The Fakhar Zaman-Babar Azam partnership versus India was directionless

[Savak]

Mohd Wasim and Shoaib Akhtar on their youtube channels have criticized the partnership and said that it may look good to some but given that Pakistan was chasing a big total of 340, they played too slow and wasted dot deliveries and did not keep up with the required run rate at all.

Mohd Wasim was even more critical of Pakistan not making full use of Shankar and that the entire strategy of waiting out till India bought the spinners on were flawed because the likes of Chahal, Kuldeep are wicket taking bowlers who get wickets in bunches and don't give you any freebies.

To me both Babar and Fakhar in particular looked shockingly poor against the spinners, Fakhar was hacking his way out of dot deliveries and his dismissal had nothing to do with Babar's dismissal but more his inability to play spin properly.

Our two best players today did poorly when it came to rotating the strike in comparison to the Indians, tells you everything that you need to know.

 

[Hasan123]

It just fooled us. The game was done. Babar missed out on 3 fours in a Shankar over. If that was Rohit or Kohli they would have been dispatched.

Don’t want to see Babar compared with the fab 4. I love him but he isn’t on their level.

 

[JaDed]

Well they should had been slightly better yes, but again the fault is they didn't go on to make a ton.. its all about those big scores or at least a 100..

 

[Kroll]

They were beginning to accelerate, but as always happen just as we start moving we lose wicket, then the collapse happens and we're out of the game.

 

[Savak]

Well they should had been slightly better yes, but again the fault is they didn't go on to make a ton.. its all about those big scores or at least a 100..

With Sharma i always get the feeling he has mastered the art of defending good deliveries and taking full advantage of slightly loose stuff. He doesn't panic when there are dot deliveries being bowled. He really backs himself to make up for a slow start. Kind of like Gayle and Gilchrist.

 

[Azrim_91]

You have to understand that from their perspective they also knew that if they risked accelerating from ball one then they'd be 40-3 expecting hafeez and Malik to hit 150's each..... Very unlikely.

Their approach was the most sensible... I.e bat till 35 overs and see where they stand. If Pakistan were to get 200-1 after 35 with fakhar and Babar both on 100s...you'd hope that the middle order would be able to chase it down.

 

[dhump]

I agree both of them completely looked out of sort with no plan or idea of what they are doing. It was more survival and playing random shots based on availability with no urgency or plan to get runs. You could see that Indian camp nor commentators were interested or impressed with what they are doing together as it was non-threatening and everyone knew where it was going.

 

[Greenstorm]

These bitter ex cricketers have a habit of bashing promising young players instead of going after the real culprits Hafeez and Malik. You will hardly see them criticizing senior players.

Fakhar and Babar made the highest partnership for Pakistan against India in WCs. They were battling against two best LOI spinners in the world so I will let it pass.

 

[Energy]

Its their fault for not picking up the rate earlier. They left it too late. BUT. There is no excuse for 4 wickets to fall in 4 overs. Imagine if Hafeez and Sarfaraz strung a 50 run partnership, then came Malik and started hitting the ball. This is what any normal team would do, even Bangladesh.

It is shocking to lose heaps of wickets in the middle overs, so much so that the entire middle order needs to be lashed in public with whipped cream milk shakes. I'd like to see how much Sarfaraz can drink at one go.

 

[Greenstorm]

I agree both of them completely looked out of sort with no plan or idea of what they are doing. It was more survival and playing random shots based on availability with no urgency or plan to get runs. You could see that Indian camp nor commentators were interested or impressed with what they are doing together as it was non-threatening and everyone knew where it was going.

Clarke was appreciating their ploy of taking the game deep.

 

[moghul]

Well they should had been slightly better yes, but again the fault is they didn't go on to make a ton.. its all about those big scores or at least a 100..

To finish the job, you need players of Sharma and Kohli's caliber , Babar is not in their league. Players like Babar need other "seniors" to take the unfinished job he and Fakhar brought to some distance.

 

[dhump]

Clarke was appreciating their ploy of taking the game deep.

He was implying that maybe that is their strategy and if they take the game in the last ten overs with 11 RPO to get with wickets in hand, it will be interesting. I would take it as he was trying to make sense of whatever they were doing out there. To me, both of them looked unsettled through the inning Fakhar more than Babur.

 

[dhump]

Anything "suspicious"?

No, it was just mediocrity and lack of a game plan.

 

[JaDed]

With Sharma i always get the feeling he has mastered the art of defending good deliveries and taking full advantage of slightly loose stuff. He doesn't panic when there are dot deliveries being bowled. He really backs himself to make up for a slow start. Kind of like Gayle and Gilchrist.

Yeah and I have to say he has surprised me coz I was one of his biggest haters on this forum but he has fought all that, I would forgive him(won't make a difference to him lol) for jus what he did today.

To finish the job, you need players of Sharma and Kohli's caliber , Babar is not in their league. Players like Babar need other "seniors" to take the unfinished job he and Fakhar brought to some distance.

Babar is good for his age but Babar has to rise, all those centuries he has hit and he need to get to a 100 in these matches so once he is around 28 and when PCT get good set of middle order batsmen they can start winning such matches, he is not aiming for scores in these matches so the issue will remain in 3-4 years down the line..

 

[Zaz]

There was nothing wrong with the partnership

We had lost an early wkt and they had built a foundation to attack from unfortunately as soon as wre started accelerating we lost wkts as usual

If we had done it ealrier we wouldve lost even more heavily

 

[amvbfm]

Mohd Wasim and Shoaib Akhtar on their youtube channels have criticized the partnership and said that it may look good to some but given that Pakistan was chasing a big total of 340, they played too slow and wasted dot deliveries and did not keep up with the required run rate at all.

Mohd Wasim was even more critical of Pakistan not making full use of Shankar and that the entire strategy of waiting out till India bought the spinners on were flawed because the likes of Chahal, Kuldeep are wicket taking bowlers who get wickets in bunches and don't give you any freebies.

To me both Babar and Fakhar in particular looked shockingly poor against the spinners, Fakhar was hacking his way out of dot deliveries and his dismissal had nothing to do with Babar's dismissal but more his inability to play spin properly.

Our two best players today did poorly when it came to rotating the strike in comparison to the Indians, tells you everything that you need to know.

Hindsight is always 20/20 so it's easy to criticize but as I posted twice in the commentary thread Kohli did very well to get 5-6 overs in from Pandya and Shankar while Babar and Fakhar were content to knock it around. Kohli's hand was forced by Bhuvi's absence and we should have realized that and put pressure on at least one of Shankar or Pandya and that might have forced Kohli to bring on his spinners into the game much earlier, maybe even Jadhav (again impossible to say if it would've worked or instead have ended up being better for India). But at least it might have given them more confidence against the spinners. Again it comes to down to lack of match awareness and perhaps understanding of averages and numbers on the players part imo. Just like the other day when all Hafeez had to do was knock it around and score 5 per over but he needlessly went for a big hit. But at the same time must give credit to the Indian bowlers as it wasn't all just our ineptitude but also good bowling on their part.

 

[Pete Rose]

It wasnt aimless but it was useless because they were dismissed, fakhar was a soft dismissal. they were dismissed at a time when they were starting to accelerate.
As again you should blame team selection who played hafeez and malik thinking their experience against spinners will count.
Little did they know they wont last more than a couple of balls against India third change bowler.

 

[Bhaijaan]

I would agree.

Had Sharma and Kohli let that happen I would be livid.

Not that they parked the bus but they were well below the asking rate. It had already climbed up to 8.5 by the time they got out. You can’t leave a huge task for the remaining batsmen.

 

[cririri]

I have yet to see shoaib criticising malik and hafeez,babar got a beauty and match was far from over when he got out,117/2 in 23 isn't really dramatic.

 

[cririri]

I would agree.

Had Sharma and Kohli let that happen I would be livid.

Not that they parked the bus but they were well below the asking rate. It had already climbed up to 8.5 by the time they got out. You can’t leave a huge task for the remaining batsmen.

Which remaining bastmens?

 

[cririri]

I would rather back shadab/hasan/wahab to get 70 in last 10 than hafeez/malik/sarfi.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

It was still the best part of our sorry chase.
We saw how our other guys batted afterwards.
Fakhar needs to work on his drives and slogs over long on and long off. An opener needs to be a good player straight down the ground and a pick up shot over long on is a definite must for a guy who can time the bowl so well, same with Babar.

 

[Tapori]

That was a key passage of play.
You have to dispatch them; each one emboldened the indian team further and heaped pressure on the batsmen to make mistakes.

 

[Omer2002]

some people need to get educated for sure..i mean saffys innings 9 of 27 deliveries at one time when run rate was 9 plus no body says..even at the end we had hasan n wahab n amir left.

to keep blaming babar who at 24 has the whole world on his shoulders..dinally we got some runs from the hack fakhar n we all start to.complain and blame

 

[Bhaijaan]

1996 Anwar-Sohail, 2003 Tendulkar had the ideal chasing approach which Pakistan lacked today

It was strange seeing Fakhar Zaman batting out of his character today. We probably bowled well but he played a very average inning. You can’t call it poor but given the huge target he needed to do something similar to what Sohail and Anwar did in 1996 and Tendulkar 2003, also Gibbs and Smith during the 434 chase.

It was very crucial.

I think Fakhar going into a shell let Pakistan down big time today.

 

[chacha kashmiri]

Even Amla showed the other day patience is needed when batting
Easy to be a Nero but not sure we are quite ready to puff our chests out yet
It’s not so long ago we were 39-5 against India in a test match

 

[Fahdi]

No I think the partnership was a good one. The only issue was it wasn't long enough. They were under pressure and the start had been horrible. They stabilized the innings and were starting to pick up the pace. The plan to me looked like try to get to 160 in 30 overs without loosing a wicket. Had they done that game would have been on, we would have still lost but for any good side the game would have been on.

 

[JellyBro]

The ball that got babar out was amazing. You cant hold that against him. Malik, hafeez and sarfaraz on the other hand....

 

[topspin]

It just fooled us. The game was done. Babar missed out on 3 fours in a Shankar over. If that was Rohit or Kohli they would have been dispatched.

Don’t want to see Babar compared with the fab 4. I love him but he isn’t on their level.

Precisely and we've had [MENTION=134608]Hawkeye[/MENTION] tell us how he's one of the top 4 ODI batsman in the world

 

[Hasan123]

Precisely and we've had [MENTION=134608]Hawkeye[/MENTION] tell us how he's one of the top 4 ODI batsman in the world

He just wants to prove his agendas right. When they come off he tries to portray himself like a genius.

The fab 4 are vastly superior versus spin. Much better at rotating strike and have better shot ranges.

They are well ahead of Babar right now.

 

[Mamoon]

That partnership was going nowhere and it exposed their limitations. Both struggled a lot of put away decent deliveries, and that is why India didn’t allow them to get on top.

The pressure was building and it was only a matter of time before they threw it away. India were not threatened by their partnership at any moment in spite of missing a frontline bowler.

 

[Abdullah]

We were 20 off par score when they were together. And we had Shankar to bowl 5 overs so we're about ok.
They were just picking up when he got out.
Those spinners are good you know

 

[Visaal-E-Yaar]

At the last it's mind game. India beat you with 3 proper bowlers.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

We were 20 off par score when they were together. And we had Shankar to bowl 5 overs so we're about ok.
They were just picking up when he got out.
Those spinners are good you know

Agree, you have to give credit to the Indian spinners. The ball that got Babar was a beauty. As for Fakhar, he has a reputation for bashing spinners, but clearly he can only do it to second rate ones. He looked all at sea when Kuldeep came on, who bowled quite brilliantly to be fair.

 

[waleed88]

It just fooled us. The game was done. Babar missed out on 3 fours in a Shankar over. If that was Rohit or Kohli they would have been dispatched.

Don’t want to see Babar compared with the fab 4. I love him but he isn’t on their level.

I saw that, I was so shocked, the guy was giving gimmes at 79mph and Babar was hitting them straight to the fielder. Babar's effort was more shocking since he always batted like this even in Australia. Fakhar had more intent BUT in the end he also managed the same SR as Babar. Both were equally poor

 

[Hasan123]

I saw that, I was so shocked, the guy was giving gimmes at 79mph and Babar was hitting them straight to the fielder. Babar's effort was more shocking since he always batted like this even in Australia. Fakhar had more intent BUT in the end he also managed the same SR as Babar. Both were equally poor

There is something seriously wrong if you couldn't put those balls away.

 

[topspin]

He just wants to prove his agendas right. When they come off he tries to portray himself like a genius.

The fab 4 are vastly superior versus spin. Much better at rotating strike and have better shot ranges.

They are well ahead of Babar right now.

Tell me about it and all the Imad threads backfired spectacularly! He's been one of the few performing players this year, yet he goes after him of all people lol.

Although Babar has improved vastly against spin after the horrors he experienced during the SL whitewash test series, he's still going to get exposed against quality spin. I know Babar left a big gap between bat and pad, but we need to give credit to Kuldeep, that was a special delivery, so I'm not going to be harsh on him for being defeated by him today, however his strike rotation and overall SR against the slower bowlers was not good enough.

Babar needs to open, so he can build momentum during the PP, but he has a long way to go before he can be compared to the Fab 4 indeed. Not only are they better players, but they've all produced real blistering knocks batting at 5th/6th gear, for e.g. albeit a T20: Root vs SA in the last WT20 when England needed to chase something like 240. He produced a fantastic 80+ knock off 40-45 balls.

 

[emranabbas]

please please accept the fact our openers are not capable of playing a decent innings
so please stop hyping them to the moon and back.

I understand their approach of batting till the 35th over and see where stand but they bottle it half way through, if they want to go with that approach then they have to make sure that they are there till the 35th over to go beserk but instead they bring in out very fragile middle order when the asking rate is 7+ or 8+ an over, this does not allow our middle order to settle and instead they have to get going from ball one.

in my opinion that's a very selfish approach from our top 3, if they are going start a job they need to finish it and not put burden on others.

this world cup

Newzealand has Guptill strike rate of 148
England has roy at 118
west indies has at gayle 116
sri lanka has at perera 112
Australia has at finch at 110
afghanistand has at zazai 110
india has Dhawan at 103
Bangladesh has at Sarkar 103

but our top 3 we have fakhar at 89 babar 88 ad imam 65 which leaves our middle order playing catch up

unfortunately for that reason I cant rate our top 3 as the best in the world after virat kohli

 

[Hasan123]

Tell me about it and all the Imad threads backfired spectacularly! He's been one of the few performing players this year, yet he goes after him of all people lol.

Although Babar has improved vastly against spin after the horrors he experienced during the SL whitewash test series, he's still going to get exposed against quality spin. I know Babar left a big gap between bat and pad, but we need to give credit to Kuldeep, that was a special delivery, so I'm not going to be harsh on him for being defeated by him today, however his strike rotation and overall SR against the slower bowlers was not good enough.

Babar needs to open, so he can build momentum during the PP, but he has a long way to go before he can be compared to the Fab 4 indeed. Not only are they better players, but they've all produced real blistering knocks batting at 5th/6th gear, for e.g. albeit a T20: Root vs SA in the last WT20 when England needed to chase something like 240. He produced a fantastic 80+ knock off 40-45 balls.

Today was a good ball by Kuldeep. But Babar has had that issue against spin for a while. They flight the ball outside the off stump and he is found wanting.

His lack of rotation is the thing he needs to improve. He wont ever be a power hitter. But he should be able to hit the ball into gaps. That's what the fab 4 do and they pounce on any loose balls. That's what keeps their strike rate at a appropriate level.

 

[Abdullah]

Agree, you have to give credit to the Indian spinners. The ball that got Babar was a beauty. As for Fakhar, he has a reputation for bashing spinners, but clearly he can only do it to second rate ones. He looked all at sea when Kuldeep came on, who bowled quite brilliantly to be fair.

Look these guys choked Smith anf Warner just last week, and they are "slightly" better players than Babar and fakhar.

These 2 were fighting to get us into the game

 

[topspin]

Today was a good ball by Kuldeep. But Babar has had that issue against spin for a while. They flight the ball outside the off stump and he is found wanting.

His lack of rotation is the thing he needs to improve. He wont ever be a power hitter. But he should be able to hit the ball into gaps. That's what the fab 4 do and they pounce on any loose balls. That's what keeps their strike rate at a appropriate level.

When he plays spin he needs to be fully forward or fully back, but he is always a candidate for lbw/bowled because he is simply trapped in the crease at times. I would like to see him spend time with Younis Khan to aid his development against spin bowling.

I am much more optimistic about his test match career (despite a tough start), especially outside the SC because he won't be restricted with defensive fielders and thus be exposed for his lack of power game. Just needs to start converting those 50s to 100s.

 

[Bonafide Hustler]

1996 and 2003 were different wickets. There was 0 movement on those pitches and the ball was really coming onto the bat. Bumrah and Bhuvi were both seaming almost every ball first few overs. Sure Pak batsman could have been more aggressive but its not comparable to 2003 where 350+ was on par. Pakistan scored way too few runs.

 

[Bonafide Hustler]

They batted just fine, stop overreacting. Give credit to Kuldeep for producing a good ball. Also sweeping a leg spinner always carries a risk of a top edge which is what happened to Fakhar.

 

[BaankeJi]

Partnership was good. They set a great foundation for themselves and remaining batsmen.
Kuldeep bowled a great delivery - if PCT had done their homework on Kuldeep, Babar could have negotiated that one. But Pakistan team does not believe in that kind of thing.
That was the turning point. Fakhar also misread Kuldeep and perished.
This is Mickey's task though - someone needs to hold him accountable.

 

[sshakir411]

They lost us the match. Sucked the life out of the innings and only started accelerating when the required rate was more than 7.5. You can’t chase 337 against a strong bowling line up like that. Never took advantage of Bhuvneshwar getting injured and kept working on solidifying a platform. This is not how the best players should play. They were timid and pathetic until it was too late.

 

[The Viper]

They had to take chances against Pandya and Shankar even if it costed their wickets. They built a decent partnership but considering these two are the best they had to bat at a much quicker pace.

 

[PakistanMeriJaan]

It was providing Pakistan with what it required.

Babar got out to a peach, and from then on we collapsed.

Pakistan will never be a team that will attack bowlers from the first over and smash sixes like England. They prefer to take a bit time in the initial stages of the ininnings and look to the top 3/4 to bat long and deep, get to a good total and up the RR in the last 10-15 overs.

Only main criticism I have is Fakhar seriously needs to learn to put a price on his wicket and convert all 30/40s into 100+

 

[Wahid1234]

It just fooled us. The game was done. Babar missed out on 3 fours in a Shankar over. If that was Rohit or Kohli they would have been dispatched.

Don’t want to see Babar compared with the fab 4. I love him but he isn’t on their level.

excellently put and spot on. Babar can only dream of becoming even half the player rohit is. Man has never won a crunch match for his country and his quite frankly another umar akmal. You can say what u want but umar akmal has won us more games than this soo called technically gifted babar has.

 

[Savak]

To be honest a lot of these batsmen would become match winners if our bowlers were as good as in the past.

 

[Tintin_FTW]

They batted like they knew as soon as they were dismissed the match was over. That's what happens when no one from 4-6 averages over 35. Get rid of Hafeez, Sarfaraz and Malik.

 

[saeedhk]

Exactly. There was no gameplan. Our team looked lost before the match even started. Babar and Fakhar just tried to put a decent score, chasing the total was never their aim. Pathetic. Actually, the match was lost as soon as Sarfraz decided to bowl first knowing they can’t chase even 150.

 

[ads101]

They played themselves in and we needed ideally both to accelerate or at least one. Unfortunately both got out in quick succession, and the match was over. Partly the danger of playing yourself in for so long, it was at the half way point in the match, can't afford for someone else to come in and play themselves in anymore. But at that point once the spinner came on, Babar and Fakhar had to go for it.

It would have been better to start pushing the acceleration at 30 odd runs instead of so late so time to try and build again. But both were under pressure as there's not much batting down the order, Sarfraz and Malik aren't capable of scoring at high SR, Hafeez is inconsistent. They probably took the highest probable chance of winning, relying on them two. By playing so long until 50, 60 or so, they probably thought they'd played themselves as much as possible so chances of getting out would be the slimmest. Unfortunately the spinner was too good.

I think it's enough of having batsmen you have to accommodate for. Either the batsmen are too slow with no hitting ability or no trust of lasting very long. Pick batsmen who are able to play themselves in and then accelerate from at least 1-6.

 

[coy0607]

I think the Pakistan team knew the match was lost at the innings break - at least in their minds.

That partnership, like the rest of the Pakistani innings, was just going through the motions.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Call it a good bowling. They were not able to pick the spinners. Sometimes they blindly prodded trying to read of the pitch.

 

[Kianig89]

The game was lost in bowling no team has chased 336 in WC history ir was pathetic bowling bar Amir

 

[zarar]

As soon as Sarfaraz decided to bowl. The game was done. Because the majority of these guys have no plan B, They ride on a lot of luck and don't have the mentality to deal with certain situations which occur in a game.

All of our batsmen didn't have a clue today, There was no hope when Babar and Fakhar were batting either for me personally. It was literally the worst partnership I've ever witnessed from a top order.

 

[Babbar]

Advantage with Kohli, Rohit, Shikhar is the fallback in Dhoni, Rahul and Pandya, who are genuine batsmen hitters. I am not even counting Kedar, DK and Varun, who can all score at 150+ and are all decent batsmen.

Pakistan does not have the next level batsmen who can play at 150-200 strike rate.

Babar and Fakhar did well but they can’t regularly win matches for Pakistan against top teams unless they have someone better than Sarfaraz, Malik or Asif to follow. Pakistan needs to provide better firepower around these two batsmen, rather than expecting them to make century partnerships in 60 balls.

Imam should aim to be Pakistan’s Pujara and play only in Test matches. He will do well there. The poor guy is fish out of water in ODIs.

 

[Sir Alex]

I get the feeling that while both are talented they tend to be a bit theoretical in their approach and do not improvise a lot.

I think the mandate for them was to lay out first 15 or 20 overs given there was threat of rain and be on par with the DL method and afterwards accelerate.

However at least one of them should have improvised when they were given a big lottery upfront, seeing Bhuvaneshwar injured fairly early. In came their most vulnerable bowler and regardless of that wicket they should have targeted Shankar. They failed in that, let India build some momentum and get in a few cheap 5th bowler overs in the power play itself. You will never see Indian top order doing that.

 

[Lovelydayall]

Indian pacers and then spinners were on the attack. Thats why Fakhar and Baber in their current sublime form could not get the momentum. Once Babar was out to a brilliantly through his gates, Fakhar did not deem fit to give himself a chance to anchor the inning the way he did in CT 17.

 

[Stumper]

Babar & Fakhar i don't think were not taking on Shankar as bowler was the turning point. You can not score 60 odd runs chasing 337 when one of the frontline bowlers is injured and gone back in stadium. You guys lost there only.

 

[masalamaster]

Please stop crucifying the young inexperienced lads who were trying their best given the situation and early wicket. Their partnership was the only bright spot for Pakistan today.

Pakistan team management should actually take a second look into hafeez and shoaib and decide what they want to do with them. That's the real concern along with the great captain sarfaraz. They all played so irresponsibly and allowed for that crazy 86 run deficit when rain interrupted. All they had to do was hold the wicket and keep the runs ticking and they failed to do so.

 

[hafizexpress]

They did what they could. They're young and not really experienced, especially playing in a high pressure game with a billion people watching. That is the most they could do and it was up to the experienced middle order to take it from there but they are so bad you can't even blame Babar and Fakhar for their efforts. They were taking the game nicely and slowly accelerating.

Unfortunately Babar got a jaffa and from there it all went downhill like crazy. But really they're not the main culprits and what they were doing was right and the run rate was slowly increasing. I just can't stress how incompetent these so called senior batsmen are.

 

[Sunny_majoka]

We were never in a game once India crossed 300,
No team has chased 300 easily in world cup game we can't blame batsmen

 

[sshakir411]

Please stop crucifying the young inexperienced lads who were trying their best given the situation and early wicket. Their partnership was the only bright spot for Pakistan today.

Pakistan team management should actually take a second look into hafeez and shoaib and decide what they want to do with them. That's the real concern along with the great captain sarfaraz. They all played so irresponsibly and allowed for that crazy 86 run deficit when rain interrupted. All they had to do was hold the wicket and keep the runs ticking and they failed to do so.

Young lads that have been been a regular part of the playing 11 for 2+ years. LOL. Babar and Fakahar are supposed to be few of our best players. Yet they were playing at 3 per over when the required rate was 8. Maaf kardo bhai. They deserve a boot along with the dinosaurs and the captain.

 

[saeedhk]

You just can’t win when you decide to bowl. Pakistan has the worst chasing side. Why would you bowl when you can’t even chase 150? Did he think Pak will bowl India out for 100?

 

[Mr.Q]

This thread’s title reminds of that conspiracy theory thread about why Warner - Smith batted so slowly against India. Can we apply that logic here too? No, right?

They batted well. It was the only partnership that looked threatening. They were trying to take the game deep which was exactly what was needed. Pakistan is a team with more sloggers than proper batsmen and that’s why they’re a good T20 side. Run rate may not have been a problem for them. Even 12 runs per over is achievable these days. So I couldn’t see a fault with their strategy. They were getting the occasional boundary too. Said the same in that other thread too, but sadly the post got deleted.

 

[sshakir411]

This thread’s title reminds of that conspiracy theory thread about why Warner - Smith batted so slowly against India. Can we apply that logic here too? No, right?

They batted well. It was the only partnership that looked threatening. They were trying to take the game deep which was exactly what was needed. Pakistan is a team with more sloggers than proper batsmen and that’s why they’re a good T20 side. Run rate may not have been a problem for them. Even 12 runs per over is achievable these days. So I couldn’t see a fault with their strategy. They were getting the occasional boundary too. Said the same in that other thread too, but sadly the post got deleted.

The batsmen after Fakahr and Babar were Hafeez, Sarfraz, Malik, and Imad..if those guys are sloggers then I’m friggin Superman!

 

[Stumper]

This thread’s title reminds of that conspiracy theory thread about why Warner - Smith batted so slowly against India. Can we apply that logic here too? No, right?

They batted well. It was the only partnership that looked threatening. They were trying to take the game deep which was exactly what was needed. Pakistan is a team with more sloggers than proper batsmen and that’s why they’re a good T20 side. Run rate may not have been a problem for them. Even 12 runs per over is achievable these days. So I couldn’t see a fault with their strategy. They were getting the occasional boundary too. Said the same in that other thread too, but sadly the post got deleted.

man you did not have afridi/young Dhoni/Yuvi/Klusner waiting in the wings. the players you had were avg players not hitters. warner/smith approach can still be justifieable as they had Maxwel/Stoinis to accelerate who are well capable of doing that. not your batters that too in friking world cup match ??

 

[Mr.Q]

The batsmen after Fakahr and Babar were Hafeez, Sarfraz, Malik, and Imad..if those guys are sloggers then I’m friggin Superman!

Imad, Fakhar, Shadab and the tail are good sloggers. Sarfraz is not a batsman or a slogger. Hafeez is a good batsman. Malik is good too or rather used to be good too.

 

[Mr.Q]

man you did not have afridi/young Dhoni/Yuvi/Klusner waiting in the wings. the players you had were avg players not hitters. warner/smith approach can still be justifieable as they had Maxwel/Stoinis to accelerate who are well capable of doing that. not your batters that too in friking world cup match ??

They bat deep. And they’re good sloggers too. India was one bowler short. It would have been a closer battle had they batted for a while more. Actually I feel Pakistan is better equipped than Australia to face the slog overs.

 

[Stumper]

Imad, Fakhar, Shadab and the tail are good sloggers. Sarfraz is not a batsman or a slogger. Hafeez is a good batsman. Malik is good too or rather used to be good too.

how many matches these guys have won when you require 90/100 runs in last ten overs ??

 

[Mr.Q]

how many matches these guys have won when you require 90/100 runs in last ten overs ??

That I don’t know but they certainly can. If it was someone other than Sarfraz at the other end, Pakistan would have won that match against Australia.

 

[sshakir411]

Imad, Fakhar, Shadab and the tail are good sloggers. Sarfraz is not a batsman or a slogger. Hafeez is a good batsman. Malik is good too or rather used to be good too.

Imad and Shadab are true hit or miss players. They have a probability of less than 10% to ever chase down a target with the RR being 12.0. Hafeez and Malik are a little better but way over the hill. I agree with where you’re coming from but tbh this friggin squad cannot deliver when needed. It’s pathetic. And I as a loyal fan of Pakistan cricket have never felt this robbed or disappointed. They are all trash. Literally.

 

[Dr_Bassim]

A lot of ill informed posts in the thread.

Some appreciating the partnership and others criticizing it.

If Pakistan were planning to take the game deep with Sarfraz, Hafeez and Malik as the hitters to hit 10 to 12 runs per over, then perhaps I am losing my mind.

Add Imad, Shadab and Wahab and expect them to score 12 an over for 15 overs is madness.

 

[Mr.Q]

Imad and Shadab are true hit or miss players. They have a probability of less than 10% to ever chase down a target with the RR being 12.0. Hafeez and Malik are a little better but way over the hill. I agree with where you’re coming from but tbh this friggin squad cannot deliver when needed. It’s pathetic. And I as a loyal fan of Pakistan cricket have never felt this robbed or disappointed. They are all trash. Literally.

Hehe don’t be disheartened bro. I’m pretty sure they’ll look to build a young squad now. Maybe a true blessing in disguise.

 

[Hasan123]

Imad, Fakhar, Shadab and the tail are good sloggers. Sarfraz is not a batsman or a slogger. Hafeez is a good batsman. Malik is good too or rather used to be good too.

Shadab strike rate in ODIs is 65. Explain how that is a good slogger?

 

[Mr.Q]

A lot of ill informed posts in the thread.

Some appreciating the partnership and others criticizing it.

If Pakistan were planning to take the game deep with Sarfraz, Hafeez and Malik as the hitters to hit 10 to 12 runs per over, then perhaps I am losing my mind.

Add Imad, Shadab and Wahab and expect them to score 12 an over for 15 overs is madness.

Well 12rpo was an exaggerated figure. The RRR was around 8.5 when Babar got out I think. The chase was very much ON until he got out.

 

[Mr.Q]

Shadab strike rate in ODIs is 65. Explain how that is a good slogger?

I remember him finishing off a match. I think it was in New Zealand. I rarely look at stats.

 

[Dr_Bassim]

Well 12rpo was an exaggerated figure. The RRR was around 8.5 when Babar got out I think. The chase was very much ON until he got out.

It started at around 6.7 and reached 8.5 by the time batsmen were looking to hit.

Do you know how 9 runs are scored in an EVERY over to win the match?

You MUST HIT a BOUNDARY EVERY OVER.

That's not easy to do and every over that you play out 4-6 runs will cause the RRR to get higher and higher.

When Babar got out as it is, it was already 8.5. Hafeez had no choice but to play aerial from ball number 2 anyways. When the RRR is 8.5 for greater part of 25 overs, each batsmen that gets out, puts extra pressure on the new batsmen to keep hitting a boundary from ball 1.

I don't like this approach at all of taking the game deep UNLESS you have hitters like PANDYA, MAXWELL, CAREY, BAIRSTOW, BUTLER in your side.

What was Pakistan doing taking the game deep and letting the run rate hit 10 or 11 an over?

Sarfraz would become Butler? Malik would become Pandya? Imad would become Maxwell?

I think people underestimate the importance of letting the RRR always stay around 6-7 max per over and think that even 8 per over is doable at the end.

THE HIGHEST run chase in this WORLD CUP IS 245.

Imagine?

And still people want wickets in hand to attack a 350 target after cantering to 160 odd in 30 overs.

It just won't happen.

The pressure is too much.

 

[jeetu]

I think the batting performance to Wahab and Hasan Ali vs Australia might have prompted them to bat slower than usual. Pakistan could have think out of the box and prompted Wahab or Hasan came in as pinch hitter.