***Official*** Pakistan in South Africa

[Fusion]

Asif gets Smith first over. The comeback begins!

 

[pasag]

Asif! Smith out second ball of the innings

 

[Raghav]

South Africa need 134 runs
South Africa: 20/1 (5.1 Ovs)
A Villiers
14(20)
J Kallis*
3(10)

Pakistan: 153 (40.5 Ovs)
M Asif
3-0-14-1
R Iftikhar*
2.1-1-6-0

 

[FRAZ]

South Africa to win by 7 wickets !

 

[Raghav]

South Africa need 107 runs
South Africa: 47/1 (9.4 Ovs)
A Villiers*
16(24)
J Kallis
27(33)

Pakistan: 153 (40.5 Ovs)
M Asif
5-0-24-1
R Iftikhar*
4.4-2-22-0

 

[godofcricket]

Why it is with the Pakistani young batsmen only that they score loads of runs in the first few matches or so then they fail miserably, then they get dropped and after growing a beared or so they try to make a come back and the " in and out " race with others like them continues and never ends!

Well inconsistentcy is everywhere in the pakistani team, maybe the only 2 consistent players you have at the moment is Yousuf and Asif, and thats clearly not enough for a team to win on regular basis. I think the major fault in the pakistani selection is the trust, specially with openers, they really should have taken a bold decision a couple of years ago and carried on with it for atleast 6 to 8 months, you see no one can just start scoring big scores up front at international level, they are bound to fail alot of times in the start but then u expect them to get that experience and confidence and only then if it doesnt seem to work then u think of a change, with pakistan its the other way, they pick a player playing in his first match (maybe after a comeback), but a change is always in their mind, they really really need to be patient.

As Sarfraz said " Imran Nazir plays risky shots all the time and has no place in the international team ". I want maturity up-stairs . Aamir Sohail and Saeed Anwar was a combo which last worked for us ..... As long as one senior batsman (who really loves the pride of the country ) will not step up to open along with a promising youngster ,the problem will stay there .........

I think you have raised a good point here. The best person could have been saeed anwar at the time, but anyhow, seeing the current situation i really do think they should try someone like younis khan with Imran Nazir. The other big issue i want to talk about is the captain not leading from the front, if inzamam was bold and man enough he would have come one down and lead from the front, i simply cant understand why someone of his calibre would prefer to come with the all-rounders and just expect the likes of Younis and Yousuf to do evertyhing when hes got more potential. Thats one of the reasons why i have lost alot of respect for him. Had he got the confidence in him then who needs batting going to number 9? then the only thing u would need is more special bowlers and batsman and maybe maximum of 2 all-rounders.

 

[FRAZ]

. The other big issue i want to talk about is the captain not leading from the front, if inzamam was bold and man enough he would have come one down and lead from the front, i simply cant understand why someone of his calibre would prefer to come with the all-rounders and just expect the likes of Younis and Yousuf to do evertyhing when hes got more potential. .

Just plain "Excellent" !
Welcome to the club , I hate him too !!!

 

[Raghav]

South Africa need 90 runs
South Africa: 64/1 (13.2 Ovs)
A Villiers*
25(40)
J Kallis
32(41)

Pakistan: 153 (40.5 Ovs)
R Iftikhar*
6.2-2-25-0
R Naved
2-0-14-0

 

[godofcricket]

Nah, not saying we should kick him into the proverbial ditch or anything, just saying it would be beneficial to give Hameed a chance as well. With Nazir we now know what we're getting, which is an explosive but rather off and on opener. He should be in the World Cup squad, and possibly given an extensive run after that depending on his performance, but I think we also need to take a second specialist opener out of either Hameed or Hafeez. Hafeez brings flexibility with his capabilities with the ball, and Hameed adds flexibility to the batting lineup as he has batted successfully down the order.

Well cant think of any pakistani opener recently who isnt "off anf on". The only reason i want pakistan to stay with nazir for a longer period of time is:

1: For the obvious fact that hes young, very talented and needs time to mature. You could apply this to the rest but:

2: In one-day you require openers like Nazir who are willing to take attack on the opposition and i am a 100% sure that with time hes gonna be alot more selective in his shots (learning from mistakes) making him an ideal person to open the innings.

 

[rodzilla1010]

Rana is a completle failure on a wicket where Rao is bowling under 5 runs an over...Rana still ging at more than 7...he was Pak 4rth choice before this tour..now i am not sure he shuld even feature ahead of Sami

 

[Raghav]

Rana lacks consistency and he is more likely or prone to give too many easy runs.

 

[Raghav]

Kallis goes on the backfoot and cuts it to backward point, that is Kallis's 59th ODI FIFTY!!

South Africa need 53 runs
South Africa: 101/1 (19.0 Ovs)
A Villiers
42(57)
J Kallis*
50(61)

Pakistan: 153 (40.5 Ovs)
R Naved
5-0-40-0
A Razzaq*
2-0-10-0

 

[godofcricket]

26 to win from ONLY 27 balls........sorry overs

 

[pasag]

Jeez, this is a real thrashing.

 

[Fusion]

Pathetic performance by Pak. And they better not use the "we lost our equipment so couldn't prepare properly" excuse either!

 

[Raghav]

Malik to de Villiers, FOUR!!, short of length delivery outside off, de Villiers goes on the backfoot and runs it down to third man, with this South Africa win the match and the series

 

[Fusion]

The confidence of the team has to be crap after this series. Add all the injury woes at the moment, and you have the worst possible way to start the World Cup.

 

[zahid_taj2002]

Fair play to SA.......they played well and deserved to win the series BUT beware cos come the WC i am sure Pakistan will b much much better!

 

[Fusion]

Fair play to SA.......they played well and deserved to win the series BUT beware cos come the WC i am sure Pakistan will b much much better!

Wish I could share your enthusiasm, but I haven't seen anything lately to indicate that's going to happen.

 

[nightprowler10]

The confidence of the team has to be crap after this series. Add all the injury woes at the moment, and you have the worst possible way to start the World Cup.

I can't remember the last time we were so dire in ODIs going into a World Cup.