Jan06
The face of an eternal loser
How many times more we have to see this fuckin face with the same fuckin expression on it. He dropped four catches in this match and missed one run out. Along with his Captain he orchestrated the most successful and spectecular rescue plan not for his own team but the opposition.
Each time the Australians were in deep trouble Kamran Akmal came to their rescue like a Guardian Angel.
The Aussies after conceding a lead of 206 runs in their first innings were in desperate need of a good start to their second innings, an early loss of Shane Watson would have meant an innings defeat, and Kamran Akmal realizing this problem gave Watson a new life when he willfully forgot to take the bails off in a run out attempt when Watson was not even in the frame. How bizzarre is that, wicket keepers all over the world just take the bails off as a matter of routine even when they know that the batsman has made his ground. But Kamran standng right on top of the stumps, and Watson was nowhere in the frame but still he didn’t took the bails off. For me that was an indication where the match was heading but I still believed that some of the players will be able to pull it off for pakistan as Australia was in a deep hole.
Thank god he made it
Australia at one stage had a lead of just 51 runs and they had only two wickets left, all of their hopes were pinned on Hussey only he could have extended the Australian lead around 100, Kamran Akmal realized that and dropped every simple catch which Hussey offered him.
The match which should have finished on the third day extended into the fourth with Australia having a lead of 80 runs.
Everybody expected that they will just be able to add another 10-20 runs and will get out first thing in the morning.
When a Pak journalist after the third days play asked Yousaf is he confident that his team will win, Yousaf said ” it’s too early to make any predictions”.
On the fourth day Yousaf took all the close in fielders away and posted them somewhere in the ground where they were least effective. Neither they could catch nor they could stop any boundaries even the # 8 batsman Siddle batted like Dravid, the pair added 123 runs together for the ninth wicket.
The bizzarre field placement by Yousaf gave a clear message to Hussey that you are free to score runs we are not interested in getting you out, Hussey took the opportunity and batted beautifully and alongwith Siddle he bailed his team out of the jail.
Yousaf made sure that Siddle doesn’t face Sami until Australia gets completely out of the woods, and when he introduced Sami into the attack Siddle edged him to Kamran Akmal but Kamran Akmal again generously refused to latch on it.
Finally Mohammad Asif got Siddle out and Australia set Pakistan a target of 176.
Pakistan got a flying start they were 50/2 when their captain threw away his wicket on a ball which even a school boy could have belted for four. Yousaf was well set and before that shot he had played some beautiful strokes all over the ground.
After the loss of Yousaf’s wicket Australia for the first time in the game had a realistic chance of winning the match. Misbah usually scores 10-20 runs but this time around his 10-20 runs would have really made the difference so he decided to get out on the second ball he faced. In came Mr Fuck Face Akmal, I knew he won’t last long and he didn’t some people are quite predictable, he again made the same fuck faced expression but this time it was a bit different one could see the smile behind the despair.
As a result Pakistan failed to win a test in Australia after 15 years all because of Mr Fuck face Akmal’s generosity.
I can accept that those four dropped catches were a coincidence but I can never believe that his inability to remove the bails was a coincidence, this time it was so obvious that even the Australian commentators were also laughing about it and each time he caught a ball they remarked “ Oh he latched on to it because he knew it was not out.”.
It can’t get more embarrassing for Pakistan than this, I think we the fans deserve better than this, these players pretend to compete the fans do not watch and support their team to see this WWF version of cricket.
Australia didn’t beat Pakistan we defeated ourselves and some players helped the opposition in winning this match. Pakistan’s captain and vice captain were the chief culprits the whole world laughed at Yousaf’s field placement and the way he got out, Kamran Akmal’s wicket keeping and batting was a joke.
But the sad part is that the morons at PCB will do nothing about it, Kamran Akmal will continue to play, Yousaf will remain the captain and Misbah might get dropped for the next match and will return in the next series.
It’s not that we can’t accept a loss, if the players had played to their potential and the opposition had dominated us nobody would criticise them but this was a poor acting job not a competition. The first match was lost because of dropped catches by the same culprits and because of poor selection, we again lost a series because of poor management, and some bizzarre performances.
Misbah and Kamran Akmal should be punished and they shoud be dropped permanently from the team.
I am not going to support Yousaf as a captain anymore we don’t want another Inzamam as a captain.
kamran is one of the best wicket keeper of pakistan. but we have to understand him. we have to give one chance to him
The real solution to the problem is that first it should be ruled out if any corruption or foul play is going on in the team regarding match fixing. Secondly regionalism should be denounced completely players should be selected on merit.
Every player should be given a role and a list of expectaions from him those who don’t achieve them they should be replaced.
This whole conspiracy theory of victimisation of Karachi players is BS, how many matches Fawad Alam or Khurram Manzoor or Faisal Iqbal have won for Pakistan as compared to Malik or Misbah? Hardly any.
But still they are victims.
The solution to our problem is only one root out corruption, regionalism and nepotism.
But the problem is that you will have hardly any players of International class left after such action.
@Sufyan
what happened in srilanka and abu dhabi every child in pakistan knows that was pure politics by shoaib malik , misbah and co. so leave that
What every child in Pakistan has forgotten is that in the first match when Pakistan collapsed for 90 runs it was Malik who was the last man standing with 38* he scored the most runs in that test series for Pakistan 262 @ 52.4 with Yousaf as # 2 with 253 runs Younis scored only 131 runs @ 21. Still the blame is on Malik & co and Younis is not hold responsible why he was not playing, Fawad Alam and khurram Manzoor they didn’t had any responsibity why their failures are not highlighted.
Younis and Fawad are still treated as victims, in all fairness their performance was the sole reason for dropping them.
And Khurram, Younis and Fawad are equally responsible for the loss in SriLanka as Misbah, KA and Malik.
Now I do understand your point that some players are not pressing hard enough to stay on the wicket, and Malik, Kamran Akmal and Yosaf has done it many times but the same goes for Younis Fawad and Khurram.
My point is how are we going to improve, when we are going to use double standards in judging different group of players dropping Malik and Butt for Fawad and Khurram if it will improve our team I am all for it, dropping Misbah and Yousaf fpr Afridi and Younis if that will make a difference I am all for it but first prove it with evidence.
It is a fact that some players need to be dropped but their existing replacements are not ready we will have to select the replacements on merit.
As regards captaincy Ponting made a blunder on the first day and Yousaf on the first nobody even talks about Pontings mistake because his team won now imagine if Kamran Akmal had held one catch out of the four he dropped then right now all of us would have been showering praises on Yousaf.
Similarly we have forgotten the blunders Younis committed in SriLanka Dubai and Champions trophy and just blame politics for the loss.
Sufyan
First of all statistics sometimes do not portray actual picture. Just two more centuries in the last innings does not prove any thing what if a player contributes a 50 + score in the fourth innings?
Yousaf has 8 centuries in matches which Pakistan won and Younis has 7. Now if I reduce the score to 50 it’s a different story all together.
In Kandy Younis scored 77 no and Yousaf was 14 no out on the other end it proves nothing.
Nobody in the world scored more than Yousaf in 2006 and 2007 thats the year when he broke ViV Richards record. You quoted just the matches in which Younis Khan’s performance was better but ignored all the rest where Yousaf’s performance was better. After Kandy Pakistan won in Lahore against WI Yousaf scored 192 in first innings Younis scored 11 and 0, then pakistan won against WI in Karachi Yousaf scored a century in both innings Younis only scored 20 and 38, in Port Elizbeth this what happened
25.1 Pollock to Mohammad Yousuf, OUT, GODDIM! Gone! The drinks break strikes again as Pollock swings this into the batsman who is struck very high on the pad – going over the top, perhaps? – and Doctrove raises his finger
what happened in srilanka and abu dhabi every child in pakistan knows that was pure politics by shoaib malik , misbah and co. so leave that
wasim, i dont agree about this , younis had a bad last year no doubt about it but last two times a pakistani team won chasing in 4th inninngs abroad required a big hand from younis khan! see Kandy 2006 and Port Elizabeth 2007
out of 16 centuries he has made 6 centuries in second innings of a test match, while m. yousuf has only 4 2nd innings centuries out of his 24 centuries. yousuf average decreases by 12 in second innings while younis second innings avearge only decrease by 3! tell me ONE yousuf’s innings which won a test match for pakistan.
Sufyan
What happened to Younis in SriLanka and Champions trophy and also the Australian ODi series in Dubai not even one match winning or worth mentioning performance I don’t think Younis is in any way a better batsman that Yousaf. Yes Inzi was in a class of his own he was better than even the best when it came to bat in pressure situations.
If one looks at last year with some fairness and without any bias against any player then you will see that Younis didn’t gave us even one match winning performance, other than that match saving triple 100 scored on the flatest track he has nothing to show for, where as Kamran Akmal, Afridi, Yousaf and even Malik they have several match winning performances last year.
The problem is that the best players in the team are the most inconsistent barring Yousaf and Umar Akmal my only concern is if they do it deliberately then we should axe them but replacing them with players who are either out of form or are just not good enough will not do any good to the team. we will continue to go in circles and will never overcome this inconsistency problem.
Lets assume we drop Akmal, Malik and Misbah and Faisal for good.
Do you think that Fawad, Sarfraz, Khurram and Younis would do a better job then if that is the case why we lost in SriLanka we lost two matches in similar fashion there.
The solution is that PCB should look beyond the aging players like Younis and Misbah they should stop selecting the same group of youngsters who’s technical faults have been exposed.
Fawad Alam has no foot work, Khurram only scores on cut shot and 90% of the times he gets out playing the same shot. Malik if he doesn’t improve his consistency with the bat he is totally useless. We have to prepare the young players before we blood them into the team like we did with Aamer and Umar Akmal, those who come straight from the domestic cricket they have too many flaws. Almost 60% of the batsmen in domestic cricket have an average over 40 that shows the quality of bowling and the pitches.
Don’t agree with you that Yousaf’s all good scores are in dead rubbers or most of his centuries are against Bangladesh you need to check the stats again.
all his big scores are mainly in dead rubbers, without any pressure and most of his big hundreds are in matches which pakistan lost! or playing bangladesh . this shows his ability to handle pressure!
wasim, may be yousuf’s average is better than younis but yousuf never batted in crunch situations like inzi or younis! i knew yousuf wont do anything with the bat in his hands on the fourth day of the test. he is no inzi not even close to him in that department younis is much better pressure player.
Welcome to cricketfiles Jono:
The only business which thrives on unpredictability is betting. That explains why we are consistently unpredictable and always perform against the odds.
That match stunk so bad it wasn’t funny. I agree with the comments made by about WWF wrestling. It reminded me of professional wrestling. Ponting’s deicison to bat first was absurd. Ponting’s not that stupid that he didn’t realize the pitch was going to be hard to bat on on day 1 and would get easier. It was obvious he was trying to help out the Pakistanis. Especially when he dropped an absolute sitter in slips and gave away his wicket in both innings with lollipop catchs. So Ponting was trying to help out the Pakistanis but Kamran Akmal and captain Yousef conspired against Ponting but doing the same to the Aussies. Three dropped catches and the missed run out- something was really smelly about that, not to mention the field placings by Yousef on the first hour of the fourth day. I have a feeling somebody made a lot of money on a few bets.
Sufyan
I understand your anger but the real culprit is Kamran Akmal. Yousaf’s batting is far better than Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik. We all know how Afridi bats.
Religion plays no role in the performance so we should not bring that up in our criticism.
I do agree with you that his captaincy wasn’t good at all on the third and fourth day, an inquiry should be called to investigate if the match was deliberately thrown away. Only after that appropriate action should be taken.
the whole hypocrisy taken from tableeghee jamaat by yousuf going on in the team rite now, no tableeghe should be allowed to captain the team after this!
and take captaincy from yousuf for GOD’s sake, he is a very very idiotic and stupid captain even worse than inzi, but inzi was there to make it up with the bat in his hands yousuf’s batting is more pathetic in his captaincy! what a shame, yousuf should not be allowed to lead any series after this, or change him during this series we cant tolerate him any longer, make asif or afridi captain.
He*
i remember we lost whole series v/s england in england in inzis era coz of kamran akmals fucking wicket keeping. this should be kicked out permanently from the team,
Fiza
May be you started watching cricket this year. This is not the first match we lost because of his poor keeping.
Kamran akmal is a great player and also good wicketkeeper.. This is the first time he made this kind of mistakes..
Eddy welcome to cricketfiles.
These are all excuses but if that was the case then I agree with you let him baby sit and hire his wife as a wicket keeper.
Read an artcile in The News that kamaran Akmal could not perform because he was up late in the night baby sitting his kid and because his wife went to bed early. Now kamran Akmal has all the time to sit in his home and babysit his kid. May be his wife should pick wicket keeping.
Stani
Sometimes just a show of force can scare even the most corrupt leaders and prompt them to do the right thing. It doesn’t hurt to give it a try.
Now as regards your other point I would like to ask.
Faisal Iqbal, Mohammad Yousaf , Misbah and Umar Akmal how many T20′s they have played last year or the year before?.
Butt and Faisal Iqbal have never been a part of our t20 team neither they have played in a league, Yousaf just played a few matches in ICL early last year. Umar Akmal other than playing a few matches for Pakistan this year he hasn’t been a part of any league. Kamran Akmal and Imran Farhat are the only two players who have played a lot of T20 cricket in last two years, Out of those two Imran Farhat has played several good innings the openers have given a good start almost in every match so the problem is not with him, that leaves only Kamran Akmal and I do agree he doesn’t play defensive anymore, I pointed it out once before that some of these players they are deliberately trying to showcase their hitting ability in test cricket to get a better bid in IPL. We all know Misbah’s problem is not T20 it’s his reflexes.
Now coming back to the last test, the openers started off aggressively which was completely in contrast to the first innings. Yousaf was trying to hit every ball out of the park that’s not him it was only in this match. Faisal Iqbal played like his usual self he doesn’t have the technique to stay long on the pitch so he likes to hit and play aggressively.
When was the last time Misbah even attempted to bat aggressively? In my opinion he is at his best when he plays aggressively and always scores some runs when he plays his big shots. That leaves us with Akmal borthers, Umar played his natural game, Kamran Akmal as I said before was just trying to impress IPl people perhaps he is the only one who played in T20 style.
I think somebody from the team mangement the coach or the captain instructed the players to bat aggressively in the last innings because every player seemed to be in a rush. Even Salman Butt was trying to dominate the attack who usually plays very slow.
That may sound unrealistic now Stani but that may well be an eventuality if we are not cautious or the authorities are not cautious shall I say. We all know how badly the nations image has been affected during the “noughties” decade. Cricket or other arts along with international help and hope can only rescue us and ensure this decade doesn’t bring much of the same. Therefore, we must raise awareness over the sports significance before it’s too late. Over emotional or not Kamran has shown his passion and patriotism towards Pakistan. What a wonderful individual he is. In my opinion his campaigning and raising of concerns for the games survival in his and our beloved nation is necessary for the foreseeable future.
It comes back to cricketing intelligence Wasim. Why don’t they know that when its time to play in a Test, they have to play a different way? Its because theyre too stupid.
I think Kamran Abbasi was a bit too emotional in that piece Maz. We have to fix a lot of other things in Pakistan before our cricket will be fixed with any lasting result. We certainly cannot trust or rely on Zardari to do it. He’ll probably end up naming the PCB after Benzir Bhutto and sucking even more money out of it.
I’m surprised Kamran Abbasi wrote that…for someone so learned, he seemed detached from the reality of the situation.
Especially at this crucial period of time
Therefore, we as citizens and passionate dedicated supporters must keep it alive. We must campaign and maintain sportiveness and passionate. After all we can’t let our country collapse. We care for the future.
What an inspirational article from Kamran Abbasi ! He is 100% right. Cricket hai Pakistan ki jaan…….
Without the nation would be incomplete big time. It is more than just a game. It is a forefront economical and social activity which also influences the political front.
Intikhab Alam has also jumped on to Mohammad Yousaf’s band wagon of blaming T20 for Pakistan’s test cricket ills.
Intikhab told the News: “I think we will have to do that. If you play too much Twenty20 cricket then it becomes almost impossible for you to have the sort of patience and temperament that you need to shine in Test matches.
“In Twenty20 cricket all you have to do is to hit the ball out of the park. But in Test matches, it is all about staying on the wicket. It is hard work and needs a lot of character.”
Pakistan has played 10 test matches in last 12 months, 20 Odi’s and 11 T20′s, our players didn’t took part in ICL or IPL this year then how come both our captain and coach believe that the players have played too much T20 and have forgotten test cricket. IMO it’s just an excuse.
Read this”
Iqbal Qasim in an interview to daily jang has said that “Enough is enough ” now no senior will stay in the team without peforming.
When asked about why Younis Khan was not sent to Australia ?
He answered “we only asked him to play domestic cricket we never set forth a condition to perform.”
Stani
If you see the replays, which I have seen at least 10 times, Watson was not even in the frame and Kamran was standing right on top of the stumps a little flick would have done the job. Every commentator was surprised why he took the evasive action rather than taking the bails off.
The problem is that these are the best players in the country, every body is in denial that they are doing any thing wrong willfully we all want to see them continue to play but match after match we get the same disappointments. This is the same guy who batted so intelligently in the T20 WC he has won us many matches in all formats so I don’t buy that it was lack of intelligence.
Yousaf has played 87 tests and 278 Odis very few guys in test cricket has that kind of experience you must have seen how he was emphasizing on guys to change their temprament while playing test cricket but why did he batted so aggressively himself, what was the rush we only lost the match by 36 runs just a little patience was required.
It was so obvious this time that I do not want to follow Pakistan cricket anymore, why waste time and why give yourself duodenal ulcer while watching these guys play.
As regards Umar Akmal no doubt he has talent but he is the same group. Pakistan cricket will not get better if this bunch of seniors are not axed permanently.
We will have to re build the test team around Aamer, Asif, Kaneria, Ajmal, Gul, Sami, Butt and Umar Akmal
Things are going to get worse as PCB is going to be taken over by the sports ministry in a few weeks the political vultures will finish off the rest what is left just in a couple of years.
Wasim,
It’s so true what you say about his face!!! Boy do I hate it when he does that.
The problem is the guy has no cricketing intelligence and I’m afraid that’s not something that you can buy….or maybe even learn.
Look at the likes of Aamer, so young but they have that cricketing brain. What to do, when to do it.
Did you see the disappointment on Umar’s face when Kamran got out? He knew, he knew if his bro didnt make amends with the bat, people would call for his head even more.
The Watson run-out…I dont think he would have been out even if Akmal whipped th bails off as it takes some time to do so but the fact is, you take the bails off no matter what. This shows you his lack of brains.
“Oh he latched on to it because he knew it was not out.”, we do this with direct hits too! We only make direct hits when the batsmen is in!
Plz join this group and sign up a petition to the president of Pakistan to save Pakistan cricket. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=259790959154&ref=search&sid=593578227.3923234731..1&v=info
Group name “A million people to save Pakistan cricket” by Kamran Abbasi
The unbearable lightness of Pakistan team By Sohaib Alvi
There is a lot of wonderment going on in my mind. Will our cricketers be put on the ECL (Entry Control List) or is it that upon returning they will join the PML-N considering they have passed the test of a friendly opposition.
I say this because there were times when it seemed the ICC rules had been contravened and it seemed that all 22 players were playing on the same side.
Yousuf was the one man who raised in stature in my eyes for he blamed nobody but himself. It is very rare of any captain, let alone from our country, to point out his own indiscretion and then single nobody out either.
Sadly he wasn’t playing for Nobel prizes for self recrimination but to win a Test match. In the true Muslim spirit he had helped out his opposite number for the ridiculous decision of batting first on an overcast day following morning rain on a greenish pitch.
Whether Ponting will accept Islam based on this humane gesture or follow George Bush’s proclamation of The Crusade when he walks out to toss at Hobart depends on whether you are a realist or idealist.
Nothing told the story more fittingly than the slow motion shot of a Pakistani fan burying his head in the hands and then lifting it to slowly mutter an expletive. By then Umar Akmal was agonizingly looking around, like the child feeling abandoned in the country fair.
Earlier, his brother had set up possible a world record with four dropped catches and a missed run- out all in one innings, certainly for dropping one batsman three consecutive times within the space of some 20 runs. The Man In The Iron Gloves, with apologies to Alexandre Dumas.
But he was not alone. Someone had either got Wednesday wrong as being the last day (it can happen in a disoriented coterie) or a clever Aussie twittered that the IPL franchises were watching the Pakistanis for bidding based on their batspeed on Wednesday.
And so the suicide bombers had struck again. They have become the only team that is dangerous for both nations every time they step beyond the boundary; that they might have considered lifting the boundary rope to commit mass hara-kiri.
However, that would have been futile because the soul had already left the body during the suicide attack on a bowling side that has played 64 Tests between them with Mitchell Johnson contributing half of them. Together they have taken 270 wickets (Johnson 142).
On the flip side the Pakistani top five (minus Umar) have between them played 190 Tests, and Yousuf has less than half of them. To save the embarrassment let’s not mention the Test runs Pakistan’s five batsmen have collectively.
Yet Peter Siddle alone showed more maturity under extreme duress than these five put together. And that was the difference yesterday.
What is most poignant is that on the same ground 37 years ago to the week, Pakistan had lost in similar circumstances. Ironically, both the captains on that day were in the ground yesterday.
Ian Chappell was in the commentary box and Intikhab Alam inside the dressing room just as he had been in 1973.
I remember how Pakistan had got them cornered to 94-7 in the second innings of that match, and Australia led by only 69. As kids we woke up in the shivering darkness to glue ourselves to the radio expecting victory.
Australia eventually doubled their score as debutant Watkins (leg-spinner batting at No.9) and Bob Massie (swing bowler at No.10) who was in his first seven months of Test cricket, batted a session and a half to add 83.
Pakistan were left to get 158. Majid and Zaheer took them to 48-2 by end of the fourth day and we all
woke up in the misery of the cold again for the encore. By lunch the whole team was back in the pavilion for another 58 runs to lose by a decent margin of 52. In search of being pleasantly warmed we had been unpleasantly burnt by breakfast.
The last stroke of the Test match and series was by the despairing captain, a flick to backward square leg and fittingly caught by Watkins.
Walker in his second Test match (he had been caned for 112 runs for his two wickets in the first innings of the previous Test by the same Pakistani batsmen) had finished with innings figures of 6-15 in 16 overs.
In the second innings of the previous Test he had similarly torpedoed a 292-run chase by Pakistanis on a flat Melbourne pitch (after they had piled up 574-8 in the first innings) with 3-39.
Why would I bore you with this history lesson? Three reasons.
First, both Watkins and Massie never played a Test again as they were not considered good enough. It has to be pointed out that Massie on his Test debut seven months ago had taken 8-83 and 8-84 against the powerful England at Lord’s.
A year after playing the Sydney Test he was dropped by his state side Western Australia for lack of performance.
Conclusion: Debutants, no matter their heroic feats, are only as good as their last series performance when it comes to professionally run cricket.
Second, Ian Chappell’s positive vibes would have reached Ricky Ponting and no doubt he had told him that 37 years ago on the fourth evening he had heard that Pakistanis were actually afraid of losing the next day.
By contrast the negative vibes (no matter how much overtly disguised by clinched fists and sermons of “C’mon Boys”) of Intikhab would have penetrated the heart of Mohammad Yousuf.
He must have reminded him on the third evening of how they had leaked runs to the 10th wicket pair all those years back and why they shouldn’t this time.
That perhaps led to the strangely defensive field on the fourth morning. Intikhab was an isolated and insecure captain simply because he was a pleasant man who I am told by his colleagues just couldn’t be aggressive especially in pep talks.
He was the last man needed by Yousuf on Wednesday eve as he continues to be insecure even as the so called ‘coach’.
Conclusion: we need aggressive influencers with proven track record in support management. We need to pick our captains for the long haul like CA has chosen Ponting. He is still secure despite losing two consecutive Ashes series in England.
Thirdly, the events of that day 37 years ago this week has proven as a team we are Houdinis in extricating themselves from a winning position.
In the series in England prior to that Australian tour, we had slumped from 160-4 to 205 all out chasing 230 to win the Test and series. Intikhab was again the captain though it must be said that on both occasions his batsmen ditched him.
Conclusion: We have come full circle from the depths of the early 1970s mindset; after that had come the age of Imran and Miandad, and the captaincy of Mushtaq and Imran. That was perhaps the last time we played for passion, for our nation, for our people.
We are back again into the unknown; strangers sharing a journey, roughly tied up under the star and the crescent not knowing their purpose, their role or what is expected from them.
There are either the elders or the naïve, one tired physically and mentally, the other flapping its wings knowing whether to fly south or north.
Yet, I put my head into the guillotine and say that Aamir, Sami, Gul, Kaneria and Asif can skittle Australia on a ground where Pakistan has lost heavily in the two Tests they have played there.
Five bowlers you will say. Why not, Aamir has currently scored just 20 runs less than Misbah in the four Tests that both have played this season.
What a pity but what an opportunity to break into Australia on a seamer-friendly pitch and windy city.
Aamir could turn out to be the Test all-rounder at No. 6 that Yousuf is looking for. Youngsters bloom when given responsibility.
Maza
I think an inquiry should be called in on Yousaf’s captaincy in the last test and an appropriate decision should be taken. I don’t think Salman Butt can be a captain. We can afford to have only one all rounder in the team and that should be only Afridi but as Mohammad Yousaf said that he needs Afridi but he one day says he wants to play test matches and the next day refuses. So I think his statements are just an attempt to keep his image alive.
We can continue to play the musical chairs game and the results will be the same all we need is to identify the corrupt and rogue elements in the team and kick them out permanently.
Hey Wasim ,:wink:
I would like to post my thread here as well so you and others can read.
I still can’t seem to get over the daunting and devastating defeat. The fact that they dominated the scene for 3 days but yet ended up on the losing side says something about their capability to collapse like no other sporting unit. We are now strongly facing the possibility of another Australian whitewash just like we did 5 years back. What an embarrassment that will undoubtedly be. But with the series more or less over and the final match being a dead rubber the PCB should make some drastic alterations for the better. We can’t accept results of such depression and hurt and further. As Kamran Abbasi says on pakspin, Pak cric is going through the most crucial period in its unpredictable history of ups and downs currently. Following years of unpredictability and international isolation it is a time of literally “make” or “break” for the cricketing passionate but starved nation. Hence, key planning and wise decisions from the authorities are essential. Lets hope our corrupt nepotistic board can turn a corner and use some wisdom at long last.
This is what I would do had I been in the authorities position:
1) Drop tinny butter fingers Kami. His flaws have proved so costly.
2) Sack the MoYo and appoint Shahid Afridi or even Salman Butt. Trust me Salman strikes as “captaincy material” in test cricket at least.
3) Drop Faisal and Misbah Ul Huq . Bring in Imran Nazir. Such a gifted counter attack player who could and will be an asset in the middle order for test cricket. He is not an opener by trade but I can identify a talent and personal strength.
4)Play an all rounder. The team balance has been affected without. Rana, Razzaq or Yasir Arafat who could bat at no8 and of course bowl. The batting has lacked depth for sure which has come as a part downfall in both 4th innings chases. Instead the tail batted as if they hadn’t lifted the piece of willow before.
SP
But this is the first match in last whole year that he has dropped some catches he was fine in New Zealand and SriLanka even in the first innings and the first test he didn’t dropped any catch.
There was something else going on you need to watch the replay of the run out chance he missed that will clear any doubts in your mind.
But whatever it is he needs to be dropped .
I agree with you on his batting. he failed in all the innings he played in this series so far, there is a strange urgency and Afridi like wrecklessness in his batting he has the skill and sure can bat but if he is not going to play for the country and only play for himself then regardless of his class as a batsman I don’t want him in the team.
The Khalifa culture is an age old problem in our team we can’t easily dump the seniors but this is a critical moment in our cricket team’s history we will have to dump a few of them Misbah and Younis should be at the top of the list followed by Shoaib Malik.
“Yousaf called Pakistan for a batting coach”
Pakistan already has two bowling coaches they are going to get a fielding coach and if they get a seperate batting coach then what will Intikhab Alam coach?
Probably match fixing.
this is what i argued with Q on well pitched almost a year ago…
does this includes the crucial runs (or may be matches) pak would have lost or not won coz his droppings…?
his main skill is wicket keeping than if he scores well and good…or include his as batsman only and find a wicket keeper who keeps and well…
also i would have liked to see his latest ton coming in ‘live’ match…
whenever his place is in doubts he comes up with knock which allow him to drop more catches…miss stumping in following matches…and cycle continues…
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nothing has changes since then wasim… earlier he used to drop catches… then match… and now possibily a chance to win series in oz for pak which was very much on cards…
also i sincerely believe that pakistan should discard some selfish seniors who but passengers in the team… if pak were to lose match better be with some fresh blood… at least then there will be some hope and scope for improvement…
Some of the Pakistani bloggers have re ignited the campaign for Younis Khan.
To be very honest I believe Faisal Iqbal gave a better performance than what Younis would have given with his current form. You don’t replace a damaged part with a damaged one to make an engine work again .
The # 3 position is a worry, and needs a younger player who can play the new ball and spin with same authority, Younis Khan is done his reflexes are no longer sharp enough to face fast bowlers he was a class player and a good person but unforunately ageing process is irreversible .We should try one of the young openers at # 3, Ahmed Shazad, Khurram Manzoor or Umer Amin.
Misbah’s career is also over he should be replaced by Afridi in the test team.
Different opinions are floating on different blogs and twitter about Yousaf’s bizzarre leader ship on the third and fourth day and Kamran Akmal’s performance in this match.
Some say it was a deliberate under performance by these two and they facilitated Australia to come back in the match the rest say it was the usual mercurial behavior of Pakistan team and there was no corruption involved.
What ever it was the Australian team gladly accepted all the gifts and took full advantage of them full marks for them in that respect.
But I don’t think Ponting decision of batting first was vindicated it was a stupid mistake and he only got away with it bcz of Kamran Akmal.
Performance wise I don’t think there was anything in this match other than Watson’s batting and Australia’s fielding of which they should be proud of.
Yousaf’s captaincy and Kamran Akmal’s keeping was absolutely fine before this series and until the Australia’s 2nd innings in this test, what a coincidence that both took a nose dive in performance at the same time.
Those who doubt any wrong doing by these two should watch the replay of the missed run out chance by Kamran Akmal and should also watch the field placements of Yousaf in the first test, the first innings of 2nd test and compare it with the field placement on the fourth day. How naive it is to believe that a player who has played 87 test matches and 278 Odis will all of a sudden forget how to set the field.Ironically he was hailed for his field placement in the last test.
People say he wasn’t aggressive he has a timid personality, well he didn’t displayed timidness in his batting where it was required and played an uncharacteristically over aggressive innings. Normally he plays calmly and also puts in an effort to calm the batsman on the other end but in his last innings he was batting as if he was not playing a test match but a T20, ironically after the defeat in the first test it was Yousaf who rested the blame on T20 format for Pakistan’s poor batting.
Any keeper can have a bad day and drop a couple of catches it is always difficult to keep against Leg spinners, but three out of the four he dropped were the simplest of catches and I have never seen a keeper not taking the bails off in a run out attempt and have never seen a keeper who makes a concious effort to pull his hands away from the stumps during a run out attempt.
Sarfraz Ahmed has been rushed to Australia as a reserve keeper but will he actually play in the third test? I really don’t think so the move has been made just to pacify the media and the fans.
Kamran and Misbah should not play any match remaining in the tour.