Analysis of the approach adopted by Pakistan

[THX_1138]

A rather fortuitous display if you ask me, though nonetheless, had we taken all the chances that did come our way, at the very worst, pakistan would have ended up with a dozen or so runs less than the current 299. which begs a rather pertinent question: how meritorious is this rather orthodox approach of gradual accumulation at the start before a sprint to the end? consider for example the junction where malik retired and younis was dimissed... a rather lathargic over by praveen permitted yousuf to accumulate a few boundaries that helped bolster his confidence and permitted him and his partner to avoid the high risk loften shots. and thus, pakistan motored along when in slightly different circumstances, they could have had major egg on their face. So is this orthodox approach from the days of the first few editions of the world cup, long since abandoned by the advent of evergreen strokemakers such as jayasuriya and co.; worth the effort and the potential risk of a self engineered debacle? Personally i feel the assumption that with wickets in hand a later inning sprint is inevitable is a huge assumption and certainly not guaranteed success. On the other hand, a fortuitous wicket could give the opposition considerable confidence and momentum, especially if the wicket comes when one is looking to step on the gas. Infact, for some time now, India has succeeded not by adopting this approach but a quick flourish at the start... a metronomic accumulation thereafter and finally a sprint in the end... and even if this late order sabre rattling is not successful, a steady run rate from the start usually provides an adequate total. for instance, today, inspite of their spectacular start along with the younis-malik partnership, pakistan ended with less than 300... a good 30-40 short of what they seem set for.

[DomainK]

Not a great approach IMHO. You should do it only when you know that you not have a very good batting lineup. Otherwise, its foolish to give away the power play over so cheaply. You should do it when you know that apart from 2/3 batsmen, you can not rely on the rest. And additionally, Pakistan have been having problems with their opening. SO it made sense for their openers to play more cautiously. You wouldnt want to see Sehwag and GG play like that. And on what basis did you deduce that the catches would have reduced the target by a dozen only? Thats ridiculous. 4 catches could very well have changes the game completely.

[THX_1138]

Not a great approach IMHO. You should do it only when you know that you not have a very good batting lineup. Otherwise, its foolish to give away the power play over so cheaply. And on what basis did you deduce that the catches would have reduced the target by a dozen only? Thats ridiculous. 4 catches could very well have changes the game completely.

well i must admit i did not witness the entire match, but if you recall, the two dropped chances of malik were a mere over or 9 balls before he did infact retire... and the missed chance of yousuf, or was it misbah, did not hurt us much as he played only 6 more delieveries in the game thereafter, scoring about 10 odd of them.

[theguyinallblue]

How effective is Pakistan's Strategy i am not sure what their strategy will be if they are chasing.. But On flat pitches in Indian sub-continent... winning the toss and electing to bat first.. No assistance to bowlers in the day-night game..so even the morning advantage is not there for the bowlers. Pakistanis bat slowly for 25 overs..with 100-110 runs for no loss or at loss of 1 wicket.. and go berserk in middle and last overs..when spinners will be on attack..with wickets in hand.. This strategy assumes a lot of things.. 1. Wicket will be flat, and there will be no loss of wickets in power plays 2. Spinners will get no assistance from the pitch in middle overs. 3. There won't be a collapse. Now the drawbacks of this strategy is that they completely waste the 20 overs of power plays... what if they lose 4 wickets between 25 -35 overs.. ( mini collapse)..there will have to consolidate and this will lead to more wastage of overs...and hence low target to defend. this strategy can only be effective if playing with 5 specialist bowlers..as batting team can afford to lose 5-6 wickets between 25-45 overs..and still score decent runs..

[THX_1138]

i have created a similar thread... would you consider merging them?

[theguyinallblue]

yeah..ask the mods.

[DomainK]

Even I didnt watch much.....so, I will trust you. BTW, considering the fact they were going at 2 an over for a long time, even one wicket would make it look like crisis. With this strategy, they are relying far too much on luck and poor bowling.

[THX_1138]

Even I didnt watch much.....so, I will trust you. BTW, considering the fact they were going at 2 an over for a long time, even one wicket would make it look like crisis. With this strategy, they are relying far too much on luck and poor bowling.

it was more like 3.7-4 an over till the first 15-16 overs, which yes indeed would put them in a spot of bother if they had lost a wicket, but had they lost two... it would have been a bonafide disaster!

[Temujin Khaghan]

if our guys can take a couple of crucial wickets when they have already wasted a lot of balls and might open up any minute ...say at a stage of 23/0 after 10 overs... then we can simply delay their pre-planned upping of run-rate. our guys should take wickets at the crucial stages.

[DomainK]

it was more like 3.7-4 an over till the first 15-16 overs' date=' which yes indeed would put them in a spot of bother if they had lost a wicket, but had they lost two... it would have been a bonafide disaster![/quote'] If I am not wrong they were going at 2 for the first ten overs.

[msb1991]

India were rather foolish in letting Pakistan build their innings. When Pakistan were defending, India should have attacked with agressive fields and full bowling - Dhoni should have spotted quickly that Pakistan were batting unnaturally slowly and it wasn't simply down to good bowling.

[chamatkar]

Against the current Indian side that policy would work. mainly because the middle overs are owned by chawla/pathan(IS/YK)/part-timers and while they can trouble new batsmen, a set batsman can do well against them. Chawla is still not a restrictive enough bowler. That being said, they need to pace their 1st 15 ovs based on the total expected at the end of the match. If it's a 300+ pitch, then 3RPO is definitely not the way to go, but 4-4.5 is more like it. Today was no indicator, since Gul being there would've made it a different ballgame.

[THX_1138]

If I am not wrong they were going at 2 for the first ten overs.

i cant be certain, i was not watching those initial oves, but yeah i will defer the benefit of doubt to you... nonetheless, a run rate of 2 to about 4 is just as miserable.

[Guest BossBhai]

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[THX_1138]

They will be happy with this strategy say 8 out of 10 times ..... and 280-300 is a darn good score batting first even against the Indian batting lineup. Not easy to chase that kind of a target.

well i am curious if this strategy is dated under the current paradigm, not just for pakistan but for any team in the world. mind you, we have employed it ourselves on numerous occassions recently, or atleast in the past few years: for instance, the 350 we scored against pakistan in 2004's first game... now ancient history but we did begin slow and then sprinted towards the end. furthermore, in the 2005 series, tendulkar was absolutely clinical in this approach... he would blunt the new ball attack for the first 10-12 overs and then attack before yuvraj and dhoni finished the affair...

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[umpire]

We actually faltered in the slog overs and did not score many. The start given by Sehwag and few noballs helped our cause and it was just matter of playing 50 overs. At one point we were in position to score 400. We are going at 8 rpo until 20 over mark.

[DomainK]

We actually faltered in the slog overs and did not score many. The start given by Sehwag and few noballs helped our cause and it was just matter of playing 50 overs. At one point we were in position to score 400. We are going at 8 rpo until 20 over mark.

I dont think we faltered. I think Dhoni and YS deliberately took it easy to ensure a big margin win. The scoring was done....there was no need to pace anymore. If it wasnt for that attempted six by Yuvi, we would have won by 7 wickets. But even a victory by six wickets is so demoralizing for the losing side. Next time their openers would be under immense pressure to score fast.

[Gambit]

This strategy used to work wonders for Pak in the 90s, with the prime example being the 1999 world cup. Pak used to send it Razzaq at 3 just to block the ball and protect the middle order. Pak used to be something like 150-160 with 6-7 wickets in hand at the 40th over mark. And given that they were masters of hitting at the death back then, they used to end up between 240-280. This worked wonders for them because they had the bowling to defend these scores. Now, given their abysmal bowling, this strategy obviously will not be as successful for them as it was back then.

[theguyinallblue]

naaah .... Sehwag Made 79 in that game ... IIRC the score crossed 100 in about 15 overs ... Rana Naved going for 21 runs in One over ... The commentary team at that time of Dean Jones and Robin Jackman was priceless .... they were literally swooning like a teenager at what Sehwag was doing ... Point is I never recall us being 20 ish at end of 10 overs ....

actually Bossy...if you recall...during the tour of recent Eng tour....in ODI series...how Sachin and Ganguly will bore us for first 10 overs.. thats one of the reasons we lost the ODI series...we just could not get the start..in that series.... and best thing is that..Ganguly would get out after consuming those many balls..