What a team of gentlemen - Team Pakistan

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

They put a premium on a happy dressing room above most things
They back each other up when catches are dropped or misfields
They don't snarl at their opponents or sledge them
They smile even when hit for 4's or 6's
They run up and congratulate their opponents on their milestones
Their captain is never angry or shouts at his players

Well done Azhar and Misbah.

...and what a team of rogues Pakistan's previous teams used to be.

Akram would get angry at dropped catches, Waqar would kick the turf
Imran would let go at his players for any lack of effort and even the umpires
Shoaib would snarl at the opponents and sledge them. Miandad would mock them constantly
Kardar would be hard as nails on the field
Mushtaq would be plotting all the time
Inzamam would be grumpy all the time at the world
All they cared about was winning matches.

That is not what this new team is about. it's about being happy and gentlemanly!

Well done Azhar and Misbah.

 

[Bhaijaan]

Brother I can sense sarcasm but let me tell you that Sri Lanka in 1990s became a premier team while being nice.

West Indies were gentlemen till the day Michael Holding crossed beghairati amd started throwing beamers at Indian tailenders.

 

[ChennaiFan]

Agression in behavior and agression in play are two different things. Hope this Pakistan team develops aggressive game without getting cocky.

 

[coy0607]

Regardless of profession, the greatest talents generally have attitude and massive ego's.

The inferior talents have humility and graciousness.

Winning creates swagger, losing creates diffidence

 

[ElRaja]

tbh this pak team would look worse if they tried to show attitude, until u have the performance that kind of attitude will look even more petulant.

they arent good enough, how are they gonna have a go at their own team when they will pbly make a similar mistake in a few overs, so it is what it is.

the only one who has any attitude in this squad is shadab, and he gets lambasted for it amongst fans, and dropped from the playing xi, so what can u really do?

 

[sweep_shot]

I have to say this present team is lacking the fire.

It is not just about sledging. It is about that infamous Pakistani spark. It is not there.

 

[Local.Dada]

Regardless of profession, the greatest talents generally have attitude and massive ego's.

The inferior talents have humility and graciousness.

Winning creates swagger, losing creates diffidence

Wow what a logic, so someone like Sachin or Dravid or Laxman or Dhoni must be such inferior talent when compared to the likes the aggressive Afridi,Shoaib Akthar,Umar Akmal etc?

 

[KingKhan12]

I know theirs alot of hate for Sarfraz but he used to be very vocal to the players and angry when their was mistakes on the field. Always talking to the bowlers and encouraging but also telling them of if they doing poorly.

 

[JaDed]

West Indies were gentlemen till the day Michael Holding crossed beghairati amd started throwing beamers at Indian tailenders.

) good one

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

I don't mind them being nice but what I cannot understand is how can a professional team have zero match awareness.

Let's take example of this test and you know you need to bat as long as possible to have any chance of saving the test as there is a chance of bad weather for the next two days yet they don't try to get their first innings somehow creep into the next day.

Azhar had a perfect opportunity in that running between the wicket incident with Broad. He could have called the physio, jumped around a bit, and wasted a bit of time. After that, he should have gestured here and there to the umpires that there isn't enough light as the light was actually not the greatest.

Then take Abbas - he has a perfect line to run and instead of running, he is trying to duck, slowing in the process and letting the ball go over his head and hit the stumps. He's also not running at full tilt when all that was needed was head down running to the other end.

Cricket is a game of fine margins and intelligent split second decisions but our team just doesn't have that street smart attitude and no, before anyone clamors in, Sarfaraz didn't have that either.

We may not have saved the match but heading into tomorrow at 273/8 would have given a possibility to have half an hour tomorrow with free license for Azhar to try to get a few runs. 310 in the first innings, another half an hour of time taken out of the game, more toil and frustration for the English fast bowlers but no, no one thinks about these things.

 

[Titan24]

Maybe PCB can hire Shoaib Akhtar and create a new role of aggression coach.

On a serious note I would definitely like to see more aggression within the rules of the game though not sure how its gonna come in.

 

[Energy]

It is a difficult situation.

Players aren't educated - you let them free and they'll go berserk off the field rather than on it. On the other hand, you tie them up and they start behaving like little uncles.

Different story for other boards though where players have a higher general knowledge and understanding of life beyond cricket. This can be taken, molded, and developed with the right infrastructure and coaching which the Big 3 have. We don't have that luxury.

Simple reason why we were competitive in the past was because of the lack of technology and the sport being dominated by raw talent. Now it is the opposite and countries with advanced infrastructure have cashed in.

 

[chacha kashmiri]

Having been in Derby for so long you would think they would be comfortable in conditions
Instead they still look alien when facing James Anderson

 

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

Brother I can sense sarcasm but let me tell you that Sri Lanka in 1990s became a premier team while being nice.

West Indies were gentlemen till the day Michael Holding crossed beghairati amd started throwing beamers at Indian tailenders.

Don't know man - I remember Ranatunga plenty in your face, needling opponents, taking on umpires. The confidence flowed through the team.

Can someone in Pakistan team do that?

 

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

Wow what a logic, so someone like Sachin or Dravid or Laxman or Dhoni must be such inferior talent when compared to the likes the aggressive Afridi,Shoaib Akthar,Umar Akmal etc?

You have to remember they started winning only when they had Ganguly as captain who totally transformed Indian team's attitude and then Sehwag came along as the final piece of the puzzle.

Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman on their own will not have won half what they did without Ganguly and Sehwag.

 

[Varun]

You have to remember they started winning only when they had Ganguly as captain who totally transformed Indian team's attitude and then Sehwag came along as the final piece of the puzzle.

Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman on their own will not have won half what they did without Ganguly and Sehwag.

This is actually a fair point, and not something debated much.

 

[Major]

and they have cake cutting ceremonies when its your birthday or you score 100

 

[Duckworth Lewis]

With the level of talent they have, they don't afford to sledge. Fake aggression like Hassan Ali will only do more harm.

 

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

It is a difficult situation.

Players aren't educated - you let them free and they'll go berserk off the field rather than on it. On the other hand, you tie them up and they start behaving like little uncles.

Different story for other boards though where players have a higher general knowledge and understanding of life beyond cricket. This can be taken, molded, and developed with the right infrastructure and coaching which the Big 3 have. We don't have that luxury.

Simple reason why we were competitive in the past was because of the lack of technology and the sport being dominated by raw talent. Now it is the opposite and countries with advanced infrastructure have cashed in.

I just think it is simpler. Pakistan has lost its DNA.

At home it doesn't matter as much because players are comfortable with conditions.

But in SENA, Pakistan hasn't won a series for a long time. Misbah for all his great captaincy didn't even show up in SA and Australia and didn't win a series in England either.

Atleast Pakistan used to win series in England and NZ before.

Pakistan's DNA needs to come back. This team needs characters, not puppets.

 

[Energy]

I just think it is simpler. Pakistan has lost its DNA.

At home it doesn't matter as much because players are comfortable with conditions.

But in SENA, Pakistan hasn't won a series for a long time. Misbah for all his great captaincy didn't even show up in SA and Australia and didn't win a series in England either.

Atleast Pakistan used to win series in England and NZ before.

Pakistan's DNA needs to come back. This team needs characters, not puppets.

And that can only start from the top. Can't expect young players to flourish under weak leadership.

 

[Saj]

Missing that bit of aggression and nastiness.

The best Pakistan teams have always had one or two in your face characters, which this team lacks.

 

[Abid Z]

You have to remember they started winning only when they had Ganguly as captain who totally transformed Indian team's attitude and then Sehwag came along as the final piece of the puzzle.

Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman on their own will not have won half what they did without Ganguly and Sehwag.

Honestly what a ridiculous post. Each team does what they are suited to and capable of. Ranatunga could get up people’s noses because he himself was a great strategist made a double hundred in Australia and had some fantastic players in the team.

India could stand up to the world under ganguly because they had Tendulkar Dravid laxman Kumble and sehwag not to mention the others so they could certainly huff and puff and the slightest digression

This pak team have no world beaters infact we rely on the world to throw us crumbs of cricket. England has been the most generous country with us and it’s mostly English players that come to the psl. Plus our bowling is distinctly amateurish and rookie. We couldn’t possibly bowl a bouncer at 92 mph like archer was. In fact with Abbas we are fortunate it even reaches Rizwan standing up.

How on earth can Shan sledge Anderson. He’s his bunny the best thing he can do is shake his hand when he becomes his 600th wicket tomorrow.

Azhar was out many times before he was out..how could he possibly have the swagger of sehwag who would tear our snarling Shohaib to pieces.

Babar is doing fine being himself but even before him Yousuf or younis never felt the need to insult the opposition.

 

[Hasan123]

This team lacks quality. This is what you should be talking about. Not passion.

All this talk about lack of passion and mentality is just a cover up for the fact we aren't good enough.

 

[Savak]

Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali are quality. Form is temporary but class is permanent

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Maybe PCB can hire Shoaib Akhtar and create a new role of aggression coach.

On a serious note I would definitely like to see more aggression within the rules of the game though not sure how its gonna come in.

We'll never hear the end of "Goday", "shair", "darpok" then.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Missing that bit of aggression and nastiness.

The best Pakistan teams have always had one or two in your face characters, which this team lacks.

That in your face attitude would mean nothing when we won't have players to feed off it or have the spark inside them to do great things. A sheep with an attitude of a lion will still remain a sheep.

Miandad was probably the best exponent of that attitude and it brought the best out of him but what will we do if Asad Shafiq starts doing that. He will still get out in single digits when the team needs him the most.
The defect is in the machinery not the attitude, NZ are nice guys yet they still win a lot.

 

[Thomaskutty]

They run up and congratulate their opponents on their milestones

I cringed watching this moment.. Crawley was bashing the Pak bowlers all over the park for 5 sessions and in return they ran upto him hugging him and shaking hands when the first innings was not even over. Eww.

 

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

Honestly what a ridiculous post. Each team does what they are suited to and capable of. Ranatunga could get up people’s noses because he himself was a great strategist made a double hundred in Australia and had some fantastic players in the team.

India could stand up to the world under ganguly because they had Tendulkar Dravid laxman Kumble and sehwag not to mention the others so they could certainly huff and puff and the slightest digression

This pak team have no world beaters infact we rely on the world to throw us crumbs of cricket. England has been the most generous country with us and it’s mostly English players that come to the psl. Plus our bowling is distinctly amateurish and rookie. We couldn’t possibly bowl a bouncer at 92 mph like archer was. In fact with Abbas we are fortunate it even reaches Rizwan standing up.

How on earth can Shan sledge Anderson. He’s his bunny the best thing he can do is shake his hand when he becomes his 600th wicket tomorrow.

Azhar was out many times before he was out..how could he possibly have the swagger of sehwag who would tear our snarling Shohaib to pieces.

Babar is doing fine being himself but even before him Yousuf or younis never felt the need to insult the opposition.

I take umbrage at the word 'ridiculous.'

People transform under leaders - in corporate life, on sports fields, in countries. What is so hard to comprehend there.

I gave the example of India. They had great players, but weren't winning. Ganguly came along and the same team became much more than the sum of its parts. Pakistan in 70s had great players including Imran, Javed, Zaheer, Sarfaraz, Majid etc but were not winning until the leader changed.

It's not about sledging - it's belief that oozes through each player when they know they can win every game. Pakistan has been running teams close for years but then give up at the final hurdle - like happened in the first test.

Under a different leader or with people in team showing fight, this team can punch way above its weight.

When that happens to Pakistan, come back to this thread and we will talk.