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The squad is:

Shoaib Malik (capt), Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Salman Butt, Shahid Afridi, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Nasir Jamshed, Sohail Tanvir, Samiullah Khan Niazi, Kamran Akmal (wk), Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Kamran Hussain, Yasir Arafat, Fawad Alam

Please mention who you think should be the playing XI for 1st two ODI’s? It is surprising again to see two wicketkeepers in the squad. It is not known really whether Malik and Talat Ali are more comfortable with Sarfraz or Kamran, as the media has reported many conflicting news. Also, Kamran Hussain who is a very good domestic player should consider himself lucky because his performance in the warm up game was mediocre. Nasir Jamshed should be an automatic selection following his 182 in the warm up game. Also, it is good to see Fawad Alam being included as he batted well in the warm up. As Malik is very keen to play Butt in every match, the selectors have done the wise thing by including only 2 openers in this squad as a third opener would have been sitting on the bench for all the 5 matches! There are reports that there is a rift between Malik and Afridi and that Malik does not want Afridi to play, but owing to Afridi’s impressive bowling in the warm up, he gets my vote.

Please give your preferred playing XI and also what you think is a realistic playing XI. Mine is:

REALISTIC

Butt, Jamshed, Younis, Yousuf, Malik, Misbah, Afridi, Akmal, Tanvir, Rao, Samiullah

PREFERRED

Jamshed, Malik, Yousuf, Misbah, Fawad, Afridi, Sarfraz, Tanvir, Arafat/Kamran Hussain, Rao, Samiullah