very well-written article from a very good cricket site. very good read. :k:
**Indo-Pak Series Preview (part one) **
By Jeff Friedlander
Series preview
No series has been as eagerly anticipated in the last decade as India’s tour to Pakistan. The first of five one-day internationals will be played on Saturday and 365 analyses the two teams’ strengths and weaknesses in the build up to the big day.
Both squads are quite large: fifteen players for India and sixteen players for Pakistan. Furthermore, the Pakistan selectors have picked their squad for the first two one-day internationals only and so it is likely that more players will thrown into the mix as the series progresses.
It would seem that the Indian selectors have more confidence in their players than do their Pakistan counterparts. The players in Sourav Ganguly’s squad know that the next five matches are theirs. Inzamam’s men not only have to compete for their place in the team, but their place in the squad as well. Furthermore, if one looks at the composition of the latter squad, the high number of allrounders - although not a bad thing for one-day success - does muddy the waters that much more when it comes to selecting a final eleven.
Within this context, let us look at the men in the squads. Inzamam’s 16 encapsulates the creative, alarming and sometimes bewildering approach for which the Pakistan selectors are infamous. Imran Nazir is out, as are Azhar Mahmood, Mushtaq Ahmed and Taufeeq Umar. Back in are Younis Khan, Naved-ul-Hasan and Shahid Afridi - who has wandered the wilderness since the 2003 World Cup.
In for the first time is 23-year-old seamer Rao Iftikhar. What a series in which to make you debut!
A core of experience players remain. The Pakistan batting will revolve around Yousuf Youhana and Inzamam. Add to them the very talented Yasir Hameed and possibly Younis Khan, and a solid top-order comes into focus. The middle-order will be pepped up with the hard hitting of Shoaib Malik and Abdul Razzaq.
Pakistan’s recent Achilles’ heel is their inconsistency with the bat. Since the World Cup, however, Hameed has helped maintain an average for the first wicket of 43. Cricket can be a very simple game: if you have a good opening partnership and a good new-ball attack, you will do well. Pakistan’s attack will be discussed in a moment. To conclude the analysis of their batting, one needs to say that much will depend on the performance of Hameed. If he can continue scoring runs at the top, the big hitters in the middle-order will hurt India. If not, Pakistan will be exposed. It is a lot of pressure for man with 24 matches behind his name.
**In a time when bowlers - particularly fast bowlers - who can take wickets are hard to come by, Pakistan has an embarrassment of riches. No-one can boast a more venomous new-ball combination than Mohammad Sami and Shoaib Akhtar. Shabbir Ahmed is a very promising seamer, Shoaib Malik a very steady off-spinner and Saqlain Mushtaq is simply incredible.
When one considers Saqlain’s record - 288 wickets at an average of 21.8 - it seems unthinkable that he has spent long periods out of international cricket and was considered by many to be a ‘lucky’ selection. Madness.
Pakistan’s weak link could be Razzaq. Though the allrounder’s batting has come on in recent seasons, his bowling has deteriorated considerably. Another weakness is Shoaib’s susceptibility to injury, controversy and indifferent form. He is Pakistan’s talisman and the expectations of him are high. Should he be unable to play, or turn in a few sub-standard performances, it will greatly undermine the Pakistan effort.**
The liberal swishing of the selectors’ axe after the World Cup ensured that the Pakistan team’s work ethic has increased tremendously. Their abject efforts in the field in South Africa are now a thing of the past. They are still prone to the odd howler, but as India are a mixed bunch in the field as well, Pakistan will not be shown up in this department.
Pakistan’s recent track record in one-day cricket is not encouraging. This season they lost to South Africa at home and thumped New Zealand at home, but suffered a dramatic reversal in New Zealand. Furthermore, they lost comprehensively to India in the World Cup and, should India get a head start in the forthcoming series, those scars will burn as of old.
Perhaps Pakistan’s greatest challenge will lie off the field. There is so much interest in this series, so much national pride at stake and so much advice being offered, that it will be crucial for the players to separate the criticisms that matter from the background noise that does not. Javed Miandad has a crucial role to play here. He will have many distractions to his instruction. It will be a test for him to retain the control on the squad necessary to keep them on track for victory.