Can Pakistan successfully defend it’s T20 title?
on April 26th, 2010 at 5:57 pmTeam Pakistan has left for the Carribean to defend their title under the leadership of their star player Shahid Afridi. They recieved a few major blows due to injuries and selectorial blunders due to which questions are being raised whether they can successfully defend their title or can reach the final four.
Most people believe that Pakistan excel in T20 format not because of any method or strategy but simply because the format suits the style of cricket they play. This notion is totally wrong.
Pakistan in the last two T20 world cups employed one strategy, they divided the 20 over game in three segments, the first six overs, the middle eight overs and the last six overs.
In batting in first six overs their strategy was to take full advantage of the powerplays without losing more than one or two wickets. In the middle eight overs the strategy was again to keep the wickets in tact by cutting down on high risk shots and by scoring through improvisation usually the middle eight overs are bowled by spinners and Pakistan had Malik and Younis who were the best players of spin at the crease during these overs, in the last six overs with wickets intact and power hitters on the crease their strategy was not to hit every ball out of the park but to score @ 9 or 10 runs an over no matter how they come.
In the first six overs Pakistan scored @ 7.38 rpo and conceded runs @ 7.75 rpo their batting average was just 24.18 and their bowling average was 34.87 which clearly indicates that the oppositions performed better against Pakistan in the first six overs. Pakistan’s opening pace attack is still the same they will probably still open with Aamer and Razzaq or Aamer and Asif unless Waqar has considerably improved Aamer’s bowling I don’t see Pakistan improving in the bowling department in the first six overs. Since there is no Imran Nazir and no Shahzaib Hassan it will be hard for Pakistan to improve their batting average or run rate in the first six overs. Pakistan probably will open with Hafeez and Akmal or Butt and Akmal, Hafeez although he is in excellent form but has never been a big match player if he failed to score as an opener all the pressure will be on Akmal and Pakistan’s performance might deteriorate in the first six overs. Butt might score some runs but he won’t be able to improve Pakistan’s run rate.
Shahid Afridi has been Pakistan’s leading batsman in the first six overs with a strike rate of over 200, I don’t see him batting at #3, I think Umar Akmal will bat at #3 and Afridi at #4. The first six overs is an area which will pose a lot of problems for Pakistan both in bowling and batting. Asif is more dangerous with the new ball and so is Razzaq, if Pakistan is going to play only three fast bowlers then which bowler will play the role of Umar Gul at death will cause a lot of problems. Afridi will have to open with Razzaq and Aamer and will probably bowl them 2 overs each and Asif and Aamer probably will share the last four overs.
The middle overs have been a major strength of Pakistan, they scored @ 7.33 rpo and conceded only 6.12 rpo their batting average during this period was 38.44 and bowling average 16.33 this is the period where Younis Khan and Malik consolidated the innings. Both players were hugely underappreciated in the last tournament YK out of 123 balls he played only played 21 dot balls his dot ball % was the least for any batsman in the tournament. Pakistan will be playing without YK and Malik and in their absence all the responsibility will be on Umar Akmal, Misbah and Fawad Alam.
Misbah internationally hasn’t done anything in the last year his domestic form has been excellent in all formats of the game but it will be interesting to see if he can play the role of Younis Khan for Pakistan in this tournament or not Pakistan’s chances of success depend a lot on his performance. Fawad Alam has the capacity to play the role of a consolidator he should not bat down the order nor he should bat at #3, I think #4 will be ideal for him.
In bowling Pakistan’s spin attack has been reinforced, Afridi and Ajmal are still in the team with the inclusion of Hafeez they will have another good spinner which might allow Afridi to keep Ajmal’s over in the last 10. Ajmal after Gul was Pakistan’s best bowler at death. I think with the wickets more conducive for spin bowling in the Carribean bowling wise Pakistan might repeat or improve their performance in the middle overs but batting wise they face a huge challenge they do have players like Umar Akmal, Afridi, Misbah and Fawad but with the exception of Fawad the rest of the batsmen rely more on boundaries to score than on working the ball which increases the risk of failure.
Pakistan have been excellent with the ball in the last six overs, they have scored @ of almost 8 rpo and conceded only 6.75 runs per over and also took 20 wickets during this period.
Ajmal’s econ rate was 5.25 and Gul’s econ rate was 5.55 both bowlers took 8 wickets each during these overs. Ajmal is still in the team but the absence of Gul will seriously hurt Pakistan who is the world’s leading T20 bowler and a specialist in death overs. I don’t think Asif, Razzaq or Aamer can bowl as effectively as Gul at death due to which I think Pakistan should play Sami instead of Asif.
It’s a difficult choice but in my opinion Sami can bowl at death more effectively than Asif, Pakistan also has an option of dropping Ajmal and playing with four fast bowlers or Playing with one less batsman which in my opinion is not a good Idea. This is the biggest challenge Pakistan team management is facing who they are going to plan their last six overs and which bowlers are going to bowl them, Ajmal can bowl 2 overs but who will bowl the other four. I think it should be Aamer or Sami.
In batting Pakistan has enough fire power to imorve their RPO in the last six overs Razzaq is in excellent form, batting wise Pakistan can improve in the last six overs.
Pakistan in my opinion are not favorites but they do have the capability to win the tournament, the absence of Umar Gul will hurt them the most as he has been the X factor for Pakistan in this format.
Probable 11
1-Akmal 2-Hafeez 3-Latif 4-Afridi 5-Misbah 6-Fawad 7- Umar Akmal 8- Razzaq 9- Sami/Asif , 10-Aamer 11-Ajmal
Oppositions
Australia looks to be a strong favorite to win this tournament, their batsmen and their bowlers are in supreme form but a lot will depend on the performance of their pace bowlers who gave away a lot of runs in the last edition and failed to defend some decent totals, Dirk Nannes is in good form, they have several spin options, but I guess Steve smith and Nathan Hauritz will be their main spinners their batting has a lot of fire power in it but the key to their success wil be how their players adjust to the low bounce in West Indies.
SriLanka is another team which is a serious contender, they have one of the best spin attack, their batting has a lot of variety but the form of Sangakara is questionable their pace attack is decent. The conditions in WI will suit the SriLankan team.
India is also a major contender but they have been hit by injury to Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj singh are also not in form. But India still has a lot of fire power in their batting but they might struggle with their bowling. The selection of Piyush Chawla and leaving out Uthappa might hurt team India.
England has also developed a good team for the format their batting has a lot of fire power, their bowling is decent. They are underrated in this format but I think they will make it into the final four.
West Indies are quite strong in this format but because of a lethargic and unprofessional approach they never produce results justifying the talent they possess. But playing infront of home crowd might provide them the extra spark.
South Africa also has a good team but they rely heavily on Smith and Kallis in their batting which might cause problems for them, they also lack in the spin department.
NewZealand doesn’t have the firepower to make it to the finals they might reach the Semis but I don’t see them winning the tournament.
pakisrtans in the semi finalz !! yyoooohhhoooo !! inshallah they’ll win
hopes high 
pakistan’Sz not in the semi finals are they ??
yhh i do, but your puttin it at yur own risk lol
and anyway, i really hope pakistan win the next tuu matchezz x
Laraib
Don’t you see my name written next to every post.
Muddassar
You are right I didn’t accounted for the seedings for other teams I thought it was only for the top two seeded teams.
But anyways Pakistan’s chances to qualify look very grim.
loool.. truee but i wrote mee cuz i didnt know who i was talking too LOL
@wasim, looks like there has been some confusion on Super 8 groups. ICC is not using team group positions instead they are using seeding system.
Like, if Pakistan is second in Group A due to points or NRR they will still be considered A1 as they are Top seeded ( more than Australia and Bangladesh, Ban actually is not seeded I think). So that how Pakistan groups will probably be
Pakistan
England
New Zealand
South Africa
@Laraiib, we all want them to win
and your name is what you select it to be in your comment box, no body here is magician to find out your real name out of meee 
no i dont think soo by the way, my name is Laraiib not me LOL, and pakistans team is unreliale, but i want them too wiinnn soo mucchh
Bangladesh will have to beat Australia by a decent margin to qualify.
So far it seems as if Pakistan, India, SriLanka and England will be in Group E and Australia, NewZealand, South Africa and Windies will be in group F.
Pakistan are again placed in a tough group they will have to lift their game up considerably if they have to reach the semis.
Other than slight improvement in Aamer’s bowling I haven’t seen any miracle performed by Waqar Youn is so far, their is no strategy, no planning, the batting has improved but fielding and bowling was horrible.
Mee
They have the best team available, it’s just that Afridi will have to learn to have confidence in his players know their strengths and weaknesses and use them accordingly. All the teams look to be in great touch we can still do good if proper planning is done against other teams.
yh, but theyre really annoying ! i dont think theyre gonna win the twenty20′Sz becoz they need better players, afridi iz just unreliable
Pakistan’s fielding was poor in this match no doubt about that but in reality only one catch was dropped by Salman Butt, Misbah did his best to convert two half chances but they were very difficult one ball died on him and the other one was way too far from him even though he flung his body to get his hands on to it.
Razzaq gave 23 runs in 2 overs against Bangladesh, Mohammad Asif gave 29 runs against Zimbabwe from 4 overs and they are out of Afridi’s good books.
Sami Gave 34 against Zimbabwe, 57 against Australia out of which 28 came in one over, against Bangladesh he gave 29.
Afridi will have to show confidence in Razzaq if Pakistan loses a wiket within the power plays he should send Razzaq up the order the more he will use him the more he will get out of him, in the next match Rahman should play for Fawad and Asif should replace Sami.
Qamar
Did you watched the first over of Sami, he was doing fine when a bowler is taking wickets you never take him off, why Afridi did that? Everybody knows that Aamer is the best option we have for death overs he bowled him three at upfront, I think the captain has to use his bowlers wisely he has to protect them and he has to give them confidence also, I think we lost that match because of Afridi’s lack of confidence in his team and his exteremly defensive approach in bowling. There was no plan, he lost the match in his mind way before the toss, if Pakistan had given just 20 less runs they could have won this match.
i reely cant bellieve theyy lost against australia, they were soo lazy wen they played y’day
a few questionable decisions by shahid afridi once agian but there was no plan out there from any bowlers..no bowling according to where thier fielders where positioned which isn’t totally his fault but ye. i hope they learn a few lessons from how australia bowled because with a little bit of sense and a bit better fielding we could have restricted them to 160-170 at the most. afrid has no idea about how to use his bowlers and why the hell is he so reluctant to take a bowler off when they are getting smacked all over the park.
STUPID KHAN AFRIDI was totally clueless as a captain on the field, all of his plans went horribly wrong if there were any, there was no need to open the bowling with Hafeez and to make him bowl all of his overs at a stretch when he was going for almost 12 runs an over it was just brainless, if Razzaq as a bowler was not going to be used then Pakistan should have played Asif instead of Fawad Alam. or dropped Razzaq altogether for Asif. What kind of a confidence he is giving to his bowlers? He has already told a bowler like Asif that he is not good enough to play in the tournament and after one poor performance he is reluctant to use Razzaq any bowler can go for runs in T20 that doesn’t mean you stop using your key bowlers. WHat kind of a moron of a captain will use Hafeez as an openeing bowler when he has one of the fastest bowler in the world in his playing eleven? It must have affected Sami’s confidence.
He again bowled himself straight out when he went for quite a few runs in the third over. Captaincy is not all about body language you have to use your brain which goes completely missing in Mr Stupid Khan Afridi.
Out of all of our bowlers if anybody can be affective at death it will be Aamer and Ajmal, Stupid Khan Afridi should keep at least Aamer’s two overs in the end.
The first eight overs should be bowled by pacers regardless of the run rate, the next eight should be bowled between Afridi, Hafeez and Ajmal and the Last four between Aamer and Ajmal.
Pakistan’s bowling has been disintegrated in this match thanks to their captain and in a short while their batting will face the biggest test.
Pakistan will face their real test today against Australia even though they will make it to the next round and a win or loss in this match won’t have much of a difference on their progress in the tournament unless Bangladesh beats Australia quite comprehensively.
So far from the practice matches and the match against Bangladesh a few grey areas have been highlighted in Pakistan team.
Their bowling looks weak with only Aamer and Sami having the wicket tiaking ability. Razzaq looked pedestrian on WI wickets and with Afridi looking harmless on carribean wickets the problem has been further compounded the low bounce and no turn has made Afridi toothless.
Afridi will have to use Hafeez and Ajmal intelligently and if the problem still doesn’t gets solved then in the next round he will have to play Rahman or Asif depending on the wicket and should play Razzaq purely as a batsman.
The pinch hitters in the end have failed so far on the tour, I think Misbah should bat a bit higher and Afridi a bit lower.
Pakistan will have to get A few quick wickets especially Warner. The spinners will hold the key for PAkistan.
Pakistan’s chase will depend on the big hitters.
India won their main match against SA in the first round, in the end SA came quite close but the slow batting by Smith already did the damage SA went for big hitting a bit too late chasing a huge total and Smith was the main culprit. Raina played a superb innings.
Qamar
Afridi had a poor game as a player but he did fine as a captain. You are right he should not have taken Hafeez off when he was doing a fine job, and he should know better that when his bowling is working and when not, I think he did not took himself off just because of arrogance but if bad news for Pakistan that they are without Umar Gul and now the conditions in Carribean do not suit Afridi’s bowling on top of that he looked out of form with the ball.
okay performane by pakistan today but our bowling will have to improve significanly if we want to beat australia. What was afridi doing? tossed up every ball just outside off stump..could have lost us that game and still he bowled himself out when hafeez was bowling way better than him and so was ajmal.
Pakistan made 172/3 in 20 overs they should be quite happy with their performance even though they struggled to hit big shots in the last 5 overs
Last three overs yeilded only 18 runs the arrival of Boom Boom slowed the run rate down he failed to middle the ball that clearly shows why on some wickets playing classic batsmen is better than playing more pinch hitters.
Razzaq and Misbah are on the crease. they need to score at least 15 runs of last 9 balls to bring Pakistan’s score close to 180.
We are in the 15th over and so far Bangladesh hasn’t been able to take a wicket. Those who criticized Salman Butt must have learned a lesson. Pakistan are playing like champions and if they played like this against Australia they will beat Australia too.
After 15 overs it’s 138, the fans were expecting a score around 145 but Pakistan might score close to 200.
Bangladesh’s bowling is not even club standard I don’t see them challenging any team.
Pakistan lost it’s first wicket and skipper Boom Boom Afridi is at the crease the stage has been set for him to go completely berserk.
I missed all the matches yesterday, New Zealand and West Indies won a bit disappointed by SriLanka they really should have won.
Today Afghanistan gave a spirited performance against India they never had a chance but I was impressed by their feilding and bowling their batting didn’t clicked but in a couple of years they will become a good team their bowling and feilding is much better than Bangladesh.
Afridi won the toss and elected to bat. Asif and Khalid Latif are out and Sami and Butt are in, good choice.
If Sami gets going it will be great for Pakistan.
I wanted Afridi to open in these conditions as in the later part of the game the ball will be gripping and the spinners will dominate.
Pakistan should play their natural game and without pressure their is no need to take pressure from teams like Bangladesh Pakistan are the most dominating team in this format and they should believe in themselves.
hiya, i always get excited when pakistan’S cricket matches are
but when they lose its really annoying 
but its awesome when they win 
i really hope they win this one!
GOOD LUCK PAKI-LAND!! WOOHOOO 
Zimbabwe is going to be the new T20 WC champion they have beaten both the heavy weight teams in their warm matches.
Jokes apart Pakistan played it as a practice match and so did Australia but both teams should have won against Zimbabwe Pakistan rested Aamer and Ajmal and bowled Khalid Latif instead who has rarely bowled even in domestic tournaments they could have restricted Zimbabwe much below 143 but the worrying part is that their batting couldn’t chase 143.
They will miss Shahzaib Hassan dearly. They can fix the middle order by shuffling the batting order by moving Fawad and Misbah up the order but if they are not going to get good start in every match that is going to cause serious problems for them.
@Aqib if your team is at Cricinfo you can join the CricketVibe league using this LPIN:
104066-725d54857ac7209d
Thanks
ive made a fantasy team any way i can join your league..my team is called Aforce X1
Stani
If we go by the practice match they will go with aamer and Asif for the last overs. More clarity will emerge after Pakistan match against Zimbabwe.
I am not a big fan of Fantasy cricket therefore didn’t joined any league so far.
Plus if you still have time and petite:
Join CricketVibe Fantasy game using Cricinfo Fantasy team. If not and want to send me the invitation request in the form on right side at
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I just hope managing two teams will not be a fatigue at two different systems
Regards
Wasim,
You joined Maz’s league yet? I just have, it’s quite simple so make sure you do it, it’ll be nice
http://tinyurl.com/33m6nlz
Wasim,
With Gul out, Razzaq is the only one who can swing it in to the right hander any considerable distance. I agree his pace is low, but for the swing reason, I think he may be employed at the latter end of the innings with at least two of his overs to get those in-swinging yorkers in. I think Asif at the death will just be dangerous on our part. He is meat and drink with the older ball plus Razzaq can get up to his pace and swing it.
Are they showing these warm up matches live???
Hahaha
Australia lost it’s warm match against Zimbabwe by 3 runs. Didn’t saw the match so don’t know if Zimbabwe performed exceptionally well or Australia performed poorly but one thing is for sure that their bowlers again gave away too many runs. Brett lee, Nannes and johnson were fine but Watson, Hauritz and Steve Smith gave away too many runs.
In another match New Zealand won against Ireland by 40 runs and Bangladesh beat Barbados by 36 runs. Lets see how Pakistan will perform against Zimbabwe in their practice match.
Zimbabwe have sent chills down in the SriLankan and Kiwi camps.
Wwdis only managed to score 92/4 while chasing Pakistan’s 160. Asif who opened the bowling for Pakistan was their most expensive bowler gave away 18 runs in his first 2 overs Afridi brought him in for the last over of the match and he again went for 8 runs in total he gave away 26 runs in 3 overs against a weak side.
In contrast Aamer only gave away 13 runs from his 4 overs and took 1 wicket and Razzaq gave away 11 from his 3 overs. I think on flat and slow pitches Sami will be a much better option. He has pace and he can reverse the old ball.
Hafeez bowled 4 overs gave away 16 runs and took 1 wicket, Ajmal and Afridi both bowled 3 overs each and gave away 12 and 11 runs respectively and both took 1 wicket each.
Any bowler can go for 8 or 9 runs an over in T20 and a bowler like Asif can change the whole game in just one over but I think on flat wickets in this format it is too risky to play him, the best thing Pakistan can do is that they should keep him in or out after looking at the track.
Afridi played Hafeez at #3 which was a good decision. So it means that Hafeez will play the role of YK. There will be a tie between Latif and Butt. Alam is going to play the role of Malik and the last five overs will be left for Misbah and Razzaq.
So far the planning has been alright.
Maz
I know Umar was out of form and probably injured also but I was talking from the perspective that who will play the role he played for Pakistan in the last two world cups because our performance with the ball in the last six overs contributed hugely to our success.
Pakistan made 160/7 in 20 overs Hafeez was the top scorer with 57 from 40 balls, Fawad Alam scored 24 off 25 balls. Misbah scored 17 off just 8 balls. Razzaq could only score 2 runs.
Pakistan is playing rright now it’s warmup match against the Windward 11, they are 124/4 after 15.2 overs. The openers failed Kamran Akmal scored 9 off 11 and Salman butt scored 18 off 10 balls.
Hafeez is batting on 37 off 32 he came one down. Afridi scored 20 off 17 balls. And Umar Akmal scored 14 off 12. Fawad Alam has scored 18 off 10 and is still batting. Pakistan is only playing two pacers Razzaq and Asif, they have Misbah, Lateef and Razzaq still to come.
Other than the failure off the openers I won’t read much from this match as Pakistan is just using it for batting practice.
Stani
I was talking about Aamers ability to bowl at death, he is excellent at the top, I don’t think Razzaq can bowl in the middle or at the end he is too slow for that he moves the ball of the seam so his best utility is with the new ball, I think the first 6-8 overs will be bowled between Aamer, Asif and Razzaq in any order Afridi will try to keep atleast four overs between Asif and Aamer at death if Sami is not playing.
Sami will only play if Asif doesn’t do well they can’t drop Aamer, Razzaq and Ajmal.
I agree with you about Hafeez but he has been in terrific form with both bat and bowl lets see if he can hold his nerves and play at the same level against International teams.
Yes we do have the best variety in spin bowling, SriLanka is also very close to our strength in this department.
Wasim, on recent form Umar Gul was out of sorts and nowhere near the bowler he was during the previous T20WC’s I’m afraid to say. Take nothing away from his statistical track records in the Twenty-twenty format but I feel his absence may also be a blessing and for the better of the team in the competition.
Your spot on about Malik and Younis and their contributions throughout the last WC. They have been highly unappreciated as you have pointed out so correctly. Ppl who say they didn’t do anything and played selfishly seem to have no depth understanding in the game at all, both players did their roles and played their parts well, they deserve credit!
You have correctly pointed out that Sami would be ideal for bowling at the death and I feel he now has to play in order to get the team balance right otherwise, we will plunder at that stage I’m afraid to think
Mudassar
I don’t think Pakistan can afford to drop Ajmal even if they have Hafeez, Ajmal can bowl Doosra where as Hafeez just bowls simple off spin on a good line and length. Ajmal was the other specialist bowler Pakistan had at death he was our most economical bowler in the last WC since Gul is not there and we are already facing a dilema as to who will bowl at death in his absence we can’t drop Ajmal and create another void.
Since the pitches are going to help spinners it is a good option to have a bowler like Hafeez so that if one of the pacers is going for runs Hafeez can fill up his overs. As regards Rahman he is also a good option but he will only play if Ajmal fails to show form the wickets in Carribean especially at St Lucia assist orthodox leg spinners.
@Wasim, @Stani,
If we are already thinking of dropping Ajmal for Sami than how they are going to let in Abdur-Rehman? I can’t see any combination in which he can play with Ajmal and Hafeez in. That truly is a selection blunder. He can be a good choice for England tour but here it is just Butt’s bloody ego.
Wasim,
Great stats. We’re either going to do it or be embarrassingly bad.
In defence of Aamer, he does get the early break through which is crucial in halting the early t20 powerplay onslaught.
Hafeez has also not played on the international stage for a long time so we will have to see if he is phased by that.
I think Asif will be used early with Aamer so that Razzaq can be saved for the death Umar Gul overs.
I think spin will be a big factor and we probably have the best ammunition of all the teams. I think because of this, Sami may not start many games although there is the argument that if Hafeez is in the team, Ajmal can be dropped for Sami.
Wes
I am not aware of Dirk’s injury if he gets out it will be a big blow for Australia but they do have Bollinger, Harris and Clint Mckay who are also quite good anyone of them can replace him.
I think Australia will be fine as far as spin department is concerned, their main issue will be how their batsmen and pace bowlers adjust on pitches with low bounce and less pace.
But for me they are the team to beat.
Don’t underestimate England in this format they have the capability to beat any team in this format.
Mudassar
I wrote a post earlier last week but somehow it didn’t got posted my wordpress messed it up. But anyways this one is better as the last one didn’t had any statistical references.
I think for Pakistan to successfully defend their title they will have to repeat the batting performance in the middle overs like they did in the last world cup and Waqar and Afridi will have to carefully prepare one bowler who could take up the role of Umar Gul. Aamer can’t reverse the ball and Asif doesn’t have pace he is not good with the older ball so it will have to be Sami.
A lot will depend on the strategy they devise against different teams and leadership, Younis Khan led from the front and performed brilliantly in key matches Afridi is good in this format I think he can do it he just has to be himself and should not let the pressure of captaincy affect his performance. He is very popular amongst the team and well respected so controlling the team will not be a big issue for him but his biggest test will be how he treats the players when they are struggling and how he extracts the best out of them.
oh I was just wondering where are all the guys, Stani , Wasim etc and here comes the post. Good!
and that is a good one nice statistical touch and you raised a damn good question if Pakistan style just suits T20 or if there is some serious strategy around this backed up, I think I will look into this once again after this World T20.
Wasim I was already waiting for this post! Will put you in my preview list, this is epic.
Isn’t Nannes injured? I heard something. We shall see what the Aussie spinners can do compared to their subcontinental counterparts, and isn’t Swann the best spinner in the world (currently)?
I really can’t wait to see how England will be doing.
Cheers,
Wes
~ Play For Country Not For Self ~