Re: 25 probables for South Africa Tour camp announced
I think they need to include either Faisal or Hameed in the tests. Hameed had a good record in last Aus series. So he might be prefered on the fast tracks.
There was a time when Pakistani batsmen used to practice on cement pitches with wet tennis ball before WI tours back in 70s. I hope new lot can learn how to handle extra bounce and swing. The bowling will be as hostile as McGrath and Lee showed in 2003.
Smooth: there is not even a 5% chance of ARehman inclusion in test squad at the expense of Kaneria. I am always against of keeping of Kaneria even close to the ODI squad, but Test is different ball game, where I think PAK can afford expensive Kaneria for his variety.
For ODI, I think AR is a good find and PAK should stick to him even if it is at the cost of Hafeez or Malik, since he is much better offspinner than both of them, and is a comparable fielder. If he contains good batters like he did Lara, then even his less contribution with bat will be more useful than Hafeez or Malik.
If SA came up with fast and boucy tracks for test matches, then PAK should give it a try with some aggressive approach by inclusion of 4 seamers in Shoaib, Asif, Gul and Razzaq, supported by Kaneria or may experiment with using Afridi as regular leg spinner and opener (unleashed batting as he did against Irfan Pathan in last tour of India). Which will allow a team combination of:
1. Afridi/Akmal
2. Yasir
3. Younis
4. Yousaf
5. Inzi
6. Faisal
7. Akmal/Afridi
8. Razzaq
9. Shoaib
10. Gul
11. Asif
For ODI:
1. Akmal
2. Yasir
3. Younis
4. Yousaf
5. Inzi
6. Malik
7. Afridi (or Rehman for Afridi)
8. Razzaq
9. Shoaib
10. Gul/Rana
11. Asif