"The day I was denied an opportunity to take Pakistan to a World Cup final" : Shoaib Akhtar

[Last Monetarist]

"The day I was denied an opportunity to take Pakistan to a World Cup final" : Shoaib Akhtar

Still seems bitter after all these years.

I don't think it would have made much difference to the outcome.

 

[Major]

Ur replacement picked 5 wickets.

Also, Tendulkar did not win the match. Till this day i dont get why Saeed Ajmal or any other expert whines about the DRS.

The match was lost because of our poor batting approach.

250 was a low chase. India scored the lowest scored against us. Our bowling did great that day. If you cant even chase that than that shows ur batting is bad

 

[Nadeemp]

he is delusional

 

[gazza619]

Nonsense by Akhtar again. Me, me and me.

 

[Hasan123]

I can remember at the time thinking he may play the game. But we went with Wahab instead.

 

[Slim]

Get over it lad. Younis Khan and Misbah wouldnt have let anyone reach final.

 

[BreadPakoda]

Without that Wahab special India would have easily scored 300+. Sehwag looked at his best till Wahab struck him on his pads from a very difficult to negotiate angle.

Yuvraj was in the form of his life and usually enjoyed batting against Pakistan. Wahab dismissed him with reverse swing.

 

[CricketingMinds]

I still believe Shoaib would have brought his best fwd vs India in a high-profile Semi-Final. He'd have been a better choice over Umar Gul

 

[ChTab]

IMO if Shoaib was playing that game the target would've been around 310.

 

[Maliq_Mudasir]

Does he really think he could have smashed few boundaries and given better support to helpless Misbah?

 

[Rana]

It was Umar Gul who choked this match and denied us a chance to reach the World Cup final!

 

[Saj]

The bowlers didn't do much wrong to be honest.

The less said about the batting that day, the better.

 

[Saj]

Earlier in the tournament of course, this happened against NZ:

In walked Taylor, on his 27th birthday, and he received two enormous gifts. Before he had scored, Taylor edged the second ball of Shoaib's second spell. Akmal moved to towards his right, then stopped and looked expectantly at first slip, where Younis Khan was in shock as the ball sped between them to the boundary. Two balls later Taylor edged again, this time the simplest of chances straight to Akmal, and survived. In between those deliveries, Taylor had slashed to the point boundary.

Taylor scored 131 not out, Akhtar went for 70 from 9 overs.

It was reported that Akhtar had some choice words and actions for Kamran Akmal.

Shoaib was never to be seen again in a Pakistan shirt.

 

[wasim-fan]

I am sorry but this man must not be entertained. Clinical narcissist if ever there was one.

 

[Zaz]

Yawn Me me me

He needs to stop playing the victim He wouldnt have taken pakistan to the final He didnt do it in 2003 when he was younger fitter and faster

 

[KingKhan12]

He should have played. Umar Gul not a opening bowler and so isn't Wahab. We opened with Gul and Razzaq I think and Gul was taken to the cleaners. If Wahab played then Gul should been replaced.

 

[GenericBrand]

Wasn't Tendulkar dropped 3 times in that match, I'd say the fielding lost Pakistan the match.

 

[Kaka4pope]

Wasn't Tendulkar dropped 3 times in that match, I'd say the fielding lost Pakistan the match.

Agreed, caught third time around if memory serves

 

[Sir-fraz]

Earlier in the tournament of course, this happened against NZ:

In walked Taylor, on his 27th birthday, and he received two enormous gifts. Before he had scored, Taylor edged the second ball of Shoaib's second spell. Akmal moved to towards his right, then stopped and looked expectantly at first slip, where Younis Khan was in shock as the ball sped between them to the boundary. Two balls later Taylor edged again, this time the simplest of chances straight to Akmal, and survived. In between those deliveries, Taylor had slashed to the point boundary.

Taylor scored 131 not out, Akhtar went for 70 from 9 overs.

It was reported that Akhtar had some choice words and actions for Kamran Akmal.

Shoaib was never to be seen again in a Pakistan shirt.

Man i remember that match clearly. I still dont undersrand why we chose kamran to keep, especially after all his drop catches. He had zero confidence in his keeping...

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Like everyone I was shocked to see him not playing atfirst. But Wahab more than delivered as the replacement. You simply couldn't have asked for a better performance from him. Umar Gul was red-hot at the time and was never going to be dropped. And at the end of the day the bowlers delivered. Had it not been for the dropped catches India would have been restricted to an even more chaseable total.

If there's anyone Akhtar should be taking his frustration out on its Kamran Akmal.

 

[Major]

Wasn't Tendulkar dropped 3 times in that match, I'd say the fielding lost Pakistan the match.

Like everyone I was shocked to see him not playing atfirst. But Wahab more than delivered as the replacement. You simply couldn't have asked for a better performance from him. Umar Gul was red-hot at the time and was never going to be dropped. And at the end of the day the bowlers delivered. Had it not been for the dropped catches India would have been restricted to an even more chaseable total.

If there's anyone Akhtar should be taking his frustration out on its Kamran Akmal.

The drop catches never lost us the match in the first place.

What people dont know is that india scored its lowwest total of that tournament against us.

250ish was chasable. Shoukd had been chased. Indias bowlinf that day wasnt special either.

Our batting approach was bad. We lost because of our batting.

If pakistan couksnt chase that total than they never deserved to be in the final.

Ask for anything less would had been ridiculous.

If tendulkar would had gotten out eaekier, one of the other batsmen would had changed their batting approach.

Asad shafiq, hafeez, misbah, younis, umar akmal, razzaq and afridi could had done better.

Shafiq threw away his wicket. Younis did his usual. Misbah was trying to anchor it and while i found hia approach to be alright, he had too much false believe on our hitters.

Umar akmal, razzaq and afridi were their to strike the ball, which thwy failed.

 

[Major]

Man i remember that match clearly. I still dont undersrand why we chose kamran to keep, especially after all his drop catches. He had zero confidence in his keeping...

Pakistan had no keeper back than. Plus, our keepers couldnt bat and our batting was really bad at the time.

Sarfrqz ahmed couldnt bat at internarional level. He finaly learned to bat in 2014. M. Salman couldnt hold the bat. Rizwan was still a newbie.

Nauman anjum was performing at the time, but couldnt take risk and rightly so.


Today we have the privledge of rohail, sarfraz, rizwan and moin khans son. Back than the situation was terrible

 

[Zaz]

Pakistan had no keeper back than. Plus, our keepers couldnt bat and our batting was really bad at the time.

Sarfrqz ahmed couldnt bat at internarional level. He finaly learned to bat in 2014. M. Salman couldnt hold the bat. Rizwan was still a newbie.

Nauman anjum was performing at the time, but couldnt take risk and rightly so.


Today we have the privledge of rohail, sarfraz, rizwan and moin khans son. Back than the situation was terrible

For all his so called batting skills akmal was way overated

He avged mid 20s in all formats There was no basis to sticking with so many years when he was shelling catches left right and centre years on end None whatsover

Someone competent behind the stumps wouldve more than made up for the extra 10 runs akmal wouldve scored

Its no coincedence that the truly awful period in pakistan cricket circa 2007-2011 coincided with akmal n his butter fingers

 

[Major]

For all his so called batting skills akmal was way overated

He avged mid 20s in all formats There was no basis to sticking with so many years when he was shelling catches left right and centre years on end None whatsover

Someone competent behind the stumps wouldve more than made up for the extra 10 runs akmal wouldve scored

Its no coincedence that the truly awful period in pakistan cricket circa 2007-2011 coincided with akmal n his butter fingers

Thats the thing.

There was no one else available.

Sarfraz couldnt hold the bat, akmal was still better than what we had got.

Had pakistan started psl in 2009 maybe some gems could had been found.

But i remeber quite clearly how teribble the keeping situation was.

Like, they had mohammad salman playing in the team righr after the world cup. The guy was terrible with the bat.

Any other keeper wouls had been a no.10 in the team. With akmal we had that hope that he will score runs.

 

[Slog]

Wasn't Tendulkar dropped 3 times in that match, I'd say the fielding lost Pakistan the match.

Agreed, caught third time around if memory serves

4 times. CAught 5th time

 

[Slog]

Wasn't Tendulkar dropped 3 times in that match, I'd say the fielding lost Pakistan the match.

Thats the thing.

There was no one else available.

Sarfraz couldnt hold the bat, akmal was still better than what we had got.

Had pakistan started psl in 2009 maybe some gems could had been found.

But i remeber quite clearly how teribble the keeping situation was.

Like, they had mohammad salman playing in the team righr after the world cup. The guy was terrible with the bat.

Any other keeper wouls had been a no.10 in the team. With akmal we had that hope that he will score runs.

Akmal didn’t have a bad semi final though. He dropped one very sharp chance (other tendulkar drops were dollies). And he did well enough with the bat in giving a quick start

 

[Sir-fraz]

Pakistan had no keeper back than. Plus, our keepers couldnt bat and our batting was really bad at the time.

Sarfrqz ahmed couldnt bat at internarional level. He finaly learned to bat in 2014. M. Salman couldnt hold the bat. Rizwan was still a newbie.

Nauman anjum was performing at the time, but couldnt take risk and rightly so.


Today we have the privledge of rohail, sarfraz, rizwan and moin khans son. Back than the situation was terrible

We had zulquranain. But he got lost somewhere loll

I blame kamran ahahah

 

[Sir-fraz]

Akmal didn’t have a bad semi final though. He dropped one very sharp chance (other tendulkar drops were dollies). And he did well enough with the bat in giving a quick start

All the drops never make up for his one innings every 10th match

 

[Forum363]

Man i remember that match clearly. I still dont undersrand why we chose kamran to keep, especially after all his drop catches. He had zero confidence in his keeping...

Because the biggest JOKE/ myth in Pakistan cricket is that Kami is a great batsman which makes up for his terrible keeping.

Ironically if you take away the keeping aspect, he is the worst batsman we’ve ever had in our history who was given consistent and many chances. He was given HUNDREDS of international innings where he continued to average in the low 20s.

Crazy.

 

[Forum363]

Thats the thing.

There was no one else available.

Sarfraz couldnt hold the bat, akmal was still better than what we had got.

Had pakistan started psl in 2009 maybe some gems could had been found.

But i remeber quite clearly how teribble the keeping situation was.

Like, they had mohammad salman playing in the team righr after the world cup. The guy was terrible with the bat.

Any other keeper wouls had been a no.10 in the team. With akmal we had that hope that he will score runs.

They could have picked any Tom dick and Harry from domestic and he could have matched Kamraan’s 20 runs a match. Plus he would save twice that many runs.

Even scored 10 runs a match, but dropped half as many catches across his career as Kamran, he would have added far more value to Pakistan cricket than Kami.

 

[Sir-fraz]

Because the biggest JOKE/ myth in Pakistan cricket is that Kami is a great batsman which makes up for his terrible keeping.

Ironically if you take away the keeping aspect, he is the worst batsman we’ve ever had in our history who was given consistent and many chances. He was given HUNDREDS of international innings where he continued to average in the low 20s.

Crazy.

Yea he clearly had big backing, some how got rid of zulqurnian.

From what ive seen dude was a terrible batsman, low iq player with ability to hit big... on top of that butter fingers while keeping.

 

[Major]

We had zulquranain. But he got lost somewhere loll

I blame kamran ahahah

Nope.

Zulqarnain was a terrible batsmen. He got that 88 in england, but he wasnt someone that could bat.

Also zulqarnains keeping wasnt that good either. Even in that england series he dropped a few.

Eventuallyz zulqarnain would had been dropped, especially after the new zealand tour.

 

[Major]

They could have picked any Tom dick and Harry from domestic and he could have matched Kamraan’s 20 runs a match. Plus he would save twice that many runs.

Even scored 10 runs a match, but dropped half as many catches across his career as Kamran, he would have added far more value to Pakistan cricket than Kami.

Bro.

In hindsight we can all say that any tom dick and harry would had done so and so.

But you have to understand the situation at that time. You look for the best possible options.
Back in 2010 thee keping situation of Pakistan was bad.

Guys like sarfraz, salman, jamal anwar, gulrais sadaf, shakeel ansar, zulqarnain, hunayun farhat were keeping wickets.

These guys couldnt bat. At the time, kamran was the best option.

In hindsight we can now claim that so and so should had played.

 

[Major]

Because the biggest JOKE/ myth in Pakistan cricket is that Kami is a great batsman which makes up for his terrible keeping.

Ironically if you take away the keeping aspect, he is the worst batsman we’ve ever had in our history who was given consistent and many chances. He was given HUNDREDS of international innings where he continued to average in the low 20s.

Crazy.

Situation and scenario.

Kamran wasnt considered a great. He was always that keeper who could provide you some runs.

Again goinf back to the scenario of pakncrixket in 2010, we had wixket keepers who were soo terrible with the bat that our bowlers had a better chance in batting.

Razzaq was a useless batsmen. So we had to play him after that south afrixa match. Now we had one useless battinf spot gicen, another battinf spot being given to another keepe would had made us more weaker.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

The drop catches never lost us the match in the first place.

What people dont know is that india scored its lowwest total of that tournament against us.

250ish was chasable. Shoukd had been chased. Indias bowlinf that day wasnt special either.

Our batting approach was bad. We lost because of our batting.

If pakistan couksnt chase that total than they never deserved to be in the final.

Ask for anything less would had been ridiculous.

If tendulkar would had gotten out eaekier, one of the other batsmen would had changed their batting approach.

Asad shafiq, hafeez, misbah, younis, umar akmal, razzaq and afridi could had done better.

Shafiq threw away his wicket. Younis did his usual. Misbah was trying to anchor it and while i found hia approach to be alright, he had too much false believe on our hitters.

Umar akmal, razzaq and afridi were their to strike the ball, which thwy failed.

Thanks for stating the obvious. I didn't say 260 was not a chaseable total. But had we taken those catches the total likely would have been even lower. Obviously there is no way to predict if that would have been the case. But common sense dictates that when you get the best players of a team out early things get easier for you.

Pakistan were bowling very well that day and with Tendulkar back in the hut its highly possible they could have run over the Indian batting. Its certainly goes without saying that Pakistan and India had the best bowling attacks in the tournament.

Dropping catches in a World Cup semi-final is a criminal thing to do; its completely unjustifiable. And at the end of the day, we got what we deserved. Whether it was the poor fielding or the timid approach to batting.

 

[Giannis]

yeah a 36 year old washed up and battered shoaib akhtar was going to outperform a 25 year old wahab riaz and take us to the finals

 

[Slog]

yeah a 36 year old washed up and battered shoaib akhtar was going to outperform a 25 year old wahab riaz and take us to the finals

He probably would have performed better than Umar Gul.

But Umar Gul had been one of the bowlers of the tournament till that point.

 

[Suleiman]

Lol at people mocking Akhtar. A veteran in Pak v India ODI tussle from 1999-2011, I’d take the odds that he’d be able to handle the pressure of that game, especially since he’s no newcomer to Ind vs Pak in a WC.

Gul definitely didn’t have the heart and nerves of steel to do it.

However, iirc the decision was to play Wahab or Shoaib. So in that sense little difference would’ve been made. But if it was Gul vs Shoaib, Shoaib should’ve been selected.

People mocking his age blah blah washed up blah blah, don’t forget his performance vs NZ in the same cup which was only ruined because Kami was stressed that day a bit, and was having a rare off day (I forgive Kami for that, he’s done a lot of good for us already)

 

[Gullycricket]

The drop catches never lost us the match in the first place.

What people dont know is that india scored its lowwest total of that tournament against us.

250ish was chasable. Shoukd had been chased. Indias bowlinf that day wasnt special either.

Our batting approach was bad. We lost because of our batting.

If pakistan couksnt chase that total than they never deserved to be in the final.

Ask for anything less would had been ridiculous.

If tendulkar would had gotten out eaekier, one of the other batsmen would had changed their batting approach.

Asad shafiq, hafeez, misbah, younis, umar akmal, razzaq and afridi could had done better.

Shafiq threw away his wicket. Younis did his usual. Misbah was trying to anchor it and while i found hia approach to be alright, he had too much false believe on our hitters.

Umar akmal, razzaq and afridi were their to strike the ball, which thwy failed.

We got a decend start while batting i remember. Can never forget Hafeez for that Ramp shot to Munaf only to give a simple catch. Totally brainless.

 

[Sunzi]

Thanks for stating the obvious. I didn't say 260 was not a chaseable total. But had we taken those catches the total likely would have been even lower. Obviously there is no way to predict if that would have been the case. But common sense dictates that when you get the best players of a team out early things get easier for you.

Pakistan were bowling very well that day and with Tendulkar back in the hut its highly possible they could have run over the Indian batting. Its certainly goes without saying that Pakistan and India had the best bowling attacks in the tournament.

Dropping catches in a World Cup semi-final is a criminal thing to do; its completely unjustifiable. And at the end of the day, we got what we deserved. Whether it was the poor fielding or the timid approach to batting.

Agreed.

Take those catches and maybe Yuvraj might have contributed instead of going first-ball - one can't predict. Bottom line is we dropped 4 catches off the guy that scored 80+ and then batted poorly.

Gul had a bad day - no way was he droppable; he was one of the best white ball bowlers of that time, white ball bowling being synonymous with Gul's career.

Don't think Shoaib has a leg to stand on here, he was in the twilight of his career and his replacement took 5 in about the best performance I've seen from Wahab, who irritates me (BTW I remember his overhyped and unsuccessfull spell to Watson ha ha ha - he didn't even get him out ha ha)

 

[Giannis]

He probably would have performed better than Umar Gul.

But Umar Gul had been one of the bowlers of the tournament till that point.

bruh Guldozer won us the 2009 t20 world cup, mans was in such pristine form those few years that we expected him to show up again on the big stage less than 2 years later and he also much younger than akhtar

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Agreed.

Take those catches and maybe Yuvraj might have contributed instead of going first-ball - one can't predict. Bottom line is we dropped 4 catches off the guy that scored 80+ and then batted poorly.

Gul had a bad day - no way was he droppable; he was one of the best white ball bowlers of that time, white ball bowling being synonymous with Gul's career.

Don't think Shoaib has a leg to stand on here, he was in the twilight of his career and his replacement took 5 in about the best performance I've seen from Wahab, who irritates me (BTW I remember his overhyped and unsuccessfull spell to Watson ha ha ha - he didn't even get him out ha ha)

Like I said, if there is any person Shoaib should be directing his anger towards its Kamran Akmal. It's sounds funny to say it but Kami really did end Shoaib's career in Kandy that day when he dropped those catches of Ross Taylor, who ended up putting Akhtar to the sword in the most brutal way imaginable.

Wahab has a knack of turning up amazing performances at the World Cup. In 2011 he picked up that fifer in the semi-final. In 2015, he in general had a pretty great tournament with the ball but sadly happened to be part of the worst ever Pakistan World Cup squad. Even in that game he had Watson hook, nail and sinker only for Rahat Ali to put the catch down. In 2019, he turned up golden performances against England with the ball and against Afghanistan with the bat when he blasted Rashid Khan for six in the dying moments of that game.

 

[latecut]

Shoaib Akhtar was a spent force by that time. He was replaced by Wahab Riaz and Wahab Riaz claimed 5 wickets including that of the destructive batsmen like Sehwag, Kohli, Yuvraj(first ball duck) and Dhoni . So there is no way Shoaib Akhtar could have played that match. Those who are suggesting that he should have played in place of Umar Gul are saying that with the benefit of hindsight. Umar Gul was the bowler of the tournament for Pakistan till thwen and there was no way he could have been dropped in fabour of an over the hill Shoiab Akhtar.

 

[BreadPakoda]

Shoaib Akhtar was a spent force by that time. He was replaced by Wahab Riaz and Wahab Riaz claimed 5 wickets including that of the destructive batsmen like Sehwag, Kohli, Yuvraj(first ball duck) and Dhoni . So there is no way Shoaib Akhtar could have played that match. Those who are suggesting that he should have played in place of Umar Gul are saying that with the benefit of hindsight. Umar Gul was the bowler of the tournament for Pakistan till thwen and there was no way he could have been dropped in fabour of an over the hill Shoiab Akhtar.

Yup. Flawed logic. If Akhtar could replace Gul, then Yusuf Pathan could have also replaced Yuvi. At least he would have “done better” than Yuvi (golden duck) on that day.

 

[salahuddin10]

Shoaib i dont think would have made a major difference to our team since misbah and younis would have made sure that we wouldnt even have chased a target of 240.

 

[Saj]

Akhtar had missed all the matches after the NZ hammering and Pakistan had done well.

It was pretty clear the management weren't going to pick him after the NZ loss.

 

[Savak]

As a fan of his. I will even acknowledge that he was finished back then. He got hit for 15 sixes in his final 9 months of his career. That would never have happened to him in his prime.

 

[Mamoon]

Shoaib recently admitted in an interview that he would have retired before the 2011 World Cup if Amir wasn’t banned.

He stated that he was planning to retire after the England tour in 2010 but when the spot-fixing happened, PCB requested him to carry on until the World Cup as Amir’s replacement, even though he was physically done.

The problem is that he lies so much that it is hard to believe him at any given point, but the above certainly makes sense and is probably what happened.

To be fair to him, he bowled very well in the World Cup until Ross Taylor got hold of him in the death overs.

 

[Savak]

The major reason for that defeat and many numerous others was one man only ie Misbah ul Haq. This match will forever be tatoed on his forehead forever

 

[Savak]

Shoaib recently admitted in an interview that he would have retired before the 2011 World Cup if Amir wasn’t banned.

He stated that he was planning to retire after the England tour in 2010 but when the spot-fixing happened, PCB requested him to carry on until the World Cup as Amir’s replacement, even though he was physically done.

The problem is that he lies so much that it is hard to believe him at any given point, but the above certainly makes sense and is probably what happened.

To be fair to him, he bowled very well in the World Cup until Ross Taylor got hold of him in the death overs.

Slingy action bowlers like Waqar and Shoaib rely a lot on their youth, fitness and speed to be most effective. Bowlers like that at the age of 35-36 will struggle very badly at the death where elite batsmen are on the charge and you need to be very fit to execute those yorkers and to handle the pressure of a batsman on the charge who has dispatched you for a 4, 6.

That NZ game just highlighted that Akhtar was finished and could not be relied upon to bowl at the death. The team management made the obvious decision and went for a younger fitter bowler who could come back strong in all his spells.

Akhtars dissapointment is personal. All great players have some disappointments and grudges ie Miandad against IK for declaring when he was 280 not out, blaming IK for losing the captaincy in 93. Waqar blaming Wasim for keeping him out of the team in 1999, Waqar being upset at Shoaib for taking his place in 1999-2000. Wasim being upset at Waqar for leading the revolt against his captaincy in 1994.
These things don't go away with players in their retirement and old age

 

[salahuddin10]

Slingy action bowlers like Waqar and Shoaib rely a lot on their youth, fitness and speed to be most effective. Bowlers like that at the age of 35-36 will struggle very badly at the death where elite batsmen are on the charge and you need to be very fit to execute those yorkers and to handle the pressure of a batsman on the charge who has dispatched you for a 4, 6.

That NZ game just highlighted that Akhtar was finished and could not be relied upon to bowl at the death. The team management made the obvious decision and went for a younger fitter bowler who could come back strong in all his spells.

Akhtars dissapointment is personal. All great players have some disappointments and grudges ie Miandad against IK for declaring when he was 280 not out, blaming IK for losing the captaincy in 93. Waqar blaming Wasim for keeping him out of the team in 1999, Waqar being upset at Shoaib for taking his place in 1999-2000. Wasim being upset at Waqar for leading the revolt against his captaincy in 1994.
These things don't go away with players in their retirement and old age

I dont really blame shoaib fo what taylor did to him.It was akmals fault

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Akhtar would have had no chance. Would have been thrashed worse than Gul.

 

[Major]

Thanks for stating the obvious. I didn't say 260 was not a chaseable total. But had we taken those catches the total likely would have been even lower. Obviously there is no way to predict if that would have been the case. But common sense dictates that when you get the best players of a team out early things get easier for you.

Pakistan were bowling very well that day and with Tendulkar back in the hut its highly possible they could have run over the Indian batting. Its certainly goes without saying that Pakistan and India had the best bowling attacks in the tournament.

Dropping catches in a World Cup semi-final is a criminal thing to do; its completely unjustifiable. And at the end of the day, we got what we deserved. Whether it was the poor fielding or the timid approach to batting.

Dropping catches is a criminal act, but Pakistan never lost that match due to drop catches or the tendulkar lbw.

Too much emphasis are put on that.

The targrt was chasabale and we lost due to our batting alone.

 

[CricketCartoons]

It was misbah who lost the match for pakistan. dropped tendulkar very early. His drop catch hurt pakistan the most. his tuk tuk innings was just icing on the cake.

 

[Zaz]

Bro.

In hindsight we can all say that any tom dick and harry would had done so and so.

But you have to understand the situation at that time. You look for the best possible options.
Back in 2010 thee keping situation of Pakistan was bad.

Guys like sarfraz, salman, jamal anwar, gulrais sadaf, shakeel ansar, zulqarnain, hunayun farhat were keeping wickets.

These guys couldnt bat. At the time, kamran was the best option.

In hindsight we can now claim that so and so should had played.

Again you and the management then werent looking at the final net value he brought to the table Even if kamran akmal batted like bradman His missed chances every game wouldnt make up for his runs he scored

The management back then were stupid to this logic

Even a decent keeper who could only give you 15 runs wouldve had a positive net utility than kamran because you cant claw back the dozens of runs that a player makes once hes dropped

Just look at the nz game how that couldve turned if kamran had taken those chances Ross taylor went on to make a match winning ton Kamrans 25 runs were useless if hes dropping chances like that every game

Kamran career shouldve finished years back n any keeper shouldve been brought in even if they couldnt bat

Instead he ended many players career early from kaneria to shoaib to sami and cost pakistan dozens of games due to the managements fascination of having a keeper that could bat

 

[iniqbal223]

People forget Razzaq, who always choked against INDIA at big stage

1) 1999 WC against India : Failed with the bat miserably playing the horrible shot
2) 2003 WC against India : Failed with the bat and bowl miserably + dropped a crucial catch of Sachin
3) 2011 WC against India : Horrible batting and bowling

 

[Varun]

People forget Razzaq, who always choked against INDIA at big stage

1) 1999 WC against India : Failed with the bat miserably playing the horrible shot
2) 2003 WC against India : Failed with the bat and bowl miserably + dropped a crucial catch of Sachin
3) 2011 WC against India : Horrible batting and bowling

But he has more talent than any Indian cricketer.

 

[Major]

Again you and the management then werent looking at the final net value he brought to the table Even if kamran akmal batted like bradman His missed chances every game wouldnt make up for his runs he scored

The management back then were stupid to this logic

Even a decent keeper who could only give you 15 runs wouldve had a positive net utility than kamran because you cant claw back the dozens of runs that a player makes once hes dropped

Just look at the nz game how that couldve turned if kamran had taken those chances Ross taylor went on to make a match winning ton Kamrans 25 runs were useless if hes dropping chances like that every game

Kamran career shouldve finished years back n any keeper shouldve been brought in even if they couldnt bat

Instead he ended many players career early from kaneria to shoaib to sami and cost pakistan dozens of games due to the managements fascination of having a keeper that could bat

bro, your ignoring the context. The situation.

In hindsight we can talk about this and that.

This is like how posters on thsi thread are saying AKhtar should had played instead of Umar GUl. But before the match, this would had never happened as Umar Gul was performing well.

At the time, we had Abdul Razzaq who couldn't bat and team management couldn't select a keeper who couldnt hold the bat. That was like having two dead players.

Also, the likes of M. Salman, Gulraiz couldn't even score 15-20 runs. They were really bad.

Pakistan was willing to sacrifcie bit of keeping in retunr of runs, and you right Kamran didn't perform. But selection was warranted at the time and context

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Dropping catches is a criminal act, but Pakistan never lost that match due to drop catches or the tendulkar lbw.

Too much emphasis are put on that.

The targrt was chasabale and we lost due to our batting alone.

Not really. They have gotten pretty much the right amount of emphasis. Any side that drops 4 catches does not deserve to play a World Cup final.

 

[ahmedzee]

Ur replacement picked 5 wickets.

Also, Tendulkar did not win the match. Till this day i dont get why Saeed Ajmal or any other expert whines about the DRS.

The match was lost because of our poor batting approach.

250 was a low chase. India scored the lowest scored against us. Our bowling did great that day. If you cant even chase that than that shows ur batting is bad

For once u agree with you. And the pioneer of our batting failure that day was none other than Misbah, who slowed down the runrate to a considerable mark until it was all lost.

 

[Major]

Not really. They have gotten pretty much the right amount of emphasis. Any side that drops 4 catches does not deserve to play a World Cup final.

you are not understanding my point

Even if they dropped 10 catches, the game still could had been won as the target was chasable.

People tend to forget the fact that India's lowest target was agaisnt Pakistan in the world cup. India was scoring heavily in every match.

 

[NishanKonar]

Shoaib Akhtar was done & dusted by 2010-11

Forget that Ross Taylor onslaught. One year back in the do or die 2010 Asia Cup game , Akhtar got hammered by Harbhajan Singh & ended up losing the match from a winning position

 

[Rohan]

Ross Taylor denied him the opportunity.

 

[Major]

Shoaib Akhtar was done & dusted by 2010-11

Forget that Ross Taylor onslaught. One year back in the do or die 2010 Asia Cup game , Akhtar got hammered by Harbhajan Singh & ended up losing the match from a winning position

No he wasnt done or dusted.

Akhtar bowledd well. Even in the world cup he was going well. He didnt even misbehave during that 2010-2011 tenure.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

you are not understanding my point

Even if they dropped 10 catches, the game still could had been won as the target was chasable.

People tend to forget the fact that India's lowest target was agaisnt Pakistan in the world cup. India was scoring heavily in every match.

I understand your point perfectly well. There is a difference between chasing 260, 240 and 220. Especially when you lose a game by 29 runs.

 

[iniqbal223]

But he has more talent than any Indian cricketer.

Also see

Champions Trophy 2004 failure vs India
Asia Cup 2010 failure vs India
Asia Cup 2004 failure vs India

And not to forget, him dropping crucial catches or missing simple run outs, against India in these games

He was a good bilateral series player ..

What was the point of having talent and not delivering in the most crucial games? Will you keep getting paid for your talent and not getting work done in your office or for anything... No, absolutely not..But Pakistan cricket is such a place.. If you are tagged as Talent, or Experienced... you will have free rides

 

[zain41]

If he would have played, it would have been in place of wahab and not gul ...and iirc wahab had a 5er that game and was the only reason india did not cross 300 after the start they had..i am a massive shoaib fan but he was a fossil in 2011

 

[asifp]

We lost cause we dropped 10000 catches

 

[Yk313]

This man-child still gets airtime? Too many wrongs in that tournament but Wahab’s selection cannot be called a mistake in hindsight.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Still seems bitter after all these years.

I don't think it would have made much difference to the outcome.


View attachment 108306

Relax. No need to take his tweet seriously because he posted it on April Fool's day.

 

[FlickedOffHips]

I don't know what impact Shoaib would've had but Pakistan should have won that game regardless. Dropping Tendulkar twice is unforgivable. Still, 261 chasing should have been routine. That was your game.

 

[FlickedOffHips]

I don't know what impact Shoaib would've had but Pakistan should have won that game regardless. Dropping Tendulkar twice is unforgivable. Still, 261 chasing should have been routine. That was your game.

Just checked again- Tendulkar was actually dropped 3 times! There was a 4th possible caught behind but it was too hard IMO. Not a realistic chance. But India were on edge that day and there for the taking.

 

[PakLFC]

Shoaib is always complaining about something. It is rich coming from someone who was always injured, having late nights or fighting with team mates during his career.

 

[TheNightWatchman]

Shoaib recently admitted in an interview that he would have retired before the 2011 World Cup if Amir wasn’t banned.

He stated that he was planning to retire after the England tour in 2010 but when the spot-fixing happened, PCB requested him to carry on until the World Cup as Amir’s replacement, even though he was physically done.

The problem is that he lies so much that it is hard to believe him at any given point, but the above certainly makes sense and is probably what happened.

To be fair to him, he bowled very well in the World Cup until Ross Taylor got hold of him in the death overs.

And he was supposed to get ross taylor out twice before that which makes his end pretty sad. So i don't blame him being a bit salty about how it ended for him

 

[TheNightWatchman]

Sachin being dropped and playing the most overrated and unconvincing 50+ innings I've seen and the premiere seamer choking and getting hammered and Ridiculous chasing strategy led to the loss. Shoaib's replacement was easily the best player in that match that day ironically.

 

[MenInG]

India’s 2011 World Cup win is still remembered fondly by the fans of cricket. Led by MS Dhoni, India defeated Sri Lanka to lift the World Cup after a gap of 28 years. India also became the first country to win the tournament at home. Dhoni’s six off Nuwan Kulasekera in the 49th over of the final is a moment that is still etched in the memories of Indian cricket fans.

Before facing Sri Lanka, India had faced Pakistan in the semi-finals of 2011 World Cup. The arch-rivals were in great form leading up to the match and both nations eyed a spot in the finals. It was eventually India who managed to trump Pakistan by 29 runs to book their tickets for the final in Mumbai.

However, Harbhajan remembered a moment before the match where Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar asked him to arrange tickets for the semis and finals. This is how Harbhajan responded after Akhtar asserted that Pakistan were going to play the final in Mumbai.

"Shoaib Akhtar told me the night before the match that he wants some tickets for his family and relatives from Pakistan. So I said no problem, and I called PCA (Punjab Cricket Association) and somehow arranged some four tickets for him. When I went to give them to him, he said 'It will be great if you can arrange four tickets for the final as well,” Harbhajan said in an interview with Sports Today.

"I asked what he would do with them. He asserted that they (Pakistan) were going to play the final in Mumbai. I replied 'If you are going to Mumbai, then where are we going? India will play the final, and you should come and watch. I will give you four more tickets as well, no problem, you come and comfortably spectate the game.'"

While remembering the 2011 World Cup final, Harbhajan termed April 2, 2011 as the "most important day" of his life.

"Unbelievable, 2nd of April, that day was the most important day I would say of my career, of my life. I was watching my dreams come true, the way the love was flowing, everyone had a smile on their face and was swaying with happiness. It was not just our win, it was India's win," the veteran spinner said in a video posted by his IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/cric...for-2011-world-cup-final-101617417934566.html