Cricket Junkies - Ibrahim Ali

10 overs. 19 runs. 2 wickets. 0 boundaries conceded in his entire spell.

hasn't been appreciated enough this series due to how brilliantly the newcomer, Arafat Minhas has started off.

But what a series he's had. 6 wickets at an average of 16.2 at an economy of 3.2.

The highest ranked Pakistani bowler in ODIs & T20Is. Another player that somehow gets benched when it's time for an ICC event.

has picked up his first ODI wicket in 7 matches. Deserves to be our all-format captain after this. 🐐

Brilliant over by Shaheen Shah Afridi to put Pakistan in the driving seat. 2 wickets in 1 over including the dangerous Josh Inglis.

But the most impressive part: Hit Connolly on the pad on his 5th ball and didn't think a review was needed (wasn't even close to the stumps but still an achievement).

Playing XI I wanted for today but knew that it definitely won't happen (brief reasoning in the comments):

1. Sahibzada Farhan
2. Shamyl Hussain
3. Maaz Sadaqat
4. Rohail Nazir
5. Ghazi Ghori
6. Arafat Minhas
7. Abdul Samad
8. Ahmed Daniyal/Naseem Shah
9. Shaheen Shah Afridi (c)
10. Abrar Ahmed
11. Sufyan Muqeem

All 5 players on the bench should've ideally played at least 1 match. But I knew that wasn't happening so I was hoping to see at least 3 changes.

But PCB being PCB goes for an UNCHANGED XI.

Should've prioritized giving more players an opportunity over trying to win the series but of course we'll never do that.

What a sad, defensive mindset.

PAKISTAN ARE UNCHANGED. AGAIN! 😂😭

Amazing how just won the T20 World Cup as a captain and is being removed due to poor form. Just shows how competitive it is to stay in the Indian team.

If we had won the T20 WC '26 under Agha, then we would've likely kept his individual performance aside and let him lead for the next 4 T20 World Cups.

Some PCT fans defend players to this day with, "Don't forget what he did in CT'17." That was 9 years ago! 😂😭

on finding a pace all-rounder:

"Faheem Ashraf certainly hasn't been dropped. We didn't include him this series because the conditions were more spin-friendly. Ahmed Daniyal is developing and we think he'll be ready in a month or two. Abbas Afridi has made progress with the bat but with the ball, he's certainly got plenty of work to do."

Faheem after 45 ODIs, still averages 14 with the bat & 45 with the ball. And he's still saying we haven't dropped him! 😍❤️

Abbas Afridi needs plenty of work with the ball? The man has 44 wickets in 26 List-A innings at an average of 23.

Ahmed Daniyal ko confidence dene k liye bench pe rakh k ready kiya ja raha hai.

These guys have no clue about their own players. Ajeeb logon k haath mein hai PCT ka future...

List of fast bowlers with 500+ ODI wickets:

1.

End of List.

Highest test scores of some legends:

Sachin Tendulkar - 248*
Mohammad Yousuf - 223
Jacques Kallis - 224
Steve Smith - 239
Virat Kohli - 254*
Kane Williamson - 251

- 257* 💀

Happy Birthday to the GOAT of fast bowling.

Who did it better? Both these innings came in a pressure run-chase. Both players were cramping up but still continued to put up a fight. Maxwell scored more runs but he had Cummins support him until the end. Shadab didn't have that luxury. Plus, Shadab was facing a tougher opposition in tougher conditions.

2 of the greatest innings of all-time (along with Fakhar's 193). Hard to pick one.