Pakistan cricket team’s weakest link
on November 6th, 2009 at 12:07 amPakistan thumped New Zealand in the first match of the series, the Kiwi’s are expecting some reinforcement in their pace department, Kyle Mills and Franklin will return to the squad as both of them have regained their fitness. But the Kiwis really need some reinforcement for their batting their whole team bundled out cheaply on a batting track in the first match, but their dillema is that they do not have any quality batsman on the bench they will have to work with the same batting line up, if their batsmen are able to raise their game then we might have a good contest otherwise it will again be a one sided affair.
Pakistan team has become notorious for self destruction over the last few years, even though that they are a much better team than the Kiwis and one can expect them to win the series by 3-0 but given their strange ways of losing matches under Younis Khan I wouldn’t be surprised if a different team shows up tommorrow.
They are also facing some genuine problems. The inclusion of Salman Butt has in no way resolved the opening issue, he shouldn’t have been selected ahead of Fawad Alam or Khurram Manzoor both of whom were in top form in the QEA trophy, Butt only made one century and a string of single digit scores which impressed the selectors enough to select him, his fielding has declined his reflexes are not as sharp as they were before and his technical flaws are still the same, so what really impressed the selectors is mind boggling, but they committed a bigger crime by selecting Imran Farhat as a back and not Fawad , Manzoor or Nazir. Imran Farhat has an identical case like Salman Butt he scored a single century against a weak team in QEA and after that a string of single digit scores it seemed as if the selectors had already made up their mind to select both of these players and were just waiting for them to score big in a match.
Khalid Latif although managed to score a half century after getting two chances, but his batting was unconvincing, if he plays within his limitations and doesn’t take the criticism of being too slow to his heart and tries to change his game he will be fine.
Imran Farhat and Malik are the only two batsmen sitting on the bench, Malik has refused to bat as an opener and it seems that the selectors and the team mangement has used his statement as a pretext to axe him from the team he will find it extremely hard to find a place in the middle order. Pakistan’s opening woes are further compounded by Younis Khan’s poor form, YK will have to perform well in the remaining matches or else he will face severe criticism. Right now alongwith Salman Butt he is the weakest link in Pakistan team’s batting line up. It would be foolish to believe that Afridi will be able to deliver consistency and will be able to hold Pakistan’s batting alongwith Akmal.
The only solution to the problem is if Pakistan loses it’s openers early, YK should send either Razzak or Umar Akmal at # 3. I know he won’t do that because he is too arrogant. Both Akmal and Raazaq have experience to bat at # 3 especially Razzaq.
Malik in my opinion has lost a golden opportunity to make a statement against Younis and his critics by not grabbing the opportunity to bat higher, he was in form and if he had scored some runs as an opener he could have cemented his place in the team. But unforunately our players never chose to settle their score by performing on the ground either they underperform or they refuse to take up responsibility.
Pakistan team has the psychological advantage and they have more match winners in their team than NewZealand.
Despite their problems Pakistan should win this series 3-0 but I won’t predict anything as you never know which Pakistan team will show up in the ground.
The Kiwis can only make a comeback in the series if their batsmen deliver otherwise they have no chance. I won’t count them out as they have a very spirited leader and the Kiwis are renowned for their professionalism and fighting spirit.
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Ahbd
Nine players went to see Butt with a complaint against Younis according to daily News. Those Players included Misbah, Malik, Akmal Bros, Umar Gul, Aamer, Ajmal, Rana and Yousaf.
Only Umar Gul’s name came as a surprise to me as he is considered to be a close friend of Younis. Afridi stayed behind the scenes, he is playing a smart game flirting with all parties and keeping all optio ns which would help him to become the captain of Pakistan team open. He has been patronizing the disgruntled players as he expressed their point of view in the meetings held for mediation. He is also supporting Younis Khan and lastly having his own secret meetings with the Chairman.
As regards Salman Butt he has too many technical flaws and too much time has already been wasted on him I might back him for test matches but for Odi’s we have better options even Khalid Latif was playing more freely than Butt in the last match although Khalid is not considered as an aggressive batsman.
Salman always score heavily in domestic cricket but this year with the exception of one century against a weak team he couldn’t score in any other match.
I think Butt is a good player but needs more first class cricket and needs to improve his technique before he can come back. He’s still young but I don’t think he should have been recalled for this series simply because of the number of times I can remember him out by edging recently.
I definitely agree with your point about Misbah. It’s clear Misbah, Afridi and Malik and some a couple of other players complained. I don’t know who’s Punjabi/karachi but i guess that there are groups.
I guess players such as Kamran Akmal, Gul, Yousuf, Razzaq, Ajmal and Aamer fully support Younis.
I think its Malik and Afridi mainly against him, but Younis is obviously retaliating, and I agree both are wrong, they should be proud to have a chance to play for Pakistan and should give their best.
Ahbd welcome back.
I also couldn’t believe that Umar wasn’t selected. It is the stupid rotation policy employed under Younis which is primarily based on keeping the seniors happy and completely disregards idea of fielding the strongest combination.
The whole problem originated from Butt’s inclusion in the team and Yk’s ongoing power struggle with Malik and a few other players.
I think Misbah didn’t deserved to be selected because of two reasons primarily because of his poor form and secondly because of him underperforming and playing a central role in the feud against the Captain.
There is a clear feud going on between Punjabi players and players from Karachi. Younis did tried to marginalize Malik and Yousaf in the last match.
I think both sides are wrong and PCB should be extremely strict with any player trying to form a group or playing politics in the team. They are all Pakistanis and play for the whole country and not any specific region.
I agree with your Odi pool of players but if Younis continues to fail in Odi’s it will be hard for him to remain a captain just on the basis of him being a more senior and experienced player.
I can’t believe Umar Akmal was left out. Pakistan have to focus on having a set ODI pool of players that they have in mind for the world cup. Here would be mine:
Nazir
K. Akmal
Alam
Younis
Yousuf
Malik
U. Akmal
Afridi
Razzaq
Naved
Gul
Asif
Aamer
Ajmal
and perhaps a couple of other players who might impress in the next year or so. I think Misbah’s career is over. As long as Younis is captain he’s not coming back because he complained against Younis but also because he’s gone to play in Bangladesh.
Younis blames it on Afridi and Akmal
In the post match interview Younis said
“Younis: McCullum and Guptill had a good partnership and Mccullum went all the way. In our batting, we lost couple of quick wickets. First Afridi and then Kamran .. and then we collapsed. They were very fantastic in the fielding department and we have to improve our fielding.”
What the fuck ? What about your own wicket?
That shows his arrogance.
He knew he was out of form yet he didn’t changed his own batting order but demoted Yousaf and Malik .
There was no need to send Afridi and Akmal that early. It’s high time that he should start taking the blame and owning the responsibility for these collapses. By wasting so many deliveries and by sending Akmal and Afridi that early he marginalized Yousaf and Malik. If a push in run rate was required why was he batting so slow?
Scorpi
Not only Afridi but also Akmal and both went back as quickly as they came. Now Butt is run out.
In three overs we have lost three wickets the spectecular ollapse happened once again.
Afridi and Akmal also followed soon after YK left.
Why were they sent a head of Yousaf and Malik, why we panicked so early in the game. It’s a shame that it’s a similar pattern which is being repeated again and again under Younis but nobody wants to believe anything.
McCullum finally scores!! 300 is a steep target. Pakistan’s run rate is slow but if there are wickets, they can catch up. Why was Afridi sent earlier than Yousuf? This could mess things up.
Wow
The familiar stage has been set for a collapse with YK losing his wicket after making sure that he wastes too many overs and Afridi soon after throws away his wicket. With no Umar Akmal in the team I know which way this match is heading. It’s a shame.
The openers gave a good start Salman Butt was slow but Younis when he came to the crease even slowed down the tempo more.
Even if now people can’t see what I have been saying about Younis Khan then it’s a shame.
It’s deja-vue all over again. Younis after playing 37 balls out of which 18 were dot balls scored just 19 got out and left his team in a precarious position.
These are critical overs these two will have to score atleast 50 runs in the next 7 overs.
Khalid Latif is gone. I knew only Vettori will be able to break this partnership.
YK and Salman Butt are at the crease now, both players play spin extremely well, lets see if they can build a partnership here.
Butt is wasting too many deliveries this has been another major problem with him he fails to rotate the strike and take singles so far he has scored 25 off 41 balls out of which 16 came from boundaries. Khalid is doing fine but Butt needs to up the tempo the RR has crept upto 6.74.
Superb batting display by McCullum and Guptil, it’s an easy pitch to bat on with a consistent bounce but New Zealand has done every thing they were supposed to do to make a come back in the series as I said their batsmen will have to stand up to the task. They have the bowling line up to defend this total.
All the Pakistani bowlers got some hammering from McCullum and Guptil, the spinners usually choke down the run rate for Pakistan in the middle overs and take a few wickets but today Ajmal and Afridi couldn’t stop the flow of runs.
Aamer, Razzaq and Gul were quite expensive. Gul did made some amends in his last spell when he started to fire Yorkers and didn’t allowed McCullum and Oram any width or room to play their strokes.
Gul has been struggling with the new ball for quite some time now, he struggles with his line & length in his first spell and fails to move the ball of the seam regularly as a result he gives away too many runs and doesn’t take many wickets.
I am not sure what the problem is because when Gul started his international career he was a pretty good seam bowler,I think it is the extra speed which he tries to generate makes him wayward earlier on he needs to be more accurate should rely more on seam than just speed and length variation.
Aamer had a bad day he has been quite economical in his previous outings, he has been striking the first blow for Pakistan quite regularly but I would like to see him taking more wickets, Aamer needs to perfect the ball which comes back at the right handed batsman without which most lefties become too predictable. He will have to develop more wicket taking deliveries and imrove his skills of bowling in death overs. YK is reluctant to use him in final overs and always tries to give him 7 straight overs and bowls him out just before the final power play as result the wicket column in Aamer’s bowling analysis most of the times doesn’t reflect his true potential.
Pakistan dropped Umar Akmal and included Shoaib Malik there was no need for such rotation, instead they should have played either Wahab Riaz or Rao Iftikhar in place of Razzaq as this particular wicket was not suitable for a bowler of his pace. The Ideal thing should have been to drop Butt and include Malik in his place.
Pakistan chose to play this match on a perfect batting wicket to make some of it’s out of form batsmen look good especially his highness Younis Khan. But in the process they neutralized their own strength which is bowling.
New Zealand scored 308 it’s a huge total the Kiwi bowling is very disciplined and they do have a very smart captain it will not easy at all for Pakistan to chase this total.