Pakistan Vs New Zealand Odi series- Preview
on January 21st, 2011 at 5:43 pm
After winning the test series against New Zealand Pakistan are being considered as favorites against New Zealand in the six match Odi series. The recent results for both the teams in Odi’s also suggest that Pakistan are the favorities, New Zeland lost all five matches against Bangladesh and Pakistan had two closely contested series against South Africa and England on both occassions they lost the series 3-2.
The last time these two teams faced each other in Odi’s it was in Dubai in Nov 2009, Pakistan won the series 3-2. On paper Pakistan looks a much weaker side than the side which played in 2009 they are without Salman, Butt, Khalid lateef, Malik, Mohammad Yusaf and Aamer. But if we look at the averages of these players in that series then it is safe to say that this weaker looking side is much better. New Zealand has only one noteable ommission and that would be of Shane Bond.
New Zealand won the T20 series quite confortably, if the result of that series is of any indication then it would be a closely contested series. Pakistan cricket team lately has played better cricket despite facing some serious controversies and distractions but since the trouble makers and tainted superstars have been axed from the test team the unpredictability has been eliminated to some extent, the team and the players more or less perform as is expected of them.
But in the Odi’s and T20 the team is still quite unpredictable, the performance of key players like Razzaq, Afridi, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal and Umar Gul has been completely inconsistent. All these players are highly aggressive players the calmness which Younis, Malik and Misbah used to bring to the middle order is missing, the team plays instinctively and apparently there is no planning or strategy in pacing the innings as a result when one or two of these players churn out a spectecular performance we win but when we lose quick wickets due to flashy stroke play there is no one who can stabilize the innings.
Younis Khan has always been a great test player but in Odi’s he hasn’t been able to perform according to his stature, the inclusion of Misbah should bring in some maturity and calmness in the middle, obviously this time he would not be playing as a late order pinch hitter his role will be that of an anchor,
Pakistan has too many flashy player in their line up who can only play in one style and cannot play a grinding innings if the situation requires this is the main reason Pakistan hasn’t been as successful in Odis as it should have been.
Afridi’s leadership has also been poor, the calmness and maturity which is required from a leader is totally missing, he has never been a great tactician of the game, raw aggression has been the only highlight of his game which more than often proves to be handicap. He is under enormous pressure by the PCB management to change his game and play a more mature role in the team, his back is against the wall at the moment and in my opinion he throughly deserved this criticism, he is one of the most talented limited overs allrounders in the world with a small adjustment in his game he can do wonders for pakistan cricket.
PCB’s managemnt usually gets criticised and blamed for every turmoil the team gets into but when things move in the right direction the media fails to appreciate them. I think dropping Yousaf and Malik was necessary as both players were consistently underperforming and creating cliques in the team. Akmal brothers also needed to be disciplined and by sidelining both brothers during the last two series PCB has sent them a strong a message.
Pakistan should win this series 6-0 but given the nature of our batting line up I would say that 4-2 sounds more realistic.
The bowling won’t be a worry in this series but Afridi, Ajmal and Gul should regain their full form between the first match of this series and the quarterfinal of the world cup.
Pakistan might rest Wahab Riaz in the first two or three matches and play Sohail Tanvir.
New Zealand has always been a good Odi side but their recent form has been dismal, their key players , Guptil, Taylor, McCullum and Styris will have to play oout of their skins but even then they don’t have depth and quality in their bowling which will make it hard to win matches.
New Zealand: 1 Jesse Ryder, 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Ross Taylor, 4 Scott Styris, 5 James Franklin, 6 Brendon McCullum (wk), 7 Jacob Oram, 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Nathan McCullum, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Hamish Bennett
Pakistan (probable): 1 Kamran Akmal (wk), 2 Mohammad Hafeez, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq, 5 Umar Akmal, 6 Shahid Afridi (capt), 7 Abdul Razzaq, 8 Umar Gul, 9 Abdur Rehman / Saeed Ajmal, 10 Wahab Riaz / Sohail Tanvir, 11 Shoaib Akhtar
The pressure to win from Afridi was lifted after he was retained as the captain of the Odi team for the world cup and he has been back to his old ways of strange bowling changes casual field placing and stupid bowling changes and totally without a plan.
I think his goal today was to allow NZ to score above 300.
Sohail Tanvir gave almost 10 runs an over through out the innings but Afridi kept him on at critical stages especially in the last power play a comical situation occured when Afridi kept six fielders inside the ring thinking that the power play has been taken in the 44th over.
He brought back Sohail Tanvir in the 47th over once again who gave 19 runs and the last over was bowled by Hafeez who gave 13 runs, interestingly Gul bowled only 9 overs had Afridi bowled Gul the 47th there wouldn’t have been any need to bowl Sohail Tanvir. Shoaib Akhtar bowled only 7 overs 38/1 and Razzaq bowled 7 overs 23/2 yet Afridi didn’t showled any confidence in his front line bowlers at death through out the series. His lack of trust in his key bowlers is going to harm Pakistan in big matches.
Another thing which bothered me a lot was how can a person after winning three straight matches and doing most of the things right on the field all of a sudden commits suck obvious blunders.
Mohsin
293 was a bit too much for NZ, had Akhtar been in the squad Pakistan would have shot NZ down within 200.
As you said fielding was poor especially by Wahab Riaz and Sohail Tanveer, Umar Akmal took some great catches. Sohail Tanvir should not have been selected on his current form this shows that our chief selector never goes on the ground and never actually sees the player’s perform and selects the team based on mere stats and reputation. I think Junaid Khan and Aizaz Cheema would have been better candidates as back up fast bowlers.
We missed quite a few run outs some of them were very easy, it clearly shows that the players especially the close in fielders don’t do aiming practice part of the problem stems from the fact that we keep on changing the team therefore we haven’t developed specialist fielders for different areas.
It was good win and good performance but we should keep in mind that NZ bowled very poorly teams like England, SA, India, SriLanka, and Australia will not bowl that poorly.
The top three dismisals were soft. Hafeez and Misbah rebuild the innings but couldn’t manage the run rate against a poor bowling attack.
I don’t think we can replace any of the top three players now, Ahmad Shazad and Akmal should play a few overs straight down the wicket or on the on side before they attempt to cut and drive on the off side, they keep on throwing away their wicket by playing risky shots outside off stump too early in the innings.
Good to see Umar Akmal back in form he was the one who turned the match in Pakistan’s favor and just demoralized the Kiwi bowlers and Afridi just murdered them.
A lot of praise was hurled on the Kiwi bowling after the first match but the fact is that even in that match the Kiwi bowlers offered a lot of bad deliveries which went unpunished.
Pakistan will remain an inconsistent unit, until their top three batsmen show more discipline and score runs at a decent pace, also they need to replace Sohail Tanvir and bring in Junaid Khan or Aizaz Cheema.
Our team has already taken from granted that they have won the match. Some of the most poorest fielding I have seen and Newzeland is finally creeping up. Ball is comming a lot better on the bat now and the wind has totally died. This will be a really close one.
Once again Sohail Tanveer was a joke in both departments… bowling and fielding.. .. its really unfair how we have put shoid akhter on the side lines with one bad stretch. He is in far better form than sohail Tanvir and is more likley to take wickets.
Extremely poor bowling by NZ and some great hitting by Umar Akmal and Boom Boom took Pakistan beyond 290 the platform was set by Hafeez and Misbah but despite their efforts nobody could have imagined a score of 293 infact Pakistan could have folded around 240 , Misbah should have attacked earlier and the middle order shouldn’t leave the major work for the lower order.
Ross Taylor made quite a few blunders he should have kept woodcock on.
Misbah slow paced innings probably will leave a lot for Umar Akmal,Afridi and Razzaq he might score his eight 50 but his innings will put a lot of pressure on the later batsmen. This is the main problem for Pakistan fragile top order and a middle order which can’t play strokes leaves the lower middle order under a lot of,pressure.
Pakistan lost two quick wickets the inform Ahmed shezad got out playing a straight delivery away from the body and edged into the slips Pakistan were relying heavily on Akmal and Shehzad to get a flyomg start but both players failed. Poor foot work and the inability to play straight down the wicket is the main problem of these players.
New Zealand won the first ODi convincingly the second one got washed away, winning this series is not as important as to find the best combination and to make the match winners like Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Umar Akmal, Afridi and Razzaq ready for the world cup, with the exception of Umar Gul the rest of the players have looked rusty, I wouldn’t say Shoaib is out of form, in the first match he took a risk by bowling full and on the stumps on a pitch which was conducive for seam bowling and required a shorter length, but he was defending a very small target and took the risk of bowling full and straight on to the stumps @150k unfortunately the strategy back fired but that doesn’t mean that he is out of form, he was bowling at a very high pace and was in good bowling rythym.
Hafeez’s form should be a concern for Pakistan, he is consistently bringing the middle order under pressure. Ahmad Shehzad should open the innings as he is in good form Pakistan needs a player at the top who can take the oppositions bowling apart. Pakistan hasn’t won a match lately when Razzaq, Afridi and Umar Akmal failed the form of these three is very important for Pakistan at least one of them should be able to provide a decent contribution in every match.
The spinners will play an important role in the world cup, Ajmal has been sidelined for quite some time, Hafeez should be thoroughly tested as a bowler in this series as if he fails both with the bat and the ball then Pakistan should figure out another combination.
Afridi should bowl in power plays and should not bring in other spinners during the powerplays, he has more variations and is more likely to get a wicket than other spinners, Ajmal and Rahman will be more successful when the field restrictions are over.
I think the fans and the media should not judge the team after one match, they should just focus on the team combination and the form of different players, if the team gets going before the world cup they will have a good chance to reach the Semis.
Any decision taken against the wishes of the managment and majority players will be wrong personally I am not satisfied with Afridi’s leadership but I guess now its too late for a change and besides a change at this point wont be good for the teams unity.
Shahid Afridi is likely to captain for the World Cup. Ijaz Butt has discussed this with the team management and chief operating officer. Butt is not in favour of having Afridi as captain. But he knows it is a risky move to change the ODI captain at this stage and it would be better to continue with Afridi.
Younis Khan wants Misbah as the skipper. The team management has told Butt not to change the captain for the World Cup at this stage. Some of the senior players including Shoaib Akhtar, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul are in favour of Afridi and want him to continue as captain.
Major sponsors who invested lot of money in the WC tournament in Pakistan have prepared campaigns with Shahid Afridi as captain in commercials. They are concerned that a late change in captaincy would derail their campaigns and cost them millions of rupees. These companies are lobbying within the government to ensure the PCB does not change Afridi as captain.
@PCB
I agree with you they shouldn’t have dropped Akhtar, any bowler can have a bad day.
Pakistan should learn to stick with the best they have, and Afridi should learn to support his match winners in difficult times.
Now if Pakistan loses one more match it will be difficult for them to win the series.
Asad Shafiq, Abdul Rehman and Shoaib Akhtar will be replaced by Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Ahmed Shehzad.
My batting line up:
1. Ahmed Shehzad
2. Kamran Akmal (wkt)
3. Mohammad Hafeez
4. Younis Khan
5. Misbah-ul-Haq
6. Umar Akmal
7. Shahid Afridi (c)
8. Abdul Razzaq
9. Sohail Tanvir
10. Umar Gul
11. Wahab Riaz
I would have preferred to see Shoaib Akhtar instead of Tanvir because he is crucial for the world cup. They have gone with a pace attack for a seaming wicket, but I would like to see Ajmal in the team for future matches.
PCB
The team cannot afford divisions before such an important tournament, I think the return of Akmals is going to be harmful for the team and Ejaz Butt is trying to re inject the tainted players in the team.
Afridi deserved to be reprimanded for his lack of form or responsibility but if they had to change him they should have done it before the current Odi series.
The PCB needs to stop this right now and announce Afridi as captain. It is too late to change captain now – it doesn’t matter how well Misbah is playing or how good he is at captaincy.
“I have the news that many players don’t want to play under the captaincy of Shahid Afridi,” Butt claimed.
Mazhar Majeed and Salman butt have lashed out at Afridi.
I Think PCB should announce the captain as soon as possible as this issue is brewing into a big trouble and I have a feeing that MF mafia is seeing this as an opportunity to make a comeback.
PCB
I am not doubting Younis or Hafeez. These two got out on genuine wicket taking deliveries.
It’s too early to clearly suggest that some players didn’t played honestly, but given the past and the politics currently being played there is a high probability, we should raise the alert level to red.
I had my own opinion about Misbah’s innings, he should get full marks for staying at the wicket till end but in my opinion he just stalled the innings and kept on seeing his partners perish on the other end in an effort to accelerate and didn’t showed any intent to score until the last man came to the crease. I was fearing that he will get out after scoring 50 and the same happened, probably that was also one of the reasons I felt bad about his innings.
It’s not a big deal to lose three quick wickets in first 10 overs, the other day Shaun Marsh played a great innings for Australia and yesterday Pathan played one for India. Judging by that standard the innings only helped his personal cause and not the team.
I think batting first was just a simple misreading of the conditions. Vettori also wanted to bat first.
I think Gul and Wahab were rested because they just played 2 test matches and before that they played T20′s. Asad Shafiq was picked ahead of Ahmed Shehzad because he is preferred by team management. I think Shehzad is better.
I think Younis was trying to take singles, and I know he had a few close calls. Once he got out, Misbah probably stopped taking risks.
From a batting point of view, Hafeez is out of form, so theres nothing suspicious there. Kamran Akmal batted slowly, but I think he was just trying to get a solid score to come back into the team. Asad Shafiq’s performances have never been too good in ODI cricket. I can’t see Younis and Razzaq underperforming against Afridi.
You know my views about Afridi and they have been quite consistent. But in the last match the whole team flopped, Shahid tried to play cautiously but we all know he rarely succeeds in doing that, the bottom line is that he was let down by his team mates.
The whole team needs to be blamed especially we should closely monitor Akmal brothers.
Shoaib Akhtar bowled very fast but usually this is not the line or length he uses in his first spell, I am not sure why he did that may be he was a bit rusty.
But Tanvir should have not been selected with this kind of form.
Afridi should focus on playing just one Akmal and should play Gul or Wahab.
Maaz
A player can make a century but still critics might not like his innings, he didn’t carried the bat he only stayed on the wicket till he got his 50 and was successful in reinforcing the belief in the minds of most that he was the most responsible and capable person to lead from the front.
I would have liked his innings if he had not spared a lot of bad balls and had not waited to launch the attack untill the last man arrived on the crease. His innings was never going to change the fate or course of Pakistan’s innings.
Ofcourse he stood his ground while others perished around him and that makes him look better than others but how useful was his innings in the context of the whole match or Pakistan?
It certainly made him look better than the rest of his team mates and stopped at a point when that point was proven.
Given the previous history of some players and the recent murmurs of political rift in the team I have my reasons not to like the innings.
Osman Samiuddin summarised it perfectly in his latest piece. Abdul Qadir who has supported and helped Afridi a lot has also gone against him as captain and feels Misbah is the better choice and highlighted his views fairly and clearly from a technically advanced perspective. Definitely, this is turning out to be a heated debate. We know the vast majority of the Pakistani population wants Afridi to lead, but the intellectuals and academic followers know the reality about who is the better option by some distance.
?2nd April 2011…the day Misbah Ul Haq Niazi lifts the WC in Mumbai whereas Afridi will be sulking in some quite corner!
Definitely I think we need to have Ajmal as our premier spin option to make the attack more threatening as opposed to some predictable left arm container. We have a new ball dilemma in place too. However, with Misbah as skipper I feel much more confident about Pakistan’s general chances because tactically Afridi is about as bad as it gets when it comes to decision making, field positioning, bowling changing and reading match situations. We are playing against our strengths and opening up our limitations when he has been captain. With Misbah captain WC semis guaranteed.
Those that are criticising Misbah for playing slow are showing their sheer lack of knowledge about cricket. The guy was the only one who carried the bat, mastered the conditions and showed some authority/responsibility. The key basic concept in ODI cricket is that you bat out your over’s and Misbah tried to make Pakistan bat out as much as possible. Sometimes, these fans need to learn more and show more genuine awareness.
Misbah’s professionalism, leadership, responsibility and tactical intelligence is where Pakistan can thrive and maximise their effectiveness as a unit. Unless things drastically improve in this ODI series, I am expecting Afridi to get the sack. Misbah in no new kid on the block either, he is already captaining the Test side with overwhelming success so there should be limited problems when adapting and changing, if anything I will feel considerably more confident about Pakistan’s general chances in the forthcoming 10th ICC Cricket World Cup if that happens. Not an ideal situation by any stretch of the imagination, but a step I am willing to accept for the short term betterment of Pakistan Cricket.
Maaz
I agree with your point and I can see the moment Akmal brothers made a come back the team all of a sudden was back to it’s old ways, we were doing well with Taufeeq and Shehzad.
The presence of Ejaz Butt in New Zealand is not a good omen for the team. He will continue to meddle with the selection.
Southee bowled well but Oram and Bennett bowled too many balls which were bad and could have been punished by the Pakistanis on any other day.
If this was a genuine poor performance then Pakistan should fear Zimbabwe. It is the same team less the Akmal brothers which handles Steyn and Morkel with quite ease, I fail to understand why got crushed by Southee & co.
To be very honest I wasn’t very impressed by Misbah’s innings, yes he was the last man standing but the way he batted the innings could not have had a different fate. The intent came very late when only the last man was on the other end.
PCB
There are people who scored around 800-1000 runs in QEA trophy when all the leading bowlers in the country are missing in action it’s easy for someone like Malik or Yousaf to score besides their class has never been under question it’s their integrity or international form which has caused problems for them. The team has been selected so no point in ruing for those who have not been selected.
I agree with you that the team will get settled eventually but the manner in which they got crushed I wasn’t expecting that.
I agree Tanvir shouldn’t have been selected.
I am still confused as I couldn’t justify a few things in last game.
Why did Afridi choose to bat first?
Why both Wahab and Gul were rested in the same match?
Why Ahmad Shehzad wasn’t played?
Why Misbah and Younis stalled and were not even taking singles?
Why Akhtar bowled round the wicket and a fuller length to lefties when against English batsmen and Smith he was bowling over the wicket and across the left handers with an angle and was quite successful in doing that.
The Kiwi bowlers got the movement off the seam by banging it hard on the turf and not by bowling a fuller length.
I am not sure if it was lack of preperation/rustiness, deliberate underperformance or a ploy against Afridi, one thing is for sure that the teams performance can’t be justified.
My line up for the WC
Wahab
1) Hafeez
2) Shehzad
3) Younis
4) Misbah (C)
5) Umar (WK)
6) Afridi
7) Razzaq
9) Gul
10) Akhtar
11) Ajmal
Such a shame that we have to go back to resurrecting dead tainted controversially dominated careers of people like Cameron Kakmal at the expense of leaving out one of the most talented, exciting and emerging batting talents on the planet in the name and face of Ahmed Shehzad. Hard to believe they even think about recalling these oath takers, infighters, match fixers and grouping leaders. In the long chain of events it brings more harm than good.
The defeat was an embarrassment, but the ball swung prodigiously and New Zealand bowled extremely well in good plans and channels. In the sub continental World Cup, batting will be considerably easier. Misbah played an excellent knock. They should give Kamran a few more chances and if his performance does not improve then they should play Shehzad as opener and give UA the gloves. No point recalling negative influences in the team, especially if they are not going to perform. He has concentration deficiencies after looking compact and determined early on. Needless chase at a wide delivery.
I am bitterly disappointed. We were outplayed, humiliated, embarrassed. However, I reminded you that Misbah’s middle order stability in underappreciated and he thoroughly deserves his position in the ODI line up and can become a key player. Today he demonstrated that in tough conditions and circumstances. He has proven his many doubters wrong once more. This line up needs Shehzad and an extra front line pacer. Overall, a gloomy day.
Mohammad Yousuf should have been selected. He is averaging 57 runs after 4 games in domestic cricket, with a SR of 96.99. Asad Shafiq should not have been selected. His one day record is poor.
Tanvir shouldn’t have been selected. He is too erratic.
I think Pakistan will improve – they seem to start slowly like in England/SA ODI’s and NZ T20′s. Our team will be better in the subcontinent, as the series against SA proved.
PCB
Tanvir’s form was no where near that he should have been selected for the WC. As usual he was spraying the ball every where thought less bowling. I think he should be replaced.
I agree with the rotation system and I think they are planning to use it.
Every commentator was surprised why the Kiwi bowlers got so much side ways movement and the Pakistani bowlers couldn’t extract the same movement, the reason was simple the
kiwi’s didn’t swung the ball in the air they moved it off the seam by banging it hard on the surface, where as Pakistani bowlers were trying to bowl fuller length at a higher speed, they could have swung the old ball in the air but fot the new ball on this pitch they should have moved it off the seam.
Akhtar was quite successful against the South Africans by bowling to their lefties from over the wicket with an angle I am not sure why he bowled full from round the wicket to Ryder.
This loss must have send some chills in Pakistani camp, they need to regroup quickly.
This should be the team selection strategy for the 6 matches:
First three matches – first choice XI:
1. Ahmed Shehzad
2. Kamran Akmal (wkt)
3. Mohammad Hafeez
4. Younis Khan
5. Misbah Ul-Haq
6. Umar Akmal
7. Shahid Afridi (cpt)
8. Abdul Razzaq
9. Umar Gul
10. Shoaib Akhtar
11. Saeed Ajmal
4th match:
1. Ahmed Shehzad
2. Kamran Akmal (wkt)
3. Mohammad Hafeez
4. Umar Akmal
5. Younis Khan
6. Shahid Afridi (cpt)
7. Abdul Razzaq
8. Sohail Tanvir
9. Wahab Riaz
10. Abdul Rehman
11. Saeed Ajmal
Last two matches:
1. Ahmed Shehzad
2. Kamran Akmal (wkt)
3. Asad Shafiq
4. Mohammad Hafeez
5. Umar Akmal
6. Shahid Afridi (cpt)
7. Abdul Razzaq
8. Sohail Tanvir
9. Wahab Riaz
10. Abdul Rehman
11. Saeed Ajmal
I think Ahmed Shehzad, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq and Saeed Ajmal all need to play 6 matches because they didn’t play in the test matches and need match practice. Hafeez’s batting looks out of form so needs to play all to get back in form.
Younis Khan should play 4 matches and Asad Shafiq should play 2 matches.
Misbah Ul-Haq, Umar Gul and Shoaib Akhtar should play 3 matches. Misbah’s form is fine and he has match practice from the test matches anc can be replaced by Tanvir for 3 matches. Gul should rest after the test matches and Akhtar needs to avoid injury and can be replaced by Wahab Riaz and Abdul Rehman for 3 matches.
The opening spell by Southee completely ratteled Pakistan’s batting line up the ball was moving both ways, all the Kiwi seamers tormented Pakistani batsmen outside offstump with a nagging length and slight movement. But things eased when Younis and Misbah were batting but they never tried to up the tempo and the pressure kept on building.
The return of tainted players have also brought their curse(nahoosat) with them.
The match is almost over for Pakistan, Afridi got out on 15, I won’t criticise him for this innings as he tried to play according to situation and didn’t tried to hit a six every ball. No player can score in all innings and we don’t expect Afridi to score in every innings I only want him to play as the situation demands.
Both Khatmals got out cheaply today. Younis got out after getting set to an ordinary delivery. Afridi is lucky to still there Jacob Oram dropped a regulation catch, Afridi is playing and missing don’t blame him in this situation as the top order has left all the burden on him, Misbah and Razzaq.
Pakistan continues to get rough decisions by (International caucasion Cheats) umpires, Asad Shafiq got struck on thigh pad and was given leg before wicket by Saheba.
Sallu Ka Patha before the match said that the par score on this pitch would be 280 as it was a flat track, they way the ball is moving even 220 seems like a winning score. Why Afridi chose to bat first completely baffles my mind, must have misread the conditions.
Hafeez in his last few outings have looked out of form, he clearly has a weakness against leg cutters got out on a similar ball for upteenth time.
Well said Maaz but I hope if that Ullu ka Patha ex selector Sallu reads your comment because through out last month he has been criticizing Misbah and declaring him a defensive captain and praising Afridi.
The fact is that had Misbah gone for the win Pakistan would have lost the test, the Kiwis were excessively appealing and the umpires were raising their fingers on any thing half decent appeal. Six decisions went against Pakistan but these Ex bastards like Sallu haven’t quoted this fact even once on GEO. In fact they kept on calling NZ unlucky because of Hafeez’s decision.
Can’t expect much from the most overrated, hyped up, careless and irresponsible cricketer the country has ever produced. It’s time for him to deliver or get the sack. I thought UA looked pretty sound behind the stumps personally and would have liked to see him continue but it seems as if they have already made their minds up.
Chalo, match shuru karo……..
Maaz
So even you don’t expect Afridi to lead from the front and play according to the situation. Is that correct or you forgot to write it in the list of your expectations, I think he holds the key to our success.
If he plays well then it becomes hard to beart Pakistan but when he doesn’t play responsibly every thing falls apart.
By resting Gul and Wahab they have made it an even contest. I am not sure what kind of form Tanvir is in, Akhtar will as usual have a mixed series. But the bowling looks thin since Razzaq can’t be regarded as a bowler anymore.
But the batting line up looks good. This series will give a clear Idea what kind of form Akmal brothers are in my focus will be on Umar Akmal. I thought Ahma’s tie was with Asad Shafiq and not Umar Akmal, but I guess the team management created a bit of variety in the line up by opting for Asad.
Team announced for 1st ODI at Basin Reserve. 6 AM PST and 1 AM GMT: Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Misbah ul Haq, Umer Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Sohail Tanvir, Shoaib Akhtar
Gul is rightfully being rested as is Wahab.It’s perfectly reasonable as they deserve a rest to re-charge their batteries. Plus gives us an opportunity to tinker with the line up and look at other options available too. Look at the depth in the batting. Spin will be a key factor too. Definitely a bat first strategy should be in mind.
Expectations by Maaz :-
1)Pakistan wins the series comfortably at 4-2 or better.
2)Afridi learns not to give irresponsible statements in the press and attack his own players.
3)Spin attack performs well and thrives.
4)Batting line up posts top scores and learns how to build and construct a top brand total.
5)Misbah proves his doubters comprehensively wrong and establishes his presence and underappreciated usefulness in the ODI Team.
6) Umar Akmal regains his form, popularity and hype following some expressive adorable performances.
7) The team builds invaluable momentum, perfects their line up and finds the winning combinations and strategies going into the all important World Cup.
I’d prefer one of the most talented and exciting teenage batsmen on the planet in Shehzad in the team ahead of someone as tainted and immature as Kamran any day. Calling Kami back was a big risky call. Let’s see how he fares and responds.