He is Faisal Iqbal, not Taufeeq Umar
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by sambrialian: *
so now our attack will be headed by a balding, unibrowed has-been.
just wonderful!
[/QUOTE]
Well as you say, he is pretty much regarded as a has-been so I guess you won't have to suffer his tind for too long :)
waisay, before his back injury he was fast and hostile - every bit as good a prospect as Shoaib was at the time. if he could regain that form I could care less if turned up in an afro wig.
I remember reading the NEws some two days back. And they reported that Zahid doesn't even figure in the PIA bowling lineup. Two possible reasons:
1) The spokesman dude said that they have Wasim, Sami, Umer Gul, Najaf Shah, and then some. So someone had to be dropped and so Zahid was dropped.
2) Zahid is supposed to be carrying an injury and he is in the team because he assured the selectors he was not injured.
Whatever the reason is from the above two, it does not bode well for the team. if he's injured he should not be anywhere close to the team. if he's not good enough for the PIA team how is he good enough for the Pak team?
personally I think Zahid is a "has been". His recent performances in SA were disappointing and he has never fully recovered from his injury. Swapping Zahid for Akram was a very poor choice indeed.
Besides looks, this is the "statistical look" of individual players. I just extracted the ODI / First Class information players from post above:
Batting averages of our "batsmen" (including all rounders) are:
Rashid 19.65
Yousuf 42.03
Younis 30.75
Naved 28.33
Taufeq 30.11
Abdur 27.22
Shoaib 30.23
Faisal 33.40
Misbah 43.00
Saleem 36.13
Rana 26.92
Hafeez 33.40
how cares how they look. They have to try hard to be in the team.
Changez posted the first class bowling figures of the squad and then edited them, however looking at those figures:
Avg. Strike rate Economy
Razzaq 26.34 35.6 4.43
Malik 37.52 49.3 4.56
Sami 29.00 34.7 5.00
Zahid 39.10 51.2 4.58
Naveed 22.75 41.4 3.29
Umar Gul 18.82 33.3 3.39
Looking at these figures, Umar Gul is head and shoulders above everyone else with an average of 18.82, strike rate of 33.3 and economy rate of 3.39. Compare that with Zahid's.
I was looking at the first class record of Jaffer Nazir as well as he's supposed to be a well-rated bowler and they were pretty impressive as well. Can't understand why he hasn't been picked either.
well supposedly the selection committee debated Jaffer versus Zahid for some time. But don't know why they leaned towards Zahid eventually.
Yeah, Umer Gul is supposed to be very good. I remember Clive Lloyd had very good things to say about Umer when he visited Pakistan.
Some other bright prospects are supposed to Abdul Rauf, Irfan Fazil and Zahid Saeed.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by ehsan: *
Changez posted the first class bowling figures of the squad and then edited them, however looking at those figures:
.....
[/QUOTE]
Thanks for doing what I wanted to do :). I wanted to list the averages of batsmen and bowlers. What will be the pick for specialist batsmen considering the fact that we have one specialist "wicket keeper"? Should it be
4 batsmen (Yousuf, Saleem, Younis, Faisal/Misbah/Taufeeq)
1 wicket keeper (Rashid Latif)
2 all rounders (Razzaq, Hafeez/Shoaib/Rana)
4 bowlers (Sami, Zahid, Umar Gul, ?)
or 3 all rounders and 3 bowlers?
It is going to be interesting how the proper team balance is found from this bunch.
My team would be:
Taufeeq Umer
Shoaib Malik
Yousaf Youhana
Naveed LAtif
Younis Khan
Abdul Razzaq
Rana Naveed
Rashid Latif
Mohd. Sami
Umer Gul
Mohd. Zahid
I really want to play Shoaib Malik. He's a brilliant fielder and can bowl as the sixth bowler. What's your team?
That team lacks a quality spinner sam, Shoaib Malik is just ok in that dept. I would replace Zahid with Kaneria, as I think he could get wickets in the one day game. It's not easy attacking leg-spinners in 50 overe games.
Otherwise it's ok. I have a feeling though that Elahi will play ahead of Malik as an opener.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Mr Xtreme: *
Elahi will play ahead of Malik as an opener.
[/QUOTE]
much to my chagrin...
Realistically speaking I know that Malik prolly won't be played. If you include Kaneria then you have to throw out one of Zahid, Rana or Umer Gul. Of the trio, sadly Zahid is the most likely to play. I really wanna see what Gul has to offer.
If Faisal Iqbal is played, I'll be very pissed. He might be ok (even good) but I have a feeling that he's still being persevered with 'cause of that 80 odd that he scored.
Well Elahi hasn't let anybody down, he's done ok when he's played. Plus I'm not sure if Malik is a specialist opener, although he did well in that spot when given a chance.
Faisal Iqbal has got confidence but he doesn't look like a player who can do more than play the odd flash 50. He showed no application in SA. I like players who want to stay there till the end.
naveed latif will opennnnnnnnnnnnnn!
latest news...
Elahi is out of Sharjah. He was the 16th player and only 15 are allowed.
The PCB circus continues...
Typical Pakis…trying to sneak an extra player in the suitcase hoping no one will notice 
*Saleem Elahi pulled out of Sharjah squad *
PCB - 27 March 2003
The National Selection Committee has withdrawn Saleem Elahi from next month's one-day tournament in Sharjah. The series will be played between April 3 and 10.
"We are sad for Saleem Elahi because we sincerely wanted to retain him in the team as we thought he was improving and would learn more under the wings of someone like Javed Miandad. But despite our several requests to the organizers of the tournament, 16th player was not allowed because of tournament rules," a spokesman of the selection committee said.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has received two itineraries of the rescheduled Sharjah Cup. The format of the competition depends on the availability of Zimbabwe.
If Zimbabwe agree, it would be a quadrangular tournament to be played on single league basis. However, if the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series (CBFS) fail to get Zimbabwe, the tournament will be a triangular event to be played on double league basis.
In any case, Pakistan has been scheduled to play back-to-back matches on April 3 and 4. The Pakistan cricket team will now leave for Sharjah on April 1 and the players whose teams reach the March 31 final of the NBP Patron's Cup One-day Cricket Tournament will be allowed to represent their departments.
Samiul Hasan
General Manager - Media
Moble + 92 300 8424 389
27 March 2003
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by sambrialian: *
It is going to be interesting how the proper team balance is found from this bunch.
My team would be:
Taufeeq Umer
Shoaib Malik
Yousaf Youhana
Naveed LAtif
Younis Khan
Abdul Razzaq
Rana Naveed
Rashid Latif
Mohd. Sami
Umer Gul
Mohd. Zahid
I really want to play Shoaib Malik. He's a brilliant fielder and can bowl as the sixth bowler. What's your team?
[/QUOTE]
Actually Shoaib was mainly introduced as a bowler who can bat. Aamir sohail clearly stated that he should be given more confidence in his bowling as he is not a specialist batsman. Shoaib’s techinique as far I can remmber resembles Saqlain.No doubt he is a brilliant fielder. I don’t think so he is a dynamic player. In batting dept he seems like a survivor. He doesn’t have any ability to hit big shots. So only option left to get the best out of him is to open when the fielders are inside the circle.
I hope we don’t end up like Sri lanka. The team introduced so many new faces and none of them proved to be a match winner. The team ended up with mediorcre players who had a decent stint in domestic matches.
When you look at the stats of these new players with the exception of Misbah ul Haq and Salim Elahi, none of them hold an extraordinary records in domestic circuit. They had a few success here and there. I don’t understand the hype behind Rana Naved and Hafeez. Both of them hold an average of 20’ and 30’s respectively. I understand Rana Naved is an allrounder so I can pin some hope in him. We also have to take in consideration that the pitches in Pakistan suits batsmen. When we are talking about Hafeez to open with an average around 30’s in Pakistan pitches and that too in domestic level says it all about his ability to be a “potential” star. Naved latif was given fair amount of chances and he proved to be an average player at best both in international and domestic level. We don't need average players but champions!
I know its too early to speculate anything. It's totally unfair for me to question the talent. At current this is what I think about these players based on the stats.Lets hope they prove me wrong. I'm sure Javed Miandad will polish their batting skills.
It’s sad we can’t find many players holding 40+ average in first class cricket. We are lacking depth. I also mentioned earlier that we should inject some left arm quickies/seamers. These type of bowlers are very effective in one day and test cricket.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by sherrybaba: *
Actually Shoaib was mainly introduced as a bowler who can bat. Aamir sohail clearly stated that he should be given more confidence in his bowling as he is not a specialist batsman.
[/QUOTE]
I just dont get one point. Aamir is the chief ** SELECTOR **. His job is to select the team not make decisions about who plays where. I mean who the hell is he to say who should open and who shouldnt. Though I agree with him the Shoaib should concetrate on his bowling but I think in the end it's the captians decision what position a player bats on.