The "NOT dummy captain"

[ll0OoO0ll]

Only managed to score 7 runs. Congrats Pakistan !!!

[Mr Hutt]

and he also happened to master mind the recovery of the team when jaysuria was hitting us to all corners of the park.. and was dancing for joy when his team won.... and tried to lift bob woolmer on his shoulders... dummy he aint great he is

[Maranello]

Pakistan' all-clever, all-singing, all-dancing captain of the week had a fairly pedestrian first day.

First, he went in to bat too early himself - no point in wasting the powerplays on a flat track by sending in a nurdler like Younis; he is more suited to the middle overs when the spinners are on, since (a) he is excellent at rotating the strike, taking singles and generally, milking the bowlers without taking risks, and (b) most of the others are woeful players of proper spin bowling, and he is one of the best in the world.

This error was then compounded by Afridi's place in the batting order - this guy was wasted at 3 down (though there is a school of thought which argues that he is wasted anywhere except at 9 down!). Afridi came in to bat when the powerplay had ended, and Murali and Sanath were just getting going. He was clueless against Murali, as expected, and managed a woeful 1 from 8 balls. Given the match situation, he should have been kept in the bank for the final slog, or sent in early on when the ball was hard and the quicks were operating.

Not quite the tactical genius he is made out to be, is he, this You-ness chap?!

Lucky for him that Woolmer and Inzamam's protege Shoaib Malik, and the ever-useful Abdul Razzaq saved the day.

[Mr Hutt]

I was not reffering to pakistans batting when i mentioned he is a genius. I spoke of how the team never looked down after being thrashed in the first 10 overs by Jaysuria.. of how he persisted with razzaq after he had gone for a whopping in his first two overs, that spoke volumes for his charecter. He was constantly in everyones face guiding.. smiling gesturing.. thats the kind of captain i prefer to the monk like inzimam. Also on display was some of the best fielding pakistan has done in a decade you think that happened by itself? FYI srilanka were about 2 down for 165 runs to get the whole team from that point in a matter of 80 runs is no little feat. Without him pakistan would have been at sea. Afridi was sent early because had he stayed on the wicket for even a bit... he would half done half of razzaqs work earlier. I think that is the right position for Afridi.. he needs to be given that postion and play at that continuosly.

[Maranello]

Originally Posted by Mr Hutt

FYI srilanka were about 2 down for 165 runs to get the whole team from that point in a matter of 80 runs is no little feat.

Happens all the time in ODI cricket, and often enough in Tests too; Younis' role in the collapse, if any, was purely incidental.

[batoutofhell]

but still i feel younis to be the captain for the future
he got brilliant brain for a captain
he may have failed against lanka but he will do better in next matches
and after a long time we are seeing a proactive captain from pakistan after imran the legend

[Zainub]

Originally Posted by Maranello

Happens all the time in ODI cricket, and often enough in Tests too; Younis' role in the collapse, if any, was purely incidental.

I'm not sure you can call it purely "incidental" Maranello. With all that had happened in the lead up to the match, it would be hard not to give Younis any credit at all for the way we performed as team collectively. If you just looked at the body language of the players, there was very little to suggest this was a team that had gone through all we had gone through, I think a lot of that positivity was a direct by-product of the way Younis leads the team, and the kind of a person he is naturally. It would be very harsh, as I said, to not give him any credit at all.

[Maranello]

Originally Posted by Zainub

With all that had happened in the lead up to the match, it would be hard not to give Younis any credit at all for the way we performed as team collectively.

I'd like to give more credit to the team and to Woolmer; after all, this was the team that Younis had refused to lead in a hissy fit, and allegedly, was not happy with, if the reports about his drama tantrums are to be believed. Yet the team members put all that behind them and gave their 100% for the cause - a testament to their character, fostered over the past 2 to 3 years by the Inzi + Bobby combination; team spirit takes weeks and months to develop, so I am not sure what Younis is alleged to have contributed in 36 hours of being captain!

[ll0OoO0ll]

Much to his delight, this time it took 12 balls and only 42 minutes to score 2 runs against the Kiwis. Now thats what you call NOT a dummy captain.

[Uham]

I really thought Pakistan could win, I liked there squad but what can we say with out our two top bowlers and our greatest batsman not on the team= lose. We had a good side. But.. We lost Yousuf I think should be promoted to captain.. Must win against RSA.