Pakistan at Cricket World Cup Player by Player Analysis: Pakistan has announced its 15-man World Cup squad.
Misbah-ul-Haq will be serving as the leader of the team while legendary
Shahid Afridi will be his vice-captain. There were numerous
speculations on who should be in and who should be out? The biggest
problem was the position of no. 6 and the inclusion of an all-rounder
who could fight alongside Shahid Afridi. Misbah-ul-Haq
will be serving as the leader of the team while legendary Shahid Afridi
will be his vice-captain. (Photo Source : ZeeNews.India).
Many names were in circulation which included former Pakistan Captain
Shoaib Malik and the newbie Anwar Ali and Bilawal Bhatti. Asad Shafiq
was also in contention after performing so well in the on-going
Pentangular Cup. Veteran Kamran Akmal was thought to make a comeback but
none of the mentioned made it to the final 15.
Fans of a specific country are very vigorous about their team’s
chances in mega-events. A team’s prospect to win rests in its player’s
individual performances. Like drop by drop makes a pool, player by
player makes a collective team effort. We have combined the meticulous
data of Pakistan’s representation at the World Cup. The stats include
each player’s contribution in Australia and New Zealand as well as in
previous world cups. Most experienced in Australia/New Zealand: Shahid Afridi – 41 matches Most experienced in World Cups: Shahid Afridi – 20 matches
Players
Performance in AUS/NZ
Performance in WCs
Matches
Runs
Wickets
Matches
Runs
Wickets
Misbah-ul-Haq
5
203
-
8
248
-
Ahmed Shehzad
5
188
-
5
44
-
Mohammad Hafeez
12
241
8
10
230
11
Younis Khan
15
262
-
16
306
0
Haris Sohail
First Experience
First Experience
Sohaib Maqsood
First Experience
First Experience
Shahid Afridi
41
891
45
20
209
28
Umar Akmal
11
281
-
7
240
-
Sarfraz Ahmed
1
6
-
First Experience
Ehsan Adil
First Experience
First Experience
Yasir Shah
First Experience
First Experience
Wahab Riaz
4
3
8
5
8
8
Mohammad Irfan
First Experience
First Experience
Junaid Khan
First Experience
First Experience
Sohail Khan
First Experience
First Experience
As many as 8 players will be making their World Cup Debut this year while Shahid Afridi will be playing his 5th World Cup. Younis Khan will be playing his forth World Cup and Mohammad Hafeez will be playing his 3rd WC. Captain Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Akmal will be playing their 2nd World Cup.
KARACHI:
Pakistan’s men team cruised to the final of the 2014 Kabaddi World Cup
when they demolished Iran 56-28 in the semi-final in India on Thursday. In
the one-sided battle at Dirba, Sangrur, Pakistan played with great
maturity against Iran, who have improved a lot in the game. In the
final to be played at the Sports Stadium Village Badal Sri Mukatsar in
Bhatinda on Saturday, Pakistan will face India who routed England 54-33
in the second semi-final. Pakistan showed their prowess both in attack and defence against Iran, who made several mistakes in both the areas. At interval, Pakistan were leading 29-15. In the second half, Pakistan kept tight control and sealed a comfortable victory. Muhammad
Khan was the most successful raider for Pakistan who secured seven
points. Captain Shafiq Chishti and Akmal Shahzad Dogar scored six points
each. They were smartly backed by Lala Obaid Ullah, Rehman Ishtiaq
and Mohammad Irfan with five points each. Rana Naeem scored four, while
Khalil got three points. Musharraf Javed Janjua did a fine job in the
defence by scoring five points. Ali Shan got four, and Sajjad Gujjar and
Mohsin Wahla secured three each while defending. In the second
half, Hamid, Ahmed and Mahmood of Iran put some pressure on Pakistan but
failed to prevent them from achieving success. Shafiq dedicated his
team’s huge triumph to victims of Peshawar tragedy. “We were all in
immense grief but even then we demonstrated great patience and managed
to control our sentiments during the match,” skipper Chishti said. Pakistan’s
head coach Ghulam Abbas Butt said the title clash between Pakistan and
India would be a tough one. “I think it will be a treat to watch,” Butt
said. “Our players are in top spirit and I hope we will beat India,” he
said. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s women team were beaten by India 47-19 in the semi-final. In
the play-off for the third place, Pakistan will face Denmark on Friday
(today) at Barnala. Denmark lost to New Zealand 20-41 in the second
semi-final. India, who have been playing competitive kabaddi for the last 12 years, downed Pakistan with enviable ease. Sukhwinder
Kaur, Annu Rani, captain Priyanka Rani, Mandeep Kaur and Premika put up
a fine display to trouble Pakistan who were playing their second World
Cup. Raider Neelum Riaz remained the top scorer for Pakistan with
seven points. Agasta Ajmal, Ammara Razzaq and skipper Madiha Lateef also
made their presence felt with solid performances. Madiha said that her squad was in shock due to Peshawar tragedy. “The
tragic incident in Peshawar also affected our performance. India is an
experienced team and we had to struggle against them,” she said.
BHUBANESWAR:
Putting their disappointing pool campaign behind, an inspired Pakistan
notched up their first win over the Netherlands in 16 years, stunning
the World Cup and Olympic silver medallist 4-2 to reach the semifinals
of Champions Trophy tournament on Thursday.
The 4-2 win was Pakistan's first win over the Dutch in the Champions
Trophy in 12 attempts, a run dating back to 1998 edition of the
tournament in Lahore.
After back-to-back wins in pool stages,
the Netherlands slumped to their second straight defeat in the
tournament and that too against a lower-ranked side. The Dutch had
earlier lost 2-3 against India in their final pool match on Tuesday.
Surprisingly, Pakistan, who returned winless from the pool engagements,
looked a completely different side today as they dominated the mighty
Dutch for major part of the match.
The Netherlands, on the
other hand, looked a pale shadow of themselves as they failed to take
control of the match and lacked in discipline.
Pakistan also
had an impressive record in penalty corners today as they converted
three out of the four set pieces that came their way.
However, it was the Dutch who got off to a flying start when Jeroen Hertzberger powered home a field goal in the sixth minute.
Soon after, Pakistan skipper Muhammad Imran brilliantly saved a Mink
van der Weerden drag-flick off the line to keep their lead intact.
Pakistan depended on counter-attacks today and their plan yielded dividends.
It was Muhammad Waqas who created an opening with his brilliant work in
the right wing for Muhammad Umar Bhutta (16th) and the Pakistani
forward made no mistake to draw level for his side early in the second
quarter.
Muhammad Rizwan Senior then drew a brilliant save from
Dutch custodian Jaap Stockman but Pakistan managed to take the lead
five minutes from halftime when Imran scored with a low flick from a
penalty corner.
The Netherlands leveled the scores four minutes
into the second half through Constantijn Jonker (39th) who neatly
finished Rogier Hofman's driven cross from the right flank.
But
Pakistan kept up the pressure on the Dutch goal and Muhammad Irfan
pumped in two goals in quick succession in the last 10 minutes of the
match to surprise their opponents.
Irfan's both goals came from
penalty corner variations. He first restored Pakistan's lead in the
51st before applying the killer touch a minute later.
Pakistan
will now face the winners of the match between India and Belgium in the
semifinals, while the Netherlands will play classification matches for
fifth to eight positions.
Pakistan coach Shahnaz Sheikh is
understandably a happy man and said they played their best hockey today
after experimenting in the pool stages.
"Our tournament started
today. We played our real game today. What experimentations we had to
do we did in the pool matches," Sheikh told reporters after the win.
"Before departure from Pakistan I said our target is a top four finish."
Asked who he would like to face as opponent between India and Belgium
in the semis, the Pakistan coach said: "Obviously, we want to play
against India because this will help in reviving India-Pakistan hockey."
The Netherlands coach Max Caldas was critical of his team's display today.
"We were disappointing. We lacked discipline. It didn't look like we are ready to win the game," he said.
Pakistan 250 for 7 (Haris 85*, Afridi 61) beat New Zealand 246 for 7 (Taylor 105*, Irfan 3-57) by three wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Video report - Pakistan clinch three-wicket win
Half-centuries from Haris Sohail and an unexpectedly restrained Shahid Afridi revived
a floundering chase as Pakistan won a thrilling first ODI by three
wickets. New Zealand, having hauled themselves out of a mire of their
own thanks to a century from Ross Taylor,
were running away with the game at the three-quarter mark, but Haris
and Afridi snatched it away with breathtaking coolness. Haris finished
on an unbeaten 85, to go with 10 tight overs of left-arm spin earlier in
the day.
When Afridi walked in to bat, Pakistan were six down, and needed 123 off
122 balls. The left-handed Haris was batting on 34, and had played a
couple of lovely lofted drives against the spinners in a fighting
innings that seemed destined to go down as a small positive in a big
defeat. That's all it would have been if Afridi had made a typically
harebrained 15 or 20 at the other end.
But Afridi knuckled down, and brought out his first slog only 21 balls
into his innings. By then, he had picked up boundaries with a screaming
drive over extra cover and a crafty dab behind the wicket, but had
otherwise simply knocked the ball around for ones and twos. That first
slog produced a thick edge to the third man boundary. The next slog came
when he was on 30. He swung and missed and the ball was wide of off
stump.
Feeding off a senior partner who was batting like one, Haris grew in
confidence and reached his half-century with a glance off his hips. The
runs kept flowing, and the decades rolled away from the equation. When
Pakistan needed 40 off 30, Haris smacked James Neesham over mid-off.
With 27 required from 19, Afridi launched Kyle Mills over long-on.
Taylor kept New Zealand in the game, running out Afridi with a direct
hit when 13 were still required, but Wahab Riaz kept his cool at No. 8
to see Pakistan home with three balls remaining.
Three consecutive hundreds in ODIs
Quinton de Kock (2013): 135 (v India), 106 (v India), 101 (v India)
AB de Villiers (2010): 114* (v India), 102* (v India), 102 (v West Indies)
Herschelle Gibbs (2002): 116 (v Kenya), 116* (v India), 153 (v Bangladesh)
Saeed Anwar (1993): 107 (v Sri Lanka), 131 (v West Indies), 111 (v Sri Lanka)
Zaheer Abbas (1982-83): 118 (v India), 105 (v India), 113 (v India)
Ross Taylor (2014): 112* (v India), 102 (v India), 105* (v Pakistan)
Pakistan had left out Umar Akmal, and the lack of urgency in their
new-look top six - among whom Younis Khan boasted the highest strike
rate, 75.33 - was shown up as they began their chase of 247. Never the
most confident chasers, Pakistan lacked thrust at the top of the order,
particularly with Sarfraz Ahmed batting at No. 7. The runs came at a
trickle, and scoreboard pressure produced wickets. By the 18th over,
they were 52 for 4.
Misbah-ul-Haq and Haris then added 34 in 48 balls - which was relatively
brisk going, considering the pace of the innings till then - before
Vettori sent back Misbah with a blinding one-handed grab at mid-on.
Sarfraz sparkled with positivity during his brief stint at the crease,
his strokes finding hitherto unexplored parts of the ground and causing
the team management, possibly, to wonder if his inventiveness would have
been better served up the order. When he holed out to long-on in the
31st over, Pakistan were 124 for 5 and it looked like the game was up.
Sent in to bat, New Zealand had been in a similar situation - 111 for 5
in the 29th over - before Taylor rallied the lower-order to steer them
to 246. Taylor last played an ODI back in January against India, but
showed no signs of having been away, extending his form from that series
to complete his third hundred on the bounce in the format.
The single that took Taylor to 100 caused him considerable pain, a
lifter from Riaz in the final over catching him on his right thumb and
going on to strike him on the neck. By then, though, he had ensured -
via lower-order partnerships with Luke Ronchi, Daniel Vettori and Nathan
McCullum - that New Zealand would set Pakistan a challenging target. At
111 for 5 in the 29th over, they had seemed in danger of falling short
of 200.
With Mohammad Hafeez banned from bowling, there was serious doubt over
how Pakistan would fill their fifth-bowler quota. Their five specialist
batsmen apart from Hafeez had taken a combined haul of three ODI
wickets.
It was a hole New Zealand might have looked to target when they were
sent in to bat, but by the time Haris came on to bowl his left-arm spin,
they were in no position to go after him, having lost two wickets to
Mohammad Irfan in their first 11 overs.
Haris almost had Anton Devcich stumped with his second ball, with only a
faint deflection off the pad causing the ball to elude Sarfraz's gloves
behind the wicket. Haris kept finding sharp, if slowish, turn off the
dry Dubai surface, and bowled with enough control to fulfill the fifth
bowler's quota all by himself, and all in one spell, finishing with
figures of 10-0-39-0.
By that time, New Zealand had lost three more wickets, and Taylor was
waging a lone fight. Apart from a couple of thrillingly precise cuts off
Afridi, he was batting in risk-free fashion, knocking the spinners for
singles down the ground and either side of sweeper cover. He needed
help.
He got that from Ronchi and Vettori, with whom he put on 44 and 58 for
the sixth and seventh wickets. Having receded into the background during
his partnership with Ronchi, Taylor's scoring went up a gear during the
last 10 overs. When Umar Gul dug one in short in the 44th over, he
swatted him away over the midwicket boundary. Given width four balls
later, he slapped Gul away through the covers.
The 200 came up in the next over, and Vettori swung Riaz away for fours
off the first two balls of the 46th, before he walked too far across his
stumps to a yorker. With McCullum and Taylor adding a further 33, New
Zealand ended up taking 78 from the last 10 overs. pakistan
Pakistan 140 for 3 (Sarfraz 76*, Umar Akmal 27*) beat New Zealand 135 for 7 (Anderson 48, Ronchi 33, Tanvir 2-24) by seven wickets Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Opening for the first time in a T20 international, Sarfraz Ahmed
made a breezy unbeaten 76 to steer Pakistan to a seven-wicket win over
New Zealand at the Dubai International Stadium. Sarfraz put on 51 with
Awais Zia for the first wicket, and an unbroken 43 with Umar Akmal for
the fourth wicket, to take Pakistan past their target of 136 with five
balls remaining, Akmal ending the contest with a straight six off James
Neesham.
New Zealand had two good partnerships in the middle part of their
innings, with Corey Anderson involved in both, but struggled either side
of them. Their total was at least 15 short of being genuinely
challenging, even if Pakistan kept the game interesting by losing two
wickets to run-outs.
Sarfraz had only batted once in his four previous T20 games for
Pakistan, at number eight, and he quickly set about showing what a waste
of talent that had been, slapping Mitchell McClenaghan to the point
boundary and stepping down the track to the debutant fast bowler Matt
Henry to sweep him over the fine-leg boundary.
At the other end, Awais Zia looked a little leaden-footed against the
pace of Henry and Adam Milne, but quickly realised he would be best
served giving Sarfraz the strike. The pair brought up Pakistan's first
half-century opening stand in 18 matches before lazy running brought
about its end at the start of the ninth over. When Luke Ronchi threw out
Mohammad Hafeez an over later, when the batsmen unwisely tried to pinch
a leg-bye off a fumble, Pakistan were in a bit of a bother.
Sarfraz, though, wasn't letting the wickets disrupt his flow. He
immediately crashed Corey Anderson for successive fours, and slogged him
for a six over cow corner to bring up his half-century. That over
brought Pakistan 17 runs, and brought the equation down to 59 required
off 54 balls.
Sarfraz simply needed someone to stay with him and Haris Sohail seemed
to be doing that before he swiped McClenaghan straight to the short
midwicket fielder with Pakistan still 39 short of their target. Akmal
came in, having missed out on Pakistan's recent Test upsurge, and
instantly reminded fans of what they had been missing. Henry returned to
bowl the 16th over, and Akmal took three fours off that over, the
middle one a sweet pick-up shot over wide long-on. It was a canter from
there on.
Sent in to bat, New Zealand lost three wickets in their first three
overs, each to a different bowler. Anwar Ali and Sohail Tanvir trapped
Kane Williamson and Anton Devcich lbw, respectively, before Mohammad
Irfan then consumed Ross Taylor with one that lifted from just back of a
length and popped off the shoulder of the bat to point.
Martin Guptill and Anderson rebuilt the innings, picking up a boundary
roughly every other over and putting on 46 off 41 balls. Guptill made 32
before Shahid Afridi bowled him through the gate with a slightly slower
ball.
New Zealand entered their most productive period after the dismissal,
with Anderson and Ronchi bringing up their half-century partnership off
just 32 balls. Anderson's effortless power was in full evidence,
particularly when he pulled Anwar for two flat sixes in the 13th over,
and Ronchi was timing his drives through and over extra cover quite
exquisitely.
At 110 for 4 at the end of the 15th over, New Zealand looked set for 150
at least, but their scoring stalled once Anderson miscued a pull to
deep midwicket two short of 50. Irfan and Tanvir varied their pace
expertly in the last two overs, giving away just nine runs between them
and dismissing Neesham and Ronchi in the process. New Zealand found the
boundary only once in their last five overs, and even that came off the
bottom-edge.
