[VIDEO] At 66/4, you smell blood, you have to go for the kill

[MenInG]

Shaheen Shah Afridi's unmatched brilliance, Naseem Shah's superb effort, Haris Rauf's wicket-taking abilities, Babar Azam's captaincy, Pakistan's tactics against India, an error in selection, what Pakistan needs to improve upon and more.

 

[Vikram1989]

Expecting strategy and tactics from babar in insane. But I don't know what coaching staff is doing .They should hire Fleming or nasir as a consultant for the imp series till someone from the team picks their brain.

 

[RidiculousMan]

After initially bowling the first 15 overs with Pace. Pakistan could've at least bowled 6 more overs of pace between 20-30 overs and kept 3 each (totalling 9 overs) of the pacers for the last 10 overs.

 

[Deewana Mastana]

When you have such a vast amount of coaching staff sat there watching aren't they able to send messages or call the captain in for a bit to perhaps tell him what needs to be done.

Clearly Babar isn't an astute captain or one who can think on his feet when things are in his favour.

Coaches need to be proactive in such cases then as Mickey who has so much experience from around the world needs to stamp more authority and push for more effort from Babar to be learning more about what needs to be done when you're in such a commanding position against any opposition.

 

[Farah Sohail]

@Saj can u please arrange an interview with Mickey soon, where Mickey is asked about babar’s captaincy regarding his tactics and how can he improve him as a captain, or even pass on messages during the game, if he feels something is not right? What does he feel about it?

 

[Saj]

@Saj can u please arrange an interview with Mickey soon, where Mickey is asked about babar’s captaincy regarding his tactics and how can he improve him as a captain, or even pass on messages during the game, if he feels something is not right? What does he feel about it?

I did not so long ago.

Have a watch of this

 

[mominsaigol]

What we need is an extra pacer. It's clear pakistan does not have quality spin and we rely on pace. Good thing is, spin wickets also offer alot of swing so we good to go in Sri Lanka and India.

We need zaman khan. 40 overs of pace + 10 overs spin is good enough. Imad waseem can part time bowl, with shadab being the main bowler and so can agha be utilised if we need him.

Shaheen and naseem are excellent new ball bowlers, Zaman Khan consistently outperformed haris Rauf at the death in the psl and was solid against nz.

Rauf as a wicket taker and zaman as a death ball bowler with shadab and Imad proving filler overs will do wonders.

Babar went to spin because if India has managed to recover, the back end of the innings would have tonked us for 300, it was a risky gamble had it not worked, since pandya and kishan likely would have played extremely conservatively and just start smacking spin in the last 10.

However if we had an extra pacer, we could have kept bowling am extra 10 overs of pace and ended India right then and their.

 

[Asad T]

Good analysis, Saj.

On Babar's captaincy: I have no idea why we bowled 21 overs of spin. I wonder what the thought process was there. If we continued with pace from one end and spin from another end, it may have forced the batsmen to go after the spinners more, and this could have created more chances for us. Let's just hope our think tank uses this as a learning opportunity in the upcoming matches. To Babers credit, I liked some of his field placements. For example, he kept a short midwicket in for Iyer and Sharma. And it worked well.

On the spirit of the game: Personally, I quite like the friendly rapport between the pak and indian players. There is so much political tension these days that I think these displays of respect between players is refreshing to see. I dont think this means we don't take these games seriously. No matter how friendly these players are, India-Pak cricket will always be a tense and heated affair

 

[GreenKhan]

I see why people are saying going for the kill , but the issue is we only had 30 overs of pace . Pandya and Kishan may have sat back against our pacers if we gave them another 2-3 over each .

It’s a very fine line but India did not come to roll over and it’s possible this partnership would have still transpired. What we had the luxury of doing is having all pace for the last 10 -12 overs which enabled us to clean up there tail very effectively.

Our spinners simply did not bowl well. Had they chipped in with one wicket between them would have put us in a stronger position.

 

[Ab Fan]

Pandya saved India in Asia Cup 2022.
Pandya saved India in WT20 2022 with all-round performance alongwith Kohli.
Pandya saved India in Asia Cup 2023.
Pandya will ultimately have a failure in WC 2023.

 

[MenInG]

Simply speaking Babar messed it up. Should have closed the game down earlier. Pandya etc were unable to handle the pace.

 

[Farabi]

Pandya saved India in Asia Cup 2022.
Pandya saved India in WT20 2022 with all-round performance alongwith Kohli.
Pandya saved India in Asia Cup 2023.
Pandya will ultimately have a failure in WC 2023.

Panda is a really underrated player. I rate him as the second best player in the Indian team after Kohli.
Pandya plays Nawaz and Shadab really well, and Pak has also fed Pandya with spin in each of those 3 games.

 

[Farabi]

What we need is an extra pacer. It's clear pakistan does not have quality spin and we rely on pace. Good thing is, spin wickets also offer alot of swing so we good to go in Sri Lanka and India.

We need zaman khan. 40 overs of pace + 10 overs spin is good enough. Imad waseem can part time bowl, with shadab being the main bowler and so can agha be utilised if we need him.

Shaheen and naseem are excellent new ball bowlers, Zaman Khan consistently outperformed haris Rauf at the death in the psl and was solid against nz.

Rauf as a wicket taker and zaman as a death ball bowler with shadab and Imad proving filler overs will do wonders.

Babar went to spin because if India has managed to recover, the back end of the innings would have tonked us for 300, it was a risky gamble had it not worked, since pandya and kishan likely would have played extremely conservatively and just start smacking spin in the last 10.

However if we had an extra pacer, we could have kept bowling am extra 10 overs of pace and ended India right then and their.

I don’t understand. You’re mentioning 4 pacers, Imad, and Shadab. Does it mean that Imad will bat at 6 and Shadab at 7. Doesn’t make sense.

 

[mominsaigol]

I don’t understand. You’re mentioning 4 pacers, Imad, and Shadab. Does it mean that Imad will bat at 6 and Shadab at 7. Doesn’t make sense.

1) Fakhar
2) Imam
3) Babar
4) Saud
5) Rizwan
6) Chacha/Imad/ Agha (Only one of these can play)
7) Shadab
8) Zaman Khan
9) Naseem
10) Haris
11) Shaheen

Our pacers are key, we need 40 overs of pace, zaman Khan and haris in the middle and death, Shaheen and Naseem at the beginning with them being rotated in the middle and the back end.

Only shadab and agha/imad/chacha should bowl.

Chacha is probs the best bat but an awful bowler. Agha seems the most balanced but his lack of form with the bat is worrying. Imad is decent at bowling and at batting can give play at a 100+ strike rate but likely won't stay at the crease for long.

 

[Farah Sohail]

I did not so long ago.

Have a watch of this

Yes.. i have seen it.. I just wanted to have an idea what Mickey thinks of Babar’s captaincy in this India match and whether he has conveyed his reservations to Babar? But i guess he wont tell us.

i just wanted to have an idea, if coaches actuallypoint out captaincy mistakes later on, to captain..infact i wont call captaincy mistakes, rather blunders in captaincy yesterdat by babar..and whether coaches would have addressed it or not…because I think its critical for coaches to point out blunders in his captaincy, as he his captaincy has already cost us matches before, and we cant afford more

 

[Ahmed216]

Simply speaking Babar messed it up. Should have closed the game down earlier. Pandya etc were unable to handle the pace.

Asia cup belongs to Pak if they play a 4th seamer against india

 

[Fenrir]

Pakistan doesn’t need to play Nawaz and Shadab together.Salman and Chacha can bowl.If Saud is selected he can bowl too.10 overs of spin can be shared between Shadab and two other part timers.Include Wasim as 4th seamer.Arshad Iqbal and Ihsanullah(if fit) should be part of WC squad.

 

[Farabi]

1) Fakhar
2) Imam
3) Babar
4) Saud
5) Rizwan
6) Chacha/Imad/ Agha (Only one of these can play)
7) Shadab
8) Zaman Khan
9) Naseem
10) Haris
11) Shaheen

Our pacers are key, we need 40 overs of pace, zaman Khan and haris in the middle and death, Shaheen and Naseem at the beginning with them being rotated in the middle and the back end.

Only shadab and agha/imad/chacha should bowl.

Chacha is probs the best bat but an awful bowler. Agha seems the most balanced but his lack of form with the bat is worrying. Imad is decent at bowling and at batting can give play at a 100+ strike rate but likely won't stay at the crease for long.

So basically you guys are saying let’s just another pacer since we don’t have an attacking spinner readily available. Are Indian and Asian wickets supportive of spinners? And will we miss a genuine spinner?

 

[Farabi]

Yes.. i have seen it.. I just wanted to have an idea what Mickey thinks of Babar’s captaincy in this India match and whether he has conveyed his reservations to Babar? But i guess he wont tell us.

i just wanted to have an idea, if coaches actuallypoint out captaincy mistakes later on, to captain..infact i wont call captaincy mistakes, rather blunders in captaincy yesterdat by babar..and whether coaches would have addressed it or not…because I think its critical for coaches to point out blunders in his captaincy, as he his captaincy has already cost us matches before, and we cant afford more

+1 I’d love to know as well.

 

[sweep_shot]

I didn't expect India to reach 260+ after being something like 70/4.

Pakistan let them off the hook.

 

[Saj]

Yes.. i have seen it.. I just wanted to have an idea what Mickey thinks of Babar’s captaincy in this India match and whether he has conveyed his reservations to Babar? But i guess he wont tell us.

i just wanted to have an idea, if coaches actuallypoint out captaincy mistakes later on, to captain..infact i wont call captaincy mistakes, rather blunders in captaincy yesterdat by babar..and whether coaches would have addressed it or not…because I think its critical for coaches to point out blunders in his captaincy, as he his captaincy has already cost us matches before, and we cant afford more

I doubt he will openly criticise Babar in front of any media.

Perhaps behind closed doors he may make a few suggestions and provide constructive criticism.

I don't imagine Mickey is the sort of coach who will just pat him on the back and say well done.

 

[mominsaigol]

So basically you guys are saying let’s just another pacer since we don’t have an attacking spinner readily available. Are Indian and Asian wickets supportive of spinners? And will we miss a genuine spinner?

Indian wickets are supportive of both pacers and spinners.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Indian wickets are supportive of both pacers and spinners.

i think they will go for spin wickets in world cup.

 

[mominsaigol]

i think they will go for spin wickets in world cup.

We don't have quality spin besides abrar atm.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

We don't have quality spin besides abrar atm.

yeah abarar is the best option for ODIs.. if u see finger spinners are so successfull in this game so we must give a try to Abrar in worldcup. only disadvantge is that he can't bat.

 

[mominsaigol]

yeah abarar is the best option for ODIs.. if u see finger spinners are so successfull in this game so we must give a try to Abrar in worldcup. only disadvantge is that he can't bat.

Abrar can bat better then shaheen lol, he's actually tonked and slogged a few for 6.

He isn't a batter or anything, but he can defend and slog, which is usually what most tailenders do.

It's just we need to take 15 people in the squad. I guess I would take

Opening batsmen

1) Fakhar
2) Imam
3) Abdullah

Middle order

1) Babar
2) Rizwan
3) Saud
4) Agha

Don't have time for tayyab anymore sadly.

Lower order

1) Imad
2) Haris
3) Iftikhar
4) Shadab

Bowlers

1) Naseem
2) Shaheen
3) Haris
4) Abrar/ Zaman Khan ( we can only include one)

That's ideally our best 15 however imo I'd prefer Abdullah or haris to go and choose another backup pacer or spinner. Since for some reason babar isn't letting Abdullah or haris play. He didn't even test Abdullah or haris against Nepal which was ideal to test. Nepal was never gonna make it to 150 and best Pakistan.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Abrar can bat better then shaheen lol, he's actually tonked and slogged a few for 6.

He isn't a batter or anything, but he can defend and slog, which is usually what most tailenders do.

It's just we need to take 15 people in the squad. I guess I would take

Opening batsmen

1) Fakhar
2) Imam
3) Abdullah

Middle order

1) Babar
2) Rizwan
3) Saud
4) Agha

Don't have time for tayyab anymore sadly.

Lower order

1) Imad
2) Haris
3) Iftikhar
4) Shadab

Bowlers

1) Naseem
2) Shaheen
3) Haris
4) Abrar/ Zaman Khan ( we can only include one)

That's ideally our best 15 however imo I'd prefer Abdullah or haris to go and choose another backup pacer or spinner. Since for some reason babar isn't letting Abdullah or haris play. He didn't even test Abdullah or haris against Nepal which was ideal to test. Nepal was never gonna make it to 150 and best Pakistan.

I would opt for Abrar because considering the upcoming World Cup in India, where spin-friendly pitches are anticipated, Abrar's ability to generate spin in both directions could pose difficulties for numerous batsmen.

 

[mominsaigol]

I would opt for Abrar because considering the upcoming World Cup in India, where spin-friendly pitches are anticipated, Abrar's ability to generate spin in both directions could pose difficulties for numerous batsmen.

My problem is haris and Abdullah. If babar isn't utilising them, then their dead weights, why even have them? Just opt for one extra bowler instead and only keep haris as a backup keeper option.

I hate this babar winning formula. He'll only change once the winning 11 loses and its stupid to have Abdullah and haris perform with no practise , I thought the Afghanistan series was to test our bench strength or atleast the game with Nepal.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

My problem is haris and Abdullah. If babar isn't utilising them, then their dead weights, why even have them? Just opt for one extra bowler instead and only keep haris as a backup keeper option.

I hate this babar winning formula. He'll only change once the winning 11 loses and its stupid to have Abdullah and haris perform with no practise , I thought the Afghanistan series was to test our bench strength or atleast the game with Nepal.

yeah thats true they should have tested their bench strength against afghanistan or nepal.. now going into super 4 i dont think babar have the courage to make any changes in playing 11.

 

[mominsaigol]

yeah thats true they should have tested their bench strength against afghanistan or nepal.. now going into super 4 i dont think babar have the courage to make any changes in playing 11.

We literally only tested saud and sent him at no 5 at the back end , and then management was like, oh wait let's put tayyab on reserve instead.

What's the thought process?

 

[VForVendetta]

Abrar can bat better then shaheen lol, he's actually tonked and slogged a few for 6.

He isn't a batter or anything, but he can defend and slog, which is usually what most tailenders do.

It's just we need to take 15 people in the squad. I guess I would take

Opening batsmen

1) Fakhar
2) Imam
3) Abdullah

Middle order

1) Babar
2) Rizwan
3) Saud
4) Agha

Don't have time for tayyab anymore sadly.

Lower order

1) Imad
2) Haris
3) Iftikhar
4) Shadab

Bowlers

1) Naseem
2) Shaheen
3) Haris
4) Abrar/ Zaman Khan ( we can only include one)

That's ideally our best 15 however imo I'd prefer Abdullah or haris to go and choose another backup pacer or spinner. Since for some reason babar isn't letting Abdullah or haris play. He didn't even test Abdullah or haris against Nepal which was ideal to test. Nepal was never gonna make it to 150 and best Pakistan.

You can't drop Harris,he is your back up wk,not to forget an ex factor with bat. A guy like him can always come handy in major icc tournaments, I just get 99' Moin vibe from the guy, ofcourse if he is allowed to play. I'll shocked if he is dropped from the 15. Every team will bring a back up wk & frankly considering the hectic schedule & weather you'll need them.

 

[mominsaigol]

You can't drop Harris,he is your back up wk,not to forget an ex factor with bat. A guy like him can always come handy in major icc tournaments, I just get 99' Moin vibe from the guy, ofcourse if he is allowed to play. I'll shocked if he is dropped from the 15. Every team will bring a back up wk & frankly considering the hectic schedule & weather you'll need them.

I never said drop him. I'm saying why is babar carrying Abdullah or Harris or saud if he isn't even going to play them? Not even against dead rubber games like Nepal?

If their dead rubber for babar then just take haris as back up keeper, and forget about the rest.

 

[Farah Sohail]

Do Mickey Arthur and Grant Bradburn not suggest to try new players and get away with this winning combination formula, no matter what the pitch conditions anf opposition? Atleast Mickey and Grant bradburn should have opted for new combinations rather its the same old winning combination, which isnt changed, unless they lose

It was clear that Pak should have gone for fourth fast bowlwe instead of useless spinners against India, but we went with same old winning combination and I am sure they wouldnt change it even now.. they will go with same old formula

In my opinion, Pak should always go for 4 fast bowlers, because we have world class fast bowlers who can perform on any potch but we have ineffective spinners against any quality side, who wouldnt perform in favorae conditions against quality sides.. so we should always go for our strength
But I am sure, our team management wouldnt go for this approach..
Babar, I understand is tactically inept and dumb as captain, but why doesnt atleast Mickey and Grant think out of the box, and play to your strength?

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Do Mickey Arthur and Grant Bradburn not suggest to try new players and get away with this winning combination formula, no matter what the pitch conditions anf opposition? Atleast Mickey and Grant bradburn should have opted for new combinations rather its the same old winning combination, which isnt changed, unless they lose

It was clear that Pak should have gone for fourth fast bowlwe instead of useless spinners against India, but we went with same old winning combination and I am sure they wouldnt change it even now.. they will go with same old formula

In my opinion, Pak should always go for 4 fast bowlers, because we have world class fast bowlers who can perform on any potch but we have ineffective spinners against any quality side, who wouldnt perform in favorae conditions against quality sides.. so we should always go for our strength
But I am sure, our team management wouldnt go for this approach..
Babar, I understand is tactically inept and dumb as captain, but why doesnt atleast Mickey and Grant think out of the box, and play to your strength?

Indeed, it's a valid point that a fourth fast bowler can be instrumental in picking up wickets during the crucial middle overs of a match. Mickey just joined the team might be he will make some tough decisions later in this series regarding worldcup squad.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

The problem was, going in for the kill with pace would have meant utilizing 7-8 overs of of all the pacers around 20 overs. Needed another reliable pacer.

I have always maintained you need more than 30 overs of pace in ODIs regardless of conditions. Even in the most spin friendly conditions, you need atleast 25 overs of spin.

 

[Farah Sohail]

Indeed, it's a valid point that a fourth fast bowler can be instrumental in picking up wickets during the crucial middle overs of a match. Mickey just joined the team might be he will make some tough decisions later in this series regarding worldcup squad.

According to Mickey, he has input on playing 11 even when he is not with team.. and now he is also physically present with team, since Afghanistan 2nd ODI.. should have tried new players against Nepal, even in Afghanistan series, instead of just last ODI…
Also I am more disappointed in Mickey and Grant by not selecting 4th fast bowler against India in overcast conditions,, even India selected 4 fast bowlers, But Pak whose strength is fast bowling, didnt..

 

[daytrader]

I think the team think tank needs to show more faith in our primary strength which is our pace bowling battery. Add another pacer, go for the kills.

 

[zarak]

just get Jr or Faheem for Nawaz. It is a simple fix. The whole rhetoric about Babar sitting back is overrated. It can go either way, they could have played out our pacers and had a field day with spinners.

The one extra over of spin was a miscalculation, rookie mistake. But not sure if going for the kill would have actually secured the kill. Ideally Shadab and Nawaz should have chipped with a wicket.

 

[Firebat]

Babar has a very pre-planned, robotic captaincy because he has no in-game judgement to make decisions himself based on the situation. This is the result.

Naseem is breathing fire in the powerplay, but I'm supposed to bring in Rauf at this point. Pacers are running through India, but Shadab is supposed to start a 7-over spell right now. Etc etc.

Mickey needs to program a few more if-statements into CAP-5000.

 

[Shafi]

Micky is a non-existent coach. He is more of a show off than actually does his works. He knows that he will be sacked right after the World Cup so he is enjoying his vacation to go back his original job. Hature of Sl has more skill, talent and innovation than Micky. Pakistan need a strick coach like Andy, Hature or and 2nd grade Aussie/English coach who are eager to prove themselves.
Babar is not a captain material. His mistakes coast us 3 big cups but since we were in final and semi in those tournaments PCB sees these at great achievements rather than win any of those 3. You can keep Babar another 10 years, we will reach many semis but wining a cup you need different calibre which Babar unable to.Under Babar we will be consistent but will not win any cup.

 

[TheSultan]

The question is, does babar get a cookie or something for feeding pandya spin. It’s almost like he waits for Pandya to come in and says, here’s some lovely spin for you.

 

[zarak]

Babar has a very pre-planned, robotic captaincy because he has no in-game judgement to make decisions himself based on the situation. This is the result.

Naseem is breathing fire in the powerplay, but I'm supposed to bring in Rauf at this point. Pacers are running through India, but Shadab is supposed to start a 7-over spell right now. Etc etc.

Mickey needs to program a few more if-statements into CAP-5000.

You are talking as if we had an unlimited number of pace overs left. How many more overs of pace would you have bowled. At max we could have bowled 6 more overs of pace before we had to make a play with spin. Also, Rauf got wickets in his first spell.

 

[Saj]

Not enough flexibility in the approach.

It's plan A only and nothing else which is fine if you are winning and dominating, but not when the opposition is on top.

The worrying thing is, there's no sign of improvement.

 

[Jazx]

You are talking as if we had an unlimited number of pace overs left. How many more overs of pace would you have bowled. At max we could have bowled 6 more overs of pace before we had to make a play with spin. Also, Rauf got wickets in his first spell.

When it was 4 down, shaheen could have been brought back easily for 2 more overs as he only bowled 5 till then. You have naseem and haris for the last 10 overs and still shaheen would have left with 3 more overs. And if he could have got out pandya and ishan earlier, it would have been tail in the last 10 overs which could not have created any problems even against the spinners. Resources needs to be utilised with intelligence, not just with a straight forward thinking that you have only 30 overs with pace.

 

[Asad T]

Not enough flexibility in the approach.

It's plan A only and nothing else which is fine if you are winning and dominating, but not when the opposition is on top.

The worrying thing is, there's no sign of improvement.

I think it was Mike Tyson who said "everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face"

We threw the first few face punches, yet it seemed that we were the ones struggling with a plan

 

[batandballbattle]

wasim jr could be a shout for future games, nawaz just looked very ineffectual, and even when dropping him we still have a second spin option in agha

 

[Cricket Warrior]

wasim jr could be a shout for future games, nawaz just looked very ineffectual, and even when dropping him we still have a second spin option in agha

as a 4th fast bower we need someone who can bat as well and wasim cant bat as an all rounder so in my opinion they should pick faheem in place of nawaz.

 

[shamaan]

Babar definitely made a mistake in not bowling a few more overs of pace before the spin came on.Wasim Jnr should definitely be in consideration to play ahead of Nawaz if conditions are similar in the upcoming matches.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Babar definitely made a mistake in not bowling a few more overs of pace before the spin came on.Wasim Jnr should definitely be in consideration to play ahead of Nawaz if conditions are similar in the upcoming matches.

i think if we go for wasim jr so batting lineup will become fragile so we need to go with faheem i guess.

 

[adi_62941]

There was a clear shortage of 4th seamer. And in india it will haunt us a lot if we dont include 4th seamer in playing XI. Medium pacers enjoys a lot on Indian pitches. nawaz has to go and rana shb or wasim should be included.

Babar always learns late, he is a lazy type of guy in thinking. Rohit also made mistake of batting first and so does babar who bowled spinners in middle overs. Both are same level captains for me.

It is quite evident that team selection and planning is superheaded by Babar rather than mickey.

 

[mominsaigol]

As much as I hate Misbah, I will say one positive thing about him.

Unlike babar who sticks to a formula, misbah was the king of defending Low totals because he always went for the kill. If a team was down, he would never bring on other bowlers to let a team recover, he'd stick with the same wicket taking bowler and keep the pressure on.

Not praising misbah, I do hate him, primarily due to his insane hold over the selectors and the team. Misbah kept insisting on playing 1990 era cricket in odi, in an era where virat, shikari dhawan, rohit sharma, Dhoni and yuvraj were playing, no wonder we would get thrashed by India.

He kept insisting to play players like Ahmed shezad, nasir jamshed or hafeez at opening despite neither being cut out for the position, ontop of which choosing players like asad Shafiq at no 3 lol. And preferred players such as azhar, younis etc all who aren't odi players in the team.

As much as I think umar is a crybaby, umar did have a point. The akmal khandaan is talented and umar wasn't a lower order pressure finisher, he was a top order no 3, but was relegated to a position that was not his, especially when pakistan were often down for 34/4 usually. His career failure is both misbah and his own fault.

We had multiple talented players in that era who could have made it big, but misbah ruined them, sohaib maqsood burst onto the scene and scored numerous match winning half centuries at no 3, but then randomly got shoved at no 6, umar amin who had yuvraj potential was forcibly brought in to replace shahid afridi for champions trophy 2013 and misbah played him at no 7 lol.

Misbah even replaced fakhar zaman to have rizwan open, as soon as he left coaching pakistan went from losing to Zimbabwe to thrashing India by 10 wickets.

I despise misbah, but I do wish babar learns atleast one thing from him and that's to stop sticking to a bowling formula. Go in for the kill.

 

[Champ_Pal]

Batting was getting easier by the time Iyer was out. Iyer's wicket was a fluke for Pakistan. Batsmen were enjoying pace by that time. It was right to bring in spinners as seamers were getting tired too.

The only thing that Babar could have done is, bring in pacers a little earlier after spinners were getting tonked. Pakistani pacers made most out of the conditions with the new ball. Pakistan went in with 3 pacers. May be they could have chosen Faheem or Wasim Jnr. But I doubt they are as good as the other seamers. They would have gone for the runs too.

 

[shamaan]

i think if we go for wasim jr so batting lineup will become fragile so we need to go with faheem i guess.

But Fahim or Wasim will proberly only bat less than 10 overs so why not go with a bowler who will most likely bowl atleast 7 overs and in which wasim Jnr is way better.

 

[MenInG]

So do we feel Babar Azam has learnt from this experience?

 

[Asad T]

So do we feel Babar Azam has learnt from this experience?

I think so

1) He got Faheem in the xi
2) He roated the bowlers a lot more purdently and made it hard for the batsmen to settle

If I were to be a stickler -- He did bowl 13 overs of spin when he only needed to bowl 10, but he probably only did this because of Naseem Shah's injury scare. And....he lost the toss

 

[MenInG]

Shoaib Akhtar in a recent interview echoing what has already been said:

"I don't think Babar should have given that many overs to spinners. He could have kept the pace battery intact from one end and a spinner from the other. That is where I disagree with Babar, he used spin too much and gave up on the attack"

 

[SpiritOf1903]

Utter stupidity offering India spin which they milk til the cows go to sleep

 

[MenInG]

Not sure what was learnt from the previous game apart from replacing Mohammad Nawaz?

 

[hassan918]

Yes, Babar missed a trick there by not continue with the pacers for a few overs. If they can pick a couple of more wickets quickly, India would struggle to get past 220-230. It is important to keep on the pressure when you are firmly on top.

 

[Farah Sohail]

Wonder..did babar learn anything from Rohit’s captaincy yesterday when he had a slip till the end…after he got 4 of ours out… even Srilankas captain, tday bowled all overs of wellallage on a trot….