ICC Champions Trophy 2017 : News, Update and Discussion

[MULUBJA]

Congratulations guys and good luck for semis. let us hope that we meet once again in FInal.

 

[litman]

after watching pak bowling against SA and SL english grounds men will remove even a millimeter of grass from the pitch. they will make a flat pitch supporting their batting. there will be nothing to support pak pacers.

 

[Musafir117]

No no, i am not talking about his batting order. I think he is fine where he is as he can play both slow accumulating innings (that we will need most of the time from our number 6/7 ) or he can be aggressive and hit with a high strike rate to finish things off (the way it is being done in modern cricket). The problem with his captaincy was in bowling.

First, the the team selection was ordinary against India. Junaid was not included, the guy who practically INTRODUCED himself to the world against India in that bilateral series. Then he never used Hafeez even when left handers were batting and was criticized for it a lot.

Then we go to the second match and here, clearly panicked by that criticism of not bowling Hafeez, he over used him. The result, two of the finest bowlers in that day, Iman and Hassan Ali who took 5 wickets between them never completed there full quote of overs. Hafeez was the second most expensive bowler on that day.

Come to this last match, the biggest failure of them all. Again, from 26 for 1 in 6th over we allowed Sri Lanka to get to 82. Imad waseem was brought on BEFORE Hafeez, again, with Dickwella a left handed batsman on crease. It is quite simple and obvious to us fans as well, with left hander on batting you try to give the bowl to Hafeez, it so simple.

These things are not being highlighted since we are winning and managed to reach semi-finals however these little things need to be better managed by Sarfaraz going forward.

O Bhai he managed to out them in 233 what else you looking for to book them in 100 or under 200? And yes captains does mistakes the things not always went through as they wishing but both against SA and SL we managed to out them in lower score otherwise on that pitches over 300 not difficult. The problem is in our middle order line up that chudda Azhar. Azhar did 33 in 50 balls even he with help of Fakhar was not in pressure moment. Honestly I'm not seeing much wrong in his captaincy and about selecting team for a match I don't think he authorised to select all eleven.

 

[Arsalan]

O Bhai he managed to out them in 233 what else you looking for to book them in 100 or under 200? And yes captains does mistakes the things not always went through as they wishing but both against SA and SL we managed to out them in lower score otherwise on that pitches over 300 not difficult. The problem is in our middle order line up that chudda Azhar. Azhar did 33 in 50 balls even he with help of Fakhar was not in pressure moment. Honestly I'm not seeing much wrong in his captaincy and about selecting team for a match I don't think he authorised to select all eleven.

They might as well score 280-290 but when the are 267 for 7.
From 167-7, 230 was a nice recovery.

Plus, i am not talking about death bowling. Screws should have been tightened earlier.
I will love nothing more than my country to win matches yaar but trust me, WE ARE NOT GOING TO WIN LIKE THIS. The game was not won by us but it was lost by Pakistan. They beat us in "who is worst". This match should NEVER have gotten to this point.

 

[Musafir117]

They might as well score 280-290 but when the are 267 for 7.
From 167-7, 230 was a nice recovery.

Plus, i am not talking about death bowling. Screws should have been tightened earlier.
I will love nothing more than my country to win matches yaar but trust me, WE ARE NOT GOING TO WIN LIKE THIS. The game was not won by us but it was lost by Pakistan. They beat us in "who is worst". This match should NEVER have gotten to this point.

"With Pakistan's Champions Trophy triumph over Sri Lanka, Sarfraz now has something to bank on
Imran Ahmed KhanPublished about an hour ago
28 0
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed celebrates hitting the winning runs during the ICC Champions Trophy, Group B cricket match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, at the Cardiff Stadium.─AP
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed celebrates hitting the winning runs during the ICC Champions Trophy, Group B cricket match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, at the Cardiff Stadium.─AP
Before the ICC Champions Trophy tournament started, I asked Sarfraz if a more realistic goal for Pakistan was to win one out of their three group stage games.

He laughed it off and said they were going to win these three games, the semi-final and the final.

He was being politically correct, I said to myself.

He can now look back and say he always believed in his team.

ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER AD

When Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews walked out to bat, he faced eight balls of frontline pace.

Was Sarfraz missing a trick? It sure looked like he was.

Debutant Faheem Ashraf – not the most able of pacers – bowled with Hafeez and Imad for the next 10 overs. Mathews and Dickwella added 55 runs in this phase.

Who wouldn’t be comfortable with 160/3 in 30 overs, that too in a knockout game against Pakistan – perennial chokers while chasing?

But then, Cardiff became Karachi.

In seven overs, Muhammad Amir and Junaid Khan changed everything about the match.

They bowled with pace ─ slightly short of length ─ and kept teasing the batsmen with late movement.

The movement was ever-so-subtle and delayed ─ maybe by a heartbeat.

It was enough for the batsmen to start thinking about survival. Acceleration? Forget it.

It was magic if you consider how Pakistani pacers have bowled in the last two years.

It didn’t matter then that Junaid and Amir were averaging in their mid-30s and had gone for runs in similar situations in the recent past.

They picked up four wickets in the next 7 overs.

Players who were all set to catapult Sri Lanka to a total in excess of 300 were back in the hut, managing all but 19 runs.

237 should have been a cakewalk, right?

Cardiff became Lahore.

Fakhar Zaman’s maiden 50 came off 34 balls.

There was nothing in the pitch and Pakistan were cruising at a run rate of 6.72 after 11 overs.

For all of Zaman’s talent, he does have a weakness against the short ball. It became a little comical as he tried to hide this weakness by over trying to make room outside the off as the Sri Lankan pacers tried bowling short to him.

When Zaman departed, all Pakistan needed was sensible strike rotation.

Three to four runs per over for the next 10 overs would have been a nice way to go about it. But what’s Pakistan cricket without some drama?

Cardiff became Colombo.

Babar Azam went first, taking Cardiff for Abu Dhabi and instinctively picking out the mid-wicket fielder with a flick.

Muhammad Hafeez followed shortly, getting into a tangle and chopping one to mid-on.

Azhar Ali looked set to anchor the innings.

The Sri Lankan pacers peppered him with short balls for a while but he looked comfortable all along.

A rising delivery on the off stump channel ended his innings.

It is hard to tell if Shoaib Malik’s dismissal was unlucky or poor judgment on the all-rounder’s part.

Whatever it was, his catch to the keeper down the leg left Pakistan reeling at 132 for 5.

In the lead up to this game, Imad Wasim talked about his desire to be an all-rounder.

That’s all right, except Imad left his feet behind in the dressing room when he came out to bat.

He edged it to the keeper playing away from his body. You could fit two people between the ball and Imad’s body, but he still decided to poke his bat at it.

From 70 for no loss, Pakistan slumped to 136 for 6.

How? Panic. One. Two. Three. Go!

Why? Because Pakistan.

Pakistan needed 75 more to win when Amir joined Sarfraz.

The captain, by now, was involved in three mix-ups and a mid-wicket chip that fell just short of the fielder.

How long could that go on for, really?

But he rode his luck even more.

Malinga set him up for two false shots: one went straight to Perera at mid-on and the other was a slightly more difficult ─ still catchable ─ chance at deep square leg. Both squandered.

It became a story of two parallel contests. Pakistan battled it out against Pakistan and Sri Lanka tried to overcome Sri Lanka.

The cricket itself was pretty ordinary.

As Amir and Sarfraz slowly made their way through, Pakistani fans found their voice again.

Cardiff was back to being Karachi.

Pakistan’s win, admittedly a result of a strange mix of extraordinary and below-par cricket, is still a win.

The number 8 ranked side is in the semi-final of an ICC event and, if anything, this will do a world of good to the team’s morale.

Sarfaraz’s innings is also a mild ─ if not outright – statement about his arrival as captain.

He now has something to bank on when he has to stamp his authority.

As Misbah might tell him over a cup of tea, individual performance matters a lot more when you are captain.

England might decimate Pakistan this Wednesday.

Or Pakistan might walk away with a win like they did last year on this ground, chasing 302.

Whatever happens, Pakistan have already overachieved. They have never played a Champions Trophy final before.

Ask Sarfraz and he will tell you they are not done yet."

https://www.dawn.com/news/1339283/w...ri-lanka-sarfraz-now-has-something-to-bank-on
/////////::////////

We just need shake up our middle order and throw away Azhar Babar and Hafeez, I played under 19 with Rashid Latif in same Gymkhana he is school buddy and we grow up in same block Mirza Iqbal Baig was our coach and league matches organiser as well, to see Azhar and Babar and Hafeez they are not standard cricketers look their body movements to playing shots THEY are worst even in under 19 level. We need to get rid of them ASAP if we hoping for 2019 WC.

 

[Arsalan]

We just need shake up our middle order and throw away Azhar Babar and Hafeez, I played under 19 with Rashid Latif in same Gymkhana he is school buddy and we grow up in same block Mirza Iqbal Baig was our coach and league matches organiser as well,

Sorry you saying that YOU have played cricket at U19 level with Rashid Latif or is this also from article?
Please do confirm.

Aur Yeh b parh lo zra!!!
http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc-champions-trophy-2017/content/story/1103175.html
Panicstan embrace the chaos
Just as Pakistan and their fans seemed about to dissolve into a nerve-induced puddle, Sri Lanka decided to outdo them
DON'T PANIC. For the love of everything that is good, KEEP CALM. Just don't be you. Do the right thing, the safe thing, no need to get worried, just please, oh please, just don't do it again, we can't take it. Enough.

Boom, boom? I don't think so. That is how a heart beats in a regular cricket fan. A Pakistan heart goes boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and in a small chase, hell, there is no way to even write it down it's just a high-pitched squealing noise, like a heart in a vice that's getting electrocuted as someone burns it with a cigarette butt.

It's not a steady beat, it's a scream.

AAaAAAaaaaaaAAAaäHhhhhHhHHHHhhhH.

There are two sides of the brain of a Pakistan fan. The right side looks at a chase of 237 in 50 overs on a clear day and a good pitch, against a team that's come in short on frontline bowlers and thinks, 'we're going to win this comfortably'. And the left side of the brain beats the right side unconscious, because the left side knows, man, it knows, that there is no such thing as an easy Pakistan chase.

Opening is Azhar Ali; he's calm, he's in control, he can bat for long periods of time without a sniff of a rash shot. He'll hit the balls to so many fielders you'll start thinking the fielding team has too many guys out there. But when he slaps the first one, it's straight to point, and on the full. Danushka Gunathilaka drops it, catches it, drops it, clutches for it, gropes for it, begs for it before scrambling around on the ground trying to pick up the ball so quickly everyone can't see he has dropped it. We know that drop, we pioneered that drop.

At the other end it is Fakhar Zaman slapping the ball around. Take that Lasith, and that, and that. Sharjeel who? It doesn't matter that Azhar's strike rate was virtually negative. Yin and yang, dark and light, contrasting forces that bring together spiritual harmony. And that is what happens, an opening partnership of calmness. When Zaman is out, he has 50 from barely any balls, he's done his job, he's cracked the top off the chase, the run rate is now never going to be the problem, and over 30% of the runs needed are in the bank.

And Babar Azam is here, if there is a player who seems almost unaffected by wearing green for Pakistan, it this guy. He's a drink of ice cold cola on the hottest day of the year. He's flicking the ball straight to short midwicket and out. But Professor Hafeez is here, he might love how unpredictable Pakistan is, but he's not, he just chugs along, experienced, seen it all, knocks it around, gets the job done. Oh hell, hell no, no no no no no no no, what is this? That is not a shot, it's not soft, butter is soft, this is just a vague collection of gases that looks like a poor cricket shot from a distance.

I still remember, vaguely, three short-haired Pakistan bowlers running through Sri Lanka. It was marvellous, no reverse, no scary pace, just quality, clever bowling, and an anything-can-happen attitude. Sure, some random quick bowler came in and stroked us around, but really, it was awesome, we owned the ground, and we were going to go into the semi-finals of a major tournament despite our incredibly poor performance in ODIs over the last two years. All we need is two guys, out there for a while, to honour the work of our bowlers, to stand up. Or just stay upright, and not fall over.

Am I worried. Is my heart racing? Yes, sure, but it's okay, here is Shoaib Malik, solid marriage, overseas-leagues pro, eases a ball through covers. Everything's coming up Shoaib. Oh it's at him, and he's flicked one off his glove, and damn. Now Imad Wasim, ha, my man, the future captain, he's already won a match here, right here, in Wales, and he was born here, like we planted a sleeper agent for just such a moment. And with the captain, who also smashed the ball here, they don't even need to score; they just need to stand out there. Just chill, be in the moment, Occupy Cardiff. No, Imad, what have you done, this is not slips practice, why would you think this is slips practice? This is a game, everyone is wearing their matchday clothes, there is a crowd, TV cameras, weird German drummers, and this is a must-win game, and we're losing it, we're losing it and you're hanging your bat out like a fat 50-year-old fielding coach on midweek session.

But we still have one more saviour, Faheem Ashraf, the new Afridi, but without the baggage of thinking he is Afridi. He smashed Bangladesh to win the warm-up game, like just a week or so ago, it was like 77 off 12 balls, or something. Not important. He can do this, he can be our man. Faheem, how can you do it when you can't even ground your bat? Just ground your bat Faheem, we want to love you, adore you, ruin you with our praise and turn you into a semi-effective allrounder with delusions of grandeur. We can't do that when you are run out at the non-striker's end off a fumble, and you have left us seven wickets down with 72 runs to get. How Faheem, how Pakistan? Why?

Our only chance now is that the other team is worse than us, that they panic, throw overthrows, fumble straightforward stops, drop simple catches, let the ball go straight through their wicketkeeper's legs, drop another catch, and put a short mid-on in front of a normal mid-on, that they lose all sense of self and become us. Oh my, they are, they have become us, they are going to win it for us, our two best players in this chase are going to be a teen prodigy who had five years off and Sri Lankan fielders. We are so Pakistan, we have made someone else Pakistan. All we have to do is not be worse than them, all we have to do is overcome ourselves, or become ourselves, embrace our chaos, become the chaos.

Ride this partnership like it's a glorious stallion even though we know it's a busted-up donkey with an inner-ear infection. Let our captain try run himself out every ball, hit the ball to point and take off. A single to short midwicket? Yes please. Let us run head first into risk when we know they have a three-and-a-half man attack that we can outlast.

Don't look back you glorious heroes, ride into the PANIC. Keep panicking, panic hard, panic like no one is watching. Tear your clothes off run around in circles with your hands over your eyes. Oh, for the love of everything you have ever held dear, GO INTO A WILD SWEATY FRENZY OF WORRY. Be you, be all of you, the good, the bad, the Pakistan, pour the Pakistan all over you and trip, stumble and fall into this win. We can take it; we want it, we want all of it. We demand it, be Pakistan, be all the Pakistan you can be. Pakistan, Pakistan.

Do you hear that heart beat? Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan.

AAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAaaAaäääääääääääHhhhhHhHHHHhhhHHHH.

to see Azhar and Babar and Hafeez they are not standard cricketers look their body movements to playing shots THEY are worst even in under 19 level. We need to get rid of them ASAP if we hoping for 2019 WC.

I wont agree about Babar. He have decent foot movement, good hand to eye coordination and most importantly, a COOL HEAD above his shoulders. As long as he keeps rotating the strike he is good. Azhar is not even good for that and i have been crying about it for over an year. He needs to be thrown out.

 

[maximuswarrior]

Full credit to Pak team. Coming back after such a big loss in the first game is never easy. The game against SA was a difficult one. Everyone had written off Pakistan. Then, against SL everyone was certain that Pak was going to lose. We all know what happened.

LOL at the doubters and naysayers. They are all looking for an explanation, but don't have any. Pak should give 100% against England. Anything is possible.

 

[POPEYE-Sailor]

GET READY FOR TOMORROW MATCH PAK vs England ..!! Dekh na Shaheeno0 K hath poun kis tarah Phool ty hai

 

[Green Arrow]

I pointed his "CAPTAINCY" problems not Batting performance, itni tu mujy b samj ha yaar cricket ke!!

His failed with CAPTAINCY for second time in three matches as far as i can see.


Bat first? I think in order to win next match we might have to ask someone ELSE to bat for us altogether!

This is the only option we have that Pak has to bat first and put some good runs on the scoreboard otherwise the game will be over for Pakistan. Also I think It would be better if Hasan Ali joins Junaid Khan in opening the bowling attack while M Amir can be used in the middle over as he is more good in the middle period of the innings than in the first 10 overs. With the kind of form Hasan Ali is having now it is worth trying him as an opening bowler now.

 

[WAJsal]

I want to see Sarfaraz playing at number 5.

@Arsalan , happy because we won.

 

[Proudpakistaniguy]

I am confused like the commentators, why he comes to bat so far down the order. Surely he should be the third or fourth man in? I know Hafeez and Malik are supposed to play the "stabilizing" role in the middle, but they clearly arent. Either introduce more new guys or move Sarfaraz up the order, so we dont have more of these last minute panic attack chases. The only reason we won yesterday was because Sri Lanka were horrendous in the field. Far from a convincing performance.

I doubt the leadership ability of Sarfraz . Captain need to be strict, aggressive, dominant at times like those of Imran and wasim. He seem too soft and cannot point fingers at those seniors who are proving as failure and his press conferences are bit funny

 

[Kabira]

Ahmed Shezad after watching Fakhar Zaman innings

 

[cerebrum@Assasin]

I want to see Sarfaraz playing at number 5.

@Arsalan , happy because we won.

I think he should play 1 down bcz of his ability to rotate the strike!!!

 

[cerebrum@Assasin]

GET READY FOR TOMORROW MATCH PAK vs England ..!! Dekh na Shaheeno0 K hath poun kis tarah Phool ty hai

We will win IN SHA ALLAH

 

[Safriz]

ICC champions trophy 2013 . Semi final India vs Srilanka.
Tamil protesters storming the pitch in Cardiff

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