Stani Army

Watch Shahid Afridi at the Rose Bowl helping the Hampshire Royals defend their Twenty20 crown. Click images for more details.

An irresponsible captain is a bad captain

Earlier today we saw Pakistan lose the first of three Twenty20s to New Zealand, who got home with 2.5 overs to spare. Pakistan had got themselves into at least two good positions to make a game of it, only to surrender meekly.

Chief architect of the downfall was Captain Shahid Afridi. Whilst many would disagree and say he played well for his 20 of 17 balls, it was his gormless shot that triggered a signature collapse. Going at 10 an over after the first 4 overs, Afridi did not have the nous to take advantage of a fast start and begin to rein himself in, keep wickets in hand and then to accelerate later. It was as if he wanted to finish the game in that over. That was his intention, and his shot selection was even worse.

Were it not for Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz, who both made 30, Pakistan would not have ended up with a defendable total of 143. It was at the start of the New Zealand innings that Afridi made his second mistake by opening the bowling with Abdul Razzaq. Even at his best, Razzaq was an average bowler. Having aged and lost some pace, he has become easy pickings for batsmen. Any late good work done by Gul and Wahab was immediately wasted as Razzaq went for 15 off his first over. Suddenly, 143 off 20 overs became 128 off 19. A different game already and New Zealand’s tails were up.

The strange thing is that it wasn’t as if Afridi was limited in choice of who to open the attack with. Wahab, Akhtar and Gul were playing, and we had Ajmal, Hafeez and Afrdi himself to make up any overs remaining. There was no need to bowl Razzaq, even less need to open with him

Read the rest of this entry »

1st T20 teams:

Pakistan: Shahzaib Hasan, Imran Farhat, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Akmal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi*, Abdul Razzaq, Zulqarnain Haider†, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar

South Africa: GC Smith, LL Bosman, AB de Villiers†, JP Duminy, CA Ingram, DA Miller, JA Morkel, J Botha*, M Morkel, J Theron, LL Tsotsobe

Pakistan go in as expected although I personally would have opted for Shafiq instead of Farhat. Kallis and Steyn are missing for South Africa which is a big loss. Pakistan should consider themselves favourites.

2nd T20 teams:

Both sides go in with the same 11. Typical of Pakistan’s recent selections, as they fail to make the required brave changes.

Read the rest of this entry »

No Shahid, it's not your fingers that are the problem, it's your brain

Pakistan have come full circle. From being the best team in international Twenty20 to looking like an amateur, disjointed club side as they surrendered to defeat in their second Twenty20 against a well drilled England. Bowled out for 89, their lowest Twenty20 total yet, Pakistan continued with their batting woes that were so evident in the recent Tests. The wrong team selection and lack of planning and execution in addition to the batting troubles, means the upcoming five match ODI series doesn’t look as if it will be much of a contest.

Whilst they added Mohammad Hafeez to the team, persisting with Fawad Alam meant that the team selection was still wrong. Fawad’s shot on dismissal showed that he had learnt nothing from two days ago. No balance, no technique, simply awful. Since they aren’t bowling Fawad, they could have gone in with Azhar Ali, a proper batsman, with the added benefit of him getting a sighter of the white ball before he is thrust into the in the ODIs, first of which is this Friday.

Today, much hinged on captain Shaihd Afridi’s innings as he came in with Pakistan three down for 20, with plenty of overs left (16) to recover and set a decent target. Yet Afridi failed to recognise the importance of his wicket and played an utterly foolish shot. The look on coach Waqar Younis’ face on Afridi’s dismissal said it all. You cannot be a captain of an international side and play as carelessly as that. It’s becoming more and more evident that he will not be the one to lead Pakistan cricket out of this mess on the field. I wouldn’t be surprised if he leaves the One Day fold as abruptly and selfishly as he did the Test one.

Read the rest of this entry »

Having found their mojo again, Pakistan must now switch their attention to the form of the game that they’ve underachieved in the most, Test Cricket. We knew we were good at Twenty20, we knew we would give Australia a game, so though we can take some confidence from the 2-0 series win into the Tests, it is important that the players to make the mental and technical switch to the longer form.

The batting concerns were highlighted previously and it was good to see that more batsmen chipped in today although no one went on and accelerated to a 50+ score. The worry is that these batting frailties will be highlighted even more so in the Test matches, with Pakistan, unlike Australia, going in to the Tests with a very similar line-up to their Twenty20 side.

The final word must go to Michael Clarke for the manner in which he held himself together after Aamer collided with him upon his dismissal. It would have been very easy for Clarke to make more of it but he accepted Aamer’s apology and carried on walking. Had it been someone like Watson, or even Tait, who seemed to couple the F-word with every

Read the rest of this entry »

We did mention on Stani Army that Umar Gul would be missed at the Twenty20 World Cup, and today he showed just why. At the end of the 17^th over, Australia were still in it with Michael Hussey still at the crease. On came Gul for his 3^rd over and cleaned up the dangerous Hussey with a superb yorker that seemed to move both ways. At the end of that over, in which Gul also took the wicket of Tim Paine, the game was effectively over. Once again he has shown why he is the best Twenty20 bowler in the world.

But what gave the bowlers something to bowl at was the superb innings from Umar Akmal. With Pakistan missing Mohammed Yousuf, Younis Khan and Misbah Ul-Haq from their squads, the talk before this tour was of the younger Akmal having to step up to the mark. He has certainly started off very well, with an innings of class, filled with a complete range of strokes. Hopefully there will be more to come from him.

Shahid Afridi also had a good game in the field. Though he failed with the bat, he bowled at his attacking best, took two very good catches and made the right bowling changes at the right times. His decision not to risk Shoaib Akhtar for a 3^rd over was a strong and correct one.

Read the rest of this entry »

…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.