Wow the standards have fallenMurshid
When Babar Azam calls you murshid, that's massive respect
Hopefully Zalmi finishes last or second last
I respectfully disagree and its all to do with cricketing logic/reasoning and not for any personal like or dislike for any player.
I don't personally dislike Rizwan either. If anything, I love him and think he is one of our biggest assets. I just feel that his gameplay is not well-suited for the shortest format. Because he is a very limited off-side player and lacks the power-hitting ability which is why you can only really play him in one slot. However, when you consider the fact that there is a similar but better player following him at No.3 (Babar) and the fact that there are other openers like Saim, Haris and Fakhar who can score far more quickly in the first six overs, you realize that we are leaving runs on the table.
Agree but if they play the likes of Haris and Saim, they need to be mentored and coached properly. All too often I have seen the likes of Saim come in blindly slog away. There has to be a method to the madness.
Why does no other country (top 6 ranked) side apply the same cricketing logic as Pakistan?
You're not wrong but at the same time I feel guys like Saim and Haris need to be given a license to go out there and express themselves. You've got to let that youthful exuberance flow and let them show what makes them unique. Ofocurse that means that there will be alot of failures before there are successes...there will be alot of blind slogging and mindless batting too. But that comes with the territory when you go out and play that type of cricket. I think no matter how much you teach something, experience is the best teacher. These kids need an extended run at the top where they are given full confidence from the management and aren't scared of losing their place in the side.
I disagree. I think the conditions in UAE suited our side perfectly. Which is why we were able to do so well in that tournament. There's no doubting that we were the best team in that 2021 T20 World Cup, but then why weren't we able to win it? I know people love to make Hasan Ali the scapegoat of that loss but the simple fact is that we lost that match after we were 48-0 in the first 6 overs. And Babar's performance in that match of 39 (34) especially cost us. The only reason we were even able to get to 170+ was because of Fakhar Zaman. And look, if you are finishing your innings in a T20 match at 177-4 (or whatever it was) then it means that you didn't properly maximize your resources. When Australia were batting they always had the run-rate in-check. Again, Shadab pulled us back into the game. But 177 on that pitch---where the dew factor was a factor---was never enough against a side that batted deep.
Wasn't misbah the one who started the babar and rizwan partnership?
"sAIm ShOuLd Be ThE oPeNeR BeCaUsE yOu NeEd A lEfT-hAnD, rIgHt-HaNd CoMbInAtIoN"
Oh so now all of a sudden you want to split the combination of the two right-hand batsmen that you came up with?
It's because babar was getting flack as an opener and rizzu won't give up opening position.
bro, where were you after the world cup, good to see you backMisbah is the living definition of: If it ain't broke, destroy it.
Misbah is the living definition of: If it ain't broke, destroy it.
Not really sure how this statement is controversial. Saim Ayub was 17 when the Babar/Rizwan partnership began. Now that we finally have an opener with the potential to actually succeed at the top, it makes sense to try out new combos.
Pretty odd how you discount all of Babar/Rizwan's batting achievements because they were against "B and C sides" but somehow we should care about Sarfraz's T20 achievements of captaining a side that was also beating "B and C sides." Not to mention that he was a much worse batsmen and wicket keeper than Rizwan - Sarfraz has both a lower average and strike rate.
Nonsense
Babar and Rizwan can score a 300 run partnership opening and I will continue to scream it is pathetic and they shouldn’t be opening!
Fakhar Zaman was absolutely horrible as a T20 opener and the reason he was dropped down from opening was because of his continuous failures. Sharjeel Khan was banned from cricket due to spot fixing when the Babar Rizwan opening pair began and was still banned for the first two years after it started. He has not even been good enough to make it back to PSL after his comeback.
Alhumdulliah that he destroyed sarfraz's career. Would always be thankful for him for this alone.
I want a Saim Ayub/Mohammad Haris opening pair. The annoying thing though is when fans pretend like we had all of these world class openers sitting on the bench - that's simply not true.
That’s all you need to know, and that’s enough I need to know about your knowledge of the game.
Rizwan can bat left handed and will still be better than sarfraz. Rizwan is Pakistan greatest wk by a mile for a reason. The sarfraz etc are not fit to tie his shoelaces.
You should humble yourself after how badly Rizwan destroyed all of your predictions in the Australian Test Series.
Busy with university and school work and thanks Chad.
What by losing 3-0???
No one thinks he’s Gilchrist, he’s just clearly better than Sarfraz and any other Pakistani wicket keeper in recent times - maybe ever.
You guys were all desperately hoping he would fail and arguing Sarfraz is better then Sarfraz was horrible and the entire world was laughing at the fact that he got picked over Rizwan for the first Test.
Give it time
Rizwan wasn't in the first test tbf. He was in 2nd and 3rd
Yes and well done for destroying Pakistan cricket too in the process. Of course you are secretly thankful for that too.
By averaging 48 at a 70 SR in Australia right after Sarfraz scored 3 runs and then 4 runs in the second innings.
He will fail. If not today, tomorrow. He will fail. And when he fails, Pakistan will rise.
Yeah even Umar Akmal has these kinds of numbers in Australia. The result? Nothing. Pakistan lost 3-0 every time.
We were the laughing stock of the entire world when Sarfraz got chosen over Rizwan in the 1st Test. I still remember listening to all of the Australian commentators laughing during the 2nd Test at how we could possibly have made that mistake in the 1st Test.
Rizwan is obviously better then sarfraz. Sarfraz currently is old and weary, rizwan is way younger and fitter.
You responded to a discussion about how Misbah ruined all of Sarfraz’s achievements by selecting Rizwan.
We were a laughing stock throughout the 2023 World Cup where Rizwan cried for the no.4 spot
Check the numbers out for how good “prime” Sarfraz was. He batted much slower than Rizwan does. In T20, he had a SR of 114 in 2014 and 121 and 2015.
Our only memorable win in that entire campaign was when Rizwan carried us to the highest chase in WC history.
Oh for crying out loud stop comparing players who play for their team in a batting position as compared to those that play for themselves through favours done on them by agenda based coaches!!!
I agree, our chances would have been much higher with Sarfraz playing all 3 matches. His 3 runs in the first innings and 4 runs in the second innings were much much more impactful and important.
Against Sri Lanka who EVERYONE whooped?!!!!
The entire world is a conspiracy against Sarfraz and Rizwan is a brilliant mastermind who has seized control of all of Pakistani cricket.
Don’t know if you know this but wins against Sri Lanka in the group stage count for the same number of points as a win against Australia. Without Rizwan we would not even have beat Sri Lanka.
Stats argument falls apart when you look at the players and bowlers both of them individually faced.
Without Asif Ali, Pakistan would not have beaten Afghanistan and New Zealand in 2021
I don’t think that’s a fair comparison because we did not win the 2017 CT Trophy due to Sarfraz’s batting and Rizwan was not captain in the 2023 WC. If anything, we could compare Sarfraz’s 2017 CT to Babar Azam’s captaincy in 2023. Sarfraz was better in that regard although we lost in 2023 more so because of the lack of good spin options and out of form fast bowling.
Rizwan faced Pat Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood, and Lyon and dominated while Sarfraz got out for 3 runs and 4 runs against the exact same attack. Also in Test cricket teams almost always play their full strength bowling attack and even in New Zealand/England they faced almost the same attacks and Rizwan was 10000x better.
Also I’m not even arguing that Rizwan is somehow the greatest T20 player in the world. I want an opening pair of Saim Ayub and Mohammad Haris. I just do not think Rizwan was holding some world class talent out of the side. Now that we have Saim Ayub who seems to have all the shots and ability, I want Saim to always open ahead of Rizwan and/or Babar.
I somewhat agree with you, but here's the issue.
This is current test stats which I agree with. But if you're looking at past and present then fair.
So so good bro
I think we disagree on the reasons for losing the WC. I think it’s more so because we haven’t found a good spinner in any format for a while - finally it seems like Abrar Ahmed is pretty decent. Additionally, our fast bowlers all for injured before the WC. Naseem Shah was out, Rauf picked up a small injury and returned, and Shaheen Shah returned from injury and was rushed into the side and only now so much later is he regaining form.
