Pakistan Vs South Africa at Faisalabad on Oct 23.
Starting time 06:00 GMT.
Youngster Khalid Latif also inducted in Faisalabad one-dayer squad
Monday, October 22, 2007
By Khalid Hussain
KARACHI: Pakistan are looking towards their discarded batsman Yasir Hameed to deliver in the third one-dayer against South Africa in Faisalabad tomorrow (Tuesday) after the continuous failure of their openers in recent times.
‘The News’ has learnt through well-placed sources that Pakistan have decided to replace Imran Nazir, who misfired in Lahore yet again on Saturday, with Yasir Hameed. The Peshawar-born batsman will open the innings for the hosts in Faisalabad with wicket-keeper batsman Kamran Akmal.
The national selectors have also decided to induct rookie opening batsman Khalid Latif in the one-day squad ahead of tomorrow’s game. The Karachi-based player comes in the squad as a substitute opener.
All-rounder Mohammad Hafeez, who was dropped from the squad after flopping in the opening one-day game in Lahore on October 18 has been released from the squad. Hafeez opened the innings in the first one-dayer and fell for just six. He also failed to impress much in the two-match Test series earlier this month and was dropped from the Lahore Test after failing in the opening match in Karachi.
Lack of good opening stands has become a chronic problem for Pakistan in both the Test and one-day arena in recent years. So bad is the record of Pakistani opening batsmen like vice-captain Salman Butt, Imran Nazir and Mohammad Hafeez that recently Pakistan’s prolific batsman Mohammad Yousuf pointed out that the national team has not been blessed with a reliable opener since the exit of Saeed Anwar. He also said that Pakistan have learnt to live with this handicap.
However, national selectors are now trying to look beyond the existing lot of openers, who have the experience of playing international cricket for Pakistan. The decision to draft the 21-year-old Khalid Latif in the one-day squad is a sign that the selectors are now willing to try out some younger batsmen at the top of the order.
It is unlikely that Khalid will be asked to play any role in the current ODI series but the young batsman will certainly get a chance to show his worth in a five-match ODI series against Zimbabwe to be played in Pakistan later this year.
Khalid, who led Pakistan to a title-winning triumph in the 2004 Youth World Cup in Bangladesh, has a superb one-day record at the domestic level having scored 840 runs in 21 games at an average of almost 50 with two centuries under his belt at a strike rate of 80.92.
Khalid’s first-class record, however, is not as impressive as he has scored 1603 runs from 33 matches at an average of 27.63.
The Karachi-born player impressed the national selectors and Pakistan team management during a series of practice games held this summer in preparation for last month’s World Twenty20 championship in South Africa.
While Khalid may still be a few games away from making his international debut, it was only a matter of time that Yasir returned to the line-up to give some stability to Pakistan’s brittle top order.
The 29-year-old Yasir has scored 1999 runs from 53 ODI appearances at an average of 38.44 with three centuries and 12 fifties. His Test stats are not bad either, having scored 1292 runs from 20 Tests at 35.88 though he hasn’t scored a century in his last 19 Tests.
On his debut in August 2003, Yasir stamped his presence in international cricket with two Test centuries — against Bangladesh at Karachi — becoming only the second player to achieve that feat.
He will be a part of the playing line-up in tomorrow’s game instead of Imran Nazir, who has once again failed to captilise on a series of chances he has received this year. Imran, 25, scored 16 in the first ODI and followed that knock with a just two in the second one-dayer. Now it seems quite unlikely that the selectors will show any faith in him for next month’s five-match ODI series against India.