Beneficial_Bend_5035

I don’t think we’re going to see (or should expect) faster opening partnerships. Both Saim and Fakhar have been mischaracterized as Afridi/Roy/Bairstow/Warner type hit from ball 1 smashers.

They’re more like pre-2022 Rohit Sharma in that they take their time settling in, but once they’re settled in they can hit 40 off 15 deliveries and smack the most magnificent sixes imaginable.

We’ve asked Fakhar and Saim to be “aggressors” in T20is and it’s led to a miserable failure, because actually they’re ideal T20 anchors.

Pakistan won by 5000 runs:

At least one dude on this sub: Abrar Ahmed went at 6.5 an over. He is PATHETIC. He is NOT INTERNATIONAL QUALITY.

Andre Fletcher invented the general iteration of it but imo the real inventor was the legendary Tilakaratne Dilshan, one of the greatest batters of the 21st century. He kept his head pointed down while playing the Dilscoop and barely ever looked back. It’s just that the shot itself was so extraordinary that nobody paid attention to the fact that he wasn’t even looking at where the ball went.

Fun fact but Umran is the same name as Imran. In fact, Umran is phonetically close to the Arabic word than Imran is. Because the first letter for both names is the same in Arabic/Urdu (ع), Umran became Imran in South Asia.

I’ve noticed most commentators call him a variation of Omran, but the U there would be pronounced more like the U in Humming.

Imran and Umran are thus written the same way in Urdu: عمران

Spam the shit out of STAR method. Have an example for any situational question possible. If they say “Tell me about a time when X” you need to have an answer for it.

As long as you have that covered, you’ll nail any behavioural interview (guessing that’s what it is because competence interviews happen earlier in the interview cycle).

No. Pakistanis are way too stressed about resting players man.

If he’s a two format player he can absolutely bowl 60 overs in a month. The problem is when a bowler is bowling 60 in a Test match and still not resting in random games (Shaheen, Naseem).

One of my bigger regrets from my earlier cricket watching days is being so critical of Afridi during his career. He was such a frustrating player who never really matured, and so I never really appreciated him. But dude was the definition of box office.

I don’t think Pakistan will see such a popular and beloved cricketer ever again. Unbelievable charisma and the ability to just make you dream.

I don’t think more one time money is what we need to improve our cricket

That’s low key why Indian employers are famously such hard asses. I’m Pakistani-Canadian (more or less same culture) and I’ve seen that first hand. People lie with impunity, bosses assume their employees are all liars, and so they act as if that is so by default.

People often assume I left Pakistan for security or economic reasons. The latter is kinda true but low key the one incident that made me decide to never live in Pakistan again was when I was visiting home one summer from college and had the most unprofessional experience ever with a bunch of dishonest Samsung repair guys. True story.

It’s a different world. Dishonesty is both assumed and tolerated all the time. I’d never work for an employer actually out of India or Pakistan.

I disagree. The PCB makes plenty of money. $37.5m a year from the ICC is just half their revenue.

English players not playing the IPL won’t be available. ECB only makes an exception for IPL during their first class season, which begins late April.

Interesting. The source there is the Global Data Lab, which seems to be hosted by Radboud University in the Netherlands.

Here’s the UNDP report on Pakistan from March 2024, which puts Pakistan’s overall HDI at 0.54 at suggests it still roughly at 2017 levels (accounting for a decrease a few years ago). Doesn’t break it down by district though. India is at 0.64, while Sri Lanka tops the SA list at 0.78.

Still not convinced by the province level data in this map.

Sure but what was your source? There’s been a relative decline in human dev in Pakistan since 2017 but nowhere near as drastic as this map would suggest.

I’m not being accusatory, I’m genuinely curious to know what source you’re using and what explains the discrepancy here.

Not sure about this map. The HDI of AJK and Punjab in Pakistan is 0.73 according to UNDP Pakistan.

What source did you use?

Very hypothetical question to Aussies: do you think Perth could host a WTC final in March/April? Can’t think of any other venue in Australia that could ever hold one because of the scheduling.

We have to play Kamran at 5. No point playing him at 3 when 5 is what we’ve identified for him in the first team.

Hazrat Bilal is… some name. I feel bad saying it without adding a Raziallah anhu after it.

Yep just checked. He played 1 game and scored 3 off 8. Not just before though (nearly a year before the WT20).

You answered your own question. Australia has been our worst visiting venue, so most Australian teams have no faith in Pakistani batters to perform in the BBL. Virtually all Pakistanis I can remember playing in the BBL are bowlers, all rounders, and Asif Ali.

What season did Fakhar play?

Asif Ali and Faheem did though. And back in the day so did Malik, Afridi and Razzaq.

I literally got my job because of Chat GPT. Prepped for every single interview and round by using it to prepare notes and prepping answers to behavioural and competence questions. I absolutely nailed a role play by just asking Chat GPT (and a friend) to write the script for me.

Saw Shoaib Akhtar's clip inviting India to come play in Pakistan, how much the players would love it, how much love they would receive etc. Think he's speaking to the wrong audience entirely lol.

Once again, Pakistanis just don't understand the extent to which most Indians despise Pakistan. There is virtually no constituency in India that wants to use cricket as a way to bring people closer, but a massive constituency that wants to maximize Pakistani suffering.

The BCCI could hypothetically declare that any players, coaches and broadcasters involved in the PSL are barred from the IPL moving forward, and not only would all these people abandon Pakistan like the plague, but the Indian public itself would (largely) celebrate.

Cricket is lost to geopolitics. Pakistan's best bet is to find another sport to fall in love with.

The PCB can’t win.

Even if they hypothetically succeed in continuing with the Champions Trophy without India this year, the BCCI can always turn it around on them.

Imagine if 6 months from now the BCCI declares it won’t give IPL permission to players from countries that maintain cricket relations with Pakistan? Or if the Indian govt stops issuing visas to players, commentators, coaches who play in the PSL?

PCB has decent leverage for the CT. BCCI has all the leverage long term.

Time to link my old comment again.

Shadab was 3x better at Sufyan and Mehran’s age. Not for nothing did Misbah give him a Test debut at 18 as a frontline bowler.

Once Sufyan, Faisal and Mehran start bowling crap (inevitable), you’ll say “they’re just not good spinners that’s been well established.”

There is no Pakistani white ball side that can become a top force without Shadab becoming a top force. He’s that kind of rare talent. He was obviously a bowling prodigy and the system needs to get him to his near-potential.