Wohooo finally the day has arrived, Sri lanka and Pakistan will fight for the title(boo india).I’m so excited and have great confidence in my team. I’m little dissappointed that wasim and saqlain wont be a part of ATC but hey its about time to give other deserving players a chance. Shoib malik proved to be a very decent spinner and suprisingly with his recent century , he is also emerging as a batsmen there is already some speculation going around that he might be promoted at the top order with Taufiq Umer, well that indeed explains the exclusion of saqlain . We need to strengthen our batting line up. Well our bowling department is as usual upto mark. Waqar,shouib,Muhammed sami and razzaq Afridi and Shoib Malik .woo excellent and fierce line up. All we need to watch out for Murali , he is the danger guy
Inzaman has been given alot of chances and its about time that he should step up and lead the team. I’m sure his career would have been ended long time ago if he was representing the Aussies
but our selectors and fans have great faith on him. HIs best performance so far was when he charged towards the indian spectator and threatened to beat him with the bat
Younis khan has a great potential but sometimes loses his wicket cheaply , he still needs some valubale exposure to be considered as a top elite batsman.
Yousuf Youhana is so far the most consistent and the best batsman, he is the only player whom you can rely on.
We are foruntae to have two great wicket keepers but unfortunately one needs to see an exit. Rashid Latif has been improving tremendously with his bat and gloves that its getting more difficult for Moin to represent Pakistan, the level of cricket is so competetive I just love it too see players fighting for their place.
First Wasim is dropped on fitness grounds when he claims he's fit. Heck, at least give the damn legend a chance.
While a little competition will only be good for Saqlain and push him a bit. But dropping Saqlain for Malik has to got to be a very silly mistake. True, the guy played a very good knock against the (I forgot who they played). But he needs to win his place as an off-spinner ahead of Saqi to be in the team. Getting him to open is yet another move that belies all sense. Have we not seen enough proof that bits and pieces players don't do it in Test cricket. You need specialists! Look at Australia.
One player I'm keenly going to watch (via Cricinfo that is) is Akhtar given that he finally seemed to come of age in the recent series. But given that both sides we played were sorry sides, this match should test Akhtar against the likes of Jayasuria and Jayawardina.
Lastly and hopefully Inzi will come good now 'cause we need him to nullify the Murli factor. Anyways, best of luck team in what will be the first true test for this Waqar-led team.
I think dropping Saqlain is a big mistake. He is one of the best spinners in the world, let alone Pakistan. Shoaib Malik is a good bowler but in comparison to Saqlain is a poor substitute, plus asking him to open is a bad decision. If this is the future of Pakistan cricket then God help us. After Saqlain, Danish is the second best spinner we have.
Well I don’t see any sense in dropping Saqui .. he is the best spinner we have, unless there could be some any other non cricket reason he should be in the final eleven. We have a very fragile opening batsmen and Sri-Lanka will definitely put Pak into bat if they win the toss, Sri-Lanka has the second best batting line (right behind Australia), Jawardahne and Attaptu will be the batsman to watch… Murrali of course will be the Lankan trump .. Vaas can make some early breaks as well but Lankans lack bowling depth .. For Pak .. Shoaib/Waqar/Sami/Razak/Zahid .. they can create havoc with the pace if the green wicket holds its potential.. batting is weak link .. who will open is the millon dollar question.. Taufeq has no temperament .. a few good looking shots and he losses his wicket.. Afridi …well come on…. why should he be playing ? does he justifies himself as a serious batsman … Shoaib hmm the poor guy scores a century and he gets to open the inning .. well I have seen him bat before and he is a good batsman with good potential and to me the argument of batting position/order does not make much sense .. so if PCB sees a batting potential in Shoaib hell why not .. look at Gilchrist he opens in one day and bats in the lower order in Test matches .. a good batsman will play in any slot…
Here is my final eleven
Shoaib – I see batting potential in him a mediocre spin bowler though
Taufeeq – Cant tell .. he has some great strokes but yet to develop into a serious batsman
Younis – Needs to turn his 50s into 100s , good batsman
Inzi – Aloo needs big score .. he is the ace batsman and he needs to act like one
Youhana – he is the work horse of the team consistent and reliable
Razak – The most improved and versatile player in the team provides depth in bating and dependable bowler
Lateef – Batting is good and even more important he is the best keeper in International cricket
Saqilan – too much cricket? He seems like to be burned out have not performed well recently
Waqar – Good job as skipper using his lost pace wisely
Shaoib Akhtar – well Mr Freak is suppose to be the Trump card if the wicket generate pace watch out
M.Zahid – in a single over Lara was beaten not once or twice but five times on consecutive deliveries and got out on the sixth ! later Lara said he had never faced such fast bowling and it was sheer pace that go him .. that man was Z .. I dunno how much pace he has lost from his injury .. but we should take a chance on him although Sami have performed well but if Zahid gets his engine running that will be quite a Pace Rage on display
Hey one more thing
These things are hard to explain
For some it seems strange... to swallow
The frontier of our minds
Is the last place we find
But maybe the first place we should go
sambrilian,
You are right about wasim , he is a legend and one of the best bowler . I personally think his time is up atleast in the test matches, come on that guy was given numerous chances and repeatedly he failed to impress even though he claimed to be fit.
After all wasim is wasim and I would be the happiest guy if he stage a great comeback.
I think in one day matches ommiting wasim is bad idea..he is a very economical bowler and difficult to play but in the test matches batsman has all the time in the world to adjust wasims way of bowling and considering he lost alot of pace so that doesnt help too. I just cant understand he wasnt able to claim wickets even against Bangladesh, why?. If he needs to prove anything in test he needs to do it as soon as possible. otherwise it will be too late.
The reason he was delared unfit by pcb ws to save Wasim from humilation, infact he is not in great form.
Well saqlain no doubt the best spinner but you gotta understand this is sri lanka we are dealing, saqlain doesnt have a very impressive record against them and considering he is not in "best" form recently so why not give Shoib Malik a chance , he has an ability to claim wickets with his offspin and ofcourse his batting. If I'm not mistaken he is one of the best fielder in pakistani squad. This kid is a real deal unfortunately at Saqlains expense. thas what I like about pakistani cricket, very competetive just like Aussies, You dun perfomr well in two or three test , give other deserving players a chance, this way not only it will motivate the new player but also the one who got axed. Unfortunately we dont have many quality batsmen to replace the inconsitent batsmen and left no choice but to rely on their expereince only
Fianlly Afridi is chosen for Test match , he can contribute with his bat and ball. I like the way he bowls , very aggresive approach!.I admit he is still inconsitent but Selectors want more allrounders, one way or other they might contribute.
OUr team is known to slack off , we sometimes dun give 100 percent but now the comptetion is high I'm sure everyone out there in the team is on a mission.
[This message has been edited by sherrybaba (edited March 05, 2002).]
look yaar, I know Wasim is old and not fit now. But at least they could have given a stringent fitness test. That would have saved us the embarassment of him telling another country's media that he's fit and implying that poilitics has caused has ouster.
As far as tests vs one-days are concerned, IMO Wasim is as good as he ever was. HE needs to work on his fitness though. I don't know why but I just can't doubt this man.
Wasim's loss is way more important compared to Saqi especially if it's a fast ptich.
EXPECTED START FROM PAKISTAN
2wickets down as afridi is same as he used to be but this new guy Taufeeq Umar, hez pretty much same as imran farhat, wajahatullah wasti n mohammad wasim who always struggled....well hope he get better till world cup but we always keep preparing for the every next encounter rather than doing well!!!
Let's see middle order batting!!
~~Hum aah bhi karte hein to ho jaate hein badnaam~~
~~Woh qatal bhi karte hein to charchaa nahi hotaa~~
After the prayers fail to save the hockey team now you are asking us to pray for our cricket team. Wouldn’t it be nice if our players could perform a bit.
While the collapse of the middle order does not bode well but if you do not have proper openers than the team is bound to be under pressure as they fold up very quickly.
Sherrybaba, the question to ponder is can even God help us when we have Taufiq Umer and Afridi as openers.
Ehsan You raised a valid question , if saqalin ,wasim, shoib malik can hit a century then why not Tasuif umer and Afridi can perform well? , so whom do you suggest should have replaced these batsmen , Ijaz? ( I dun think so) currently we dun have a quality consistent batsmen and so the selectrs placed our money on taufiq by giving him chances so that he can mature with time.
Dua doesnt hurt, just imagine our team playing without any duas , allah khair hee karay.
Btw I still have hopes, ferocious pacers akhtar and last but not least Muhammed sami still to follow