ICC Cricket World Cup - May/July 2019

[Alexei.]

And he's bringing himself on too, I'm not really sure what he's thinking.

that's because Mujeeb's ankle was hurt.

WTF is this team?


[HASHTAG]#BleedOrange[/HASHTAG]

 

[Ohm]

Good from Pakistan to keep this world cup open for the fourth spot. It's the only good thing that has happened to this world cup so far - midst washouts, bad umpiring, high scoring and one sided games, etc.

 

[AliB]

Imagine Asghar Afghan captaining them throughout the tourney, I bet they'd have won half of their games. A big Afghanistan fan but unfortunately, they've been on the wrong side of three close games.

For tomorrow, I guess we're winning it easily but England would be pumped up considering the KO situation. Tbh I'd love to see Bangladesh coming through for the last spot. Have been a huge admirer of them and they gotta do it for Mashrafe, must prolly it's his last WC.

 

[CerealKiller]

that's because Mujeeb's ankle was hurt.

WTF is this team?


[HASHTAG]#BleedOrange[/HASHTAG]

Mujeeb completed his 10 overs. Shinwari should've bowled the last over. Not that i'm complaining

 

[Ohm]

that's because Mujeeb's foot was hurt.

WTF is this team?

If that was the case in 46th over then Shenwari could've been a better option, because Pakistan were looking all negative to go bang bang against spinners at that stage. Naib just provided Pakistan exactly what they had to be fed with, which has hurt Afghanistan team seriously bad today. But still Mujeeb just a 18 years old managed to bowl what could've been a game changer. Whatever should have happened today, Afghanistan is nothing short of magnificent!

 

[Rehan_24]

What a boring match! Absolutely one-sided

Hahaha atleast you should be thankful to Pakistan they give you an exciting game and once again helped in proving the worth of One day Cricket format.

Pakistan didn't play up to their potential for sure starting from fast bowling department even but the great thing happened to us was Imad playing a match winning knock. At the end of the day the result is all matters and bottomline is that we have won the game and currently in top 4. Imagine a team totally down and out a week before virtually, was cornerned and now this team is among top 4. This is Team Pakistan for you. Full of surprises and excitement

PAKISTAN ROARING. So Who's Next ? Bangladesh ??

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Great escape from Pakistan today , btw well played Afghanistan a lot were expecting a one sided game but you gave Pakistan a run for their money. Experience and pressure handling at big stage cost them the game but hopefully they can learn from it and come stronger in the future years to come.

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

Game over for New Zealand, I reckon.

 

[Rehan_24]

Celebrated enough for today's win against Afghanistan before I came to the game of the tournament tomorrow India vs England. I want to write some constructive stuff related to Pakistan for our next game against Bangladesh because the team has to focus on just its own game, they have to win against Bangladesh and then we will see how it goes at the points table. So here I put my case.

Both openers Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman have struggled virtually throughout the tournament, Openers job is just not to see off the new ball but their job is to give team a confident start and at least one of them should score some big runs and take the pressure off from the rest of the batsmen and of course If they have the capability they can play a match-winning innings. To me, an opener is the most difficult yet most crucial postion to bat on, they can literally make or break the innings so this position should not be awarded for free rather you got to earn it, playing for the country is earning for sure but I am specficially talking about the Opening slot. With Pakistan as we all know we do not have a third specialist opener in the squad and knowing that both openers are getting failed time and again, Fakhar plays a bad/rash shot or struggle with his technique and got out, so is Imam blocks a lot, make his 30 odd runs and throws his wicket away in every match. His approach towards his innings has no rhythm to me and he has a lot to learn by going back into the domestic circuit and cricket academy before he actually gets a good call to make his return into the side. Anyhow, for Bangladesh, I would wish Sarfraz to take a bigger step, think proactive and take a calculated risk. The game against Bangladesh is the biggest one for them, It will be a Quarter-Final and adjusting your winning combination a bit isn't a bad thing at all, rather not doing it just for the fear and sake of it is a bad shot in my view.

I can remember one of the greatest cricket captains of all-time Imran Khan here that he used to take risks because he was proactive and a brave leader who never got scared to a loss in the era when he became the mature Captain, so here goes Sarfraz who can actually make one change here for the team good as well as a little adjustment in the batting order I'd say drop Imam-ul-Haq from the side and bring in Shoaib Malik for the Bangladesh game with Babar Azam to open innings with Fakhar.

1. Fakhar Zaman
2. Babar Azam
3. Haris Sohail
4. Shoaib Malik
5. Sarfraz Ahmed
6. Hafeez
7. Imad Wasim
8. Shadab Khan
9. Wahab Riaz
10. Aamir
11. Shaheen Shah

Babar Azam is no less than an opener, He has open the innings before and lately as Fakhar is getting out early in recent matches, Babar comes in the first 10 overs and faces the new ball fast bowlers quite well. To my observation, Babar isn't a makeshift opener rather than we can call him nearly a specialist opener who plays fast bowlers quite well. He loves to hit classic shots boundaries and plays fearless cricket. With that, Haris Sohail who is a specialist middle order and take the innings forward type batsman has served as number 3 batsman before and mature enough to play in every kind of situation comes in number 3, Malik comes at number 4 because he is very good with rotation of strike, He is no power hitter, he takes the game forward and a handy batsman in building partnerships, with back to back failures of Hafeez due to his silly shots at the most important number 4 position, his inconsistent batting performance and getting out to part-timers, I think Malik deserves a fair chance here to play an all-important innings against Bangladesh, Hafeez can come down the order at number 6 and can play a role as he played in CT 2017. At present, Hafeez is far better when he comes to a situation where you have to play aggressive cricket rather than to build innings.

But with all my observations and expectations, I am 95% sure that Sarfraz isn't going to change the winning combination nor he'd change the batting order. I hope the captain, coach, and game-plan team seriously need to think about the bad performance of Imam as well as a failure of Hafeez in the all-important number 4 bat position.

I don't like to see Fakhar drop because he is sort of a trump card. On his day, he can take the match away from you he just needs to be given more confidence and he can play a very good inning down the road.

 

[CerealKiller]

Celebrated enough for today's win against Afghanistan before I came to the game of the tournament tomorrow India vs England. I want to write some constructive stuff related to Pakistan for our next game against Bangladesh because the team has to focus on just its own game, they have to win against Bangladesh and then we will see how it goes at the points table. So here I put my case.

Both openers Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman have struggled virtually throughout the tournament, Openers job is just not to see off the new ball but their job is to give team a confident start and at least one of them should score some big runs and take the pressure off from the rest of the batsmen and of course If they have the capability they can play a match-winning innings. To me, an opener is the most difficult yet most crucial postion to bat on, they can literally make or break the innings so this position should not be awarded for free rather you got to earn it, playing for the country is earning for sure but I am specficially talking about the Opening slot. With Pakistan as we all know we do not have a third specialist opener in the squad and knowing that both openers are getting failed time and again, Fakhar plays a bad/rash shot or struggle with his technique and got out, so is Imam blocks a lot, make his 30 odd runs and throws his wicket away in every match. His approach towards his innings has no rhythm to me and he has a lot to learn by going back into the domestic circuit and cricket academy before he actually gets a good call to make his return into the side. Anyhow, for Bangladesh, I would wish Sarfraz to take a bigger step, think proactive and take a calculated risk. The game against Bangladesh is the biggest one for them, It will be a Quarter-Final and adjusting your winning combination a bit isn't a bad thing at all, rather not doing it just for the fear and sake of it is a bad shot in my view.

I can remember one of the greatest cricket captains of all-time Imran Khan here that he used to take risks because he was proactive and a brave leader who never got scared to a loss in the era when he became the mature Captain, so here goes Sarfraz who can actually make one change here for the team good as well as a little adjustment in the batting order I'd say drop Imam-ul-Haq from the side and bring in Shoaib Malik for the Bangladesh game with Babar Azam to open innings with Fakhar.

1. Fakhar Zaman
2. Babar Azam
3. Haris Sohail
4. Shoaib Malik
5. Sarfraz Ahmed
6. Hafeez
7. Imad Wasim
8. Shadab Khan
9. Wahab Riaz
10. Aamir
11. Shaheen Shah

Babar Azam is no less than an opener, He has open the innings before and lately as Fakhar is getting out early in recent matches, Babar comes in the first 10 overs and faces the new ball fast bowlers quite well. To my observation, Babar isn't a makeshift opener rather than we can call him nearly a specialist opener who plays fast bowlers quite well. He loves to hit classic shots boundaries and plays fearless cricket. With that, Haris Sohail who is a specialist middle order and take the innings forward type batsman has served as number 3 batsman before and mature enough to play in every kind of situation comes in number 3, Malik comes at number 4 because he is very good with rotation of strike, He is no power hitter, he takes the game forward and a handy batsman in building partnerships, with back to back failures of Hafeez due to his silly shots at the most important number 4 position, his inconsistent batting performance and getting out to part-timers, I think Malik deserves a fair chance here to play an all-important innings against Bangladesh, Hafeez can come down the order at number 6 and can play a role as he played in CT 2017. At present, Hafeez is far better when he comes to a situation where you have to play aggressive cricket rather than to build innings.

But with all my observations and expectations, I am 95% sure that Sarfraz isn't going to change the winning combination nor he'd change the batting order. I hope the captain, coach, and game-plan team seriously need to think about the bad performance of Imam as well as a failure of Hafeez in the all-important number 4 bat position.

I don't like to see Fakhar drop because he is sort of a trump card. On his day, he can take the match away from you he just needs to be given more confidence and he can play a very good inning down the road.

No way Imam is getting dropped. He made his precious 40 off 60 to retain his place. And i don't think they'll want to change anything after winning the last few matches. But if i had to bring in someone, it would be Asif Ali and not Malik.

 

[Rehan_24]

No way Imam is getting dropped. He made his precious 40 off 60 to retain his place. And I don't think they'll want to change anything after winning the last few matches. But if I had to bring in someone, it would be Asif Ali and not Malik.

Yes, they aren't gonna drop him or make any adjustments and the reason is that our captain isn't brave enough to take risks for such decisions you have to be with attacking mindset. The risk can backfire but a good leader takes a well-calculated risk and the results can be very fruitful. As for Asif Ali, I really like him but with Malik, I think he could bring in more stability and dependability into the side, moreover, I think he is better bowler at present relative to Hafeez and you get a bowling option as well alongside Hafeez. Today when Haris got out and with Sarfraz not playing to his potential, I was like we have no one to stabilize here, thanks to Imad with his focused and well-constructed innings.

Whether they drop Imam or not, but Hafeez coming in Number 4. Boy! that itself a risk but sadly this risk is not backed with any strategy rather the only strategy would be "Hey Its a Winning Combination"

 

[Rehan_24]

Adding more to today's game against Afghanistan, I also didn't like the strange move of introducing the bowling with Imad Wasim. Afghan batsmen have been struggling a lot against fast bowlers than spinners. With Shaheen and Aamir were in good form, you got to start with two fast bowlers. The plan wasn't good enough and give Afghan batsmen time to settle in. The line and length of fast bowlers were also sloppy in the first half. I recommend Shaheen and Aamir to start with against Bangladesh.

 

[hammadahmed88]

Once again, and I hate to harp on about this, Pakistan don't show up to a chase. Awful decisions in batting. Outside of Babar, and perhaps Harris to a lesser extent, everyone seems clueless out there with a bat in their hands. Lower order is doing their job admirably.

Great to see Afghanistan put in the effort, and fight till the end. I reckon Afghanistan had both games against India and Pakistan won if they were a more experienced side. Wonder if Asghar would have given two overs to Gulbadin if he was still captain in crunch time when he didn't look threatening at all. The definitely missed a boat not saving Rashid and Mujib for the end.

 

[abhi_jacko]

What a boring match! Absolutely one-sided

Sure budday... You made the right guess guy

 

[asprin]

Expecting India to end up as the winning side today. I still stand by my belief that England will make it to the Semis though.