[VIDEO] Sarfaraz Ahmed already looking confident in his role as captain...

[Syed1]

He is from Pindi - I think his choice of team was unfortunate. Should have stayed at North, but in draft you don't choose your team.

Ideally, I'll try Ahmed & Amin pair even for PAK ODI/T20 now. They opened together at U19 level (Umar as well) quite successfully but all 3 were lost in couple of years in domestic. Babar was going in same route, as I am sure some buzurg had feared him for "new ball" on those dead slow tracks & he went to no. 5.

Amin is a confidence player - if he is played, he must have to score decent in first outing, otherwise you'll see telephone numbers in later matches from him.

I would really like Amin to get a chance and blast a 30 ball 50. That would put all the haters to bed. I know he has got it but he has the mental toughness of a 7 year old girl. He needs to man up and make his chance count, it is now or never for him.

I hope he gets a chance in the next match.

 

[Zohaib Shah]

One thing about Sarfraz which I saw was the times he was losing his temper - looked really angry at times and didnt care much about who he was talking to. Think that is good ?

I'll take that over a captsin whose quiet while taking a beating. It shows he actually wants to win.

 

[Sub-Zero]

I would really like Amin to get a chance and blast a 30 ball 50. That would put all the haters to bed. I know he has got it but he has the mental toughness of a 7 year old girl. He needs to man up and make his chance count, it is now or never for him.

I hope he gets a chance in the next match.

Umar Amin should play at 3, and Luke Wright should open with Shehzad.
As much as we want Shafiq dropped, I don't think they'll drop Shafiq realistically, not even KP.
Let's see if Sarfraz has the guts to drop senior under-performing players. I hope he finds a solution.

 

[Zohaib Shah]

Shafiq innings destroyed the momentum today. They need to drop him. Ahmad Shehzad looked good but he got out early. Should have stayed longer to score faster.

 

[Sub-Zero]

Shafiq innings destroyed the momentum today. They need to drop him. Ahmad Shehzad looked good but he got out early. Should have stayed longer to score faster.

believe it or not, Shafiq was the reason Quetta lost, he was set and did not even try to change his gears and look for big hits, on the other hand Billings, after facing 42 balls, was on 60 something. That was the main difference, If Shafiq had scored 15 more runs, Quetta would have won it. such a pathetic innings of 45 off 42, one of the worst innings of PSL. Gul and Perrera were horrible as well, but Shafiq was set unlike those 2, and did not even try hard enough.

 

[yasir]

Its about the culture. Sharjeel was unique for our standards, but he was fairly normal compared to what other teams have, who have such players dime a dozen.

If Pakistan starts produces fast, bouncy pitches in domestic cricket and starts picking players based on their strike rates, it will only be a matter of time before we start producing players like him.

Will it happen? I don't know, but there has been a lot of talk lately about changing our domestic pitches and playing with higher strike rates.

Yeah, looking at Pakistani batmen in last 10 years, its very clear that they never see bounce in their life, nobody has ever played rising ball and pace above 140 is kind of alien, Sami is still the best Pakistani bowler in PSL, just because of extra pace...

I think we need mix of flat and bouncy wickets, wickets where bowlers are forced to bowl fast and have true bounce, so that batsmen play horizontal bat shorts(pull and cut), that was the case in 90s when we had fast bowlers and batsmen who can play them... UAE is only for 35+ players, its too slow for international cricket...Look at PSL, even foreigners are 40+, we are making mockery of Pakistani cricket, this cannot be future of cricket, it has to be fast pace, its not veterans cricket, we are going backwards in time during Misbah and SK era, this has to end, not just personal changes but a strategic change at all levels

 

[yasir]

believe it or not, Shafiq was the reason Quetta lost, he was set and did not even try to change his gears and look for big hits, on the other hand Billings, after facing 42 balls, was on 60 something. That was the main difference, If Shafiq had scored 15 more runs, Quetta would have won it. such a pathetic innings of 45 off 42, one of the worst innings of PSL. Gul and Perrera were horrible as well, but Shafiq was set unlike those 2, and did not even try hard enough.

It's not just Shafiq; Sarfraz, Malik, Misbah don't know how to play middle and end overs, look at Watson how he attacked in middle overs, we had kept our standards very low for long period of time... These guys cannot hit boundaries against pace on consistent basis, which is absolutely must in LOI cricket at every stage... Without that you cannot score 320+ on avg, nor you can score 180/190+ in T20, platform of the team is very weak...

I just don't get why Pakistanis are excited about Sarfraz, he is nothing player like Malik, Misbah or Hafeez, as a Captain he is better than them, but in modern LOI team he is as big of a liability as they are/were... England went for Morgan and kicked out Cook, Bell type of players, because they were players of pervious era...Pakistan needs to do the same, all these seniors are past generation players, Pakistan will be hunting for Captain and players for some time to come.... PSL is full of useless seniors, this is not going to help either....PSL is a big disappointment for me, its even worse than what we have in national team

 

[Zohaib Shah]

believe it or not, Shafiq was the reason Quetta lost, he was set and did not even try to change his gears and look for big hits, on the other hand Billings, after facing 42 balls, was on 60 something. That was the main difference, If Shafiq had scored 15 more runs, Quetta would have won it. such a pathetic innings of 45 off 42, one of the worst innings of PSL. Gul and Perrera were horrible as well, but Shafiq was set unlike those 2, and did not even try hard enough.

The thing is he did actually try. He just could never clear the fielders. The commentators were saying he was trying to play hard all the time which made him not go for singles or doubles. What I failed to grasp was how was he finding the fielders every time he tried to play a shot? Like he played as a opener where the powerplay was available. He could have easily cleared the field if he played in the gaps. What was he doing hitting to the fielders?

What I find disappointing about him is that it looks like he can play gorgeous shots. Like he actually has more range of strokes than Azhar Ali. He is a more natural batsmen than him. Yet when it comes to limited overs cricket he gets in his shell. Starts to over think things without keeping it simple. It almost looks like he is panicking while playing his strokes.

 

[Big Mac]

believe it or not, Shafiq was the reason Quetta lost, he was set and did not even try to change his gears and look for big hits, on the other hand Billings, after facing 42 balls, was on 60 something. That was the main difference, If Shafiq had scored 15 more runs, Quetta would have won it. such a pathetic innings of 45 off 42, one of the worst innings of PSL. Gul and Perrera were horrible as well, but Shafiq was set unlike those 2, and did not even try hard enough.

In defence of Shafiq, it didn't help that Misbah was in the field ordering Shafiq to bat slowly.

 

[Major]

QG team was poor - Sarfu was punching above the weight with this lot. At Sharjah, hardly any captain will defend 150 with Gulu, Annu, Piru, Nawaz & that kid. It's basically 2 types of bowlers - Annu & Gulu are identical, so are the spin pair & Piru is no type.

BUT, he has to improve his keeping - haven't seen the match, but from PP I understand that he has lost this match for dropping a sitter. That is the reason he was irritated today - he could realize what he has done. This is the problem with WK Captain who is not good at his primary job - keeping errors impact his Captaincy.

With similar combination & KP playing like tailender, I'll be surprised if QG wins any further match this year. They got LQ in an off day & got the chance to chase against KK, but it's not a good unit - and then they are opening with Asad!!!!

150 is the avg score there in psl.

 

[waleed88]

Teams are comfortable chasing,

But its clear not one of our batsman is the top performer when we chase down a total in t20..

its all foreign players..

Its called the PSL, but foreign players are ruling it at the moment..

Some of our batsmen need to develop this ability or Pakistan cricket will be curtains

 

[waleed88]

Usually its win the toss and win the match chasing, Sarfaraz noticed that and was visibly frustrated with his teams batting display after they only made 148

 

[MMHS]

150 is the avg score there in psl.

Not even 150, I guess it's 149. That's why Sarfu started with 20 runs handicap - after factoring the attack of Anwar, Gul, Perera, Nawaz & Hasan. On top of that, he stumped the loss with a drop of Watson in his first few balls.

 

[Sub-Zero]

shout out to Sarfraz for not dropping KP, and instead dropping his "friend" Shafiq test player
KP has proved his worth
Sarfraz played a wonderful innings as well
waiting for Sarfraz haters to come up with excuses to hate him

 

[Finisher]

Brilliant captains knock today.

 

[Syed1]

Beautiful captaincy

 

[SaadAliG]

Best pressure batsman in Pakistan without a doubt.

 

[Markhor]

We need some captain's knocks from Sarfraz in Tests. He's not doing justice to his talents as a batsman recently.

If he wants to be an elite level Test keeper-batsman he needs to convert these pretty 20s, 30s and 40s into bigger knocks. I know its tough keeping for long periods in the heat of the UAE but you signed up for the added responsibility as skipper.

 

[CricFan2012]

We need some captain's knocks from Sarfraz in Tests. He's not doing justice to his talents as a batsman recently.

If he wants to be an elite level Test keeper-batsman he needs to convert these pretty 20s, 30s and 40s into bigger knocks. I know its tough keeping for long periods in the heat of the UAE but you signed up for the added responsibility as skipper.

Can players actually reject offer to captain the team?

 

[Big Mac]

Can players actually reject offer to captain the team?

Of course.