A lot has bee written on the first test match in the other thread. The first test match victory will no doubt has boosted the spirit of the Pakistani team and their confidence will be sky high for the 2nd test, starting at Faislabad. If they had lost than it may have been the the opposite.
What changes do you think should be made to the Pakistan team for this match i.e. players like Hasan Raza should be given another chance or bring back Asim Kamal? Shabbir Ahmed - is he really a that good and does he have the killer instinct? I know he took 4 wickets in the 1st innigs in the first test match but to be honest with you the way he bowls looks as though he is bowling in the nets and giving batting practice.
Shoiab Malik as a opener - again give him another chance and let him settle down or bring back Afridi?
I see bechara Hassan Raza will be out, wonder who they will bring in. Afridi? thats what Rameez was suggesting and he said they might take out Shabir and bring in Rana since FSD and LHR will have fast pitches.
only change i see is afridi coming in for hassan raza....
malik hasnt let down the management much with the opener role, he shud be given more chances....
I don't think kicking out Shabbit is a good out... He seem to be bit lazy and easy going bowler but i personally believe he is the most deceptive of our bowlers and have the ability to take wickets when everybody else fails.
Only change i expect is the kicking out of Hassan Raza and getting in either Razzaq or Afridi. I think bringing back Naveed ul Hasan will not be a good idea because then all three bowlers will be pretty same..
Anyway just my opinion.
well Hassan Raza will surely face an axe, but all the bowlers gave more than 100%. If umpires would have been a lil maharban on us, then the situation could have been better.
any way, Hssan Raza is gone for another couple of years, Afiridi should come.. Coz he adds so much to the team.. great fielder, good bowlder and HANDY batsman ( chal gaya to aisee taisee)
and Mohammad Yousuf should produce his best now. He really played like a kid in the 2nd innings.. To me removing Mohammad Yousuf will harm the team. only Inzi and Yonis will the most experienced then...
Erm it's a tough choice .. I would say Rana in place of Sami since he can bat well and also contribute a lot to the game. Although Sami too gets on roll sometimes but Shabbir has been really effective specially in the first inning when Sami was really costly. And definately we need to bring either Afridi or Razzaq .. and Hasan will clear the way for one of 'em.
yes bringing Naveed in for Sami will be a good decission but both are equally good. Sami is a bit more pacy but Naveed is a bit more accurate. So its a tough choice between them. But i think they will not like to tinker with the winning line up too much. Moreover Sami gets the benefit for being out of match practise for too long.
But the good thing is that now everybody knows that they have to perfrom to remain in the playing 11, because there r quite a few contestants for each slot.:) This surely has helped Pakistan cricket a lot.
As much as I would like to see Asim Kamal in the middle order in place of Hasan Raza or Yousuf, I hate to change teams every test during a series. I say stick with the current team for Faisalabad.
You must have smoked something terribly bad before saying something like that, for God’s sake this is not his first Test match, he has already taken 51 wickets in 10 matches, do you think they were all fluke? His bowling may not be as “charming” or “thrilling” as Shoaib or Sami’s, but then you don’t need that to get wickets.
Can you carefully read what I wrote and try to understand what I meant. If you don’t than I will clarify it. I didnot meant to say that this is Shabbir Ahmed’s first test match but was referring to the first test match in the series.
I know he has been playing for Pakistan for sometime and is not his first test match for Pakistan…
By the way - people are entitled to their opinions and I am sure you have personal opinions in for which people will disagree and does not mean that they have smoked something bad.
I agree that everybody is entitled to have opinions, the reason I said what I said is this part of your comments:
“**the way he bowls looks as though he is bowling in the nets and giving batting practice.”
**
Come’on, a guy who bowled 23 overs and gave away only 54 runs for 4 wickets, or 25 runs in 10 overs is “bowling in the nets”? The batsmen didn’t lose wickets trying to hits sixes on him, they lost their wickets because they were unable to play him comfortably.
If you were to say something like that for Sami I wouldn’t have problem as many times Sami bowls full-toss towards leg side, half-volleys and what nots.
BBC's Jonathan Agnew says, "Kevin Pietersen was also clueless when it came to dealing with Kaneria and there must be a real chance that Pakistan will include Shahid Afridi in the second Test so they can torture England from both ends simultaneously. "
Yes - I stick with my comments and if you disagree with them than its up to you.
I will once again say his run up and action looks as though he is giving net practice…and I don’t think he poses much fear in the opposition as compared to someone like Akhtar would but than again he is a different bowler (oh no I am not his fan).
All I want to say regarding Sami is that he bowls all over the place most of the time and produces one rare delivery …and is not consistent
i'll reiterate: if its not broken, don't fix it :p
and in this case, i think pak has a winning combination of players...
no need to replace malik...no need to replace shabbir...or sami...or shoaib...only possible replacements for hasan raza and yousuf (and even with the latter, i'd give him another chance unless he's injured)