Once again self created uncertainties surround Pakistan team, after the match against NewZealand it was Kamran Akmal whose place in the team was uncertain, but gradually the team management changed their stance from dropping him to declaring him indespensable. Then Umar Akmal injured his finger while fielding and missed one day of practice, there were rumours that he did it to leave no option for the management but to select his brother, but the very next day both the captain and the coach issued statements that Umar was fit to play, his finger had no swelling on it, and we have seen players playing with minor fractures, so what really compelled the management to drop Umar Akmal will remain a mystery. The most plausible answer to this mystery is that they wanted to justify the inclusion of Kamran Akmal.
The match has been interrupted by rain several times during the Zimbabwean innings first the match was reduced to 43 overs and finally to 38 overs. After winning the toss Zimbabwe decided to bat first suprisingly in over cast conditions, perhaps the decision was influenced by weather reports and they were hoping that their score will get inflated due to Duckworth and Lewis calculation and Pakistan will struggle to chase in overcast conditions. They scored 151 in 39.4 overs for the loss of 7 wickets. Pakistan were given a revised target of 162 from 38 overs.
Ahmad Shahzad’s poor form continued he was the first one to go, he is an exciting batsman who can play strokes all around the wicket but because of lack of experience and poor shot selection he hasn’t been able to perform to his potential.
Pakistan are 111/3 at this stage they should win it quite comfortbly from here. Hafeez and Asad Shafiq both played responsibly and have brought Pakistan close to victory.
This is almost a must win game for Pakistan, or else they will be competeing with Zimbabwe for the last position in group A.
Maaz
I think two referrals were wasted by Hafeez and two by Afridi.
I think what concerns me more is his handling of the batting power play, by default we are taking the batting power play in the last five overs unless we are heading for a collapse.
I think SA won against India and Nz Won against Pakistan just because they took the batting power play early and forced the opposition to bowl out their front line bowlers and then just mauled the other bowlers in the last five overs.
Afridi is wasting referrals like anything. He is so stubborn, ignorant and such an opportunist. Gets carried away way too easily. From now on I recommend they make Kamran, Misbah or Younis in charge of the referral system. Afridi cannot handle it to save his life. 15 years of international cricket and still cannot tell a ball pitched a good few foot outside leg stump but yet he goes for the referral. Cluelessness at its peak. The bloke can simply not manage much as captain.
Well done Pakistan.
Comprehensive win in the end.
Asad Shafiq and Umar Gul were the stand out performers in a shortened game.
Onwards and upwards we march on.
Bring on the Aussies!!!
@ Shahbaj
This wasn’t a championship match, I think Pakistan did well in the end. We have to give margin to the players due to the over cast conditions and they were under a lot of pressure to win this match because of their last match.
@ Mohsin
You made a very valid point, Shoaib Akhtar ultimately paid the price for the crime of Kamran Akmal. That was just ridiculous.
I like Asad despite his limitations he always gives his 100% for Pakistan on the field and while batting.
I think in the next match Shehzad will be dropped and will make way for Umar Akmal.
If we beat Australia then we will enter into the QF with strong momentum behind us.
Wasim ; Asad Shafique is more carved for test cricket. He certainly has solid techniques but is not a good hitter of the ball. Since this was his first match in world cup and also a match winning knock.. I would praise him for his work…
One thing I do like about him vs Misbah is that He constantly rotate strike and squeeze runs Vs Misbah who can take his sweet time getting settled on the crease and waste 25- 30 dot delivers and then elevate his SR at the end. The risk there is that if He does get out earlier He can leave pressure on the rest of the team.
We needed a player like him that can setup a platform for the middle order and tail enders to launch. The consistent failure of our opening pair is creating a lot of pressure and problems on the middle order. I hope he can maintain his form against Australia and also Pakistan need to think about what to do about thier opening pair that is not firing atall.
Asad Shafiq no doubt batted very responsibly but his SR was 80 against a minnow team, I am not criticizing him at all but just wanted to highlight the double standards of the anchors in Geo.
All of them showering heaps of praises on him but the same anchors castigated Misbah when he scored with a SR of 80′s or 90′s.
Pakistan’s top three batsmen have so far failed to take full advantage of the initial power plays in this tournament as a result Pakistan hasn’t been able to post big totals in this tournament.
Pakistan won the match comfortably in the end thanks to Asad Shafiq, who played a risk free innings, it was a bit slow in the beginning but once he got set he played fluently.
Afridi and Misbah were having an argument in the dressing room, don’t know what it was about but clearly Afridi looked animated.
Umar Akmal sitting on the side lines had no bandage on his fingers I wonder why he was dropped, but all is well that ends well, the move to play Asad Shafiq paid off, I guess Pakistan can’t afford to play two Akmal’s in one team gives them too much clout to impact game mostly in a negative way.
But for some odd reason the dressing room which has looked very calm and united lately doesn’t look good anymore thanks to the Akmals.
Pakistan should have finished this game much earlier to improve their run rate, I think the rankings in group A will ultimately get decided on NRR, Australia, NZ and SriLanka all have better NRR than Pakistan.
If Srilanka loses to New Zealand then Pakistan will be third in the group unless they defeat Australia. If Srilanka beats NZ and Pakistan loses to Australia even then they will be fourth in their group because their NRR is much less than NZ.
But if Pakistan beats Australia and Srilanka beats NZ then Pakistan will be at the top of group A.
Umar Gul generated extra pace and bounce today and bowled with discipline.
Afridi learned from his mistake against NZ and gave Razzaq the new ball.
Shoaib Akhtar was dropped from the team today which was shocking for me, Shoaib except for that one over in which he went for 28 runs has bowled excellently in this tournament you can’t disrespect your premier fast bowler like this.
I have lost all the confidence I had in this team. I don’t see this team making it pass the quarter finals.
“One dirty fish can destroy a pond” and that is what has happened.
The Akmals have way deeper ties with the bookie circle. So I doubt that His place in the team will ever be threatened.
The dressing room chemistry did not look good to me because of this one rat Kamran Akmal.
Im sure when you realize that a important team member of yours is taking money to throw away matches you loose the drive and motivation to win. Its a ripple effect that effect the entire team.
What the sad part is that Shoaib Akhter was axed because of Kamran dropping some sitters on his ball. It should have been the other way around.
this victory not like a champ