"You can't say based on the result of one match that these are good or bad players": Umar Gul

[MenInG]

Umar Gul speaking to PCB:

"This was our first match after playing PSL where conditions were totally different. Especially we came over after playing on batting-friendly pitches, we didn't get time to prepare for these conditions"

"The captain, players and coaching staff will all talk about the mistakes we made and work to fix those issues"

"Overall, the bowlers executed very well the plans which were given to them"

"Ihsanullah carried on his form from PSL 8, especially in the way he bowled his first over when he got 2 wickets. All this augurs well for us"

"This series is a good platform and opportunity for all our youngsters to transform their good performances in PSL 8 to an international level"

"I am very satisfied with the performance of our bowlers as they bowled in good areas"

"We have a good squad as it has youngsters who have performed well in domestic cricket in the past 1.5 years"

"All these youngsters have potential, and you cannot say based on the result of one match that these are good or bad players"

"Hopefully we will make a good comeback in the remaining games"

"I strongly believe that our players have the potential to win the remaining 2 games"

[SamNJ]

On these tricky wickets, team batting first is always at massive disadvantage. On a 120 par score pitch, trying to target 150, you are more likely to bundle well below par score.
Then team batting second plan the chase better.

[MenInG]

On these tricky wickets, team batting first is always at massive disadvantage. On a 120 par score pitch, trying to target 150, you are more likely to bundle well below par score.
Then team batting second plan the chase better.

Which begs the following questions.

1. Why bat first?
2. Why not ask batters to consolidate instead of trying to hit everything out of the park?

[Maliq_Mudasir]

Which begs the following questions.

1. Why bat first?
2. Why not ask batters to consolidate instead of trying to hit everything out of the park?

Good questions, but pitch reading is a skill that comes with experience. They didn't have anyone who could read the pitch and identify what is par score.

[MenInG]

Good questions, but pitch reading is a skill that comes with experience. They didn't have anyone who could read the pitch and identify what is par score.

Imad, Shadab and The Team Management.

[Maliq_Mudasir]

Imad, Shadab and The Team Management.

Yes team management could have identified. But it was first outing for them as well, so not an easy task. Not sure on Imad and Shadab though, especially Shadab who even after seeing Imad turning the ball by giving more air, kept bowling too fast.

[MenInG]

It is so unfortunate that people on social media straight away start to criticise the selection after a defeat it’s easy saying things in hindsight.They speak about building bench strength but they can’t even be patient. All these players have potential to bounce back.

— Azhar Ali (@AzharAli_) March 25, 2023

[YousafTheBeast]

Rizwan and mostly Babar fans are guilty of this…instead of backing the team they were seen doing bhangra in the match threads.

As if they had forgotten it was Naseem Shah who bailed them out in the Asia Cup or when Asif Ali came to the rescue in the WT20, or when Malik saved us from humiliation in the 2018 Asia Cup and then Imad at the WC19.

[Maher96]

Need to turn up, too many seniors kept on the bench, Shan, Ifit and Nawaz should have been chosen,

This is a spinning track need at least 3 spinners.

Next game need to rethink, may be drop Abdullah for Ifitkhar and Nawaz for Faheem.

[MenInG]

Umar Gul himself must be feeling very happy with his bowlers but I feel work needs to be done with Zaman Khan

[Suleiman]

It is so unfortunate that people on social media straight away start to criticise the selection after a defeat it’s easy saying things in hindsight.They speak about building bench strength but they can’t even be patient. All these players have potential to bounce back.

— Azhar Ali (@AzharAli_) March 25, 2023

Good post Azhar. This is the unfortunate truth. A good amount of Pakistani fans have zero patience and foresight. Or, they only care about their favorite player(s) and couldn’t care less about the team itself.

[gazza619]

Our batters were dumb but then Umar Gul is to blame for making a plan with Shadab to open the bowling with Naseem & Zaman on this sticky wicket.

Public is patient with youngsters, but public has no patience for dumbness.

[Zaz]

Rizwan and mostly Babar fans are guilty of this…instead of backing the team they were seen doing bhangra in the match threads.

As if they had forgotten it was Naseem Shah who bailed them out in the Asia Cup or when Asif Ali came to the rescue in the WT20, or when Malik saved us from humiliation in the 2018 Asia Cup and then Imad at the WC19.

Naseem shah and co werent doing anyone favours by scoring some runs Its a team game and everyone should be pitching and helping the team out

No ones doing bhangra at the loss and there are no babar and rizwan fans Theres only pakistan fans

What "fans" like you need to understand and appreciate is what outstanding talent we have in babar and rizwan and unfortunately you ll only appreciate it when pakistan suffers ignominy of defeats like yday

[TheSultan]

The problem is the rizbar ”secret society of fans” just want to use this as point scoring.

This is essentially a series against a minnow where experimenting is the name of the game.

I would much rather some new players take bumps and learn than yet another series of Rizbar stat padding.

[sweep_shot]

I agree with Umar Gul.

You can't judge a player based on one game. He needs to be given a lengthy run before you can judge.

[Firebat]

We need to remain patient and back these guys. That's the only way to extract the most out of them in the long term, instead of just tossing them aside after a rough start and annihilating their confidence.

[Kroll]

On these tricky wickets, team batting first is always at massive disadvantage. On a 120 par score pitch, trying to target 150, you are more likely to bundle well below par score.
Then team batting second plan the chase better.

This was really my only annoyance, why bat first when they know everyone that won the toss in UAE opted to chase. This allowed you to plan and chase relatively lower totals than anywhere else.

[MenInG]

We need to remain patient and back these guys. That's the only way to extract the most out of them in the long term, instead of just tossing them aside after a rough start and annihilating their confidence.

Bit worried about Umar Gul's statement about no much time to adapt for the first T20I. How can we expect them to adapt in the 2nd T20I? They had a rest day yesterday so no practice. Just hope the Coaches etc are having good conversations with the players during this period.

[Kroll]

Very concerning statements from management regarding planning. Did they just go into this tour blind, throw mud at the wall and see what sticks kind of way?

If so, wouldn't surprise me at the lack of reconnaissance and intelligence gathering prior to these games. I hope they have learned some lesson in the sort time they had in between as I gather there is no proper practice session.

[daytrader]

The problem is the rizbar ”secret society of fans” just want to use this as point scoring.

This is essentially a series against a minnow where experimenting is the name of the game.

I would much rather some new players take bumps and learn than yet another series of Rizbar stat padding.

Fans don't just become fans, players win them over. Babar and Rizwan have earned their following with actual performances. Fans that have been following Pakistan Cricket for a long time can tell you that with these two in the line up, we punch above our weight. It's a good step to try to unearth more gems but to excessively criticize our lead performers while we're doing that, is going over the top.

[TeamPak95]

The problem is the rizbar ”secret society of fans” just want to use this as point scoring.

This is essentially a series against a minnow where experimenting is the name of the game.

I would much rather some new players take bumps and learn than yet another series of Rizbar stat padding.

You're half right. The thing is if this were the other way around and RizBar played and stat-padded, and that too with a high SR, they'd still be put down by the anti-RizBar brigade because they did it against Afghanistan and not Australia or India or England. RizBar has caused such a polarizing divide between fans to the point where, at least from what I've observed, no one can truly be objective about it.

Agree with the last part though, regardless of any bumps in this series I'd like the new players to be properly experimented with.

[YousafTheBeast]

Naseem shah and co werent doing anyone favours by scoring some runs Its a team game and everyone should be pitching and helping the team out

No ones doing bhangra at the loss and there are no babar and rizwan fans Theres only pakistan fans

What "fans" like you need to understand and appreciate is what outstanding talent we have in babar and rizwan and unfortunately you ll only appreciate it when pakistan suffers ignominy of defeats like yday

The point is that RizBar fans were happy to see Pakistan lose without them to Afghanistan just to make a point that Pakistan cannot win without them and that had they played then Afghanistan would’ve lost. Afghanistan should’ve won in the last 2 Asia cup games and the WT20 game, but we escaped due to lower order / tail bailing us out.

Mate, just go to the match thread and look for yourself each time a wicket fell all you see is Rizwan and Babar being mentioned as if there’s no life without them.

They can keep their talent for ODI’s and Tests, they’re being replaced in T20’s by cricketers who don’t play for themselves. This defeat was going to happen, Afghanistan had a stronger team, it wouldn’t have made a difference if Babar and Rizwan were playing because the result would’ve been the same unless you think Babar could survive against Rashid, Mujeeb and Nabi on rank turners.

Stop acting like we didn’t lose to Zimbabwe in a WT20 with RizBar in the team.

[Kianig89]

Gul sb how long the rope should be 3 games are enough for a player to judge

[Energy]

Naseem shah and co werent doing anyone favours by scoring some runs Its a team game and everyone should be pitching and helping the team out

No ones doing bhangra at the loss and there are no babar and rizwan fans Theres only pakistan fans

What "fans" like you need to understand and appreciate is what outstanding talent we have in babar and rizwan and unfortunately you ll only appreciate it when pakistan suffers ignominy of defeats like yday

Good post.

Many don't realise that supporting Babar and Rizwan is directly proportionate to supporting Pakistan. Because they have served and are serving the country with pride.

Criticism is fine for any player, but we've already seen its gone too far and below the belt.

Anyone but Babar and Rizwan is the name of the game. Only in Pakistan would you see this type of jealousy.

[gazza619]

So the dumb combination of Shadab Khan & Umar Gul decided to give the new ball to Naseem Shah again today. Well done you both!

Do they purposely want Pakistan to loose?

[Savak]

Gul did squat with Nasim and Hasnain at Quetta Gladiators. Don't expect anything to change now.

[gazza619]

After 1st T20: “You can't say based on the result of one match that these are good or bad players": Umar Gul

After 2nd T20: “You can't say based on the result of two matches that these are good or bad players": Umar Gul

After 3rd T20: “You can't say based on the result of three matches that these are good or bad players": Umar Gul

[Zaz]

Can we say after two losses that these are bad players?

[Savak]

Lol, how about Gul is a poor coach so far?

[gazza619]

Can we say after two losses that these are bad players?

Lol, how about Gul is a poor coach so far?

You can't say based on the result of two matches that these are good or bad coaches.

[hitthestump]

Lol, how about Gul is a poor coach so far?

What was he have supposed to have done in this space of time?

[Liverpool_Faizan]

We may or may not have lost the first game

I am 100% certain we would have won the second game if both Babar and Rizwan were playing.

Regardless, there’s a massive gap between Babar/rizwan vs anything else. Right now you are only hoping another pair will be dominant. And that’s not enough to make an argument that the future should be without Babar and Rizwan.

[Major]

You dont select a Pakistan A team for an international series.

Point is, we under rated Afghanistan, and decided to give 4 debuts and 3 comebacks along with 3 new players in a single t20 game.

Players might not be bad, but the combination chosen is never going to help them learn not will these lpayer sbe able to help save the team. Young players need an experienced guy to bat with them.

Nabi won his team the first game because Nabi has been playing since 2008. Today Imad Waseem was able to get runs cause Imad waseem is an experienced batter.

You decided to go into a series where both rizwan and babar were dropped. Had one been played and one was rested that would had made sense, but they went for the extreme as if they wanted to prove a point. That point failed so massively that we lost to a team that we think is a minnow.

This is what happens when you allow social media to influence decisions.

Good on Afghanistan who took advantage of these fools and beat them fair and square.

[Dr_Bassim]

I am glad Rizbar didn't play.

Don't want them to Statpad vs Afghanistan.

[shamaan]

Can we say after two losses that these are bad players?

They ain't bad players but they need to adjust thier games according the pitch.

[davethebrave]

They’re calling Azam Khan a bad player before he’s even played in order to mentally destroy him so they can call him useless purely on account of his weight rather than his ability to play.

[MenInG]

Umar Gul speaking in an interview

"We are lucky to have good fast bowlers who can bowl at 140+. We need to take care of them and adopt a rotation policy to keep them fit for the World Cup in India"

"I am sure PCB and the selection committee are considering this as it is too important at the moment"

"I am overwhelmed that PCB trusted me once again and gave me an opportunity to work with the national team"

"I used to enjoy playing for Pakistan and now I am looking forward to enjoy this new role"

"We have very good and potential fast bowlers. I just try to spend time with them and tell them how to tackle a new batter at the crease. Also, I tell them to always bowl according to the field"

[Firebat]

Well it was farcical to throw an entire squad full of inexperience onto those Sharjah pitches against master spinners. The failure was predictable, and so was the fan response. Stupid from management.