Re: Pakistan vs Australia, 2nd Test, Sydney Jan 3-7, 2010
Even though I would love to drop Malik from the squad, but it makes sense to play him in Sydney. Malik is a pretty good player of spin, but he's horrible against fast bowling. But Malik can only come in place of Faisal, but I'd rather keep Faisal since he did make some runs in the last Test.
We must also resign to the fact that Imran Farhat is here to stay. With that century in NZ, he is going to be in the team for next 1 year at least. Butt is better than Farhat, and he scored a Test century in Australia in the last tour, so he stays too.
Ajmal didn't look very threatening in the last Test, but Sydney being a spinning wicket, he might find a place in the squad in place of Rauf/Gul.
We need someone who can reverse-swing the ball. Mohammad Asif relies on seam, and Mohammad Aamer hasn't learnt reverse swing yet. That leaves us with Gul or Sami. My vote is for Gul, because he can not only reverse swing, but also bowl good yorkers.
There's no substitute for raw pace. Aamer's pace was unsettling for Australians. Sami's got pace, but his line and length is atrocious, so I'd rather have Gul than Sami in the squad.
The dilemma is whether to play 3 fast bowlers and 1 spinner, or 2 fast, 2 spinners. I say we go for 3 fast (Asif, Aamer, Gul) and 1 spinner (Kaneria). Yousuf also must think about using Farhat as a bowler.