Now that we are practically out of the ICC Trophy in SL we should concentrate all our efforts on facing the best team at the moment in the forthcoming Test series. After all test cricket is REAL cricket and we are the only team (along with maybe SA) which has a realistic chance of actually beating the Aussies. In fact, I really believe that if we play to our full potential we can beat them in the series.
Such a win will also boost our confidence for the WC…
So we need a settled team to take us through this series and up to the WC and the one-day series in England following that.
We should recall Saqlain (for both Tests and ODIs) and drop Afridi. Also recall Muhammad Sami into the test team.
i dont see pakistan doing good against the mighty aussies in the test series until they resolve the internal rift goin on these days. it is very obvious. no one is playing with their hearts in game. thye have to bring up their level of the game to beat aussies in the test series. afridi needs to get a boot in the butt and should be taken to the sidelines until he learns how to bat. saqi boy needs to come back and come back with a bang. he is the key to the up coming series. his bowling would make all the difference. the two W's have to come back to their wicket taking spells otherwise pakistan will lose all the matches by innings defeats. inzi, youhana and younis khan will have to do the bulk of the scoring. saeed bhai would have to put an extra effort to his batting in this series. he showed glimpses of wat he is capable of during the match against sri lanka but he has to go on and on and on to support the middle order. all these guys have the potential to play the best cricket there is to offer but they will have to work very hard against the mighty aussies. they are just too professional in every single department. all the best to pakistan. i hope the three test series is ineteresting.
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*Originally posted by masterP_ghettoD: *
i dont see pakistan doing good against the mighty aussies in the test series until they resolve the internal rift goin on these days. it is very obvious. no one is playing with their hearts in game. thye have to bring up their level of the game to beat aussies in the test series. afridi needs to get a boot in the butt and should be taken to the sidelines until he learns how to bat. saqi boy needs to come back and come back with a bang. he is the key to the up coming series. his bowling would make all the difference. the two W's have to come back to their wicket taking spells otherwise pakistan will lose all the matches by innings defeats. inzi, youhana and younis khan will have to do the bulk of the scoring. saeed bhai would have to put an extra effort to his batting in this series. he showed glimpses of wat he is capable of during the match against sri lanka but he has to go on and on and on to support the middle order. all these guys have the potential to play the best cricket there is to offer but they will have to work very hard against the mighty aussies. they are just too professional in every single department. all the best to pakistan. i hope the three test series is ineteresting.
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Pakistan-Australia test series will likely be a sad hammering of our team by the most dominate team for many a year. We cant compete in terms of batting and fielding, and so it must be asked is it fair to have all the hope placed soley on our (quite brilliant) bowlers?
I frankly have no expectation...I don't think even Edward Casey or Nostradamus would like to predict about Pakistan team performance
All i want to see is Pakistan playing as a unit and giving their 100%--even if they lose i would still enjoy watching Shoiab breathing fire, Inzy playing w/ all his glory and saqqi back in side (it's hard to imagine Pakistan losing if all these three back to thier old form)
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*Originally posted by Jerablade: *
I frankly have no expectation...I don't think even Edward Casey or Nostradamus would like to predict about Pakistan team performance
All i want to see is Pakistan playing as a unit and giving their 100%--even if they lose i would still enjoy watching Shoiab breathing fire, Inzy playing w/ all his glory and saqqi back in side (it's hard to imagine Pakistan losing if all these three back to thier old form)
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very well said. Win or loose sould not be an Issue as long as players are giving 100 percent.This has been the only issue with the team in last 2 months. They just need to focus and play to their potential.
Frankly Pakistan doesn't have solid batsman like the Aussies do.
Its not the matter of who has the better batsmans but our batsmans do not tend to stay on a wicket for more than 100 runs in a pitch. Going back to the last 3 years with the exception of Inzi's 329, how many batsman from our team have scored high, some of them reach 100s and get out including Anwar and Youhana.
If Anwar retires than Pakistan will be looking for 2 openers instead of one opener.
Our bowling is going to have to be more disciplined, eventhough no balls and wides don't matter much in test cricket as they do in limited overs but overall its the batting that is the main concern and if they don't get it right than I'm afraid we will end up like the South Africans after their test rubber against Australia couple months back.
Like someone mentioned above, Saqlain Mushtaq will be a huge factor in the team.
Instead of having one specialist spinner, I think Pakistan should play Danesh Kaneria as well along with Saqlain on pitches of Colombo and Sharjah, the trio of Wasim, Waqar, Shoaib should give the team some fire power.
Mizbah should open with Anwar, and Youhana, Inzi, Younis Khan in mid order with Latif as the keeper.
People who need to kiked out of the current Pakistani team are Shoaib malik and Waqar Younis. Waqar got hammered against Sri Lanka, and frankly speaking, I think he should retire now, his bowling doesn't trouble the batsmen at all anymore. And Shoaib Malik has no idea how to bat...he is too scared to bat and his bowling's nothing great either...so Saqlain should replace Shoaib. The team should be:
If Afridi, doesn't perform in the test matches, then he can be replaced by Shoaib Malik, but in one days...Shoiab is just tooo slow. Well this is just my opinion
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*Originally posted by UMAIR316: *
Maybe its time to bring back some has beens in the team to give them another chance.
How about Muhammad Wasim or Wajahtullah Wasti.
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Yes I think Wasim is a very good Test player.Saw him couple of times and was really impressed with his temprament.
But could anyone tell me what happned to Taufeed Umar.I think he played very well in all the matches he got the chance to play.
Nah.. Tuafeeq Umar failed many a times against srilanka...
and as most of you guys know inzamam will be out so i think they wont drop saeed even if they were going to do so....
I dont see anyone of 'hasbeens ' coming back
i think present lot will form the nucleaus of the team in seris
Lets see
The probables who will be considered for the test squad, will be finalized after the above reports have been received by the Chairman, from Team officials and selectors. These include the following:
We have to look to the future and the future lies with the youngsters and therefore I suggest that we appoint Moin Khan as captain, with either Youhanna or Razzaq as vice captain, with a view for them to take over the captaincy when Moin steps down, maybe after the world cup.
Drop Afridi, Nazir and waqar for the series against Australia and have the followng team:
Saeed Anwar
Misbah
Youhanna
Inzi
Younis Khan
Moin Khan (Captain)
Razzaq
Wasim
Saqlain
Shoaib
Zahid/Kaneria (Depending on the wicket)
As much as I would like to agree with you then the inclusion of Moin means that to exclude Rashid Latf from the team, he has been brilliant behind the stumps since he has came back and the last thing to do is to kick the guy out. Or we could just play Moin as a batsman/captain, that wouldn't be a bad idea as they did in 97 in SA both Moin and Rashid played and Moin was batting.
ehsan bhai atleast u shud know that a middle order batsman cant be sent in as an opener....
if that cud be possible, yohana and inzi r our batsmen and wud have been opening....
besides, misbahalhaq has a very poor stance against fast bowlers (from the matches i've seen of his)....
he'll never do as an opener....
i think taufiq deserves a chance....
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*Originally posted by armughal: *
ehsan bhai atleast u shud know that a middle order batsman cant be sent in as an opener....
if that cud be possible, yohana and inzi r our batsmen and wud have been opening....
besides, misbahalhaq has a very poor stance against fast bowlers (from the matches i've seen of his)....
he'll never do as an opener....
i think taufiq deserves a chance....
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True, I was just giving one of the options and try and see if he is sucessful in the opening slot. He is young and can probably adjust. Shewag is not an opener either but has taken up the role to ease India's opening problems. By the way talking about Inzi, he was an opener when he came in the team and then dropped down the order, maybe we can try him again as an opener :)
every time a senior member of our team thinks about retiring he performs. saeed anwar might be taking his time to settle in but he is too good a bat to lose rite now. he is a world class opener and there is no other player in pakistan cricket rite now who can replace him.he has to be there when playing against the mighty aussies. if he is not there i can see pakistan three down in the first couple of overs in a test match. he played well against the sri lankans but it was just sheer bad luck that no body else performed. the team has done good under waqar and i think he should be retained as the captain for the series. its only been the last two months where things have gone wrong and u cant blame waqar for that. the whole team is to be blamed. especially the management. i think we should stick to the present team and just try to sort out any internal problems that might be affecting their performances.
my team for the series against the aussies is the following:
Mizbah-ul-Haq and Danish Kaneria deserve a chance to play in the team if saqlain and imran do not perform. but i would stick to the above team for the first test match and see how things shape up.
I don't think Razzaq and Waqar are worthy of their places in the test team. Waqar only makes it 'cause he's the captain and God knows how long we can say that for. Waqar's bowling is a wreck.
Razzaq does not have the speed to trouble the batsmen in tests. His medium pace inswingers don't hurt the batsmen when they have days to go before they have to score. I hope he starts meeting the demands of a test match soon and comes out of the test mode.
Some players who I would keep a close eye on would be Wasim and Saqlain. If they don't perform, replace them with Danish Kaneria and Mohd. Zahid.