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Pakistan’s Form Guide: LLLLLL…
By Tabrez Janjua for Stani Army in Pakistan Cricket
76 Views…and that’s just in One Day Internationals. The saying goes that the only completely consistent people are the dead, so going by that, Pakistan cricket seems well and truly dead and buried. The old criminals were back from the dead – the likes of Akhtar and Malik – in a desperate attempt to breathe life back into the team, but to no avail as Pakistan exited the Asia Cup at the first opportunity.
It had been the view of many that a complete clear-out and introduction of new young talent to the international fold would have been worthwhile even if they did nothing but lose for the first few months, because as the evidence shows, the superstars that currently occupy these places have done nothing but that.
Pakistan have won only three international matches since December of last year, a period which included 3 Tests, 7 ODIs and 9 Twenty20 Internationals. Most disturbingly of all, the three matches they won were all Twenty20 games, two of which were against Bangladesh and a poor South African side. And if you think that at least they are good at Twenty20s, well that period included two warm-up Twenty20 losses, one to Pakistan A, and the other to Zimbabwe. Having won just 3 of the last 19 internationals, the up and coming home series in England will bring with it a lot of pressure to put things right and bring some cheer to us long suffering fans.
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June 20th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
Ijaz Butt is highly responsible for this continuing losing streak. Pakistan’s performances have been poor, shambolic and humiliating. Something needs to change and this chairman needs to be replaced ASAP, otherwise it is only inevitable we will continue to play miserably and be humiliated and embarrassed and labelled as the laughing stock of world cricket again and again !
The squad for the England tour has been announced and YK, an innocent well established world class soul has been ignored….. Expect the worse from the jokers!
June 21st, 2010 at 12:27 am
@Maaaaaaaz –
I think Butt will have to retire from aged related ill health before his mate Mr President gets rid of him. The focus of bad results has been on players, on coaches and on selectors but things have not changed. It’s not rocket science who the common denominator is.
We desperately need to win something in England.
Younis may still be named in the ODI side but it is strange he is not in the Test squad as it is the format that suits him most. Younis is currently playing here so that would have been another argument for keeping him but it has obviously fallen on deaf ears. Strange non-selection that one. I do wonder how much of a say Waqar and Afridi had.
June 21st, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Stani
I think the team is going through rebuilding process and they fought well in Asia cup winning and losing is a part of the game, Akhtar did a better job than any other pacer in our team the problem is with Aamer, Razzaq and Asif who have become totally ineffective.
Malik is mediocre as ever, I think if some of these youngsters are consistently played and given chances they will mature before the world cup.
I do not agree with recalling YK or Yousuf they are history but there was no point in recalling Yasir Hameed who has done nothing in domestic cricket for quite some time he might claim that he has removed the kinks in his batting but I have seen him bat in a few domestic tournaments he is pathetic as ever.
The return of Umar Gul if he is in form will make a difference in our bowling, but we will struggle in the batting department.
June 21st, 2010 at 8:34 pm
And so we meet again, Stani my old foe … if you must do some winning in the UK, try not to do it against us, eh? That last T20 against you guys was just toooooooooo close.
I’m willing to pay.
June 22nd, 2010 at 12:04 am
@Wasim –
Look what happened today. What a score! I know it was Bangladesh (sorry Purna) but it was encouraging to see the new guys perform. We should keep looking for them and give them a fair chance by trusting them. They are surely more hungry than the likes of Malik. I have been impressed with Akhtar on his return though.
There will be a lot of pressure on Yasir Hameed and I don’t think the seaming English conditions will suit his style of batting. He is going to have to work hard to make any kind of impression. Does he still have that massive gap between bat and leg!?
I think it will be a big tour (home tour!?!) for Gul. Any info on Tanvir Ahmed?
June 22nd, 2010 at 12:08 am
@Sid –
Are you suggesting us Stanis would take money in exchange for a favourable outcome in a cricket match? Paypal or cheque then!
Oh stop it Sid, you don’t need to bloody worry at all. Look at our record against you recently. Most of those Ls up there are Aussie Ls.
June 22nd, 2010 at 10:45 am
TJ
I have seen Tanvir Ahmed bowl in the domestic scene and he isn’t anything to be classed as an international cricketer. He is an average bowler if anything. Mohammad Sami, Irfan, Sohail Khan and co should have been in the reckoning ahead of him but I guess we have to accept what we have got for now.
Azhar Ali was an excellent addition to the squad. However, Azeem Ghumman was ignored, he should have been there definitely. This guy has really impressed me with his technique, temperament and burning ambition.
And we actually managed to win a game yesterday ! What a rarity! It feels strange
Shahid Khan Afridi, that was something spectacular, although it came in damn vain! Pakistan’s continuous failure in the Asia Cup continues, 10 times played and we have won it just the once.
What’s your opinion on the Usman Khawaja saga, the left hand batsmen who has been selected for Australia in their test squad ? The guy was born and bred in Australia and yet people are saying he is a “traitor” because he should be representing Pakistan ? His accent says it all ………http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKQiCVOHEks
June 22nd, 2010 at 5:45 pm
Stani
There was no reason not to include Akhtar in the tests he has proved his fitness, it’s true he cant bowl long spells but if used intelligently in the longer format he can still be very effective.
Gul and Aamer have proved that they still have to learn a lot about bowling in test matches. Sami is another surprise exclusion.
Tanvir Ahmed is kind of similar to Sohail Khan only a bit better because he can swing the ball both ways which Sohail Khan can’t, he has been performing consistently in domestic cricket so deserved a chance but I think they should have given chance to Irfan instead of Wahab Riaz who is just brainless he is quick but doesn’t have the control nor can he think and plan his bowling, Irfan with his vicious bouncer could have caused problems for some of the Australian batsmen.
It’s a joke that they selected Yasir Hameed the guy has serious flaws in his batting and those flaws were still there when I saw him bat last time. He will be a sitting duck in English conditions.
Azhar Ali deserved a chance a few years back but not now he hasn’t been scoring runs in last few domestic seasons they should have selected Naved Yasin who was the best batsman in QEA trophy scored almost 1200 runs with 7 centuries.
Taufeeq Umar has a better temprament and technique than Yasir Hameed and Farhat.
Pakistan’s batting will struggle in England but they could have bridged the gap by strengthening their bowling.
June 22nd, 2010 at 10:13 pm
Tanvir Ahmed’s stats are impressive nonetheless…
http://www.cricinfo.com/pakdomestic-09/content/current/player/43307.html
IMO Taufeeq Umar is a mediocre… there are many better players than him…
Wasim, when someone has genuine pace like Sohail Khan he can trouble the batsmen just with that like the WI used to do in their golden era.
June 22nd, 2010 at 11:11 pm
@Maaaaaaaz –
Not sure about Sami or Sohail Khan. Sami has had far too many chances and the few chances Khan has had, there hasn’t been any glimpse of that je ne sais quoi as they say in France. He hasn’t really caught the eye and seemed to look average. Surprised Irfan is not in the squad at all having been called up and then dropped recently for the world t20. They should have taken him if they see something in him as it would have been good experience.
You really are a Ghumman fan aren’t you Maz?! I haven’t seen him play yet but you must be excited for a reason.
As for Khawaja; he’s a bloody Aussie!
I’m sure Sid will definitely claim him as she has a thing for Stanis and here’s an Aussie one! Seriously, good for him. They’ve been talking about him for a while now but I’m glad he’s been given his chance. We’ll get to see him up close.
Tanvir Ahmed has impressive stats generally but am a bit concerned with his t20 economy of 9.58. It tells us that when batsmen are aggressive, he tends not to have a plan B or know what to do. He is still young though so that figure will hopefully come down.
June 22nd, 2010 at 11:13 pm
@Wasim –
I agree with you on the Akhtar front. We may as well use him whilst we can. Even if he was bowled for spells of just 4 overs and then taken off for a breather, it would work.
Agree with you about Wahab Riaz also. He is another that is similar to Sohail Khan in that when he is given his chance, he generally doesn’t catch the eye in my opinion.
I used to like Taufiq. He is technically more sound that Hameed and if it was a choice between the two in Test matches, I’d go Taufiq.
Did you read our dear friend Faisal Iqbal has been crying for not being selected!
June 23rd, 2010 at 3:08 am
Maaz
Sohail Khan is not express when did you saw him bowl above 135k.
Tanvir on the other hand can bowl in 130′s but can exploit the conditions in England.
Taufiq has much better technique than Farhat and Yasir.
Stani
I think Faisal should have been in the squad he performed better than many in the team in Australia the middle order needs experienced players.
June 23rd, 2010 at 9:44 am
TJ
Yes, I actually saw Tanvir Ahmed bowl in the RBS T20 and thats where I made my analysis from. Yes, I am a big supporter of Azeem Ghumman, he is something special. He is not as talented as some of the other players but is able to make up for it with his solid technique and calm temperament.
My team for the test matches would be as follows:
Azhar Ali
Salman Butt
Yasir Hameed
Umar Akmal
Malik
Afridi
Kamran Akmal / Zulqarnain Haider
Aamer
Gul
Ajmal
Asif
I feel Ajmal will be more effective in test matches if Afridi plays because the duo compliment each other very well and have done so in limited overs cricket for a while now. Therefore, I would like to see Ajmal selected as our first spinning option.
However, Kaneria has a lot of experience playing in England as he has played county cricket here at Essex for several years now with a fair bit of success.
June 23rd, 2010 at 7:59 pm
@Maaaaaaaz –
I think by you listing the team there, it has really come home to roost how fragile our batting looks. We’ve struggled to get more than an ODI total in most of our Tests of the recent past and it seems we will continue in that fashion. I really don’t see any big innings on a consistent enough basis in our squad to challenge over the 5 days.
I’d like to see Ajmal and Afridi too. Not a big fan of Danish although they may go with him because of his experience in the conditions.
June 23rd, 2010 at 8:01 pm
@Wasim –
The thing with Faisal is that I don’t think he will get any better than he is. He has reached his peak and his peak is average. I think I read somewhere he averaged around 25 in the Australian series and that’s not good enough for a front-line batsmen in my opinion.
June 24th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Stani
Ofcourse that is not good but unfortunately we have batsmen in the squad who even averaged lower than 25 on that tour. We have players in the team who refused to bat higher or play altogether at least he gave his 100%.
June 24th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
@Wasim –
I completely agree with you that he tries and sometimes that’s most of the battle, but he will never get any better than he currently is. I think rather than persisting with him, we could use that spot for someone with potential, someone who would eventually become a top international batsmen, something I don’t think Faisal will achieve.
June 24th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
For example TJ:
Azeem Ghumman
Azhar Ali
Babar Azam
Ahmed Shehzad
Rameez Aziz
June 24th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
@Maaaaaaaz –
Yes, but I suppose one argument Faisal will have in his favour is that he has not been given a consistent enough run in the side. Nevertheless, I simply do not see anything in him. Even if he had what some may deem the boring quality of staying at the crease and valuing his wicket, I’d be happy to persist with him. But the times I have seen him batting, he seems to look as if he is going to get out every next ball.