What we learned from Pakistan's defeat in the 2nd ODI against England

[TalhaSyed]

Majority of the items listed below were known way before the 2nd ODI however, were simply reinforced during the 2nd ODI

- This batting line up is capable of scoring big - specially/even (take your pick) without the senior batsmen (Hafeez/Malik) around

- Imam has a seriously limited range of shots which makes it very difficult for him to bat at a decent SR or rotate the strike against disciplined bowling

- Fakhar is the only LO batsman we have who can single handedly turn matches in Pakistans favour

- Babar is great at the supporting role and batting at a run a ball, however, continues to accelerate and up the tempo

- It is unrealistic to expect Sarfraz to bat at a SR of greater than 120 odd

- Asif gives Pakistan some much needed lower order hitting power and could replace Faheem in the WC squad based on current form

- Asif is capable of hitting big against the spinners

- The pace bowlers need to figure out a way to firstly restrict batsmen on these flat wickets and then a way to pick up wickets. This is where someone like Amir may sneak into the WC squad due to his ability to restrict the opposition

- We need a fully fit Shadab for thd WC if we are to have any realistic chance. An Imad/Shadab spin pairing can be a handful in ODIs, however, an Imad/Yasir pairing simply delivers too many lose deliveries

 

[TalhaSyed]

In my mind based on current form and what we have seen so far - unless something changes in the remaining 3 games Vs England - we got to drop Faheem and either Imam or Abid from the WC squad and bring in Amir and Asif.

Would be worth giving Abid a shot in a couple of the remaining games and then deciding whether you drop Imam or Abid.

Following on from that you can have 2 possible team combinations:

Option 1

Babar
Fakhar
Malik
Haris/Hafeez
Sarfraz
Asif
Imad
Shadab
Hassan
Amir/Junaid
Shaheen/Hasnain

Option 2

Abid/Imam
Fakhar
Babar
Haris/Malik/Hafeez
Sarfraz
Asif
Imad
Shadab
Hassan
Amir/Junaid
Shaheen/Hasnain

The above is of course based on Amir playing the remaining ODIs Vs England and putting in a good performance

 

[Abdullah]

They will give Abid one game where he will fail and then select Asif.
Amir will bowl well in one game of the remaining 3 and hasnain will get tanked and amir will come in.

We then just need imam to get dropped by game 3 of the world cup and then we can play the following line up.

Haris
Fakhar
Babar
Sarfaraz
Hafeez
Imad ( needs balls to get going before striking big)
Asif ( doesn't need any balls and can strike big from the off)
Shadab
Hasan
Amir
Shaheen

That is the optimal team for what we have

 

[saadibaba]

What I personally learned was Pakistan can make 350+ runs in 50 overs. I was never sure of that before. But keep in mind that Fakhar will play like this only every 3rd game or so at best. Shouldn't expect Fakhar to take us this far every game.

Bowling is seriously lacking. Where is Junaid Khan? I know Shadab is missing but still, pacers need to do a better job. We win because of our bowling and this match's batting performance should be taken as a one off.

 

[TalhaSyed]

- Imad needs serious practice against the short ball

 

[Nil Dhumrojal]

Pakistan team is a 3 men army. If they do well they have chances, if not, then they will lose.

 

[Omer2002]

Asif is only goodnin 20 20s ..even there he hasnt performed. it would be a huge risk to pick him

 

[ritzy_123]

It's a tricky decision whether team is willing to take that risk or not

For the world cup if Babar can open we'll have a strong lineup

1) Fakhar Zaman
2) Babar Azam
3) Haris Sohail
4) Sarfaraz Ahmed (C) (WK)
5) Muhammad Hafeez
6) Asif Ali
7) Imad Wasim
8) Shadab Khan
9) Muhammad Amir
10) Hasan Ali
11) Shaheen Shah Afridi

 

[Syed1]

Imam ul Haq is the definition of garbage and he will continue playing selfishly irrespective of match situation just to improve his stats.



Pathetic player and human being

 

[IMMY69]

I fear Malik will return and destroy any chances we have..

 

[dhump]

We learned that.

- We are carrying a lot of baggage that is good for nothing.
- We learned that the whole world could see Yasir Shah as no go for ODI but team management cant.
- We learned that even if by some miracle top order will give us some start lower order will mess it up due to gutless batting and lack of talent.

In short, we are all set for if that had not happened, we would have won that match kind of world cup again.

 

[asifp]

I learned the following:

Malik should be dropped from the World Cup Squad and replaced by Asif Ali
Faheem should be dropped from the World Cup squad and replaced by Amir
Yasir has no buiness to be in the playin 11
Shaheen Shah is not still not ready for big time. Junaid and Amir are a must for our starting XI

This should be our team:
Fakhr
Imam / Abid
Babar
Harris
Sarfraz
Hafeez
Asif Ali
Imad / Shahdab
Hasan
Amir
Junaid / Shaheen Shah

 

[Chokli]

Good thread +1

For World Cup

1.Babar Azam
2.Fakhar Zaman
3.Haris Sohail
4.Sarfraz Ahmed
5.Mohammad Hafeez
6.Imad Wasim
7.Asif Ali
8.Shadab Khan
9.Hasan Ali
10.Mohammad Amir
11.Shaheen Afridi

Best possible XI, if not that then -

1.Babar Azam
2.Fakhar Zaman
3.Abid Ali
4.Haris Sohail
5.Sarfraz Ahmed
6.Mohammad Hafeez
7.Asif Ali
8.Shadab Khan
9.Mohammad Amir
10.Junaid Khan
11.Mohammad Hasnain

Shadab over Imad since Shadab actually spins the ball.

 

[as-95]

I would say that we learnt "Imam is trash and cannot score at a good strike rate" but I already knew this so cant really argue it!

 

[QalandarFan]

It's a tricky decision whether team is willing to take that risk or not

For the world cup if Babar can open we'll have a strong lineup

1) Fakhar Zaman
2) Babar Azam
3) Haris Sohail
4) Sarfaraz Ahmed (C) (WK)
5) Muhammad Hafeez
6) Asif Ali
7) Imad Wasim
8) Shadab Khan
9) Muhammad Amir
10) Hasan Ali
11) Shaheen Shah Afridi

Exact same team I’ve been calling for. Just don’t know if the team management has the guts to drop Imam and open with Babar. Babar is a beast in the powerplay so good at piercing gaps, our PP overs are a big worry so if we can get Babar and Fakhar at the top than we would almost always expect to go at 6+ run an over in the PP. Even if Fakhar doesn’t fore Babar almost always scores in the PP because of how risk free his cricket is in the PP it’s all about piercing gaps and finding the fence with only 2 men patrolling the boundary. Imam on the other hand absolutely wastes the PP which we can not afford as Fakhar is not going to score like that every game, hence Babar as opener is only logical. So stupid to think he’s been averaging like 65+ at 130+ in T20I’s as opener in the past year or so yet management has not opened with him once.

 

[jonny darko]

what we've learned since the CT 2017 is that Pakistan has mastered the art-of-Losing under the able tutelage & leadership of the holy trinity of Micky, Mehmood & Inzamam.

 

[FreePalestine]

Anyone else annoyed that Shinwari hasn’t been tried in this series? Can be expensive, but deserved a trial, especially considering current stock.

 

[Raz]

I've been following the team since 1999 - and I honesty don't remember feeling as pessimistic as this before a World Cup campaign as I do going into this one.

It's amazing how much we've gone backwards when other teams have advanced in terms of their strategies, quality of players, style of cricket etc.

While it was heartening to see us put up a fight with the bat in the 2nd ODI, our bowling - something that has always been our trump card - got torn to shreds. Them last 5 overs of the Englans innings were indeed harrowing to watch. We appeared powerless against the Buttler onslaught and it showed with our execution.

With the bat, I feel we are missing an enterprising batsman or two. We were never in control of that run rate. Imam really needed to kick on after having left it to Fakhar to keep things ticking along. Babar Azam - yet again succumbed when the pressure was truly on. Asif Ali was a bright spot - but with too much to do without any sort of adequate support.

Hoping for better in the 3rd ODI and beyond. We need to pick up more wickets - the best way to slow down the run rate and prevent a team piling on the runs and setting up a platform for lower order batsmen to launch any onslaughts.

 

[Justcrazy]

Imad looks like a accumulator , who should be batting at number 6 , and bowl 6 - 8 overs a game as a restrictive bowler.

Faheem until he can play good cameos , cannot make a place in the side as a bowler.

Three main pacers is required plus Shadab , Imad and harris should be used as spin options.