The What Went Wrong at the 2019 World Cup Thread

[Civil]

Look we weren't going to win it all regardless with this team. Too many issues.

We really showed up here and won matches no one expected. I'm happy with this result.

People look too much into world Cup records and position you finish etc. And it doesn't matter

Look with tournaments like this with only 10 teams. Either you WIN it or don't. In two weeks time we will be same position as three other semi finalists can't tell me otherwise.

 

[nads_rocks]

Fakhar went wrong - Rubbish
Imam went wrong - Trash
Babar - Superb player
Haris - Superb player
Imad - Decent
Hafeez - Should have sat out like Malik and brought in Asif atleast we would have seen something of intent or a climb in the NRR or something am sure Asif isn't all that useless.
Amir - Superb but failed on early wickets, batsman played safe against him.
Safraz - Clueless captain hiding behind the stumps and then hiding at no.6
Wahab - Experiment worked a treat, bowled his heart out batted his heart out for the team.
Hasnain - Should have got in 1 game atleast.
Shaheen - Few bad games but then bowled like he is known to bowl so decent run
Malik - Garbage
Asif - Should have been given a game when Pakistan had to up their NRR in play and just like Haris who sat out and came back strong Asif should have been trusted upon.
Hassan - Poor world cup, needs to go back to basics and find his petrol in the generator.

First Game - West Indies - Its where it all went wrong, Pakistan started in the worst possible way by playing amateur cricket, they had a headstart in playing on these pitches where despite the 4-0 white wash they still batted extraordinary against England so should have been used to the conditions and pitches before facing West Indies.
This is the game where it haunted them till the last minute because their NRR took a huge damage.

2nd Game - England - Did well to set the tournament favourites and Home giants a daunting total but the dropped catches misfields meant the margin of the win was just 14 runs when it should have been alot more atleast 40 runs.

3rd Game - Sri Lanka wash out - Would have been 50/50 because they are no pushovers, not walk in the park so would have been an interesting game but 1 point did not help the NRR again.

4th Game - Austalia - Did so well to peg them back to 307 and Pakistan also started the chase well were always ahead of the required run rate BUT then they did what they do best and IMPLODED. Really lost a winning game, did more damage to their position in the table and their overall NRR increased too.

5th Game - India - Got schooled once and yet again, they just seemed clueless out there on how to conduct a professional chase, again dropping catches misfielding not seeming interested didn't help matters. Huge margin loss, damage to NRR.

6th Game - do or die - backed in to the corner, did the job against punching bags of this world cup South Africa. They had to win and win they did.

7th Game - New Zealand - Beat the unbeaten team but this is where they should really have shuffled their batting order and chased down 238 with plenty overs to spare but they took it to the last over.
A great century by Babar of course but still did not help with the NRR which in a World Cup should always be contended with but Pakistan overlooked it and its the win to them that mattered.

8th Game - Afghanistan - Although they won this was the game where they should have really destroyed annihilated the team, forget their world class spinners, Pak are the greatest players of spin so that should not be an excuse, forget the slowness of the pitch. That does not do justice to chasing a mere total of 228 in a pathetic childish manner to the last 2 balls when your qualification depends on a decent NRR.
They may have won the game but to me they played the most dreadful cricket to chase that total.

9th Game - Bangladesh - Its over, no matter win or lose bat first or bat 2nd, Pakistan has never started their first 10 overs with attack or intent they go at snails pace, try to preserve wickets build partnership instead of setting a platform. So whether they win or whether they lose its a dead rubber end of.

So thats where they went wrong, they didn't have that hunger, that junoon, that josh you want to see in the team, that electric energy.
They did not in any way perform like a superior International team at all.

Dropping catch after catch and smiling or pretending the ball hurt your hand finger.
Wasted pathetic reviews
Silly stupid run outs.
Gifted wickets like its Eid or Christmas
Failed to capitalise on good starts batting first or bowling first.
Never really looked to put the oppositions under pressure whether batting first or bowling first.
They gave up chases easily.
They just on the field to smile and chew gum
Late night dinner parties
Shisha Outings
Not taking fitness seriously
Not taking diet seriously.

This is not a world cup winning team and its been led by a coward captain.

Thats why they are where they are and why they do not deserve to be in the semi-final on their own doing.

They need changes, alot of it starting from deadwood and garbage players.

Only players that shone in this world cup

Babar
Haris
Amir
Shaheen
Imad

Thats all.

 

[chacha kashmiri]

Tactics weren’t subtle, everyone could see Pakistani ten moves before they got into top gear
Haris sohail was used too late
Fakhar zaman did nothing for our nrr
Hafeez had to babysit our middle order because of our long tail
Sarfraz was yawning while Rohit was blasting off
If Nz had let us bat first , we wouldn’t have made 200
Malik and Asif Ali both had mental breakdowns leaving us with a squad of 13
Inzimam and sarfraz scared the Indians more than archer did
The streak against Australia continues

 

[Stewie]

This unpredictability/incosistency tag is hurting our cricket. We need to build a team that doesn't rely on raw talent and what mood the players are in but on strategy, discipline and merit.

The coach is supposed to work with the captain to focus on this aspect. I always felt with Pakistan, the language barrier with foreign coaches and outside interference, this never get codified into a single unanimous voice.

Basically we need one person in charge who provides the basic guidance and structure for the series/tournament and captain and players wholeheartedly follow it.

When we lost a few, it seems Sarfaraz completely lost it, there were murmurs about him not happy with playing elevens and whatnot. These are the sort of things we need to guard against. There is extreme unprofessinalism in everything we have done forever. One would think, it’s not the foreign coaches but we ourselves who completely screw up their plans.

I think that is the main reason our team blows so hot and cold. There is no unified and solid leadership at the top that gives them confidence and a streamlined vision to work with. Once we nail that down and I hope we will, I think we will see better performances and results.

 

[drk]

NZ did have Total meltdown v England yesterday

 

[jnaveen1980]

Don’t deny he pinned their hopes on Fakhar giving fiery starts in every match with hackish methids

 

[Usman Chadda]

We lost to the West Indies, a team everyone has nicked 2 points off atleast. If we had beat them, we would be on 11 points right now with one match to go.

Straightforward entry into the semi-finals.

I hope every stakeholder in Pakistan cricket takes note of this mess up, which I'm certain no one would have thought, will come up to haunt us at the end.

Very disappointing.

 

[Mamoon]

We lost to the West Indies, a team everyone has nicked 2 points off atleast. If we had beat them, we would be on 11 points right now with one match to go.

Straightforward entry into the semi-finals.

I hope every stakeholder in Pakistan cricket takes note of this mess up, which I'm certain no one would have thought, will come up to haunt us at the end.

Very disappointing.

That is the problem. It was fully on the cards for a 6th ranked team that hopped into the World Cup on one leg with a 13 match streak. It was on the cards just like the 5-0 whitewash in New Zealand or the humiliation in the Asia Cup. It is just that we don't learn from our past mistakes and hope for different results with the same tried and failed process.

 

[Snatch]

We lost to the West Indies, a team everyone has nicked 2 points off atleast. If we had beat them, we would be on 11 points right now with one match to go.

Straightforward entry into the semi-finals.

I hope every stakeholder in Pakistan cricket takes note of this mess up, which I'm certain no one would have thought, will come up to haunt us at the end.

Very disappointing.

Haha any team can play this game of "If we'd only beaten such & such then..."

You didn't, so it's a moot point.

 

[Snatch]

We lost to the West Indies, a team everyone has nicked 2 points off atleast. If we had beat them, we would be on 11 points right now with one match to go.

Straightforward entry into the semi-finals.

I hope every stakeholder in Pakistan cricket takes note of this mess up, which I'm certain no one would have thought, will come up to haunt us at the end.

Very disappointing.

Look at the bright side, you were the 6th ranked side coming into the WC, and if you can manage to beat Bangladesh tomorrow (I happen to think Bang will win that game and are the better side, but if you do win) you finish 5th which is better than your ranking. So from that point of view it would have been progress of a kind for Pakistan.

 

[jnaveen1980]

It all started last year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpOy87aSv6E

Mohammad Hafeez returned the favor lol Then and there Pakistan's world cup dream took a huge dent.

 

[Rudi hater]

If Pakistan wins last match a 5th position on the table with joint 4th on points is a respectable finish. They just to learn from the mistakes and get rid off old heads. I also think Pakistan needs to resturcture domestic cricket to cope with chasing issue they have.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Failures galore before the world cup yet we persisted with same tried and tested failures, so crashing out is what pakistan deserved.

Sadly the same mistakes will be made over next 4 years also as is the appetite for PCB for humiliation and failure.

 

[dragon751]

not winning against WI cost us WC semis.

dont you think you are taking Bangladesh too lightly and assuming you will beat them ?

 

[geraltofrivia]

dont you think you are taking Bangladesh too lightly and assuming you will beat them ?

and the assumption that they would have won against sl and for that matter ind would have won against nz as well.

 

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

To be fair, nothing went wrong with Pakistan team at the World Cup.

Pakistan won all the games they were expected to win except one (WI).

Won couple of games they were not expected to win (Eng, NZ.)

Lost the games they were supposed to lose (Ind, Aus.)

If they win against Bangladesh, this will be classified as a very good tournament and much better than the form going into it.

The only one that got away could be the Sri Lanka game, when they weren't playing well and Pakistan had the momentum after England win.

All in all, a very balanced position, based on the run of play.

 

[aukhan]

So many things went wrong.

Burgers, Pizza, Openers, lethargic attitude, darpok captain who hid behind tail enders.

 

[Zahid87]

Difficult to say...not a long went wrong, or rather not a lot went against expectations at the World Cup itself.

We had an inconsistent batting line up coming into the tournament, which played to type - i.e. expect Babar to play well, and hope one or two other chip in.

Bowling wise, I would argue that it was better than expected. Amir performed well above his recent form. Hasan Ali was the same as he has been for the last two years, so no surprises there. Shaheen was our best performing pace bowler over the last few months, so again, no surprise that the team looked better with him in there.

We under-performed badly against the West Indies - where we would expect to at least compete, if not win. And over-performed to win against England.

At the end of the day, majority of people who follow the game expected the Top 4 to be Australia, England and India, with a toss up for the last place. Which is exactly what happened. No one really seriously had Pakistan down as nailed on for the semis.

 

[barah_admi]

xactly the point.. there are some people who think themselves as philisophers always crying n crying crying ...

as for the list , No way we should be looking to keep asif ali in the team.. he needs to go big time ... imad may as well bcz he isnt a wicket taker... we need a proper attacking bowling option... Umar Khan needs to be in.. with Naseem Shah, Hussnain and Harris Rauf fast tracked into first class and within 1 year into national side ... on batting we need likes of khushdil shah, haider ali , zeeshan malik, umair massod, ahsan ali and umar saddiq to be playing domestic big time to join the team in a year or 2 again

You know more about the domestic game over there in Pakistan so I'll take your word for it but from what I have seen of Asif, he can hit a very, very long ball. There aren't many in world cricket who can do so, let alone in Pakistan. he just needs consistency and that only comes with having the confidence that you will be selected in the side. He needs a string of matches and I think he will come good.

As for Imad, he is a very good utility option that should be in the squad if not always in the team.

 

[Rellu_Katta]

You know more about the domestic game over there in Pakistan so I'll take your word for it but from what I have seen of Asif, he can hit a very, very long ball. There aren't many in world cricket who can do so, let alone in Pakistan. he just needs consistency and that only comes with having the confidence that you will be selected in the side. He needs a string of matches and I think he will come good.

As for Imad, he is a very good utility option that should be in the squad if not always in the team.

the problem with Asif Ali is the consistency, in that kinda role, you cant survive without consistency ... problem with him is that he will play 1 innings and fail next 10... its a binary 1/0 for him ... which is not something we need. and that because our top 4/5 are accumalators and not fast scorers (apart from Fakhar but he is in crappy form) ... + Asif ali has only performed in PSL which isnt the best guage... domestics have better players than him .. ideally would want khushdil shah who has performed well in domestic.. he is young and hungry...

 

[LordJames]

Naeem Butt had access to Pakistan team at Old Trafford and advised them on what to do after dinner

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bN1Td0QhDuw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Make it of what you will.

 

[Hasan123]

We had issues in all departments. The new ball bowling other than Amir was extremely disappointing . Against Australia and India in favourable conditions we were pathetic. Our lack of fight against West Indies was embarrassing and that is what will probably cost us in this tournament. Our fielding has always not stood up to the mark when it matters. Even though its improved in recent years, the catches we dropped really cost us.

We need to get rid of certain players after this WC. The team should be built around Shaheen, Babar, Amir , and Imam ( must improve is strike rate though)

 

[Saj]

Another way to look at it is to ask how many of the 15 man squad hit expectations or performed beyond expectations?

The answer will not be very high.

 

[Abdullah]

Most posters are saying we didn’t deserve a spot and yes to a certain degree I accept it but I think based on the level of skill and cricket we played once we got some sense knocked into us (abandoning the idea of chasing, etc) we certainly deserved a spot.

Our team didn’t play well initially, we had some freeloaders for sure and some bad selection choices, yes.

But as a team now, with these issues worked out, we did start looking like world beaters. I am not a fan of Sarfaraz’s bulging gut, but I hope he gets in shape and stays as captain. I hope we finally say adieu to malik and Hafeez and Introduce young blood for the future. Wahab played like a champion but he is highly unlikely to play in 2023. We need to blood an additional quick bowler as well.

Mostly, this team looked the part to me. I am sorry it didn’t pan out. I hope they take these lessons learned forward.

Totally agree. We have lost the same number of games as England and NZ.
So I'm not sure how people can complain. Yes we have some deadwood players that are old and we need to get rid.

And people having a go at Imad and shadab, those 2 have only lost 1 game this tournament and Imad played fairly well I'm that game

 

[Abdullah]

I find it funny how the same people who will belittle a good performance tomorrow are absolutely desperate for Pak to lose, so that people like me can't say " hey we lost the same number of games as Eng and NZ.
Go figure

 

[cririri]

Wi game,sl washput,experienced player and nz mad luck.

 

[barah_admi]

the problem with Asif Ali is the consistency, in that kinda role, you cant survive without consistency ... problem with him is that he will play 1 innings and fail next 10... its a binary 1/0 for him ... which is not something we need. and that because our top 4/5 are accumalators and not fast scorers (apart from Fakhar but he is in crappy form) ... + Asif ali has only performed in PSL which isnt the best guage... domestics have better players than him .. ideally would want khushdil shah who has performed well in domestic.. he is young and hungry...

I agree but consistency only comes from being selected consistently enough and of course, we have to cut him some slack considering he has gone through some of the worst moments of anyones life.

He is talented and obviously a great hitter. There is also no reason he can't be part of a new middle order without hafeez, malik and hopefully sarfraz. This also means someone like Shah can come into the side as well.

 

[muqarrab]

Another way to look at it is to ask how many of the 15 man squad hit expectations or performed beyond expectations?

The answer will not be very high.

Maybe the right question to ask is howcome we were not sure of our best 15, let alone out best 11, at the eve of the wc.

Blame lies sequarely at the the top trio, chief selector, mickey arthur and captain. Too much chopping changing of fast bowlers, inability to clearly find a solution to power hitter problem and then getting our selection wrong up until the india game.

 

[Rellu_Katta]

I agree but consistency only comes from being selected consistently enough and of course, we have to cut him some slack considering he has gone through some of the worst moments of anyones life.

He is talented and obviously a great hitter. There is also no reason he can't be part of a new middle order without hafeez, malik and hopefully sarfraz. This also means someone like Shah can come into the side as well.

difficult to say his performance is worth saying "He is talanted" .. he is what we call, in tape ball cricket, Jharroo player.. everything on leg side and thts it .. his 2018 average was 28 .. not tht great ... we have better players than him .....

 

[barah_admi]

difficult to say his performance is worth saying "He is talanted" .. he is what we call, in tape ball cricket, Jharroo player.. everything on leg side and thts it .. his 2018 average was 28 .. not tht great ... we have better players than him .....

Hitting a ball that far and timing it that well is definitely a talent and I doubt many street cricketers can do it haha
I feel llike we have to be balanced and patient with a player like him. England built the best batting line up on the planet based on patience, guys like Bairstow, Hales, Roy, Buttler, Stokes, Morgan didn't just become world level strikers of the ball in a day. It took years of failures to get to this point.

 

[superman]

Asif Ali almost singlehandedly lost us the aus match with those drop catches and his non existent batting. Obv removing Malik made a huge difference but Asif Ali was just as bad if not worse, Malik at least had the “seniority” thing which apparently helps