Does Pakistan have the right balance in the ODI team?
After an impressive show in the three-Test series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013, Pakistan cricket team has been miserably exposed by the Poms in the opening three matches of the ongoing four-match One Day International series.
Misbah-led Pakistan side has plenty of issues to sort out. They not only appear short of quality batsman, but also lack agile fielders, and an attacking mindset in the field will do them good. The Men in Green have already lost the series but have one game
left to sort out the issues before it is too late. Having lost the first three ODIs quite comprehensively, Pakistan must be eager to win a match to salvage some pride in the series.
Whilst the Pakistan bowlers have lacked penetration in the opening three one-dayers against Poms, the major let down has been the batting. In the series opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 were all out for a mere 130 runs, losing the match by the same margin. The English top
scorer, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AN-Cook-c1026, made 137; his individual score was more than the combined score of the Pakistan team.
In the second game Misbah’s men did give the English bowlers a run for their money but failed to finish the things off, thanks to the fragility of the lower middle order. A better but nonetheless an ordinary batting performance. After failing to perform
in the series opener, the opening duo of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Umar-Akmal-c94595. But after Akmal departure in the 39th over with
179 on the board, nobody could take the responsibility of finishing the things, as wickets kept clattering at regular intervals.
Pakistan lack the much needed balance in its squad, and the worst thing is that they are not quite sure about what to do with the team, as they do not have too many options to play with.
They don’t have a specialist opener to start to bat along with Mohammad Hafeez at the top of the order. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Imran-Farhat-c64218 has been disappointing with the bat, and in the 50 ODIs that he has played, he has failed to impress.
Azhar Ali needs to be developed as a specialist number three batsman, and he will need time and ample chances before he settles into this role for the long term. The rookie top order batsman has the potential, as well as the hunger to score the runs, and
is capable of playing meticulous innings. This was evident in the Test matches.
The middle order of Pakistan, especially the lower middle order should take the responsibility. Flamboyant all-rounder http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 needs to play more sensibly at number 7 and his irresponsibility can further demote him in the batting order. Though he has
been the most penetrative one-day bowler for Pakistan in the recent times, he has not been performing with the bat anywhere close to his potential. Pakistan also lacks a bowler who could be an effective number 8 batsman, like their counterparts have in the
form of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SCJ-Broad-c2465.
The experiment of playing emerging young batsman Umar Akmal as a wicketkeeper, in the absence of a specialist glove-man, is a huge mistake on the account of the Pakistan team management, as the hard hitting middle order batsman is being bogged down by the
additional responsibility of keeping wickets. It was effected his batting.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 needs to alter his tactics. A defensive approach could be successful in Test cricket, where you have enough time to pressurise the opposition, but in One Day cricket one has to be more proactive. Instead of using the spinners for containing
the flow of runs, he should use them as attacking option.
Pakistan also has also lacked a balanced pace attack. There should be someone to share the new ball with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Junaid-Khan-c77037 in
the third game is not going to work in the long term.
After the success in Test match cricket, the English have come on top in the ODI series. Pakistan can be whitewashed in the ODI series but they have no one else but themselves to blame. Their batting frailty, lack of balance, has been exposed by the English
who have got it just right.
They have one final chance to redeem themselves but even if do, a hard long assessment needs to made about the Pakistani ODI set up.
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