***Official*** Pakistan in South Africa

[nightprowler10]

Schedule

6 Jan: South Africa A v Pakistanis - Kimberley
11 Jan: 1st Test - Centurion
19 Jan: 2nd Test - Port Elizabeth
26 Jan: 3rd Test - Cape Town
2 Feb: T20I - Johannesburg
4 Feb: 1st ODI - Centurion
7 Feb: 2nd ODI - Durban
9 Feb: 3rd ODI - Port Elizabeth
11 Feb: 4th ODI - Cape Town
14 Feb: 5th ODI - Johannesburg

Edited for easy reading

[aussie]

So how does this look for a Pakistan test team to South Africa:

Imran Farhat
Mohammad Hafeez/Yasir Hameed
Younis Khan
Mohammad Yousuf
Inzamam-ul-Haq*
Shoaib Malik
Kamran Akmal
Naved-ul-Hasan
Shoaib Akhtar
Danish Kaneria
Mohammad Asif

Back-ups from: Asim Kamal, Umar Gul, Shabbir Ahmed, Rehman or a back-up keeper

Oh yes, the looks good, watch out South Africa..

[Jono]

If Akhtar and Asif play, I dare say SA may not exactly put out the pitches they have so far vs. India.

Fair enough SA have a gun fast bowling attack, and Pakistan aren't known for playing bounce and movement well, but SA's batsman bar Kallis and to an extent Boucher are pretty bad as well.

[TT Boy]

Originally Posted by aussie

So how does this look for a Pakistan test team to South Africa:

Imran Farhat
Mohammad Hafeez/Yasir Hameed
Younis Khan
Mohammad Yousuf
Inzamam-ul-Haq*
Shoaib Malik
Kamran Akmal
Naved-ul-Hasan
Shoaib Akhtar
Danish Kaneria
Mohammad Asif

Back-ups from: Asim Kamal, Umar Gul, Shabbir Ahmed, Rehman or a back-up keeper

Oh yes, the looks good, watch out South Africa..

Drop Farhat, ok at home but I don't fancy his flirtagious attitude having much success. Also Gul ahead of Rana for me.

[mohammad16]

Originally Posted by Jono

If Akhtar and Asif play, I dare say SA may not exactly put out the pitches they have so far vs. India.

Fair enough SA have a gun fast bowling attack, and Pakistan aren't known for playing bounce and movement well, but SA's batsman bar Kallis and to an extent Boucher are pretty bad as well.

thats exactly what i was thinking, it would be stupid for s africa to give pakistan the pitches they gave india, pakistani pace attack is more likely to use th conditions againts s africa then india

but surely they cant have flat batting wickets??? and def not spinning wickets since kaneria> any safrican spin bowler

S africa will have to strike the right balance, i think thier best bet is seaming pitches, which only asif really utilizes to perfection, shoaib and rana rely more on swing and bounce

[Beleg]

My ideal Pakistani XI for tests would be,

Yasir Hameed
Mohammad Hafeez
Inzi
Younus
Yousuf
Shoaib Malik
Kamran Akmal
Shoaib Akhtar
Umer Gul
Mohammad Asif
Danesh Kaneria (on probation)

Personally, I am really looking forward to the contest. The Pakistani middle-order ought to handle whatever pitches South Africa might come up with. (on paper, at least). This is also a chance of Inzi (and Yousuf) to improve his/their record(s) against SA in SA.

[Fusion]

Can't wait for this series! I hope every Pakistani team member/official is watching the current Ind/SA series. They should be busy taking notes.

Any predictions?

[PhoenixFire]

Pakistan to win both series (ODI and Test).

[Turbinator]

IMO Pakistan, unlike India, will certainly put up a great fight in the ODIs...

ODIs: 3-2 for RSA

Tests: 1-0 for Pakistan

[pasag]

The ODI's will be great. Can't decide who will win tbh. Pakistan will easily take out the Test series though.

[nightprowler10]

Originally Posted by mohammad16

S africa will have to strike the right balance, i think thier best bet is seaming pitches, which only asif really utilizes to perfection, shoaib and rana rely more on swing and bounce

You could make a case for Gul as well as Asif to be able to use seaming wickets. Akhtar can do well enough on any pitch, really. Despite my dislike of the man, I believe he is a very good, thinking cricketer, and would probably be successful to a point even if he was a medium pacer.

[nightprowler10]

Originally Posted by pasag

The ODI's will be great. Can't decide who will win tbh. Pakistan will easily take out the Test series though.

Pakistan have a good chance of taking the tests if Akhtar and Asif play, not sure about the easy part.

[nightprowler10]

Originally Posted by Beleg

My ideal Pakistani XI for tests would be,

Yasir Hameed
Mohammad Hafeez
Inzi
Younus
Yousuf
Shoaib Malik
Kamran Akmal
Shoaib Akhtar
Umer Gul
Mohammad Asif
Danesh Kaneria (on probation)

Personally, I am really looking forward to the contest. The Pakistani middle-order ought to handle whatever pitches South Africa might come up with. (on paper, at least). This is also a chance of Inzi (and Yousuf) to improve his/their record(s) against SA in SA.

Pretty much agreed on your lineup, except the middle order should be Younis, Yousuf and Inzi, in that order. Kaneria bowled real well against West Indies, IMO. Although in case he keeps performing the way he did against England, perhaps we should give Rehman a chance in tests?

[haroon510]

i think they should make the pitches for fast bowlers for a compative cricket. asif, akhter, gul from pakistan and pollock, nitini, nel from SA. in this competition who ever of these bowlers pick more wickets could win the test match for his team.i think pakistan shoud pick gul in place of navid in test matches. they should keep gul of tests while play one day matches with navid.
i can't predict any thing since these two teams are unpredictable. no one knew that SA would perform this way the way they are performing in the first test against India. i thought it would be one way match with Sa wining everything.

[gunner]

i would play this team

if pakistan use 8 batsman combination

hafeez
hameed
younis
yousuf
inzi
iqbal/malik
razzaq
akmal
shoaib
asif
danish

if pak use 7 batsman combination

hafeez
hameed
younis
yousuf
inzi
iqbal/malik
akmal
shoaib
danish
asif
shabbir/gul

i would prefer the 7 batsman combination cos then pakistan easily match Sa in bowling if not better them,

but on the other hand,
pakistan batting is quite weak and 8 batsmen could be the safe option