Time to move forward
Pakistan team’s turbulent performance in 2009 coupled with a few controversies have created a lot of confusion in the minds of Pakistan cricket fans. The team has failed to win any Odi series in 2009 and they haven’t won any test match in 2009 infact the last test they won was in South Africa in Jan 2007 and the last test series they won was three years ago against West Indies. The only positive point was Pakistan’s performance in the T20’s, they won the T20 World cup and have lost only 2 T20 matches out of the 11 they have played this year.
One factor which has been common in all of Pakistan’s loses both in tests and Odi’s is the frequent batting collapses, the once coveted middle order failed on too many occassions, Yousaf was out of the Pakistan team during the first half of the year, Younis Khan and Misbah has been conisitently out of form during this whole year, the burden of batting was mainly left on the shoulders of inherently inconsistent players like Afridi, Akmal and Malik. The matches in which these players performed Pakistan won and the matches these guys failed Pakistan lost. But the coveted middle order consistently failed through out the year, the constant meddling with the opening combination also disrupted the team’s combination and affected it’s consistency but all of this was done to hide the poor performance of the middle order players and to protect them.
It took PCB selectors a year to realize that Younis Khan and Misbah were out of form and it might take them another year to realize that Malik is also not in the best of his form and is naturally incapable of sharing the burden of the middle order with Mohammad Yousaf. Over the last two years we have only groomed Umar Akmal and Fawad Alam as possible replacements in the middle order but now that they have replaced Misbah and Younis we have nobody on the bench to replace any middle order player except Faisal Iqbal who has been a complete failure both at International and domestic level.
Why there has been no attempt to fix the middle order problems is beyond anybody’s comprehension.
After the T20 WC victory and a closely contested series against Australia and SriLanka the fans were hopeful that Pakistan team might be able to regain some consistency, on it’s day the team looks as one of the best teams in the world but on it’s off day it reduces to a club level team. The match fixing rumours, the players revolt against Younis Khan and the inability of the selectors to fix Pakistan’s middle order problems in a timely fashion have delivered a mortal blow to Pakistan team’s efforts of rebuilding. On top of that Younis Khan’s poor form and his unstable personality caused much more damage to Pakistan cricket than it is percieved.
The hope of the fans have turned into despair, they are in a constant state of confusion whether to support and cheer for the team under Mohammad Yousaf or not, as the key players in this team have repeatedly let the fans down, the player’s revolt and the stories of underperformance had some substance to them but none of the culprits have been punished, this is again an area where the management screwed up once again.
Questions are being asked about the ability of Mohammad Yousaf and Kamran Akmal to handle the team. Even though Mohammad Yousaf is still the most reliable batsman in Pakistan’s team but he is not the same as he was in 2006, his strokes though are still fluent but do not have enough power in them and it seems his reflexes have become slower something which is also reflected in his fielding.
All the other criticism regarding his mellow and religious personality and lack of expression are I think a bit too over rated. The bottom line is that if Yousaf and Akmal will have to lift the majority of the burden of Pakistan’s batting if they will be able to do that they will be successful and if they failed then the results won’t be any different then they were under Younis Khan. Yousaf will have to score consistently and score big. I am not too concerned about his handling of the players and motivating youngsters, he is a senior player and one of the most respected in the team, the youngsters in the team are self motivated all they need is some performance from the seniors.
Pakistan team’s batting looks quite thin almost everybody is struggling for form right now, their chances in Newzealand will depend on the team’s combination.
Salman Butt, Imran farhat, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Yousaf, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Aamir, Abdul Rauf , Mohammad Asif and Danish Kineria
I would have replaced Shoaib Malik if there was any replacement player on the bench. So far the selectors have not decided on Younis Khan’s replacement. If the pitch is conducive for spin then Abdul Rauf should sit out and Saeed Ajmal should come in. But in my opinion Umar Gul will play instead of Abdul Rauf. It won’t be a bad Idea to play Saeed Ajmal instead of Shoaib Malik as he will score more runs than Malik and bowl a thousand times better than Malik 
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Ahbd Nsbaj, Salman, Stani,and Reverse where are you guys? It’s quiet and boring here without you guys please when you visit the site drop a few lines.
Breaking News
KARACHI: The participation of Pakistani players in the third edition of Indian Premier League seemed to be in jeopardy on Thursday after Sports Minister Aftab Shah Jilani said that the cricket board is yet to seek any government clearance for the cricketers.
Jilani revealed that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is yet to approach the government for its clearance even though the IPL organisers’ deadline for Pakistani players expires on Friday (today).
“We will only be able to arrange for the clearance once the PCB asks for it,” said Jilani. “The Board is yet to even apply for a clearance for the players, who are planning to take part in the IPL,” he said.
Jilani said that normally the Sports Ministry arranges for government clearance for other sports itself but since cricket was a high-profile sport, it was the PCB’s responsibility to initiate the proceedings. Several leading Pakistani players are hoping to feature in the third edition of IPL to be held next year after missing this year’s season because of strained Indo-Pak relations.
Breaking News
Younis to be available for Australia series
Friday, November 20, 2009
KARACHI: Less than a week after withdrawing from the ongoing tour of New Zealand, Younis Khan indicated that he would be available for the series against Australia that will begin with the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.
Younis, Pakistan’s regular captain, also announced that he would soon be appearing in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy — Pakistan’s premier first-class cricket tournament — to regain his form that deserted him in the Champions Trophy in South Africa and a three-match one-day series against New Zealand earlier this month.
The experienced middle-order batsman said he has informed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) about his availability for the tour of Australia during which Pakistan will play three Tests, five One-day Internationals and a Twenty20 game.
It remains to be seen whether Younis will return as the captain or play under Mohammad Yousuf, the senior batsman who was appointed to lead the side for the ongoing tour of New Zealand.
Younis said the issue will be decided by the PCB in due course of time.
Younis dropped a bombshell last week when he decided to take a break after leading Pakistan to a disappointing 1-2 defeat in the one-day series against the Black Caps in Abu Dhabi.
The Mardan-born player had said that he lost command of the team and needed a break from international cricket.
I am surprised. I remember there was an awesome talent for Pakistan who played and saved a test in one of the recent test series against India. Kamal? Is that right?Asif Kamal or something. He looked good especially his temperament. He was whisked away after that series and no sign of him. Man… He had serious potential for being in the middle order.
Sorry Wasim,
Been busy. Don’t worry, we won’t leave you!!!
Whilst this Younis thing lingers on, we wont be able to move forward. I agree, our batting looks quite thin but maybe thats a reflection on the lack of talent coming through. Weak domestic league perhaps finally taking its toll?
I’m wrestling with whether or not I would include Kaneria in my team. The NZ conditions are similar to English so seam will play a part. With Arafats experience in Eng conditions, I would go with him until Misbah returns. Plus, Arafat can bat a bit.
Kamran Akmal (wk),
Imran Farhat,
Mohammad Yousuf,
Shoaib Malik,
Fawad Alam,
Umar Akmal
Yasir Arafat, (Misbah when he arrives)
Mohammad Aamer,
Saeed Ajmal,
Umar Gul,
Mohammad Asif,
This would be my team to play the 1st test.
1. Salman Butt
2. Imran Farhat
3. Fawad Alam
4. Shoaib Malik
5. Mohammad Yousuf (cpt)
6. Umar Akmal
7. Kamran Akmal (wk)
8. Mohammad Aamer
9. Saeed Ajmal
10. Umar Gul
11. Mohammad Asif
Scorpi
His name was Asim Kamal, Inzamam was responsible for wasting his talent he kept on ignoring him because in those days he was a direct threat to Inzi’s place in the team as Inzi back then was in the same kind of form as Younis is in right now. But after a year or so Asim lost his fitness and was never the same player in domestic cricket as he once was.
But right now there is guy named Naved Yasin hails from the same remote village of Gaggu Mandi from where Mohammad Zahid and Waqar Younis came from he has scored 661 runs in six matches with 4 100’s and one 50 @ average of 82 he is the top scorer in the current edition of QEA trophy. Then there is Umer Amin, Saeed Bin Nasir, Azhar Ali, Adnan Raees,Bilal Khilji, Asad Shafiq, and Naved Ashraf all of these guys always score heavily in domestic cricket but never get the selectors approval.
No need to apologize Stani.
Looking at the team on paper I also thought that without Younis and Misbah the batting looks very weak but on second thought if we consider the form of these two players in 2009 and the form of their probable replacements then I think you would agree that the inclusion of Fawad and Umar Akmal will make the team stronger there will be lack of star power but not lack of form in the batting line up which is more important. Also if we look at the bowling the inclusion of Asif and Rauf has made the bowling stronger. Rauf can bat as good as Yasir Arafat and in my opinion he is a much better bowler.
My choice would be Aamer, Asif and Rauf with Kinerea and Ajmal.
But I think the team management is going to select, Umar Gul , Asif , Aamer, and Kineria they will go with only four bowlers with Malik and Fawad as part time bowlers.
Ahbd Nsbaj
I do agree with Your line up only I would like Yousaf to bat at #4. Also I would prefer Rauf instead of Umar Gul but I think in the first match Gul will get an automatic selection.
I think the selectors should try to being in players performing well through the A team. At the minute, we’re fine on bowling and so I’ll focus on batting.
I think the players that impressed in batting against Sri Lanka and Australia overall in both formats were: (obviously i’ve not included Umar Akmal):
Sarfraz Ahmed
Fahad Iqbal
Faisal Iqbal
Ahmed Shahzad
Azhar Ali
Umar Amin
Khurram Manzoor
Shehrayar Ghani
Khalid Latif
In this list, there’s 5 possible openers. Only Latif was selected in ODI and only Manzoor in tests against NZ.
The other three - Shehzad (17 yrs), Ali (24 yrs) and Amin (20 yrs) are very young. Azhar Ali is well established in domestic cricket now and Amin has just settled in. Shehzad is a little inexperienced.
I would rather have 1 of these three in the team instead of Butt. Butt is only 25/26yrs but needs to go away sort out his technique, score runs and then come back.
Ahbd
I do agree with you that players should be picked from the A team and thats what PCb has been doing they move players from U19 to A team and from there they are drafted into the national team.
The selection process is not bad the problem is that there is a reluctance to blood in new players and the players are not facilitated in making a smooth transition into International cricket.
To be very honest our domestic cricket’s standard is not that bad as most of us think. The only improvement they need to do is in the preperation of supporting pitches.
Another problem is that once a player is dropped from the team he is mostly on his own to improve, the bowlers go to the academy and they get their problems sorted out but the batsmen they are told to play domestic cricket and prove their form all over again. We need a proper batting coach at the academy so that when players like Butt and Manzoor go over there he can help fix the flaws in their batting.
Right now a player once he is dumped is considered out of form and the moment he scores a couple of 100’s in domestic cricket they recall him without noticing whether the technical deficiencies have been removed or not.
I think lack of test cricket played by Pakistan in the last three years also didn’t helped us we are still stuck with the same group of players and we have not developed a proper bench for the test matches.
The first test between NZ and Pakistan will be played at University Oval ground in Dunedin from 24th-28th. There is a forecast of showers on 25th, 27th and 28th.
I wonder why Pakistan even agreed to play on this venue, in past two test matches were played on this ground and both were blighted by rain. Some experts have said that this ground is not worthy of test matches due to lack of facilities as the facilities at dunedin are of club level grounds.
The last test played at this ground was between WI and NZ in jan 2008.