sure as hell that their are many more to come.

This a new Pakistan emerging slowly but surely from the shadow of past the young blood is in no mood to slow down its flow and its flexing its muscle screaming for it to be trusted and givem more opportunities.

Time to rejoice and celebrate a historic win on a day when seniors came second and youngsters got them over the line.

Pakistan cricket is shining like radiant new bride history recons something special the dreams live on so does the smile..

Fight_Club
PLEASE STOP DOING THIS!
its a very typical pakistani attribute to over praise your favourites when they do well and then put down the ones you don't like!
Everyone in the team with the exception of fakhar(who is my favourite player) played well. Yes, shaheen, babar and haris were the ones who played the biggest roles in this win, but theres no need to critcise the other players i.e. amir because they all contributed. Yes, if someone genuinely has put in a poor performance, like malik did in previous games with scores of 8, 0 and 0 in his three innings, then you can crictise, but not when the players have put in decent performances!
 
I don't want to spoil the fun, but to be honest this team needs to show consistency. I would consider this performance as one off, if we get knocked out! I think with the win against NZ, 92 WC similarities ended as well, looking at this team (inconsistency factor), I think we will be knocked out! And the celebrations after the win against NZ were over the top I reckon, but in Asia it happens, I find it cringeworthy most of the times. If we had won the WC, the celebrations would have made sense. The 92 WC similarities have ended now, we must be 'mentally' prepared for an exit as well.
Well said.
 
PLEASE STOP DOING THIS!
its a very typical pakistani attribute to over praise your favourites when they do well and then put down the ones you don't like!
Everyone in the team with the exception of fakhar(who is my favourite player) played well. Yes, shaheen, babar and haris were the ones who played the biggest roles in this win, but theres no need to critcise the other players i.e. amir because they all contributed. Yes, if someone genuinely has put in a poor performance, like malik did in previous games with scores of 8, 0 and 0 in his three innings, then you can crictise, but not when the players have put in decent performances!


Please have honesty to accept the cold facts and analysis.

If Amir had a poor day than It will be mentioned. Also Clearly mentioned as to why on subcontinental
types of surfaces He is not getting many wickets.

Please read my posts from a neutral POW and they might make some sense. Don't you agree that Amir had a poor day?? or don't you agree with the fact that He has not been among the wickets in subcontinent pitches? which of the these two are false?
 
I don't want to spoil the fun, but to be honest this team needs to show consistency. I would consider this performance as one off, if we get knocked out! I think with the win against NZ, 92 WC similarities ended as well, looking at this team (inconsistency factor), I think we will be knocked out! And the celebrations after the win against NZ were over the top I reckon, but in Asia it happens, I find it cringeworthy most of the times. If we had won the WC, the celebrations would have made sense. The 92 WC similarities have ended now, we must be 'mentally' prepared for an exit as well.


I would wholeheartedly agree with you on consistency thing. Winning one tournament out of blue and than not performing anywhere else does not really show any progress. The reason I am so excited about
Pakistan cricket is that finally Young Guns are firing and its has amply become clear that "Certain" section
exist which would like to keep them under the shadows of some "Seniors"

The win is a landmark for many reasons, primarily Babar has finally come of age and won Pakistan a big pressure game. Emergence of Haris as a Gun Player augur so well for Pakistan batting and for Babar as he is taking pressure off them

Seniors are getting relentlessly exposed and will be made to compete with youngsters which is such a health thing for Pakistan cricket. You will see Amir will bowling with an extra yard of determination in his next game because of Shaheen.

I am not really into the 1992 stuff honestly but these events will certainly fetch pakistan cricket a world of good
 
Saif Badar should be the next number 5 batsman for Pakistan in LOIs. If he isn't selected, Pakistani fans should riot. I have never been wrong in the talent i identified so far. I identified Haris in 2011, i identified Babar way before people knew about him, i identified saud shakeel as the best left hand u19 batsman when people were going nuts over Sami Aslam and now i have identified Saif Badar.

Saif is young, only 21 i think. Should be in the team immediately after world cup. Admittedly, he needs to work on temperament. But he should be selected for the national team.

Yes, Saif has dynamism for number 5 batsman. Ideally, this should be our top 5 after WC,

Fakhar
Sharjeel/Zeeshan/Saud
Babar
Harris
Saif Badar
 
I would wholeheartedly agree with you on consistency thing. Winning one tournament out of blue and than not performing anywhere else does not really show any progress. The reason I am so excited about
Pakistan cricket is that finally Young Guns are firing and its has amply become clear that "Certain" section
exist which would like to keep them under the shadows of some "Seniors"

The win is a landmark for many reasons, primarily Babar has finally come of age and won Pakistan a big pressure game. Emergence of Haris as a Gun Player augur so well for Pakistan batting and for Babar as he is taking pressure off them

Seniors are getting relentlessly exposed and will be made to compete with youngsters which is such a health thing for Pakistan cricket. You will see Amir will bowling with an extra yard of determination in his next game because of Shaheen.

I am not really into the 1992 stuff honestly but these events will certainly fetch pakistan cricket a world of good

We have both. Seniority culture and hero worship culture. Reason why many duds stuck around for too long. Need to get rid of this mindset.
 
One of the problems we have had is that we pick older players to keep the peace in the team as young players are too matey with each other and when one becomes Capt the others don't give him the respect. The only problem with picking "senior" players is that some of them like Malik and Hafeez have a decade of experiencing failure. They should have been replaced by 2011, instead here we are in 2019, with these perennial failures who offer nothing but seniority. Can you imagine any decent team having these guys play into their 40's, nor can i.
 
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