Pakistan Tour of Australia 2009/10

[ksduded]

Rauf seems unlikely, but his circumstances are all a bit of a mystery. They didn't like Umar Gul's form, so they called up the next man, but they also got Mohammad Sami flown in. Considering that, it doesn't sound like they have much confidence in either of their third pacemen, which begs the question as to why Rauf got picked in the first place; if they stuck with Umar Gul for one more game, they could make a clean, uncomplicated decision for Sydney.

I think its a more clean decision now. Play either Umar Gul or Sami. If Gul would have failed then the decision would still be in limbo. My first preference will goto Gul who can get reverse swing, if pace & bounce (Aamer) or line and lenght (Asif) does not work.

We saw some glimpses of the real games of Faisal Iqbal and Misbah ul-Haq. Both players have devoted much effort to playing Tests in a fashion that doesn't suit them, but their ideal cricket appears to be capable of presenting new challenges for the fielding team. Misbah I think would be an invaluable player with the confidence to attack.

Totally agree. We know the players have the talent, its just a mental block they face while facing Australia. Previsouly they had this with South Africa which they finally overcame. Hopefully, with fresh blood like Akmal and Aamer, the rest of the team will bury the demons of the past and play to their potential.

I would consider trading Salman Butt for Fawad Alam, but that brings the worry that any runs the latter makes would be nullified by his fielding. It must be said however, that Pakistan can choose few who don't run that risk to a considerable degree.

I think Salman Butt is the man in form. He hit 150 in the warm up and he looked pretty decent in the two innings. Imran Farhat has been scratchy, even his 100 against NZ did not had the stamp of authority.

And I didn't understand what you meant by "that any runs the latter makes would be nullified by his fielding." I thought you meant Fawad Alam, but clearly you must be talking about Salman Butt. Fawad is the best fielder in the team by a mile.

 

[piriyanth]

Feel happy for Hauritz, he finally shut the critics up.

 

[sami ullah khan]

Pathetic and gutless batting combined with school grade cricket fielding lead to this horrible loss for Pakistan. I think Pak deserved every bit of thrashing for recalling no-talents like Faisal and Imran and putting a no brainer like yousaf incharge. Yousaf's lack of any cricket sense showed in his field placing. Only a ****** would place Abdur Rauf at point position. With Yousaf leading the team, I don't even see us beating Bangladesh

 

[srikarr12]

I hope people dont start praising hauritz too soon, hes been in the international arena on and off for a long time. Before we know it he might end up like Kreja........

 

[aussie1st]

It's going to take a lot more than one performance to win over the majority of his critics.

 

[TumTum]

It's going to take a lot more than one performance to win over the majority of his critics.

Don't worry, he's going to get 10 wickets in a match at the SCG.

Hauritz >>>>>>> (Ajmal + Bhajji + Swann)

 

[angryangy]

Oh yeah, it was Imran Farhat who dropped those catches in the first Test. Why was Fawad Alam dropped anyway?

The trouble with gauging Salman Butt's tour match form is that he doesn't play like that in a Test match. He's useless if he can only turn it on when it doesn't matter.

 

[irottev]

Gul should never have been dropped for Rauf. In NZ Gul bowled really well I thought. He was easily the unluckiest. The majority of the dropped catches came off his bowling. Rauf didn't impress me at all.

Also Pakistan dearly missed Kaneria. Ajmal just doesn't cut it. Hopegfully he's fit for the next game. And then if Pakistan can being back in Younis Khan along with those 2 bowlers they'll be much stronger.

 

[sifter132]

:laugh

I still feel we could've won this, even after the initial Johnson burst! :crying

Well as least you're optimistic. The Pakistan tail is awful, so you were basically hoping that Yousuf and K.Akmal were gonna score 150+ themselves

Will Aus play 2 spinners next test? More than a good chance.

Depends on the pitch, and it would take a big pair of balls from Ponting and the selectors, but I can envision it. If it were to happen, I think Smith would come in for Marcus North, then bat at #7 behind Haddin and have 3 quicks, 2 spinners plus Watson, who probably wouldn't bowl too much in that scenario. Hmm, that might be a bit of bowling overkill, but otherwise you are dropping Siddle/Dougie for Smith and that would be too risky given how green Smith is and Australia don't want to make Watson bowl 15+ overs a day to cover for (potentially) crappy spin bowling.

Pathetic and gutless batting combined with school grade cricket fielding lead to this horrible loss for Pakistan. I think Pak deserved every bit of thrashing for recalling no-talents like Faisal and Imran and putting a no brainer like yousaf incharge. Yousaf's lack of any cricket sense showed in his field placing. Only a ****** would place Abdur Rauf at point position. With Yousaf leading the team, I don't even see us beating Bangladesh

Wow. Harsh my friend. Did you watch? I thought Australia bowled better than usual, in particular Mitch Johnson wasn't offering as many loose ones as he normally would. Not many of the dismissals were ridiculous, I can only cite K.Akmal's stumping in the 2nd and maybe U.Akmal in the 1st who was going too hard at the ball, especially since he'd just reached 50 with a big nick through the slips. Everyone else was bowled out, so perhaps you can credit the bowlers?

And Abdur Rauf was at point for ONE BALL!!! He was at deep point or third man, until Watson reached 99. That was hardly the worst offence. U.Akmal's drop of Katich on 8 was awful, straight to him - unlike Rauf's catch which was NOT straight forward, despite all the media reports. He ended up on the ground - that's not straight forward/dolly/easy.

It's going to take a lot more than one performance to win over the majority of his critics.

Indeed. He cashed in on a very weak tail nicely today. He ripped one through Faisal and never got one turning like that again, got a lazy Yousuf at the end when it was basically over and Akmal committed suicide. Wasn't exactly Warne like I'm sorry. Mitch J deserved the 5fer, not Hauritz.

 

[BKB1991]

Kudos to Australia they deseved it. The opening over Johnson bowled was superb. Unfortunately for him he couldnt take a hat-trick as the bowl to Akmal was top notch. The bowl that got rid of Misbah was unbelievable was probably the best of the game.

We made a mistake with Abdur Rauf. Firstly you are bringing in a new bowler against the no.2 Test team in the world. Then you dont have enough faith in him. The Aussies saw that he was low on confidence and chose him as the weak link. If the team wanted to go for Rauf then Yousef should have showed much faith in him.

The batting in the first innings wasnt good enough for us. The fact that the Australians declared at 450/5 for 5 shows us how easily they could have murdered us and then we get rolled over at 250

For the next game I would only like to drop Rauf, and probably bring in Gul or Kaneria. Conditions permitting I would like to see two spinners, otherwise if Kaneria reachs full fitness then I would prefer him over Ajmal, as the Aussies seemed to have worked him out to an extent. I would like to give chances to both Iqbal and Misbah seeing it isnt fair on to either of them to be dropped. IMO Younis deserves to be in the team, but you cant just chuck out Iqbal, he was unlucky with his dismissal because that Hauritz delivery spun alot. The Pakistan team shouldnt just press the panic button yet. As a side we need to improve but changes come gradually and we need to be a bit more patient.

 

[aussie1st]

Depends on the pitch, and it would take a big pair of balls from Ponting and the selectors, but I can envision it. If it were to happen, I think Smith would come in for Marcus North, then bat at #7 behind Haddin and have 3 quicks, 2 spinners plus Watson, who probably wouldn't bowl too much in that scenario. Hmm, that might be a bit of bowling overkill, but otherwise you are dropping Siddle/Dougie for Smith and that would be too risky given how green Smith is and Australia don't want to make Watson bowl 15+ overs a day to cover for (potentially) crappy spin bowling.

Agree, would be way too risky to drop a seamer especially for Smith. If it was Warne then it wouldn't be a big risk but Smith on debut and still a bit iffy isn't what you want. Hes in great form with his batting and has the ability to perform under pressure and steady the ship or hit out so could be a decent option at 7.

Indeed. He cashed in on a very weak tail nicely today. He ripped one through Faisal and never got one turning like that again, got a lazy Yousuf at the end when it was basically over and Akmal committed suicide. Wasn't exactly Warne like I'm sorry. Mitch J deserved the 5fer, not Hauritz.

He needed a lot of help to get that to turn as well. In India he was turning a through both the ODIs and T20 so the SCG should provide him with a similar deck. Surely he can get some turn there.

 

[drainpipe32]

Good game that for the Australians. Hauritz must be pleased, he bowled well. Johnson looking very good.

Younis Khan......

 

[Dabi]

Well as least you're optimistic. The Pakistan tail is awful, so you were basically hoping that Yousuf and K.Akmal were gonna score 150+ themselves

Basically yeah! I feel both have it in them to do it! Alhough Kamran made the worst offence, coming halfway down and trying to hit the ball for 8 when there really was no need! :

For the next test though I gope they bring in Sami for Rouf (I saw his FC games this season, he was really swinging it). Although we are really in a strange position where the three seamers gunning for the third seamer spot are either tried and tested failures at test level (Sami), can only bowl gun-barrel straight without even a hint of movement either way (Gul) or do not look like test class at all. It's like picking the best of the worst. Ajmal is a great ODI bowler but he doesn't have the mentality of a test spinner, I am not a fan of Kaneria but he'd have to do. Going with two spinners is only going to work if the second spinner is a wicket taker which Ajmal clearly is not! I hope they drop Faisal Iqbal for Fawad although the problem is that they will either play Fawad as an opener or at numbr 3 and the guy is ideally suited for the number 6-7 position. I know he can score runs lower down the order but they keep on insisting he either play at the top of the order or not play at all! Yousuf should come at three if there's no Younis.

 

[Paki007]

I dont Understand that why selectors are showing much confidence on Rauf that he replaced Umar gul in the team Wth Pakistan cant win matches as long as they select a good team on basis of talent not on personal relations

 

[faizan.hp]

I dont Understand that why selectors are showing much confidence on Rauf that he replaced Umar gul in the team Wth Pakistan cant win matches as long as they select a good team on basis of talent not on personal relations

It was a fair selection tbh. He performed well in the warm ups both in NZ and AUS. But I dont think he will make it into the playing XI of second test.