Winning strategy for Pakistan

[Cartman]

Pakistan had a good start to the third and final test. On a perfect batting wicket, Inzi won the toss and rightly decided to bat first. Lost two early wickets but ended the day at 323/2, both captain and his deputy scoring centuries.
Now that Pakistan has the upper hand what should be the strategy that Pakistani coach and captain would use to force a victory?

I am sure they would be working on it at the end of Day1 but its quite obvious the first and foremost thing would be to acquire a huge total. Somewhere in the vicinity of 550 which looks quite possible if they carry on in this vein.
Then what?? They try to bowl India out, and if they can, do you think they would enforce follow on?

History suggests, its tough for bowlers to sweat it out in the middle for two innings straight under such pitch conditions and against Indian batting.

In 2001, Australia enforced the follow-on and India went on to win the match.

If you were coach or captain, what would you be thinking right now?

[161]

The wicket looks like a batting beauty- only way we can have a chance is if we put a huge total up and cause the bhinidan batsmen to have a psychological breakdown trying to chase it.

Hopefully if we dont have a collapse like we did on day 3 of the second test- we should end up with 600-700 runs by the end of day 2.

[zulfiqar]

600-700 is too much i believ and pak should declare b4 we hit 600. we have to give the indians a chance so that they bat positively and still try to win the game! that's why our bowling needs to get the wickets, batting alone will never win u test match

[161]

i think we should score as much as possible in the first innings because the pitch might breakdow later on.

[Amjid Javed]

pakistan should look to get to 450 as a minimum. then pakistan should look to get big runs. pakistan shudnt go for 600 unless they get them quickly.

2 more session or two and half max shud be pakistans target.

bat 70-75 more overs and then bowl at india for 15-20 2moz b4 close!

[adi 101]

get about 600 and try bowling them out twice

[Cartman]

Originally Posted by zulfiqar 600-700 is too much i believ and pak should declare b4 we hit 600. we have to give the indians a chance so that they bat positively and still try to win the game! that's why our bowling needs to get the wickets, batting alone will never win u test match

If I know Indians, (which I think I do), they have pretty much given hope hope of winning the match.

In fact, the way this pitch was prepared indicates, they never even wanted to win this match and went in to save it and win the series 1-nil.

So whether Inzi declares after scoring 550 or we have a batting collapse and get out for 400, its the same to them, they are not going to push for a victory anyways.

I can tell you right now, when we close our innings, and they come out to batm Sehwag would probably go his merry way at first, if we get him out quick if not he would continue scoring 100 or maybe a 200. Eventually when he gets out and Dravid and Tnedulkar take over, they would probably go for some personal records and post a personal best total for themselves at a snail's pace with the least amount of risk.


This could get real frustrating for Pakistan if after putting up a huge score they cannot effectively disturb the Indian batting line-up. They would certainly need a very strong strategy when they come out to bowl.

It is just going to be very interesting if you ask me. I am really not sure what they have in mind right now.

[cricketcrazy]

I think so atmost bat till tea time score at this pace till lunch n then go for big post lunch period to get as much as time to bowled indians twice, becasue u know v still have to get 20 wickets in 3 days not an easy task on this pitch

[GamBiTT]

This discussion is really very hypothetical considering we gave away the stronger initiative gained on the third day of the 2nd test match. If we are able to withstand the Indian pressure (which there will be a lot of tomorrow morning), many possibilities will open. I think that even though the pitch condition seems to be ideal for batting, any team with an imposing total puts a lot of pressure on the other team by default. Gone are the days where both teams score above 500 and the game is a draw in my opinion. This is a different kind of pressure cricket and most teams tend to crumble against pressure.

[Amjid Javed]

The key to this match is simple. its not about how many runs pakistan gets 450, 500,600 etc...

the key is pakistan need to give themselves enought time to take 20 wkts...!

now with are attack i blv we need 7-8 sessions to take 20 wkts (thats 210-240 overs) that means pakistan should look to get quick runs...

550 and declaring is fine... becuase pakistan may have to bat agen for say even 30-40 overs.

also if pakistan have to declare... they may have to dangle a carrot infront off india in last inns...

say 290 in 90 overs etc... coz india will be happy to block for draw....

[sajjad]

first and foremost...try to get to 400 then 500...we dont wanna set our sights to high and collapse at 390.

essentiall we want to be at 600+. cause if we get the oppurnutiy we have to enforce the follow on and for that to happen we need to dempralize the indian team as much as possible. tire em out for 2 days or so. i say we shud bat thru the whole day if possible. make a score of say 650.

then put pressure on india, possibly late today or start of the third day. to get o 450 they have to play more than mediocrally and if we cud possibly get them to follow on around teaon the 4th day. we can definitely square the series.

[GamBiTT]

AJ: You are making a suggestion which is excellent, but I believe the context is incorrect. Barring Dravid and somewhat Tendulkar, I don't believe that Indian batsmen will be able to just block and block session after session. The rest of the bunch are stroke players and will get on with things by playing strokes. Now if these stroke players are given an unsurmountable target, will they be able to curb their strokeplay to just block and not give their wickets away. IMHO I don't think that will be th script of this test match. I also expect the Pakistan bowling attack to be really pumped up first time this series because it will be the first time that they shall have a dominating position.

Kher enough of this for me. Inshallah I really would like to see Pakistan bat out tomorrow and get the maximum runs possible in two days.

[Jameel]

Just get to 500 at this run rate. Anything after that is a bonus and should be scored quickly. I (and many others) predicted we would get 500 in the last match and look what happened. We shouldn't get too ahead of ourselves. Just take the game as it comes.

First we should target 400 without losing more than 5 wickets. Then increase the tempo and try and get to 500. If we reach 500 they should go all out attack and let Razzaq and co go nuts.

We should give ourselves at least 10 overs to bowl at them at the end and hopefully get some early breakthroughs.

I hope Amir Sohail is right about the pitch. It did show some signs of variable bounce. he thinks the bounce will get lower and lower and it will be very difficult to bat on by day 4. This makes sense since the groundsmen at Bangalore are used to making dustbowls. and this is just a makeshift pitch, so you can expect some deterioration no matter how hard they have tried to prevent that. lets hope those cracks get wider and wider!!

[Cartman]

So basically AJ what you are saying is that they need to go for quick runs if they manage to survive the first session on Day 2 and if they go past 500, try and play big shots and then give them half a session to bat on Day2?

That doesnt sound bad at all. I am sure thats what they would have in mind.

[Oxy]

1st sesion will detarmine the state of the pitch and how it may peform for the next 2 days.

Indians should be at a low-BUT we know that once they take 1 wkt, they become immense and we become feeble.

I wouldnt take any risks in the 1st session-then attack (if we have the wkts in hand)

Gotta agree with AJ...the total siz e isnt as important as it time required to bowl them out twice.

Look at Ind in 1st test.

[pakistani pride]

550 is enough. most pitches in asia break up on day 4 so a good total will be more then handy

but lets hope they dont throw it away

[Cartman]

Lets hope the think tank realizes that and the two play it safe initially. I feel it would be critical for them to bat together till lunch, knock some of the wind out of the pumped up and rested Indians. If they manage to do that, they can go for the kill after lunch.
Even if wickets fall I believe we have enough batting to launch a counter attack and still manage to score close to 500 by tea. I do not feel they need to creep back into their shells if a wicket falls, the way they did it in the 2nd test .. Just play positive aggressive cricket.
If we are 6/7 down for 400 and Razaaq walks in, he should not start blocking them all off. Play his game he plays in ODIs and go for his shots.

[GamBiTT]

Part of the reason they went into a shell in the previous collapse was that they were chasing 407 runs and were still behind. This does put pressure on batsmen as does chasing in the 2nd innings in a one-day game. Hopefully with that pressure not there, the batsmen can play their natural test match game.