I Was Wrong. I Stand Corrected.

[PakPosheeda]

I didn't watch today's match (slept in). But looking at the scorecard I admit that I was wrong about a lot of players.

Hafeez is a useless bat. I'm done defending this guy. He might be the 4th best ranked ODI bowler, but he's a tail ender with the bat. Its time for Nasir Jamshed and/or Ahmed Shehzad to take over.

Misbah, despite his tuk tuk, is needed in the team. I didn't want him in the ODI side originally.

Younis is finished. I used to defend him for ODIs. Then my excuse was that he cant play the new ball, so he should bat down the order just like his heroes. Apparently he cant play the old ball either. Just chuck him out already.

Azhar can actually bat in ODIs. I thought there's no way he'd be able to fit in with Jamshed and Shehzad and others fighting for spots.


Now what I was Right about was:

Gul is a useless bowler!

Hafeez is terrific LOI bowler. Probably even better than Ajmal or Afridi. They both have more off days with the ball in hand than Hafeez.

Sami is needed.

U.Akmal is another useless batsman. Both him and Afridi choke when chasing. While Afridi can be given a break, U.Akmal's sole job is batting and its unacceptable how he keeps bottling it like a loser. He should take the keeper gloves back to justify his spot.

Hammad is needed, as proven again. We need batsmen who can handle the pressure of chasing, instead of crapping their pants when given a target of over 200.

[iafzal]

I will be waiting for you next thread when you sleep in on the 4th ODI wake up to look at the score and come to new conclusions. I am sure you will be talking 180 turns on half the players you mentioned.

[farazaidi]

the toughest question right now is Hafeez. Cant continue with him opening and cant drop him either. I dont see how he'll progress down the order as it is, he struggles to rotate strike but gets away with it during 1st powerplay with the field in and hard ball.

Agreed with the rest except for Umar Akmal. The guy needs to bat higher up the order, no.6 is not the right place for him. Ideally, I'd have him at 3 followed by Asad at 4.

[pakistanalltheway]

All of this on one match ?
Are you going to make a new thread after every loss .

[Aly]

It's funny how & fanboys even in their frustration make sure that their volatile darlings keep clinging with the team even in their worst phases

Wake up & smell the coffee guys was that biggest purchi* slipped into the Pakistani dressing room by the notorious Akmal family in their hay days (though with added masala & hype) which you emotional/adrenaline rush craving lot fell for, like a deck of cards

[Markhor]

I was wrong on Hafeez, whilst a terrific bowler, his recent batting form is abysmal, thought he'd turn a corner since going back to domestic cricket and improved but he has gone back to his pre-2010 comeback days of mediocrity.

[talha3]

U Akmal isn't by any means useless. He averages in the high 30s and has a strike rate over 80 as well. No-one else in the team has those kind of stats. He's overrated by a few on this forum but he's still young and once Younis is out, Hammad is in, I expect him to flourish even more.

[pakistanalltheway]

Originally Posted by Aly It's funny how & fanboys even in their frustration make sure that their volatile darlings keep clinging with the team even in their worst phases Wake up & smell the coffee guys was that biggest purchi* slipped into the Pakistani dressing room by the notorious Akmal family in their hay days (though with added masala & hype) which you emotional/adrenaline rush craving lot fell for, like a deck of cards

I agree , fan boys are pathetic .

[Desi_Joker]

Oh PP'ers (not all of you, of course), why are you taking the frustrations of a loss out on this poor chap?

Let him voice his opinion.

I agree with the majority of the points in the OP. I doubt the OP has come to this conclusion on this one match alone, rather I think its an opinion/realization formed on the events of the recent past in general.

Umar has been having brain farts for a while now, Gul is misfiring with the ball more often than not, Hafeez has become "Duckworth Hafeez" and Younis is simply Younis (Never was and never will be a great ODI player).

[alberto]

Umar Akmal bats like a mindless slogger unlike his first couple of months in international cricket which are his saving grace.

[Aly]

Originally Posted by talha3 U Akmal isn't by any means useless. He averages in the high 30s and has a strike rate over 80 as well. No-one else in the team has those kind of stats. He's overrated by a few on this forum but he's still young and once Younis is out, Hammad is in, I expect him to flourish even more.

Mark my words! Akmal is nothing but a glorified slogger who was introduced into the team by his well linked family with a lot of hype and you guys just fell for it!
In fact all the three AKMALS are average cricketers at best ; it's just that their family is well linked & had only one aim in their mind I.e to make their sons professional / national cricketers. In fact I won't be surprised if it's revealed upon us that Father Akmal actually worked for the PCB / Lahore cricket association in some capacity!

[Green Leopard]

Originally Posted by Aly It's funny how & fanboys even in their frustration make sure that their volatile darlings keep clinging with the team even in their worst phases Wake up & smell the coffee guys was that biggest purchi* slipped into the Pakistani dressing room by the notorious Akmal family in their hay days (though with added masala & hype) which you emotional/adrenaline rush craving lot fell for, like a deck of cards

A glorified slogger who still has better returns at the age 22 than all his team mates save Misbah.

[farazaidi]

Umar Akmal can be many things but a parchii. He had an excellent domestic season which was followed by a strong tour of Australia with A team where he notched up 3 centuries. Dont blast him for his 2nd name

Played an important innings in the first game, got a rough decision in 2nd and DNB in 3rd. Technically yesterday was his first failure in the series, he has done much much better than all the rest

[Aly]

Originally Posted by Green Leopard A glorified slogger who still has better returns at the age 22 than all his team mates save Misbah.

I never said that he was below average (which most of your batsmen are apart from Misbah & some others who if had been consistently tried like the youngstabeauty,, would've surely done much better than him :asad)

[HaMmy FinE LeG StriKeR]

umar akmal should be dropped enough is enough already, that only 50+ innings when we were chasing mere 130 something total

[pakistanalltheway]

Originally Posted by HaMmy FinE LeG StriKeR umar akmal should be dropped enough is enough already, that only 50+ innings when we were chasing mere 130 something total

Who should be his replacement ?

[Aly]

Originally Posted by farazaidi Umar Akmal can be many things but a parchii. He had an excellent domestic season which was followed by a strong tour of Australia with A team where he notched up 3 centuries. Dont blast him for his 2nd name Played an important innings in the first game, got a rough decision in 2nd and DNB in 3rd. Technically yesterday was his first failure in the series, he has done much much better than all the rest

& how long was that flash in the pan domestic career for him.?
I completely remember how at that time it had become a forgone conclusion that one doesn't really need to test him for a longer period of time since it was a given that the youngstabeauty is nothing short of a prodigy ; at that time it was almost as if the whole Akmal family can't produce anything less (remember that it was the same time when even drop-machine :akmal was being compared with the likes of dhonis when it came to wicketkeeping/batting ) )

[farazaidi]

first you called him a ****** and now those performances were a flash in the pan? make up your mind !

sure his performances have left a lot to be desired but the team management too needs to be blamed for improper management. Both in his case and that of Asad Shafiq.

Both of them must be batting in the top 4 in LOIs now if we are to built a new team for the future

[PakPosheeda]

Originally Posted by iafzal I will be waiting for you next thread when you sleep in on the 4th ODI wake up to look at the score and come to new conclusions. I am sure you will be talking 180 turns on half the players you mentioned.

I only slept through one match, but looks like you just woke up after years. I've always defended Hafeez, Younis etc. and its only recently after watching them fail for the umpteenth time when my opinion has changed about them.

Originally Posted by Aly It's funny how & fanboys even in their frustration make sure that their volatile darlings keep clinging with the team even in their worst phases

I'm not a big Umar Akmal fan. I keep bashing him all the time. You'd know if you weren't here on PP just to troll.

Originally Posted by Desi_Joker Oh PP'ers (not all of you, of course), why are you taking the frustrations of a loss out on this poor chap? Let him voice his opinion. I agree with the majority of the points in the OP. I doubt the OP has come to this conclusion on this one match alone, rather I think its an opinion/realization formed on the events of the recent past in general. Umar has been having brain farts for a while now, Gul is misfiring with the ball more often than not, Hafeez has become "Duckworth Hafeez" and Younis is simply Younis (Never was and never will be a great ODI player).

Yeah, anyone who thinks my conclusions are based on one match have a memory of a fish. BTW, poor chaps are the ones who have no life and watch every JAMODI. I opted to have more fun the night before then waking up early to watch another rainfest. Although it didn't rain, it did rain Pakistani ducks so its a good thing I chose something more fun and congratz to those who watched it.

[Usman]

Going forward, the team should be this:

Nasir Jamshed
Ahmed Shehzad
Azhar Ali
Misbah-ul-haq
Umer Akmal (w)
Mohammed Hafeez
Abdul Razzaq (say what you want but I have had the pleasure of witnessing many of his outstanding finishing knocks - something nobody in the Pak team is capable of right now)
Shahid Afridi
Sohail Tanvir
Mohammed Sami
Saeed Ajmal

[umarakmalrocks]

Originally Posted by talha3 U Akmal isn't by any means useless. He averages in the high 30s and has a strike rate over 80 as well. No-one else in the team has those kind of stats. He's overrated by a few on this forum but he's still young and once Younis is out, Hammad is in, I expect him to flourish even more.

34.87 if you take out the minnows. With the number of matches Pakistan plays against the minnow you have always got to apply this filter.

[freelance_cricketer]

All points seem correct except Umar Akmal taking on the gloves. That's not how stuff works.

[truthseer]

Originally Posted by PakPosheeda Hafeez is terrific LOI bowler. Probably even better than Ajmal or Afridi. They both have more off days with the ball in hand than Hafeez.

Ajmal bowls about 8-9 overs at the death with batsman settled. You can't compare him to Hafeez who bowls when batsmen are not settled in the middle overs or with the new ball

[Poison]

Ajmal's just having an off series thus far; Hafeez is the real pickle ... can bowl but he's in a very very bad patch of form at the moment.

Please don't respond to Aly he is a troll. UA averages 46 v Australia 46 v Sri Lanka and 56 against the Windies in ODIs. The only teams he isn't good against (with a decent sample size) are NZ and England. And even that is across 10 ODIs. Has already racked up 14 fifties and a 100 and the 50-100 ratio is solely because he bats so goddamn low in ODIs ... extremely frustrating management.

[Square Drive]

Can't call U.Akmal useless after 1 failure. And Afridi is a matchwinner. Agreed that Hammad should be in, but question is, who should he replace? Hafeez's bowling just keeps him in, but he should bat at 5-6. Also, Sarfraz has proved me wrong. He's playing no better than Kamran, and we need a new WK. Gul is really inconsistent, and I prefer Sami over him. Honestly, we need 5 bowlers, with Azhar filling in 3-4 overs if needed. My ideal ODI line-up:

Jamshed
Azhar
Asad
Misbah (c)
Umar
Hafeez/Hammad
Afridi (VC)
Jamal Anwar (WK)
Ajmal
Sami
Tanvir

[LastLaugh_PK]

The fact of the matter is nobody stands up to be counted in time of need. We used to have Razzaq and even if we needed 100 in the last ten there was a sense of surety that abhi Razzaq baqi hai. Now a days even if we win its not exciting entertaining cricket. We barely manage to crawl across the finish line. The likes of Afridi and Akmal only perform once in a blue moon. Our fast bowling used to be our pride, but look at it now

[Square Drive]

Originally Posted by LastLaugh_PK The fact of the matter is nobody stands up to be counted in time of need. We used to have Razzaq and even if we needed 100 in the last ten there was a sense of surety that abhi Razzaq baqi hai. Now a days even if we win its not exciting entertaining cricket. We barely manage to crawl across the finish line. The likes of Afridi and Akmal only perform once in a blue moon. Our fast bowling used to be our pride, but look at it now

This is why we need Hammad Azam.

[AzharIsTheBest]

He would be valuable at number 6 and number 7. Provide final touch with bat and bowl very good. Pretty valuable he would be.

[truthseer]

Originally Posted by Square Drive This is why we need Hammad Azam.

He's a good all rounder but not a FAST BOWLER. He's another trundler.

[LegCutter]

Originally Posted by truthseer He's a good all rounder but not a FAST BOWLER. He's another trundler.

Actually he's even less than a trunder, I think he bowls in the 110 kmph range.