Will our One Day side really be that bad in the future? One of the criticisms levelled against the current team was that it was too attacking, Waqar, Shoaib and Wasim all to some extent being primarily test match bowlers who bowled to take wickets rather than contain runs.
With the two W’s moving on, maybe all-rounders like Razzaq and Azhar will come more into it and the nature of the team will change a bit more? My feeling is with Shoaib and sami as the spearhead of the attack we’ll still have a pretty useful attack. I’m not sure we’re going to be as weak as many people are concerned about.
Regardless of Wasim and Waqar retiring, our pace bowling attack will be one of the top attacks in the world. We need the kind of bowlers who don't lose temper in big matches. Shoaib is very vulnerable to these kind of situations and so is Wasim, I have yet to see Sami bowling in a very important match so I can't judge him. And we need more than 2 attacking bowlers because the usual situation is that early on our 2 best bowlers bowl well and put the opposition under pressure and then we let them getaway when our replacement bowlers come on (Razzaq).
We need to go with 4 speedies, rather than a spinner, specially in non subcontinental matches, where guys like Saqi and Razzaq are very uselss.
Batting we need attacking but smart batsmans, not someone like Afridi, but someone like Saeed, Taufeeq Umar has done well, and I was one of the people who doubted his abilities in ODI. As time goes by, he will learn from the experienced players, and he will become a good batsamn.
Youhana and Inzi should play for Pakistan for another 3 or 4 years, but we need 2 more middle order batsman, Younis Khan is no class act, and he doesn't seem to be improving at all. We should still experiment with those 2 positions.
Salem Elahi looks decent, he should be kept for a longer period of time, and maybe he can be a good number 3 batsman for the team.
It's about striking the right balance. Bowling-wise, Shoaib and Sami will give us the opening ball firepower, Azhar and Razzaq some tight bowling and batting backup, pick a decent spinner like saqi and it don't look so bad. Batting I'll get round to later.
I think its time for a thorough rebuilding of the Pakistan team. At the very least the current perform warrants an extremely critical review of the present crop of players.
Razzaq and Azhar are mediocre allrounders by all accounts though Razzaq does have his odd good day. Its time that they are made to earn their places in the team. Shoaib should be dealt in a similar way. Sami is good. Zahid, Shahid Nazeer, Kabeen Khan could be given another chance. I am sure there must be quite a few others waiting in the wings. My information is extremely out-dated I think :--/
I think we should play specialist crickters only. We dont need bits n pieces players like Razzaq, Azhar or Afridi. We should play 6 specialist batsman, a good batsman-keeper and our 4 fast bowlers. We have talented young batsman who need some fine tuning. Imran Nazir and Taufiq Umar have alot of potential but the vbatsman who impresses me the most is Imran Farhat. He is another Gilchrist (hes not a keeper though). Watch out for him, hes going 2 b sumthing special. Weve got good bowling coming through also. Apart from Shoaib and Sami we've got Umar Gul, Faisal Afridi, Abdul Rauf etc. The talent is there , it just needs polishing off and coached correctly. Inshallah we will be back!!!
Playing four specialist bowlers is fine if we have four bowlers who are good enough to be called specialist bowlers. I'd need to see these Umar Gul's and Abdul Rauf's before I can make a judgement.
Batting-wise, if we are going to play attacking batsmen then we would be better off going with the likes of Imran Nazir who at least plays proper shots unlike Afridi who is a flat track slogger.
Imran Farhat is also a very good looking player but like Nazir, needs to learn shot selection to go alongside the flashy strokes. I think if these players are going to be selected then they need to be given a decent run in the side.
There is no doubt we have sme genuine quick bowlers waiting in the wings and in sharjah they might get a chance to show thier skills. But i personally feel that one of two W’s needs to stay coz Shoaib cant the new comers. He himself needs a lot of coaching :D. Abdul Rauf, Umar gul are genuine quickies and in bowling department we wont have shortage insha’allah. The main concern is the proper organization and utilization of batting talent. There is no doubt we need Inzimam and youhana to continue. We need a better coach to utliza them. Tere are good batsmen waiting in the wings. Faisal Iqbal, Hasan Raza, Farhan Adil are capable batsmen. Insha’allah we will bounce back.
I don't see any problem with "too attacking" bowling team else we would become like the teams of India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh who are considered rather batting teams. Batting teams have generally performed lesser than the old West Indians, Australian, South African and Pakistani bowling teams. You need to have a best attack which can tear apart opponents batting line up. It doesn't necessarily mean that the attack should be concentrated on pace of the ball rather than the variety. A combination of bowlers who can use old and new ball is ideal like Aaqib Javed who was very good at taking early wickets and his line and length was good too.
The Aussies, Kiwis, Indians, Sri Lankans now have 6-7 bowlers of which few are attacking bowlers. Therefore, I think use of few all rounders is important too and no Shahid Afridi is not a cricketer let alone all rounder. In a recent article Javed Miandad wrote that he is surprised how Shahid Afridi was included in the WC squad. They can either use Azhar and Abdul Razzaq depending if they aren't too old or should find new all rounders.
Inzimam is already 33 and I don't think he should be playing till the next world cup where he would be struggling like Saeed Anwar. Younis Khan reminds me of Shoaib Mohammad who would play a one day like a Test match. Taufiq Umar is good and if he can improve his Wicket Keeping skills then it will be icing on the cake. In essence, young players should be given a chance with 2-3 old players.
I think all we need is a coach a manager or whatever you wanna call him to polish the young players. Players like Imran Nazir, Shoaib Malik, Taufeeq Umar, Imran Farhat, Hasan Raza have a lot of potential. Mohammad Zahid is a good fast bowler. So along with Sami and Shoaib he can be included in the side. Even with all the old horses retiring we can still have a very balanced team.
Imran Nazir is very talented. He has loads of talent and very bad shot seletion. Opening with Afridi did not help his cause either. He saw Afridi playing stupid shots from one end and he just joined him too. He needs to realise that he is such a class batsmen that he doesnt need to take all those chances that Afridi takes. I seriously believe if he plays to his potential he can the best batsmen Pakistan has ever produced.
Taufeeq Umar has perforemed well, though as far as talent goes I dont think he is as talented as some others. He played very well in the world cup match agaisnt India but the way he got out was something to look into. His bat was too far away from the ball and moved further away as he got his stumps uprooted. Someone will have to work with him to make sure he keeps his eyes on the ball till the ver end.
Hasan Raza is another very talented cricketer. He was thrown into international cricket a bit earlier then he should have and he lost his place in the side rightly so. But now he is a much improved cricketer and hopefully this time he will cement his place in the team with some sensiblr consistent batting.
Faisal Iqbal is another talented batsman. I was a little surprised to see him not getting selected for this world cup. He has a sound techique. He might be able to get some useful tips from his uncle the legend Miandad. Nevertheless I think he has a bright future in the coming years.
Well thats all for now, lets discuss some other prospects at a later time.
I honestly believe Pakistan's cricketing future is bright. We have plenty of talented bowlers and batsmen. With the right guidence, if they can gel into a great 'unit', rather than individual excellence of the past/present Pakistani teams, then we will indeed be fine.
Although Taufeeq did 'ok' as a stand in wicketkeeper, Pakistan should not risk a part-time wicketkeeper in one-day games. From what I have seen, I think Akmal should be given a regular chance in the one-day games (he will be an automatic choice for the test matches as a batsman/wicketkeepr).
