We must learn to accept defeat, Hafeez tells emotional fans
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Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez called on his compatriots not to be bad losers and accept victory and defeat in the same manner after his team crashed out of the World Twenty20 tournament in Bangladesh.
Hafeez told reporters after returning from Dhaka early on Thursday that the side were disappointed by the way they lost to the West Indies in the final must-win group game.
“I think when we can celebrate victory passionately then we must also not be bad losers and accept the West Indies were better than us,” Hafeez said.
Hafeez and his team have been under fire from former players and pundits since the crushing defeat, the first time Pakistan have failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the World T20 since its inception in 2007.
Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Najam Sethi has summoned Hafeez, head coach Moin Khan and the team's cricket consultant Zaheer Abbas for a meeting.
“The Chairman has called us and all of us will sit down and look into the causes of our defeat. We must learn from it and move on,” the Pakistan captain said.
Asked if he was willing to step down, Hafeez said he had been given a job by the board and he tried to do it diligently.
“This is a decision for the board to make. They will decide whether they want me to continue as captain or someone else. I can't say much on it,” he said.
Experienced Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi criticised his team mates after returning to his hometown of Karachi.
“We didn't play aggressive and positive cricket like we did against Australia,” he said. “We played with a negative mindset and we lost.”
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Comments (74) Closed
Apr 03, 2014 01:56pm
Yes , absolutely . Not only this , but also should learn to remain quite after winning . Mature people follow these two mantras.
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Apr 03, 2014 01:59pm
If there would be merit bases Players rather than nepotism, i bet pakistan could never lose in any event.
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Apr 03, 2014 02:01pm
'We must learn to play right people ' Mr. Hafeez its not about winning or loosing!
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Apr 03, 2014 02:07pm
And you and ppl like shoaib malik must learn to quit cricket when It's already high time!
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Apr 03, 2014 02:13pm
it is a fixed match, once you get high rating then immediately everything going worst, why??
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Apr 03, 2014 02:15pm
Mr captain there is a difference between a defeat and a defeatist approach.
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Apr 03, 2014 02:20pm
Dear Captain, there should be a difference between losing and gifting a match. We totally understand, winning and losing are part of the game.
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Apr 03, 2014 02:22pm
Mohammed Hafeez, after this statement, looks a perfect fit to join PML (N) Politicians who lie on face of public and paint defeat as Victory.
Defeat & Win are both part of any Sports and we the Pakistanis know that well and do not need to be tutored on it, but loosing like pack of Jackals is something else, I still remember yellow faces of Pakistani players when the bowlers were being massacred by Windies and they never recovered from the trauma which carried through their batting and they were bowled in 17.5 overs while scoring less than 50% of target ! What a shame.
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Apr 03, 2014 02:23pm
I think when Pakistan lost in the final of Asia cup recently, no one did so much criticism. But when you will make a very poor team selection and discard the meritorious player then every fan has the right to criticize you severely. By the way loosing is not any crime. Corruption, poor team selection, bad intentions and very pathetic cricket played by the team (like a club team) are the issues for which you are being criticized. So, remain quiet and accept it. Do not give such poor comments.
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Apr 03, 2014 02:25pm
Yes, defeat must be accepted with open heart as we all have accepted the defaet in Asia Cup final against Srilanka where the team had tried to win but lost and so many times earlier.
But in World T20 it was not the defeat, it was actually the immaturity, unprofessionalism, stupidity and offering the victory in a plate to the opponents. How can you call it a defeat when SIX player were stumped in exactly the same manner. All of those six stumps were looking "ACTION REPLAY"
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Apr 03, 2014 02:26pm
Mr. Hafeez - I think the entire nation fully acknowledges and appreciates this fact that in any form of game one win and the other looses. The team won who plays well on that day.If we loose we should accept that the other played better. Perfect. No Issues. The cricket lovers have been fully supporting the cricket team where they played well and still lost. That's a game. But the recent game against West Indies is not being digested by the cricket lovers all around. Had the team played professionally and with a plan, I'm sure would have won and even if lost by playing well, although we would have felt low but certainly acknowledged the teams efforts. We are a sport. The way our team demonstrated such an ordinary play is beyond acceptability. We need to replace quite a few people and bring in professional players and even a professional body at PCB level and at even selectors level. We need to take decision and play on just merit.
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Apr 03, 2014 02:28pm
don't lecture us and quit...
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Apr 03, 2014 02:31pm
It is not defeat ........ It is the manner in which the team lost that has to addressed
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Apr 03, 2014 02:36pm
This is an unfortunate culture in Pakistan that people are been chosen on the basis of personal likeness and dis-likeness... i.e. a journalist was given the role of chairman PCB by PM, a nonsense and worst decision. Moin was preferred against experienced legends Mohsin and Waqar as head coach, again likeness and dis-likeness... Malik and Sohail were included in the team by Hafeez... again likeness and dis-likeness. I think Hafeez is not at all a good captain. Captain leads from front... which i have never ever seen with Hafeez. His attitude is also not very welcoming towards young and energetic players rather he prefers to relays on his old friends. So we have achieved the result in form of crashed by WI.
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Apr 03, 2014 02:38pm
After all its a sport, where there is win and loss, sometimes draw. Pakistani fans wanted to see the team reach finals, but could not bear the failure at such a huge margin against West Indies.More over wanted to see again India the arch rivals with Pakistan, that did not happen, where there was lot of predication of both the teams meeting again.
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Apr 03, 2014 02:39pm
Accept defeat.....that would be fine if the ballerinas representing pakistan cricket tried to play cricket. I would rather they were all sacked and 11 youngsters picked who would have the passion for their country. RESIGN THE LOT OF YOU EXCEPT AFRIDI. at least he showed emotion during the game.
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Apr 03, 2014 02:39pm
So people of Pak must learn to accept the defeat, one should ask a Hafeez a question, what he is learning, keep losing the game with every defeat worst then previous.... The only victory against top teams was versus Australia and lost 2 games to India and West Indies, Hafeez led Pak team to SFinal defeat in 2012 against average SL team, I do not think he is captain material and if he had concious he should have stepped down, its shame that in this country no one owes the defeat or loss rather stays until booted out, Hafeez keeping the trend, Pak hasnt want any major event since 2009 and the gap before that is of 17 years, The whole PCB setup should be accountable and captain and team should be task assigned, PCB lacks professionalism so does the so called professional Pak cricket players.
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Apr 03, 2014 02:43pm
Absolutely right....Mr. Hafeez but only if the game is lost on merit and national pride is not compromised for favouratism ! Can you give any good reason of continously playing Kamran and Shoaib and preferring both of them over our futures....like Sohaib (coming late in the order) and Sharjeel, not at all been given a single chance despite your and your buddies continous failures.
It is unfortunate that we do not learn from mistakes....what had been your planning and strategy throughout this tournament? Your wins against Aus and BD were mostly one man shows in batting, otherwise you would have lost those two matches as well. Your favorite friends and you failed to perform there as well but you continued to play these failed performers. Since the team had won, you wanted and you hid them against other players performence.
Where was your strategy when you failed to go all out when WI were 5 down, you allowed them time to settle, despite having seen how they played against Aus. Then while batting, you preferred defence instead of aggression when you were already two down. You did not learn from what Aus did to you in the same situation.....if you are not capable of handling this position, you should learn to accept and must step down instead of teaching others to accept your wrong doings.
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Apr 03, 2014 02:44pm
Don't be professor for fans. We can not hand you blank cheque. You should answer the inclusion of Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal. If you say they were picked by the selectors, but the playing eleven is decided by you and the management there. Why did not you drop them when they were unable to deliver.
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Apr 03, 2014 02:53pm
fire the selectors.as simple as that......
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Apr 03, 2014 02:54pm
If you play sensibly, demonstrate bravery, take our emotions serious and even then you loose, we are with you. But NOT THIS TIME! I don't know who told them to play sweep shorts and then come out of the Crees every next low pitched bowl!!
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Apr 03, 2014 02:54pm
He is very disgusting fellow. They think we are fool, i wish i could meet this fellow along with s malik and k akmal.
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Apr 03, 2014 02:59pm
Very right comment by captain Hafeez. Lets accept 1971 mega defeat ....
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Apr 03, 2014 03:00pm
Yes, we must learn to accept defeat but not humiliation. Defeat from WI was a a humilitaion not a defeat. Mr. Hafeez, if you lose it while fought till the last ball, we would be happy like a victory. But you fought like a team who never had an exposure to international cricket. Lastly, you must learn to quit and resign from cricket and captaincy along with your friends Akmal brohters, Shoib Malik and Sohail Tanveer.
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Apr 03, 2014 03:02pm
I guess when our politicians, leaders feel no shame and remorse no matter what, what else you can expect from our "cricketing heroes"?
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Apr 03, 2014 03:09pm
Defeat must be accepted BUT unprofessional attitude, stupidity and offering the victory to the opponent can't be accepted. Six players were stumped out in exactly the same manner as were looking the "ACTION REPLAY". Mr. Captain look into your own performance in this tournament. You werer playint the TEST in T20. None of your player knows the basic of cricket that is "Rotation of Strike". Simply give a single reason for carrying Shoaib Malik with the team.
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Apr 03, 2014 03:10pm
@Zain:
I agree with you. A few of the Pakistani players are needed to be investigated. Someone ought to tell Hafeez that it is NOT about winning and losing, it is the manner of such a heavy defeat. Very fishy!
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Apr 03, 2014 03:14pm
And also the amount related to contract of each player should be linked to the performance. I am not sure how performance evaluation is carried out in PCB. If it were my company I would have got "Need Improvement" and same would have been linked to my compensation planning.
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Apr 03, 2014 03:17pm
Mr captain, we know how to accept defeat, loosing with fight is very much and always have been accepted by this nation. but cricket team should learn how to chase a simple total first
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Apr 03, 2014 03:23pm
Hafeez is right . It is a game, you win some , you lose some. Why do we make it a big issue? The real question we should be asking : How come a journalist Najam Sehti who never touched a bat became chairman of PCB !!
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Apr 03, 2014 03:23pm
No one will criticize you if you had grace and fight in your defeat.
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Apr 03, 2014 03:23pm
Its not winning Hafeez, Its Playing and fighting on the Ground.
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Apr 03, 2014 03:25pm
@Kashif:
this is our problem....we think we are the greatest and when we fail ...put the blame on something else...even thoug it may b tru in this case...lets be frank we are failing in every damn thing and is a laughing stock in from of the world as a country...pls my fellow countrymen...please open your eyes and accept that we are failing badly everywhere and we need to wakeup before its too late
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Apr 03, 2014 03:27pm
Mr hafeeZ, I really don't think people are upset about loosing to a better team...people are angry with the way Pakistan lost...loosing while putting up a fight is better than loosing and not putting up a fight !!!!!!!!pathetic batting performance !!!!
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Apr 03, 2014 03:35pm
Mr hafeez, fans are like parents
If u perform well they will uplift you in their shoulders
But if you consistently perform like group of lil children
They have all rights to scold you hard for such performances
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Apr 03, 2014 03:41pm
Dear Mr Hafiz you are given more support than you deserve. You played poorly like a bunch of club cricketers against the West Indies that is what bothers the fans. We understand one team has to lose but not in the manner you capitulated. In this entire tournament what was your contribution? Frankly you are not a Number 3 even in the shorter format. What is Shoaib Malik doing in the side? Why is Sharjeel sitting out? and what is the merit of Sohaib and Afridi batting low down in the order below you and Malik?you had no game plan and yes you were defensive from the word go like when you played India. Sorry Mr Hafiz you have had your day- retire gracefully
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Apr 03, 2014 03:46pm
All fans know very well how to control their emotion on defeat. If the defeat is without fight then it is difficult to control one's passion. Win or loss is a part of any game but loss is very painful, very humiliating when it looks like complete surrender. The pain, humiliation is more acute if one add same kind of abject surrender to India in the first match. Do you remember what did you announce before the start of journey to B'desh ? Settling score with India was your top priority instead of winning the Cup.You wanted to create a new history i.e. stopping loosing streak to India in World Cup. Interestingly you did create a history. First time since inception Pak Team is out of semi-final in T20 World Cup.
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Apr 03, 2014 03:46pm
After reading your statement and Readers comments. Mr Hafiz Shame on you.
Pakistan cricket board has given you job of Captain, I personally will not keep you to clean my car.
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Apr 03, 2014 03:47pm
Win and lose is part of any game. But we lost because of poor selection based on favoritism and nepotism, (how else you can justify selection of KA, SM & ST?). You played a team for full year and just before the main tournament you changed an almost settled combination and brought in tried and tested failures. What else did you expect. Losing is disappointing and it should be but the way you lost and reasons behind it deserve the critisim and sackings and you as captain should take full responsibility.
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Apr 03, 2014 03:52pm
Look!!
The very first thought,
you should remain quiet after giving this much to the nation
Secondly,
What we should be proud of ?
thirdly,
why are you such incapable of praising others if they were that best side that day ? what about you ? are you not aware of this thought you people are selected from 18cror people and these people are considered the best ones amongt rest nation. these players have got to be consider themselves special , responsible playing for their nation.
you have accepted this sort of defeat so many times. unfortunately! you did not get any lesson from your recents defeats and strategies you practiced. I reckon, you better submit a resign to your current position. stop being a less star more politician...
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Apr 03, 2014 03:56pm
Loosing is one thing, giving up another. You people never even try to chase a big total. Bring back Azhar Mehmood and Abdul Razzaq.
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Apr 03, 2014 04:00pm
YOU must also learn to go down fighting. And YOU ( Hafeez ) better go back and run your Chanda Music Center.
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Apr 03, 2014 04:01pm
Wah ji wah. If you have bunch of under performing oldies with likes of SHOAIB Malik Kamran akmal n Millat fan aka Sohail tanveer, instead of sharjeel khan, Junaid khan, ANWER Ali, n even fawad alam, captaan Saab don't ask us to remain calm. It's a strategic mistake n not an honest defeat. Wah ji wah
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Apr 03, 2014 04:11pm
M Hafeez, we love Pakistani team but stop teaching us the lessons to accept defeat. After playing so many years, please learn basics to handle the pressure. World class are those who perform under pressure and give their 100 per cent.
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Apr 03, 2014 04:12pm
This is no surprise from Professor of excuses, the latest being his lecture on becoming a good loser. Since there is absolutely no chance of Professor of excuses to play any better, he is insisting on cricket fans to love to become loser. If PCB dont remove this man from captaincy, the cricket fans would directly hold PCB responsible for the recent disgrace in T20
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Apr 03, 2014 04:18pm
Totally agreed Mohammed Hafeez! In a game one of the participants has to lose. But before criticizing them, you must keep in mind the factors behind Pakistani cricket fans' re-action. What has angered the nation is not the defeat, but the humility that our team faced! After all we are not such a bad team but you and your team just seemed to gift the important match to the West Indies in a platter!
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Apr 03, 2014 04:20pm
Mr. Captain...PLEASE SHUT UP AND QUIT!!
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Apr 03, 2014 04:22pm
chachay maammay aap kay team mein hon, or ilzam hum pa
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Apr 03, 2014 04:25pm
Sir,
Perhaps Pakistan is the only cricketing nation where a player like Mohamed Hafiz who does not deserve selection in the first place, is captaining the side.
As for Professor Nathulal lal ( my nickname for Hafiz ) lecturing the nation to learn to cope with defeat, I would like to know that despite encroaching the place of a deserving player for nearly ten year in Pakistan team, Professor Nathulal has not yet learned how to bat in the top order and score when it matters.
The Pakistan cricket Board must take our cricket team out of their comfort zone and cancel the central contracts of the players immediately and replace it with " Remuneration as per consistent performance ".
Misbah ul Haq is at the twilight of his career and Professor Nathulal is incapable of even playing in any format due to his inconsistencies, so the PCB has go for a youngster like Sami Aslam who has lead the under 19 side with distinction, to lead the senior Pakistan side to the 2015 world cup while Misbah and other senior are in the team to groom him like Dravid, Tendulkar etc did with MS Dhoni.
Regards,
Hyder
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Apr 03, 2014 04:27pm
Where was the fight from Pakistan that we expected? We all understand that one has to lose for the other to win the match but where is team work? Will new comers be given a chance to play or are we going to be stuck within the political sphere that has been created within every Pakistani institution be it politics or cricket to mosque to talibans.
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Apr 03, 2014 04:29pm
Yes It is true!!!!as long as he captain we must have to accept loses!!Professore of Loses!!he is main culprit to ruin Pakistan Cricket.being a Captain n one down batsman!!!
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Apr 03, 2014 04:33pm
Hafeez
Do not try to justify the consistent follies of the corrupt team and the Board. We are all educated and are capable of making the difference between defeat and surrender. Stop fooling the nation and wasting the tax payers money. By the way there is a lot of talent available in Pakistan in every nook and corner if they are allowed a chance on merit. Do not revisit the graveyards of cricket to recall your old friends.
Ashraf Usman
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Apr 03, 2014 05:01pm
To be honest, we cannot blame anyone, until government fix PCB and selection process. Pakistan players do not have a threat of losing their position from the team. A country, full of talent players, we should have at least 20 players in pool waiting anxiously to perform and to take position from Umar Akmal, Hafeez, Afridi etc. In my opinion selection process is the corrupt, they will only introduce mediocre pool so the nepotism can survive and continue. Take an example, if PCB fire Hafeez today, who is capable for taking the team forward? I don't see any in the current pool (Afridi is short team solution). At least Hafeez is good at defending the poor performance. Make the criteria of selection public and transparent. I am sure half of our team will not be there.
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Apr 03, 2014 05:58pm
HAFEEZ SHOULD LEARN TO LOOK AT HIS RECENT BATTING RECORD:-
19 Pakistan v West Indies Dhaka
8 Pakistan v Bangladesh Dhaka
13 Pakistan v Australia Dhaka
15 Pakistan v India Dhaka
7 Pakistan v South Africa Fatullah
55 Pakistan v New Zealand Dhaka
3 Pakistan v Sri Lanka Dhaka
52 Pakistan v Bangladesh Dhaka
75 Pakistan v India Dhaka
10, Pakistan v Afghanistan Fatullah
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Apr 03, 2014 06:12pm
True. Its our own fault to celebrate too much after a win and set high expectations for the next match. And if we lose, those high expectations go the opposite way and we lose our patience.
We should leran to enjoy the win, with limits and accept the lose, with patience.
We cannot win EVERY game.
On the other hand, its our bad luck that politics and selection process has ruined our cricket.
We still love our team.
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Apr 03, 2014 06:15pm
@FARRUKH:
If you had included number of deliveries faced, the argument would have become even stronger.
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Apr 03, 2014 06:27pm
We are able to accept a defeat too but only if the team gives a fight before losing. Mr. Hafeez how much did you score in 4 innings and how many wickets did you take in the tournament? I think 48 scored and one wicket right?
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Apr 03, 2014 06:29pm
It is not the loss as much that matters, but the way you lose. A capitulation is never appreciated, a fight to the last ball is.
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Apr 03, 2014 06:55pm
We must learn
To play the right player
Not continue to play people who help us lose not win
To hire the right coaches -- today we don't have any
Ah and yes we should learn to accept defeat only after a good fight.
Tutor
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Apr 03, 2014 06:57pm
No, we don't want to learn to lose, and we as fans will continue to criticise till the team performs as a world class team. The day we learn to lose, we will never win, too. Specialy the way we lost against West Indies. It was humiliating and chaotic. I think it is good that Hafees has resigned because we don't want to learn to lose, we want to learn to WIN.
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Apr 03, 2014 07:29pm
It not about losing Dear Hafeez.... It's the way you lose and more importantly, the team selection when you lose!!! Why do you have Shoaib Malik in the team? Just answer this question: WHY??? I ask one last time: WHY??????
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Apr 03, 2014 07:39pm
we are not sore loser's we are angry at the way we lost! No fight no back bone in the team, pathetic performance.
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Apr 03, 2014 08:32pm
Well irony is that your remark is shameful.....you have been under performing in all the matches during T20... most us cannot accept a game where u are in hurry for a flight to Lahore with your mates...malik, kamran and Gul....and we should all accept defeat, your body language was that you were not even there to perform...
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Apr 03, 2014 10:50pm
People reaction of love and hate is quite natural. I am convinced that the selectors have always taken dictation from someone in authrity in team selection. Just look at the selection and failures of players from 2011 WC till the 2014 t-20 WC. Some players have always been part of the team and they always failed. If Rashid Latif is honest he will either resign or will be forced to step down before the 2015 WC.
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Apr 04, 2014 05:50am
Fans accept defeats if Pakistan team loose it after giving tough fight. I hope Rashid Latif will bring revolution in Pakistan cricket because he is an honest and does not like parchi players. Kamran and Shoaib Malik must be dumped for ever. What a joke that team preferred Kamran and Shoaib over Razzaq and Fawad Alam. I never believed that Kamran and Shoaib have great political influence in cricket but now I must accept that. Umar Gul is no where. He was specialist in death overs but he has lost that charm.
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Apr 04, 2014 08:09am
Captaan Sahib, we won the 2 games against Aus and BD due to pure chance because Afridi won the game for us. Its always a gamble we take with Shahid Afridi. We know that!
But what did you have in mind when you are playing Tanvir and Shoaib Malik and Kamran and even Gul. These guys are not even physically fit. These guys are all past their prime.
This country has memories of Imran Khan and Miandad fight it out.
Its never about winning or losing a game. Its about your attitude for the game.
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Apr 04, 2014 11:02am
Winning and losing is part of the game, but be a fighter and above all bring the right player for the game. And respect the merit rather than favor.
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Apr 04, 2014 11:17am
Any team which can not Bat for 20 overs is a collection of 11 people not a team of professional Cricketers . None of them had any clue to play defensive shot.
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Apr 05, 2014 08:31am
The PCB has to pick up players purely based on merit. I have not seen much new faces emerging in Pakistan team except Shehzad, more or less same old players are playing. I am not much aware of Pakistan domestic cricket or the young promising players Pakistan have; but whatever talent you have they should be given chance and groomed to compete at international level.
BCCI is doing an honest and good job in selecting players based on merit. Also Indian domestic players are very much benefited by IPL as far as T20 cricket is concerned. Playing eleven have executed their plan perfectly in most of the cases; the results are showing.
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Apr 05, 2014 12:12pm
yes...winning and losing is a part of the game...but one must fight till the end......lose by fighting till last overs......not like this
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Apr 05, 2014 01:08pm
@Indian:
True bcci and ipl has a positive effect on Indian players....but the tide has turned this new gen of indian players remind us of what pak players used to be....dirty politics...It is time to for a good clean up...from top to bottom.
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Apr 05, 2014 05:23pm
@mimi sur:
We don't mind losing, but it has to be losing.
You are professional players and do this for living not fun.
You win with Attitudes.
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Apr 06, 2014 01:08am
PCB has to do what ECB did after ashes defeat. They kicked out Kevin Peitersen completely out of the team. Hafeez, Malik , Kamran Akmal and Sohail Tanvir need to be kicked out permanently. You cannot teach old dogs new tricks. All these players were never great anyway, just because of inept PCB they manage to enter the team. How can Malik and Kamran Akmal who have not played for Pakistan for a while get selected to begin with. Open and shut case of favoritism
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Apr 06, 2014 02:56am
Ply like professional and lose not like amateur street boy. Lose like a hard tough fighter, and on your lose we will respect the team. All emotional unstable players must be kept out of team,
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