The last two matches clearly show where Pakistan has declined

[Usman Chadda]

Sri Lanka v India
Bangladesh v New Zealand

Won on the back of strong batting performances. From Gunathilaka, Mendis, Matthews etc to Shakib and Mahmudullah, every neutral right now would be in awe of these batting master-class' and would in a heartbeat rate these two matches above Pakistan-South Africa in-terms of excitement and skill level. Pakistan's match was a lot more ruthless since they decimated the number one team in the world with an art that just does not get any attention in world cricket nowadays. Yet neutrals would rate Sri Lanka and Bangladesh's chances higher than Pakistan to lift the trophy.

Pakistan has fallen behind because we were ALWAYS a team that relied on its bowling. Please do not quote Saeed Anwar, Inzi, Yousuf, Ijaz etc. I have been watching cricket since 1998, and our bowling match-winning performances have out-weighed its counterpart by a massive margin throughout our history. Modern day LOI cricket doesn't give two hoots about bowling. Its an achievement if a side doesn't concede 250+ nowadays, and this achievement is extremely rare on pitches nowadays. Think its about time our administrators, players, coaches, fans and former players understand that bowling will NEVER make you a successful LOI team anymore. Its about time we introduced a batting culture and work on the grass-roots level with a clear plan in mind. Bowling as an art is dying a slow death and Pakistan needs to realize that it needs to take a massive leap into the other dimensions (batting and fielding) to achieve results.

Sri Lanka's batting performance puts them firmly into the driving seat going into Monday's clash and I really hope these last two matches serve as an inspiration to the mediocre batting line-up that takes the field in Pakistan colors come the 12th of June.

 

[PakWC2015]

I think a major reason is also fan expectation. When you defend a batsman for scoring at 70s/r in the modern climate and saying that the fact they couldn't cross a 100 runs is because they either bat too low down the order or have to come in after a collapse it sets the bar low. When other players see this they realise they can also do this. When the players play for personal runs instead of batting to the situation the team requires you cannot get too far at all.

Bangladesh had 2 batsmen come in with bangladesh 4 wickets down, both scored 100s at around 95s/r. Says it all.

 

[Savak]

The last two matches only showed that Pakistan does not have the spine to try to score fast and even score fast while consolidating at the same time from the onset.

 

[Hasan123]

Exactly well said. Need to select the likes of Talat, Amin,Harris, and Yamin and you will see a change in our batting.

Our bowling is shaping up nicely. We have some decent bowlers coming through so not too worried about our bowling.

Just need to select the right batsmen and ditch the deadwood. You will see us rise up the rankings once this happens.

 

[superman]

We need to stop recycling 65-70sr ribbish such as shehzad. This is sinply not acceptable for a modern opener. Im going to be crucified but Misbah was to blame a lot and evidenced by him in mohali and then recommending azhar ali as captain. We can be competitive just select an ODi team. Even now if we drop azhar ali and hafeez and get faheem in it makes us a stronger batting lineup

 

[Prince of Pakistan]

The people in the PCB, our legends ( the ex players) and some fans as well will never get it. Instead they have kept defending these type of bats making them greats ( farewell series).

I wonder if there is even one person in our cricket set up who gets this and wants to get the more modern batsmen in. I am sure for most of them Shehzad is still the most modern bat, unfortunately.

 

[Syed1]

Bhai what are you talking about. People make threads praising Azhar Ali for his grit and temperament after he bats at an atrocious SR of 70.

This is the culture a certain captain has left us with, that if you can do tuk tuk no matter the match situation then you are fighting it out and showing grit. No wonder we are sitting at number 8 in the rankings.


The first thing we need to do is get rid of dot ball specialists like Azhar, Shehzad and Hafeez.

 

[proud_pakistani]

Our batting has been poor post Inzi and Yousuf era and it has gotten worse. Batsmen like Hafeez and Shehzad have become dot ball specialists in the Misbah era.

 

[Shaik]

PAKISTAN HAS NOT DECLINED, RATHER OTHER TEAMS HAVE PROGRESSED.

And PAKISTAN IS STILL STUCK TO IT'S 90'S APPROACH.

BOWLING OUT A TEAM BELOW 250 and Chasing it.

PRIME EXAMPLE BEING, THE RECENT MATCH AGAINST SA, and Second ODI AGAINST AUSTRALIA.

WHEN PAKISTAN PACERS FIND SOMETHING IN THE PITCH, THEY KNOW WHAT THEIR JOB IS.

Yes Pakistan can still win ODI's with this approach. But, for that they need 2 brilliant pacers to support Amir and Hassan like Asif and Razzaq(AR). Two balls rule should be removed. Lone spinner being a World class like Saqlain

Imagine this bowling at their prime

7.Razzaq
8.Amir
9.Hassan
10.Saqlain
11.Asif

 

[Lynx]

Totally agree. Bowlers won't win you matches on a consistent basis in this day and age. Almost all bowling attacks get smashed for totals over 300 pretty regularly. Maybe every 1 match out of 7-8 you'd see a bowling performance that restricts opposition to a low total as Pak did against SA. It's a batsman's game now and if you don't have a strong, modern and dynamic batting line up, you'd be losing more often than not. But do our cricket administrators realize this, and are they willing to do something about it? I can't see it, as our brilliant management can't even select the right players for the playing XI from the available squad.