Hi kamran, You can always take those words back. This team doesnt have what it takes to be in your words. This team's participation is no different from that of the associates - JUST MAKING NUMBERS AND ITINERARY. they just didnt have the firepower to finish off a wobbling west indies.
But then nothing wrong in sticking to your word, however far from truth it may be!!!! keep it up!!! We see a plenty like you in the sub-continent and that's why cricket is so popular!

Three changes should be made in the team immediately.

1 Rana should be out and Azhar should take his place.

2 Kaneria should be out. He never was a one day bowler

3 Kamran Akmal should be out. The kind of keeping he does Younas Khan can handle it.

It was a pathetic performance by Pakistan. Somebody please do something I dont want to be embarrased by this kind of performances anymore.

Bowling....good (impressive at some stages). Fielding...average (had its moments and its lows). Batting.....absolutely pathetic. What in the hell were Hafeez, Younis K & Mohammed Yousuf thinking?!?! It was a performance that angered you more than it depressed because they should have knocked those 240 runs with the loss of maybe 5 wickets. Absolutely pathetic & spineless performance. I just couldnt believe my eyes with some of the shots being played in a world cup match with millions of Pakistanis glued to their televisions. Younis, Hafeez & Mohammed Yousuf let us down today...they let us down badly.

Go take a hike, Karmran. The Pakistani team is full of holes and nothing else! Don't blame Rana alone for the pathetic allround performance!

Kamran. You are delusional for thinking there is still hope for Pakistan. Delusional.

The fact that our team fails to put up a fight and goes down with a whimper, with such freakish regularity...its simply, flabbergasting. I resent myself for passionately supporting these people each time they walk out onto a cricket field. And to think I screwed up my Management Trainee test in anticipation of this match! Blah is the word.

Kamran Sahib, Kuddos for putting up a brave face. I just want Inzy out of this team post haste.

Well the match was gud,a hopeless team like pakistan got wat it deserved and i really really hope ireland kicks pakistan out of the tournament, so pakistan can go home and continue being the hopeless team that they are. I mean seriously during times when teams easily chase 300 plus, our beloved team cant chase 241. Seriously pakistan still plays like they are in the 12th century.

Azhar in for Rana and Sami please for Kaneria. Sami is under-rated, has a toe-crushing yorker and bowls fast. Malik and Hafeez can cover the spin for now, and later Afridi will be back.

Glad that West Indies won though. =)

There is hope yet. I am sure Imran's Tigers taught us all how never to give up. Anyway to the point

I agree with what you say Kamran

Yes Pakistan's only problem is not Rana, but he is a major one, and has been since his return from injury, leaking runs and not scoring them.

I think Sami or Azhar should be brought in for Rana. Or Afridi for Nazir and then both Sami can bet brought in for Rana and Azhar for Kaneria because we would have sufficient spin between Malik, Afridi and Hafeez. If Azhar, Sami and Umar Gul are on they are match winners themselves.

Yousuf and Inzamam need to move up one spot but that leaves a problem as Younis also performs usually his best at number 3.

Inzamam is a great captain, however he needs to learn to lead better. Our players if they realize the bowlers are delivering excellent balls again and again need to rattle the bowlers like Malik did near the end of the innings, take two steps up and slog the ball over the bowlers head or something to that effect.

It looks Rana is in inzi's good books. Also someone has to inform inzi over count for Umer Gul as he can't complete his quota of 10 over.

Winners win, and losers lose. A weak team is a weak team, but should at least go down chasing a win.

When Pakistan chased they seemed to have no intent whatsoever.They need Azhar Mahmood to replace Rana, and Afridi in place of one of the openers(make Kamran Akmal open--anyways opening is a problem which is not being solved). It is the lower middle order which is going to finish such chases for the team!

Rana should be out immidiately and should be relaced with Sami... Imran Nazir should be replaced with Afridi. Kaneria should be replaced with Azhar... It is the batting wich has been the root cause of recent failures not the bowling..

you got to be on some of that ganja maan!

"there is only team that Pakistan don't have the skill to beat in this tournament and that's Australia"

Lets see - India, SA come to mind - Pakistan will (and, unlike you, I will not wait to eat my words) get a whooping while playing either of these teams.

KANERIA needs to go, RANA's run is over, Shoiab and Younis need to switch places, Younis also needs to score, And Azhar needs to come in and SLOG. And please get me a oppener that can last 10 overs.

what is the point of talking when the people in charge have cobwebs in their ears and a huge void instead of brains...shame!

Kamran Akmal, there were some positives in this game.. watched it the whole way.. till we got defeated. Bowling was good.. but still i thought we could have restricted them below 200.. so there was the first mistake.. and Batting like several others suggested was pathetic.. surely was ashamed.. we have a good batting line up.. but none stood up to Perform.. 222 Defensive.. saving their wickets for giving them up later.. neither scored nor stayed..

I would feel honoured if our Team won the WorldCup.. but let us get down to facts.. there are much better teams in this world cup compared to us.. and to say that we fear only Australia is mere stupidity.. or overanticipating a miracle.. which is not going to Happen..

By far the worst it hurt me was these Westindians got mulled by the Indians (85 allout) and India winning by 9 wickets and we lost to them.. What a Shame,,, Hopefully we will perform well in the next two games and first let us think of reaching Super8 and then think about Australia or any other Country..

team does not have enough backup for batsmen, i still think selection commetty did big blunders like they preffered sami and rana naveed on shahid nazir, who was really in good form. its better to do some more experince with opening by changing position of imran nazir to one down and by sending younis and hafeez as opener.

I was never a fan of yours. But this has crossed the line. Stop being irresponsible and stop giving people ideas that are just plain ludicrous.Have realistic expectations. Two openers that barely average 20 and a captain that has the heart of a sparrow are not going to win us the world cup. It just isn't going to happen. If we beat Zimbabwe and the other team in the group (and its looking tougher by the minute) we may be able to sneak in to super eights, where we will recieve a giant thrashing, and be the laughing stock of the World. I for one don't want to see another gutless performance from people who don't have the mettle to withstand any kind of pressure. These guys are giving us a bad name and getting richer while they do it. So think before you write or give your job to someone who can.

Rana the good boy grew the beard.. inzi prefer the hairy faces. but hold on, what's your other option.. sami?? dude. it's like choosing between the worst.. and the worst. Truth is inzimam, with all due respect to his class and calibre, is past his peak. The man has openly told about his plans not to retire. This means he is lacking what some of the other captains have had - a motivation and a dream to end their careers on a high note.

different people have different choices, but if taken a sample of a good number of people with cricketing knowledge, this team's playing 11 has 4-5 players that would be judged deserving to be dropped with various reasons.

And mr.kamran being a journalist, writing about this hope, which i have hidden somewhere inside me too perhaps, you have realisticly told a good joke.

Pakistan have the potential but the selecters have got too put their foot down and drop the likes of Rana-Naved and maybe give a new wicket keeper a chance. Not only is Pakistans bowling weakened with the loss of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Asif but their opening pair of batsmen are just too dodgy, it needs to be sorted and qucik!! Time is running out and to win the world cup it needs to be sorted. However hence all my criticism Pakistans bowling performance was quite encouraging but their batsmen need to start playing for their team and not themseleves.

Pathetic perfomance. They don't deserve to qualify for second round. They should come back and do some tablegh.

Kamran,

I completely agree with you and still have strong faith in Pakistan lifting the cup. All your suggestions make sense and I still can not understand as to why Inzamam is reluctant to play at number 3. Continous pushing from Imran Khan made him accept it in a press conference as well as a promise to play up. But still! Can anyone answer?

I hope our guys don't let us down again. My odds" 12-1 in Pakistan's favour. Keep fingers crossed.

Its true that Pakistan has lost the match,but I am with Kamran that Pakistan can surprise everyone.If Younis has to come for batting after 2 or 3 overs then why shouldn't we try him as an opener as we did in he warm-up match.Why was Azhar Mahmood not in the side,its really a big question.I firmly believe that if we include Afridi & Sami in places of Rana & Kaneria and Younis starts to open the innings with Hafeez then Pakistan can beat any team in the world cup.Last but not least,please keep in mind that Pakistan has lost the match due to its batting not due to bowling..

hmmm.. ur best players are shoaib, asif and inzi. 2 r 'injured' and who knows what'll happen to their careers. asif more likely to escape but i dont c a good future for shoaib. and inzi - hes 37 now. whats in store for pak after a yr or so when there mite not b an inzi n shoaib????

first of all, i dont understand the opening pair pakistan are using, imran nazir? oh well they had this massive argument on channel GEO before world cup started. majority of fans had argued whether he should have been selected because of his unconvincing performance on south africa tour and hes repeating it here. i dont get why kamran akmal didnt open the batting. he has good record against the west indies.. well i jus dont know what to say really.. could have been a different story if yousuf batted at no.3 inzaman at no.4 and younis no.5 like everyone has been talking about it.. but it didnt happen did it?

Pakistan is the worst team with tons of talent that never performs when it needs to. Rana definitely needs to sit next to Woolmer for the next few matches and watch some videos maybe of how to bowl in death overs. I think injecting Sami into the attack will help and stretching the batting lineup with Afridi/Azhar would shorten the tail as well.

It's do or die time now.

Looks like Mr Abbasi has gone nuts. I read his article before the start of the world cup about PAK winning the world cup.

There is no way ion this world, PAK will win world cup without Shoaib, Asif and Razzaq.

And I was very surprised about the article after losing opening game against WI. PAK has no fire power in this world cup. This team will not even make it to Semi's

Bowling Performance was good although Rana,as much as i like him, should be out and in with Sami. He hasn't delivered for the past year and he has run out of chances.
Many people will question Yousuf and Inzy but if your No4 and 5 are in the middle after 10 overs then you can't blame the way they went about the task, the pressure eventually got the better of them. Again Shoaib Malik was left battling wihtout any partners, he seems to be the only player who has the confidence to middle the ball as soon as the first delivery.
However i agree that we can progress to the semi - finals if we improve our batting.
The order has to be the same, we have made our choice now stick with it. Here are the changed i would make for the rest of the matches :

1. rana Out - Sami in

2. After his ban Afridi in - Kaneria Out, he offers more wiht the bat and i dont see Kaneria bowling much better than Afridi.

3. The only changes i would make the batting line-up is Yousuf at 3, Inzy at 4 and Younis Khan at 5.

Alhtough this was a poor result we have two games to gain form and confidence, i am still a firm beleiver we can win this world cup. If we are to do so i think Inzimam will lead from the front and when he hits form Pakistan will hit form.

KEEP THE FAITH!!

As a WI fan, I believe, under the circumstances, the team did not perform to their potential. But for you Pakistan fans to belittle your heroes in this manner.....you should all be ashamed of yourselves.

Though Ind and Pak are supposed to be sworn enemies... it is so funny to read these comments becoz this is exactly how Indians behave when the team looses. Comon guys.. Pak is not as bad as some guys here say (I am an indian supporter) This is a long tourney and 4 wins out of 7 (against test playing nations) will take any team to the top 4. So dont be so hasty. I hate to say this... but i agree with Kamran Abbasi.

Pervaiz Musharraf is the root of all problems

am also a dreamer like u....sometimes u have 2 dream big 2 achieve something......i support r team all the way

Never thought I would say this, "Bring Sami back" fast. Yes, thats exactly how desperate we are right now. I would stick with Kaneria for now. We also need to kick Imran Nazir in the rear and out of the opening spot; one Afridi is enough. I would have Hafeez and Younis open with Malik coming in at number three and Moyo and Inzi to follow. Malik is the proven match winner at number 3 as he plays positive which takes pressure off the team. I am not sure what to do with the hope yet; for now my only hope is to see our openers putting up a 50 run stand. Imran said it right in that Geo's Road to WC show, When openers click, even tailenders can score. For once, I would like to see Moyo and Inzi come out of that ultra defensive mode and play an entertaining inning. I am now praying that we beat Ireland and Zimbabwe so that I could utilize the 200$ dish network subscription in super 8s.

Well I hope all is well Kamram,and all of you who support the Pakistani Team.
We need to learn,consolidate and make changes...
This is how it should be....
Imran Farhat,Mohd Hafeez,Shoaib Malik,Younis Khan,Shahid Afridi,Mohammad Yousaf,Inzamam Ul haq,Azhar Mahmmod,Kamran Akmal,Mohammed Sami,Umar Gul...

Take care all

Good Luck Pakistan..

great effort from the boys, boys played well..

the whole world knows how pathetic RANA is but its gonna cost us the world cup before WOOLMER and INZY accept that fact.Just like it cost us the SOUTH AFRICA series to know that FARHAT is not evan club material.Why do we have to loose to make changes why cant we be proactive and make changes before or during the tournaments.It is unbelievable that what every normal human being is able see WOOLMER and INZY cant see that.BUT i guess its gonna be evan more difficult to drop RANA now coz of his new beard so guys just keep watching these so called proffesionals loose and wait for this world cup to end which could not be that far for us and hope for some changes. PS. MR ABBASI when i read your blog about KANERIA that he should be in the one day team i was like ARE U SERIOUS MAN.BUT after reading your blog that WE SHOULD ONLY FEAR AUSTRALIA i really dont respect your opinions any more.U ARE AS INCONSISTANT AS OUR TEAM

Pak team is very weak and there is no doubt about that...no chance of reaching semis..

I wish Zimbabwe's old team was in the tournament with Flower brothers, Heath Streak and company so that Pakis tigers would have got out in the first round. Well still there is a hope in the shape of Ireland.

Its a shame that since last world cup Pak couldn't produce a decent opening pair. They kicked Saeed Anwar out who played better than everyone in the last world cup and kept Inzi in team who sucked in the last world cup. They should have kept Saeed Anwar so that atleast he could hold one opening end and may be teach one youngster how to open.

Bob Woolmer did nothing to Paki team. he is useless and so is the committee who always play Rana and Kamran Akmal. Both of them are useless. Kamran Akmal is the worst keeper ever produced by pak I beleive.

I believe, for a successful World Cup, the Home side must perform well. So, Pakistan have performed their role in boosting the sails of the West Indian team. Rana Naved is a match-conceding bowler. His form has been absent since last season.. He needs to rest his mind and body in Pakistan.. The entire Pakistani team is a bunch of lazy bums.. can't field for peanuts.. Sack the fielding coach.. Hafeez, Nazir are impostors.. Bring back Taufiq Umar and Butt.. Where is Asim Kamal ? He was the best Pakistani batsman 3 seasons ago.. Big up Iftikhar Rao and Umar Gul!! Pakistan have some decent pacers left who are clean :) Hafeez can only play as a specialist bowler. I believe there is room only for 1 all-rounder in the team. Pick specialist batsmen and have faith in them. Pakistan can still qualify to the knock-out rounds, I hope!

Selectors please use some common sense,Rana needs to go out for sure,I dont understand why he got selected at first place when we have better all rounder Azher,secondly inzi should come up in the order,In 1992 worldcup Imran changed his batting order and used to come up on 2 and that worked for Pakistan in that worldcup and most importantly Pakistan needs to play with positive attitude,today their body language was not there where it needed to be, Yunis missed very easy catch and then got out by playing such a irresponsible shot and finally this was just first match, its a long way to go and Pakistan can make a come back in next matches.

you people disgust me, your team loses a match due to some generally bad decisions and performances and we seem to think that our country's cricket program's hopeless. Give me a break! If this team makes a turn around all of you will all of a sudden jump right back onto the band wagon, stick with your team through thick and thin, we're missing 4 or 5 key players right now, and we need to pull up our socks, but it's ONE GAME. My changes would be:
1. Rana goes out, Azhar in
2. Kaneria out, Sami in, we can live without an extra spinner for a game before Afridi returns
3. One of the openers out, Inzy opens, Yasir Hameed goes into middle order, Inzamam calls himself a captain, well prove it, the greatest of captains open when their team needs it and this guy sits in his comfy spot.
4. For the love of god, kick Kamran Akmal out, put in anyone...ANYONE.

Don't give up on this team, we just have to survive the next game, (Ireland, shouldn't be too worrying) and when Afridi returns and these changes put into place, we can live through this and have some hope of doing decent. But stop being cry babies and giving up on your country.

There is not much one can do other than rip one's hair out and thank God I have a lot of hair or I would be bald by now. Pakistan team has constantly let us down. In England, in South africa and to hear comments like we had a good match practice and the boys are in top form plus I will do what my captain asks me to do, at least for me are words only and does nothing but to suggest that the team is playing with the expectations of the Pakistani people. Politics play a big part in this also. All the way from PCB down to the players bar a few. Before the fiasco in England at least we had a good run for a few series but then politics came back. Let us hope that Pakistan cricket team does not go the way of the hockey tem. Rana Naveed should never have been taken to the world cup. Imran Nazir did one good inning and the rest lousey and he is also taken. What is the logic in that. When is PCB ever going to learn.

i am not embarassed by the fact that we lost but i am really dissapointed. Major problems ;

1) why havent we been able to find a permanent opener for 2 yrs ?
2) why would you want rana to play ...put sami or azhar
3)why keep kaneria in the team...too expensive and pathetic fielder
4)let younis open and push inzi and yusuf up.
5)why cant we adapt to global picthes ? The PCB should make not only batting friendly instead different types of pitches so that the future generations can adapt more to foreign soils.

All in all Gul was fantastic,rao was a surprise performer and malik was the lone warrior . We still have hope as long as we dont slip up against ireland and zimbabwe.

Either the gas leak at the Pakistan Hotel or too much pot smoking might have played a role in today's pathetic batting performance. The diffrence was not having BOOM BOOM Afridi on the side. Pakistan management has never stood up to promising players.Play BOOM BOOM Afridi and you will go home with a BANG.

People really should NOT look too much into that match WI vs India last week. WI was experimenting with a different batting line up, filled with several youngsters who only just concluded their debut regional fc season in the West Indies. That warm up was to give them a go at it. The West Indies batting performance today was not as good as it could have been, but Samuels was a joy to watch, Lara played lovely shots, Sarwan put up a resilient 49 and Dwayne Smith powered 32 off 15 balls. And Corey's six off the last ball was fantastic to watch.

The West Indian bowling was good period. Only four extras and no no-balls. Sometimes keeping it simple helps and that's what they did. Bravo bowled straight, Smith kept it tight, they knew the batsmen would get frustrated and capitalized on that as the run rate reached up to as much as 17rpo at one point I believe. The West Indies can be a quality team and they proved that today. Pakistan was outplayed.

Sami in for Naved Hasan
Afridi in for Kaneria
the rest of the team should stay the same !!
i keep reading that we got not so good a team and i don't agree
with the above mentioned players coming back in, we have a good chance to making it through the super 8,
Australia and SA are good in their home grounds with fast tracks, not in west indies, these wickets suits Asian teams better
I have a strong feeling pakistan will learn a lot from this defeat and we will c a changed team in the coming games, InshAllah

Its sad but true, Absence of shoaib and asif is certainly hurting Pakistan. Anyways i think windies were quite lucky to win today. The way there batsman played & missed one ball after another. I think hafeez shouldnt open the innings and malik should open instead of him. Hafeez is better off coming in before the tail, hes a good bowler though.

i totally agree with you..and many of who thought, oh forget this..'hamara kuch nahin ho sakta'..will b sitting down with all their passion watching the game against Ireland. Thats how we Pakistani's are.
i support them no matter what, other teams are in to win aswell.
just the changes that definitely should be made are azhar to replace kaneria, with all due respect to the latter. And Sami to replace Rana, no respect talk here!
Love those last couple of lines! summed it up like no other

The problem begins with Inzy,I am an Indian but was perplexed to see a fellow sub continent batsman like him batting like a rabbit.The bowlers did their job but Inzy looked like playing a test match and so was yousuf,during their partnership they endured a spell of nine overs for 13 runs.Inzy was either fooling himself by showing no hint of taking the attack to the bowlers and believing it could be done easily as the RR kept mounting.The telling blow was that crucial slow partnership that made a mockery of Shoaib's fine effort later.If the bowling was so good, how did Shoaib smack so many in so few a deliveries.Even in the post match conference he was least perturbed,either Inzy knows the final outcome as a Nostradamus or has simply given up.Light fire in this big man to perform, the openers as usual failed, no surprises as Salman Butt cools his heels.Great seelction and an even greater inspirational captain.It was a let down for all sub-continent fans who believe one of us can win this tournament or atleast stretch the Aussies.No wonder they win so many times when faced with such lazy grizzly bears as Inzy.

Really today Pak disappointed me, my friends, and family. The basic root cause is Inzy, who doesn't have any leadership quality and taking easy big game for the God sake. God helps those who tried hard. He should screw the poor performer in his team. He should put target to the individuals otherwise Pak will definitely loose against Zimbabwe as they are monitoring very closely the weakness of each players. Inzy be dynamic... and get Azhar, Sami, Afridi in next matches... Good Luck.

kamran,
Hopeless, these guys beyond belief, slack management, pathetic captaincy. half of the match was won when pakistan team got fielding first and getting opposition to 186/6 stuff it theses guys are the a load of rubbish. WE DON'T WANT A REPEAT OF THE SOUTH AFRICA WORLD CUP. WE WANT PERFORMANCE. THE players are capable enough and are paid enough from government of pakistan treasury to pull up a win. I think our new ball attack must be sami + umar . Sami at least has a good track of keeping himself fit. I like his bowling a lot. Kaneria can stay. Its alarming how much the team relies on Mohd Hafeez in terms of bowling. Rana must be paid to stay away from cricket. he's injured at county and he needs an year. county should be banned for all pakistani bowlers. They rather be paid better.

Opening I want Salman Butt there with Younis Khan or Shoaib Malik. I would have had the Yasir Hameed and Salman Butt pair but when the management cant swallow a single duck with this pair and is happy with 10 ducks with whatever replacement they come up with the only thing you could do is get frustrated. If the management like replaces an opening batsman they can only do that when they have something better to replace them with. These guys have a habit to go backwards instead.
They still are a good team and the team did suffer from not having Abdul razzaq, Shahid Afridi,
Shoaib and Asif but they still were very near to victory and just gave it away. I want every new pakistani batsmen to be banned to play any shot for first 8 deliveries. They should defend first eight deliveries and they can go from there. They are not Javed Miandad or Asif Iqbal. They work as a bunch and by defending for an over at least half of the team can avoid losing wickets. They fall very quick in an opposition trap and they should instead outsmart the opponents.

The bowlers gave away about 20 runs too many especially after having got the first use of the pitch but really, the problem lies with the batters - more so openers. Neither Imran Nazir nor Mohammed Hafeez have even a decent first class record as openers leave alone in a world cup. The openers in a one day game are key. They need to shock the heck out the opposition bowling and set the tone. No team has gone on to win major competitions without a good opening pair. Sorry Mr. Abbasi - you get it wrong - unless Woolmer and Co decide to send Afridi and Shoaib at the top and designate a good finisher - the underrated Kamran possibly?.

the fact that the top 3 played retarded shots to throw their wickets away is beyond my imagination. Yousuf's dismissal was bound to occur as he was trying to up the tempo after playing a test match for a bigger part of the game. I don't think making any changes would yield us the results that one would hope for....let's just hope that Inzi starts thinking like a leader and lead from the front...Imran Khan and all the ex-cricketers keep critisizing his strategic tactics yet he (Inzi) goes on to repeat the same mistakes over and over again!

y the hell these so called professional bowlers cant bowl yorkers in last 10 overs???? Rana naveed is pathetic and i bet he will still be there in the next match..! i dont know on wt basis hes been slected for wc squad..! pathetic..! woolmer doesnt know how to plan a game. they will be beaten by the group match again and wont even qualify for super 8.

I wrote in my earlier posting Please take One game at at a time, its a long tournament,I also predicted that batting will be the key to this match, few things went wrong in this match, Thick headed display of batting from Younis khan and Imran Nazir,Younis I guess is not serious he is too experienced to play such shots,either he is on a MISSION of his own or he is completely dumb,bcz there was no reason to play that shot he should be grilled for that as regards Imran Nazir I dont no why we include such players in our team and scheme of plans such breed of players are causing more harm to their teams than benefit, look at sehwag,gayle,Afridi,and others only those teams can afford such players who have rock solid batting line up,I was expecting sami or Azhar in place of Rana but again Rana was included I hope todays game will prove to the team management that he is out of form please if you have any doubt let it go.
We missed the depth in the batting dearly usually
in this situation we have Afridi,Razzak and Shoaib
but today we had Rao,Rana and shoaib.
I hope for the next match Rana should be replaced
with Sami or Azhar,also one critical blunder has been exposed which will haunt us in the tournament
we have no batsman in reserves I think yasir hameed should have been included instead of Yasir Arafat.
A few positives Malik played very well,Bowling was good a part from Rana, hopefully Pakistan will
learn from the mistakes,and perform well in the next match.

Well hopes with the Pakisatn team. I am pretty sure that you are kidding Kamran. I would be glad if they make it to the next round. Infact I don't want them to make it to the next round and lose once again to India. I do not understand one thing, we always keep listening in media, PCB claiming that they are preparing for the world cup and bla bla.... Where the hell is the preparation? I say it sadly that our team sucks and it really let us down badly today. Very poor. I just cannot believe that we are not able to pick 11 talented players from a country where every other kid has unbelievable cricketing skills. Come on we have some seriouis talent in our country but still we can't come up with a good enough team for such a huge tournament. Its ridiculous.

India suffered a similar rude shock when they were beaten 4-1 in the Carribean, that series saw the emergence of taylor as a quick strike bowler, Bravo revealed his slower one and Dwayne Smith made a come back as a golden arm dibbly dobbly bowler that Mudasser Nazar would be proud of and Windies play suits these conditions

Add to that Samuels in now in the groove and the return of Lara's form and double barrell openors in ChanderPaul and Gayle, this side is potent. Noe powell has raised his game though he still gives 4 balls, Windies pace agttack is getting more potent. And lara is more matured and determined at the helm and as fresh an artist with the bat as ever. His fine paddle for 4 was the shot of the day for me.

So All in All I agree with Kamran, these are early days Pakistan needs to regroup expecially for death overs and top order

Ahkmal was good in keeping and fell to a blinder catch from Bravo

Windies bowling and fielding was top class and they hardly gave extras

I believe Kanaria bowled well and Inzi should have given him another over he might of got D Smith Cheaply

Well Kamran you are absolutly right. This is very Embarrassing performance by Pakistan, as I said few weaks ago in my comments that Pakistan will suffer because of openers in the worldcup if they will not select the Sulaiman Butt in the squade, and will suffer in the bowling if they will not select the Mohammad Irshad in the squade, I dont have a too much experiance of cricket but according to my limited exposure i saw Mohammad Irshad in domestic matches and he have a great pace and also his action is very good which helps him to controle his line with the pace, but just leave it now we have to make the planing with our present team, well I think that pakistan must change some bating order in this tournament, I dont know weather I am right or wrong but in my openion Kamran Akmal must open with the imran Nazir, and younis must play at no6 and Shohaib Malik should play at no3 and inzimam at no4 and mohammad yousuf at no 5 hafeez should be in lower middle order, becuse after 30 overs the ball is abit old and hafeez's technique suggests that he can be a handy batsman at that possision, now i said that shohab malik should play at no 3 position becuse in Westindies the wickets are not very uneven and condition is similar to the subcontinent, and shohaib malik is a good player on subcontinent wickets, so he will be very useful to play at onedown position, Now coming towards the bowling I think that pakistan need to change the bowlers, they must give the rest to Rana Naveed, because his form with the ball is not very good, So they must play with the Mohammad Sami with umar gul and iftikhar unjum, and also Afridi should replace the kaneria, then it will be a good combination so in my openion

I agree with your discussion to a great extent. In terms of inclusion of Rana Naveed, it is beyond the understanding of a sane mind. Any lay man can tell you that common sense says that if a guy i s aliability to your team then dont play him, his bowling has been pathetic. Also i had heard that he is a very useful allrounder, well he failed to show that today again, Azhar should be in since he is a very useful all rounder and has proved that with performances with Pakistan in past and Surrey county in present.
Danish could have been a little unlucky, even though he bowled well and looked threatening but still failed to take a wicket. Im not a big supporter of Danish in ODIs but from watching his performance today i would have to say otherwise.
Of course the team needs Shahid Afridi since not only is he a decent spinner but also he has a habit of breaking partnerships. Also on his day he can make any attack in the world look ordinary, we all are aware of that.
Inzi and yousuf tried to steady the ship but especially Inzi looked too relaxed and slow, even when the run rate was climbing to an alraming level, Inzi and yousuf were vatting in no urgency. I agree that yes they had to steady the ship but at the same time players of their standard could have done a lot better than takin 7 runs in second power play.
Lets hope for the best for Pakistani team.

High hopes Kamran! Let's face it - this Pakistan team is nothing more than a lump of out-of-form shit. I feel hopelessness and despair supporting it. Each one of them, starting from Inzi (even a local county player could have scored faster than him), should be caned. PCB should sack these guys and build up a new team - even a brand new team cannot lose worse than this team has!

Kamram; your points are very valid. I beg pak team selectors to take control now then crying over split milk. Our team has talents to make final. Inzi go for it and make history.

Absolutely pathetic display of batting but i think the game slipped away from Pakistan during the last 5 overs when they conceded about 60 runs. Bowling was right on target for first 45 overs but Inzi made the mistake of not letting the spinners finish the job who pretty much had the West Indians by the throat. Instead Inzi reintroduced the pace, which helped the tail to throw a bat at everything to help themselves with a boundry or two. WI could have been restricted under 200 runs but unfortunately bowlers didn't go for the kill at the end.

Also, Younis Khan dropping Sarwan on 0 and he went on to score about 50 runs.
Pakistan should have had a backup opener in Hameed or even Farhat because Nazir is simply a wild card. After watching this game i am indeed conviced that this was the beginning of the end for Pakistan in this world cup.

And lastly Rana needs to carry the drinks for the rest of this tournament period.

Its the same old story , alot of expectations and yet not fullfilling it . What A SHAME ,What a disastorous start to pakistan world cup campaign ,cricket is all about passion and excitement but watching todays perfomance reminded of the vulnerability of pakistani team ,so exubarent but not thoughtfull .
For starters Inzi all got it wrong , after winning the toss he should have elected to bat first , in such a big event , especially when you are playing the opener but who will explain this to MIGHTY Inzi , sometimes i feel sorry for him , he was giving big remarks before the start of the match and yet could not lead pakistan to victory.

I had enough of giving ideas that what type of strategy should be adopted by pakistan , it will go down in the history of pakistani cricket team if Inzi listens to what the whole nation says .
Guys my advice to all of you is dont waste your time and money watching these lethargic athletes , i very much doubt if they can reach super eight after such dismall perfomance .

Kamran, get real, this is a hopeless Paki side. Javed Khan of Montreal "where are you hiding your face now dude"? get some ganja and charas, it will relieve your pain for today. Heartiest congratulation to Lara and company on their grand victory.

i just don't know why they changed the batting order from canada match. probably becuase younis didn't wanted to bat as an openner. if pakistan want to win the world cup they have attack from the front. our best players like younis, yousuf, and inzi has to play first. they have to come early in order to put pressure in the oposition side.

why in the world rana is in the team still. can't we just just give shabbir ahamd a chance in one day international. he is much much better than sami, and rana. it was good to see gul and rao bowling good but i think both kanaria and rana bowled rabbish and they should't be playing next match. i say for the next match drop kanaria and rana instead bring azhar and sami
pakistan should open with younis and nazir and then inzi has to play in number three and yousuf in four. we can't have our best batsman coming at number five when there is no one else left there to bat with him. younis, yousuf, and inzi they have to come and bat and attack from the front.

Pakistan needs to play with more Alrounders instead of bowlers, Sami should be included in place of Naveed ul Hassan, Afridi for Kaneria. Imran Nazir should be given another chance but he has to be careful about his shot selection. We need Boom Boom Afridi, Azhar mehmood should be given another chance as well in place of Rana or Kaneria. Kaneria is an ordinary bowler who does not make any difference to the team bowling.

well guys just forget the world cup, don't waste your time, this team is going nowhere?
I am looking forward what changes there could be after Pakistan after Pakistan going home after first round.
Can anyone guess?

Yea exactly...y wasnt Sami, Afridi and Azhar playing????? i thort Sami was the pick of the bowlers against the warm up game against SA and yet Rana played. Kaneria is not required... Pakistan have Afridi, Hafeez and Malik for spin options and i think Akmal should open the batting with Hafeez or be dropped and replaced as keeper by Younis Khan. I was so suprised at the team selection

well i am not too dissappointed cause i expected this from the Pakistani team and i see what you are trying to say Kamran but its not going to happen. This team does not have the potential....

I for one holding mine Kamran ! I still have the faith like millions around in this team.

I think if we bring back S Malik at one down position that will solve most of our batting problem. Malik was the key factor in winning one days in 2005. I think Yunis should be moved down the order for time being and kick him out from one day team after world cup.

There is no hope with this team. This world cup is over for Pakistan, and Bob woolmer knows it.

The defeat was self-inflicted. How?
1 - Win the toss and field on a perfect wicket?!!!
2 - Only a genius can explain continuous selection
of Rana Naveed. He is the biggest liability
on the team - but Inzy and his pal Mushtaq
think otherwise.
3 - Catches win matches - and Sarwan was let off
the 1st ball he faced - and Younis then showed
how to throw your wicket away!!!
4 - Inzy has a set mind...otherwise why take off
Hafeez & Kaneria when they were bowling well
and Rana obliged with a display of how to
bowl at the death!!!
5 - When playing against the host in the WC opening
you have to show a bit of big heart by giving
4 over- throws!!!

Kamran, I like your optimism...but it is better
Pakistan start preparing for the 2011 WC.
And can any one tell me which new batsmen Woolmer has produced in more than 2 years that he
has been coach. He continuously says there is ample talent. I want to know where is it?!!!
Mind you, Inzy, Younis and Yousuf are NOT his
products.

IF we had Azhar today I think we might have had a better chance I MEAN WHY IS DANI THERE NO SENSE. He is a waste of bat..

I have been saying all along that pack all eleven positions with batsmen as Pak keep losing wickets with a sluggish run rate. Also the selectors did a poor job not including Yasir Hameed as an opner and as you mentioned Mr. Abbasi not including enough batsmen/wicketkeeper. Well with the squad we have I'll choose all the batsmen, wicketkeeper, two bowlers (excluding Sami and Rana) and the rest allrounders. Still I wont give this Pakistan team, management and administration much of a chance.

well i have read everyone's comments and i think pakistan could have done better, but lets face it if us pakistani ppl don't support our team then the team won't even beant irland. and someone name (pakistani sucks) needs to change there name bcz i think when pakistan takes that world cup or make it to the semi finals ur mouth will be shut!!!!!!! we are not losers ppl. lets face it england has never won a world cup!! i mean we are a better team then england. so we can do it. and shut those ppls mouth who talk shit!!!!

Mr. Kamran, I am not sure if there is any hope for Pakistan or not... I would rather have india and Pakistan make it to the finals... I think Pakistan has real good players, but what it suffers from is (just like india) is over dependence on senior players... Australia is also falling in the same trap and given their arrogance, I really hope Scotland kicks their rear sides tomorrow ... I know --- fat chance --- .. anyway --- the key for India and Pak is to forget the Inziez, the Tendulkars, and get some young blood into the team .. ! I just did not see the resolve to play some attacking shots today .. ! I could see the rub rate climb and I was wondering when will they control it.. never happened... I am from india and I love a good match between the green and blue .. hopefully - 2007 will be the year of the subcontinent... !

kamran you are still living in dreamland world to say azher mehmood can perform. he is just picked bcoz of inzi's friendship nothing elese. he is used bullit. let me tell u this bob woolmer killed pakistan cricket with the help of inzi. i am 100% agree with u pakistan's odis power was their long batting lineup most the time in the history pakistan's batting was going to number 9 or 10 and today after six batsmen there was looooooooooooooong line of tailenders, i don't why too long tail. and i wana tell u one thing more sami is still crap. i know u will write about him that he didn't deliver well after the match, i am going to tell u before the match he will not deliver well in any match. his boulcing doesn't have any bounce same like rana.

if u wana pick the team pick like this way.
u can use hafeez at number 6 very well and can easy get from him usefull runs

yasir can bowl better than rana and adridi can bowl 200 times better than crap odi player danish kerneria.

kamran pick my this team and win all the next matches in the worldcup otherwise they need to go back and seelp in their homes for long rest.

pakistan is sick of woolmers coaching.

if anwer ali u19 bowler was here today he must have taken many wickets than crap rana.

i will beg to u and pakistan's coach, captain and management pls send back to keneria back to home in the first available flight.

Here is thought if Inzi wants to bat down the order why don't he just come at no9, that way his wish to bat down the order will be really fullfilled. I mean Capt is suppose to lead from front and there he goes total defensive mode and takes the whole team down with him and no one can any thing to him, why because he is too senior, screw that........ I really hope we don't make it to super 8 because i can't take this any more and keep my hopes up on the shoulders of this stupid capt. I rather not see Inzi play any more I really hope he get's injured really bad that he has to abondon the worldcup and may be some one else can lead this team I think we might have some chance. I have been saying it for a long time win or lose is part of the game but lose with respect at least show some fight but Inzi has just really disappointed me.

BOB Woolmer recently said he was happy with the Pakistani teams preparation for the wc. Bob surely is a guy who is happy with modest things in life.
I guess he is glad the margin of defeat was only 54 runs , and his genius plans avoided a bigger defeat.

Well i think our captain is tooooo lazy. He doesn't care. He thinks by telling his players to keep a beard will that solve everything.
No offense but its good they're religious but you have to perform as well.
We need a captain like PONTING or DRAVID, not a lazy person who only wants to perform when he wants to.
In 1992 everyone was scared of Imran Khan, because they knew what he was capable of if the players didn't perform.
On the other hand Inzi, no player cares because he can't do anything.

P.s All the selectors are being harsh on Azhar, only becuase he was close to Wasim Akram
Thats all - CHANGE THE CAPTAIN.

- I really dont understand why the hell Rana is still playing, this has been the worst bad patch I have ever seen in any fast bowler. Inzi likes him that why he is in the team..his presence now sucksss.
- Kaneria, the guy who has been playing cricket for about 6 -7 years and never been a part of the ODI team is playing the world cup, Can Izni , Wolmer and Selection committe explain this logic. He has never been a top class ODI bowler, neither a good fielder nor a batsman. Afridi is much better ODI bowler then him and we all know what can he do with the bat.
- Imran Nazir, never played international cricket for more than 2 years, played just one good innings in SA and now become an integral part of pakistani team....huuh. This guy has the worst techinque and yet plays as a specialist opener.. I dont know for how long we keep trying these crapy players.
- Yousuf and Inzi should come up. Younus needs to be more consistant in ODIs. Afridi, azhar and sami/yasir arafat should replace kaneria, rana and imran nazir...
But I would say that this WC is not gona be much different then 2003.

The West Indies played well today. This is the sort of performances that West Indians want to see from our players. We want to see some fight and that is what they showed today.Hafeez and the Younis Khan gave away their hands and Yousuf and Inzaman gave the match to the west indies with their slow batting....newayz the west indies play well today and I hope they continue to play this way.

Tuesday, March 13 2007--Death of Pakistan Cricket

RIP

I am an ardent fan of Pakistani cricket but this team is stretching my patience to the limit. I think the most important thing to note here is that how bleak the future of Pakistani cricket is? We have absolutely no new batting or bowling talent. We are playing losers like Naved, Sami, Hafeez, Nazir and the worst thing is that we have no other choice. Unfortunately these are the only people out there or atleast that the impression selectors have given us. It is truly abysmal to see such a weak Pakistani team in the worldcup. I wish they lose in the first round and spare us of this torture.

Rana Naved is badly out of form...his selection remains a mystery and a huge suprise...Mohammed Sami remains consistently inconsistent...I feel Ifthikar justified his selection and really played well...As for Kaneria, he has been desperate to try and cement his place in the one day line up yet fails to show the venom he displays in the Test Arena...Yousuf at No. 3 and inzy at No. 4 would provide more Stability i feel...as for the opening pair...one word...HOPELESS...id give them till the super eights..if they dont perform....Nazir should be out...Hafeez and Malik should open...As for Pakistans chances..LETS ALL PRAY

Pakistan is one team that would always need a wakeup call. This loss will be a wake up call. This team has the full potential and the skill to beat even a team like Australia. Batting: Imran Nazir can blast any bowler. Mohammad Hafeez can stick around for a while. Mohammed Yousuf and Inzamam can play big patient innings. Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi can fire any time. If this combination works in any form it will be enough to beat any side any day. WE WILL NEVER COUNT YOU OUT PAKISTAN

Well put Kamran! The fact is that the team has no form of stability nor reliability. I agree with you in regards of rana naveed. He is a pathetic and costly bowler. Sami and Azhar's absence is a slap in the face and PCB's unintuitive decisions.
Pakistan's future in this world cup is like the U.S pulling out of Iraq!

As much as i believe Bob Woolmer to be a decent coach, i'm disgusted with the decision to play Shoaib Malik at no.6. Arguably he's been Pakistan's best batsman in odi's in recent years. This is a guy who started out at number 11 and yet still averages 33.92 (119 inns, 5x100, 21x50). Compare this to Younis Khan's average of 31.42 (144 inns, 2x100, 26x50). Clearly Malik is the better batsman in this form of the game, yet woolmer is trying to meet the needs of Younis when the more consistent Malik should be allowet to bat at no.3. He's won the team many more ODIs than Younis has. What use is his current position where he is constantly asked to achieve the impossible after the failures of others? And what exactly is Naved ul Hasan still doing in the team? Yasir Arafar or Azhar Mahmood would be far more useful. Last year Sussex were disappointed to get Rana back at the end of the season because Arafat was performing far better in both forms of the game. Ul-Hasan has not been the same player for about nine months and he is taking his place purely on reputation!

Javed Khan from Montreal mentioned the other day that the if the Indian medicore bowling attack could wipe out the WI batting ,Pakistan could do better. Well I guess if Indian attack is medicore,Pakistans attack is exceptionally better......ummm well I guess it my fault at not understanding.He must have meant better for the opposition teams I guess.

Less than 48 hours ago, you were all praise for the team, backing them to win the WC. Now, you don't want to eat your words, but at the same time criticize half the team for not performing. Where are your WC winners going to come from? Why don't you also suggest packing and sending half the team back home and bring new troops?
Accept the fact that this team is not capable of winning the WC but accidents do happen in Cricket, so theoratically there is a chance that they can win.
Of course now some people will say that Afridi was missing and Sami was not playing. About a fortnight ago, Sami was not even in the squad. Afridi is always hit and miss. The fact is Pak lost it because of top 3 batsmen and there is no replacement, given Inzy's refusal to take responsibility. I bet we will see Afridi open again in this tournament and it will not work and then he will be dropped again !! Imagine, the WI team beat Pak w/o Lara, Gayle and Chanderpaul firing and they needed no more than 5 bowlers (including two part-time bowlers). Now think of whats waiting in other teams.

Sure, hope never dies ! Keep faith but stop day dreaming !

Akmal, Hafeez and Rana need to be dropped for Afridi, Sami and Azhar. Younus (or anyone for that matter) can keep as well as Akmal.

1.Kamran Akmal should open.
2.Inzi should bat up the order.
3.Afridi to be included in the team no matter what.
4. Rana should be dropped - everyone knows his death over tactics by now.

The truth is that Pakistan have always been useless gibberish, these people need to get out of there own arses and listen to what the fans are saying. I mean Ranas been playing like dog for months now and he still hasnt been axed, why do they keep starting him?! and Inzi that buffalo's too lazy to come in at no.3 or 4 even though hes our best batsman, its a shame. Whenever our batting clicks our bowling doesnt: thats the pakistan team summed up for you, a useless bunch of idiots.

The world cup is over, even if this useless sloth of team gets through to the next stage they will be at a serious disadvantage since the points are carried through.

I dont know why i wasted my time watching these idiots today even though i knew what was going to happen. Pakistan have always been like this, and they will carry on being like this.

Dont waste your time over them people, now then back to football.

I am Guyanese, so I am glad WI won. My dear Pakistani friends, please don't lose hope. As I recall Imran's winning team had a terrible start to Pakistan's only WC victory. Hopefully, they can squeeze into the next round and they will have him back by then. By the way...what's up with your coach (Woolmer) disrespecting Pakistan's chances by openly saying that S.A., Aus., and N.Z., are all better teams? Even if it's true, that has to put a dent on his players confidence. The Pak. board should have sacked him immediately after he made those remarks. Good Luck. I hope Pak does well, but I want my Windies to win it all.

It was scary show off from Pakistani cricket team today. I believe there was no team plan, no spirit and some of players were just happy to be the part of national team participating in worldcup2007. Whole team was lacking in enthusiasm and discipline. Other than that I would like to mention some points here

Danish Kaneria:
Believe me he is still a school fellow who should play enough cricket to get to that level of maturity. His fielding, bowling and on top of all his reactions!!! Just Sucks

Imran Nazir:
I don’t know why Iman doesn’t have temperament and concentration. The way he is playing he only deserve to play super six tournaments. Please some one should teach him and make him understand that he is playing at international level. How hard it is to play a front foot drive to the half volley?

Rana Naveed:
Honestly he needs to go for rehabilitation. He is not a bad bowler but he is just not in his rhythm and one shouldn’t try him and help him to gain it back in important events. Not in world cup at least.

Inzama-ul-Haq:
I have no doubt Inzi is master player but he still needs to learn the tactics of captaincy. He needs to do his home work and get in the ground with plan A, B and C. I am trying to find an answer that why he can’t push himself and bat at number three. One shouldn’t make it an ego problem that everyone is saying so I don’t have to do.

Beautiful game of cricket is sports but we need real professionals to manage and play this game otherwise things are not far where we will see the standard similar to what we have in hockey.

I am an Indian supporter - but I do not think Pak is as bad as it is made out to be here. If Pak makes just these 2 changes I think they would be a handful Rana out - Azhar in and Kaneria out - Afridi in. Akmal is not keeping well these days but I do not think Younis would be any better.

Not forgetting that they just beat the beat rated team at the moment - south africa in the warm up game, pakistan have alot of work to do. Or did they just have a bad day today??

My personal opinion for today is that the captain is partly to blame for some poor decisions, why Inzi gave each bowler a long spell rather than rotate the bowling and keep the batsmen thinking I cant understand.. especially in the case of Rana Naved, who should have been taken off straight away.

If we are going to look for positives.Then the only one which stands out in my mind. Is the performance of Shoaib Malik.

This may not be the most naturally gifted batsmen.He has certainly got the mental toughness.

In the words of the Late great Boxing coach Cus D`Amato. " A hero Is someone who is able to handle fear. Rather then being consumed by it.He is actually able to use his fear of failure as motivation. And to help raise his performance."

Or in the legendary words of muhammad Ali "A champion is created from something deep inside. A desire, A vision, An unrelenting determination..."

Our team is full of guys who are unable to deal with the pressure of the big stage. I certainly feel for them. Unfortunately I dont think guys such as Nazir, Kaneria have a very long future.

Today was the epitome of unpredictable. I truly think Pak's relationship with its fans is the curse of the "stockholm syndrome". They've sucked of late, but when they produce to their talant, we love them. But generally, they've sucked, no doubt about that. I'm a firm beleiver in shoab, the big three, kaneria, and now umar and rao. They've got true talent. But despite their usual lack of bringing out their talent, I'm totally enthralled when they do pull one out, and for some reason I always believe they will. I really hope you're right, Kamran. But yes, please leave out Rana for now; he's not good for the team's chemistry.

this is un belevble that inzi select boyz like rana who bad luck since he return why inzi keep out sami i dont belive my openion is azar mehmood and hafeez should open the innings 3rd will be inzee 4th yosuf 5t yonis 6th malik 7th afridi,8th sami 9th rao iftikahar,10th yasir arfat 11th daish aur rana no place for kamran akmal yonius khan will hendle more better then him

Kaneria must be persisted with as should any wicket taking bowler. Azhar Mahmood or Mohammad Sami must replace Rana Naved. Afridi must open. Getting him to bat late is a very defensive ploy as is everything that Inzy does. But i hope that these changes happen after Pakistan has lost its match with India ;-)

It won't be easy for Pakistan to sort this out before super 8's. Next two games are easy wins and Pakistan should not be appreciated if they manage to win against minnows. There are quite a few things wrong with this team. Inzimam's captaincy is just amazingly horrible. Kaneria has never been used properly and it's not fair to him. We could've had Windies all out within 150 had Inzi decided to attack rather than become defensive. I have no clue why Hafeez is being given a chance again and again! He cannot play! Period! I hope Inzi's only excuse to keep him in the team is the absence of Afridi. Sami should've played. Rana should be rested.

Please dont blame Danish Kaneria though. You never gave him chances in One day Games and bring him directly for WC !!

Some people on here who are criticizing fans for not supporting their team should really get a life. Pakistan team has done nothing to earn our respect! They've always let us down. Inzi should realize his defensive strategy will never win him big games!

This has to be the weakest pakistan side ever, to go into a world cup tournament, largely due to the fact shoaib akthar, mohammed asif, abdul razzaq being left out due to injury, and shahid afridi being banned for first 2 games. These are 4 potential match winners almost half the team! and they cant play!! If you look in the side that played today, there was about 5 players that stand out as match winners on their day, - Inzi, yousuf, younis, shoaib malik, umar gul, you need 11 match winning players, thats why australia have done well in the past and dominated for years.

I think the only team Pakistan can beat regularly is itself time and again. How can you say that it was a good bowling performance when they were whacked for almost 10 an over in last 10 overs. I don't think this team and this Captain has it in them to reach the Semis.

Dear Kamran,I agree with you that this team has the talent and the potential to usurp the best team on any given day but the likelihood of that actually happening (outside of a patriotic Pakistani's dream) is anywhere between nought and zero. And the reason: a team leader devoid of cricketing sense. It's the story of Pakistan's eternally static society where religious fervor is considered a substitute for technical knowledge and skill. It may be that Inzy is targeting higher glories than the earthly World Cup. So, just sit back and relax,Allah will guide this team.

But getting down to the nitty-gritty of today's game, I fail to see any logic in anything this team management does, including team selection, strategy etc. etc. Cricket is such a mind game, and our team management so mind-boggled at the time. And the fact that the coach openly writes off his own team by claiming SA as his favourite team fits perfectly into this directionless team leadership.

Dear Kamran:
1. Rana is a hard worker, he has my sympathy, but the World Cup needs a bowler who is in form, and right now, he has totally lost his confidence, and is asking to be put out of his misery!!
2. I WILL place all the blame on Inzamam and Woolmer...if the coach and captain cannot be held responsible, then who will you hold accountable...the TOOTH FAIRY??
3. Sami is your fastest bowler, and he cannot possibly bowl any worse than Rana...
4. Knowing Inzi mulla, he is probably regretting not replacing Asif and Shoaib with Maulana Fazl ur Rehman and Qazi Hussain Ahmad.....and a word of advice to cricketers from Karachi... grow a beard, the longest, bushiest one that you can grow... that is your ONLY chance... it is still a snowballs' chance in hell, but it is your only option....
5. And finally, if the World Cup was being played in Raiwind, you probably would end up being right..since it is not, I would recommend that you buy lots and lots of your favorite dressing....you will be eating your words and IT WILL NOT GO DOWN EASY, AND IT WILL NOT GO DOWN FAST...
P.S. Kamran, just how exactly did you get your neurons zapped up this bad?!!!

IMHO, a bowler must be smart. I have always found rana chachu to be a very dumb one. He just gets lucky from time to time. Batting order must be changed as you said.

Swap Shoaib Malik with Imran in batting order.

Rana is a big problem. Inzamam and Woolmer just keep on saying big words. Their wins in the warm up was just a warm up to start loosing. Until Inzi starts thinking about team instead of his friendship with Rana we can not win. All 3 Inzi, YOunis and sorry Yousuf also seem to be scared of new batsmen that why Pakistan has not established any new batsman since Inzi took over. Rana should be out of the team not for long but forever.

i don't know why i m still writing about them.they completely disheartened and disappointed me today.i don't have any hope but why in the world cant woolmer and inzi not get there best available players on the field.On such small grounds playing kaneria is big risk caz even mistimed shots wud go for sixes and yyyy azhar did nt play is still a mystery.Azhar is a good player of pacers and cud have given malik useful support towards the end.Sami did well in warm up against south africa and for some reason they still selected rana who i think is paying money(rishwat) to be in the team.Yasir being dropped from the 15 told again today caz he is a steady opener especially on low tracks he can be effective.A shameful performance and kamran bahi with this selection and opening we might even not get to the super 8s.i just want to be able to somehow forget this team and move on but it is easier said than done.

As much as it hurts to see Pakistan losing the World Cup opener, we have to accept this team was never good enough to make it to the final four and we will have to contend with a few loses here and there. As for all the cricket gurus suggesting changes in strategy i believe no radical changes are required. Maybe Sami should come in for Rana - thats all.
As for abandoning hope - well being a pakistani supporter i think we all know inside of what our boys can do and some of us only 'pretend' to lose hope. Remember '92? We were only better than SL in