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What should Pakistan do to chase 250+ totals?

Play this XI in UAE in the same order :

Fakhar Zamaan
Babar Azam
Haris Sohail
Saud Shakeel
Saif badar
Mohammad Hafeez
Sarfaraz Ahmad
Shadab
Faheem
Shaheen
Junaid

You will chase 250 runs easily with this line up and order.
 
Madplayer said:
Play this XI in UAE in the same order :

Fakhar Zamaan
Babar Azam
Haris Sohail
Saud Shakeel
Saif badar
Mohammad Hafeez
Sarfaraz Ahmad
Shadab
Faheem
Shaheen
Junaid

You will chase 250 runs easily with this line up and order.
Click to expand...

It’s not going to work.

This has been a problem for close to decade now. Changing line ups will not do any thing because we’ve ran through so many batsmen over the last few years hoping for that ‘dream’ batting line up and it hasn’t worked.

Once the current domestic heroes fail the new youngsters will pop up and the cycle will repeat.

There is much deeper problem in Pakistan cricket that won’t be fixed by just picking a few new players.

These Shakeels and Badars will do well in their first few matches in international cricket but after a while they’ll get found out like so many of our so called batting solutions over the last couple of years.
 
Fakhar will be out in2nd over Babar will follow 6/2 then recovery will start and we will end up at 220
 
Madplayer said:
Play this XI in UAE in the same order :

Fakhar Zamaan
Babar Azam
Haris Sohail
Saud Shakeel
Saif badar
Mohammad Hafeez
Sarfaraz Ahmad
Shadab
Faheem
Shaheen
Junaid

You will chase 250 runs easily with this line up and order.
Click to expand...
I think that line up is capable of chasing 300 with ease.
 
Madplayer said:
Play this XI in UAE in the same order :

Fakhar Zamaan
Babar Azam
Haris Sohail
Saud Shakeel
Saif badar
Mohammad Hafeez
Sarfaraz Ahmad
Shadab
Faheem
Shaheen
Junaid

You will chase 250 runs easily with this line up and order.
Click to expand...

This line up has 30/4 written all over it
 
Madplayer said:
Play this XI in UAE in the same order :

Fakhar Zamaan
Babar Azam
Haris Sohail
Saud Shakeel
Saif badar
Mohammad Hafeez
Sarfaraz Ahmad
Shadab
Faheem
Shaheen
Junaid

You will chase 250 runs easily with this line up and order.
Click to expand...

This bowling line-up will give away 290 on a 250 wicket. And this batting line-up won't be able to chase 290.

So back to square one.
 
Nothing.

We've been a poor team for over a decade.

This is how things are.
 
Madplayer said:
Play this XI in UAE in the same order :

Fakhar Zamaan
Babar Azam
Haris Sohail
Saud Shakeel
Saif badar
Mohammad Hafeez
Sarfaraz Ahmad
Shadab
Faheem
Shaheen
Junaid

You will chase 250 runs easily with this line up and order.
Click to expand...

That looks like a worse lineup than the current one lol
 
Something is wrong with the Pakistan team

The four best players- Babar Azam, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali and Fakhar Zaman, have all been uncharacteristically poor in the last few ODIs. I don't think poor form is the issue. These guys have the ability. Physical tireness isn't a problem either. Players are well rested. It seems to be a mental block. I'm not sure what's wrong. Pakistan is a top team. Problem is, the best players aren't performing. Every team will lose when this happens.
 
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Ability is the issue, your abilities are always tested in the long run. The more you play international cricket, teams work you out and then you have to show your mettle by bouncing back and minimize your weaknesses.

Also the players are not good enough as we believe them to be. Every team has batsmen operating at an avg SR of 90 and accelerating at 120 plus and 3-4 guaranteed hitters who can hit at a SR of 140-150 plus from ball one if the team needs it. We have too many 90's accumulators who operate at an Avg SR of 40-60 and then lose their wickets while hurting the team a lot. We are only depending on Fakhar for a fast start and there is no one at the end who can hit out when the team needs 50 runs of 25-30 deliveries.

Extremely poor foresight by the coach and selection committee.
 
Pakistan needs to get the roles right, your best batsman need to play at the top and score big just like indias do

The top 3 has to include

Babar
Harris

Sarfraz and Imad need to bat at 4/5 and play the role of consolidators, imad is not a hitter so pointless playing him at 6/7

The lower order must be be hitters, play one of malik and hafeez bat them at 6 with shadab, asif and faheem bringing up the rear
 
Madplayer said:
Play this XI in UAE in the same order :

Fakhar Zamaan
Babar Azam
Haris Sohail
Saud Shakeel
Saif badar
Mohammad Hafeez
Sarfaraz Ahmad
Shadab
Faheem
Shaheen
Junaid

You will chase 250 runs easily with this line up and order.
Click to expand...

Dunno who saif baddar is but since he's a specialist batsman in your list, willing to give a try.

There is more batting balance, though hafeez and Harris will have to make up for the 5th bowler...
 
Pray to God Fakhar and Babar find some form. They are batting like Zimbabwe batsmen since last 10-12 ODIs.
 
Unfortunately we have to.play hafeez for his proper 6th bowling option...but he has to bat lower..!

He is a better finisher and stroke maker than malik or sarfraz will ever be..so play him at no. 6.

Its only logical for someone who struggles with seaming conditions but plays the spinners well to bat lower.

Other than rest hasan and bring faheem in, which also gives at a batting option at no. 9 (not that you should expect too much from no.9).

Overall thats the best Pak line up we have...so live with it.

We're never gonna find 3/4 hitters out of no where.
 
6 batsmen, 1 WK who can bat & 4 bowlers, or may be 3 bowlers & one all-rounder - don't mind those 3 bowlers are genuine No. 11; 10 overs to be shared by batsmen who make the team on pure batting merit.

1. Babar
2. Haris (or may be Amin)
3. FZ
4. Open spot (may be Saud, in that case he bats at 3)
5. Open spot (may be Umar or Maqsood)
6. Open spot (may be one of the Buzurg)
7. Sarfraz (can't help, they are not sacking him before WC, so ................. only can hope that he acts like a proper Captain)
8. Shadab
9. Open spot (may be Irfan or a SLAO)
10. Amir
11. Afridi

FZ, Saud, Buzurg, Haris/Amin can share 10 overs - Umar is back-up WK as well. May be outside Asia, 2nd spinner leaves the spot for 3rd pacer (may be Abbas!! till WC).

And, please play proper batsmen against new ball in first 4-5 spots - these spin bashing can happen from 6-7, but sending them in 3-4-5 is suicide mission.
 
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Strike rotation isn't something that you just learn at international level. It's something you learn from a young age.
 
With respect to the batting, it was one over that cost us. Not many sides recover from losing three wickets in the second/third over of the game...

Maybe our plan should be to see out Boult’s first 3-4 overs...
 
How about.......start by picking 5 proper batsmen in the starting XI.
 
IMMY69 said:
With respect to the batting, it was one over that cost us. Not many sides recover from losing three wickets in the second/third over of the game...

Maybe our plan should be to see out Boult’s first 3-4 overs...
Click to expand...
I think we should go after Boult, which will unsettle New Zealand. Enough of this hanging around, hoping for a bad ball which inevitably is not taken advantage of anyway
 
Saj said:
How about.......start by picking 5 proper batsmen in the starting XI.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I've said it before that putting Hafeez in at 4 is asking for trouble and good as they have been at times, Malik and Sarfaraz are not proper bats. We can get away with it in T20's, but our mediocrity as a batting lineup is consistently exposed in ODI's. I have to wonder what are the management doing about it?

The three mentioned above are mere utility players and we need a solid top 5/6 batsmen to compete against the top sides as our bowling can only win us a game on the odd occasion. Hafeez should probably stick to T20's. The guy is all mouth but hardly ever wins a game for Pakistan in the one day format with his batting.
 
Asif321 said:
This line up has 30/4 written all over it
Click to expand...
How so? Explain please so that we also understand.

3 of top 4 have a good technique and dont slog. This is a line up for UAE mind you.

j_kazmi said:
It’s not going to work.

This has been a problem for close to decade now. Changing line ups will not do any thing because we’ve ran through so many batsmen over the last few years hoping for that ‘dream’ batting line up and it hasn’t worked.

Once the current domestic heroes fail the new youngsters will pop up and the cycle will repeat.

There is much deeper problem in Pakistan cricket that won’t be fixed by just picking a few new players.

These Shakeels and Badars will do well in their first few matches in international cricket but after a while they’ll get found out like so many of our so called batting solutions over the last couple of years.
Click to expand...

Thats another discussion. How to challenge the batsmen more in domestic cricket so that they cannot be "found out" after playing few games in international cricket. For now, we should do the best we can.

the_outsider said:
This bowling line-up will give away 290 on a 250 wicket. And this batting line-up won't be able to chase 290.

So back to square one.
Click to expand...
No, in UAE this bowling line up is fine. They wont concede more than 250 in UAE.

Ahson8 said:
That looks like a worse lineup than the current one lol
Click to expand...

explain how. Would love to hear how this line up is worse than current line up which has imam, hafeez in top order, Malik who is a dud against pace, and imad waseem in lower order. Mind you, we are only talking about chasing 250 in UAE so keep that in mind.

Eagle_Eye said:
Dunno who saif baddar is but since he's a specialist batsman in your list, willing to give a try.

There is more batting balance, though hafeez and Harris will have to make up for the 5th bowler...
Click to expand...

Saif is a great talent in my opinion. He can be the batsman we wanted Babar to be. Talent with power hitting.
 
MMHS said:
6 batsmen, 1 WK who can bat & 4 bowlers, or may be 3 bowlers & one all-rounder - don't mind those 3 bowlers are genuine No. 11; 10 overs to be shared by batsmen who make the team on pure batting merit.

1. Babar
2. Haris (or may be Amin)
3. FZ
4. Open spot (may be Saud, in that case he bats at 3)
5. Open spot (may be Umar or Maqsood)
6. Open spot (may be one of the Buzurg)
7. Sarfraz (can't help, they are not sacking him before WC, so ................. only can hope that he acts like a proper Captain)
8. Shadab
9. Open spot (may be Irfan or a SLAO)
10. Amir
11. Afridi

FZ, Saud, Buzurg, Haris/Amin can share 10 overs - Umar is back-up WK as well. May be outside Asia, 2nd spinner leaves the spot for 3rd pacer (may be Abbas!! till WC).

And, please play proper batsmen against new ball in first 4-5 spots - these spin bashing can happen from 6-7, but sending them in 3-4-5 is suicide mission.
Click to expand...

You have selected more or less a similar line up like mine. Good to see.
 
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Not sure what we can do tbh. We don't have many more batsmen to try out. We've tried so many out now, and we need to settle with a team, it's worrying how settled our team is going into the world cup.

I think we should try to make the most of our team. A right-left combo at top might help and worth trying. So Babar needs to open. He's better against pace too. Thus one of Fakhar or Imam bats at 3.

Imad should bat 7 not 8. He's done the best with the bat out of the "allrounders", and deserves the spot. I'm a fan of the double spinners, I think it works and gives us a bit of an edge a lot of teams don't have.

Hafeez, Sarfraz, Malik are all similar batsmen. This is an issue. Let's give Haris a run at 4, he's one of the more balanced batsmen against spin and pace. Might stall our batting, but it's a risk I'd take at this point, we aren't even lasting 50 overs.

Only one of Malik or Hafeez should play right now. Maybe start with Malik and if it doesn't work Hafeez. Both should bat at 6 if they play, and Sarfraz at 5. If Imam or dread Fakhar prove to be a dud, move up Haris and play Hafeez. But before playing both of Hafeez and Malik, work out whether it is feasible to play both Imam and Haris. And which out of them is better. If both are good, well we don't have an issue then, Hafeez probably sits out.
 
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I felt Pakistan was playing too many all rounders , imad, Hafeez, Shadab, Malik, Sarfaraz. Two genuine batsman can be fit in easily and chances of chasing would improve.
 
Stay in dressing room & not come out.. really poor team, rely on individual brilliance to win a odi here & there ie maliks innings v afgh.

Baba & co are too overated
 
Sign an MOU with the neighbors to employ some batsmen on overseas quota? Itnay batsman kia karnay hain unhoun nay ...
 
j_kazmi said:
It’s not going to work.

This has been a problem for close to decade now. Changing line ups will not do any thing because we’ve ran through so many batsmen over the last few years hoping for that ‘dream’ batting line up and it hasn’t worked.

Once the current domestic heroes fail the new youngsters will pop up and the cycle will repeat.

There is much deeper problem in Pakistan cricket that won’t be fixed by just picking a few new players.

These Shakeels and Badars will do well in their first few matches in international cricket but after a while they’ll get found out like so many of our so called batting solutions over the last couple of years.
Click to expand...

So what is the solution??
 
Rahul1 said:
You guys can have useless Rayudu and Dhoni. Free of cost.
Click to expand...

The irony of the situation is that these two if playing for Pakistan would automatically be the best batsmen in the country by atleast a few country miles.

:))
 
GoUgandaCranes said:
The irony of the situation is that these two if playing for Pakistan would automatically be the best batsmen in the country by atleast a few country miles.

:))
Click to expand...

These two will be the first two names on the sheet ahead of even the Pakistani bowlers :))
 
Mansoor3120 said:
So what is the solution??
Click to expand...

For now there isn’t a solution that will make us into a top modern batting line up.

But a short term fix would be to select 4-5 proper batsmen in the line up. Not these bits and pieces cricketers like hafeez, Malik and these other ‘allrounders’.

Right now we can’t even manage to play out full 50 overs against good bowling attacks so we need batsmen who will can play out a full innings.
 
I think Rayadu critisism is a bit harsh here. How many teams have a batsman of avg 50 (albeit at SR of 80) @ number 5 currently? He may not be a world beater but get you those 40s and 50s consistantly.
 
1. Mental Awareness
Pakistan has always been bottlers at chasing not due to the fact that we have average batsmen but due to the fact that our players don't have that mental nuance of analyzing match situations. It is great that after Mickey joined the coaching team we have started to address the fielding aspect of the game but cricket is not restricted to batting, bowling and fielding alone.

The mental side of cricket is such an underrated area in Pakistan that nobody, not even the team management has ever decided to address this issue. We have consistently bottled chases over the past 20 years because nobody had the intelligence to devise how to go about a target. The fact that over the past 20 years, we have produced only one genuine chaser (Inzamam-ul-Haq) who calculated the chase like nobody else, is a source of embarrassment.

You may bring in many "dynamic" batsmen like Umar Akmal and Sohaib Maqsood but that wouldn't change a thing in Pakistan cricket unless you bring in a sense of match awareness. If Fakhar is not finding it easy to hit out at the start of the innings, then he should allow himself time in the middle. Be 10 off 30 balls if that means you get to face the first and second change bowlers especially when the best two bowlers in the NZ are their opening bowlers. Fakhar should be trusting in his ability that he would overcome the initial drab SR in the later part of his innings. Rohit Sharma bats at 50-60 SR sometimes in INDIA during the start of his innings. But where is Fakhar's common sense?

2. Soaking pressure
I don't think I've seen a more timid team under pressure than Pakistan. They will crumble at the mere sight of pressure let alone crumbling after being under the strain of it. It has become a ritual that all Pakistan teams will panic once the run-rate goes above 6. They consider a Required Run Rate of over 6 as a manifestation of pressure. Why? Simply because of a lack of self confidence in their own ability to cover that shortfall. I've seen this right from gully cricket up to the national team. Once the balls remaining are less than runs required, the sad mentality is that the batsmen now need to score boundaries. Many will vouch for this that how many times have you heard in gully cricket "yaar tu test match khelnay aaya hay kiya, balls nahi rehteen itni? Tum say nahi horaha toh out hoja." Why does our mentality run in binary i.e. either hit boundaries or get out. A 7 RRR can easily be achieved by running couples also and if you hit a boundary somewhere you cover up the deficit of 3 balls.

In Mohali 2011, we continuously berate Misbah for his slow batting but if you look at it objectively with a cool brain, we were 200 for 8 after 45 overs with a Batting Powerplay of 5 overs remaining. Nobody in the world can convince me that Pakistan could not have scored 60 runs in the remaining 5 overs with Misbah/Umar/Afridi/Razzaq and a Batting Powerplay in hand. Had Umar stayed till the 45th over, we would've probably only needed 40 in the last 5 overs. But what did we do? Crumble under pressure once the RRR went up over 6. We didn't lose the match because of Misbah. We lost it because the other 3 (Umar, Afridi, Razzaq) left their brains behind in the dressing room.

So, you can chop and change as much as you want but the underlying fact remains that if Pakistan wants to become a top ODI nation, it needs to work on the intangible aspects of cricket more than it needs work on the tangible ones. Chasing becomes easy if you have a proper mindset on how to approach it especially for these 240-275 middling totals because for these totals you don't need firepower in your batting lineup. Yes for totals like 370 which we got in Australia, we will never chase down because we just don't have the skillset in terms of firepower to get there but for these average totals, our team management needs to work on these two things.
 
Let us look at our opponents.NZ have a decent bowling line up.Looking at their bowling line up, it's easy to understand that they rely heavily on Boult and Southee to give them the early breakthroughs.Once these two struggle to pick up wickets with the new ball NZ's bowling unit looks ordinary. Lockie Ferguson bowls fast in his 1st spell but then after that his pace falls down considerably and thus becomes easy to negate. Playing Sodhi and De Grandhomme should not be a concern.
So against a team like NZ all you have to do is to not lose early wickets.

I had my issues with Imam but he has shown a lot of promice.FZ and Babar are going through a tough phase but you have to back them as they are your best players.
Hafeez should not be batting at no.4.Looking at the batting order of Pakistan one would realise that they would struggle to score runs at a decent pace in the death overs.Hafeez can be good at no.6.
Haris Sohail should be playing at no.4.
Haris should be playing instead of a bowler as it looks like Pakistan are a going in with a batsman short.

I don't know if it's only me or others have noticed it too that Sarfaraz starts to panic quite early.If there is a good partnership going on for the opposition team,he starts to panic and that is confirmed by his face expressions.Maybe after the Asia Cup this team has a fear of losing, and that too in a similar manner.
Chasing 250+ is not easy in UAE and I feel that they will perform better with the bat in places like Eng,Aus.
Let's hope for the best and hold our judgements before this series ends.
 
Playing proper batsmen instead of all-rounders in the key middle order spots might help.
 
I think I am the only person in the world who consider Imam a better batsman than Fakhar 😒

IMO Haris Sohail should be in the ODI team on the cost of Malik/Hafeez/Imad.

IMO Shadab should be promoted in the batting & a buzurg should play down the order.
 
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shariqnoor said:
1. Mental Awareness
Pakistan has always been bottlers at chasing not due to the fact that we have average batsmen but due to the fact that our players don't have that mental nuance of analyzing match situations. It is great that after Mickey joined the coaching team we have started to address the fielding aspect of the game but cricket is not restricted to batting, bowling and fielding alone.

The mental side of cricket is such an underrated area in Pakistan that nobody, not even the team management has ever decided to address this issue. We have consistently bottled chases over the past 20 years because nobody had the intelligence to devise how to go about a target. The fact that over the past 20 years, we have produced only one genuine chaser (Inzamam-ul-Haq) who calculated the chase like nobody else, is a source of embarrassment.

You may bring in many "dynamic" batsmen like Umar Akmal and Sohaib Maqsood but that wouldn't change a thing in Pakistan cricket unless you bring in a sense of match awareness. If Fakhar is not finding it easy to hit out at the start of the innings, then he should allow himself time in the middle. Be 10 off 30 balls if that means you get to face the first and second change bowlers especially when the best two bowlers in the NZ are their opening bowlers. Fakhar should be trusting in his ability that he would overcome the initial drab SR in the later part of his innings. Rohit Sharma bats at 50-60 SR sometimes in INDIA during the start of his innings. But where is Fakhar's common sense?

2. Soaking pressure
I don't think I've seen a more timid team under pressure than Pakistan. They will crumble at the mere sight of pressure let alone crumbling after being under the strain of it. It has become a ritual that all Pakistan teams will panic once the run-rate goes above 6. They consider a Required Run Rate of over 6 as a manifestation of pressure. Why? Simply because of a lack of self confidence in their own ability to cover that shortfall. I've seen this right from gully cricket up to the national team. Once the balls remaining are less than runs required, the sad mentality is that the batsmen now need to score boundaries. Many will vouch for this that how many times have you heard in gully cricket "yaar tu test match khelnay aaya hay kiya, balls nahi rehteen itni? Tum say nahi horaha toh out hoja." Why does our mentality run in binary i.e. either hit boundaries or get out. A 7 RRR can easily be achieved by running couples also and if you hit a boundary somewhere you cover up the deficit of 3 balls.

In Mohali 2011, we continuously berate Misbah for his slow batting but if you look at it objectively with a cool brain, we were 200 for 8 after 45 overs with a Batting Powerplay of 5 overs remaining. Nobody in the world can convince me that Pakistan could not have scored 60 runs in the remaining 5 overs with Misbah/Umar/Afridi/Razzaq and a Batting Powerplay in hand. Had Umar stayed till the 45th over, we would've probably only needed 40 in the last 5 overs. But what did we do? Crumble under pressure once the RRR went up over 6. We didn't lose the match because of Misbah. We lost it because the other 3 (Umar, Afridi, Razzaq) left their brains behind in the dressing room.

So, you can chop and change as much as you want but the underlying fact remains that if Pakistan wants to become a top ODI nation, it needs to work on the intangible aspects of cricket more than it needs work on the tangible ones. Chasing becomes easy if you have a proper mindset on how to approach it especially for these 240-275 middling totals because for these totals you don't need firepower in your batting lineup. Yes for totals like 370 which we got in Australia, we will never chase down because we just don't have the skillset in terms of firepower to get there but for these average totals, our team management needs to work on these two things.
Click to expand...

Post of the week.
 
Play aggressive.. let the field spread out.. put the pressure on the bowlers... or the second option is
start cautiously and use a pinch hitter in the middle overs.
 
Madplayer said:
You have selected more or less a similar line up like mine. Good to see.
Click to expand...

Not actually the exact XI that I like, but given the choices (& no choices), this is probably the best that PAK can play in ODI.

In my ideal XI, I'll drop Sarfraz and play a WK, who'll NEVER be Captain - be it Rizwan or a rookie. And, drop both oldies to play both Umar & Maqsood. There is a good chance that I'll drop Fakhar & play both Amin & Hari.

May be fantasy XI (squad) is like this

Babar
Amin
Saud
Haris (Might swap with Umar to avoid 3 lefties in top 4)
Umar
Maqsood
Rizwan (if not him, then play the kid Ruhail, at least that's an investment for 10-12 years)
Shadab
Irfan/Gohar
Amir
Afridi
Abbas (till WC - won't do worse than anyone trying now with new ball).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FZ, Hasan, Fahim/Amad - makes the 15. If they allow 16th man, I'll take Kamran Ghulam OR one of the 2 Buzurgs can join as cheerleader.

And yes, Amir leads the side with Shadab or Saud as deputy. Amir is made Pindi Captain while Saud is leading PTV team this year - can't do worse.
 
Sadozai said:
I think I am the only person in the world who consider Imam a better batsman than Fakhar ��

IMO Haris Sohail should be in the ODI team on the cost of Malik/Hafeez/Imad.

IMO Shadab should be promoted in the batting & a buzurg should play down the order.
Click to expand...

Not alone. I consider Imam to be a better player too but Fakhar has done very well. Better than Imam for sure at the moment. Imam would turn out to be a better Test player than Fakhar but in ODIs at the moment, Fakhar is head and shoulders above Imam.

Haris Sohail will be a part of the team as Malik has said that he will retire after the 2019 WC. But before the WC, Haris should be in the team ahead of Imad. Imad is useless in ODIs. Isn't a proper batter and neither a proper bowler. We don't need containment in ODIs which is what Imad relies on.

Shadab should ideally never get batting in ODIs. He has no ability to hit out at the end of the innings and can only bat in ODIs once the team is 6 down after 20 overs, as then he doesn't have any pressure on him. He's a handy bat in Tests but that's about it.
 
Fakhar
Babar
Haris
Sarfraz
Malik
Hafeez
Imad/Faheem
Shadab
Hasan
Shaheen
Junaid
 
MMHS said:
Not actually the exact XI that I like, but given the choices (& no choices), this is probably the best that PAK can play in ODI.

In my ideal XI, I'll drop Sarfraz and play a WK, who'll NEVER be Captain - be it Rizwan or a rookie. And, drop both oldies to play both Umar & Maqsood. There is a good chance that I'll drop Fakhar & play both Amin & Hari.

May be fantasy XI (squad) is like this

Babar
Amin
Saud
Haris (Might swap with Umar to avoid 3 lefties in top 4)
Umar
Maqsood
Rizwan (if not him, then play the kid Ruhail, at least that's an investment for 10-12 years)
Shadab
Irfan/Gohar
Amir
Afridi
Abbas (till WC - won't do worse than anyone trying now with new ball).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FZ, Hasan, Fahim/Amad - makes the 15. If they allow 16th man, I'll take Kamran Ghulam OR one of the 2 Buzurgs can join as cheerleader.

And yes, Amir leads the side with Shadab or Saud as deputy. Amir is made Pindi Captain while Saud is leading PTV team this year - can't do worse.
Click to expand...

What do you see in Sohaib Maqsood ? The last time he played for Pakistan he was exposed for his nonexistent footwork and weakness against short pitched deliveries.

In the recent Quaid-e-Azam One Day Cup he played 5 matches, averaged 10 at a SR of 64 with a HS of 19. He has a T20I average of 13. Not to mention is unfit and lazy.
 
Markhor said:
What do you see in Sohaib Maqsood ? The last time he played for Pakistan he was exposed for his nonexistent footwork and weakness against short pitched deliveries.

In the recent Quaid-e-Azam One Day Cup he played 5 matches, averaged 10 at a SR of 64 with a HS of 19. He has a T20I average of 13. Not to mention is unfit and lazy.
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I feel, he was never given a proper chance. His stats at 3 & 4 combined is like 35/80 for 14 games and his only 2 innings in ODI at 3 are 56 & 53 (@92 SR) against SAF. Maqsood's List A stats are like 43/100, which is exceptional for PAK domestic stats. Guy has two unique qualities - God gifted sweet hitting ability and so much time to hit the fast bowlers - most of current PAK batsmen would look like in slow mo against pace compared to Maqsood. He is one guy who can clear rope effortlessly with 5 men on line against yorker or bouncer. I have seen him hitting SIX over extra cover with top hand flicks.

You need to give batsmen with shot making ability proper time so that they improve their defense & shot selection. Obviously, he can't play like Imam or Azhar, but there is a good chance that he can improve his defense and shot selection over time & guidance - Imam or Azhar won't match Maqsood's sweet hitting ability in several lives. Also, Maqsood needed clear instructions about his role & expectations (from him), which I don't think he got from PCT management.

Maqsood is the sacrifice of Misbah-WY era - one by one, they got rid of every PAK batsman with a bit of flair & aggressive batting instincts. Umar, Maqsood, Jamshed, Amin - each one was potentially better LO player than Asad, Azhar, YK, Fawad, even Ahmed, and they dropped out one by one - even Sharjeel was delayed by at least 2-3 years, he had like 40/110 domestic stats for 5 years!! For Maqsood's case, guy's first 2 innings was at 3 a he has 2 fifties against SAF. He was dropped to No. 4 to accommodate Hafeez at 3 against SRL (DEC 2013) & MoHa cashed on that opportunity in UAE. Against that SRL attack, who knows what Maqsood could have done from #3?

One should understand that aggression comes with a higher risk - Viv Richards & few others are unique. Batsmen going for a SR of ~100 would take more chancy shots and often subject to disappointments; but even if they can deliver one out of may be 7/8 innings (that's quite high actually - top players cross 50 once in around 4 innings), it's potential match winner. Maqsood's stats in win is 42/90, with 2 match winning 50s - but Misbah era wasn't ready to give him that space for failure.

I have written many times that among PAK batsmen of ~30 generation, I rated most are Umar, Amin, Haris & Maqsood (Ahmed as well, but he wasted his opportunity) - finally one of them is proving his worth, I am sure given proper opportunity & guidance Amin, Umar & Maqsood definitely would have done much better than current top/middle order barring Babar, and may be Fakhar. Maqsood could bowl a bit at well.
 
KP From India said:
I think Rayadu critisism is a bit harsh here. How many teams have a batsman of avg 50 (albeit at SR of 80) @ number 5 currently? He may not be a world beater but get you those 40s and 50s consistantly.
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He is not suited to the role he plays, he is a number 3 batsman, does not have the power game needed to be a number 4 for India.
 
KP From India said:
I think Rayadu critisism is a bit harsh here. How many teams have a batsman of avg 50 (albeit at SR of 80) @ number 5 currently? He may not be a world beater but get you those 40s and 50s consistantly.
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Remove Zim,HK and it drops to 41 @ 71. Away its 31 @ 73

We'll see how he goes in Aus
 
Above 300 most of the time we won't be able to chase.

However we need to make sure we never conceed more than 300 no matter how flat the pitch is.
 
shariqnoor said:
Not alone. I consider Imam to be a better player too but Fakhar has done very well. Better than Imam for sure at the moment. Imam would turn out to be a better Test player than Fakhar but in ODIs at the moment, Fakhar is head and shoulders above Imam.

Haris Sohail will be a part of the team as Malik has said that he will retire after the 2019 WC. But before the WC, Haris should be in the team ahead of Imad. Imad is useless in ODIs. Isn't a proper batter and neither a proper bowler. We don't need containment in ODIs which is what Imad relies on.

Shadab should ideally never get batting in ODIs. He has no ability to hit out at the end of the innings and can only bat in ODIs once the team is 6 down after 20 overs, as then he doesn't have any pressure on him. He's a handy bat in Tests but that's about it.
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It's true that Imam doesn't fit in the PAK ODI team unless he learns to play aggressively, considering the fact that there are already too many accumulators in the team. I hope he'll improve with the passage of time. At the moment he should be a regular in Test team.
 
I think Pakistan batting is shaping up well but the fans and board need to stick with the team they currently have. Imam, Faqar, Babar and Hafeez - if they strategize well then the 4 of them are quite capable of getting to 200 for 3 by 40th over. But they have to play as a unit and help each other. From what I have seen on TV, there is just so much insecurity amongst Pakistani batsmen that they don't seem to help each other but play solo game.
 
Well maybe, but then i dont see any other player whose overall avg is 50 and overseas 40 in any team except Eng.
 
Mental toughness is important. Just need to not lose any early wickets, put the bad balls away, rotate the strike, wait for the opposition to crumble. Don't let the RRR build.
 
I know the Indian top 3 is on another level when it comes to talent, ability and confidence but just see how they approach a target. Whether the target is 250 or 350 the aim is always to get ahead of the rate by such a substantial amount that even if you lose wickets in a cluster the incoming bats only have to chase a rate of 4-5 rpo. No wonder India has been so successful in chasing.


Contrast this with Pakistan who aim to chase any target by the 49.5 over with atleast 90-110 required in the last 10.
 
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