Talking Points After Pakistan’s Consolation Victory At Centurion

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Pakistan’s T20 Series Defeat In South Africa, Pakistan’s Consolation Victory At Centurion, Remaining Matches Of PSL 5
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The green shirts ended their otherwise disappointing tour to South Africa yesterday, with a victory in the final T20 of the series by 27 runs. Hence, here is a look at talking points after Pakistan’s consolation victory at Centurion that made way for the three match series to end 2-1.

Read: Talking Points After PCB Retains Sarfraz Ahmed Till The World Cup

Shadab The Difference Between The Two Sides

Asia Cup, 2018, Pakistan’s Consolation Victory At Centurion

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Shadab Khan once again proved his worth as a match winner. His cameo with the bat (22 of 8 balls with 3 sixes) and the two important wickets that he took with the ball allowed Pakistan to sail to a comfortable victory. Hence, it is fair to say that the 20 year old was the difference between the two sides.

Read: A List Of Mickey Arthur’s Favorite Boys Who Must Not Play The Third T20

Fakhar, Rizwan, Asif and Faheem Disappoint Again

Sarfraz Ahmed In Serious Trouble, Pakistan’s Consolation Victory At Centurion

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Mohd. Rizwan was promoted up the order for yesterday’s game and Asif Ali too came in to bat with plenty of overs to go. However, both of them despite receiving ample and frankly unnecessary backing from Mickey Arthur, once again proved themselves to be liabilities that Pakistan needs to do away with. Faheem Ashraf (another favorite boy of Mickey) too was ordinary with both bat and ball.

Pakistan’s ODI series in South Africa, Pakistan’s Consolation Victory At Centurion
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The fact that Fakhar Zaman requires some time away from the game was also ignored and therefore, he too failed to impress again. So, the time now seems right for Ehsan Mani, the Chairman, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to intervene and curtail Mickey’s influence in the dressing room.

Read: Talking Points After Pakistan’s T20 Series Defeat In South Africa

The Curious Case Of Mohd. Hafeez?

PSL, 2019 Player Draft, Pakistan’s Consolation Victory At Centurion
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Mohd. Hafeez performed well during Pakistan’s previous T20 series against the Kiwis in UAE. Nevertheless, in absence of Sarfraz the head coach, Mickey Arthur probably showed his bias again by not selecting him for a single game even though, wickets prepared for the T20s clearly suited the senior all-rounders style of play. May be, Hafeez wasn’t fit but then he should have been sent back and a replaced with somebody young. I mean why do you want to carry unfit cricketers on such tours?  

Read: Pakistanis Can’t Contain Their Happiness As Sana Mir Becomes First Asian Woman To Play 100 T20Is

Mickey and Malik Deserve Criticism For The Series Loss

PCB Retains Sarfraz Ahmed Till The World Cup, Pakistan’s Consolation Victory At Centurion
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Malik’s ordinary captaincy and Mickey Arthur’s bias selection policy for sure, were the reasons why Pakistan lost its first T20 series in over 2 and half years. It made no sense to play Usman Shinwari ahead of Mohd. Amir and persist with Asif Ali ahead of Mohd. Hafeez for the rubber. As already said, in case of Mickey Arthur in particular, it has become important to devise a strategy that allows in minimizing his influence while finalizing playing elevens for important games as clearly his bias towards certain individuals is now hurting Pakistan’s progress.

1 COMMENT

  1. Babar Azam needs to pick his standard of game a little bit more. He starts of well but there is a dip in his strike rate after the initial initiative perhaps some fitness issues. Talat, asif, shadab, rizwan and faheem are good for nothing.

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