New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat, they have made two changes Oram and Jamie How come in for Ryder and Bennett. Pakistan also made two changes Akhtar and Rahman came back in the team in place of Riaz and Ajmal.
We are in the 19th over and New Zealand are 73/2, seems like Pakistan should have played Wahab on this pitch it has something in it for fast bowlers the ball is moving around.
Strange tactics from Afridi he usually gets the overs of Hafeez and Razzaq out of the way very quickly but today he chose to use Rahman and Akhtar upfront. Kamran Akmal is playing for the devil in this match dropped to simple catches.
New Zealand will milk Razzaq’s gentle medium pace, Pakistan look toward Afridi to take wickets once more.
I f New Zealand scored 250 they will be favorites to win this match.
Wasim : no one is jumping the gun. I just found it ironic that He tends to get injured whenever He is seeked to replace his brother. I hope he is available to play for the upcomming game because He is a valuable player.
As far as Inthikab. He has no credibility. He always tries to downplay any rumors wether it has some truth to it or not.
Remember : During Malik days when He use to be a coach, He never admited that there were power struggle and dressing room problems within the team. So I would not take his word for anything
Afridi, Razaq , Misbah and few others didnt show up at the practise today either my worst fear is that there is a disarry in the team again after the NZ loss…. I hope I am wrong..
@Mohsin
Maybe you missed todays report in Dawn where Intikhab has said that he is not faking it.
Lets not jump on the gun, he was given one day’s rest by the management
but now he is fine and will play in the next match he just missed a practice session.
Umer Akmal injured his index finger and has put a big question mark for him to keep in place of his brother in next game against Zim.
Isnt it Ironic how He injures him self when ever his brother place in the team is threatend??
Hi Naser
It will be called a split Hatrick.
Hi ! Wasim,
In todays match Dale Styne got two consequtive wickets at the last two ball. Has he a chance of hat trick in next match ? I’m not sure about it. Pls inform me.
Mohsin
I don’t think they will drop both openers.
@Max
India has a 60-40 chance, South Africa will fight really hard as now they also need points there place is also not guaranteed they do not depend on this match but still from now on every match is crucial for them because the race for QF in group B is very tight. I think the team which will bat first will win.
The news is out that they are consdering Asad Shaifque to open for the next game and perhaps He would be taking the place of Shehzad, Ahmed. It is also being told that there is an element of pressure by the bookies to keep Kamran Akmal on the team but as a specialist opener. It seems like Hafeez and Shehzad will be axed because the coach and the Pakistan Think Tank is not happy by thier opening. Pakistan is also considering to bring razzaq up the order
The team as the way it looks like :
Shafeeq and Kamran to open
Razzaq one down
Younis
Misbah
Umer Akmal
Shahid Afridi
Gul
Rehman
Ajmal / Shoaib depending on pitch..
Wahab Riaz
Will India come through against Saffers tomorrow?
The miraculous innings came from Shafi Ul Islam and Bangladesh has caused a big upset.
Congratulations to all Bangladeshis on this memorable victory.
Shafi played with confidence and aggression this what Bangladesh needed to cross the line, the middle order became too defensive and almost handed the match over to England but a rear guard action from Mehmood and Shafi won the match for Bangladesh.
It was a great match.
Big tactical error from Shakib he should have taken the power play when he was inside 70 runs now only a miraculous innings from a tail ender can save Bangladesh.
The problem with some of these minnows is that except for a couple of players they do not have batsmen who can play at international level.
Bangladesh are on top just 79 required to win. England are finding it hard to bowl with a dew covered ball, Swann was losing his temper against umpire Harper when he declined to change the ball, the ball was changed just four overs before and it was ridiculous of Swann to even ask for a ball change but he just three a tantrum out there trying to pressurize Harper.
Shahid Afridi has said that he is not going to drop Kamran Akmal as Kamran is not the only player who is performing poorly, I kind of agree with him, it is very risky to play with a part time keeper in a world cup match. even though Akmal at this stage is performing worst then a club wicket keeper and should be axed from the team after this world cup but Pakistan can’t risk playing with a part time WK in the knock out round.
Kamran Akmal’s wicket keeping was shady in Pakistan’s last match against NZ nobody is willing to give him the margin of being a poor wicket keeper, but the way Prior got out today was mind boggling, I have never seen a dismisal like that in my life, he missed a ball from Razzak, his foot was firmly planted in the middle of the crease, he saw the keeper collecting the ball and then took a step forward and allowed the keeper to stump him, he wasn’t off balanced he just walked out of the crease.
But nobody will investigate this as nobody should even think that an English player can deliberately throw his wicket.
England are in a precarious position against Bangladesh they scored 225 the wicket has low bounce and the ball skidding along it’s not an easy pitch to bat on and given the fragility of Bangladeshi batting the odds are still in favor of England to win this match but they have put themseleves on risk by wasting the platform set by Morgan and Trott. If England lost this match they will be in a must win situation against a resurgent West Indies in their last group A match.
The hopes of Ireland to qualify for The QF are finished they gave a good fight to WI but Kevin Pollard’s catch of Obrien just sealed the match in the favor of windies.
@PCB
Razzaq at number at 8 is a waste, but I do agree with the team you have picked.
1. Mohammad Hafeez
2. Ahmed Shehzad
3. Umar Akmal (wkt)
4. Younis Khan
5. Misbah Ul-Haq
6. Asad Shafiq
7. Shahid Afridi (cpt)
8. Abdul Razzaq
9. Umar Gul
10. Shoaib Akhtar
11. Saeed Ajmal
Stani
Against Australian pace attack Afridi will never open and he shouldn’t because I don’t think he is good enough with the bat to face the new ball bowled by Lee and Tait.
I will not change the openers at all, we should play either Razzaq or Umar Akmal at #3.
Wasim,
But the moron moans about opening.
Yeh I agree. Drop Akmal and move Razzaq up. In fact, they could even open with Afridi. He’s not doing much with the bat lower down so why not do much with the bat higher up?
If we get Australia then we will lose even before the game is played. Inferiority complex will kick and and so will the whitewashes of late last and and early this year.
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvMy5rxYDCs&feature=related[/url]
Max
I am not sure if you are giving extra credit to Pakistani bowling or just don’t think much of the current Australian batting.
Wasim,
IF they don’t have Aussies within 165 while either B or B first, twill be hard to beat them, especially Hussey who’s raring to go against the likes of Akhtar and Gul.
For India, I feel that their bowling will pick up in the coming weeks, their batting will crash land every time they try and take off from the next against SA.
@ Max
Are you talking about the current Pakistani team or the one of the 90′s
Pakistan can beat this Australian team but only if they play to their full potential. It all depends on the conditions generally Pakistan likes to bat first against teams like Australia as usually we panic while chasing.
Are you sure you wanted to write 165 and not 265.
India is one of the strong favorites to win the tournament they will fail if they don’t strengthen their bowling they are one bowler short in my opinion.
Wasim,
Whatever may be at the toss, Pakistan should bowl first, If they do Shoaib will get a fiv’fer and Pakistan will have it relatively easy to come close and beat Australia.
If they bat first, they lose the match 101 times out of 10 times, meaning they will lose all confidence going into quarters and probably exit as well.
Again, If they bowl first irrespective of their attack (primary that Shoaib is present), Australia will be skittled within 165 and Pakistan will win. That match is of prime importance for Pakistan to win the World cup because even if they face Aussies later on, they will beat them 11 out 10 times to win the WC.
India don’t stand a chance.
Mind it.
@ MAX
I think Pakistan will go all out in that match. And would test their strength to the fullest in that match for the QF.
I am not sure about the composition, but one thing is for sure that they will have to fix their top order. I am not worried about the bowling as our bowlers rarely let us down.
They should drop Kamran Akmal and play another specialist bowler instead and hand the gloves over to Umar Akmal.
Eager to see Pakistan against Australia,
What’d you reckon the outcome of the composition and the game be?
Max
But if ICC says that they investigate unusual performances and unusual patterns then they should do it with all teams. Ofcourse everybody is innocent until proven guilty but it is a fact that illegal betting is rampant in all sports, recently the IOC President Jacques Rogge warned that ”
Illegal betting is on the rise and we absolutely have to fight that,” Rogge said of an industry that Interpol estimates was worth $140 billion last year.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/sports/2011/03/ioc-task-force-tackle-illegal-betting-sports#ixzz1G7qtHDZt
If we are going to talk about Pakistani cricketers with more certainity than others because their cricketers have been caught then we must realize that cricketers from all countries barring may be one have been involved in this illegal practice in the past.
The difference between PCB and other boards is that we have some corrupt elements in our board and they do they are responsible for promoting this corrupt culture and protecting the culprits.
@ Mohsin
We can only hope and pray that either the ACSU gets Akmal or he breaks his finger, he is the blue eyed boy of PCB they will never drop him permanently.
Stani
I agree, but I have been contantly trying to justify Afridi’s move to bowl Rahman upfront, the only justification which comes in my mind is that they experimented in anticipation of quarterfinal or the Indian wickets, since they have already qualified for the QF they didn’t took this match seriously.
On Indian wickets opening the bowling with a spinner might work but not in SriLanka the over cast conditions and majority of their tracks are more helpful for the seamers.
I think they should move either Umar Akmal or Razzaq at #3 and drop Kamran Akmal all together and include another bowler in his place either Wahab or Ajmal depending on the track.
Wasim,
Of course but the we have to go further back for why this happened. Firstly, we picked the wrong side so we were kind of stuck with opening with Razzaq bowling, or if we didnt want to then using Rehman. The second mistake was that they misread the wicket clearly, hence opened with Rehman. But, this could have been addressed had they recognised th ewicket was seaming and taken off Rehman after his one over. They didn’t though and the rest was history.
Stani
But don’t you think if Razzaq or Gul Had bowled a few overs upfront we could have gotten more wickets upfront, it wasn’t an Indian wicket it was a seaming track therefore I think even though Rahman didn’t gave many runs but we missed the opportunity to cause more damage early on.
And this decision proved to be even more poor when Razzaq was exploited in the middle overs and Afridi had to bowl himself and Gul out to control the flow of runs.
Max
I know but I changed it.
@ PCB
As regards our current debate I think you are mixing up two entirely different issues, Imran Khan and Wasim have been stressing a third specialist bowler but they never said that Razzaq should be bowling in the middle overs if we get an other specialist bowler Razzaq will play in the team entirely as a batsman.
As regards me, I have also never said that Razzaq should bowl in the middle overs, I think we are not using Razzaq properly his dominant skill is his batting, he can bowl but bowling is not his forte certainly we can’t have him in the team for his part time 5 overs which sometimes are good but mostly he doesn’t take any wickets and leaks easy runs from one end.
Therefore I proposed that we should either send him higher or should use him as a floater to use his full potentail as a player and to benefit from his main strength which is his batting. This will solve the problem of the consistent failure of Kamran Akmal at #3 and the consistent pressure on YK and Misbah to score runs the matches they fail in we lose we need to strengthen our batting at # 3.
Only a fool will open the bowling with a spinner on a seaming track and use a finger spinner at death, I think Afridi used Rahman as a sacrificial goat. If oue captain won’t use players according to their strengths and weaknesses then whose fault is it?
Besides what was the logic in changing the whole bowling order, I don’t buy your logic that he got under pressure because of the criticism From IK and WA. Because if that was the case he would have not bowled Razzaq at all and should have included another specialist bowler which should have been Wahab in this case.
You are criticizing Misbah and Younis for not pacing their innings fast enough when they scored against SL @SR of 90′s but in defence of Razzaq you are justifying his SR of 80′s and giving Afridi’d example to support your argument. Now who is self contradicting here.
You admit that in bigger matches the top order doesn’t pace their innings fast enough but when I say we need Razzaq to bat higher because we are not using him properly you dismiss the argument entirely. So how do you plan to fix the problem? Younis and Misbah have their limitations they are not power hitters so they can’t do it, we can either send UA up or Razzaq because KA can’t bat #3.
Every team presents a different match up problem and every match is played in different conditions we can’t go with a default combination in every match we have to put the best combination on the field keeping in view the conditions and the match up challenges posed by the combination of the opposing team. Our management has failed to do so as they should have played Wahab in the last match.
The thing I like most about your comments is that you are not afraid of putting forth your views and you stick to your guns that makes the debate possible. It doesn’t matter if you are proven wrong or I am proven wrong.
I
To err is human and to forgive is divine’
…………………………………………………..
The decision to open with Rehman wasnt a mistake in itself. The mistake came when Afridi did not realise that the track was seaming therefore he should bring Gul or Razzaq on (preferably Gul) and leave Rehman with just that one over and try the experiment on another day with a different track. That was where the mistake was. It was a good move to try Rehamn opening, this is a separate issue and Akram was correct to say it was a good move as other teams have done successfully with their spinners. To not then realise and react to the conditions was the mistake.
I still think though that Razzaq should not be bowled at all. When a tired Akhtar and unfortunate Rehman were bowling at the end, I was thinking that Wahab would have been perfect because he’s strong and can bowl specific lengths accurately. I say unfortunate Rehman because Afridi fiddled with the bowling order so much that it was only Rehman, Razzaq and Akhtar left at the end. Rehman should not have been bowling at that time, it was Arfridi’s fault he was.
PCB
The following statement of yours shows how egoistically you fight your arguments.
“Please state where the comments I have made have not gone the way I anticipated. I am not saying I am not 100% perfect, but generally speaking I get most things right.”
Come on I always respect your opinions we don’t have to start a pissing match with each other every time we discuss an issue. Or go back and forth and twist statements made in the past to prove the current point we can just politely agree to disagree. Nothing is constant in cricket every series is a new series and the performance of players go up and down we can only give reference of events which are current and not those which happened a year ago as the form of players change.
I admire your knowledge of cricket, but nobody including you me or the Ex cricketers can predict anything with certainity in cricket. Cricket is a game of uncertainities. We can express our opinions which may or may not be correct, You live and learn every day, I have proven wrong many times in the past and also have been proven right many times, I don’t get embarassed when I am proven wrong as to err is human and to accept it is divine.
The worst irony of this all is that the Pakistani Think tank is still under denial that they do need to let go of Kamran Akmal and perhaps also add Ajmal in the attck to support the Pakistan bowling attack.
If you see Waqar younis press confrence you want to get up that very stage and kick his ass for having such sucessive failure and still sticking to his stubborn views. Please view his press confrence on cric info. Pathetic these people are….
Wasim,
I can (go out on a limb and) say that no international team or individual of any country ever under performs, including Pakistan. Corruption in any country being present is stated only if confirmed with certain facts and verified sources, certainly not alleged. Take for instance the recent 3 Pakistan players who were banned, they weren’t corrupt. They are what I call ‘being swindled’ by the British media. A prey (just like the goat for the Rex in JP). That sting was meticulously planned by the bookmakers and some sections of the media and in no time the 3 walked right into it. The board, PCB has on numerous occasions ever warned or educated new youngsters on the cons of International cricket.
Corruption was rank and was proved in case of Lalit Modi and it is a fact that you and me know. It was not corruption that I was inclining when I said, ‘Kamran has other ideas’, but merely for reasons that is strongly known by him and his management that they can’t do anything about it.
Just listened to Ramiz Raja on cricinfo. His opinion matches mine excactly on the team balance and Rehman issues.
1. Mohammad Hafeez
2. Ahmed Shehzad
3. Umar Akmal (wkt)
4. Younis Khan
5. Misbah Ul-Haq
6. Asad Shafiq
7. Shahid Afridi (cpt)
8. Abdul Razzaq
9. Umar Gul
10. Shoaib Akhtar
11. Saeed Ajmal
Wasim
Please state where the comments I have made have not gone the way I anticipated. I am not saying I am not 100% perfect, but generally speaking I get most things right.
Imran Khan and Wasim Akram were indeed pushing for another specialist bowler, but they also wanted Razzaq to not open the bowling. They wanted an innovative move. Wasim Akram even said live on commentary it was a good move when Rehman came on to bowl, so don’t try defend them. The decision was Afridi’s, but all I’ve heard while Pak have been winning these matches are constant questions about ‘team balance’ and ‘bowling tactics’. Listen to the interviews, press conferences etc. and with Wasim Akram hanging around, it is not difficult to see where they got the idea from. If Afridi had planned this move from before, he would have tried it in the practice matches.
It is not my memory that is flawed. It is yours. In the previous 20 matches (since the Asia Cup), Razzaq has only conceded more than 6 runs an over on four occasions (almost all these matches have been against big teams). On three occasions he has let 6 runs an over exactly. And as I have told you previously, in batting at number 7/8 in the same matches, he has performed in around 10 matches (in some matches he even got out well before the innings was over i.e. between 30-40 overs).
Razzaq bowled poorly today, but I have said all along he is ineffective in the middle overs and the death because there is zero swing, the field is open and the batsman are settled. At the start of the innings, he gets enough swing to cause problems. You and the critics got your wish for Razzaq not opening the bowling, and Pak paid the price.
I am not using double standards for Rehman and Razzaq. I have been adamant that Razzaq should only bowl at the start, because he is too easy to hit later in the innings, so it is best to get his overs out of the way. I have said this in all my comments. In the case of Rehman, it is different because he is a specialist bowler and he is bowling on spinning wickets. In the SL game, every other spinner (including Hafeez) bowled well apart from Rehman. My problem with Rehman is he can’t bowl in the last 15 overs. I have made no reference to him opening the bowling. His last 6 overs went for 49 runs in the SL game and his last 2 overs went for 34 today. His bowling average is over 50 (worse than Hafeez). He has little variations and is too predictable.
I am not picking on Misbah and Younis. If you can recall correctly, I am the one who has been backing the likes of Younis, Misbah and Yousuf on this thread over the past couple of years whilst others such as yourself did not see how they could warrant a place in the side. I am not saying their pace their innings too slowly. It is virtually perfect but when the ball change is made, they should consider increasing the tempo. All I am saying is that rather than altering the entire team balance because of our ‘perceived problem’ why not just bat more aggresively. Go back to the SL game. You will see Younis and Misbah made 39 runs between overs 34-40. Younis got out in the 41st over. Why could they not accelerate earlier e.g. from over 34/35 (depending on situation, how difficult it is to get settled in etc) to give the U Akmal, Afridi and Razzaq more opportunity to bat and get a higher total – we still have 7 wickers. Afridi is also the highest scorer in batting powerplays, so that needs to be utilised.
You are contradicting yourself. You tell me Afridi batted poorly and then complain Razzaq’s strike rate was too low. Did you want Razzaq to go the same way as Afridi (i.e. have a higher strike rate and get out for not so many runs). He played to the situation. He came in so early. It is completely different at the death where you have to accelerate.
You have criticised the team management for not reading the situation/context in the past but you are not reading the situation/context in the issues discussed above. I said before the WC started that the three specialist spinners should be able to bowl at least as a minimum 25 overs. I think Afridi, Ajmal and Hafeez could realistically bowl around 28-29 overs. That leaves only 21-22 overs for the three pacers. This is why the team balance is not a problem.
Max
I completely agree with you and if you read my comments above I mentioned in one of my comments how he dropped his hands and restrained to dive for the first catch it was too obvious and deliberate.
But do you think that players from other teams can’t deliberately underperform and corruption is only rampant in Pakistan team.
@ Wasim
Taking about English bowling against Irish, or the South African collapse against England will not come under the scanner for obvious reason of it being a TEAM debacle or the bowling department w.r.t to the Irish.
In case of Pakistan, A few bad men are deliberately doing their worst to dent Pakistan of a World cup win, namely Shehzad, Hafeez and Kamran against Afridi, Umar, Y & M’bah who are playing their heart out, not to forget Shoaib who is doing his very best for Pakistan. I’ve looked at several videos, instances of stumpings of Kamran, batting of Shehzad and Hafeez, 2 dropped catches of Taylor. In response, the reactions of Akhtar and Afridi seems so ordinary and later Waqar at the PC, bluntly recording that kamran cannot be replaced for any other keeper among others goes to prove that he (Kamran) has got a license to play ridiculously from the PCB. I will guarantee that there will be even more poor show repeatedly by the very same guys in the coming games and the current coach and captain will turn a blind eye.
Me being an Indian feel bad for those honest, die hard Pakistani fans who have been heart-broken by watching this on a telly not so far away. Look, there are better experts (the fans) in Pakistan who can plan to help win the cup, but guys like Kamran has other ideas.
Hope, I’m proved wrong by a better display by the team in the coming matches.
@ PCB
You only make a comment whenever a few things go the way you anticipated and go in hiding when they don’t.
It is absolutely a joke that you are putting the blame on Imran Khan and wasim Akram for Afridi’s decision to open the bowling with Rahman on a seaming track. First of all they were pushing for the inclusion of another specialist bowler they never said that Pakistan should open their bowling with a spinner and that to on a seaming track. The decision was only Afridi’s and that was the sole reason due to which the whole bowling combination got disrupted.
Every match is different, you seem to have no recollection of the matches where Razzaq got smacked bowling upfront, but always give reference of those matches where he succeeds. Yes he bowled a good spell against SriLanka but what happened today, who made him bowl at death?
It is a fact that if we had Wahab today in the line up NZ would not have scored 302 runs. Whose responsibility was it to select the team according to the conditions.
If Rahman got smacked in this match so was Razzaq how can you say that you made the right prediction. You are giving Razzaq the margin that he wasn’t bowled upfront but has Rahman ever bowled at death or opened the bowling? Aren’t you using double standards here.
You are again picking on Misbah and Younis when you know all the matches where they formed a partnbership we won those matches despite the fact that they pace their innings slowly.
What did Razzaq and Afridi do with the bat today when they had ample time to build their innings. Razzaq’s strike rate was in 80′s and we have been criticizing Misbah and Younis who generally end up with a SR between 80′s and 90′s.
We lost todays match because first the team selection wasn’t right and then Afridi didn’t used his bowlers according to their strengths and gave them unfamiliar roles.
The openers are causing serious problems and Kamran Akmal at #3 is compunding those problems. Misbah and Younis can’t score in every match. In fact when I proposed to use Razzaq as a floater you were the one who criticized and now you are saying that Misbah and Younis pace the innings very slowly.
I have said it before and will say it again, Pakistan should play Razzaq only as a batsman and use him occassionally as a bowler. Or else good teams will exploit this soft spot in our bowling combination and this can only be achieved if we drop a batsman and play another specialist bowler.
Every match is played in different conditions and our team will face different match up problems facing different teams, unless we keep these factors in mind while selecting the team then whenever we will lose the combination will look broken.
@ Max
But if ICC hasn’t investigated English bowlers for bowling Garbage against Ireland or the south African collapse against England then I don’t think they can investigate Akmal.
But sooner or later he will get caught.
I don’t know why you are still laying the blame on Razzaq’s inclusion in the team and the affect it has on the balance. I said Razzaq has to bowl as an opening bowler, and I was proved right because he was expensive throughout this game. He has to bowl upfront because he has good line and length, accuracy and gets just enough swing to cause problems. If he wasn’t good enough, he would have been smacked by SL in the earlier game, he would have been smacked against in NZ and he would have been smacked in Eng…. but he wasn’t because he is a decent bowler.
There has been too much criticism and I lay the blame squarely on the critics – I think Afridi opened the bowling with a specialist bowler to take wickets as people like Imran Khan, Wasim Akram etc suggested this as well as the need to be more ‘innovative’.
I said in the match against SL that Rehman is too predictable and he would go for runs and I was proved right once again. He picked up a soitary wicket in the last over, and his last 2 overs went for 34 runs. His last 6 overs against SL went for 49 runs. He is useless after 35 overs because he is easy to predict. Ajmal needs to be in the team ahead of him. At least he has loads more variations and can bowl late in the innings if really needed.
Gul also did a great job at first change. I have said all along that Razzaq should open the bowling with Gul at first change, so Gul can be saved more for the death. Afridi’s captaincy was good again. Had Akmal taken the catches, his bowling changes would have worked again today. The only issue I have is I would like to see Afridi bowl as much as the spin quota as possible. Hafeez only bowled 7.
The problem with Razzaq is when Pak are 3 wickets down with Younis and Misbah at the crease, they accelerate too late. They accelerate at around 40 overs, when they should do so around 34/35 overs. This gives Afridi, Akmal and Razzaq more of a chance.
Wasim, You are right when you say Pakistan should be investigated on why they lost the match against NZ and the first to be interrogated should be Kamran. The man has decided that he will single handedly lose Pakistan, the world cup.
Look at the way he’s got out whilst batting in the previous matches, getting stumped by missing the ball by a DELIBERATE huge margin, similar to the no. balls bowled by the Pakistani bowlers during the England tour in 2010.
I still can’t believe that we opened the bowling with Rahman on a pitch conducive for seam bowling. Razzaq could have been more effective with the new ball on this pitch a role to which he is used to, by switching roles of his bowlers for no valid reason Afridi pushed his bowlers in unfamiliar territory, Rahman is not used to bowling new ball neither he is accustomed to bowl at death, similarly Razzaq is also not accustomed to bowl at death.
If it was a flat batting track or a wicket conducive for spin bowling like the one’s in India then Afridi’s decision to open the bowling with Rahman could have been justified.
The more I think about Kamran Akmal the more I get frustrated, he clearly dropped the first catch deliberately he dropped his hands and stopped his movement toward the ball I have never seen any other international keeper do that it reminded me of the sydney test when he missed a run out attempt by moving his hands away from the stumps. Only ACSU can get this fucker and I pray that day comes sooner.
Afridi led the whole game like a Zombie, I am not sure if he was sufferring from his usual brain fade or he had no interest in winning this game the moves he made are all questionable there was no intensity in his game today and he left the game on auto pilot. Imran Khan has already given him a licensce that he can bat the way he wants nobody should hold him resposnible for not scoring runs. But are we not going to question his tactical moves also?
Razzaq is still out there searching for loose deliveries like an assassin but I think no matter what he does out there he won’t get redeemed. And he is out.
He scored 62 off 73 balls but gave away 49 off just 24, now imagine if we had Riaz playing in his place first of all NZ would not have been able to score 302 runs Pakistan could have saved the extra 60 runs and Riaz is good enough to score a run a ball 15- 20.
The match is over Pakistan once again failed to bat their full quota of 50 overs. New Zealand has overtaken Pakistan in group A.
Pakistan lost the match while bowling, on this pitch even 240 was a par score they gave at least 60-70 runs extra.
Afridi, Razzaq, Rahman and Akhtar were the main culprits who bowled the last five overs.
Afridi lost the plot, thought he was in control of the match until 45th over but had no backup plan for the last five overs.
Pakistan top order had no clue how to plan their innings while chasing a big total or while attempting to post a big total and if the pitch has some juice in it then it is almost a given that Pakistan’s fragile batting line up will fold on a below par score.
I don’t blame Razzaq that much as he is not equipped to bowl at death it was a mistake by Afridi but Shoaib Akhtar should get the stick for bowling the most horrible two over of his career in which he gave 28 runs, I didn’t expected this kind of performance from him he just gifted the match to NZ.
Ross Taylor rode his luck and I am not sure if it was him or the Pakistani bowlers who should be given the credit for the 100 in last 5 overs.
But New Zealand were brilliant in the field and should deserve all the credit for it.
Razzaq is playing a test match trying to cement his place in the test team:))
As consolation will Razzaq and UA show us some fireworks?
Naser
This match was meant to be lost:))
Jokes apart I think Afridi thought that he had the game under control until the 45th over the game was lost in last 5 overs.
Pakistan are caught between the rock and the hard place, Razzaq increases depth in their batting but causes huge problems with pakistan’s bowling combination the day he goes for runs, Imran Khan and many others have been suggesting to include Wahab Riaz or Saeed Ajmal in the line up depending on the wicket and sacrifice a batsman but poor batting performance will prove the importance of having batting depth in the team.
But given the fragility of Pakistan’s batting this theory can be proved wrong after their first batting collapse.
I think the solution lies in not having a default playing 11 and the management should select the team after looking at the conditions, in todays match if they had played Wahab instead of Rahman Pakistan could have still shot down NZ around 220 the wicket was conducive for fast bowling there was no need for three spinners.
The bowlers had an uncharacterically poor day on the field which is not very common in Pakistan team, 9/10 times it is their batting which lets them down.
I think Afridi managed the bowlers poorly today his own bowling plays an important role he held himself back and didn’t bowled with his usual energy, he looked mentally and physically tired, anybody can have an off day so it doesn’t matter much.
But Pakistan if they have to seriously contend for the title they will have to forget this match and will have to make serious efforts to fix the problems created by the top three batsmen, both shehzad and hafeez in the last four matches have been committing the same mistake over and over again they should be given the stick, Kamran Akmal has been a complete flop too both with the bat and behind the wickets, too bad we didn’t took a backup keeper, and it seems that Kamran Akmal will sinngle handedly derail Pakistan team, I think he doesn’t deserve to be in the team Pakistan should try Umar Akmal as keeper and play Asad Shafiq or the sixth bowler in place of kamran Akmal . And if they can’t do that then they should not allow Kamran Akmal to bat #3 it is a pivotal position and we can’t let him bat at this number especially when there is a question mark both on his integrity and form.
Razzaq no doubt has some batting ability but it comes with it’s limitations he has rarely scored on tracks where the ball moves around and on flat tracks the dilema is that usually he doesn’t get enough balls to have an impact on the game. So do we really need to play him in every match and compromise our bowling combination?
Another big problem Pakistan faces is that their top batsmen get too impatient too quickly and don’t adjust their game according to the merit of the bowling or the according to the conditions.
In bowling also I have seen time and again that sometimes when only a little bit of discipline is required our bowlers try too much, Shoaib Akhtar and Razzaq just had to bowl in channel today but in an effort to bowl reverse swinging yorkers they kept on bowling full tosses.
Ridiculous performance by PAK. The planning of this game actually bowlling combination wasn’t good. In fact the body language of the player was so suspicous from the very beginning of the match. Actually now i’m stant.
Fuck face Akmal goes for 8. Southee strikes again Pakistan are all set to collapse within 100.
Both Hafeez and Shahzad got out in similar fashion shuffling outside off and playing across the line. The openers should play straight and if they have to take risk then they should hit power shots over the circle during the power plays.
YK goes cleaned up by Mills.
Ahmed Shahzad gone lbw mills. What a disappointment he has been in this tournament so far.
Akmal got two chances on two balls, the first one was a half chance but the second one was a straight C&B chance.
302 will feel like 350 because of the fielding of NZ they have already stopped 3 boundaries.
I am sure Kamran Akmal will get investigated after this match, and Pakistan team might also get investigated they won three in a row and many believed that they will lose against NZ. The match is not over yet, but the way Pakistan team bowled I don’t think they gave their 100%.
Hafeez bites the dust same old probem of shuffling across the wickets in initial overs and not playing the ball straight.
Ross taylor didn’t damaged Pakistani bowlers, Pakistani bowlers showered him with birthday gifts.
Kamran Akmal gave two gifts, MF dropped 3 catches and leased two lives to Taylor who has taken the match away from Pakistan.
Nobody could have imagined that NZ will reach 300.
I have never seen a Pakistani bowler bowl so poorly as Shoaib Akhtar and Razzaq bowled today in the end.
It was a difficult pitch to score on the ball was moving but both Razzaq and Shoaib took the pitch out of the equation by gifting full toss after full toss.
Shoaib never recovered after Akmal dropped those catches on his bowling. I think something happened on the field because the players seemed disconnected with each other.
Pakistan gave away 139 runs in last 10 overs out of which 100 came from the last 29 balls, this must be some sort of record this match has in my opinion ended the world cup for Razzaq.
Akhtar bowled a poor second spell but his first spell was good.
The body language of Pakistan team through out the match has been strange, Afridi who is usually very chirpy was quite all day long today, his bowling was not as energetic as it usually is, his bowling changes astonished me on a seaming track what was the reason to bowl Rahman upfront, and why did the coach and captain failed to read the pitch.
On this pitch Pakistan should have played Wahab Riaz.
This match has clearly shown Pakistan that big teams will attack Razzaq, he is the only player who is disrupting the teams balance but it is the mentality of Pakistani think tank that any player who helped us win a couple matches in last 20 matches should be in the team.
The match is not over yet, but Pakistan teams confidence has been seriously dented.
Poor bowling by Shoaib Akhtar bowled three full tosses and 4-6-6 what a shame.
The batting power play is out of the way but Pakistan have bowled out Gul and Afridi, NZ are 210/6. Jacob Oram and Taylor are on the crease. NZ will look to score 30-40 runs in last 4 overs.
Not a good over by Afridi seems like he has run out of energy, looking a bit tired out there. 14 runs came from the final Afridi over, gifted one over pitched and one drifteing down the leg side and got hit for two sixes.
New Zealand are holding back Jacob Oram they should have sent him in this power play but maybe they don’t want him to face Afridi and Gul.
New Zealand as expected took the batting power play.
Gul Strikes with a ripper, got rid of Styris. Afridi needs to bowl a tight over here.
The dropped catches by Kamran Akmal have deflated Pakistan team, Afridi at the moment is looking clueless I think things went out of his hands due to the mistakes he made in the bowling order.
Pakistan shouldn’t bat Kamran Akmal at #3 in this match they should hold him back.
Gul hasn’t been able to get a break through for Pakistan in his two overs and now New Zealand will take the batting power play that will put pressure on Pakistan.
Rahman is not going to take any wickets. Afridi should bowl Gul two overs here.
I can’t believe Pakistan has allowed Taylor to score a 50, he was struggling against Umar Gul but Afridi brought in spinners and now he is well set, Ross should thank to Kamran Akmal for leasing him two lives.
It’s 135/4 after 33 overs it could have been a lot worse for NZ had Akmal wasn’t playing for the devil. 240 is a par score on this pitch, Kiwi bowlers especially Southee will be quite dangerous on this pitch. They can easily get six runs an over from here if they don’t lose wickets.
Usually when Kamran Akmal drops multiple catches Pakistan team never wins. I hope today his efforts to pull down Pakistan don’t work. He has dropped three catches already.
Hafeez Strikes Franklin goes for duck out lbw.
Finally Afridi bowled his slider and was right on target, Afridi always gets wickets when he attacks the stumps in his first 4 overs he was either giving too much width outside off stump or straying down leg side marginally.
The danger man Guptil goes removed by the one and only Boom Boom Afridi.
The bowling order has been a bit strange for me, on a seaming track we bowled Rahman upfront. Afridi held himself back today until the 21st over.
The ball is moving around Razzaq who generally can bowl good keg cutters is consistently bowling down the leg.