Pakistan axed star all rounder Abdul Razzaq and specialist opener Nasir Jamshed from it’s CT squad.
Nasir Jamshed was unimpressive in SriLanka his ommission is completely justified but to not select a specialist opener for a big tournament is criminal, the selection committee didn’t learned anything from the Srilankan tour and again committed the same mistake.
Apparently all of this has been done to accomodate Malik and Misbah. The chief selector Iqbal Qasim while defending his selection of certain players said “We decided not to do major experimentation with the team since the ICC Champions Trophy is a high-profile competition. As all other teams, including India, picked their experienced players, we also decided to retain almost the same team,’ he explained.
He also said that we cannot drop experienced players because they were going through a bad patch during one series.
The logic of giving one more chance to the experienced players is well taken but were the players really going through a bad patch or are they on a bad Path?
If it is a bad patch how come these players return to form in dead rubber matches when their arses are on line. There is a pattern in the performance of certain players and there is a pattern in the selection policy.
It is ironicalthat we are giving so much importance to seniority when those who performed the best in the Lankan series were young debutants?
I think the fact that every player played just one or two good innings in that series must have made the decision to axe Malik and Misbah from the team difficult for Iqbal Qasim as Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousaf, Fawad Alam, Misbah and Malik all of them managed to play one or two good innings it must have been hard for Iqbal Qasim to justify punishment for only two players.
But if Pakistan has to rebuild they will have to identify their core players and rebuild the team around those players, we cannot afford to drop Yousaf or Younis but if we make players like Misbah, Malik and Fawad permanent fixture in our team then we can’t expect better results. These players should only be included in the team if they perform well.
On the axing of Razzaq Iqbal Qasim said ” Razzaq fell in the all-rounders’ department his competition was with Naved.
‘We gave weight to Naved because he has some edge over Razzaq.
What the fuck? What edge? Naved might be a bit quicker but he always struggles with his length and often gets hammered, Razzaq is a clever bowler and bowls within his limitations he is better batsman than Malik and Rana there is no question about that. I think Iqbal Qasim made a huge judgement error here.
We are persisting with the underperformers of the T20 WC and the Lankan series but have axed our one player who played an instrumental role in our WC victory. Stupidity has no bounds.
A few other changes have also been made Misbah was demoted as Pakistan’s vice captain and Afridi has been appointed the VC in his place, good decision Afridi deserves it and hopefully it will further improve his performance. Message has been sent to Misbah he is now a regular player and is expendable.
Mohammad Asif is all set to make his return to international cricket after Rashid Latif gave a positive report on his fitness and form, I hope he learns from his mistakes and stays away from drugs. I still believe that PCB should have tested him in a domestic tournament before selecting him. But if he is in form Pakistan’s chances of performing well in CT will get a huge boost.
Iqbal Qasim & co selected Malik, Kamran Akmal and Imran Nazir as openers none of them can be regarded as a safe bet for the opening slot.
Pakistan: Younis Khan (capt), Imran Nazir, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Naved-ul Hasan, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Yousuf, Kamran Akmal (wk), Umar Gul, Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Asif, Rao Iftikhar, Saeed Ajmal.
Am a real long break Wasim… got kayoed from all sides. Am now catching up with all the blogs figuring out what has happened in the cricketing world LOL.
Trust, everything is ok with you?
On an another note, Younis is warming up nicely to the India clash at the champions trophy. Looks like the good old cricket rivalry is being revived
(Nice…)
Look who is back!
Where have you been Scorpi?
Misbah should not have been in the side but I think his one foot is already out of the team the selectors probably gave him one last chance.
RazzaQ was Ok during the SriLankan series but in Pakistan there has never been any respect for medium pacers no matter how good they are, Razzaq is bowling @ 120′s which many think is harmless at international level.
I think his ability to move the ball both ways and his intelligent line and length still makes him a better bowler than Rana who still has some pace and swing but always struggles with his length and line. I think YK doesn’t like Razzaq as he dropped him after one bad match.
Razzak played only in three Odi’s in the first match he took two wickets and gave away 33 runs in his 10 overs in the second match he took 1 wicket and gave away 35 runs however in the third match he gave away 62 runs in 9 overs.
His performance in the T20 cup semifinal and final was also excellent, just one bad day on the field and you are thrown out of the team clearly shows somebody in the team mangement doesn’t like him.
One series and Razzaq is out!! Though, I have not been following the action, I don’t quite think Misbah in the squad is justified. How has his performances been?
SP Nazir plays the same way as others of his breed play and that is to hit every single ball. I think if he improves his shot selection and improves his defence a bit he can be a good option he, will have to learn from Afridi.
There are many like Umar in the domestic circuit who have been performing better than Umar but Umar Akmal got this chance because he scored back to back three centuries against Australia A and then another century while batting at #8 against SriLanka A. Others could not capitalize on the chances given to them.
My point is if a senior is out of form he should not be played and that is the best opportunity to test out new talent.
The selectors said that on South Africa’s hard and bouncy pitches they wanted more experienced batsmen this is the main reason because of which they didn’t axed Malik or Misbah. It’s funny they want to play out of form players on Hard and bouncy pitches .
Stani
Both Rana and Razzak could have been selected only if Rao was dropped but the chances of them playing together in a match was always zero. But just because of that 168 Fawad will continue to get selected he failed in the remaining five innings, I think his tie is with Umar Akmal if Umar keeps on scoring then Fawad probably will warm the bench.
Stani I was a Malik fan but he can’t play swing bowling, I think Razzaq is better. He just will have to estblish himself as a batting allrounder he never pays much attention to his batting and always gets dropped because of his bowling.
They selected him to play as an opener but his tie is going to be with Misbah I don’t think YK will ask him to open.
Kamran and Nazir are Ok in T20′s but for Odi’s and tests we should persist with established openers.
I
if the experience is not taking you anywhere…then it always better to try it with new ones…coz there at least there is possibility to unravel something interesting as pak discovered with umar…
it will also help some seniors to rethink about their game and will make them come out of complacency zone…
if they really see nazir and akmal as the opening choice…well…good luck to your selectors and team…
i am yet to see even an iota of improvement in the way nazir playes even after being in international cricket since ages…
Wasim,
I believe it should never have been between Rana and Razzaq. Both of them should have been going. I’m not sure what our selectors were thinking.
Also, I think Malik is a better batsmen than Razzaq especially in Tests and 50 over ODIs. Razzaq may have the edge in t20.
I think Razzaq should be going in place of Fawad because Fawad won’t…or should not be needed.
As for the openers, with our batting line up strengthened by U. Akmal and Rana lower down the order, going with K.Akmal and Nazir as openers is made a possibility. Younis and Yousuf can bring stability to any early wicket loss but those two up top are exciting and worth the shot due to the depth in our batting line up currently.