We often talk about alltime test x1’s, but I am wondering what a plausible ODI x1 would be for Pakistan.
Let us assume a selection criteria of atleast 20 games.
Anwar
Zaheer Abbas
Miandad
Youhana
Haq
Imran Khan*
Abdul Razzaq
Moin Khan+
Akram
Younis
Saqlian
I know ZA didnt open, but there was no other way of including him without weakening the bowling.
I was not sure on Razzaq, but as a 4th seamer and 5th bowler, given his power hitting, he’d play a useful floating role.
I did ponder opeing with Majid Khan, he was classy and he offered a more then useful bowling option. 6 bowlers would provide the extra safety valve should one of the main 5 have a shocker at the office.
3 of the greatest pacemen of alltime, Saqlian (at his peak was a great offie. Fell off, sadly). and Razzaq seems a good enough attack. Quality and depth in the batting.
Akhtar probably merits a place on his bowling, but who do we drop?
Razzaq is the most obvious candidate, but that would weaken the batting considerably.
Now c'mon, he's one of, if not our best, ODI bat. Supreme worker of the ball.
By picking Majid (I'm assuminng Raja > Yoyo :o ) you have a bowling problem. He is a useful 6th bowler, but not a front line bowling option. Thus,you have only 4 specialists, meaning 10 overs would come from p/t!
Bari over Moin? Either way really. I opted for Moin as he's the better bat. His cameo 25 of 22 balls won Pak many many games. :)
take bari out ( remember we are selecting a ODI team) and bring Rashid latif IN. People dont realize that Rashid Latif was as good with the bat as moeen was and he was far far better WK than Moeen. Rashid was equally capable of scoring quick 20 to 30 runs on as many balls plus his WKeeping abilities were phenomenal…
Take Wasim Raja out and bring Razaq IN and you get rest of the time right. Here is my final IX:
well yoyo is a great player but he has to fight with asian bradman zaheer abbas for his spot. Zaheer has the highest one day average (close to 48) in pakistan with 7 centuries in 62 matches. so there you go…
Majid Khan (Didn't play enough ODI's but he was a excellent batsman and handy bowler )
Saeed Anwar ( Automatic choice)
Zaheer Abbas (Yohanna misses out but Zaheer is too good to be left out)
Javed Miandad (His ODI average is as good as Yohanna but against better bowling attacks)
Inzamam ul Haq ( Automatic choice)
Imran Khan* (Automatic)
Abdul Razzaq ( I don't think there has been any bettr ODI all rounder than him)
Moin Khan+ ( close call between him and Latif, my personal favourite was Salim Yousaf)
Wasim Akram (Naam hi kaafi hai, best ever ODI bowler)
Saqlain Mushtaq (One of the best ever ODI bowler)
Waqar Younis ( Damn!!! Another one. One of the best EVER ODI bowler).
Kamran Akmal will soon become our best ever ODI keeper, he is a better keeper than Moin and probably a bit better batsman as well. He hasn't played enough ODI's yet but he will end up being better than all previous keepers. Moin and Latif were pretty much simialr ( Moin a better batsman and Latif a better keeper) but Moin has played more match winning knocks than Latif.
Kamran Akmal is no where close to being a better wk than oin or Rashid lateef, he is certainly a better bat. This boy has been promoted above other better keeprs in Pakistan, how long he can retain this place depends on how long Inzi and Boby remain in the decision making process.
Razzak is a bit overrated, has’nt delivered anything worthwhile in recent history ie last 5years.
^ mouth watering lineup. But I would dare to make one change... Shahid Afridi in for Saqlain. This will extend the batting to #9 without changing the three prong spin attack.
okay correct me if I am wrong but was not Zaheer more of a test batsman and susceptible to pace bowling? i would include somebody like Inzamam Ul Haq in his place...
To my mind, ZA is competing with Majid for a batting spot. The rest of the team tends to pick itself.
Leaving out Youhana is not thinkable.
There are clearly 2 schools of selection thought here, namely picking specialists strictly (majid opened, pick him), or picking your x1 best players and then making the order fit.
I prefer the latter approach.
Qadir wasa legend, but Saqi outbowls him in ODI's.
Majid was a brilliant player and in his time held the record of higest number of sixes in an inning and alse held the fastest 50 on TV (off 17 balls, if I remember correctly). His shots were proper circket shots not Tulleys.