Pakistan Discussion

[Faisal1985]

Squad: Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Taufiq Umar, Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Naveed Yasin, Kamran Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed, Salman Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Yasir Arafat, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Abdul Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanveer, Tanvir Ahmed, Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema, Asad Ali

Oh well...nothing too exciting here...other then the inclusion of Junaid Khan...I hope he makes it to the final line up...would love to see him in an ODI in NZ atm.

 

[Prince EWS]

Pakistan are continuing their tradition of leaving out Fawad Alam for everything I'd pick him for and picking him for everything I'd leave him out of. That means he'll be in the final 15 man squad for the World Cup despite not being in the 30 - ITSTL.

 

[Faisal1985]

Pakistan are continuing their tradition of leaving out Fawad Alam for everything I'd pick him in and picking for everything I'd leave him out of. That means he'll be in the final 15 man squad for the World Cup despite not being in the 30 - ITSTL.

and the funny thing is he averages 38 in ODIs...

 

[M0rphin3]

Pakistan are continuing their tradition of leaving out Fawad Alam for everything I'd pick him in and picking for everything I'd leave him out of. That means he'll be in the final 15 man squad for the World Cup despite not being in the 30 - ITSTL.

Seriously a joke to exclude him after giving him all the chances and even sending him to NZ tbh.


And no Shoaib Malik? He's such gun in subcontinent, especially against India tbh.

 

[slowfinger]

W H A T T H E H E L L my heart is going, it seriously is!

 

[Faisal1985]

Yeah Malik is a solid flat track bully...especially against India he scores good...But I think his exclusion has to do with his attitude in the dressing room....I know Afridi wanted him in the team.

Alam should have been part of the squad for sure...its quite unfair to him....

 

[cricpk]

Pakistan 15 Men World Cup Squad

Pakistan announced 15 Men Squad for the World Cup.

Shahid Afridi
Misbah-ul-Haq
Mohammad Hafeez
Kamran Akmal (wk)
Younis Khan
Asad Shafiq
Umar Akmal
Abdul Razzaq
Abdur Rehman
Saeed Ajmal
Shoaib Akhtar
Umar Gul
Wahab Riaz
Sohail Tanvir
Ahmed Shehzad

 

[cricpk]

I think they didn't pick a bad side. And Pakistan always perform well when they are not rated that high, Therefore reaching Semi's would be a good result for them???

By the way i would like these players to play most of the matches in world cup.

1. Ahmad Shehzad
2. Muhammad Hafeez
3. Kamran Akmal
4. Younis Khan
5. Shahid Afridi
6. Asad Shafiq / Umar Akmal
7. Abdul Razzaq
8. Wahab Riaz
9. Umar Gul
10. Shoaib Akhter
11. Saeed Ajmal / Abdul Rehman (If Abdul Rehman Plays, he would probabaly bat ahead of Shoaib Akhtar & Umar Gul).

Ahmad Shahzad would be good on slow & low pitches, Hafeez will be OK at times. If Kamran Akmal fires then that will do wonders for Pakistan. I hope Younis Khan will be able to bat with a strike rate of 80 +. Number 5 , 6 & 7 will score quickly & a decent bowling line up as well. WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK ABOUT THIS TEAM?

 

[Prince EWS]

That's probably one too many bowlers. Afridi at five is asking for trouble especially when The Jacket is batting eight.

 

[cricpk]

That's probably one too many bowlers. Afridi at five is asking for trouble especially when The Jacket is batting eight.

Only thing that is going to win matches for Pakistan is bowling & i think more or less they will choose this side. & I think Wahab is a decent enough at hitting some boundries. About Afridi, If he realizes that he can score at 100 + plus strike rate with singles, He can score 350 + runs in the World Cup.

 

[Prince EWS]

If he realizes that he can score at 100 + plus strike rate with singles, He can score 350 + runs in the World Cup.

Maybe, but he won't. You don't pick players on what they might do in an alternate universe; Afridi isn't going to going to suddenly grow a batting brain after all this time. If he bats five in normal circumstances I'll be very, very surprised.

 

[Howe_zat]

That side is a bit too bowling heavy, even if Pakistan turn it on one game and dismiss the opposition for under 200, the batting looks very shaky.

Misbah is scoring runs right now and if nothing else would add some stability. Riaz I rate but we can't leave out Razzaq, so he'd be the back up seamer. Hafeez can fill in as the extra option on Asian wickets.

Afridi may look too low at #7 but he can be used whenever he's needed, sent in higher if there's a calling for boundaries.

I'd also rather take Rehman than Ajmal. Even if their bowling is split evenly (and I for one would rather not see Ajmal bowling, if ya know what I mean ) Rehman offers more with the bat.

Ahmed Shezad
Mohammed Hafeez
Kamran Akmal
Younis Khan
Misbah Ul-Haq
Asad Shafiq
Shahid Afridi
Abdul Razzaq
Adbur Rehman
Umar Gul
Shoaib Akhtar

 

[cricpk]

That side is a bit too bowling heavy, even if Pakistan turn it on one game and dismiss the opposition for under 200, the batting looks very shaky.

Misbah is scoring runs right now and if nothing else would add some stability. Riaz I rate but we can't leave out Razzaq, so he'd be the back up seamer. Hafeez can fill in as the extra option on Asian wickets.

Afridi may look too low at #7 but he can be used whenever he's needed, sent in higher if there's a calling for boundaries.

I'd also rather take Rehman than Ajmal. Even if their bowling is split evenly (and I for one would rather not see Ajmal bowling, if ya know what I mean ) Rehman offers more with the bat.

Ahmed Shezad
Mohammed Hafeez
Kamran Akmal
Younis Khan
Misbah Ul-Haq
Asad Shafiq
Shahid Afridi
Abdul Razzaq
Adbur Rehman
Umar Gul
Shoaib Akhtar

Misbah is good but he actually scores runs at a very low strike rate, but i hope he finds some quick runs. & fully agreed with you about picking Abdul Rehman than Saeed Ajmal. But they will pick Saeed Ajmal, i know that.

 

[cricpk]

Maybe, but he won't. You don't pick players on what they might do in an alternate universe; Afridi isn't going to going to suddenly grow a batting brain after all this time. If he bats five in normal circumstances I'll be very, very surprised.

Rite, But i have a feeling that Afridi's batting will be different this time. Specially seeing him do well in Asia Cup in Srilanka.

 

[Howe_zat]

Maybe, but he won't. You don't pick players on what they might do in an alternate universe; Afridi isn't going to going to suddenly grow a batting brain after all this time. If he bats five in normal circumstances I'll be very, very surprised.

Rite, But i have a feeling that Afridi's batting will be different this time. Specially seeing him do well in Asia Cup in Srilanka.

Afridi has been picked based on what he might do rather than what he typically does do for some time, so at least this line of thought is consistent.

 

[Blaze 18]

Pakistan announced 15 Men Squad for the World Cup.

Shahid Afridi
Misbah-ul-Haq
Mohammad Hafeez
Kamran Akmal (wk)
Younis Khan
Asad Shafiq
Umar Akmal
Abdul Razzaq
Abdur Rehman
Saeed Ajmal
Shoaib Akhtar
Umar Gul
Wahab Riaz
Sohail Tanvir
Ahmed Shehzad

Solid squad.

1) Kamran Akmal (wicketkeeper)
2) Mohammad Hafeez
3) Younis Khan
4) Umar Akmal
5) Mibah-ul-Haq
6) Asad Shafique/Ahmed Shahzad
7) Abdul Razzaq
8) Shahid Afridi
9) Shoaib Akhtar
10)Umar Gul
11) Saeed Ajmal/Abdur Rehman

That would be my playing eleven.

 

[cricpk]

Afridi has been picked based on what he might do rather than what he typically does do for some time, so at least this line of thought is consistent.

Rite!!!!!

 

[Fusion]

Osman Samiudddin's analysis of the squad:

A fresh, balanced squad with no captain
Despite all the controversies of the past year, Pakistan have put together a balanced squad for the World Cup, but the fact that they haven't finalised on a captain is cause for concern

Osman Samiuddin

January 18, 2011

A sympathetic glance over Pakistan's World Cup squad would conclude that chief selector Mohsin Khan and his men have done well to find 15 players to send first to Sri Lanka and then possibly further.


Such has been the last year; a period treated by the rest of the world as a run-in to the game's showpiece event, a time to fine-tune selections, strategies and ideas, but one in which Pakistan has changed the very face of their first XI.


Four first-choice players were banned by the board in March 2010, of whom the careers of three - Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan - have come to a halt. In the case of Yousuf, who was not picked in the 15-man squad, this is very likely the end. The clouds over Malik don't look likely to shift for a while. It is difficult also to see a way back for Naved, such an under-rated part of Pakistan's few ODI successes over the last half a decade.


Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir lie suspended, their careers on the line. Effectively the whole spine of what would conceivably be a first XI is out.


But all that is not to despair, for one fine truism has stood unmoved through the last year and that is the durability of Pakistan's conveyor belt of talent. Consider that the side that played New Zealand in the first Test of the on-going series, in Hamilton, had only one name from the side that took them on in the first Test in the 2009-10 series, in Dunedin - Umar Gul. And they won in Hamilton in three days, by ten wickets.


More relevantly, recent ODI results, in the Asia Cup, and against England and South Africa, reaffirm coach Waqar Younis' belief that the side's primary issue is an inability to kill off contests. That there is feistiness, especially when circumstances conspire against them, skill and ability is not in dispute.


Above all, there is freshness about the squad; for the first time at a World Cup since 1999. Only seven have previous World Cup experience. An opportunity awaits the other eight. Umar Akmal may have regressed but he remains a potent limited-overs force; Asad Shafiq's numbers are unexceptional but his play has something to it; Wahab Riaz has done more in the last six months than many thought him capable of; Ahmed Shahzad might just be the firecracker Pakistan need at the top. They must know that a World Cup hundred, or a World Cup five-for are feats on which entire careers and legends can be built.


The blend seems right. There is also experience: Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq and Shoaib Akhtar were in the 1999 squad. Misbah-ul-Haq, Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman have not played in a World Cup but are grey enough to handle much of what might be thrown their way. And there is form. Mohammad Hafeez has rarely looked more an international player than in the last nine months. Razzaq is feeling it. Shoaib, like a true heavyweight, is convinced one last fight remains. Even Kamran Akmal's flimsy glovework can be tolerated if he continues to provide the starts that he did in England.


The pace attack is workable, the spinners solid. There is cover for the opening slots, old and new heads in the middle order and three allrounders. Can there be any serious quibbling over the 15? Twelve, maybe even 13, pick themselves.


Alas, before falling prey to the unnatural temptation to pat the board and selectors on the back, it is to be noted that there is no captain. With just over a month to go to their first match, Pakistan has no leader. It is the kind of thing only the PCB is capable of.


Afridi will captain the ODI side in New Zealand and his chances beyond that would appear to depend on how things go over those six ODIs. The reasons for him not being given security are not yet fully known. His record isn't great and his personal form over the last ten ODIs has dipped. But he has led in incredibly fraught circumstances and mostly without his best players. Has there not been some centrifugal, galvanising force about him in the comebacks against England and South Africa?


Apparently, the board is unhappy with his outspoken ways. The usual murmurs of discontent players float around, though if the administration has learnt nothing of captain-player dynamics over the last year then we really are lost. Some insiders believe his chances to be no more than 50-50.


How can it be wise to change captains just before the World Cup? It is something you could get away with in a mid-70s World Cup, not now. Misbah, vice-captain now, is tipped to step in, and though he has done wonderfully well as a Test captain and batsman, his last act in ODIs was to be dropped. And those two games against South Africa were the only ODIs he has played since September 2009. Preparation, it isn't.
Link

 

[Prad100w]

Solid squad.

1) Kamran Akmal (wicketkeeper)
2) Mohammad Hafeez
3) Younis Khan
4) Umar Akmal
5) Mibah-ul-Haq
6) Asad Shafique/Ahmed Shahzad
7) Abdul Razzaq
8) Shahid Afridi
9) Shoaib Akhtar
10)Umar Gul
11) Saeed Ajmal/Abdur Rehman

That would be my playing eleven.

I think this team would do well. Quite a solid batting line up. They can step up when needed as well and bowling suited to subcontinental conditions with a quality spinner backed up by Afridi.

 

[smash84]

Solid squad.

1) Kamran Akmal (wicketkeeper)
2) Mohammad Hafeez
3) Younis Khan
4) Umar Akmal
5) Mibah-ul-Haq
6) Asad Shafique/Ahmed Shahzad
7) Abdul Razzaq
8) Shahid Afridi
9) Shoaib Akhtar
10)Umar Gul
11) Saeed Ajmal/Abdur Rehman

That would be my playing eleven.

I think this team would do well. Quite a solid batting line up. They can step up when needed as well and bowling suited to subcontinental conditions with a quality spinner backed up by Afridi.

Actually Blaze you have come up with a reasonably solid eleven. I would back this XI (if they play it to make it to the semis. The bowling looks decent on paper.