June 19, 2019 issue

Cricket

Time to completely revamp Pakistan cricket: Ramiz Raja

Ramiz Raja, Pakistani cricket commentator and former cricketer.

After Pakistan's seventh World Cup defeat to India on Sunday night, former cricketer Ramiz Raja called for introspection and revamping the structure of cricket in the country.
Lambasting the national team's poor showing, Raja said: "I believe it is the right time [to revamp] as I think Pakistan's World Cup campaign has almost ended because their net run rate is below all other teams' except Afghanistan."
This is Afghanistan's second World Cup campaign.
"It is very difficult for Pakistan to be among the top four teams even if they win all their remaining fixtures of the tournament," Raja predicted.

Fakhar Zaman
"Every defeat is followed by introspection and opportunity. Every defeat needs a change. I feel that the time has come to completely revamp Pakistan cricket."
"Your World Cup ends when you lose to India. And if you lose after such a no-show, then your fans will be angry with you. Your system, captaincy and skills will be challenged. When you don't learn from your mistakes then there will be frustration," he explained.
Raja was of the view that Pakistan needed to swap out some old players with fresh blood.
"This should have been done much earlier, as I believe with two 38-year-old players, you can never win a World Cup."
Babar Azam
Raja said that the skill level of Pakistani cricketers had deteriorated over the last two years.
"It was promised that the 'unpredictable' tag would be removed, but that tag has become more prominent now," he said.
"The win against England was an anomaly. In fact, they should have conceded defeat in every match."
"A team gets five years to prepare for the World Cup and become competitive," he said, adding that during the last five years, Team Pakistan had failed to improve their skills.
The former skipper said that Sarfraz Ahmed, who was a number six or seven batsman, was batting at number five, which clearly showed that there was a problem and Pakistan had unfortunately been unable to produce quality batsmen during the past five years.
Mohammed Amir
"What is the benefit of Babar Azam's talent if he will not lead the team to win? What is the benefit of Fakhar Zaman to play the opening slot if he can't play like Rohit Sharma? The difference between the two teams was that when Indian bastmen became set, they pulled their batting till the end."
He said that in a pressure match against their arch-rivals, Pakistan had decided to bowl first after winning the toss. He said that there was also a question mark over the decision to go with two spinners against India, who were known to play havoc with spin.
He also noted that Hassan Ali was not bowling at the right length and hence should be given a rest "as you cannot play him with such a consistency".
Sarfaraz Ahmed
"He has been the most expensive bowler for Pakistan in all World Cups now. Similarly, Wahab Riaz was also unable to bowl even a single Yorker [against India]."
"Barring Mohammad Amir, you don't have a bowler who can create problems for Indian batting. He [Amir] was the only bowler who has been fighting from the one end."
He said that skill-wise Indian players were at the top, while Pakistanis were at the bottom.
He said unless Pakistani players' minds don't match their skills, they will not be able to defeat India.
 
Coach Arthur wants Pakistan to summon 'cornered tigers' spirit
Pakistan's Head coach Mickey Arthur has vowed to remind his players of the "cornered tigers" spirit which Imran Khan instilled in his teammates to win the 1992 World Cup.
An 89-run defeat by arch rivals India in Manchester on Sunday left Pakistan's hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals hanging by a thread, with only minnows Afghanistan below them in the 10-team table.
Yet Pakistan now find themselves in exactly the same position as when they won the 1992 World Cup – a tournament which, like this one, featured a round-robin group phase.
They now have three points from five matches with only one win – a surprise success against hosts England – three defeats and a no-result.
As happened in 1992, Pakistan started this World Cup with a defeat by the West Indies.
But 27 years ago they had a famous rained-off match against England at Adelaide and that single point gained from the washout helped Pakistan sneak into the semi-final.
Then they beat minnows Zimbabwe, and lost to South Africa and India, before defeating Australia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand in their last three group matches.
Pakistan also had to rely on Australia beating the West Indies to claim the last semi-final spot, where they downed co-hosts New Zealand before upstaging England in a Melbourne final.
Khan, now the prime minister of Pakistan, had famously worn a T-shirt with "cornered tigers" written on it and said at the toss he wanted his players to play like tigers.
Arthur lamented Pakistan's start to this World Cup by telling AFP: "It is disappointing to be in such a position. We can't change the past but can influence the future and I will definitely remind my players of the spirit of 'cornered tigers'," the experienced South African coach added.
But Pakistan's task will be tougher than in 1992 as they have to not only win their last four matches but also improve their inferior net run-rate of minus 1.93.
They will also have to hope other results go their way.
Pakistan next play South Africa at Lord's on Sunday before facing New Zealand, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Arthur, whose contract will be reviewed after the World Cup, said he will do his best to lift the team.
"I will be doing everything I can and using all my experience to make this happen," he said.
Arthur, who guided Pakistan to the 2017 Champions Trophy title, said: "I love this team. I love Pakistan so I will definitely use all my experience to inspire this team."
Sunday's reverse meant Pakistan have lost all seven of their World Cup matches against India.
But they also lost a group match to their fellow subcontinental cricket giants in 1992.
"We are extremely disappointed with the defeat but we have to put it behind us and stand together and come back strong," Arthur said.
 
Bangladesh chase 322 to beat
West Indies
Shakib Al Hasan, left, celebrates scoring 50 runs with Liton Das

Shakib Al Hasan's sublime unbeaten 124 helped Bangladesh pull off the second highest chase in World Cup history with a dominant seven-wicket win over West Indies at Taunton.
Set 322 for victory, the Tigers made a rapid start but lost two quick wickets to leave the game evenly poised at 133-3 off 19 overs.
But Shakib took apart West Indies' one-pace attack, reaching his second successive century of the tournament off 83 balls.
He put on 189 with Liton Das, who accumulated calmly before sensationally accelerating, hitting Shannon Gabriel for three consecutive sixes. Das, making his World Cup debut, ended with a brilliant 94 not out off 69 balls, hitting a four to take Bangladesh to their target with 51 balls to spare.
West Indies' 321-8 was built around Shai Hope's measured 96, Evin Lewis' entertaining 70 and a brutal 26-ball 50 from Shimron Hetmyer.
Victory lifted Bangladesh to fifth in the table and maintains their chances of reaching the semi-finals, while also effectively ending West Indies' hopes.
Jason Holder's side will have to win their four remaining games, including tough matches against India and New Zealand, to stand a chance, but they looked stunned after a chastening defeat.
This was no shock, though - Bangladesh have now won five one-day internationals in a row against West Indies and outperformed them in all areas.
West Indies' fast bowlers started the tournament dismantling top-order batsmen but their effectiveness has waned and the lack of a plan B was ruthlessly exposed here – 55% of all deliveries were short despite Bangladesh playing that length with ease.
Openers Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar cut and pulled with aplomb, as did Shakib after Sarkar guided to Chris Gayle in the slips.
It meant Bangladesh never had to panic about the required rate, even when Tamim was brilliantly run out by Sheldon Cottrell – gathering a drive hit back to him and throwing down the stumps in one movement – and Mushfiqur Rahim was caught behind down the leg side.
Still the five Windies pace bowlers kept dropping short or pushing it too full and were punished by Shakib, who hit exquisite drives down the ground and brought up his ninth ODI hundred with a sumptuous cover drive.
A dejected West Indies were hampered by the injured Andre Russell – who earlier made a two-ball duck – barely able to jog after six laboured overs, meaning they had to resort to Gayle's gentle off-breaks, while they were also sloppy in the field.
Das capitalised, knocking it around to reach 50 off 43 balls before hitting his next 44 runs off just 26 deliveries as Bangladesh rushed to victory in front of their joyous fans.
In chasing 322, they beat their own mark in passing 319 against Scotland in 2015, behind only Ireland's successful pursuit of 328 against England in 2011.
Despite posting a challenging total, West Indies could have scored more but for a tame start in which they scored only 32 runs off 10 overs, the lowest first powerplay score of the tournament.
Opener Gayle, who now tends to start slowly and make it up quickly, was unable to do the second part of that approach, nicking Mohammad Saifuddin behind for a 13-ball duck.
Lewis and Hope consolidated in a stand of 116 until the former was caught at long-off for 70 before Nicholas Pooran's entertaining 25, which included him breaking a roof tile with a mighty six, was ended by another miscue.
Hope kept nudging singles, while Hetmyer and Jason Holder, who hit 33 off 15 balls provided overdue brutality, both heaving sixes out of the ground.
Hope fell four short of a century when he clipped Mustafizur Rahman to square leg in trying to accelerate and, while he had anchored the innings well, facing 52 dot balls in 121 deliveries proved costly.
Former West Indies fast bowler Curtly Ambrose on BBC Test Match Special: "West Indies can give you a brilliant performance and then they are very, very ordinary.
"It was a good score but they came out and bowled absolute rubbish and the Bangladesh batsmen capitalised and won this game handsomely. It was a total massacre."
Man of the match Shakib Al Hasan: "I have been working on my batting for the last month and it has been paying off.
"I need to contribute with the ball as well. I am doing OK but I can get better."
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza: "We have a chance to go through but we have to win all of our matches. Shakib has made it in this World Cup. In every match he's doing something exceptional and let's hope it continues."
West Indies captain Jason Holder: "We were probably 40-50 runs short. The wicket played really well but we could have been more disciplined with the ball and we let ourselves down in the field as well."

 
CWC 2019 - Fixtures, Results, Points Table as at June 18
May 30, England v South Africa, London
ENG 311/8; SA 207 (39.5/50 ov, target 312)
England won by 104 runs
May 31, Pakistan v West Indies, Nottingham
Pakistan 105; West Indies 108/3 (13.4/50 ov)
WI won by 7 wkts (with 218 balls remaining)
June 1, Sri Lanka v New Zealand, Cardiff
SL 136; NZ 137/0 (16.1/50 ov, target 138)
NZ won by 10 wkts (with 203 balls remaining)
June 1, Afghanistan v Australia, Bristol
Afghanistan 207; Australia 209/3 (34.5/50 ov)
Aus won by 7 wkts (with 91 balls remaining)
June 2, Bangladesh v South Africa, London
BD; 330/6; SA 309/8 (50 ov, target 331)
Bangladesh won by 21 runs
June 3, Pakistan v England, Nottingham
PAK 348/8; ENG 334/9 (50 ov, target 349)
Pakistan won by 14 runs
June 4, Afghanistan v Sri Lanka, Cardiff
SL 201; AFG 152 (32.4/41 ov, target 187)
Sri Lanka won by 34 runs (D/L method)
June 5, South Africa v India, Southampton
SA 227/9; India 230/4 (47.3/50 ov)
India won by 6 wkts (with 15 balls remaining)
June 5, Bangladesh v New Zealand, The Ova
Bangladesh 244; NZ 248/8 (47.1/50 ov,)
NZ won by 2 wickets (with 17 balls remaining)
June 6, Australia v West Indies, Trent Bridge
AUS 288; WI 273/9 (50 ov, target 289)
Australia won by 15 runs
June 7, Pakistan v Sri Lanka, Bristol
Match abandoned without a ball bowled
June 8, England v Bangladesh, Cardiff
England 386/6; Bangladesh 280 (48.5/50 ov)
England won by 106 runs
June 8, Afghanistan v New Zealand, Taunton
AFG 172; NZ 173/3 (32.1/50 ov, target 173)
NZ won by 7 wkts (with 107 balls remaining)
June 9, India v Australia, The Oval
IND 352/5; AUS 316 (50 ov, target 353)
India won by 36 runs
June 10, South Africa v WI, Southampton
SA 29/2 (7.3/50 ov); WI --- No result
June 11, Bangladesh v Sri Lanka, Bristol
Match abandoned without a ball bowled
June 12, Australia v Pakistan, Taunton
AUS 307; PAK 266 (45.4/50 ov, target 308)
Australia won by 41 runs
June 13, India v New Zealand, Trent Bridge
Match abandoned without a ball bowled
June 14, England v West Indies, Southampton
WI 212; ENG 213/2 (33.1/50 ov, target 213)
ENG won by 8 wkts (with 101 balls remaining)
June 15, Sri Lanka v Australia, The Oval
AUS 334/7; SL 247 (45.5/50 ov, target 335)
Australia won by 87 runs
June 15, South Africa v Afghanistan, Cardiff
AFG 125; SA 131/1 (28.4/48 ov, target 127)
SA won by 9 wkts (with 116 balls rem, D/L)
June 16, India v Pakistan, Old Trafford
IND 336/5; PAK 212/6 (40 ov, target 302)
India won by 89 runs (D/L method)
June 17, West Indies v Bangladesh, Taunton
WI 321/8; BD 322/3 (41.3/50 ov, target 322)
BD won by 7 wickets (with 51 balls remaining)
June 18, England v Afghanistan, Old Trafford
England 397/6; AFG 247/8 (50 ov, target 398)
England won by 150 runs
June 19, New Zealand v S/Africa, Edgbaston
June 20, Australia v Bangladesh, Trent Bridge
June 21, England v Sri Lanka, Headingley
June 22, India v Afghanistan, Southampton
June 22, Windies v New Zealand, Old Trafford
June 23, Pakistan v South Africa, Lord's
June 24, B/desh v Afghanistan, Southampton
June 25, England v Australia, Lord's
June 26, New Zealand v Pakistan, Edgbaston
June 27, West Indies v India, Old Trafford
June 28, Sri Lanka v S/Africa, Chester-le-Street
June 29, Pakistan v Afghanistan, Headingley
June 29, New Zealand v Australia, Lord's (d/n)
June 30, England v India, Edgbaston
July 1, Sri Lanka v Windies, Chester-le-Street
July 2, Bangladesh v India, Edgbaston
July 3, England v N/Zealand, Chester-le-Street
July 4, Afghanistan v West Indies, Headingley
July 5, Pakistan v Bangladesh, Lord's
July 6, Sri Lanka v India, Headingley
July 6, Australia v South Africa, Old Trafford
July 9, *First semi-final: 1st v 4th, Old Trafford
July 11, *2nd semi-final: 2nd v 3rd, Edgbaston
July 14, *Final, Lord's
 
Points Table as at June 18, 2019
 
Holder blames loss on the batsmen
Led by Shakib Al Hasan's second century of the tournament, Bangladesh chased down West Indies' total of 321, on Monday, with seven wickets in hand and 8.3 overs to spare, making it the joint second highest successful run-chase in a world cup game and the highest against West Indies in the tournament history. Yet, West Indies skipper Jason Holder believes it was the batting that let the team down on the day, with the batsmen falling 40 to 50 runs short of what should have been the total they should've piled on in Taunton.
"I felt that at the halfway we were still a few short," Holder said after the loss. "Probably, I reckon, a par score on this wicket, with the dimensions of the ground, probably 360, 365, maybe 370. And we were well short of that... If you look at the context of the game and the way Bangladesh scored in comparison to what we did, I think we probably, arguably roughly 40, 50 short."
Explaining the idea behind their batting, Holder said, "We knew up front in the first ten overs we had to really knuckle down and get through that period. That probably was the toughest period of the innings. But I think we should have been able to rotate the strike a little better and find the boundary a little bit with a little more freedom.
"It was good that he (Hope) went deep but probably we could have asked him to show a little bit more intent. Having said that we still were losing wickets at crucial ends of the stages. We needed one of the top four players to go through. He got down to the end, but unfortunately, it wasn't enough today."
The other key factor that resulted in Bangladesh's canter towards the massive score was the inability of the West Indian pacers to take wickets with the new ball. Having assembled a six-man pace battery for the previous game against England, which didn't prove to be of much help due to a low-score to defend, West Indies stuck to the same philosophy against Bangladesh - minus Carlos Brathwaite, who was dropped to accommodate an extra batsman (Darren Bravo). It failed again. With the wicket holding up a bit when the Bangladesh spinners were in operation and several left-handers in Bangladesh's top order, it seemed a questionable decision to not play Ashley Nurse.
However, Holder said there was more issue with the execution by the pacers than the plan to play them. "The quick bowlers could have done their job," he said. "If you look at their spinners, they didn't cause much of a threat. Shakib is the only one, I think, who got wickets. Mehedi struggled. We pretty much scored off him freely. So, no regrets there.
"With 321 on the board, we still go out there, fight and make a game of it. We needed new ball wickets. We didn't get it today. They batted well. Shakib came in really well. And Liton Das played really well. Gotta give them credit.
 
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