Our bowling attack looks an orphan without the Pace of Shoaib/Sami

[arsal_pakfan]

Thats what i have realized in the two games that we have played so far....i think we r back to square one the question once again raises is our bowling attack capable of restricting the opposition side for a low score without Shoaib Akhter?...even Sami would have been a gr8 choice for this series considering Shoaib is injured at the moment...pace can always be necessary in such flat dead track to unsettle the batsmen...i dont see Pakistan stopping Indian batsmen in this series with the one dimensional fast medium/medium pacers like Asif,Rana,Gul & Razzaq that we have at the moment

[mooz]

agreed
However Shoaib seems to be resting or something( which the PPers are very supportive of)
Not sure what he is resting for and why exactly he needs so much rest, given he last played competitive cricket 10 days ago.

[MIB]

u r right....without shoab it not a fiercy attack...

[Amjid Javed]

akthars injured so much cant be done there.

samis pace? please. the guy hasnt performed in odis for 2 years.

can u name any other pace bowler ud like to pick for side?

[deadly_man]

Thats what i have realized in the two games that we have played so far....i think we r back to square one the question once again raises is our bowling attack capable of restricting the opposition side for a low score without Shoaib Akhter?...even Sami would have been a gr8 choice for this series considering Shoaib is injured at the moment...pace can always be necessary in such flat dead track to unsettle the batsmen...i dont see Pakistan stopping Indian batsmen in this series with the one dimensional fast medium/medium pacers like Asif,Rana,Gul & Razzaq that we have at the moment

yes totally agreed with u .
people like Asif who dont have pace shudnt be in pak team.
I say in next match Asif out and sami in.
afteall pak bowling is all abt speed compatition .who cares abt line length,control.

[the SHA]

Pace makes all the difference. Dont forget it was the pace of Shoaib that helped Pak win this test series

[nedian21]

Shoaib i agree but Sami come on. He had so many chances in both formats but still couldnt fulfilled his so called potential. He doesnt even deserve to be in Pak A. We were 30 runs shorts thats the point. I doubt even with Shoaib we wouldnt have defended this total on this wkt. May be with Shoaib Indians wud have got some hiccups but eventually 264 were far less on this wkt and with strong Indian batting line up. having said this i wud like to see Yasir Arafat being given a chance in the next match instead of Gul.

[deadly_man]

Pace makes all the difference. Dont forget it was the pace of Shoaib that helped Pak win this test series

and pace of Sami also.
now I know why was Sami always in team.He might not take wicket himself and might be going for too many runs but his pace was helping other bowler to get wicket.
Bring back Sami in place of asif
and Akhter in place of Rana

[waqar_ahmad]

yes totally agreed with u .
people like Asif who dont have pace shudnt be in pak team.
I say in next match Asif out and sami in.
afteall pak bowling is all abt speed compatition .who cares abt line length,control.

it is intersting to see that when we were winning matches, everyone was all praise for asif. and now that we lost just one, u want him out. yes we r all about speed, but others have to be given a chance, Mohammad Sami hasnt performed for a long time. And rana performed so badly too, much worse than asif. y dont u want him out? the thing is that we will win some and loose some. dont start making changes jusr coz we lost one match. after all, a one sided series is not fun is it

[deadly_man]

it is intersting to see that when we were winning matches, everyone was all praise for asif. and now that we lost just one, u want him out. yes we r all about speed, but others have to be given a chance, Mohammad Sami hasnt performed for a long time. And rana performed so badly too, much worse than asif. y dont u want him out? the thing is that we will win some and loose some. dont start making changes jusr coz we lost one match. after all, a one sided series is not fun is it

I think u missed the sarcasm in my comment.It was for people who are only obsessed with pace.good bowling is nothing for him.for him fast bowling is only speed compatition.

[the Great Khan]

i say we chucl out the whole bowling attack and get the beaconhouse attack to play instead!! what the hell may as well blood some 15 year olds instead....damn that asif..how dare he have an off day...bring on the kids!!!

[Bilsher007]

yes totally agreed with u .
people like Asif who dont have pace shudnt be in pak team.
I say in next match Asif out and sami in.
afteall pak bowling is all abt speed compatition .who cares abt line length,control.

Asalaam alikum Wr Wb Brothers;

Guys what's wrong with you all ? one slip up and you all are calling off the heads of those who are the nucleus of the team. Rana is the most improved pakistani fast medium bowler in the last one year and mohammed asif as he has proved recently in the test series is a very promising prospect. Mohammed asif in first one dayer bowled beautifully carrying on his performance from karachi in the 3rd and final test. True rana has been expensive in the first two games but i am sure he will come back strong in the next 3 games. Umar gul has been dissappointing in the first two matches, i think he should be replaced with either yasir arafat or shoaib akhter (If FIT ). Pakistan's batting has'nt been consistent in the first two matches only two batmen in both games scored past fifties. Although in the first match most batsmen who got out cheaply (Akmal. Yousuf, Afridi, Razzak) was due to bad light and inzamam got out controversially. I was expecting that all of the specialist batsmen would contribute from match two onwards but again only two batsmen contributed malik and younis. Indian bowling certainly has'nt improved it's still mediocre and will remain mediocre. inzamam's decision making today had errors and i am sure he will learn from them. Pakistan is the better team then india all round except for fielding which needs vast improvement. The next match is in lahore which is day night match, pakistan has a good record overall here and recently has won matches here (against England in one dayer and test match ).However pakistan needs to comeback strong at hit india with such a impact that will decide the series in pakistan's favour INSHALLAH. I think there a number of factors why we lost today, number one is complacency, number two fielding needs improving and thirdly errors from skipper. Reality check like some brothers said was imperative for pakistan team and i am sure they would have gotten immense motivation to perform like the brilliant pakistan we know in the following matches. I will quote a statement which i came across recently from a road show i attended at a hotel which was organised by TRAVELEX UK LTD the company for whom i work for at London luton Airport. As all of staff setlled down in their seats a giant screen monitors switched showing the chairman of TRAVELEX meeting different celebrities and organisations with whom TRAVELEX has commitments with. Since TRAVELEX is Australian cricket team's sponsor, the Australian wicketkeeper batsman and vice captain adam gilchrist gave a statement while being asked by one of TRAVELEX'S Top rank official. He was asked what special efforts are needed to maintain the number One position as a team and he responded by saying that to stay number one always you must always have a mindset of a NUMBER TWO so that there is always mitivation to do better and hence top performances don't stop coming. Sorrry for the long message guys. I hope we learn a trick or two from the Australians.

[waqar_ahmad]

I think u missed the sarcasm in my comment.It was for people who are only obsessed with pace.good bowling is nothing for him.for him fast bowling is only speed compatition.

woops. sorry man. yeah i missed it. didnt read it carefully. :D
we agree then

[Jahangir Khan]

Why should we lay the blame on the bowlers alone? If our batsmen had put 330 on the board batting first as they should have, the bowlers would have bowled better too. On flat decks, the batsmen should take prime responsibilty for putting up at least 300 especialy batting first. The match would have been different if we had more runs and were able to attack for longer.

I agree that we missed Shoaib but in terms of pace, our guys are quicker than India's bowlers even without Shoaib and Sami so this should not be a major factor. If we bowl as we did in the Test series we will succeed in the rest of the ODI series. We have Yasir Arafat waiting for a chance so why not give him a game ahead of Gul or Rana?

[Abdul Qadir 236]

Tendulkar
Sehwag
Dravid
Yuvraj
Kaif
Raina
Pathan
Dhoni
Agarkar
Powar

all are very good players - some great.
You cant expect a batting line up like this not to fire and fire well!

[Jahangir Khan]

Amit, looking at that line up, I'd disagree about them being expected to fire. The way that I see it they have 5 solid batsmen (top 5) but after that they have hit and miss players. Yes Pathan had a good innings at Peshawar (His home ground, lol), but he had a major let off when in the 20's and I feel that Dhoni can be controlled if he bats down the order instaed of early on when the powerplays are in place.

I have not seen much of Powar or Raina but I would not expect big things from them therefore if we compare our line up with theirs I'd say the same thing about our line up being expected to fire and fire well. I'd also like to make the point of what would have happened if Pakistan had made a good start since India's best defensive bowler in the middle overs (Kartik) was missing. We could have cashed in against Sehwag/Tendu & co. with 80-90 odd runs in their 10 overs

So far, Akmal, Afridi and Razzaq have not fired with the bat. When these guys fire it makes a big difference because they score quickly.

[Romali_rotti]

Thats what i have realized in the two games that we have played so far....i think we r back to square one the question once again raises is our bowling attack capable of restricting the opposition side for a low score without Shoaib Akhter?...even Sami would have been a gr8 choice for this series considering Shoaib is injured at the moment...pace can always be necessary in such flat dead track to unsettle the batsmen...i dont see Pakistan stopping Indian batsmen in this series with the one dimensional fast medium/medium pacers like Asif,Rana,Gul & Razzaq that we have at the moment


I dont get it, one loss and you are saying your attack looks crap. Didint you win the last one day series gainst us without Aktar. ::J

[waqar_ahmad]

I dont get it, one loss and you are saying your attack looks crap. Didint you win the last one day series gainst us without Aktar. ::J

i think both ur fans ans our fans r alike. not patient at all. i dont know what the problem is here. one loss and everyone is calling for changes. be patient guys. we have been winning consistently so we will lose some too. no need to panic. shoaib is an important cog in the mchinary but we have very good bowlers who can do the job.

[Tariq Jamshed]

Pace isn't that important in ODIs - it is over rated by many in test cricket as well.

I don't think Pak is missing pace - we are missing discipline in bowling.

[Aurangzeb]

I dont get it, one loss and you are saying your attack looks crap. Didint you win the last one day series gainst us without Aktar. ::J

yes, but rana was in stellar form then...he's been pretty average thus far...i wouldn't be against the idea of bringing sami in because i don't think he'll do any worse than what gul is doing right now...but i think arafat deserves a go...the indians have never faced him and he can crank it up to 90mph...with all these medium pacers...i hate to say, but our bowling is looking a lot like the indian attack...

[Farah]

yes, but rana was in stellar form then...he's been pretty average thus far...i wouldn't be against the idea of bringing sami in because i don't think he'll do any worse than what gul is doing right now...but i think arafat deserves a go...the indians have never faced him and he can crank it up to 90mph...with all these medium pacers...i hate to say, but our bowling is looking a lot like the indian attack...


India hav faced him 4 weeks ago, he got Tendulkar out in the Pak 'A' v Ind game.

http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005-06/IND_IN_PAK/SCORECARDS/IND_PAK-A_07-09JAN2006.html