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Pakistan’s tour of NewZealand has ended, they lost the T20 series 2-0, won the test series  1-0 and won the Odi series 3-2. This tour was very important for Pakistan as it was the last opportunity for them to re-group before the world cup.

Even though Pakistan won the Test and Odi series but they are far from ready for the world cup.

Here’s my assesment:

Bowling:

I knew that Pakistan would struggle after the spot fixing scandal in the bowling department and especially in limited overs cricket but never imagined that our bowling would look so ordinary. We are playing Razzaq, Hafeez and Tanvir for more depth in batting. The performance of Hafeez has been satisfactory as an all rounder but he is no replacement for Rahman or Ajmal as a spin bowler.

The selectors should be buried alive for selecting Tanvir in the world cup squad, his fitness level was not upto par, he has lost at least a yard in pace and has forgotten how to bowl with the cricket ball, he has no control over the line and length, doesn’t know how to control the seam movement and completely looks like a tennis ball bowler.

In all the matches he was messy had no line, no length, no control over seam and swing and was only relying on change of pace. It is highly unlikely that Tanvir will get a game in world cup but if any one of  Shoaib, Gul or Wahab  gets injured then we will have no back up.

Shoaib Akhtar, Gul and Wahab are the main strike bowlers for Pakistan. Gul took only 4 wickets in 5 matches @ 5.12 he had a good test series but looked tired and out of rythym in the Odi series his yorkers and reverse swing wasn’t working. His body language through out the Odis was showing as if he wasn’t enjoying his game.

Shoaib Akhtar had a poor first match after which he was dropped for the next two and wasn’t given a full quota of 10 overs in the remaining matches. Shoaib who was in great form against England and  SA  bowled poorly in the first match his pace and bowling rythym was fine his length was poor, strong captains usually back their match winners specially when they are struggling, but Shahid Afridi just discarded Akhtar after one poor performance and didn’t allowed his main bowler to get into rythym and form before the world cup. Whereas New Zealand in contrast persisted with Bennett despite his several below par performances and in the last match he looked much more confident.

Wahab Riaz had a good series, he took 8 wickets in 4 matches @ 5.40, after the series against England and SA,  I was quite sure that Wahab will fill the vaccum created by Aamer, but he is not consistent, he struggled with his line through out the series and was spraying the ball all over the place, he bowled resonably well with the old ball and at times he got the ball to reverse swing which was a good sign but he can’t bring the ball back into the right handers and mostly relies on away swingers and struggles to control the swing. Bottom line you can’t expect the same level of performance from him in every match.

Razzaq was the only bowler who was used efficiently by Afridi as a result he had the best economy rate out of all the Pakistani bowlers which in itself is a problem and something to think about. Razzaq is a soft target he should only be played in the team as a batsman and should not be used against quality teams. But the irony is that Pakistan hasn’t used him as a batsman at all in this series and no effort was made to get him going, the management should have send him at # 3 as a floater, since he didn’t get enough chance to bat lower down the order.

Considering the fact that world cup is going to be played in sub continent where spinners will play a huge role it was surprising for me that the management didn’t gave even a single game to Saeed Ajmal and Rahman, in fact Rahman played one game and bowled just 1 over. New Zealand would not have lost this series had they not done so many experiments, but after playing 5 matches they were quite sure of their first 11 I am not sure if any one can say this for Pakistan. Afridi should have been given rest like Vettori to give a few games to Rahman and Ajmal. New Zealand have made N McCullum and Woodcock ready for the World cup by giving rest to Vettori. Both Ajmal and Rahman are quite experienced and Rahman played in the test series so he won’t be out of practice but Ajmal should have played a few games to get some match practice.

Batting:

Everybody was nervous when PCB made wholesale changes in the batting line up before the series against SA, a lot of criticism was hurled at Misbah when he was made the captain of the national team and was also included in the Odi team but he proved his critics wrong and carried the whole batting lineup on his shoulders in the tests nd in the Odis , just because of Misbah’s form Pakistan’s batting looked better than it actually is. Hafeez scored 166 runs in six innings out of which 115 came from one match this clearly shows that the opening problem still exists. He plays a few good shots and then gets out playing an arial shot.

Shehzad played 5 matches and scored 188 runs, he looked good through out the series but displayed two weaknesses one he struggles to keep the ball on the ground while playing on the on side this has been his problem through out his career, secondly he has a clear weakness against away swingers.

Kamran Akmal scored 89 in the last match but struggled in the first 5 matches, New Zealand  through out the series trapped him around backward point since he cuts the ball compulsively in that area and fails to keep it down or play it in gap.

Younis Khan and Umar Akmal completely failed in this series hopeully they will score in subcontinent. The biggest disappointment came from Razzaq who averaged just under 10 in six matches. He should have been promoted up the order to regain his form but the current management is unable to think out of the box.

Leadership:

Throughout the tour Afridi’s leadership was under examination, he was under a lot of pressure in the first five matches but in the last match once again he proved that how brainless he can get, starting from his decision to field first,  his bowling changes and field placements were all wrong, either he had no intention of winning the match or he just led the team without using his brain. His personal performance was fine in the series even though I think his bowling is off a bit these days.

Overall I think this team has too many soft spots and is totally unprepared for the world cup. 

A few adjustments will have to be made, Tanvir should be replaced by Junaid Khan or Aizaz Cheema even Hammad Azam is a better option than Tanvir.

Razzaq should be given a bigger role in batting. Pakistan must Identify a pinch hitter from their lineup and should use him as a floater.

Afridi will have to show some confidence in his bowlers and should back them up, you can’t lose faith in your match winners after just one bad performance.

Waqar Younis will have to work extremely hard with his bowlers to get them back on track.