Pakistan's Weakest Point.

[Zainub]

From what I've heard Asif and Shoaib might both be back for the Oval test, so if our bowlers, batsmen and fielders (plus may be the weather) can do enough just to hang on for at least a draw in the 3rd test, I reckon we'll have a pretty decent chance of retaining our record of not having lost a series in England since 1982, at least on paper. A lot has been said about our performance so far, and yes, we've been quite frankly very ordinary, sometimes even worse then that, but we have had 2/3rd of our attack missing, nothing excuses the batsmen though, Yousuf, Inzi and Younus have been giving us big scores for a while, and it was only a matter of time they'll fail sometime, the others still haven't learned to step up and deliver. Losing wickets to Harmison on a pacy surface is some what understable, Pakistani players have historially never been comfortable in such conditions, and players with far bigger repuations then the likes of Farhat, Iqbal and Akmal have failed in them, but to lose 8 wickets to Panersar, that's simply inexcusable. I don't think personally he bowled a whole lot better then Kaneria, who at one point seemed as if he couldn't even buy a wicket for all his hard work, but the ridiculously high levels of complecency from even the senior batsmen of the side made him a look a whole lot better then he is actually. Hopefully everyone will have learnt their lessons by now, and will do better in the remaining two tests. I still live in hope, Pakistan have always been slow starters after all (even more so away from home), and we always seem to do well in a test series following a big loss early on. I refuse to give up hope Maranello, its not the end of the world as yet.

[Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Zainub

From what I've heard Asif and Shoaib might both be back for the Oval test, I refuse to give up hope Maranello, its not the end of the world as yet.

I agree..Also just read an article stating that both bowlers will be ready...I certainly hope so.

Besides, I'm an eternal optimist...

[Mr Hutt]

I think it is the opening pair that is to blame, both salman butt and imran farhat have been given enough chances and they have not merited their selection, frankly i dont remember pakistan ever having a very strong opening pair but these two are just useless, they always flash at balls going away from them outside offstump. Pakistan has improved in fielding but on their bad days drop and lose their heads totally, If the opening pair could just make a point to put on 70 odd runs in every match there would be a lot of improvement as far as batting is concerned.. our middle order is very very dependable...Yunis khan Muhammad yusuf, Inzimam, Akmal even Razzaq ia handy sometimes but the opening pair is worthless. We should keep trying new young players till someone does well, that is the only way... as it is these two are not making 20 runs altogather each time they open so why not try someone new, cant be much worse than that. I too am hoping atleast asif will return if both shaoib and asif do then we can show england a bit of what harmison did to us.

[umer15]

Avkar says "We should keep trying new young players till someone does well, that is the only way" I dont think that is the right move. PCB tried that before and when they found that Salman was a "good" player they put him on the team. Now that he is having problems they want to find someone else. I think they should get two oppeners and just keep working on them like most of the other countries do.

[umer15]

I dont believe that Pakistan should go with Imran Farhat and Butt. Both are left handers and it is usually right/left hand combination which worries the opponet.

PCB should also recall Imran Nazir-atleast for the one dayers. He is truly a great player.

For test I think they should continue with Butt and Hammed.

While for ODI they should go for Farhat and Imran Nazir.

What do you think?

[Karthik]

Bob Woolmer thinks that run outs in test is very bad and they're having a lot of them.I think he's right,because in test matches,wickets are really important and it should not go down in the process of trying to steal a run or two.

[pakindya fan]

Originally Posted by umer15

For test I think they should continue with Butt and Hammed.

is hameed even in the squad for the test series, he hasnt played any of the matches so far

[Willow & Stumpy]

Definetly opening batting, they just seem to change it too much and I can see why, they can't seem to establish the right balance between the two openers. All successful teams have good opening partnerships and with Pakistan its not different. They need to find the right combination but I think they just might have found that in Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik. Hafeez coming back after a lengthy spell out of the team and Shoaib Malik coming back from injury to take his usual place at the top of the order.

[ll0OoO0ll]

I am a great supporter of Pakistani cricket team and writing this post as positive critism as everthing in the universe has room for improvement and so does our great team.
I think there are a couple of causes behind Pakistan's inability to perform well under presure (our greatest weakness). First, lack of education. Quite sadly almost all of our current players are merely high schoolers (or school drop outs) which tends our players of lacking mental development and logic building process that actually leads to correct and timely decision making ability, not to mention poor english language skills that are an embarrasment for the captain himself.
Physical ability and atheletism of every top team is perhaps almost as at the same level, but yes, Pakistan does have a chronic problem of finding consistent if not agressive openers. This lack of confidence can be over come by concentrating on the game and responsibility on the shoulders rathen than a mere offort of showing fancy style.
lastly, I would say management hasnt been to its best for the last few years. Our current PCB boss has no idea what cricket is all about and the previous bosses have ruined our great talent. Had Afridi been a part of Australian team, they would've extracted the very best out of him, but we simply wasted all his talents by blindly sending him as opener for years but not training him as how to become a good opener. All we thought was we needed a slugger to hit over the 30 yard circle in the first 15 overs. What a wrecked thought.

[Mr Hutt]

well shoaib malik and hafeez are now being tested, and i think given their fair number of chances will click, the fielding however needs a lot of work