Pakistan in Australia

Originally posted by zuhair_abbasi Forget it matey. It won't be 3-0 at all. 2-1 either way is my prediction. Gul has got injured and I hope they now play the talented Rauf instead of Sami. Yousuf will be the top scorer from Pakistan. Shoaib AKhatr was on TV last night and said that the most threatening of Aussies bowlers will be Bollinger - he said Bollinger does not look that threatening from the tele but will really cause problems.

I was just kidding Zuhair! but Honestly I believe it won't be a one sided series. I give PAK an outside chance of winning this, although AUS will start as favourites. I'm not a guy who likes to predict so I won't predict the scoreline.

I doubt if Yousuf will be the top scorer though. He has been struggling a bit. I'm not saying this out of favoritism but I believe both the openers (Butt and Farhat) will have a good series and they may surprise everyone. I'd also love to see Malik back in the side.

Neither do I spinny. Farhat is a compulsive hooker (of the cricket ball) and will easily be trapped. I do expect the middle order to do the bulk of scoring.

Bowling will largely rest on the spinner and Aamer. I don't see Asif doing much at MCG. Pakistan bowlers will have to alter their lengths in Australia and have to increase their pace an extra yard.

Asif is a good bowler no doubt but he is no Glenn for sure.   And I have seen him struggling on bouncy tracks - he needs to alter his length and increase his pace a bit to be successful at the MCG - that's my two cents.

They will surely play Kaneria - but I think Ajmal would have been more effective. But nothing much in it really.

I would hate to see Sami play ahead of Rauf. Rauf is a far better bowler than Sami and by the way to be better than Sami you don't have to be too good anyways. Reports are that Gul is fit, so he might play.

Butt
Farhat
Faisal Iqbal
Yousuf
Umar
Misbah/Malik
Kamran
Aamer
Gul
Asif
Kaneria


This is not the team I would want ideally - but this is the team they will most likely play. I would want to see Fawad play but his chances are slim.

Well if Gul doesn't play, Sami is surely going to play. Yousuf is not going to play Rauf because he was the one who asked for Sami to be sent. yes they may well play Malik because of his offies in the absence of Ajmal. its going to be one real good test series.

Good day for the Aussies, 305/3 in a days play is fair enough. PAK missed their chances early on and seriously I cannot understand the selection of Misbah here. Yousuf and Malik don't go along well and I think Yousuf is playing his favorites here. Misbah failed in both the tests in NZL and again in the warm up game, and then he dropped an easy catch of Watson today... add to that this man is 35 already and doesn't even have an exceptional record to be playing on reputation this is as pathetic a selection as I've seen in my life! Malik's bowling would have helped ease the burden on the four regular bowlers as well.

Sami has just arrived in AUS and I think Gul is not fit so Rauf got his chance and was well below par, surely there are better bowlers in Pakistan than Rauf. I cannot understand why is he touring. The only positive is that he is a fair enough batsmen and gives some depth to the lower order. Ajmal is a good ODI bowler but I still don't see him as a test level bowler, I don't know if Danish was injured or what but he surely would have done a lot better than saeed although I'm not a big fan of Danish either.

PAK need to pull back things now, their batters will have to bat well, this game is far from over, Asif was the best of the bowlers as always, Aamer bowled well although without any luck. They'll nedd to get some early wickets tomorrow.

Edited by sam_ahmed - 26 December 2009 at 7:33am

This day is the Aussies day - as usual, Aussies take day one with 3 wickets down which perfectly sets them up for an onslaught on day 2.  Asif showed why he's a very fine bowler, they couldn't get away from him so easy even at his not so fast pace.

Watson showed what a great team man he was there doing his best to get his team mate dismissed in the run out situation.

what are you on about mystery??

Originally posted by bondy what are you on about mystery?? watson showed to everyone his true character in his childish actions toward gayle who is obviously the better cricketer.

I'll agree Watson is definatly childish,but I don't think Gayle rates that far ahead on an allround basis.
Watson's bowling is much more deadly then Gayle's were as Gayle is definitely the better batsman.

....There's my two cents and a nickel.

I was thinking yesterday that if Pakistan can bat till Tea and avoid the follow on they'll have a chance to save the game, that's exactly what they did but it still looks difficult. AUS may bat till one hour after lunch tomorrow and get a lead of around 450-470, that'll mean that PAK will have to bat out 4 1/2 sessions or score the required runs. I can't see them scoring the required runs so it's basically batting out the sessions, pretty much like how they did in the last test in NZL.

This is a real test of character for the pakistani team and they should rise to the occasion, if they can save this test they'll go in to the rest of the series believing that they can perform at the very highest level and beat the very best. A lot will depend on the openers and it'll be vital for PAK to get off to a solid start, Butt has looked good in the first innings and it's important that he and Farhat carry on their recent good form, if the openers fail, PAK will not be able to save this.

A word on Misbah, he played very well today and has forced me to shut my mouth. I think there are better options than him available for PAK but as long as he performs I have no problems with him in the side. I'm very happy for him and the way he played today.

I think Pakistan have the bowling line up (with Umar Gul & Kaneria) to take 20 wickets. They are good enough for this australian batting. What i am missing is the trust to win. They are not beleaving to win here and playing so negative cricket here. They bowled very tight line to the australians but never attacked them. It was all defensiv pakistan. You cant win against Australia with such a negative stratergy in Australia. They have to think positive and attack the australians and not letting them doing what the want.

I think Pakistan have better bowling line up than India and West Indies but they are always more dangouras because they have no fear from australia and they are rightly earning respect from them.

Pakistan definetly lose this game. Only rain can save them. Icant understand the pakistani ideas to bat. They can only scorewith boundaries. Some Batsmen are only stopping the balls and some are attacking too much. Kamran Akmal showedagain that he can not play according to the situation. He got 2 boundaries in the over and wanted more. Maybe he played that as a T20 game or he didn't trust Misbah.
Pakistan need some Batsmen for the test level to win test matches.

I do agree with kahmed here, but to be honest Yousuf is a very very defensive captain and that's the way he'll go about it. even in that last test against NZL, PAK batted so slowly that eventually when they got bowled out NZL were within striking distance of winning the game, Rain saved them that time.

I cant understand why Pakistan have gone so defensiv again after the dismissal of Haddin. They have attacked the australians and got there wicket. They should have attacked Watson too instead of delaying his hundred. I thought Pakistan had a good chance to bowl them out under 200 but they have gone so defensiv again.

Australia need just 1 wicket to win this. As long this wicket is staying pakistan is in with a chance. I think it is still 80 - 20 for Australia.

what surprised me is that Pakistan has taken this test to day 5. They have really done well for that. They have only one option left to go after that total. If they try to draw it and let the control to the aussies then they will lose it easily. they have to put Australia under pressure by scoring runs.

Again bad fielding from Pakistan. Rauf spoiled all the hard work done by the bowlers to get Watson's wicket. its very demotivating for the bowlers in such situations. His wicket would have bring joy in the pakistani dressing room because it was planned with a lot of hard work.

There is no way Australia can loose this match. If Pakistan can get there, Ponting shouldnt be critisised for the decleration. He has done it to win this match.

Im not sure about that, think of Cardif in the ashes for example. If Australia had another 15 overs maybe they woulda won it...