Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik pointed out some glaring flaws in the Men in Green’s approach in the ongoing Asia Cup, saying that the mindset needed to change. With a high-voltage clash against India coming up again on September 21, Malik said that Pakistan needed to select teams based on the conditions in different venues.
“Dekhiye hum toh yaha baith ke bohot saare ideas de rahe hain, combinations bata rahe hain, batting orders bata rahe. Lekin jinhone karna hain, pehle toh ye check karna padega unke paas bhi itna dimag hain itni depth main soch sake. Toh phir toh aap ideas zaroor de aur kuch cheez samajh main aa jaye. (We can keep giving ideas sitting here about combinations and batting orders but the people who have to execute them, do they have the cricketing brains to think in such depth?),” Malik said in a video uploaded on the Tapmad YouTube channel.
“Woh jo final Afghanistan ke saath jo team final main khele thhe woh different venue tha. Sharjah ka venue. Par jab aap Asia Cup khelne aaye, aapne same combination hi khela. Kyun? Because woh jeeti hui thhi. Bhai, conditions change hoti hain.. Jaise aap batting main keh rahe ho sabko hona chahiye, then aap bhi toh flexible ho na. Jab venue change ho raha hain, conditions different demand kar rahe hain, different combination demand kar raha hain, aap bhi toh karo na. Proactive raho. Toh woh th woh ho nahi paa rahe” (The final that they played against Afghanistan in Sharjah before the Asia Cup, they are playing the same combinations here too. Why? Because they won. Conditions change. You are saying batting order should be flexible but you also be flexible too. When there’s a venue change and conditions are demanding a different combination, you change according to it. Be proactive),” he said further.
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Aur jo doosri baat hain dekhein, mujhe sirf genuine ek do battes hi nazar main aa rahe hain, jo bolwing nahi karte. Baaki saare toh bowling karte hain. Iska matlab aap saari hi alllrounders ke saath khel rahe. Jab aapke paas bohot saare allrounders honge, bohot saari cheezein hoti hain side main, captain bhi confuse ho jaata hain ki andar jaake maine kya karna hain. think tank bhi confuse ho jaata hain. So don’t confuse yourselves regardless of the format. Specialists batters aur bowlers acche situations main aapko runs bhi banake de sakte hain, wickets bhi le sakte hain in crunch situations. Against smaller teams, jis mindset main aap khel rahe ho ya combinations bana rahe ho, woh chal jayega but against good teams, nahi chalega, ye waali approach se aap nahi jeet paoge. (I can only see 1-2 genuine batters in this team. everyone else bowls. That means you are playing with mostly allrounders. When you have so many allrounders, there are a lot of issues. The captain gets confused as well as the think tank gets confused. Specialist batters and bowlers have the ability to win matches for you in crunch situations. Against smaller teams, this mindset will work but you can’t win against good teams like this),” he added.
Pakistan defeated UAE and Oman to become the second team from Group A to qualify for the Super 4s after India. They’ll next face their archrivals on Sunday, followed by matches with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The last time they faced India in the Asia Cup, they were thrashed by 7 wickets in a lopsided group stage clash on September 14.
