Pakistan vs Australia, 2nd Test, Sydney Jan 3-7, 2010

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41

People wanting Malik in the team just need to look at his pathetic performances during the last 12 months. Barring that 100 against the Indians in the CT, he has done nothing with the bat or ball in either formats. He does not deserve to be in the team.

Nor does Iqbal or Farhat for that matter...Imran Khan said once that the best openers Pakistan currently has were Butt and Yasir Hameed and I tend to agree...but unfortunately Hameed isent in the team so Farhat is still better than the likes of Malik and Manzoor.

Iqbal is not a number 3 but at least he isent chickening out at playing at number 3 like the others...Misbah and Yousef both dont want to play at 3...first they sent Umar at 3 then Faisal...lambs to the slaughter.

Khair, Iqbal hasnt done that bad...I would go with him since Younis and Yasir are not in the team...you dont really have much of a choice with the reserves...the likes of Manzoor and Malik are even worse.

In terms of the bowling, I think Kaneria would be back ahead of Ajmal..and Sami in place of Rauf. Gul was dropped for a reason..ie his performances have been poor, to add to that the rumors of indiscipline on his part - ie the incident with Aamir, and I think its good to have him carry the water for a few games. Sami wont do worse than Rauf at least plus he has some pace...might as well give him a go..

I dont think playing Ajmal and Kaneria together is a good idea...we`ve never won a test when we played 2 specialist spinners...it just upsets the balance of the team. If needed, to support Kaneria Yousef can have Umar Akmal bowl his right arm off spin and Farhat can put in some overs of his leg spin..that should be sufficient if the regular bowlers do their jobs

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Picking Sami over Rauf or Rauf or Sami is like picking crap either way. Sami has SR of 85+ in 33 matches, Rauf has SR of 75 in 3 matches.

Yousuf asking Umar/Farhat to bowl? :rotfl:

What are you listening to?
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recall asim kamal, afridi. kamran akmal opens with afridi , with umer akmal at 3 then then shoib, yousaf, misbah, kamal. two to three good patnerships and you looking at 350-500 total. batting problem solved.

asif, asim, gul, kanaria as full time bowlers, with afridi and malik part timers. there, a solid bowling attack as well.

44

You know I am not really a fan of Shoaib Malik but for the reason you called him pathetic, you ignored the same reason for Salman Butt easily

Butt last 12 months: 299 Runs in 6 innings (29.90)
Malik last 12 months: 364 Runs in 7 innings (36.70)

nothing much to choose from. eh ?

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Re: Pakistan vs Australia, 2nd Test, Sydney Jan 3-7, 2010

and on sidelines of Cricket…

Aamir shares a laugh with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd

http://www.cricinfo.com/db/PICTURES/CMS/112100/112109.jpg

Salman Butt checks out Michael Clarke’s tattoo

http://www.cricinfo.com/db/PICTURES/CMS/112100/112110.jpg

:k:

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46

Re: Pakistan vs Australia, 2nd Test, Sydney Jan 3-7, 2010

Pakistan look to tighten up their act | Cricket News | Australia v Pakistan 2009/10 | Cricinfo.com

amir injured out of 2nd test blow for pakistan

47

Aamir is out of the match as per cricinfo:(

As far as Malik goes, he has never looked a test player..have you seen him trying to pull? His left leg goes outside of leg stump and it looks like he's playing a forehand rather than a pull shot!

Not saying Butt has the best technique either, but he definately has a better technique than Malik.

Anyway, best of luck to the boys...though without Aamir in the team..the attack looks a lot less threatening.

48

Malik is way better than Butt. Butt is not a test player. The only people who are happy when Butt is playing is the opposition fieldsman who are standing in the slips because they get free slip catching practice courtesy of butt.

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Re: Pakistan vs Australia, 2nd Test, Sydney Jan 3-7, 2010

Now that Aamer is out of the match, whole team dynamics are changed.

Ladies and Gentleman, prepare to welcome the Great Mohammad Sami back in the team :)

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Re: Pakistan vs Australia, 2nd Test, Sydney Jan 3-7, 2010

Exactly what I didn't want to hear first thing in the morning. So Aamir is out and Sami and Gul will backup Asif. We lost Kaneria in the 1st and Aamir for 2nd. :(

51

So the two jokers are going to open again. In my 40 years of watching Pak cricket I have never come across two bigger morons opening our innings than these two. :mad:
**
Aamer out as Pakistan announce Sydney squad **

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/48c8750040e43ab4ba0fff15f74133bc/aamer-ap2608.jpg?MOD=AJPERES

Aamer misses out after sustaining an injury, possibly due to a heavy workload in the first test. -Photo by AP

**LAHORE: Pakistan have announced their squad for the second test against Australia due to be played in Sydney tomorrow.**

The tourists have made three changes, all bowlers, with Mohammad Sami, Umar Gul and Danish Kaneria coming in for Abdur Rauf, Saeed Ajmal and the inform Mohmmad Aamer.

Aamer, Pakistan’s most successful bowler in the first test will miss the game after having picking up a groin strain.

“He has a groin injury and though it doesn’t appear serious, we decided not to risk him for the Test,” Abdur Raquib, Pakistan’s team manager told Cricinfo. “He had a bowl and the on-tour selection committee decided to leave him out.”

The 17-year-old left-armer bowled a total of 51 overs in the first test and operated consistently at speeds of 144-148 kph.

Critics in Pakistan have blasted the ‘over kill’ of fast bowlers by ‘batting’ captains in the past and this latest niggle could bring about some more discussion in the national cricket circles.

**Pakistan: (probable) 1 Salman Butt, 2 Imran Farhat, 3 Faisal Iqbal, 4 Mohammad Yousuf (captain), 5 Misbah-ul-Haq, 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Kamran Akmal (wk), 8 Mohammad Sami, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Mohammad Asif, 11 Danish Kaneria
**

DAWN.COM | Cricket | Aamer out as Pakistan announce Sydney team

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Re: Pakistan vs Australia, 2nd Test, Sydney Jan 3-7, 2010

Not surrprised to see amir injured...when the captain decides to play 4 regular bowlers on flat wicket of MCG...somebody had to get injured from over load.

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Re: Pakistan vs Australia, 2nd Test, Sydney Jan 3-7, 2010

I think Aamir got injured because of the jinx from Sami. Everytime Sami is called into the team, someone gets injured and he gets to play in the starting 11. Unforunate, but I think he knows people who do ‘jado’. Seriously man, how many times has this happened. I hope he can improve on his bowling average of 51, but I seriously doubt it.

http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/41324.html

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It is not that our bowling coaches are Sikander Bakht and Saleem Jaffer...I blame them for Aamir's injury. Our ace bowler and future prospect should not be trained and used like a donkey.

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55

Sami’s curse on Aamir :smack:

and for heaven sake, PLZ PLZ PLZ include Shoaib Malik in place of Imran Farhat or Salman Butt. Shoaib cant be worst than them and we get another option in bowling !

alright whatever happens, guys, before the start of the game, please stand up for the champions

56

And Aamer is actually weak - he has suffered a lot of back hairline fractures as well...

terrible news and the "cutting" edge that we would have expected in the pace attack is almost gone...

All hopes of mine are shifted to the last test match with Younis a maybe for that as well...

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Re: Pakistan vs Australia, 2nd Test, Sydney Jan 3-7, 2010

so, no Younis and no Aamer. plus Sami of all ppl comes back?

oh man... this is going to be painful.

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58

Re: Pakistan vs Australia, 2nd Test, Sydney Jan 3-7, 2010

Toss will be crucial. Batting last on this pitch against spinners won't be easy. But it will help pacer early in the test match. I think Pakistan should bat first.

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Aazmaish kay doar ka abhi aghaaz hua hay yaaro .... aagey aagey dekho hota hay kya :D

I'm hopeful they'll do good at some stage .... i'm a die-hard fans ever since that WC'99 in England ....

often found myself of close to quit following cricket but 10 years on and i'm still waking up in the frozen winter nights .... clean up the dish from snow and keep up my hope :)

60

Well its SCG...so yes it should take a lot of turn in the last innings. But who will be bowling then will all depend on who bats first. MoYo should opt to bat if Pakistan win the toss as you said, however, given the circumstances he may opt to bowl even with Aamer out.

Lets see.