Savak
World Star
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2006
- Runs
- 50,234
- Post of the Week
- 3
Under the experienced troika of Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen, Shadab, we have endured the following results from 2022 onwards
1) Lost to Australia at home in the test series (1-0) in 2022 when Australia was touring the country for the first time since 1998. Also lost the T-20 series 1-0
2) Lost to England at home in the test series (3-0) in 2022-2023 and the T-20 series (4-3) in 2022
3) Drew against New Zealand at home in the test series in 2023, lost the ODI series (2-1) in 2023
4) Lost 2-1 to Afghanistan in Sharjah in the T-20 series in 2023. This was a dire warning for things to come
5) Drew against a New Zealand C-D team in the T-20 series (2-2) in 2023 when Pakistan was at full strength
6) Got brutally trashed against India on a green seaming wicket where they allowed India to score 359 runs and then got bowled out for 127 runs in response. So brutal as the trashing that the team lost total confidence and they lost to Sri Lanka in the next game and got knocked out of the Asia ODI Cup. It can be said that the team never really recovered from this trashing and the myth of Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen, Shadab, Naseem, Rauf and co being world beaters got brutally exposed.
7) ODI WC in India in 2023. Pakistan got brutally trashed by India, Australia, England and suffered a shock defeat to Afghanistan and failed to qualify for the semi finals. Babar and Rizwan looked very much below the rest of the main star batsmen in the other teams and out dated with their 70-80 strike rates. Shaheen too looked a complete shadow of himself and was trundling at 127-131 km/hr in his opening spells. Shadab was woefully out of sorts with the ball and was dropped midway in the WC
8) Test series whitewash against Australia in Australia in 2023 (3-0). Babar looked like a complete school boy against the likes of Starc, Hazelwood, Cummins. The same bowlers who struggled to breach Pujaras defense after bowling to him for days found Babar Azam "Easy work". Shaheen was operating at 123-130 km/hr during this series including Perth of all places
9) T-20 series defeat against New Zealand in New Zealand in 2024 (4-1). Shaheen, Rauf got regularly trashed in this series
10) T-20 series against New Zealand in Pakistan in 2024. A full strength Pakistan marginally won 2-1 against a C-D New Zealand team
11) T-20 series against England in England (2-0) in 2024. Pakistan got trashed against a full strength England team in 2024
12) T-20 series against Ireland in Ireland in 2024. Pakistan lost a T-20 against Ireland when Pakistan was at its full strength with Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen, Shadab at their disposal.
13) T-20 World Cup in 2024. Pakistan lost to India, USA. Babar played a legendary 44 runs of 43 ball knock against USA, Shaheen, Rauf, Shadab got smashed against USA. Pakistan lost the match against India from a winning position and Rizwan threw away his wicket against Bhumrah at the most crucial time period
14) Bangladesh Test series at home in 2024. Pakistan lost 2-0 where Babar had a poor series with the bat, Shaheen was low on speed, effectiveness and Aamir Sohail was screaming from the commentary box i.e. "Shaheen has been habitually bowling around the wicket to the right hander and has been relying on hope rather than any properly planning, not once has he even tried to bowl over the wicket to the right hander and try something different". Even Naseem was horribly ineffective from his second, third spell onwards.
15) England Test series at home in 2024. Pakistan got badly trashed by England in the first test where Shaheen, Naseem were treated like absolute school children. Babar looked like a school boy and was easily knicked off by Atkinson behind the wicket on a flat deck. PCB's patience finally fell drew thin and they decided enough was enough and it was time for drastic measures. They took the bold decision to drop Babar, Shaheen and strip Gillespie who was behaving like a fan boy of the players of his powers and give Aqib Javed full control. The PCB included Kamran Ghulam to replace Babar, and decided to prepare full dry spinning pitches and included Noman, Sajid and the team was miraculously able to switch their fortunes around and defeat a full strength England at home against all odds in the last 2 test matches
16) Pakistan beat Australia (2-1) in Australia in 2024 in the ODI series. Saim Ayub, Shaheen, Naseem, Rauf came through for Pakistan in this series. Not much was required from Babar and Rizwan. However Pakistan lost the T-20 series (3-0) with a full strength bowling line up of Shaheen, Nasim and Babar, Rizwan failed spectacularly
17) Pakistan beat Zimbabwe (2-1) in the ODI and T-20 series each in 2024. Babar, Shaheen were rested for the series. Rizwan was rested for the T-20 matches. This was a young team therefore the result was immaterial but we found a good young spinner in Sufyan Muqeem in this series
18) Pakistan lost to South Africa (2-0) in the T-20 series where Rauf, Shaheen were taken to the cleaners but beat South Africa (3-0) in the ODI Series where Shaheen, Rauf, Naseem and Suffyan Muqeem impressed with the ball. Pakistan lost the test series (2-0) and lost the first test match from a winning position where we had South Africa 99-8. Naseem Shah was expensive, inconsistent and the team management did not have enough confidence to retain him for the second test even though he was the quickest Pakistani pacer in the team.
19) Pakistan drew 1-1 against a weak West Indies side at home. Warrican brutally exposed Pakistani spin defficient batsmen with his arm balls include Salman Agha, Rizwan. Babar as usual failed in this series and a series Pakistan was expected to win was squandered.
20) Tri Series at home in 2025 against South Africa and New Zealand. Pakistan lost twice to New Zealand and Shaheen, Naseem, Rauf got routinely trashed. Babar failed to make an impact as opener and the team clearly looked weak in the spin bowling department and not once did the team management even consider the fact that the likes of Sufyan Muqeem, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan were needed to bolster the spin bowling department to take advantage of the spin and turn on offer.
21) Champions Trophy. Pakistan lost to New Zealand in their opening game where Shaheen, Naseem got tonked at the death and where Babar came in as opener and played a slow painstaking 60 of 91 deliveries before he miscued an aggressive shot against Satner and easily fell for the bate laid out against him. Pakistan lost their next game against New Zealand where Babar after getting off to a good start easily fell to a bait, trap laid out by Pandya outside the off stump and proved the easy work he was for the opposition bowlers. Rizwan scored a fascinating 40 of 70 deliveries and Shaheen apart from the inswinging Yorker against Rohit (who was selflessly playing for the team going for his shots rather than statpadding) got smashed around by Gill. A way past his prime Kohli struggling for runs was easily able to score a century against an over hyped Pakistani bowling line up of Shaheen, Naseem, Haris. The selectors once again showed the stubborness of not including specialist spinners in the Pakistani team i.e. Sufyan Muqeem, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan when the wickets were aiding spin and when they had the opportunity to include a replacement for the injured Fakhar Zaman, they chose to select the legendary Imam ul Haq instead.
22) Pakistan lost the T-20 series against New Zealand (4-1) with a young inexperienced side. To be fair the wickets in the NZ were very tough with plenty of bounce, seam and it was no surprise to see the Pakistani batsmen all at sea but it was shocking to see Shaheen get smashed in every game for 48 runs in 4 overs. Fans in social media and some ex cricketers on Saya's payroll made a hue and cry about the reason for Pakistan's defeats being because of the abscence of Babar, Rizwan in the line up. Babar Rizwan came back into the team and even then Pakistan lost 3-0 against New Zealand. Babar got out like a school boy caught at slip in the second ODI and failed to finish the game of for Pakistan in the first and third ODI when he got a start.
23) Pakistan won the T-20 series against Bangladesh (3-0) at home with a young inexperienced side. No Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen selected in the team
24) Pakistan lost the T-20 series against Bangladesh in Bangladesh (2-1) with a young inexperienced side. The Pakistani team failed to adopt to the slow sluggish Bangledeshi pitches but they almost came back from behind to win the second T-20.
25) Pakistan beat the West Indies in USA (2-1) in the T-20 series. The only T-20 they lost were because of the experienced bowling duo of Hasan Ali and Shaheen Afridi. Shaheen failed to defend 5 runs of 1 ball and bowled a wide in the second T-20 and then conceeded a boundry of Holder to singlehandly lose the game for Pakistan. Pakistan lost to the West Indies (2-1) in the ODI series. In the first ODI Pakistan would have lost had it not been for the partnership between Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat. In the second ODI where Babar got bowled for a duck, the turning point of the match occurred when Hethmyer took Shaheen apart and helped rally the West Indies back in the game. In the third ODI, our bowlers conceeded 100 plus runs in the final ten overs and both Babar, Rizwan folded under pressure.
Final Comments
Hand on your heart with absolute neutrality given the results above where our team is languishing at the bottom of the rankings in all formats. Where Pakistan has failed to qualify for the semis in the last 3 ICC events, Where we have finished a the bottom of the World Test Championship Cycles, where we have lost all major iconic games against major teams, where our celebrated super star duo of Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen, Shadab, Rauf, Naseem have all gone missing. Ask yourselves the honest questions below?
- Does this team really deserve a massive billing? The PCB has been struggling to achieve their targetted broadcast revenue targets from international and domestic broadcasters for the last 2 years and to be fair, why will the broadcasters give PCB the money they are demanding given the teams results?
- During this time period the Pakistani players have been throwing tantrums with the PCB with regards to their central contracts, the right to a share in the ICC revenues and other sources. Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen were in Category A where they were making Rs 6.7 million a month from retainers alone and were also allowed NOC's for various T-20 leagues around the world. Does the PCB not have the right to demote these players based on the team's results in the last 2-3 years?
PCB Mismanagement issue aside, when has their ever been a PCB administration which has not been guilty of poor governance, bad policies but the reality of the situation is Mohsin Naqvi is not going anywhere. At the end of the day the players actual currency is their performance i.e. the runs they score, when they score them, the impact they have, the wickets they take, when they take them, do they help the team win with their performances, the hard work they put on their games, skills, fitness during the off season let alone their daily lives. Is there any present Pakistani player whom we can say scores high on these counts?
1) Lost to Australia at home in the test series (1-0) in 2022 when Australia was touring the country for the first time since 1998. Also lost the T-20 series 1-0
2) Lost to England at home in the test series (3-0) in 2022-2023 and the T-20 series (4-3) in 2022
3) Drew against New Zealand at home in the test series in 2023, lost the ODI series (2-1) in 2023
4) Lost 2-1 to Afghanistan in Sharjah in the T-20 series in 2023. This was a dire warning for things to come
5) Drew against a New Zealand C-D team in the T-20 series (2-2) in 2023 when Pakistan was at full strength
6) Got brutally trashed against India on a green seaming wicket where they allowed India to score 359 runs and then got bowled out for 127 runs in response. So brutal as the trashing that the team lost total confidence and they lost to Sri Lanka in the next game and got knocked out of the Asia ODI Cup. It can be said that the team never really recovered from this trashing and the myth of Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen, Shadab, Naseem, Rauf and co being world beaters got brutally exposed.
7) ODI WC in India in 2023. Pakistan got brutally trashed by India, Australia, England and suffered a shock defeat to Afghanistan and failed to qualify for the semi finals. Babar and Rizwan looked very much below the rest of the main star batsmen in the other teams and out dated with their 70-80 strike rates. Shaheen too looked a complete shadow of himself and was trundling at 127-131 km/hr in his opening spells. Shadab was woefully out of sorts with the ball and was dropped midway in the WC
8) Test series whitewash against Australia in Australia in 2023 (3-0). Babar looked like a complete school boy against the likes of Starc, Hazelwood, Cummins. The same bowlers who struggled to breach Pujaras defense after bowling to him for days found Babar Azam "Easy work". Shaheen was operating at 123-130 km/hr during this series including Perth of all places
9) T-20 series defeat against New Zealand in New Zealand in 2024 (4-1). Shaheen, Rauf got regularly trashed in this series
10) T-20 series against New Zealand in Pakistan in 2024. A full strength Pakistan marginally won 2-1 against a C-D New Zealand team
11) T-20 series against England in England (2-0) in 2024. Pakistan got trashed against a full strength England team in 2024
12) T-20 series against Ireland in Ireland in 2024. Pakistan lost a T-20 against Ireland when Pakistan was at its full strength with Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen, Shadab at their disposal.
13) T-20 World Cup in 2024. Pakistan lost to India, USA. Babar played a legendary 44 runs of 43 ball knock against USA, Shaheen, Rauf, Shadab got smashed against USA. Pakistan lost the match against India from a winning position and Rizwan threw away his wicket against Bhumrah at the most crucial time period
14) Bangladesh Test series at home in 2024. Pakistan lost 2-0 where Babar had a poor series with the bat, Shaheen was low on speed, effectiveness and Aamir Sohail was screaming from the commentary box i.e. "Shaheen has been habitually bowling around the wicket to the right hander and has been relying on hope rather than any properly planning, not once has he even tried to bowl over the wicket to the right hander and try something different". Even Naseem was horribly ineffective from his second, third spell onwards.
15) England Test series at home in 2024. Pakistan got badly trashed by England in the first test where Shaheen, Naseem were treated like absolute school children. Babar looked like a school boy and was easily knicked off by Atkinson behind the wicket on a flat deck. PCB's patience finally fell drew thin and they decided enough was enough and it was time for drastic measures. They took the bold decision to drop Babar, Shaheen and strip Gillespie who was behaving like a fan boy of the players of his powers and give Aqib Javed full control. The PCB included Kamran Ghulam to replace Babar, and decided to prepare full dry spinning pitches and included Noman, Sajid and the team was miraculously able to switch their fortunes around and defeat a full strength England at home against all odds in the last 2 test matches
16) Pakistan beat Australia (2-1) in Australia in 2024 in the ODI series. Saim Ayub, Shaheen, Naseem, Rauf came through for Pakistan in this series. Not much was required from Babar and Rizwan. However Pakistan lost the T-20 series (3-0) with a full strength bowling line up of Shaheen, Nasim and Babar, Rizwan failed spectacularly
17) Pakistan beat Zimbabwe (2-1) in the ODI and T-20 series each in 2024. Babar, Shaheen were rested for the series. Rizwan was rested for the T-20 matches. This was a young team therefore the result was immaterial but we found a good young spinner in Sufyan Muqeem in this series
18) Pakistan lost to South Africa (2-0) in the T-20 series where Rauf, Shaheen were taken to the cleaners but beat South Africa (3-0) in the ODI Series where Shaheen, Rauf, Naseem and Suffyan Muqeem impressed with the ball. Pakistan lost the test series (2-0) and lost the first test match from a winning position where we had South Africa 99-8. Naseem Shah was expensive, inconsistent and the team management did not have enough confidence to retain him for the second test even though he was the quickest Pakistani pacer in the team.
19) Pakistan drew 1-1 against a weak West Indies side at home. Warrican brutally exposed Pakistani spin defficient batsmen with his arm balls include Salman Agha, Rizwan. Babar as usual failed in this series and a series Pakistan was expected to win was squandered.
20) Tri Series at home in 2025 against South Africa and New Zealand. Pakistan lost twice to New Zealand and Shaheen, Naseem, Rauf got routinely trashed. Babar failed to make an impact as opener and the team clearly looked weak in the spin bowling department and not once did the team management even consider the fact that the likes of Sufyan Muqeem, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan were needed to bolster the spin bowling department to take advantage of the spin and turn on offer.
21) Champions Trophy. Pakistan lost to New Zealand in their opening game where Shaheen, Naseem got tonked at the death and where Babar came in as opener and played a slow painstaking 60 of 91 deliveries before he miscued an aggressive shot against Satner and easily fell for the bate laid out against him. Pakistan lost their next game against New Zealand where Babar after getting off to a good start easily fell to a bait, trap laid out by Pandya outside the off stump and proved the easy work he was for the opposition bowlers. Rizwan scored a fascinating 40 of 70 deliveries and Shaheen apart from the inswinging Yorker against Rohit (who was selflessly playing for the team going for his shots rather than statpadding) got smashed around by Gill. A way past his prime Kohli struggling for runs was easily able to score a century against an over hyped Pakistani bowling line up of Shaheen, Naseem, Haris. The selectors once again showed the stubborness of not including specialist spinners in the Pakistani team i.e. Sufyan Muqeem, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan when the wickets were aiding spin and when they had the opportunity to include a replacement for the injured Fakhar Zaman, they chose to select the legendary Imam ul Haq instead.
22) Pakistan lost the T-20 series against New Zealand (4-1) with a young inexperienced side. To be fair the wickets in the NZ were very tough with plenty of bounce, seam and it was no surprise to see the Pakistani batsmen all at sea but it was shocking to see Shaheen get smashed in every game for 48 runs in 4 overs. Fans in social media and some ex cricketers on Saya's payroll made a hue and cry about the reason for Pakistan's defeats being because of the abscence of Babar, Rizwan in the line up. Babar Rizwan came back into the team and even then Pakistan lost 3-0 against New Zealand. Babar got out like a school boy caught at slip in the second ODI and failed to finish the game of for Pakistan in the first and third ODI when he got a start.
23) Pakistan won the T-20 series against Bangladesh (3-0) at home with a young inexperienced side. No Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen selected in the team
24) Pakistan lost the T-20 series against Bangladesh in Bangladesh (2-1) with a young inexperienced side. The Pakistani team failed to adopt to the slow sluggish Bangledeshi pitches but they almost came back from behind to win the second T-20.
25) Pakistan beat the West Indies in USA (2-1) in the T-20 series. The only T-20 they lost were because of the experienced bowling duo of Hasan Ali and Shaheen Afridi. Shaheen failed to defend 5 runs of 1 ball and bowled a wide in the second T-20 and then conceeded a boundry of Holder to singlehandly lose the game for Pakistan. Pakistan lost to the West Indies (2-1) in the ODI series. In the first ODI Pakistan would have lost had it not been for the partnership between Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat. In the second ODI where Babar got bowled for a duck, the turning point of the match occurred when Hethmyer took Shaheen apart and helped rally the West Indies back in the game. In the third ODI, our bowlers conceeded 100 plus runs in the final ten overs and both Babar, Rizwan folded under pressure.
Final Comments
Hand on your heart with absolute neutrality given the results above where our team is languishing at the bottom of the rankings in all formats. Where Pakistan has failed to qualify for the semis in the last 3 ICC events, Where we have finished a the bottom of the World Test Championship Cycles, where we have lost all major iconic games against major teams, where our celebrated super star duo of Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen, Shadab, Rauf, Naseem have all gone missing. Ask yourselves the honest questions below?
- Does this team really deserve a massive billing? The PCB has been struggling to achieve their targetted broadcast revenue targets from international and domestic broadcasters for the last 2 years and to be fair, why will the broadcasters give PCB the money they are demanding given the teams results?
- During this time period the Pakistani players have been throwing tantrums with the PCB with regards to their central contracts, the right to a share in the ICC revenues and other sources. Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen were in Category A where they were making Rs 6.7 million a month from retainers alone and were also allowed NOC's for various T-20 leagues around the world. Does the PCB not have the right to demote these players based on the team's results in the last 2-3 years?
PCB Mismanagement issue aside, when has their ever been a PCB administration which has not been guilty of poor governance, bad policies but the reality of the situation is Mohsin Naqvi is not going anywhere. At the end of the day the players actual currency is their performance i.e. the runs they score, when they score them, the impact they have, the wickets they take, when they take them, do they help the team win with their performances, the hard work they put on their games, skills, fitness during the off season let alone their daily lives. Is there any present Pakistani player whom we can say scores high on these counts?
