"There will be changes in the side for the 2nd Test" : Mohammad Rizwan

[MenInG]

Mohammad Rizwan speaking ahead of the 2nd Test against New Zealand.

"Every match of any tour is always important; Even in the T20 series, we had lost the series but the win in the last match was important and as Misbah Bhai said that it gave us momentum for the Test series"

"So we saw that in the 1st Test that the boys fought hard in that game, and now as we go into the 2nd Test, we have situation where the series has not been lost and I am confident that we will win this match"

"Babar Azam is a strong guy and has made many sacrifices for the country before, but now he is worried that his playing in the 2nd Test could cause damage to the side; He wants to be in perfect shape when plays for the country and so he has asked for more time to recover"

"He will surely be available for the South Africa series but now he is 60% fit and wants to be 100% fit so he can deliver for Pakistan"

"Any team will feel the absence of a player like Babar Azam who has been performing so well for his country, and is also in the top rankings in all three formats"

"This is an opportunity for others to perform well, we saw that in the T20 games or in the Test match where Fawad Alam performed so well"

"Once Babar Azam is back, we will be able to form a better combination and produce good results for the country"

"Yes, we have some changes in mind for the 2nd Test, and we will sit with the team management and decide on those changes; There will be changes in the side for the 2nd Test and as far as Toss is concerned, given the cloudy forecast and state of pitch which has grass and moisture, we will bowl first if we win the toss"

 

[MenInG]

So Pak will bowl first if they win toss and changes expected but who?

 

[DandyFellow]

So Pak will bowl first if they win toss and changes expected but who?

If they are bowling first they should drop Yasir for Sohail or play Zafar Gohar if they want a stock bowler who can keep up with the over rate. Playing Yasir means we have 10 players on this pitch. With no Babar, I do not think there is a need to change the batting as there is no solid back-up. Imran Butt should not be debuted in overseas conditions.

 

[Last Monetarist]

Expect NZ to pile up the runs again. The management is both delusional and timid.

 

[King_Kohli]

Win or draw will help us.
Come on Pakistan

 

[MenInG]

Pictures (courtesy of the PCB) of Pakistan squad practicing ahead of the 2nd Test against New Zealand

 

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

I love Rizwan saying he will bowl first. Not afraid to announce his intention. Sigh of a positive mind.

Doesn’t help if the openers are batting like rabbits.

 

[UzmanBeast]

Rizwan is at least a competent leader, so I would expect him to make some logical changes.

Firstly, he should begin by dropping Yasir Shah for Zafar Gohar, who is equally as capable with the ball in overseas conditions and a better batsman.

Secondly, he should push Azhar Ali up the order to open the innings and drop one of Abid/Shan. It might not look like a good idea, but if he doesn't want to drop them, then he needs to push them down the order to 3 or 4.

With no Babar there, and with the likelihood of a green pitch with difficult weather conditions, we need to have a solid batting depth.

I'd suggest the following:

Shan Masood
Azhar Ali
Abid Ali
Imran Butt/Hussain Talat
Fawad Alam
Mohammad Rizwan
Faheem Ashraf
Zafar Gohar
Sohail Khan/Amad Butt/Mohammad Abbas
Naseem Shah
Shaheen Shah Afridi

Abbas hasn't really been useful over the past 3 overseas tours, and his bowling is just there to contain the opposition. Someone like Amad Butt or Sohail Khan could be a bigger threat with the new ball, and can also offer some depth in the batting. Another option is to bank of Fawad's part time spin and instead of playing Zafar, we could play Hussain Talat who could chime in as well.

We didn't take enough batsmen on this tour, and we really needed to take a few players like Saud to fill in the gaps, which they would have done perfectly.

That squad should at least compete with New Zealand.

 

[Markhor]

Only change I see happening is Sohail for Naseem.

 

[b.lesner]

Only change I see happening is Sohail for Naseem.

Haha really

This is Christchurch wicket matches get over in 3 days, their no place for regular spinner. They need 7 batsman and 4 bowlers for me Imran butt for yasir shah and Sohail in place of useless Abbas.

 

[Markhor]

Haha ���� really

This is Christchurch wicket matches get over in 3 days, their no place for regular spinner. They need 7 batsman and 4 bowlers for me Imran butt for yasir shah and Sohail in place of useless Abbas.

Misbah will jump off Minar-e-Pakistan before dropping Yasir.

 

[Zaz]

Id drop masood Open the batting with azhar, and drop yasar get both talat and butt in

The other change id look to make is dropping abbas for sohail muscles khan

The top 3 is in desperate need for change, at the moment they are a shambles n walking wickets for nz

 

[Majid Khan]

Why not play Naseem Shah as an opening batsman and part-time medium pace bowler who chips in with 1 wicket while opposition piles up a big score , and then you can play another specialist bowler.

And why as an opening batsman ? Because a Pakistani opener getting out for 0 is not a ‘bad’ day at the office — it’s a normal day.

 

[MenInG]

Only change I see happening is Sohail for Naseem.

Could well be the case - but three wickets in previous innings for Naseem could tilt the balance in his favour

 

[Rana]

Hopefully we can drop our only Fast bowler (fastest bowler in both teams) for another medium pacer or spinner.

 

[Bewal Express]

Bowling 1st against NZ doesn't work. The Windies tried and it was a disaster. I said before the 1st test that we need to win the toss and bat 1st because NZ can bat in these conditions. Be positive and bat 1st

 

[Rana]

Bowling 1st against NZ doesn't work. The Windies tried and it was a disaster. I said before the 1st test that we need to win the toss and bat 1st because NZ can bat in these conditions. Be positive and bat 1st

I want to agree with you.

Even scraping to a total of 220-250 is very good as long as you believe you can take 20 wickets. I don’t think the current lot have that belief within them.

Pak need to play the left arm off spinner and take this game into the 4th innings with Pakistan bowling.

 

[Bewal Express]

I want to agree with you.

Even scraping to a total of 220-250 is very good as long as you believe you can take 20 wickets. I don’t think the current lot have that belief within them.

Pak need to play the left arm off spinner and take this game into the 4th innings with Pakistan bowling.

But as soon as they get 350-400, the game is over. Their bowling gives little away and the score board pressure makes it doubly worse. We showed England that Batsman like Riz are mentally strong and will help us to get to 250.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

I don’t think they will change the batting unit , also will not drop Yasir.

May be Rizwan as a captain will have some changes in mind.

Knowing Misbah very well, he is very stubborn to any changes made anywhere be it in the team or scrapping department cricket from the system . He will field an unchanged side. I will be surprised if there was a change.

 

[Titan24]

Actually in the first test pitch didnt have much after maybe few overs or a session. However, in Christchurch considering its history bowling first can help. Any team will have to play good cricket to incash, if it doesn’t than it wont matter.

In the last two matches at Christchurch team’s batting first got out for 178 (NZ) vs Srl and 242 (Ind) vs NZ, Srl couldnt incash and lost the match while NZ got close to India’s total and bundled India under 150 in 3rd innings to win the match.

Irrespective of the toss, if Pak bats first they should target to score around 250+ and if the bowl first they will have to restrict NZ ideally at less than 250 or maybe even lesser.

 

[Firebat]

What changes are they possibly going to make? No Babar to bring in. Rohail Nazir, Hussain Talat and Amad Butt all with the Shaheens.

Bringing Sohail Khan is the only realistic change they'd make, maybe Zafar Gohar. They don't have the guts to drop any of these batsmen yet

 

[moghul]

Babar had "full fledge" practice session, then got the pitch report and felt pain n his thumb, ---------- just kidding.

 

[Asif321]

Sohail Khan must play we need his swing

 

[zacattakk]

Could well be the case - but three wickets in previous innings for Naseem could tilt the balance in his favour

Only if they are delusional. The only reason he got those wickets was because they were playing shots looking to score quick runs and so were taking on every bouncer. No way he would have gotten them out otherwise.

 

[Usman]

Oh dear I am now worried about the possible changes. People advocating for Sohail Khan think the grass is greener on the other side. Sohail is 150 years old and, a decade or so ago, he was only good enough for one spell in an innings and ran out of steam by the end of it. Now that he is half a foot inside a retirement home, Pakistani fans are expecting miracles from him?

I mean if they are going to drop Yasir to accommodate him then that's fine, but that's not saying much - any kid off the street could play instead of Yasir and put in a better performance. If the idea is to replace Naseem with Sohail, well that's not a good idea. I would give Naseem another game to prove himself and he is clearly the better long term option for Pakistan.

Batting wise, I really do hope they don't drop Haris. If they drop Shan or Abid then great!

 

[PerfectionPersonified]

drop abid

Azhar to open

bring in Sohail khan.

That will be the team

 

[PakPremi]

Oh dear I am now worried about the possible changes. People advocating for Sohail Khan think the grass is greener on the other side. Sohail is 150 years old and, a decade or so ago, he was only good enough for one spell in an innings and ran out of steam by the end of it. Now that he is half a foot inside a retirement home, Pakistani fans are expecting miracles from him?

I mean if they are going to drop Yasir to accommodate him then that's fine, but that's not saying much - any kid off the street could play instead of Yasir and put in a better performance. If the idea is to replace Naseem with Sohail, well that's not a good idea. I would give Naseem another game to prove himself and he is clearly the better long term option for Pakistan.

Batting wise, I really do hope they don't drop Haris. If they drop Shan or Abid then great!

What are fit bowlers doing for Pakistan. Sohail K 5 overs are likely to produce more chances then Naseem or Abbas. Sohail K should have played in England too. He took two fifers in practise games more than the fit bowlers. He can bat quite well as well. Personally I would play him and Zafar.

 

[sweep_shot]

Pakistan almost pulled off a courageous draw.

I think they should drop Yasir Shah permanently. Also, Azhar Ali should be replaced.

 

[Prince of Pakistan]

Was it not possible for Babar to play after taking an injection or something to numb the pain ? Really was looking forward to see Babar play.

 

[Usman]

What are fit bowlers doing for Pakistan. Sohail K 5 overs are likely to produce more chances then Naseem or Abbas. Sohail K should have played in England too. He took two fifers in practise games more than the fit bowlers. He can bat quite well as well. Personally I would play him and Zafar.

I don't disagree that Sohail did well in practice games in England but the last time we selected a bowler based on practice game performance and not on general quality, we ended up with selecting Imran Khan junior in Australia and this happened:

Practice game: https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...-pakistanis-tour-match-1206142/full-scorecard

Actual match: https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...a-vs-pakistan-1st-test-1183530/full-scorecard

I'm afraid that if we select Sohail Khan when we know that he actually isn't a test level bowler, we'll get a repeat of this Imran Khan performance.

The reality is that players like Imran and Sohail Khan, together with limited ability batsmen in our team like Shan Masood, will every once in a while pull off a fluke performance. However these players fundamentally lack ability and no matter what they do, they will never be able to overcome that. It's like if you or me tried as hard as we possibly could to play international cricket - just because we work hard doesn't mean we have the ability required and so we would fail.

 

[shamaan]

So Pak will bowl first if they win toss and changes expected but who?

Yasir will be dropped

 

[shamaan]

Rizwan is at least a competent leader, so I would expect him to make some logical changes.

Firstly, he should begin by dropping Yasir Shah for Zafar Gohar, who is equally as capable with the ball in overseas conditions and a better batsman.

Secondly, he should push Azhar Ali up the order to open the innings and drop one of Abid/Shan. It might not look like a good idea, but if he doesn't want to drop them, then he needs to push them down the order to 3 or 4.

With no Babar there, and with the likelihood of a green pitch with difficult weather conditions, we need to have a solid batting depth.

I'd suggest the following:

Shan Masood
Azhar Ali
Abid Ali
Imran Butt/Hussain Talat
Fawad Alam
Mohammad Rizwan
Faheem Ashraf
Zafar Gohar
Sohail Khan/Amad Butt/Mohammad Abbas
Naseem Shah
Shaheen Shah Afridi

Abbas hasn't really been useful over the past 3 overseas tours, and his bowling is just there to contain the opposition. Someone like Amad Butt or Sohail Khan could be a bigger threat with the new ball, and can also offer some depth in the batting. Another option is to bank of Fawad's part time spin and instead of playing Zafar, we could play Hussain Talat who could chime in as well.

We didn't take enough batsmen on this tour, and we really needed to take a few players like Saud to fill in the gaps, which they would have done perfectly.

That squad should at least compete with New Zealand.

Hussain talat is part of the shaheens squad unless thats changed recently

 

[shamaan]

Id drop masood Open the batting with azhar, and drop yasar get both talat and butt in

The other change id look to make is dropping abbas for sohail muscles khan

The top 3 is in desperate need for change, at the moment they are a shambles n walking wickets for nz

is hussain Talat been inducted into the test squad i thought he was in the shaheens squad

 

[shamaan]

Bowling 1st against NZ doesn't work. The Windies tried and it was a disaster. I said before the 1st test that we need to win the toss and bat 1st because NZ can bat in these conditions. Be positive and bat 1st

be positive and try and reach 36 is a good target and relistic target

 

[shamaan]

I want to agree with you.

Even scraping to a total of 220-250 is very good as long as you believe you can take 20 wickets. I don’t think the current lot have that belief within them.

Pak need to play the left arm off spinner and take this game into the 4th innings with Pakistan bowling.

the game will not go into day 5 this test if it does it will be huge achievement for Pakistan but if i had to choose beteeen yasir and gohar i would defonitely play gohar

 

[shamaan]

Was it not possible for Babar to play after taking an injection or something to numb the pain ? Really was looking forward to see Babar play.

it wear out after 2 hours or so

 

[Mainul]

Masood ,Yasir should be dropped . Abbas should be given one last chance.

 

[UzmanBeast]

Hussain talat is part of the shaheens squad unless thats changed recently

I think that he can be called for the test at any point if I'm not mistaken.

 

[chacha kashmiri]

Haris needs to go unless we want to give nz Fielding practise
Sarfraz to replace him

Also yasir shah to go and be replaced by kashif bhatti who deserves his debut especially now fawads had a chance

 

[hitthestump]

Pakistan almost pulled off a courageous draw.

Correction. Faheem, Fawad and Rizwan nearly did.

Rest of the team contributed diddly-squat.

 

[Shah]

Need at least 1 spinner so that the over rate is reasonable. Can't have 5 fast bowlers. Australia was fined for slow over-rate in second Test against India (40 per cent of match fee and four ICC World Test Championship points).
Yasir Shah is the only option as spinner. His strike rate in tests (57.5) is better than Pakistan's great spinners like Kaneria (67.8), Qadir (72.5), Saqlain Mushtaq (67.6), Mushtaq Ahmed (67.7), Ajmal (65.1) and Iqbal Qasim (76.1).

 

[zacattakk]

Need at least 1 spinner so that the over rate is reasonable. Can't have 5 fast bowlers. Australia was fined for slow over-rate in second Test against India (40 per cent of match fee and four ICC World Test Championship points).
Yasir Shah is the only option as spinner. His strike rate in tests (57.5) is better than Pakistan's great spinners like Kaneria (67.8), Qadir (72.5), Saqlain Mushtaq (67.6), Mushtaq Ahmed (67.7), Ajmal (65.1) and Iqbal Qasim (76.1).

What is his strike rate in the last 2 years? Or what is his strike rate overseas?

 

[imshally81]

NZ won the toss and elected to field first

 

[imshally81]

Only one change... Yasir out.. Zafar Gohar in

 

[Saj]

My guess, Rizwan said and wanted change(s), he's been overruled.

 

[Last Monetarist]

They are lucky to have lost the toss, NZ would have been 320-3 at close had we fielded first.

 

[Mamoon]

This is why bowling first is madness. Had we bowled first, it would have been a repeat of the first Test with NZ scoring 400+ in the first innings and Pakistan limping to a 200-150 run deficit.

Our management and some fans are utterly deluded if they think that bowling first would have been a good idea in the second Test as well.

It wasn’t a good idea in the first Test and it wouldn’t have been a good idea in the second Test.

New Zealand are still favorites from him, but at this point, Pakistan has a better chance of challenging New Zealand than they would have had they bowled first.

Tomorrow, if New Zealand suddenly finds themselves 30/2, they will be under more pressure than they would have been if they were 30/2 while batting first.

You never, never bowl first in Test match if your bowling or your batting is not stronger than the opposition. 9/10 times, this miscalculated stunt will blow up in your face.

 

[shamaan]

I think that he can be called for the test at any point if I'm not mistaken.

No dont think so not 1 day before a test match and also with covid

 

[shamaan]

Haris needs to go unless we want to give nz Fielding practise
Sarfraz to replace him

Also yasir shah to go and be replaced by kashif bhatti who deserves his debut especially now fawads had a chance

You already have gohar in the squad no need of kashif