Play fearlessly and make the chokers choke
Pakistan and South Africa will battle tommorrw in the semifinal of the ICC T20 WC. Both teams have played one T20 match before in Pakistan was defeated, traditionally Pakistan team doesn’t perform well against South Africa therefore by default South Africa are favorites not only for the semifinals.
The pitch of Trent bridge is quite different than of Oval, it’s a slow spinning track with not much in it for fast bowlers, Pakistan has four spinners in it’s line up and they play spin a lot better than South Africa apparently the advantage here should go to Pakistan but this South African team has all of it’s bases covered they have good spinners in their line up who have bowled well in this tournament so far and their batting line up is quite experienced moreover they have beaten India on this pitch in their last match so in reality their is no advantage. Infact if this ground doesn’t have any movement or bounce for the pacers then I am a bit concerned about Razzaq’s spell, he relies on movement and on a flat slow track he might get whacked.
Pakistan has several softspots which the south african team will try to attack.
In bowling Aamer and Razzak are the only soft spot and South Africa will try to take both of them out early on to disrupt Younis Khan’s planning of the match Younis might have to bring in Umar Gul a bit earlier.
However if Razzaq and Aamer bowl intelligently and take two early wickets for Pakistan South Africa will come under pressure and they might fold as they did against Newzealand and India.
Although Pakistan’s batting line has a lot of depth but for some odd reason Pakistan have so far unable to pace their innings properly almost all of the batsmen except Younis have been reluctant to play big shots and score at a rapid pace. Misbah has really not gotten enough chance to bat and the uneccessary jingoistic and fickle minded criticism of Malik’s batting has created a lot of pressure on him.
Both of these players need to play fearlessly and their natural game, Malik should think that he is playing for Sialkot Stallions and Misbah should start off aggressively.
In batting Pakistan again has a soft spot at the top, Shahzaib Hassan although has scored twenty odd runs quickly in every match so far but looking at his technique and batting style I doubt that he will be successful against South Africa, if he gets out early Pakistan should send Razzak at #3. Razzak should know that Pakistan desperately need him to perform with he bat, I think he always take his bowling too seriously and forgets to focus on the batting, Pakistan’s chances largely depend on Razzak’s batting.
Younis Khan faced a lot of criticism for backing his senior players despite their poor performance now it’s time that these players play their game fearlessly and fully support their captain, it seems that the senior players want to score a slow twenty or thirty runs to keep their position in the team and then they try to open up but they have always lost their wicket in the process. The players should realize that it’s only a 20 over game and the goal is to maintain a higher run rate, with Fawad Alam in the line up Pakistan has enough depth in their batting even if we lose a wicket or two we still have enough batting to survive 20 overs. I would prefer a quick 20 @ strike rate of 150 or above over a run a ball 30.
Younis Khan will have to assign roles to his batsmen between those who are going to attack and those who are going to keep the strike rotating.
Another weak point I noticed in our opening pair was that although they play some attacking strokes but they play too many dot balls which brings the runrate down and render the boundaries ineffective.
The key for Pakistani batsmen is to play aggressively and fearlessly and everything will be fine. Batting first a score of 165 will be a winning total for Pakistan.
If Pakistan wants to bat with the same plan as they did so far in the tournament then they should include Rao Iftikhar in place of Fawad Alam because we haven’t used Fawad in any of the matches to his full potential it would be a better idea to reinforce the bowling then.
It’s a win or go home situation and Pakistan’s team knows very well that South African team attacks relentlessly you cannot go in a defesive frame of mind against such a team, Pakistan will have to play fearlessly.
A flying strat by the top three batsmen and a decent performace with the ball by Aamer and Razzak can win this match for Pakistan.
We haven’t seen the flare in Pakistan’s batting so far in this tournament, Misbah, Malik and Afridi should know that owe it to their fans.
i am rooting for pak srilanka finals…
cheers!!
Thanks SP. Lets hope that we manage to keep the cup in Asia it will do a world of good to cricket in the region.
Shahzaib as I predicted failed in this match. Afridi was sent at #3 as I suggested and again as predicted he is being peppered with short balls. Malik is showing intent and Afridi is playing great. !60-170 will be a good total.
Malik should open up he is truggling to find any gaps although he is showing intent. Run rate dropped due to some excellent bowling and fielding.
Last five overs only produced 25 runs not good.
Boom Boom is on the roll, Pakistan has got one good innings and if someone else can score a cameo down the order Pakistan can score an imposing total, great to see Afridi back in form with bat.
Afridi gone this is the time which will make or break the match for Pakistan, Malik should open up now no more singles maintain the run rate.
Maintain it or get out trying.
Pakistan needs some big shots go for the kill here.
Four over left Pakistan should atleast make 40 out of these overs, it will be hard as Steyn and Parnell will bowl these overs.
SA has made a good come back they bowled brilliantly it will be hard to score around 160.
Younis and Razzak need to take some risks.
Can’t understand why YK can’t hit full tosses
YK and Razzak slowed pakistan down, no boundaries in the last five overs, Pakistan wasted Misbah and Fawad in the dugout because Younis and Razzak kept on taking singles. Again they failed to maintain the momentum.
It’s still a good score but it all depends on how Razzak and Aamer will bowl.
Pakistan are about 10 runs short. They were all set to score 170 when Malik departed he played the role of an anchor and kept on rotating the strike and Afridi was slaughtering the bowlers from the other end.
The bowling by SA in the last 5 overs was excellent but I think Younis and Razzak didn’t do a good job in last five overs.
It’s criminal of YK to not take a fine leg when Smith is batting
Never seen a keeper wearing shades until today.
Pakistan gave away three fours,and Gul dropped an easy catch of Smith. Damn it its a bad omen.
So far it’s looking quite easy for SA, Pakistan has been too soft in the field dropped an easy catch gave 7 runs in misfield and 8 due to wrong field placing
Aamer does the job for Pakisan Smith goes. Two more wickets and Pakistan are into the finals Pakistan need the wicket of Gibbs and AB
Afridi bowls a dolly and gets whacked for a four come on Afridi don’t give it away in bowling.
Yeah thats what we want. You are the man Boom Boom.
Gibbs gone.
Come on Shahid we need AB.
Kallis is looking dangerous, two good overs and Pakistan are back in the gAME.
AB gone bowled by Afridi, Kamran dropped him on the previous ball but Afridi is unplayable Saffers are packing.
YK has made Afridi finish his quota, I think he should have kept one of his over.
Damn it the umpire didn’t gave duminy out.
Gul firing up.
WTF is YK thinking why he gave the ball to Fawad.
That is just plain stupid, Younis is trying to bring SA out of the hole.
Well done YK and Fawad Alam you have set the match in favor of SA you successfuly brought them back out of the hole.
The Jingos won’t even remember this over and will keep on criticizing Malik.
Now YK in another surprise move took out GuL.
Well Gul is bowled a great over. Now 13 r/o required.
Kallis goes. Ajmal strikes. Now Morkel coming in he can hit the ball a distance.
Ajmal will have to fire his doosras