New Zealand Tri Series 2022

[CerealKiller]

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

 

[Bevab]

Can you elaborate on what India got wrong in 2019?

Strap in my friend for this is going to be a long ride..

• The lack of a good firefighter at number four. The best ones India tried IMO were Pandey and Shreyas Iyer both of whom were not given an extended run like a certain Rayudu and were dropped after a bout of inconsistency instead. This affected our playing style sometimes when the top three did not push the pedal as fast as they should have out of fear with what was to happen if two of them got out cheaply or god forbid, all three. Yeah sure there were instances of the innings being rescued such as by Yuvraj twice, the famous Dhoni-Jadhav partnership against England, the odd splendid knock from the doomed number four (Rahane vs South Africa and Rayudu vs West Indies) or Hardik going berserk like vs Australia but overall though it was common knowledge that India’s batting order was brittle. In an ODI it is easier to exploit that too given the value of each wicket.
  
  So how does Pakistan fare here? I’m not completely sold on Masood as he seems to be too timid but he does have two fifties to his name in the exact scenarios he was being trialled for. Zaman in prime form is the better alternative but he’ll be out of form, fitness and confidence in a position he doesn’t play in domestically. I’d still take either of those over what we eventually had with Shankar and Pant/DK at four in the WC.
  
  
• The middle-order not being actually good and relying on pure reputation. I’m going to make a bold statement here and claim that Dhoni was arguably the worst keeper batsman in the last ODI cycle amongst the top ten ODI nations until Shahzad was axed by Afghanistan. The only one in the same range as him was Sarfaraz Ahmed and the latter was being a serviceable captain then (maybe Latham too). Dhoni still was quality behind the stumps (until the WC anyways) but at the crease was very poor. It is telling that Indian fans were celebrating his IPL form and a MoS in the Australia tour when he gave par performances with everyone else underperforming because they knew he wasn’t getting dropped due to reputation. Jadhav was unfortunately past his peak and was figured out by the time WC came around. People (including yours truly) just looked at his overall stats and assumed there was an underrated player in there when he wasn’t that stellar either. Pandya was being forced into a ten overs bowler and his batting was not given much focus despite him being a natural talent with the bat even back then. Arguably the best solution to all of this was a confidence player in DK who would be shafted across the order, dropped and picked randomly and left out to dry in the end.
  
  So how does Pakistan fare here? With Shadab and Nawaz I think they’ve got two solid options for dealing with spin in the middle overs which is often the bottleneck in T20s. Iftikhar seems to be showing promising signs of form, Haider is slowly settling in a new role and you know what you get with Asif Ali and it seems like he’s being used in said role too. Reputation wise they don’t stand a chance but they are a better fit for the challenges that a middle order will face compared to India.
  
  
• The lack of a sixth bowling option and lower order batting depth. India seemed to not trust Jadeja with the bat above seven at that time and were also worried about Pandya not being able to handle coming to the crease before the 35th over without a set platform. This was compounded by the middle-order’s lack of real quality and no one barring Bhuvi being capable of holding a bat in the lower order. This led to India being forced into treating Jadhav as a viable batting all-rounder even after teams got used to his meme-y action and often bowling Pandya‘s full quota, even on days when he was expensive. This also meant the others seldom having the freedom of skipping on a few overs. Tactically this restricted India with the ball and with the bat meant a middle-order that was already not good be cautious of not losing wickets cheaply or quickly.
  
  So how does Pakistan fare here? They’ve got the sixth bowling option apparently covered by Iftikhar‘s filthy offies or Khushdil’s slow turners. I’d take either of them over whatever Jadhav was bowling then but they’ve barely bowled in most games recently and I think this could be an area of potential weakness unless they play four bowlers with Shadab and Nawaz in the top seven which IMO is the better idea especially with Nawaz showing that he can bat adequately. This does weaken the batting depth to an extent although I‘d say that Pakistan‘s bowlers have far more aggressive hitting in their veins compared to the Indian ones back in 2019 except Shami. Apparently Wasim jr is also a bowling all-rounder. Was there a trick missed here by not picking Faheem?
  
  
  
• Beyond all of this though India had a captain who was very prone to making the wrong decisions/changes at the wrong time with the lack of a clear or good Plan B and a squad of players who were not secure of their roles and places in the playing XI. This wasn’t helped by a coach who was mainly pure vibes and a very different atmosphere around the team back then with a very odd selection policy.
  
  I don’t have adequate intel on Babar’s captaincy to judge him against Kohli but I haven’t yet seen him take as many boneheaded decisions as the latter did once. The middle order does seem to suffer from a similar confusion over who plays as India’s did then during the buildup but I do think the role clarity is a lot better than India’s plan of simply promoting Pandya after the 35th over. The one thing that India did have though was a clear edge in the quality of their leading players over what Pakistan have at the moment. I’d take that top three in their prime over RizBar now, Bumrah back then was arguably a better pacer than Shaheen is now and KulCha were a much better spin duo than Shadab and Nawaz. The supporting act for Pakistan now does have the edge in role clarity and arguably even quality so it’ll be interesting to see how this campaign goes for your lot. I think the captain factor will be a lot more decisive in deciding the team’s fate.

 

[CerealKiller]

So how does Pakistan fare here? I’m not completely sold on Masood as he seems to be too timid but he does have two fifties to his name in the exact scenarios he was being trialled for. Zaman in prime form is the better alternative but he’ll be out of form, fitness and confidence in a position he doesn’t play in domestically. I’d still take either of those over what we eventually had with Shankar and Pant/DK at four in the WC.

Fakhar is a complete wildcard, because he’s coming back from injury. Shan's two fifties came when the match was already lost. So I don’t think Pakistan are in a much better position regarding the firefighter in the top 4.

 

[CerealKiller]

So how does Pakistan fare here? With Shadab and Nawaz I think they’ve got two solid options for dealing with spin in the middle overs which is often the bottleneck in T20s. Iftikhar seems to be showing promising signs of form, Haider is slowly settling in a new role and you know what you get with Asif Ali and it seems like he’s being used in said role too. Reputation wise they don’t stand a chance but they are a better fit for the challenges that a middle order will face compared to India.

Pakistan have the right personnel, it’s just that they’ve found the right tactics too late. It can work perfectly if the top order keeps racking up runs, but it can crash and burn otherwise.

 

[CerealKiller]

So how does Pakistan fare here? They’ve got the sixth bowling option apparently covered by Iftikhar‘s filthy offies or Khushdil’s slow turners. I’d take either of them over whatever Jadhav was bowling then but they’ve barely bowled in most games recently and I think this could be an area of potential weakness unless they play four bowlers with Shadab and Nawaz in the top seven which IMO is the better idea especially with Nawaz showing that he can bat adequately. This does weaken the batting depth to an extent although I‘d say that Pakistan‘s bowlers have far more aggressive hitting in their veins compared to the Indian ones back in 2019 except Shami. Apparently Wasim jr is also a bowling all-rounder. Was there a trick missed here by not picking Faheem?

Iftikhar is a very handy 6th bowler in my opinion, especially on big Australian grounds. He can bowl a couple overs of quick darts without letting the batsmen free their arms, just like he did in a couple games against England.
I would stick with the 5 bowlers plus Iftikhar. Playing Wasim Jr. at 8 is a risk. He can bat a bit, but i doubt he can already be considered a bowling AR.
Faheem's form has been horrible, he’s also lost pace since his injury.

 

[CerealKiller]

I don’t have adequate intel on Babar’s captaincy to judge him against Kohli but I haven’t yet seen him take as many boneheaded decisions as the latter did once. The middle order does seem to suffer from a similar confusion over who plays as India’s did then during the buildup but I do think the role clarity is a lot better than India’s plan of simply promoting Pandya after the 35th over. The one thing that India did have though was a clear edge in the quality of their leading players over what Pakistan have at the moment. I’d take that top three in their prime over RizBar now, Bumrah back then was arguably a better pacer than Shaheen is now and KulCha were a much better spin duo than Shadab and Nawaz. The supporting act for Pakistan now does have the edge in role clarity and arguably even quality so it’ll be interesting to see how this campaign goes for your lot. I think the captain factor will be a lot more decisive in deciding the team’s fate.

I am not a fan of Babar's on-field decisions. He seems to stick with the pre-match plan, rather than make proactive decisions. In the recently concluded tri-series we saw him bowl pacers in the first 6 overs, then 8 overs of spin, then 6 overs of pace again.
There doesn’t seem to be much research into the opposing batters' weaknesses. Rajapaksa didn’t have to face any left-arm spin in the Asia Cup final, despite that being a glaring vulnerability for him.