Re: ODI cricket and general cricketing discussion [self - mod]
I agree with you. Batting first, Pakistan set a target of 283 runs. And that was enough to win. But opponent Afghanistan batted well today. Every batsman in the top order played very well. We can blame the Pakistan bowlers, but when the opposition batsmen are batting very responsibly, it becomes much more difficult for the bowlers to pick up wickets.
Pakistan squad does not have good spin bowlers, this is their weakness. Apart from Afridi, other pace bowlers are not doing very well. And crucially Pakistan's fielding was poor. I would say this is one of the reasons for their defeat. We have seen Pakistan's fielding bad against Australia as well. This team really needs to improve their fielding. They have to be more diligent.
Pakistan should have given 300+ runs target if they wanted to win the match. But unfortunately they were not able to cross 300+ runs. I will appreciate the bowling of Noor Ahmed. He got 3 wickets in 10 overs and gave only 49 runs. Afghanistan has a good bowling line. And in batting line they also played wisely. They hold on pitch and lost first wicket at 130 runs and this was a good partnership. After that they lost second wicket at 190 runs. And then they chase the target. Pakistan squad does not have good spin bowlers, this is their weakness. Apart from Afridi, other pace bowlers are not doing very well. And crucially Pakistan's fielding was poor. I would say this is one of the reasons for their defeat. We have seen Pakistan's fielding bad against Australia as well. This team really needs to improve their fielding. They have to be more diligent.
