The problems with Pakistan's T20I team

[IMMY69]

I read a lot of threads where people are bashing our T20 team for lacking big hitters.

"Barbar can't hit sixes".
"Our top six can't hit big".
"The batsmen in the PSL are poor"
etc etc etc

However, maybe some perspective is in order.

Afterall, we were number 1 in the world not long ago with victories against England in England, against the Windies both home and away, against Sri Lanka at home and recently against the Kiwis in their own backyard.

So how is that we lack the players and yet somehow are close to if not at the top of the tree when it comes to T20's.

Also this is not some fluke as we've done pretty well in the past too with a completely different team. In the T20 world cup being semi finalists twice and actually winning it once.

Some say T20's are the way forward and that Test cricket is boring etc etc but from what I can see we're pretty darn good in this format.

 

[Mamoon]

I read a lot of threads where people are bashing our T20 team for lacking big hitters.

"Barbar can't hit sixes".
"Our top six can't hit big".
"The batsmen in the PSL are poor"
etc etc etc

However, maybe some perspective is in order.

Afterall, we were number 1 in the world not long ago with victories against England in England, against the Windies both home and away, against Sri Lanka at home and recently against the Kiwis in their own backyard.

So how is that we lack the players and yet somehow are close to if not at the top of the tree when it comes to T20's.

Also this is not some fluke as we've done pretty well in the past too with a completely different team. In the T20 world cup being semi finalists twice and actually winning it once.

Some say T20's are the way forward and that Test cricket is boring etc etc but from what I can see we're pretty darn good in this format.

Pakistan were ahead of the game in the early days of T20 cricket. From 2005-2011, most teams were still figuring out their T20 strategy and a lot of ODI and Test specialists were playing T20 cricket. At that time, there was no concept of T20 specialists.

However, Pakistan already had players like Afridi, Razzaq, Kamran, Gul, Umar, Ajmal etc. that have them a head-start. As a result, we were a top a T20 side and were the best team across the first three WT20s.

However, in the last 5-6 years, teams have evolved and have left Pakistan behind. It is not a surprise that our performance in the last 2-3 WT20s have been poor.

At the moment - irrespective of what the rankings say - our T20 team is average. T20 rankings cannot be taken seriously because teams generally do not play fix combinations and do not take them seriously outside the WT20s - they use them to test new players and combinations.

Pakistan probably takes the format more seriously than any team. As far as our so-called success in recent times is concerned, we defeated a SL and a WI team that was without quite a few players than won them two WT20s.

The win in England was a one-off match and the NZ series helped our batsmen because of the short boundaries. The gap between power hitters and weak hitters is reduced in small grounds. In addition, their best T20 batsman did not play in the decider.

Teams like England, India, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand are better than us in this format. However, the gap between teams in this format is not as big as in the other two formats. It can take 5 overs to win or change a T20 game.

 

[babajee]

Pakistan’s ranking in the T20 is format is, like other things in Pakistan cricket, a massive fluke.

We are a terrible terrible team who can’t hold a bat and has a few bowlers who can be okay on their day.

Idc about ranking shanking... reality check incoming.

 

[IndianFan2018]

T20I are mostly fillers, these matches outside T20 WC's are used for trying out new players (exactly same thing is happening in Nidahas Trophy in SL).

Only T20 WC title wins have little significance

I can remrmber all ODI WC winners but difficult to get T20 WC winners names in order!

PS: Except when Ind won innagural T20 WC

 

[IMMY69]

Our team for the last two t20 tournaments were filled with has beens...
We have a far better team these days with the likes of Fakhar, Babar, Fahim, Imad and Shahdab.

I think we underestimate our current T20 team.

 

[IMMY69]

T20I are mostly fillers, these matches outside T20 WC's are used for trying out new players (exactly same thing is happening in Nidahas Trophy in SL).

Only T20 WC title wins have little significance

I can remrmber all ODI WC winners but difficult to get T20 WC winners names in order!

PS: Except when Ind won innagural T20 WC

Except that we were not using T20’s for trying our new players.
It was only during the very later part of 2016 when we started playing younger players and the results have so far been good.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Pakistan's strength is bowling in T20s. Yes, power hitters are missing in the team still they are consistently posting 170+ scores.

 

[MMHS]

Only problem in T20 team is that it’s at least 5 years older than what it should be.

After PSL & particularly watching IU, one should realize that AT LEAST for T20, Buzurgs don’t need to back up the “youngsta” with their experience.

Sarfraz should be the only player over 29 - for all other Buzurgs, please give them one game against WI in front of home crowd and request them to leave the kids at the mercy of Almighty. Kids are more than capable to find the light.

MoHa, Malik, Kamran, Irfaaaan, Wahab, Sami, Yasir, Azhar, Tannu, Anwar Ali, Asad, Sohail .... all should get a game against WI.

 

[babajee]

Only problem in T20 team is that it’s at least 5 years older than what it should be.

After PSL & particularly watching IU, one should realize that AT LEAST for T20, Buzurgs don’t need to back up the “youngsta” with their experience.

Sarfraz should be the only player over 29 - for all other Buzurgs, please give them one game against WI in front of home crowd and request them to leave the kids at the mercy of Almighty. Kids are more than capable to find the light.

MoHa, Malik, Kamran, Irfaaaan, Wahab, Sami, Yasir, Azhar, Tannu, Anwar Ali, Asad, Sohail .... all should get a game against WI.

+ Umar, Shehzad, Maqsood

 

[MMHS]

+ Umar, Shehzad, Maqsood

Maqsood may be, but others are young enough not to be forced to retirement. Even Maqsood I feel is close to genuine age, hence he has 2/3 years at least at top level.

Few days back I was watching a clip from NZ 2010, when Ahmed was apparently 19 & MoHa 29 ....... this is the biggest problem with T20 team (actually PAK team in general) - people are expecting “power hitting” from players based on their certificate age; and they are delivering according to their biological age. Hence, there is a good 5/6 years gap between expectations & delivery in a game dominated by muscle power, reflex & hand-eye coordination.

Unless this is fixed, I don’t think changing players matters much. If I were in charge, I would have made average age of T20 squad officially 23, so that by 2020, it reaches to 25 level. For that, a big drop in ranking table is acceptable; but that squad will make the SF at least in AUS. This bunch looks like playing in slow mo against anything over 135K - add to that bounce on Aussie track

Someone should make a clip of Shinwari’s over and send it to MoHa’s Tweeter account .... if it somehow rings a bell somewhere.

 

[ManFan]

We just beat the number 1 side 2-1 in their backyard. With the inclusion of young blood, I see our limited-overs fortunes changing for the better. Let's not forget that our last T20 WC squad had the likes of Sami, Afridi, U. Akmal, Khurram Manzoor, Hafeez, Shehzad, Irfan. Our last WC squad, I would rather not go there.

 

[Abdullah719]

 

[Danyaalr01]

We just beat the number 1 side 2-1 in their backyard. With the inclusion of young blood, I see our limited-overs fortunes changing for the better. Let's not forget that our last T20 WC squad had the likes of Sami, Afridi, U. Akmal, Khurram Manzoor, Hafeez, Shehzad, Irfan. Our last WC squad, I would rather not go there.

Woops. Oldies back.

 

[DRsohail]

Maqsood may be, but others are young enough not to be forced to retirement. Even Maqsood I feel is close to genuine age, hence he has 2/3 years at least at top level.

Few days back I was watching a clip from NZ 2010, when Ahmed was apparently 19 & MoHa 29 ....... this is the biggest problem with T20 team (actually PAK team in general) - people are expecting “power hitting” from players based on their certificate age; and they are delivering according to their biological age. Hence, there is a good 5/6 years gap between expectations & delivery in a game dominated by muscle power, reflex & hand-eye coordination.

Unless this is fixed, I don’t think changing players matters much. If I were in charge, I would have made average age of T20 squad officially 23, so that by 2020, it reaches to 25 level. For that, a big drop in ranking table is acceptable; but that squad will make the SF at least in AUS. This bunch looks like playing in slow mo against anything over 135K - add to that bounce on Aussie track��

Someone should make a clip of Shinwari’s over and send it to MoHa’s Tweeter account .... if it somehow rings a bell somewhere.

What an analysis.

 

[Abdullah]

There are only two issues here, fakhar and Hasan have fallen off a cliff, and t20 was right up sarfaraz Ahmed's street as a cricket captain.

Anything else anybody else says I'm smh
We have the candidates to replace hasan and fakhar, we just need to go through them before we land on sharjeel and Shaheen/musa

( Im assuming Malik will be back next series too)

 

[Energy]

Agree with Abdullah on the above post. We all would have said in a heartbeat a couple of years back that Fakhar, Babar, Hassan, Shadab would be the linchpin of our cricket moving forward. Three out of the four have regressed quite badly, rather shockingly.

Now that may be down to teams figuring out their weakness. But that is down to lack of player development under PCB. Something which is not new to our cricket circuit.

Give these four to any other team to be groomed properly and they would have been world class today.

 

[Savak]

Pakistan's insipit bowling attack is to blame for our poor performances of late

If you had told me that Pakistan would successfully post 150 runs on the board in a T-20 against Australia in Australia, i would have taken it. Our bowling attack is just not penetrative enough and is clearly rated far too highly than the actual performances deserve.

Amir and Wahab do not have the eternal right to continously play game after game for Pakistan. In fact if these two players are not interested in playing for Pakistan in the longer format then the selectors need to strongly consider moving them on especially given the formers loss of pace, lack of penetration and the later's Spray Gun, Unreliable nature.

Irfan based on what i have seen without 140 km/hr plus consistent is a non factor and his bouncers at 130-135 km/hr don't really work. I don't think he can handle the rigors of a high pressure World T-20 tournament anymore and will be a liability in the field.

Shadab has not been performing for ages. His googly is either easily picked or he doesn't have the confidence to deliver it consistently. Regardless the initial X factor regarding his bowling is gone now and he can't be continously picked without picking wickets in the middle overs. Time to give Usman Qadir a run and to give Shadab a much needed kick up the back side.

Pakistan also need to do away with the tactic of giving Imad the new ball. To win games you need to pick up early wickets and giving Imad the new ball is a defensive move. Best to attack with two pacers and to fresh, young, hungry, without any baggage pacers.

Pakistan historically has never been a great batting side but the team management and selectors really need to back young players especially in the bowling department, bowling used to be our strength for a long time and now we are losing games consistently because of the lack of quality in our bowling.

 

[Ismailtoca]

Did you watch the game.

Amir was fine.
Shadab has been poor recently, but today he was decent.
Wahab was disastrous - the first ball was good - and after the noball he just lost it; scared of Smith.
I also agree that Irfan wasn't the best.

Smith was just too good. He played all deliveries with ease. The balls he dispatched for four would've gotten wickets if it were any other batsman.

However, it was the batting that let us down. Should've been atleast 165 to be defendable. There were no demons in the pitch.

Wahab/Irfan should be replaced for the next game.

 

[Titan24]

While no doubt bowling needs to improve but we have to realize that when we got that streak of 11 consecutive wins our batting was doing extremely well and we scored 180-200 on 4 consecutive occasions along with number of great efforts with bat including chase of 170 odd runs vs Aus in tri series final.

It was a small ground today and 150 odd wasnt a good score here.

 

[Mamoon]

Some people never learn. This thread is a good example.

 

[azimiqbal]

I agree bowling needs to be better , but today’s match was lost due to our batting
Too many players who score at a run a ball

We need to replace

Fakher - just poorly out of form

Harris- too slow and can’t play the short ball

Rizwan - is too slow for this format

Asif - needs to be replaced but I can see why there are giving him a chance

 

[Captain caveman]

Pakistan were ahead of the game in the early days of T20 cricket. From 2005-2011, most teams were still figuring out their T20 strategy and a lot of ODI and Test specialists were playing T20 cricket. At that time, there was no concept of T20 specialists.

However, Pakistan already had players like Afridi, Razzaq, Kamran, Gul, Umar, Ajmal etc. that have them a head-start. As a result, we were a top a T20 side and were the best team across the first three WT20s.

However, in the last 5-6 years, teams have evolved and have left Pakistan behind. It is not a surprise that our performance in the last 2-3 WT20s have been poor.

At the moment - irrespective of what the rankings say - our T20 team is average. T20 rankings cannot be taken seriously because teams generally do not play fix combinations and do not take them seriously outside the WT20s - they use them to test new players and combinations.

Pakistan probably takes the format more seriously than any team. As far as our so-called success in recent times is concerned, we defeated a SL and a WI team that was without quite a few players than won them two WT20s.

The win in England was a one-off match and the NZ series helped our batsmen because of the short boundaries. The gap between power hitters and weak hitters is reduced in small grounds. In addition, their best T20 batsman did not play in the decider.

Teams like England, India, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand are better than us in this format. However, the gap between teams in this format is not as big as in the other two formats. It can take 5 overs to win or change a T20 game.

A very accurate and unbiased reply by you, makes for a nice refreshing change.

 

[Hashaam Tahir]

Pakistan's T20 performance downfall

Pakistan's T20 performance has started declining in 2019. One of the main reasons is that their senior players like Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez have been excluded from the squad beacuse of their poor performances in world cup recently. But the records of both players in T20 format are quite good. Pakistan needs to bring back these all rounders back in their squads before T20 world cup which is going to happen next year.
Secondly the management of Pakistan Cricket team has made lot of unrequired experiments just at the wrong time like Ahmad Shehzad and Umar Akmal. These two senior players were picked in the squad because of brilliant performances in PSL 2019 but were picked after 7 months of PSL. Their selection disturbed the momentum of the entire team.
Another major reason for the decline in performance is changing T20 captain just at the wrong time when the world cup is very near. Sarfraz Ahmad is removed from T20 captaincy before T20 despite the record of winning 11 consecutive series.
Changing of captain, coaches, selection committee has also impacted adversely suddenly at the same time.
Pakistan cricket team management and think tank will have to think and sort out the main causes behind this decline as T20 world cup is just 7 months away.

 

[Mamoon]

Pakistan's T20 performance has started declining in 2019. One of the main reasons is that their senior players like Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez have been excluded from the squad beacuse of their poor performances in world cup recently. But the records of both players in T20 format are quite good. Pakistan needs to bring back these all rounders back in their squads before T20 world cup which is going to happen next year.
Secondly the management of Pakistan Cricket team has made lot of unrequired experiments just at the wrong time like Ahmad Shehzad and Umar Akmal. These two senior players were picked in the squad because of brilliant performances in PSL 2019 but were picked after 7 months of PSL. Their selection disturbed the momentum of the entire team.
Another major reason for the decline in performance is changing T20 captain just at the wrong time when the world cup is very near. Sarfraz Ahmad is removed from T20 captaincy before T20 despite the record of winning 11 consecutive series.
Changing of captain, coaches, selection committee has also impacted adversely suddenly at the same time.
Pakistan cricket team management and think tank will have to think and sort out the main causes behind this decline as T20 world cup is just 7 months away.

There is no downfall. We were bound to get exposed eventually.

Proper teams like India, England and Australia do not care about T20I cricket when it is not the World T20 season. In the off-season, the IPL has more worth than T20Is.

We made hay after the last World T20 in 2016 and before the 2019 World Cup, when teams weren’t bothered about T20I cricket and were focused on ODI cricket because of the World Cup.

However, we have two World T20s in the next two years and there is no ODI tournament till 2023. Teams are now focused on T20I cricket and have started to channel their energies into this format. Now it is our time to get humiliated and realize that our number 1 ranking and our winning streak in this format was a sham.

Over the next few years, you will see Pakistan lose grip on its fake ranking of 1 and come down to earth. We don’t have the quality to outclass full-strength Indian, English and Australian sides. Perhaps not even West Indies on proper wickets.

This has nothing to do with the exclusion of Hafeez and Malik or the sacking of Sarfraz, Mickey and Inzamam. This reality check was always on the cards and Sarfraz, Mickey and Inzamam are actually lucky to have not been exposed like Misbah. They got out of the firing line at a very convenient time.

Pakistan has been a below average T20 team since 2010. We shone during the formative years of the format (2006-2009) because we were ahead of the curve with players like Afridi, Gul, Ajmal, Razzaq etc., but once other teams caught up with the format, we have been reduced to mediocrity.

 

[nextover666666]

I find the problem is our team selection we useually select the wrong players give a lot TTF a chance and get the wrong team combination as well

 

[Captain caveman]

2 simple rules :

1. No.one over the age of 32 can be selected.

2. No one can have an average less than 30 and strike rate less than 140.

 

[Captain caveman]

2 simple rules :

1. No.one over the age of 32 can be selected.

2. No one can have an average less than 30 and strike rate less than 140.

Number 2 applies to top 6 only.
Bowlers will have to meet different stats i.e. economy of 7 or lower and average of 20 or less.

 

[Abdullah719]

2 simple rules :

1. No.one over the age of 32 can be selected.

2. No one can have an average less than 30 and strike rate less than 140.

We'll have to start hunting for new players then.

 

[Captain caveman]

We'll have to start hunting for new players then.

Well done sir, you understood my post completely!

 

[Abdullah719]

Well done sir, you understood my post completely!

Your post is ridiculous. There are only a handful of active international players right now who fulfil that criteria. Finch, Gayle, Maxwell, Munro, maybe Rahul. Even Kohli's SR is in the 135 region.

Need to be a little more realistic.

 

[Captain caveman]

Maybe you need to set your sights higher!
Average of 30 with a strike rate of 140 equates to 30 runs off 21.4 deliveries, lets round up to 22 deliveries.
Doesn't sound impossible to me.
Any score higher than 30 will have a similar ratio.
Don't worry about what other teams are doing, set your own targets.

By the way, ifti scored almost double my suggested average and at a strike rate of nearly 200!

 

[Captain caveman]

Maybe you need to set your sights higher!
Average of 30 with a strike rate of 140 equates to 30 runs off 21.4 deliveries, lets round up to 22 deliveries.
Doesn't sound impossible to me.
Any score higher than 30 will have a similar ratio.
Don't worry about what other teams are doing, set your own targets.

By the way, ifti scored almost double my suggested average and at a strike rate of nearly 200!

Correction!
30 runs from 18 deliveries

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pakistan last 9 T20Is:<br><br>Lost 7<br>Won 1<br>No result 1<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1192502587255328769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 7, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[MMHS]

Maybe you need to set your sights higher!
Average of 30 with a strike rate of 140 equates to 30 runs off 21.4 deliveries, lets round up to 22 deliveries.
Doesn't sound impossible to me.
Any score higher than 30 will have a similar ratio.
Don't worry about what other teams are doing, set your own targets.

By the way, ifti scored almost double my suggested average and at a strike rate of nearly 200!

That’s probably the biggest misconception or I say problem of PAK batting started from that mantra - what you are saying is Afridi rule .... SR is absolutely useless unless you back it by volume. There are many players who’ll score 13 of 7 (that’s a SR of 185!!!!), but it won’t work anything longer than T10 cricket. Today what Sharmaji did to our boys is what wins games - a minimum score of 35, may be at 150 SR (23 balls) is what makes any impact, otherwise just looking at SR is misleading.

The problem isn’t power hitting, trust me - problem is apart from Babar, every PAK boundary seems to come from low percentage shots (means anytime batsman can get out trying to enforce scoring - never in control) - very little shot making ability and almost nil manoeuvring skills, means batsmen can’t rotate strike, can’t push in gaps, can’t cash on loose balls and almost always depending on release shots - even not good at that either.

Take out Babar, PAK will surprise you regularly even against associates while chasing.

 

[Chokli]

Hafeez has been our best T20 player.

 

[Captain caveman]

That’s probably the biggest misconception or I say problem of PAK batting started from that mantra - what you are saying is Afridi rule .... SR is absolutely useless unless you back it by volume. There are many players who’ll score 13 of 7 (that’s a SR of 185!!!!), but it won’t work anything longer than T10 cricket. Today what Sharmaji did to our boys is what wins games - a minimum score of 35, may be at 150 SR (23 balls) is what makes any impact, otherwise just looking at SR is misleading.

The problem isn’t power hitting, trust me - problem is apart from Babar, every PAK boundary seems to come from low percentage shots (means anytime batsman can get out trying to enforce scoring - never in control) - very little shot making ability and almost nil manoeuvring skills, means batsmen can’t rotate strike, can’t push in gaps, can’t cash on loose balls and almost always depending on release shots - even not good at that either.

Take out Babar, PAK will surprise you regularly even against associates while chasing.

Brother i said an AVERAGE OF 30 and a strike rate of 140.
As abdullah pointed out a strike rate of 140 is quite rare at this time, so a strike rate of 120+ is more realistic, but with an average of 30+.
I believe in the future(maybe in a decade or so, an average of 30+ and a strike rate of 140+ will be more common)
I also stated NOT TO IGNORE SINGLES.

 

[docteurmanish]

There is no downfall. We were bound to get exposed eventually.

Proper teams like India, England and Australia do not care about T20I cricket when it is not the World T20 season. In the off-season, the IPL has more worth than T20Is.

We made hay after the last World T20 in 2016 and before the 2019 World Cup, when teams weren’t bothered about T20I cricket and were focused on ODI cricket because of the World Cup.

However, we have two World T20s in the next two years and there is no ODI tournament till 2023. Teams are now focused on T20I cricket and have started to channel their energies into this format. Now it is our time to get humiliated and realize that our number 1 ranking and our winning streak in this format was a sham.

Over the next few years, you will see Pakistan lose grip on its fake ranking of 1 and come down to earth. We don’t have the quality to outclass full-strength Indian, English and Australian sides. Perhaps not even West Indies on proper wickets.

This has nothing to do with the exclusion of Hafeez and Malik or the sacking of Sarfraz, Mickey and Inzamam. This reality check was always on the cards and Sarfraz, Mickey and Inzamam are actually lucky to have not been exposed like Misbah. They got out of the firing line at a very convenient time.

Pakistan has been a below average T20 team since 2010. We shone during the formative years of the format (2006-2009) because we were ahead of the curve with players like Afridi, Gul, Ajmal, Razzaq etc., but once other teams caught up with the format, we have been reduced to mediocrity.

Pakistan is a decent side but of late I have seen Bangla performance as top notch in t 20 and is after india second best team I feel

What is the reason I don’t see any world class bowlers like saqlain or asif in current squad ? And the batting is a notch below international standards - when I see Babar batting , he looks a steady version of dravid but definitely I don’t see him in same class as kohli or sharma and he is not dravid level in tests just the odi dravid I remember .

Any reason why Bangla doing better ? What changed ? Did lack of international cricket hurt pak so badly ?
Finally don’t u feel pak should move from
Uae to india to play their international matches - feel pitches in india have more variety like bangalore mumbai Dharamshala and chenna each has different facets and pak will benifit from playing in such pitches - not to mention how much relations can improve

 

[mesmerizer85]

They should try the young bowlers in T20s. Unfortunately they are kept for tests to make them prone to injury

 

[Muhammad Saad]

Lack of power hitters and spinners who can actually spin is our problem in t20s

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pakistan last 10 T20Is:<br><br>Lost 8<br>Won 1<br>No result 1<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AusvPak?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AusvPak</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1192762091922509824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 8, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>