General Cricket Thread ...
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- prasen9
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Re: General Cricket Thread ...
Our selections have become pretty reasonable in the last few years with some semblance of a plan. Pakistan kicked out or refused to pick three experienced batsmen after Younis/Misbah retired and now their batting is in shambles. SL, whom we steamrolled at their home, is bamboozling Pakistan in the UAE with the spinners doing the damage. Shafiq, Azhar, and Sarfraz are the only experienced batsmen among their top 7. Imho, they should have at least used a few of the other three experienced batsmen they dropped and had 1-2 newcomers instead of this severely inexperienced lineup that is struggling. At the very least, having one experienced opener with one inexperienced one would have helped them. Malik's occasional spin bowling could have helped too. Their selectors seem to be in the random chop and change more!
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Re: General Cricket Thread ...
Selectors cannot do much when there is a lack of quality players available.
- VReddy
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Re: General Cricket Thread ...
Assuming you are referring to Shoaib Malik - didn't he retire after scoring a double century against England? Regd Hafeez - this guy is so inconsistent, I think they are doing the right thing by going with the likes of Babar Azam. They just need a series against India to settle their batting lineup.prasen9 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 08, 2017 3:40 pm Our selections have become pretty reasonable in the last few years with some semblance of a plan. Pakistan kicked out or refused to pick three experienced batsmen after Younis/Misbah retired and now their batting is in shambles. SL, whom we steamrolled at their home, is bamboozling Pakistan in the UAE with the spinners doing the damage. Shafiq, Azhar, and Sarfraz are the only experienced batsmen among their top 7. Imho, they should have at least used a few of the other three experienced batsmen they dropped and had 1-2 newcomers instead of this severely inexperienced lineup that is struggling. At the very least, having one experienced opener with one inexperienced one would have helped them. Malik's occasional spin bowling could have helped too. Their selectors seem to be in the random chop and change more!
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Re: General Cricket Thread ...
Babar Azam has a FC average of sub-40. Very good list A average that has translated into LOIs but nothing there to indicate a test match player.
- prasen9
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Re: General Cricket Thread ...
Ah, you are right. Shoaib Malik did retire. I forgot. The opener, I am talking about Hafeez. He may have been inconsistent, but, he still averaged close to 40. And, he can bowl spin. And, I was talking of Ahmed Shehzad, who is talented but has issues. But, they kept him as a backup. So, the issues are not the issue, I guess. I think Hafeez and Shehzad in the team would have provided some stability to the batting. Shehzad averages around 41. I think it may be wishful thinking to think that you can always get people who average greater than 40-ish while opening. We only had Gavaskar and Sehwag in our entire history who are not in the low 40s.
Hafeez, Shami Aslam (just because he is young and perhaps their future), Ahmed Shehzad, Azhar, Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Sarfraz would have most possibly gotten 138 in I4 in the last test. Hafeez would be the fifth bowler. Or drop Sami Aslam and get an all-rounder and move everyone one position up.
Sin Hombre is right about Babar. Consider Sami Aslam. He averages 35.8 in FC in 43 matches! And, Shan Masood averages 33.94! Sin Hombre is partially right that if these are the best youngsters, they do not have enough talent to choose from. But, then they should not just kick out Hafeez and Sehzad because honestly, selecting these guys on a prayer will not make them international batsmen all of a sudden. Hafeez may be inconsistent, but Masood is consistently bad. He is 27 and has played over 90 FC matches! I would rather have Hafeez.
Hafeez, Shami Aslam (just because he is young and perhaps their future), Ahmed Shehzad, Azhar, Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Sarfraz would have most possibly gotten 138 in I4 in the last test. Hafeez would be the fifth bowler. Or drop Sami Aslam and get an all-rounder and move everyone one position up.
Sin Hombre is right about Babar. Consider Sami Aslam. He averages 35.8 in FC in 43 matches! And, Shan Masood averages 33.94! Sin Hombre is partially right that if these are the best youngsters, they do not have enough talent to choose from. But, then they should not just kick out Hafeez and Sehzad because honestly, selecting these guys on a prayer will not make them international batsmen all of a sudden. Hafeez may be inconsistent, but Masood is consistently bad. He is 27 and has played over 90 FC matches! I would rather have Hafeez.
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Re: General Cricket Thread ...
Shahzad has had a lot of disciplinary problems, he was given numerous chances to sort it out to no avail.
Hafeez's bowling action is suspect, otherwise he wouldn't have been dropped in the first place. Also, he wants to bat in the top 3 where he is a complete liability outside of the UAE. I guess they could have him replace Shan Masood in the middle order.
Pakistan's problem is an inept board, domestic coaching that is stuck in the 80s when cricket was still relatively amateurish and no home matches which is leading to dwindling in local interest over time.
Hafeez's bowling action is suspect, otherwise he wouldn't have been dropped in the first place. Also, he wants to bat in the top 3 where he is a complete liability outside of the UAE. I guess they could have him replace Shan Masood in the middle order.
Pakistan's problem is an inept board, domestic coaching that is stuck in the 80s when cricket was still relatively amateurish and no home matches which is leading to dwindling in local interest over time.
- prasen9
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Re: General Cricket Thread ...
I know about Shahzad, but if he has disciplinary problems why was he in the training camp and why is he listed as an alternate?
Hafeez is better than replacement quality in Asia. This series is in the UAE. The question is whether any of these two openers are better than Hafeez. Even if he cannot bowl, his batting alone is better than the two they have now, imho. He is almost 37. Maybe they want to throw the matches now and have the young openers mature for the future.
I agree with the rest of your contentions.
Hafeez is better than replacement quality in Asia. This series is in the UAE. The question is whether any of these two openers are better than Hafeez. Even if he cannot bowl, his batting alone is better than the two they have now, imho. He is almost 37. Maybe they want to throw the matches now and have the young openers mature for the future.
I agree with the rest of your contentions.
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Re: General Cricket Thread ...
There is an under 19 Asia Cup going on and Nepal has thrashed India. I am in Nepal right now and my business counterparts here were proudly telling me how they beat India and lost narrowly to Bangladesh.
- prasen9
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Re: General Cricket Thread ...
And then Bangladesh beat India and India is out of the cup. Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan are the semi-finalists. Dravid took a next tier U-19 team leaving out Prithvi Shaw and another star. He is experimenting with junior juniors for the longer term he said. I don't understand the logic very well but I trust him. Maybe he feels that Prithvi is better served playing Ranjis.
- PKBasu
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Re: General Cricket Thread ...
Huge egg on Dravid's face. There is really no disguising the fact that he has failed as coach, although he is too revered a figure to be blamed! (Much like the way he led India to disgrace in the 2007 World Cup).
- jayakris
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Re: General Cricket Thread ...
I was surprised to suddenly see this ad today on youtube when I was at some drama channel... I thought it was targeted to me or something, but was surprised that it is from a US insurance company, Amica. Turns out that the company had put it up at their youtube channel today too. Not clear why they suddenly did one long ad with cricket talk. Are they big in India or something? Or trying to target the Indian population in the US? We have seen similar things before, but this was still funny
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeFQBKIQhJ4
But, what is a "donkey drop?"
Jay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeFQBKIQhJ4
But, what is a "donkey drop?"
Jay
- PKBasu
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Re: General Cricket Thread ...
A donkey drop is a really bad ball -- specifically one that is flighted so much that it loops over the batsman's head and lands on the stumps (when it is really successful). More often than not, a donkey drop goes high up and lands somewhere near the batsman and gets walloped for six.
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Re: General Cricket Thread ...
British media is now all in on Smith being the second greatest batsman of all time ahead of Hobbs and Weekes. I am still amazed that so many subcontinental fans fall in for this bait so easily.