Re: Pakistan Vs South Africa: 2ND TEST MATCH (Oct 8-12) @ Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore
YK, My and Inzi are class. Misbah is a test failure, 12 knocks, highest score 41. Well done.
Malik is decent, not great.
The seamers are a concern, when the life goes from the track, they are rendered useless. This is where we need sheer pace, and neither of them possess it. I hate to say it, but if not Akhtar, then a recall for Sami.
I get your point but we have been preparing lifeless, dull, dusty, spin-friendly pitches for donkey's years and this is not the first time that we have gone for such slow tracks. The fact is our past seamers incl. Imran Khan, the two W's and Akhtar were able to extract life from these same dead tracks at their peak. Imran took 40 wickets in 6 tests against a much more formidable Indian batting line-up in 1983 and in most of those tests he only bowled for an innings and a bit! Waqar completely destroyed NZ with 29 wickets in only three tests in 1990 (which was a record for a three-test series until Murali broke it with 30 wickets against Zimbabwe in 2001/2) and we won against England in 2005/6 mainly because of Akhtar.
Those seamers had that something extra (sheer pace, bounce, ability to swing more in the air etc.) which both Asif and Gul (pretty decent seamers) clearly lack and herein lies a difference in class....
Furthermore Kaneria as a spinner is not in the same league as Abdul Qadir, Iqbal Qasim, Saqlain Mushtaq (who will be eligible to play for England in 2008) and Mushtaq Ahmed.