There have been a few contenders since the same thread was opened a while back. So as things stand now, right at the stroke of Last onedayer Pakistan will play before the first match of the WC against Aussies on Feb 8th.And still we dont have a settled pair, i wonde if we ever will?? We have following options.
Saeed, Elahi, Faisal. Afridi, Akmal, Taufeeq
would like to see one of the following pairs opening throughout the worldcup…
Saeed + Faisal
Saeed + Elahi
Elahi + Faisal
out of the above three, the most preferred pair would be
Saeed + Faisal
Post your views and any missing player from the list etc etc…
yeah well said. Make no mistake, Elahi was brilliant in that second match but he is not equipped to play seaming deleiveries, he never had that quality.
Elahi is shaky under pressure from what I've seen. Akmal looks the business and the best pair IMO would be him and Saeed but Anwar desperately needed to be tested in SA and get some experience of the conditions and some form. Pitching him cold into the WC will be a big gamble. Faisal hasn't been tried either so we don't know how he will cope. Again a situation badly handled by the management team.
Today i heard in PCB media release that team managment has asked Saeed Anwar after Shoaib and Akram are going back home. As Team managment thinks that there still no need of extra bowler as Mohammad Zahid is there.
In the meantime, the team management has asked for Saeed Anwar as a replacement but no decision has been taken.
**“The team management has requested that a specialist opener in Saeed Anwar be flown to South Africa for the two Tests. But we have not taken any decision because several factors have to be taken into consideration before we reach a decision. We don’t want to take the decision in haste. I am in contact with my fellow selectors but the final decision will be taken on Thursday,” chairman of selectors Wasim Bari said.
“The team management feels that they were self-sufficient as far as fast bowlers were concerned. But they feel that they need an experienced hand on top of the order,” Bari said.
Besides skipper Waqar Younis, Mohammad Sami and Mohammad Zahid are the other fast bowlers along with Abdul Razzaq. **
IT will be great to have him back for the test series. He should be givn full assurances of a worldcup birth and then let him settle down. Best Bet Pakistan has.
This is basically the team management showing themselves to be complete dunderheads. If Saeed was going to be considered for the WC then he HAD to be picked on this tour. Five games have gone and with it valuable practice under lights, one day conditions in SA etc..
If they believed in their original decision then why back down now? I said the same thing when the SA tour party was announced so maybe they should leave team management to me, I obviously know more about these things than they do
wel i remember Pybus’c comments well before the SA tour and he said he would love to see Saeed back and maybe they both recommended him on tour to SA to our national selectors…
its our selectors who are at loggerheads with managment!
Akmal impressed me today with the way he played the new ball when it was seaming around under the lights. he got out mis-hooking but if he hadn't stuck around with Youhanna when the going was tough we might have lost our first 5 wickets before we got to 50 like last time. He might be a blaster but he picks his shots much better than Afridi.
It would be really good if now Saeed says NO to PCB and give them a big chapair on their face. BUT I doubt Saeed will do this, the guy is in love with cricket soooooooooooo much I doubt he'll be able to say NO :)
*Saeed Anwer and Taufeeq Umer. I still can't believe they included Saleem Elahi in the team today instead of giving Taufeeq a chance; Saleem Elahi is one of the most "untalented" Pakistani batsman, and God knows we have so much talent that we can't even handle it. His technique is faulty, and he has been tried and tested too many times and hasn't done anything when the team really needed him. People, That Is All.*
I don't like Saleem Elahi or Taufeeq Umer. I think Faisal Iqbal and Saaed Anwar are the way to go. But if the choice was between Saleem and Taufeeq, I would rather pick Saleem for ODI's and Taufeeq for Tests.
