Match Insight

Monday, April 8, 2019

Why losing the toss is a good thing for Pakistan team in UAE.

Looking in depth at the stats of Pakistan team's performance in UAE in the past 3 years show surprising numbers.
17 ODIs have been played by Pakistan team in UAE in 3 years. if we start from 23rd march, 2016, they have lost 5 matches and have won 11 of them and one match had no result.

In all of the 17 matches played, Pakistan won the toss 7 times and lost the toss 10 times. the alarming fact is that their winning chances are better when they have chosen the wrong side of the coin.

They have lost only 2 matches while winning the other 8 in all 10 matches where Pakistan lost the toss. And when the won the toss they lost 3 matches and won only 3.
where did that one match go? As mentioned earlier it ended with no result.
A deeper examination shows that Pakistan have been more successful when they lost the toss and were asked to field. in 8 such instances, Pakistan lost only 2 matches while winning the other 6. which results in the fact that Pakistan is not very good at chasing, well not in UAE atleast.
More interesting thing is that their winning record is 100% when they have lost the toss and were sent in to bat first.

while looking at their winning the toss and choosing to bat first scenario, they have lost 3 matches and won 3 out of the 7, which is alright but not as good when compared to the other 2 scenarios.

These stats show us that the Pakistan team needs to change their strategy of always trying to defend a set target, just because we have the BEST bowling attack.

So what happened in the ODIs against Australia? taking the example of the 1st match where
Pakistan batted, bowled and fielded badly, but also doing what the stats didn't order.
The newly made but experienced captain of the Pakistan team Shoaib Malik did won the toss in the 1st ODI but decided to bat first. relying on his team's bowling attack to defend the set target whether high or low.
Since the batsmen can be pretty unpredictable while chasing which lead to a disaster for Pakistan as they lost the match while Australia won by 8 wickets and 6 balls remaining.

However, even after all the numbers, stats and facts, the question remained unanswered. how does Pakistan win the matches in which they loss the toss?

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