Spirited Pakistan ready for Australians
on July 8th, 2010 at 3:34 pmPakistan team finally was able to end their losing streak against Australia the team gave a spirited performance played as a unit and everybody looked extremely motivated and extended their full support to their spirited leader, this was something which was totally missing from the team during the last two years, nobody is willing to accept that it happened only due to the harsh treatment the players recieved after the Australian tour, I think PCB deserves some credit here. The media and the independent bloggers should have the courage to accept that they were wrong and the disciplinary action did produced positive results.
Unfortunately the unfair criticism will again become fierce, when Pakistan will struggle in test matches, but the truth whiich nobody is willing to accept is that Pakistan would have struggled in test matches with or without Yousaf and Younis as they did against Srilanka, NewZealand and Australia last year.
Our batting has always been fragile but in recent years our bowling in test matches has not been upto par, a lot will depend on Asif’s form, Aamer has already shown that he will do good he must have really worked hard during the last few months now he can move the ball both ways and is much more accurate. Umar even though he bowled at a lively pace and was at his usual best in T20 but keeping in view his past test performances it is difficult to predict how he will perform in the forth coming test series.
Shahid Afridi will ease some burden off Kaneria, these two matches will determine the fate of Kaneria’s future, do we really need two leg spinners shouldn’t we play Ajmal more often in test cricket?
Our opening conundrum is still there Butt is in form, but we have two failed horses to pair with him and two youngsters who are yet to be tried, Afridi should ignore Yasir and Farhat and should go for Umar Amin and Azhar Ali.
The middle order looks very light without Yousaf I don’t care much about Younis or Misbah as they were not doing anything and just occupying space. Akmal brothers are in form but Pakistan will have to extract better performances from Malik and Afridi.
This would be the probable team.
Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Umar Amin, , Umar Akmal, Malik, Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Umar Gul, Aamer, Asif and Kaneria/ Ajmal
My team would be as follows
Salman Butt, Azhar Ali, Umer Amin/ Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Malik, Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Aamer, Gul, Asif, and Ajmal.
I think Kaneria turned it more Wasim. Afridi couldnt grip it because he mostly bowled when the ball was wet and pitch was skiddy. Smith is definitely flighting it more but he only looks dangerous when bowling around the wicket to the left hander (Butt in this case) into the rough. Otherwise, I think we should milk him all day long. But, knowing us, we’ll give him a 5-for.
Steve Smith is bowling much better than both Kaneria and Afridi. He is getting a vicious turn.
Another excellent knock by Salman Butt, his job is not done yet he has to stay on the wicket and play a big knock, imagine if Pakistan had not given up when the lead was around 300, even if Australia had set them a target of 350 then at the end of todays play Pakistan would have been left with only 220 to chase. The lacklustre bowling to tailenders and defensive field placements hurt us big time.
Muddassar
I think I mentioned my reasons for getting upset at Afridi, he batted very maturely in Odis but his behaviour in Pakistan’s first innings was disappointing and unacceptable.
His field placements and poor body language today demoralized the bowlers as a result Australia have posted 150 runs more than what they really should have.
It’s too early to judge him as a captain but until yesterday he didn’t made many mistakes, somebody needs to define aggression to him, aggression is definitely not mindless cricket.
@wasim, is there any difference between we as nation and our cricket team, too impatient and too early into judgment.
Some of (actually most of) us guys yesterday and day earlier were all hails for Afridi and were all praise into what improvement Pakistan has been in the middle, aggressive, attacking, united and all that. But now it looks like just the next day we are all over him and team again, what the hell is wrong with us?
Even than we were ready to accept the batting problem and its inexperience and now suddenly we are not even able to accept the dip in spirit after hard work of 3 days (only 40 overs for our bowlers to get a rest i think) when the defeat is quite obvious, when did Pakistan chased more than 300 ever even with great names like Miandad, Inzamam, Saeed and all that, once , twice?
I am giving this batting lineup a target of 180 – 200 to get in 2nd inning but i think they will not be able to make that.
Afridi didn’t bowled all day long yesterday and now he is just trying to get a wicket or two to make his figures look better.
Simon Katich took the match away from Pakistan he has been the main difference between the two teams.
Pakistan has lost the ability to finish off the tailenders, every test match the tailenders torment the bowlers who suddenly lose all the steam, the captains also facilitate the opposition by not applying pressure in the field.
Australia played like shit in this match but Pakistan dropped their performance to even more shittier level, a lot is said about the mental toughness of the Australians but in this match it was the mental fragility and the losing habit of Pakistan which put Australia on top.
Nothing has changed for Pakistan under AFRIDI AS FAR AS THE FIRST MATCH IS CONCERNED SAME TACTICS ARE BEING USED THE TEAM THREW AWAY THE ADVANTAGE AT LEAST TWICE YOU CAN’T WIN A TEST MATCH AGAINST AUSTRALIA IF YOU DON’T SIEZE THE OPPORTUNITIES, OUR TEST TEAM LACKS SELF BELIEF AND CAN’T FINISH OFF THE OPPOSITION.
They have given 47 easy runs to Tim Paine which there best batsman will not be able to make in this match.
All the hardwork by Umar Gul and Asif done yesterday was wasted by bizarre field placement and lethargic and defeatist attitude of the bowlers. The team probably stop fighting when they couldn’t get early wickets in the morning and the lead came close to 300.
Now Pakistan bowlers are just bowling for a formality.
Just 1 slip for Paine even for Hillfenhaus the field is spread out, I am yet to see a yorker bowled by Umar Gul, extremely negative cricket by Pakistan. They have given up the fight.
Kaneria can’t even bowl to tail enders was consistently giving five runs an over to tail enders spraying the ball every where, this guy lacks discipline and can’t bowl a disciplined line and length.
Seems like Pakistan doesn’t want to bat and they will continue to bowl half heartedly to these tail enders until Ricky Ponting decides to declare, the bowlers look disinterested, tired and are not swinging the ball any more, haven’t seen any yorker or bouncer bowled to Hillfenhaus, just short wide and flat.
Afridi spread the field for no apparent reason hasn’t applied any pressure and is using similar tactics to that of Mohammad Yousaf in Sydney.
Muddassar
By shuffling the batting order do you think that Akmal brothers would have played any better, Azhar and Amin both open frequently in domestic cricket they are not new to facing new ball.
The problem is of mental attitude and technique and nothing else. Yes we will be chasing about 400 and will lose quite comfortably.
@wasim, everything else you are mad at is right from the word go.
I would like to add this: alright the batting lineup was inexperience even Umar Akmal is still inexperience as i have already said he got everything a batsman need but not yet the control on his brain or either the use of it. So it left us only with Butt and hell he played so well.
But point is our think tank is not young, even if you leave Afridi out of it, we still got Waqar, Ijaz, Aqib etc . Where the hell in the world some team will send two debutants at 3 and 4, right that is there position but is it in rules to send them at? You got Kamran or Umar who can be placed up the order specially when you know even Imran bloody Farhat is useless so Umar Akmal could be number 3 and he did it already for us or if Azhar wa number 3 than we can drop Umar down the order. We actually sent both them for a suicide in swinging seaming conditions against one of a disciplined bowling attack one after one. This not good for team not good for those young players. They came from a pathetic domestic cricket structure they will groom with team but they need a helping hand by giving them some protection. At least protect them from new ball daemons.
But I think it will be to much to ask from our so called seniors who can’t even do their own job. This batting lineup will take a hell of a beating before getting mature. Even Bangladesh’s batting line up is better than our on paper and probably in middle too.
So Today we will have a result right? 3 days game over thank you very much.
Stani
First the selection of Imran Farhat has disgusted me the most, the guy didn’t performed in domestic cricket, had a miserable tour of Australia didn’t played any side matches and was selected straight away, his mother fucking father in law should get public flogging who influenced his selection and Ejaz Butt’s fat ass should get whipped a 1000 times, everybody predicted the guy will not get into double figures so why he was preferred over Malik and Yasir Hameed?
I was disgusted most by the spineless performance by Akmal brothers and then by Afridi’s suicide.
He earned my respect after his gutsy performances in Asia cup but this was a joke and a pure suicide he can’t play like this in a test match especially when the team was in a difficult situation he should have tried to stay on the wicket and should have tried to form a partnership with Butt.
I don’t care about his quickfire 31 he was seeing the ball and timing it properly he got out because of his own death wish.
I don’t know why our players don’t know how to leave the ball, Aamer, Umar Amin, and Azhar they all could have easily left the ball on which they got out.
Only Butt played an excellent innings, I think we shouldn’t expect much from this team anyways until the batting lineup gets mature. It will take a full year for some of the youngsters to mature at international level.
I knew Pakistan would fold cheaply and concede a hefty lead and that was what they exactly did, they would be chasing at least 325-350 tommorrow unless one of our bowlers bowls a miracle spell.
Out of all the bowlers they picked Watson to gift their wickets. What a shame.
One more innings like this from Afridi and he will be history. This was not aggression or counter attack it was plain stupidity, the guy worked very hard to earn respect from critics like me, winning or losing is a part of the game but we don’t want to see such mindless cricket from our captain especially at the test level, otherwise there will be no difference between him and Yousaf.
Pathetic batting from everyone apart from Butt, Azhar, Afridi, Gul, Asif and Kaneria. Just two more partnerships and look where we would have been?!
The shots the two Akmals played were a joke. Nervous and stuck in the crease. If they cant do that then they should do what Afridi did. How the hell they gave Watson 5 wickets I will never know.
Hopefully we can restrict them to 50 more and chase what was basically set in the first innings, 250.
Wasim,
I was surprised not to see the UDRS either…not that our lot would use it properly!
I dont think it will be that easy for our batting either. Hilfanhaus will exploit the conditions like our bowlers did. He’s not fast but swings the ball and is an intelligent bowler. He was the pick of them last time over here against England.
Definitely need to occupy the crease, make the ball old and pick up the singles which will add up. We have got ourselves a platform, now we need to do the boring stuff. We should recognise that we havent been in this position for some time so need to take advantage.
Aamer clearly troubled the Aussie’s the most at times he was almost unplayable, but it was Asif who won the day for us those three wickets off just seven deliveries changed the game, this clearly shows who deadly a wicket taking bowler like Asif can become for the opposition.
Umar Gul even though he was economical but his performance today was average, his line and length was erratic even though he was moving the ball both ways but he wasn’t accurate, therefore he couldn’t be as effective as Aamer and Asif.
I hope Waqar will talk to him because if Umar got his accuracy back he will be more deadlier than Asif and Aamer. He is fully fit he only needs slight adjustments in line and length.
Kaneria will bowl five excellent deliveries and then will give away a boundary as a gift, I think he won’t change this is his habit, he will take wickets but his economoy and SR will always be on the higher side.
Over all Pakistan got a lucky break because of the toss and the weather conditions they should take full advantage of it tommorrow and should not let this advantage slip away, Australian bowlers will come very hard on Pakistani batsmen they do have a very good pace attack life won’t be easy for Pakistani batsmen out there tommorrow, they are renowned to fall like nine pins in conditions like these, I won’t be surprised if they concede a lead to Australia.
Stani
Katich decision really hurted us he was clearly out on 2, even though some decisions went in our favor but the damage was already done, I wonder why UDRS is not mandatory and why PCB didn’t got it for it’s home series.
The conditions are extremely tough and I have a feeling that our batting line will struggle tommorrow I have never seen Ben bowl hopefully Pakistan will manage to get some lead. They should bat patiently and try to occupy the crease.
It will take Afridi this whole season to get back in test bowling rythym, it is completely different to bowl in a test match than to bowl in a T20 or an ODI.
Yes, brave choice by Afridi to choose a youngster instead of Malik. Malik’s off spin isn’t what it used to be anyway and he just goes through the motions. Hopefully the batsmen can do themselves justice tomorrow. We will have to pay particular attention to Hilfenhaus as he will be the one to exploit these conditions better than the other Aussies. Cannot allow Smith to settle and I hope we deal with him like we dealt with him in the t20s, which led to him being dropped.
Was very worried early in Kaneria’s spell as he looked like his ordinary self. I think he will find it difficult getting top-end wickets in these Tests but will do well against the lower order.
As for his own bowling; he needs to slow down a bit and think about it. He was bowling far too short.
Gould is an awful umpire despite Shane Warne licking his behind on commentary. We did get a couple of decisions go for us as well as against us so it has thankfully evened out. But, this evening out doesn’t always happen and can cost badly.
Kamran
One can never rely on the offspin of Shoaib Malik or his batting, finally the time has come when he must realize that he won’t get an automatic selection in the test team he will have to perform like a senior player, I am glad that Afridi chose a youngster over him, Azhar and Umar may or may not succeed but we have to prepare at least two to three batsmen to replace aging seniors and we have to be patient with them.
I think the pacers did an ok job, Australia would have struggled big time if Ian Gould had not given Katich extra lives. With the exception of Kaneria and Afridi all the bowlers bowled impressively.
It will take a few matches before Afridi will be able to adjust to this format as a bowler.
But Kaneria will have to lift up his performance.
Don’t like the look of this attack.. No off spin options with shoaib malik out and ajmal is In much better form than kaneria. We need akhtar and that is obvious.
When there was so much criticism on the team management due to the absence of Yk and MoYO it must have been a very hard decision for Afridi to select two youngsters instead of Malik and Yasir Hameed, if these guys failed Afridi will come under a lot of criticism but I think he took this decision knowing of the consequences and should be applauded as Pakistan team needed some new faces in the team before the WC.
Afridi has won the toss and elected to field, it’s a good decision.
All of us can stop our speculations regarding the team as the team has been announced, Malik is out, and Yasir Hameed despite making an impressive 50 in the side match couldn’t overcome the sifarish of Imran Farhat who failed miserably in the side match.
Hats off to Afridi that he took the brave decision to play both youngsters, but he should not have played Farhat.
Stani
When I said predictable I meant that out of four bowlers the opposition knows that one is out for a certain period of time as they know he is only going to bowl a short spell so there is no pressure and they can easily pick on a bowler out of ther other three who is fatigued because of extra work load.
This happened a few times when we tried to manage Shoaib in short spells in a test series, each time he got unfit or injured during the series. And it also seriously increased the work load and pressure on other bowlers infact in last tour of India almost every bowler became injured, we played one test with only two regular bowlers.
Do you seriously think he can field all day long. I don’t think so. There is a reason Shane Bond, Brett lee and some other bowlers of Akhtar’s breed are choosing to stay away from test cricket.
We should not raise our expectations from him and should just use him in limited overs cricket, I would take a risk with him only in one condition if the series is at stake and one main bowler gets injured or out of form, it’s a long tour and you never know this might happen.
Wasim,
But with the spin options we have it’s easy. I disagree with it being predictable. The opposite is predictable as teams will know that here’s a bowler who’s about to bowl long spells. Whereas Akhtar cold come on for 4 over bursts at any moment. I don’t think you can hide your bowling plans much anyway, not that there is much point to it to be honest.
But Shoaib is not just about speed is he? I think Tait chose not to play Test matches himself. In fact, Ponting has been trying to persuade him to return…..and he is definitely just about speed.
I don’t think it’s about being greedy. If you have something and you can use it wisely then you should.
The two Umars have caused quite a few problems for Australia, it’s time to add the third one.
Muddassar
We have a perfect bowling attack we don’t need to do any experimentation.
Stani
It is almost impossible to use a fulltime bowler in 4 or 3 over spells in a test, I mean you can do it but you will be burdoning a lot of work load on the other three bowlers and your plans will become predictable for the opposition, last few times we tried him in such a manner it proved to be disasterous.
Besides who is going to field all day long for him, I don’t think as per rules he can stay out of the ground for a very long period of time.
I wasn’t impressed with his t20 performance, test match requires a lot more than speed if speed was the only weapon then Australia wouldn’t be dropping tait and nannes for the test matches.
Lets not get greedy here, leave him for Odis and T20′s or else he won’t last more than two test matches and would get injured.
it is probably not yet the time for Akhter to step into Test cricket, it is too much to ask. Including him in a test at this stage is not a wise decision. we are in rebuilding state, we are looking for new blood which can prove handy in future , in this situation falling back on a bowler at the end of his career to win us couple of session in couple of tests (thats best he can do) is just out of questions.
So keep him away and test out your new blood as this tour is the perfect opportunity to build a consistent team.
In the second t20 akhtar looked really sharp and up for it.. I think he deserves one last chance at the top level
I really think it would be worth a gamble having shoaib play in the test matches. I would go with salman butt and Hameed opening. Umar Amin at 3, u. Akmal no4 followed by shoaib malik and kamran akmal with afridi at 7 and aamer at 8. My number 9 would be gul, no 10 akhtar and ajmal. We need shoaibs extra pace and agression even If he does just bowl 3 over spells throughout the day.
Wasim,
I really do think he can be intelligently managed through a Test match. 3-4 over spells and he will have lots of rest periods anyway when his team mates are batting.
I still remember how he destroyed England on pace unfriendly pitches in Pakistan. That slower ball he did to dismiss Michael Vaughan was sublime. He hardly uses it now.
Stani
I am sure that they will play one or both youngsters because PCB is quite clear that they are not going to recall Yousaf and Younis so they have to find their replacements.
Shoaib wasn’t selected for the test matches, but he is going to remain in England I think if Asif or Gul struggled in tests he might get a test recall thats his only chance, Pakistan has to play a long test series against England and I thibnk Akhtar will get an opportunity only if one of the bowlers fails to perform or gets injured.
The number of balls Farhat faced was uncharacteristic and he went to a poor shot. It shows he is not in good form. This must have cost him his place. Everyone else seemed to get a score but he struggled. I really would like a couple of the new guys to be throw in against the Aussies. I believe they will rise to the occasion and it will be nice to take a real close look at them.
Akhtar wasn’t in the Test squad was he? ODI one still to be announced of course.
I think Hameed and Amin will win the two empty spots as their knocks were very convincing Azhar Ali even though played the role of an anchor but cricinfo reported that he was uncomfortable against the quicks.
Afridi for god sakes no Farhat.
Kamran
Absolutely no chance against the Aussies.
Is there no chance akhtar will play the tests?
Yes Wasim. I think as long as we see a spirited fighting performance then winning is secondary.
I think we are desperately missing one more all rounder. In the past we’ve had two or three but only have Afridi this time and he has the captaincy to take on too.
Butt and Malik need to be looking to get big scores because Afridi will have much on his plate and Umar is still young and cannot be expected to do it every game.
Mudassar
I think right now the team managements first preference is Farhat and Umar Amin at #3 obviously if these two failed to perform in the side game and the other two Hameed and Azhar Ali performed then ofcourse they will get a go.
Kuram
By PCB shenanigans you probably meant the loss of form by Hameed because that is the main reason he got dropped nobody can say that he didn’t get enough chances, he is still making the same mistakes which he was making 6 years ago. He plays across, misses and gets plumb lbw, and the other one almost a habit loves to play cover drive fails to read the movement and gives an easy catch outside off stump. I have watched him bat in last several domestic competetions and based on what I saw he won’t be able to score in 20′s either.
Farhat is a similar case to that of Hameed but with only one difference that if he gets going then he usually scores big, but both the seniors are too risky, I think a chance should be given to Amin and Azhar or Asad.
Yasir Hameed used to be one of my favourite players and was an extremely good openere, but usual yPCB shennanigins destroyed his promising career. I hope he is given a try here. He still have a few years left in him. Umar Amin’s technique looked solid, and a left hander is always useful to disrupts the bowler’s line and length.
Out of all new I only noticed Umar Amin better and he has the right technique to cope with test cricket so I would say he must be a starter in first test. But I am not sure Afridi will go with another debut in Azhar or Asad so early in the series he will rely on Imran and Yasir , I am hopeful of Yasir to make some runs but Imran is just a time pass. But no worries we even have four more tests against England where we can try a lot of things and I hope every one in the team must get at least 2 matches to show what they got.