Which Pakistan will show up at the World Cup?

[shortpitched713]

Younis has been phenominal in ODIs in no position.

Younis has almost always been wholly average in ODIs.

Which has exactly what to do with the fact that Yousuf has been phenomenal at the #4 spot?

 

[shortpitched713]

I mean ! look at the Tendulkars , Dravids etc etc . They are , were and will be successful at number 4 BUT for the sake of their flag ,they are willing to come up as openers to stabilize the team from the start . HUH HUH .. I #$%%^& - UL - @#$ has no balls to come up and do that . Pakistani batsmen do not want to fail and are afraid to face the music up there at the start . Thats all dude . They are sacrificing the infant goats up at the opening spot ....
hate you I*** ,hate you more than any other thing in the world !

Wow, I would have never guessed.

 

[shortpitched713]

Middle order batsmen shouldn't have to open! I don't care how good a batsman you are. Opening is a specialist position.

Um... not neccessarily. senior players moving down the order to avoid the new ball is not totally unheard of. Inzi, I believe played at 3 earlier in his career.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Um... not neccessarily. senior players moving down the order to avoid the new ball is not totally unheard of. Inzi, I believe played at 3 earlier in his career.

Number 3 is not the spot of an opening batsman. Opening the batting is a specialist role.

Besides, Inzamam is more valuable to Pakistan in the middle order than the top order at the moment, IMO. He's one of the few players capable of a rescue mission.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Which has exactly what to do with the fact that Yousuf has been phenomenal at the #4 spot?

You misuse the word "phenomenal".

He's been superb at #3 - 1988 @ 55.22; 5 hundreds/13 fifties in 43 innings.
He's been very good at #4, not phenomenal - 2925 @ 44.31; 4 hundreds/22 fifties in 78 innings.

Big difference.

 

[shortpitched713]

Number 3 is not the spot of an opening batsman. Opening the batting is a specialist role.

Yes, ideally opening is a role reserved for specialists. However, the skills required to open are not so foreign to middle order bats as some would suggest. Moving down from 3 to 5 is as big a difference as opening to one down, IMO.

 

[shortpitched713]

Besides, Inzamam is more valuable to Pakistan in the middle order than the top order at the moment, IMO. He's one of the few players capable of a rescue mission.

We have two players very capable of a rescue mission in both Yousuf and Inzi. However, at 4 and 5 respectively, they both come in too late after a considerable amount of damage is done. Personally, I feel that in ODIs one of your two best batsmen should come in at 1-3, and another 4-6. None of our best batsmen are coming in at 1-3, and thats where we're getting hammered. I would like to see Inzi swap places in the lineup with Younis and bat at number 3 to solve this problem. Yousuf and Younis at 4 and 5 are capable enough to solve problems later in an innings should they occur, but that isn't so much our problem right now as much as the fact that we get off to horrid starts.

 

[shortpitched713]

You misuse the word "phenomenal".

He's been superb at #3 - 1988 @ 55.22; 5 hundreds/13 fifties in 43 innings.
He's been very good at #4, not phenomenal - 2925 @ 44.31; 4 hundreds/22 fifties in 78 innings.

Big difference.

44.31 is a superb ODI average.

Also he hasn't batted at three for a couple years now, and considering hes the only thing we've got going for our batting right now I wouldn't really want to mess with his place in the order at this stage.

 

[Richard]

Is there ever really that guarantee for any bowling attack? I'd say at least half of the time teams aren't playing with their first choice bowling lineup.

Well, yeah, but this case is about Pakistan, no?

 

[Richard]

Which has exactly what to do with the fact that Yousuf has been phenomenal at the #4 spot?

Nothing, why?

 

[Prince EWS]

Nothing, why?

You quoted a post about Yousuf and then replied regarding Younis. That's why, I'd imagine.

No way should we move Yousuf from that #4 spot. He's been phenomenal there for quite some time now in both forms of the game.

Younis has been phenominal in ODIs in no position.

Younis has almost always been wholly average in ODIs.

 

[Richard]

O...K...

I evidently quoted the wrong post.

 

[rodzilla1010]

Bhaiyoon, first aof all fraz bhai, you are naive at best. Inzi comes at 5 and even if Pakistan is 15/4, we have hope because Inzi is next...just imagine if Pakistan is 15/4 with Inzi already gone?
You think Inzimam is afraid of the new ball, pull up a stat, I am sure he has batted more in the First ten overs of a match than any opener since Saeed Anwar.

Secondly guys, most of you are giving the best case scenario team.
My Mgt prof used to say, when in doubt assume the worst..therefore, here is my starting 11

Hafiz
Imran
Younis
Yousaf
Inzimam
Malik
Akmal
Razzaq
Kaneria
Rao
Asif
* Drop either Imran or Hafiz once Afridi comes In
* Let Akmal Open once you drop either openers
* I chose Kaneria over Rana, because he looks more wicket taking
* Another Option is to drop Razzaq and play Rana

 

[ekfaysal]

Pakistan is simply great

i think pakistan is a great team.
They have quite a lot of great match finishers like Afridi, Shoaib malik, Razaq and Hafeez.
even if team is going too low, then they can rise suddenly.
All they have to do is to play as agresive as they can.bcoz when they go agresive, their is no-one who can stop him.
So i hope Pakistan will win WC.

 

[Richard]

They have quite a lot of great match finishers like Hafeez.

 

[godofcricket]

Bhaiyoon, first aof all fraz bhai, you are naive at best. Inzi comes at 5 and even if Pakistan is 15/4, we have hope because Inzi is next...just imagine if Pakistan is 15/4 with Inzi already gone?You think Inzimam is afraid of the new ball, pull up a stat, I am sure he has batted more in the First ten overs of a match than any opener since Saeed Anwar.

That would be like continuing with the idiotic batting line-up!!!!! First of all cant u even think why pakistan is faced with a situation like 15 odd with 4 wickets down more so often these days????? why would u want to have ur best player playing at number 6? why not use him beforehand to avoid such a situation?

 

[PakPowered]

i think pakistan is a great team.
They have quite a lot of great match finishers like Afridi, Shoaib malik, Razaq and Hafeez.
even if team is going too low, then they can rise suddenly.
All they have to do is to play as agresive as they can.bcoz when they go agresive, their is no-one who can stop him.
So i hope Pakistan will win WC.

Hafeez only finishes the match only for opponents.
Pakistan can also suddenly starts going low when they are doing good.
They still don't have a single decent opener

Yes i also do hope Pak win, but the chances of it doesn't look bright right now.

 

[nightprowler10]

You misuse the word "phenomenal".

He's been superb at #3 - 1988 @ 55.22; 5 hundreds/13 fifties in 43 innings.
He's been very good at #4, not phenomenal - 2925 @ 44.31; 4 hundreds/22 fifties in 78 innings.

Big difference.

Actually I used that word there. Was kind of rolling his test and ODI form into one, tbh.

 

[rodzilla1010]

That would be like continuing with the idiotic batting line-up!!!!! First of all cant u even think why pakistan is faced with a situation like 15 odd with 4 wickets down more so often these days????? why would u want to have ur best player playing at number 6? why not use him beforehand to avoid such a situation?

First of all dont exaggerate, Inzi bats at 5 not 6, secondly, many other great batsmen batted at 5, look at steve waugh how he won the world cup coming at crunch times and scoring perhaps the best knock in WC history

moreover, we have 2 more than decent players at 3 and 4, i hope you dont have plans about wanting inzi to open, do you?
So if there is a set mantra for 3,4,5 which has been working for 2 years now, then why do you wanna disturb it?
just because 1 and 2 arnt doing good doesnt mean you just shuffle the whole line up

 

[godofcricket]

First of all dont exaggerate, Inzi bats at 5 not 6, secondly, many other great batsmen batted at 5, look at steve waugh how he won the world cup coming at crunch times and scoring perhaps the best knock in WC history

You seriously need to engage ur brains a bit. Inzis batting position is like a yoyo, u never know when inzi will come. forget where inzi should bat for a minute, no one has a clue where they will bat the next match and u seriously cant compare that australian team to this pakistani team, thats plain stupidity, australia didnt have to face a situation where they always relied on steve waugh or another player to do the goods every second match, they had match-winners who performed consistently from openers till bowlers.

You have to understand one thing, our openers are the weakest point, and not only does that mean they dont give us good starts but they add huge amount of pressure for our next batsman, which wont work everytime. The best example is against SA recently, the only time pakistan looked scoring a huge total was when our opener (nazir) released all the pressure from one end and allowed the middle order to play their part. You simply cant ignore the amount of balance openers can provide us.

moreover, we have 2 more than decent players at 3 and 4, i hope you dont have plans about wanting inzi to open, do you?
So if there is a set mantra for 3,4,5 which has been working for 2 years now, then why do you wanna disturb it?
just because 1 and 2 arnt doing good doesnt mean you just shuffle the whole line up

Whats been working? Tell me one thing, one simple question, do u believe pakistan our a team who can play under pressure??? If your answer is yes then i dont need to argue with u anymore, ur on a different world. I agree that the position younis and yousuf hold has been working for some time, but then just for the two u cant ignore the rest. I simply cant understand why i need to go through all of this, u need to read through my last post to understand why i said younis should open, when hes been facing a brand new white ball almost every match, then why not take the risk of opening him?

Talking about inzamam, had the opening issue been solved then i wouldnt really mind seeing him play at 5 to be honest, but when the team requires a captain to lead from the front and seeing how pakistani team are under pressure he needs to set an example and come up front in such a situation. example u should know better was imran khan, he came at 3 in a world cup semi-final when there was huge amount of pressure. Obviously he wasnt a class batsman as inzamam either but its about the leadership. All i am saying is Inzamam should back himself, as hes got alot of potential, and thats the only way pakistan will win the WC. otherwise pakistan will most probably fail in super8 or definetly in semi-finals.