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ASIA CUP 2018 - ODI

Arsalan

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Its just over a month to go now, 33 days to be exact. The 14th edition of Asia Cup ODI tournament starts in UAE from September 15, 2018 when Bangladesh takes on Sri Lanka in tournament opener. This year’s tournament will feature defending champions India (who won the 2016 T20 edition), Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and a sixth team which will come from winning the qualifiers to be held in Malaysia from August 29 to September 06 and featuring 6 teams.

The teams are to be divided into two groups with arch rivals Pakistan and India being joined with the team from qualifiers in group A. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will make up group B. Top two teams from each group are to progress to what will be round of Super Four (different than traditional semi-final). Each team will play every other team once on round robin basis with top two teams (point based) to compete for the trophy in Final on September 28, 2018 in Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

The tournament will be a major litmus test being a multinational tournament coming before next year’s world cup.

We will try to follow the matches, games and team discussion here in this thread. Let us all try to keep it civil and not violate forum rules in our hyper excited state of mind (at times). May the best team win (I mean Pakistan :lol: :pakistan:).

 
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Pakistan cricket team seem to be in good form, even though one do not dare to use this as a reliable parameter to analyze the chances of Pakistani cricket team in a major tournament. However, even apart from form, the team seems to be a well-balanced unit. We seem to have finally found a solution to our opening pair troubles with Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq bringing back the memories and promise of Saeed-Amir era. The pair also is a great fit together with explosive batting style and in the air shots from Fakhar complemented by a more calculated and along the ground shots of Imam. The pair is to be followed by Babar Azam at number 3, one of the most promising batting talents of not only Pakistan but internationally as well. He averages 54+ and brings a much needed surety and sense of calmness in the batting order. He will be helped in achieving that by the veteran and sensible Shoaib Malik. These two in middle order guarantee some useful run-a-ball scores in middle of the innings and are to be followed by the Captain Sarfaraz and the explosive Asif Ali both of whom can either accumulate and help resore decency
Pakistan cricket team seem to be in good form, even though it is a not a parameter you usually rely on when analyzing the chances of Pakistani cricket team. However, even apart from form, the team seems to be a well-balanced unit. We seem to have finally found a solution to our opening pair troubles with Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq bringing back the memories and promise of Saeed-Amir era. The pair also is a great fit together with explosive batting style and in the air shots from Fakhar complemented by a more calculated and along the ground shots of Imam. The pair is to be followed by Babar Azam at number 3, one of the most promising batting talents of not only Pakistan but internationally as well. He averages 54+ and brings a much needed surety and sense of calmness in the batting order. He will be helped in achieving that by the veteran and sensible Shoaib Malik. These two in middle order guarantee some useful run a ball scores in middle of the innings and are to be followed by the Captain Sarfaraz and the explosive Asif Ali who can either accumulate of hit it big depending on the situation. Faheem Ashraf at number 7 is not at the Abdul Razzaq level yet but he is a promising talent and will add some useful runs. Number 8 Hassan Ali and number 9 Shadab Khan are not bad with the bat and these three together can contribute with crucial runs at the tail end.


Talk about bowling and we may not be at that Waqar-Wasim level, even the Amir-Asif magic may not be seen here but you can be confident of bowling department when you have at least half a dozen options to choose from who will partner with Mohammad Amir to start the bowling attack. Junaid Khan, Usman Khan, Mohammad Irfan might be the most suitable options. If the management does its homework, we can choose the best option to partner with Amir depending upon the pitch condition. The opposition batsman won’t be relieved to see Hassan Ali coming in as first change either, the lad have been in sensational form and his hard work and consistency have produced a hard to forget 2017/18 for him. Shadab gives an excellent spin option and is supported by Faheem Ashraf who can be devastating on his own on a given day. The bowling department looks good while the batting even better, at least on paper-Something you usually do not get to say about Pakistan Cricket Team.


The coming Asia cup being a major multinational tournament before next year’s world cup will be a good opportunity to gauge strengths and weaknesses, find the most suitable and lethal combination in bowling attack.


As said in the beginning, form or outlook on paper is not something you can really rely on to analyze the chances of Pakistan cricket team in a tournament, and we won’t do that, but I will go on and dare to say that this team have the potential of achieving even greater heights after the Champions Trophy crown of last year. Winning gives you confidence and it is addictive so leaves you carving for more.

Pakistan cricket team seem to be in good form, even though it is a not a parameter you usually rely on when analyzing the chances of Pakistani cricket team. However, even apart from form, the team seems to be a well-balanced unit. We seem to have finally found a solution to our opening pair troubles with Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq bringing back the memories and promise of Saeed-Amir era. The pair also is a great fit together with explosive batting style and in the air shots from Fakhar complemented by a more calculated and along the ground shots of Imam. The pair is to be followed by Babar Azam at number 3, one of the most promising batting talents of not only Pakistan but internationally as well. He averages 54+ and brings a much needed surety and sense of calmness in the batting order. He will be helped in achieving that by the veteran and sensible Shoaib Malik. These two in middle order guarantee some useful run a ball scores in middle of the innings and are to be followed by the Captain Sarfaraz and the explosive Asif Ali both of whom can either accumulate and help restore some decency OR hit it big to pulverize the opposition depending on the situation. Faheem Ashraf at number 7 is not at the Abdul Razzaq level but he is a promising talent and will add some useful runs. Number 8 Hassan Ali and number 9 Shadab Khan are not bad with the bat and these three together can contribute with crucial runs at the tail end.The batting unit overall look very well balanced and one that can hit 290-310 mark consistently.

Talk about bowling and traditionally 290-310 have proven enough for pack of young fast Pakistani bowlers agaisnt any opposition in any conditions. They have been good and bowling have been the tool Pakistan have emplyed ever so often to dismantle the opposition. Today we may not be at that Waqar-Wasim level, even the Amir-Asif magic may not be seen here but you can be confident of bowling department when you have at least half a dozen options to choose from who will partner with Mohammad Amir to start the bowling attack. Junaid Khan, Usman Khan, Mohammad Irfan might be the most suitable options. If the management does its homework, we can choose the best option to partner with Amir depending upon the pitch condition. The opposition batsman won’t be relieved to see Hassan Ali coming in as first change either, the lad have been in sensational form and his hard work and consistency have produced a hard to forget 2017/18 for him. Shadab gives an excellent spin option and is supported by Faheem Ashraf who can be devastating on his own on a given day. The bowling department looks good while the batting even better, at least on paper-Something you usually do not get to say about Pakistan Cricket Team.

The coming Asia cup being a major multinational tournament before next year’s world cup will be a good opportunity to gauge strengths and weaknesses, find the most suitable and lethal combination in bowling attack.

As said in the beginning, form or outlook on paper is not something you can really rely on to analyze the chances of Pakistan cricket team in a tournament, and we won’t do that, but I will go on and dare to say that this team have the potential of achieving even greater heights after the Champions Trophy crown of last year. Winning gives you confidence and it is addictive, leaves you carving for more.

Written by Arsalan Aslam for PDF.
 
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:cheers: T-20 Champions means you can't play cricket
Wont go into those details. The India team do looks strong really. Their batting will be their main strength. The bowling department is also not very weak with some new young bowlers able to swing and seam it. It will be a good tournament.

Its the Sri Lankans who may be disappointing this time. The team for no real reason is sliding down. Bangladesh will be full of energy and will bring in some fun to the tournament. So will Afghanistan.
 
Asia Cup 2018 - Schedule
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Less than a month to go now!! :)
 
India and Pakistan are the only good teams here. Lanka has really regressed - shame because between 1996 to 2010 or so they were simply superb. Bangladeshi fans will entertain us more than their team.

I have not been following cricket recently but have heard about the decline of Sri Lankan cricket on the news occassionally. Is this a generational thing or is the problem much deeper? It's a shame because I am a big fan of their team. They have always produced exciting unorthodox cricketers as well as cool headed legends like Sangakara.
 
I have not been following cricket recently but have heard about the decline of Sri Lankan cricket on the news occassionally. Is this a generational thing or is the problem much deeper? It's a shame because I am a big fan of their team. They have always produced exciting unorthodox cricketers as well as cool headed legends like Sangakara.
Must be generational. Can't have players like Sangakarra, Jayawardene, Malinga, Murali even Atapattu a little earlier. Huge shoes to fill.
 
I have not been following cricket recently but have heard about the decline of Sri Lankan cricket on the news occassionally. Is this a generational thing or is the problem much deeper? It's a shame because I am a big fan of their team. They have always produced exciting unorthodox cricketers as well as cool headed legends like Sangakara.
A bit of both. The domestic structure is not that strong anymore and there is plenty of rift and disagreement in board, all that have a trickles down to the team, in a bad way!
Sanga, Jayawardene, Malinga!! They needed quite someone to fill in those shoes and they failed to do so. The team is in pretty bad shape right now.
 
Najam Sethi may resign before Asia Cup 2018 but that should not effect the team performance in any way. The team management and squad wont be changed.
 
this time india will face a toughest pakistan our hawk Saeed anwar is back in fakher zaman
 
this time india will face a toughest pakistan our hawk Saeed anwar is back in fakher zaman
Yes, Fakhar have started off really well and i hope he will go far ahead! Fakhar - Imaam may well be our long term answer to the opening partnership worries. One is an aggressive player who likes to play it in the air while the other likes to keep it on ground and build an innings. Perfect match really.
 
I have heard of fakhar zaman in news, never saw him batting.
Looking forward to watch him for the first time in asia cup may be.

Hope to see a good contest. It will be a surprise if it will be a final of anything else than india vs pakistan.
 
I have heard of fakhar zaman in news, never saw him batting.
Looking forward to watch him for the first time in asia cup may be..
You did not follow champion trophy because Fakhar played champion trophy matches
 
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