Mar 8 - New Zealand v Pakistan

[angryangy]

Akhtar out, Razzaq in the side as a batsman. Realistically, Pakistan wanted two more seamers on that wicket, it wasn't a 300 wicket except when they bowled 4 overs of utter chaff.

 

[War]

What i feared & predicted would happen to Pakistan in another thread happened in this game:

http://www.planetcricket.org/forums/2066632-post221.html

Ye well i guess for sure you would want more spinners to expose AUS & NZ batsmen for those games. But as the tournament progresses i think you do it though, especially since i'd be sorta worried if Razzaq bowling has an off-day, thus putting pressure on Gul/Akhtar. If Riaz is in, you have security.

Razzaq had & off day, one of Akhtar/Gul was exposed & smoked. They needed another strong seamer in Riaz in place of Rehman/Ajmal especially with Afridi bowling this well.

But then again, K Akmal's keeping is much bigger issue that whether another seamer should play.

 

[sami ullah khan]

I hope Kamran Akmal's fans have seen why I loath him so intensely. He single handedly lost us the match. Pakistan need to get rid of him. Shoaib Akhtar once nearly broke Asif's arm with a bat. I wish he does that again to that bloody rodent Akmal too. Thats the only way we can get rid of him and Afridi has got what he deserved. He was the one who was adamant on Akmal's selection.

 

[GreatSixer]

WTF ! Kamran have done.umar akmal should be WK and Asad Shafiq should be replaced with Kamran Akmal

 

[Afridi Akhtar]

One suggestion for pakistan team..Let razzak come at number 4 and he has proved it that he can bat seriously yesterday...Yuppe Afridi told that Umar can replace Kamran and that will be happy news for us...I hate kamran..His brother is better than him in batting and keeping..

 

[GreatSixer]

yes razzaq should be at number 4 he says in earlier interviews that he need to take time at crease so he can play a good innings

 

[Afridi Akhtar]

yes razzaq should be at number 4 he says in earlier interviews that he need to take time at crease so he can play a good innings

he has proved too he made 64 yesterday i would say he should come before umar akmal..i just read at cricinfo that Afridi says he will change kamran with umar...Nowadays i have no respect for kamran..afridi could have got 3 wickets bloody drop catches by kamran...he cant do anything with bat he cant do anything while keeping why the hell you in here...and shahzad has only been in team for some 4,5 months no need to blame him he has to learn.but theres no other option too for opening..Lol if razzak and afridi open? what will happen?


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By the way how many matches are needed to win to qualify to quarters?

 

[Afridi Akhtar]

Can anyone please answer 3 or 4 wins will qualify for quarters?

 

[angryangy]

Razzaq had & off day, one of Akhtar/Gul was exposed & smoked.

I think you're too kind. Shoaib was bad with the new ball too, really not good considering it just wasn't that kind of pitch. Finally in his last over, he could not get anything right. He tried a few full tosses and then resorted to an unconvincing back-of-a-length. No bouncer. One very half-arsed slower ball. Not exposed. That's a role he should know how to do. He was just bad.

At least Razzaq seemed to have a plan. In his last over, he bowled full and wide; seemingly a reasonable response to Taylor's favourite shot, but with Razzaq only bowling very medium and not varying it, it was a poor option for the death. In truth, skimming the wide line is a difficult strategy to employ at the best of times, but a batsman with the scoring areas and skill of Taylor is difficult to handle strategically. You've got to hold your chances.

And for that sort of a bowler, having an 'off day' is exactly the same as being exposed. Ideally, Razzaq can trundle along through a quite passage, but he gets smacked around because good batsmen can simply hit him off a length. If they don't choose to do it, it's probably more the captain's savvy use of him than his sharp bowling.

But the problem this attack gave them was indeed manifold. They needed Umar Gul to provide control at the death, but he was bowling such beautiful hand grenades earlier in the game that he could have bowled all ten there instead of five. As highly rated a death bowler as he is, NZ might not have had much fun at the death if Gul was simply allowed to feast on their brains earlier in the piece. Alas, they didn't have someone to back him up in either of those roles, much less cover for him, so he could do one more effectively.

So for my money (cough), Wahab Riaz and Junaid Khan have to come in. If nothing else, they have to rotate the squad before the quarters. If they're lucky, these guys might just punch a hole in a decent team.

 

[BKB1991]

This match showed us exactly whats wrong with our team in the World Cup. Need to improve th following things

1) Kamran Akmal: He was without a doubt NZ best player, and his dismissal was the most frustrating. The others got decent balls, he just played a horrible shot. I'd pick Umar Akmal over him right now, just to keep him out of sight, and with Umar, you know hes atleast a pt-keeper so mistakes are excusable. Not Kamran. Throw him out I say

2) Ajmal over Rehman. Rehman tbf has done a decent if not a good job fillinn in Ajmals place. But Ajmal is way better. Hes more aggresive, has got a doosra and can bowl at the depth. I was shocked when he didnt play this game, I thought that he would be given a chance. Agreed hes a similar sort of bowler to Hafeez, but he can bowl at the depth too and is generally a wicket-taking, reliable option

3) Death Overs bowling: Horrible stuff. Yea Gul was missed but surely a man of Akthars experience should not be conceding 28 runs in an over. I knew Razzaq was gonna get a beating, but Akhtar was the one I was really disappointed with. Goes to show we need Gul-Ajmal at the death. If we can smuggle in Riaz in the lineup that would be ideal.

4) Opening: Clearly they have failed. But both of them got centuries in NZ, so its unlikely we can throw them out now. Either way somethings gottoo change. Might even let Shafiq do the job in place of Shehzad, I dont think Shafiq can do much worse.

5) Better Captaincy: Afridi has clearly been too defensive at times with his field placings. It wasnt a big mistake, to finish Gul and his overs before the last 5, but it turned out to be a really bad decision. Further more, I wouldnt have minded Afridi coming at 4-5, seeing as the batsmen were just falling apart, he could have come out and put some pressure back on NZ. Whenever we are chasing a huge total and lose early wickets, we collapse. Wouldnt have been a bad idea to try something different

6) Better Utilisation of the Powerplay: Clearly Pakistan missed it AGAIN, by waiting for it tooo long. Should have been taken when Umar Akmal was there, and power plays are a way of getting back into the game, when all seems lost. Ask Ireland.

7) The Right combination: Easily the most debatable one, should we go one bowler more or not? Considering the batting failures we have had, I wouldnt recommend one, but surely scrutiny is going to be emphasised. Razzat at the end of the day couldnt make much difference, and if 7 batsmen fail, its very unlikely the 8th will succeed and win you the game.

Gotta try new things for the next game. I would say:

Hafeez
Shehzad
Shafiq
Younis
Misbah
Umar Akmal
Afridi
Razzaq
Gul
Riaz
Ajmal

I was hoping to get an opener out as well, but we can only replace one batsman. Wouldnt be surprised if we pick another instead of Shehzad.

 

[Papa_Smurf]

Agree with everything BKB. Although, I would try this XI:

Hafeez
U Akmal (+)
Shafiq
Younis
Misbah
Afridi
Razzaq
Gul
Riaz
Ajmal
Junaid

Junaid has to be given a game. Otherwise, what was the need for him in the squad? Since Zimbabwe is the last 'minnow' game, this is the last chance to give him some exposure.

Along with U.Akmal keeping, I would try opening with him as well. Judging by his performances, he's alway played best when he has time to get himself in and the team is under some pressure. Both those factors can be combined in the opening slot. SO wouldn't hurt to try him at No.2 against Zimbabwe.

 

[Rehan_24]

I think Kamran Akmal's two missed chances costed us the match. Pakistan wasn't comfortable of bowling first I suppose. Giving Shoaib Rest in Canada's game wasn't a good move as Shoaib came out rusty against newzeland with his many NO Balls, but at the start, He bowled really well. I wonder where his famous Out-Swing Went, However, he did some In-Swing at the start and Ross Taylor was hoping for a perfect birthday, The two missed chances gave him the tremendous opportunity to score runs and He did exactly what he should.

But the complete blame should not be on Akmal's, I agree that Catches wins Matches but good teams and strong minded players always bounce back from tough situations. The batting line up was total flop and I will give huge blame to the openers and more towards Hafeez, This man is so in-consistent with his batting, He has always this habit that he performs in one match and in other 15 to 20 matches he just scores between 10 to 30. 32 Runs is his limit. He likes to throw his wicket away though I know that in each and every game He is in batting form but I wonder what's his problem.

I will again focus on inducting an extra bowler in the squad, they need to remove one batsman and I'd say Shehzad is a perfect choice of it, since Hafeez is a utility player and provides assistance with his ball, He should open with Kamran Akmal, but both Hafeez and Akmal have had much issues during the running, their coordination between the wickets is sheer bad.

Anyhow my line-up for the game.

Hafeez
K Akmal
Younas
Misbah
U Akmal
Razzaq
Afridi
Gul
S Ajmal
Riaz/Juniad
Akhtar

I would also like to say with No Offence that Waqar Younas is a highly defensive coach and planner. He will defnitely like to shuffle up this batting line up so much that it would destroy the combination completly. I am afraid that they will experiment with Shafiq as an opener and would still go with only 2 seamers in these flat tracks. Well.......

 

[Aoun13]

No need of all these fancy lineups. I'll be not surprise if Afridi play next match with the same lineup. He was just too overconfident with his poor unbalance team selection.
Coming to actual match. Akhtar is of no use, I am surprised that when we have loads of bowling talent then why are we force ourselves to bowl with an old unfit Akhtar. Only because he will retire after this tournament?
Razzaq that too in death overs, are you kidding? That was what I said when my brother told me and it proved that what can Razzaq do both with bat and bowl.
Kamran Akmal is just a waste, no batting and no keeping. Even the wicket keeper we had in our college was 10 times better then this garbage. He MUST not play any of this worldcup matches if Pakistan want any good results. For how many times we will take 12-13 wickets to win a match and it is impossible under these conditions where other teams are in search if even half chances.
Batting as usual collapse under pressure but those bloody openers are back to their abysmal form. Shehzad is still batting like a club batsman who don't know when to build his innings and when to show aggression and Hafeez always try to flick from his pads and he always caught LBW in front of wicket which shows that these players don't have brains to learn from their past mistakes.
Where is Misbah when team needs him to stay at wicket? And Mr. Afridi need to take some responsibility with the bat as he is taking with the ball.
Well we always give victory to other teams like a piece of cake and I guess it will always remain continue.....

 

[Rehan_24]

So you mean that the entire team should be changed and all new 11 players should be introduced??? If that happens after WC, and when those new faces wont perform, then we will cry for these old guns.

 

[BKB1991]

Both of you (Rehan and Papa) agree adding another bowler in the team but considering the collapse we got I am pretty certain Pakistan aint changing the combination. Its probably further increased the belief that this is the way to go.

Regarding Umar opening, I wouldnt mind that tbh, but if hes keeping as well, its surely will be too strenous on him to keep 50 overs and then open the innings, remember hes only a pt keeper. Maybe we can swap him and Kamran, and see how Umar plays at the top and Kamrans slogs might be useful down the order.

As to the point about Junaid, I think its likely he wont get a game. I think the priority at this point in Pakistans camp would be to give Akhtar another game to get some confidence back and Riaz is likely to continue being the backup. Barring Ajmal coming in for Rehman, which I believe is compulsory, I think its possible we make the following two changes. Bring in Riaz for an opener most likely Shehzad, although taking Hafeez out wouldnt be a bad idea as well, as Riaz can definetly bowl his overs. Plus we can drop out Kamran Akmal and bring in Shafiq, and then put in a makeshift opener.

@S2Y: You are going for radical changes which cannot be done at this point in time. Its time for damage control and at this point these 14 players are probably the best equipped to take Pakistan to glory. Its just that they need to motivate themselves on the day.

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We shouldnt feel that bad about the loss, the pitch was one of the best equipped for fast bowling, and that is generally our weakness. I dont know if we are playing more games on this deck, but if not, drastic measures not required