What Pakistan needs is a player like Rohit Sharma, David Warner, or Jonny Bairstow in the top-order

[ecaka12]

First post here..Being a long time lurker here and started to following this game from '97..Just wanted to say one thing....

What Pakistan need is a player like Rohit or like Warner, Bairstow in the top..Until you have a player like in that calibre you cant be that one team to beat.

Over the years I've seen lot of openers from Pak...The superstars openers like like Fakhar, Babar, Rizwan, Imam etc are good but not better...

Pakistan needs a threatening pair in the top 3.

TBH even Imran Nazir is a threatening batsman on his day..Its pretty easy to gain 50+ average or 90+ strikre rate(Like Amla) nowadays...

What the team need is a player who can whack it out of the park or who can switch the gear to first to 4th in the top..Until that happens I think the team will stays the same..Opinions are welcome...

 

[SpiritOf1903]

Retrograde selection and culture. Needs a psychologist more urgently

 

[ex-q-zit]

Saim ayub is the answer. Blood him in gradually by playing him against weaker sides or dead rubbers like India dis with Gill, Gaikwad etc. Saim is a naturally gifted player who can play teh aggressive game.

 

[gazza619]

Hello there. I agree we need an X-factor. Unfortunately the guys who are half decent (Saim Ayub & M Haris) are not trusted by team management.

 

[chinaman00]

Retrograde selection and culture. Needs a psychologist more urgently

As a non-Pakistani fan, I find it astonishing that Pakistani fans and experts don’t discuss the need for a qualified sports psychologist for this team. The issue with this team, like many others before them, isn’t one of skills but of psychology. We see time and again who they crumble at high pressure matches. From the 1999 WC Final to today, successive Pakistani teams have folded and capitulated instead of putting a fight.

This needs to be examined and rectified.

 

[Bewal Express]

We do but don't have those players. You can only play with what you have.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

We need one of those, and a Mitchell Marsh and throw in a Jadeja too please.

 

[AAli98]

All of top 6 the same kind of batsman no X factor between them can’t hit a 6 to save there lives.

 

[Sherazkhalid]

What we need is the likes of Rohit, David or Johny in the top order who have big parchi or friends in the right places.

 

[Bhaijaan]

You already have it. His name is Fakhar Zaman.

 

[Saj]

As a non-Pakistani fan, I find it astonishing that Pakistani fans and experts don’t discuss the need for a qualified sports psychologist for this team. The issue with this team, like many others before them, isn’t one of skills but of psychology. We see time and again who they crumble at high pressure matches. From the 1999 WC Final to today, successive Pakistani teams have folded and capitulated instead of putting a fight.

This needs to be examined and rectified.

There is one with the squad at the moment.

 

[chinaman00]

There is one with the squad at the moment.

I wonder what his qualifications are & how central he’s to the team’s planning. There’s a definite mental block among the Pakistani players and this is a chronic challenge.

 

[Flat_Track_Bully]

The bigger problem is their ARs. Shadab and Nawaz are completely out of form.

 

[ecaka12]

Well today is the perfect day for reiterating this post ig

 

[ElRaja]

have said it for time, there was no point in persisting with fakhar for so many years to drop him one game into the world cup. yes shafique has played well, but it does not justify the impulsive changes.

fakhar is the only hitter in this top order, he has to be in there, and given babars form i do not think swapping fakhar for saud and dropping babar to 5 for fakhar at 3 would be totally mental.

none of the top order scare the opposition, none of them can take a game away from a good bowling attach. yes this is harsh on saud, but saud at 5 adds less potential match winning value than fakhar at three could.

however given afg is paks next game, its more than likely fakhar would get out for a 8 ball duck, lol.

 

[hassan918]

Saim Ayub can be the solution of this problem in the long run. He seems to have good enough technique and great range of shots to be a success in the top order.

 

[batandballbattle]

Saim Ayub can be the solution of this problem in the long run. He seems to have good enough technique and great range of shots to be a success in the top order.

100%
An active effort should be made to bed him in before the T20 WC, if the investment yields results he can always translate that to ODI success down the line.

 

[Barragan]

You mean someone like a Fakhar Zaman?

Guy is out of nick, but should have been backed.

 

[Rana]

Pakistan doesn’t deserve anyone of that caliber

They don’t understand white ball cricket and modern requirements

 

[hassan918]

100%
An active effort should be made to bed him in before the T20 WC, if the investment yields results he can always translate that to ODI success down the line.

The problem is that in T20, Babar and Rizwan won't allow anyone else to take their place as an opener.

 

[mominsaigol]

First post here..Being a long time lurker here and started to following this game from '97..Just wanted to say one thing....

What Pakistan need is a player like Rohit or like Warner, Bairstow in the top..Until you have a player like in that calibre you cant be that one team to beat.

Over the years I've seen lot of openers from Pak...The superstars openers like like Fakhar, Babar, Rizwan, Imam etc are good but not better...

Pakistan needs a threatening pair in the top 3.

TBH even Imran Nazir is a threatening batsman on his day..Its pretty easy to gain 50+ average or 90+ strikre rate(Like Amla) nowadays...

What the team need is a player who can whack it out of the park or who can switch the gear to first to 4th in the top..Until that happens I think the team will stays the same..Opinions are welcome...

You don't get rohit sharma, or bairstow openers out of thin air.

They need to be groomed, and grooming takes effort from management.

It takes years to develop a player. Problem is our management rewards stats instead, so playing 1990 style risk free is rewarded over playing modern standards. Obviously imam will Average higher then saim ayub if all he does is play for his team risk free and care free.

Someone like saim ayub who enjoys playing freely isn't allowed to spread his wings, be groomed, be worked on by management to improve his weaknesses and be given a proper long run.

If saim ayub was in India, he'd be groomed into a world star by now.

Rohit, Rahul, kohli, Gill.

^^ These guys weren't special, Rohit was a failure in middle order and had umar akmal memes, Rahul was hated by Indian fans for being a poor replacement for dhawan opening, Kohli was mocked by fans for being a soft run scorer and being clueless against inswing and ours wing a weakness which existed against Pakistan in 2012 days, and Gill was mocked for having zero footwork.

Now rohit is an ATG, Kohli is considered in the class of viv and Sachin, Gill is already considered the next era defining batsmen and Rahul is considered one of the best wicket keeper batsmen India has ever had excluding Dhoni.

^^ All this happens because bcci selects on merit, they don't care about experience and didn't hesitate to drop a fizzled out dhawan for Gill, did we drop fakhar or sheddy?

Lastly the management always works on their players 24/7, and forces everyone to play according to modern standards.

Rohit, Kohli, Gill, Rahul have support from management but management has also groomed them to have a hard working attitude.

The fact that Pakistan has 0 sixes in the powerplay, If this was India, first thing they'd do is make all efforts and work day in and day out to rectify that issue.

Their all simply more hard working and play for the team. Better management, better cricket hard work culture, better selection criteria etc.

That's why their players become ATG's.

 

[MMHS]

As a non-Pakistani fan, I find it astonishing that Pakistani fans and experts don’t discuss the need for a qualified sports psychologist for this team. The issue with this team, like many others before them, isn’t one of skills but of psychology. We see time and again who they crumble at high pressure matches. From the 1999 WC Final to today, successive Pakistani teams have folded and capitulated instead of putting a fight.

This needs to be examined and rectified.

They have one - Maqbool Babri.

These are all secondary - first thing you need is basic cricket skill & there is a big gap.

Even Babar, as fantastic batsman as he is, got out at wrong time to Adam Zampa & I would say that was a semi-long hop ….. psychologist can help him to be more decisive, but this is also true that he is surprisingly poor against spin for a player of his calibre- chances are more that even without a psychiatrist, even our Mushi could have dumped that long-hop to mid-wicket crowd, on that 60 metre ground.

 

[Bhaijaan]

Today the problem wasn’t the openers. They did a great job.

 

[Cover Drive Six]

Today the problem wasn’t the openers. They did a great job.

Better than their previous matches but they should have scored more runs in the power play.
They have scored at a run a ball in power play.

 

[batandballbattle]

The problem is that in T20, Babar and Rizwan won't allow anyone else to take their place as an opener.

Babar can just bat at 3 like he does in ODI but yeah it might be a tough sell

 

[Saj]

Run a ball is our batter's limit.

Other teams have batters who are explosive, we have batters who are accumulators.

That is a huge problem!

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Fakhar is someone who can accelerate but he's been out of form and he's painfully slow earlier on these days. Imam is good but can't really acclerate. Abdullah actually has a high ceiling but let's see how he goes. Saim Ayub should be given a go after the wc.
Our spinners' struggle has been woeful.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Run a ball is our batter's limit.

Other teams have batters who are explosive, we have batters who are accumulators.

That is a huge problem!

Was actually embarrassing watching Pakistan openers try and tackle Aussie total today. Imam just plodded along with no intent, no improvisation and got out as soon as he played a big shot.

Abdullah did show he could play a few big shots, but against good bowlers he can't go through the gears.

The lack of 360 strokes etc.. you can't just score at top of order through conventional strokes only and expect to score quickly

 

[PakFan2010]

Was actually embarrassing watching Pakistan openers try and tackle Aussie total today. Imam just plodded along with no intent, no improvisation and got out as soon as he played a big shot.

Abdullah did show he could play a few big shots, but against good bowlers he can't go through the gears.

The lack of 360 strokes etc.. you can't just score at top of order through conventional strokes only and expect to score quickly

Abdullah Shafique and Imam both played their part, they added 150 runs for 2 wickets.

Babar, Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar and Nawaz couldn't score 200 runs between them. They are to blame for today's defeat.

 

[emranabbas]

If anyone of these players were pakistani they would have been ruined

 

[praveen]

Today the problem wasn’t the openers. They did a great job.

Disagree bro. They should have taken more risk upfront instead of run a ball approach. This is not a 300 chase

I don’t know if Imam type batters have the skill to strike at 150 and set the tone without worrying out accumulating.

 

[7sins]

What paksitan needs a clean up from top to bottom and first thing will be to kick out undeserving players like imam fakhar Nawaz shadab Haris Raufetc and babar from captaincy

 

[Dr_Bassim]

Abdullah Shafique and Imam both played their part, they added 150 runs for 2 wickets.

Babar, Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar and Nawaz couldn't score 200 runs between them. They are to blame for today's defeat.

This is where context is important.

They started at RRR of 7.3 and departed at RRR of nearly 8.5 in 25 overs.

Yes 150-2 but remaining team had to chase 213 at nearly 8.5 an over.

SImply not happening.

The problem with slow openers who dont convert their starts to match defining centuries is that they set up the rest of team for inevitable failure.

So, on paper it says what a start.

Reality is more ugly and shows what happened.

 

[160KPH]

Every team needs a Rohit or Warner on their team. The question is where do you find them? They’re two of the best World Cup performing batsmen of all time, there is no opener that is at that level in Pakistan - there’s no opener that level in most countries.

 

[Saanji]

This is where context is important.

They started at RRR of 7.3 and departed at RRR of nearly 8.5 in 25 overs.

Yes 150-2 but remaining team had to chase 213 at nearly 8.5 an over.

SImply not happening.

The problem with slow openers who dont convert their starts to match defining centuries is that they set up the rest of team for inevitable failure.

So, on paper it says what a start.

Reality is more ugly and shows what happened.

This was a proper start.. a scary start. It's not their fault that middle order and lower order did not click at all.
In t20 era, if you can bring the target to 170 in 20 overs with 7 wickets, it should be considered 50-50 proposition.

 

[160KPH]

This was a proper start.. a scary start. It's not their fault that middle order and lower order did not click at all.
In t20 era, if you can bring the target to 170 in 20 overs with 7 wickets, it should be considered 50-50 proposition.

Yeah I fear that by always blaming the opening batsmen, the middle order and late order batsmen too often get to escape criticism

 

[Saanji]

Yeah I fear that by always blaming the opening batsmen, the middle order and late order batsmen too often get to escape criticism

Chasing above 350 is rare and it cannot happen unless someone makes a big daddy hundred.
Rizwan played that role against Sri Lanka. No one was able to stay for long and that's where they failed.

 

[Dr_Bassim]

This was a proper start.. a scary start. It's not their fault that middle order and lower order did not click at all.
In t20 era, if you can bring the target to 170 in 20 overs with 7 wickets, it should be considered 50-50 proposition.

If you are chasing 370 and expect to chase 8.5 for 25 overs with even 7 wickets remaining, you will fail 9 times out of 10.

There is a reason 370 has been chased only a few times in ODI history.

And you need an amazing start for that.

Middling and acceptable starts dont work.

 

[160KPH]

If you are chasing 370 and expect to chase 8.5 for 25 overs with even 7 wickets remaining, you will fail 9 times out of 10.

There is a reason 370 has been chased only a few times in ODI history.

And you need an amazing start for that.

Middling and acceptable starts dont work.

Yeah but if you look at most of the biggest chases, including when Pakistan chased 348 against Australia previously, you aim for a 100 SR early on and then dramatically accelerate with wickets in hand.

 

[Dr_Bassim]

Yeah but if you look at most of the biggest chases, including when Pakistan chased 348 against Australia previously, you aim for a 100 SR early on and then dramatically accelerate with wickets in hand.

Nathan Ellis, Sean Abbot, Cameron Green, Travis Head and Swepson.

PAkistan would have chased 370 today too if those were the bowlers.

 

[160KPH]

Nathan Ellis, Sean Abbot, Cameron Green, Travis Head and Swepson.

PAkistan would have chased 370 today too if those were the bowlers.

I’m talking about how all successful big chases are constructed. You can go look yourself, even the biggest totals India have chased usually begin with around a 100 SR and then dramatic acceleration. Usually, one or two batsmen play a really high strike rate cameo in the middle order.