England's tour of Pakistan

 

England's tour of Pakistan is a welcome return of international cricket in Pakistan. Now Pakistan is no longer a no-go zone in cricketing world and we no longer have to depend on neutral venues like the UAE for our home matches.

England start as clear favourites over Pakistan in this home series of 7 matches played in Karachi and Lahore. England have got great strikers and clean hittters in their batting line up whereas Pakistan only have Asif Ali who can really hit the ball hard. Asif Ali is not dependable as was seen in his performances in Asia Cup. Pakistan have included Shan Masood who will give stability in the middle order.

Pakistan  once again depend a lot on the opening pair of Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam. Of which Babar Azam is in poor form as indicated by his performance in Asia Cup. Things are looking gloomy for Pakistan with Babar Azam not in good form and Shaheen Afridi absent due to Injury.

In the end I would like to say with England winning the last Twenty20 series 2-1 in 2021 against Pakistan. England are the clear favourites over Pakistan in this series too.

Pakistan's performance in Asia Cup 2022

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Pakistan's performance in Asia Cup was good as they reached the final of Asia Cup 2022.  This was Pakistan's best performance in Asia Cup since  the  2014  Asia Cup as they were runners up in 2022 Asia Cup. In 2016 Asia Cup they failed to go beyond first round and in 2018 Asia Cup they were eliminated in super four losing to India and Bangladesh.

Pakistan won after a good chase in the super four clash against India. Against Afghanistan they faltered chasing a target of 130 which was modest by any means. They were reduced to 118 for 9 at                          one stage before Naseem Shah struck two sixes to rescue Pakistan and become a national hero.           Pakistan defeated Afghanistan by just one wicket in the super four to reach the final of the tournament.

Pakistan were  unlucky  in the final that Fakhar Zaman got out early as he is one batsman who scores his runs quickly. He is the only clean striker and hitter in the Pakistani  batting line up.

Overall I would say that Pakistan did pretty well in the tournament as they defeated arch rivals India on the route to the final against Sri Lanka. Had Pakistan restricted Sri Lanka  to a modest total  of 130 or 140 runs after restricting them to 68 for 5 at one stage Pakistan would have probably won the tournament.                                                   

Asia Cup 2022

Pakistan I am afraid are not the favourites for the Asia  Cup 2022. 

            

                     India on the otherhand look like a strong contender for Asia  Cup.     India have a very strong batting line up  with several star players playing.     Their bowling is very tight showing variation.                   They look like a good all round team.   The Indian team is currently in     great form  and they just dont rely on one or two players.   

Whereas Pakistan cricket team relies on Mohammad Rizwan and  Babar Azam opening pair a lot. If one of them get out Pakistan is doomed for a low total/ Shaheen Afridi is also not playing in Asia cup due to  injury    Shaheen Afridis absence is a big blow as he is one bowler   who gets the main batsmen in opposition out.   The rest of Pakistan's bowling is ordinary.

In the end I predict Pakistan to reach atleast  the Final of Asia Cup as Pakistan is pretty good twenty20 side and the rest of the opposition that is Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are not that strong.                                           

Pakistan -Sri Lanka Test series 2022

 

Sri Lanka is always a tough opposition playing at home and home conditions suits them. This can be judged by the fact that even an invincible team like Australia failed to beat them in the ODI series and test series. Sri Lanka won the ODI series 3-2 and drew the test series 1-1 against Australia. This proves that Sri Lanka are hard to beat at home and Pakistan will have a difficult tour of Sri Lanka.

In the home test series against Australia, it was proven that Pakistani batting is susceptible to reverse swing and they will wilt and collapse under pressure. If this is the case then Sri Lanka are clear favourites over Pakistan. The Sri Lankan pitches are likely to favour spinners and Pakistanis clearly lack an inform spinner. Pakistan look unlikely to bowl Sri Lanka twice with their bowling which clearly lacks depth, penetration and class.

Pakistan cannot depend entirely on Yasir Shah who isnt in form these days and he is no longer the World Class leg spinner that he used to be and he is well past his prime.

In the end I would like to say Sri Lanka are clear favourites to win the test series all because of playing in home conditions.

Pakistan -West Indies ODI series preview 2022

 

The West Indies team of late hasnt been in great form and they are far away from the invincible West Indian sides of 1980s and 1990s. One can judge the West Indian form that they lost a home ODI series against Ireland. Ireland with all respects is a minnow team. West Indies on the tour of Pakistan were further weakened by the absence of Jason Holder and Kemar Roach.

   Pakistan won the first ODI thanks to Khushdil Shah s cameo innings and Babar Azam's century.  Imam ul Haq also chipped in with a useful 67. Pakistan has now the ability to chase 300 plus scores it is an ability which they previously didnt have. In March they chased down a target of 348 runs set by Australia and over here in Multan they scored 306 runs against West Indies. Pakistan have found a match winner and a finisher like Khushdil Shah in Pakistan's middle order which is a great omen for the team. Hopefully Khushdil Shah will do for Pakistan  what Micheal Bevan used to do for Australia.

  In the second ODI Pakistan were bowled out for a below par total of 275. Mohammad Nawaz had other ideas and his big breaking left arm spin ensured that West Indies were bowled out for a small total of 155 and Pakistan winning by a huge margin of 120 runs. Again which is becoming more of a norm Imam ul Haq and Babar Azam had a century partnership which are good signs for Pakistan cricket.

  In the end I would like to say Pakistan has shown in their batting that they will fight all the way and they have an ability to chase down huge totals while batting second.

Ramiz Raja as PCB's chairman

 

Ramiz Raja is not only a famous cricketer but a renowned commentator as well as a great cricket adminstrator as well. Ramiz Raja was Pakistan's 1992 World Cup hero playing a number of match winning knocks as an opener in the 1992 World Cup. His contribution to the 1992 World Cup triumph was vital and critical as he played a number of crucial innings at the top of the order for Pakistan in the 1992 World Cup. He would often see off the new ball which swings early in the innings in order to make it easier for the rest of the batting to come. Imran Khan made a great decision to appoint him as PCB's chairman.

Here are a few great decisions taken by Ramiz Raja during his tenure:

1) The decision to appoint foreign coaches like Matthew Hayden and Vernon Philander for the 2021 ICC twenty20 World Cup. The decision made great dividends as Pakistan reached the Semi Finals of the 2021 ICC World Cup without losing a single match. This performance was a great improvement by the Pakistan cricket team over two previous ICC World cup twenty20 tournaments in 2014 and 2016 where we failed to go beyond the first round.  

2) The decision to appoint Saqlain Mushtaq as head coach and Mohammad Yousuf as batting coach. Under Saqlain Mushtaq's coaching before the home series against Australia, Pakistan won 14 out of 15 international matches played. Our batting showed great improvement under Mohammad Yousuf's coaching as the team chased down a Pakistani record total of 348 runs batting second in the second ODI between Pakistan and Australia at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium.

3) The decision to prepare flat tracks for the home series against Australia. If Ramiz Raja didnt take this decision of preparing such pitches Pakistan might have lost 3-0 to this formidable Australian side in the test series.

In the end, I would like to say that Ramiz Raja being a former cricketer himself understands the game and knows Pakistan's strengths and weaknesses. He being a cricketer himself has vast acumen and knowledge of the sport of cricket. 

Review of Pakistan tour by Australia 2022

 

I am extremely glad that Australia finally toured Pakistan after a gap of 24 years. Unlike the 1998 tour of Pakistan which proved to be a winless series for Pakistan , Pakistan did manage to win a couple of matches this time. Although Pakistan won the ODI series the Australian team was severely depleted for the ODI series missing several star players. Pakistan lost the test series 1-0 and the one off Twenty20 match.

The test series was a hard fought one. Pakistan survived 172 overs in their second innings at Karachi which we all know is a Pakistani fortress venue. If Pakistan had lost the Karachi test they might have lost the series 2-0 to Australia but Babar Azam, Muhammad Rizwan and Abdullah Shafiq came to Pakistan's rescue. The third test saw Pakistan collapsing in their first innings for 7 wickets for 20 runs and Pakistan never recovered in the test match after that collapse.

Pakistan won the ODI series 2-1 which is a reason for all the Pakistanis to cheer as this was Pakistan's first ODI series win over Australia since 2002. The jinx of losing 16 consecutive matches to Australia across all the formats was finally broken in this ODI series. Pakistan also made a record total batting second in the second ODI of 352 runs over Australia.

Overall I would say Pakistan cricket team's performance was okay in this home series as they were facing a formidable and champion Australian team. What worries me is that in the test team we dont have any quality spinner. Our performance as an ODI side improved and credit must be given to Babar Azam and Imam ul Haq.