Simon Doull Archives

Simon Doull backs Pakistan’s approach in run-chase against Canada

Former New Zealand cricketer and renowned commentator Simon Doull came out in support of Pakistan following their seven-wicket victory over Canada in the must-win ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 clash.

Former champions Pakistan, who were on the verge of an early exit, chased down a modest 107-run target against Canada in 17.3 overs and for the loss of three wickets.

Despite finally tasting their first triumph in the ongoing mega event, the 2009 champions were criticized for not chasing down the target in fewer overs.

According to the details, if Pakistan had chased down the total in around 14 overs then they would have gone past the United States of America (USA) in terms of net run-rate.

But Simon Doull backed Babar Azam-led side and asserted that the tricky conditions made it tough to score freely.

“We did see some aggressive intent [from Pakistan] but that pitch is very difficult to play anything across the line and to get the timing right down the ground. First and foremost, the two points were the big key for them and don’t have any periods where you let Canada back in the game and give your wickets away,” Doull said.

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Doull further said that chasing down the total with 15 balls to spare would decently uplift the team’s net run-rate while India’s comfortable win over the USA will also help them.

“They still did it with 15 balls to spare which will do their run-rate a bit of good and India can help them with a comfortable win over the USA,” stated Doull.

“Then Pakistan and USA might be on a similar sort of situation as far as run-rate is concerned by the end of tomorrow,” he added.

Pakistan next face Ireland in their final group-stage fixture on June 16 while the USA will compete against India and Ireland in their next fixtures.

If the host nation manage to win one more game then Pakistan’s journey in the T20 World Cup 2024 would be over.

Pakistan are third in the Group A standings with two points in three matches while the USA are second with four points in two matches.

READ: Pakistan squad reaches Florida ahead of Ireland clash

Simon Doull claims receiving death threats over Virat Kohli criticism

Former New Zealand cricketer and renowned commentator Simon Doull opened up on the backlash he received over criticising Indian cricket star Virat Kohli.

Kohli’s strike rate has been widely discussed in recent years with several suggesting that the right-handed batter’s scoring rate is not at par with modern cricket.

While the batter improved his strike rate in the recently concluded IPL 2024, ending the season with a strike rate of 154.70, he was still criticised for failing to maintain a high strike rate throughout the inning.

Virat Kohli had also revealed in recent interviews that he made an effort to keep his strike rate up in the IPL 2024.

Simon Doull is among those criticising Kohli for a slow strike rate, however, he reversed his opinion in the latter part of the season after Kohli improved his strike rate.

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Doull has now revealed the ugly side of criticising a player such as Kohli and the issues he had faced due to his criticism of the Indian batter.

The former New Zealand cricketer said that he had said that Kohli worried about getting out which resulted in a slower strike rate.

According to Doull, it was a rare bad thing he said about the former RCB captain.

“He is too good to worry about getting out and that was always my point. I have said a thousand great things about Virat Kohli but I say one thing negative or construed to be negative, and I get death threats. That’s the shame of it,” he said.

Doull recalled having several conversations with Kohli whenever they got a chance to meet.

“There has never been an issue and I would never have a reason to have personal problems. When I look at the game and the way it has moved, particularly with the impact sub, a strike rate of 130-135 didn’t cut it any more,” he said.

READ: Sri Lanka thump Ireland in T20 World Cup 2024 warm-up

After Babar, Doull slams Kohli for slowing down to reach ‘personal milestone’

Former New Zealand cricketer and renowned commentator Simon Doull criticised India’s star batter Virat Kohli for slowing down to reach his personal milestone during the Indian Premier League (IPL) fixture.

Kohli played a flamboyant half-century knock amid his side’s fixture against Lucknow Super Giants and propelled Royal Challengers Bangalore to a massive total of 212/2.

His magnificent knock, however, failed to impress Kiwi commentator Doull, who accused the former of slowing down to reach his half-century after a flying start.

“Kohli started off like a train, he was going hammer and tongs, playing a lot of shots,” stated Doull during commentary.

“From 42 to 50, he took 10 balls. Concerned about a milestone. I don’t think there’s room for that in this game anymore. You’ve just got to keep going especially with wickets in hand at that stage. You’ve got to keep going,” he added.

https://twitter.com/HaseebarslanUK/status/1645462221915561985

Earlier, during the recently-held eighth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), Doull passed alike remarks for Babar Azam and asserted that Peshawar Zalmi’s captain slowed down to reach his maiden PSL century.

“Rather than putting the team first… the last little while, that’s all that been happening. Rather than looking for boundaries, still, so much firepower to come. Hundreds are brilliant, stats are great, but it has to be team first,” Doull said.

The Kiwi commentator has been in hot water since then and received major backlash from Babar’s fans.

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‘I told Babar, you are afraid to get out,’ reveals Simon Doull

KARACHI: Former New Zealand cricketer and renowned commentator Simon Doull finally opened up on his conversation with Babar Azam during the Pakistan Super League (PSL) season eight.

New Zealand commentator Doull, has been in hot water after criticizing Babar for slowing down to complete his maiden PSL century in Peshawar Zalmi’s crucial fixture against Quetta Gladiators.

The commentator received major backlash from Babar’s fans and then in Zalmi’s next fixture, he was seen having one on one conversation with Babar.

Meanwhile, in a video posted on Twitter, Doull has finally revealed the gist of his conversation with Babar and claimed that Babar has a fear of getting out.

“I told Babar that you are the best player in the country; I believe you should be bullying this tournament and owning these bowlers. You, at times, are afraid to get out, but you shouldn’t ever be afraid to get out. At some point in your innings, that shows, and that was kind of the gist of my whole chat with him,” Doull said.

“Someone messaged me yesterday. Quinton de Kock slowed down, getting to his hundred. Did they win – yes. The simple tactic is if you are chasing and pacing the inning and are at home, you win – there’s never going to be an issue. I’ll never have a problem with it. But when you’re setting, and you don’t know what a good score and particularly at that stage at that game is, there were so many resources waiting in the wings that you just have to keep going.”

“That was the whole crux of the comment. At times it gets blown out of proportion. I’ll never ever hide behind anything that I say. I said it at the time, I stuck by it, and I have no issue that I said it,” Doull concluded.

It is pertinent to mention that Babar’s maiden PSL century went in vain as Jason Roy’s masterclass trumped his efforts to script an astonishing victory for Quetta Gladiators.

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WATCH: Faheem Ashraf’s incredible six leaves Simon Doull stunned

RAWALPINDI: Faheem Ashraf’s astounding six off Mohammad Ilyas in the final over of the high-scoring thriller between Islamabad United and Multan Sultans left commentator Simon Doull stunned.

In a tense final over with United needing 18 off it, Sultans’ skipper Mohammad Rizwan handed over the ball to right-arm pacer Ilyas.

Despite Sultans being the favourite to win the crucial match, nervousness was on display by the bowler as he bowled a wide first-up to start off.

Ilyas then fired in another wide yorker which Faheem attempted to work towards the leg-side but an under-edge took the ball past the keeper to fine leg for a lucky boundary.

After conceding a boundary, skipper Rizwan tried to console his bowler, who then looked to go for another wide yorker but went a bit too fuller only for Faheem to manoeuvring the wide full toss over the third man for an astonishing six.

Signing off for tonight with this mystery!

Name this shot by the star of tonight’s chase @iFaheemAshraf 👇#IUvMS #HBLPSL8 Gif: @taimoorze https://t.co/BoTlLU4N5x

— Islamabad United (@IsbUnited) March 7, 2023

Faheem’s six stunned the renowned commentator Doull, whose open-mouthed reaction in the commentary box displayed his disbelief at the stroke.

Simon doull reaction on Faheem's six 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/ydEbe9FWSQ

— junaiz (@dhillow_) March 7, 2023

Following a wide and two back-to-back boundaries, the United then needed seven off four with Faheem breathing fire. The all-rounder took a couple before smashing successive boundaries to pull off the second-highest run chase in Pakistan Super League (PSL) history with a ball to spare.

Furthermore, before Faheem’s heroics, no side had ever chased 18 runs off the final over in the league’s history.

READ: Faheem’s heroics deny Sultans playoff berth as United prevail

‘He’s the big one’ Simon Doull reckons Babar as the best in the world

KARACHI: New Zealand former Test player and TV commentator Simon Doull has reckoned the Pakistan skipper Babar Azam as the best batter currently in the world.

Doull expressed his opinion when he was commenting during the third Test between England and New Zealand in Headingley, Leeds, and maintained that Babar was incredible in terms of batting at the top order.

“Not many could argue that Babar Azam is the best player in the world at the moment. As far as batting in that top order is concerned, he is unbelievable. Joe Root’s got an argument for that too. They talk about the big four, at the moment, he’s the big one,” Doull was quoted as saying.

Pakistan skipper is currently the No.1 ranked batter both in ODIs and T20Is, meanwhile, he is ranked 4th in the Test rankings.

The 27-year-old Babar recently set a record for making the fastest 1000 runs, in 13 innings, while serving as a captain, adding to his long list of accomplishments. The skipper outperformed India’s Virat Kohli, who accomplished the feat in 17 innings in 2017.

The No.1 ODI batter has appeared in 89 one-day internationals, scoring 4442 runs at an average of 59.23 and a strike rate of 90.25, with 17 centuries and 19 half-centuries to his credit, meanwhile, he has scored 2686 runs in 74 T20Is, averaging 45.53 with 26 half-centuries and a century to his name.

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Williamson should give up captaincy to prolong his career: Simon Doull

AMSTELVEEN: New Zealand former Test player and TV commentator Simon Doull has suggested that Blackcaps all-format captain Kane Williamson should step down from Test captaincy in order to prolong his career.

Doull urged that New Zealand’s skipper should stick to leading the side in the limited-overs format and, Headingley Test would be the best opportunity for Williamson to walk away from the Test captaincy.

Williamson has been out of color in the ongoing Test series against England. He was also ruled out of the second Test at Trent Bridge after testing positive for Covid-19 on eve of the match. In the first Test, he managed to score an accumulated 17 runs in both the innings.

He has been struggling with his form as well as fitness in recent months. He has played only two Tests since leading his side to the World Test Championship victory last year. He also remained unimpressive in this year’s season of the Indian Premier League.

Talking to Guardian, Doull praised Williamson as one of the best players New Zealand had ever produced while suggesting that he should focus on preserving his career and hand over the reins of Test captaincy to the newly found replacement Tom Latham.

“I just don’t know about the longevity of Kane Williamson the captain. He is, without doubt, the best player we’ve ever produced outside of Sir Richard Hadlee. He is world-class and I’d love him to be just the best player we’ve ever seen, and if that means giving up the Test captaincy to prolong his career, I think he should,” said Doull as reported by Guardian.

“He’s never been a lover of doing the media – he’s just not that guy – he’s a real cricket guy, he loves the game, studies the game. I just don’t know that he can sustain all three formats. I would rather he was just New Zealand’s one-day and T20 captain.” he added.

He further went on to say that the upcoming third Test against England would be the best time for Williamson to walk away from the responsibility and claimed Latham ‘a worthy replacement’ since he has been leading the team in his absence.

“When you’ve got a really worthy replacement, and Tom Latham is. I think that is the easiest time to transition and walk away from it. New Zealand don’t play another Test until the autumn [after Headingley], so it is not a bad time after the Leeds Test to do it,” he concluded.

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