What players should form the core of Pakistan cricket?

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1

After watching some great performances by the young guns, I have been thinking about this: What players should PCB invest in that you believe will become pakistan’s future? Just like the Australian team, we need to have settled down core of players who will form the team of the future. Basically an extended squad of 16-20 players. Here’s my choice:

[list=1]
[li]Imran Farhat
[/li][li]Taufeeq Umer
[/li][li]Imran Nazeer (needs some work)
[/li][li]Salman Butt
[/li][li]Yasir Hameed
[/li][li]Yousuf Youhana
[/li][li]Inzimam-Ul-Haq
[/li][li]Aasim Kamaal
[/li][li]Misbah Ul haq
[/li][li]Shoaib malik
[/li][li]Abdur Razzaq
[/li][li]Bilal Asad (or a proper all rounder on the lines of Andy Bichel)
[/li][li]Kamran Akmal
[/li][li]Moeen Khan
[/li][li]Danish Kaneria
[/li][li]Shoaib Akhtar
[/li][li]Muhammad Sami
[/li][li]Shabir Ahmed
[/li][li]Umar Gul
[/li][/list=1]

Controversial Exclusions: Younis khan, and to some extent Faisal iqbal. Misbah needs to be given an extended run. if he doesnt perform. drop him and forget him.

One person who deserves a chance is Saeed bin Naseer. Poor chap flew in from England, and still wasnt selected in the team. i hear he’s a good batsman. He should be tried, and if he proves his mettle then he should be put in this team i assembled.

Feel free to add and subtract :slight_smile:

2

I dont see Imran Nazir coming in the team,, his batting flaw for deliveries rising out side the off stump is too obvious..
and yess where is our super dooper star Junaid Ziaaa...

3

How dare you not include the general ka puttar takla next big thing Junaid zia!!

4

Well definitly Shoaib and Sami, they will be our leaders.
And definitly Youhana, Taufeeq, and Malik.
I don't know about the rest, they still have alot to prove.

5

Irfan Fazal, a Januine fast bowler...there was this one left arm fast bowler who was man of tournament in 99, 2000 under 19 or under 17 world cup where pakistan lost in the semi final to SL.... cant relay think of his name ..may be "Zakria".

Humayun Farhat / atiq u zaman wicketkeepers
Hasan Raza,

6

h.farhat
atiq-uz-zaman
hasan raza
saeed bin yasir
imran nazir
younis
faisal iqbal

younis n faisal shd feature as well there is no reason y they shdn't. we shd stop this culture of ending the career of a player just coz he dint peform in a series.

7

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by akpower: *
h.farhat
atiq-uz-zaman
hasan raza
saeed bin yasir
imran nazir
younis
faisal iqbal

younis n faisal shd feature as well there is no reason y they shdn't. we shd stop this culture of ending the career of a player just coz he dint peform in a series.
[/QUOTE]

Imran Farhat is good batsman he is only 21 years old he has lot of room to grow and become mature player. Other players like Misbah 28 and Asim Kamal 26 deserve the chance to play; Saeed Bin Nazir was drop for no reason. I don’t think Faisal Iqbal deserve any more chances he is an incomplete batsman and choke at the crucial moment, pretty much same goes for Younis Khan, who hasn't been consistent.

I think for the opener batsman, keep left (Tufeeq Umar) and Right (Yasir Hameed) cobination.

8

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Nikema: *
Irfan Fazal, a Januine fast bowler...there was this one left arm fast bowler who was man of tournament in 99, 2000 under 19 or under 17 world cup where pakistan lost in the semi final to SL.... cant relay think of his name ..may be "Zakria".

Humayun Farhat / atiq u zaman wicketkeepers
Hasan Raza,
[/QUOTE]

His name is Zahid Saeed.. He was I think bowler of the tournament in under 19 WC that year..

9

Imran Farhat : The finest thing that happened in the last test match was Imran Farhat. We have been struggling all along to find a decent opening pair. By all along I don’t mean the rebuilding process but even much before that. Imran is a natural stroke maker and will need to work on his temperament for test cricket; otherwise he has all the ingredients to be a top quality opening batsman. I personally rate him above Taufeeq Umar. Yes, right now Taufeeq is better then him, but that’s because Taufeeq is a lot more mature then him. Taufeeq has played for Pakistan at international level for sometime and that polished him. Imran on the other hand is raw. A little more cricket on the international level will do wonders for him and Inshallah he will prove a big asset in the coming years.

Taufeeq Umar: Taufeeq made a smashing comeback. Many people might not remember but before he got injured Taufeeq was not having the best of time with the bat. He was scoring runs but very inconsistently. Now two back to back good innings would have done wonders for his confidence. Taufeeq has a very good temperament, his technique was questionable at the beginning of his career but it seems he has been working on it and hopefully along with Imran Farhat he will form a much needed good opening partnership for Pakistan in the long run.

Asim Kamal: Where did this guy come from? A very sound technique and a very solid defense. His temperament was excellent for someone playing his first test match. At age 27 he is kind of a late starter going by Pakistani standards but maybe that is the reason for his temperament. This guy could be the rock we needed in our fragile middle order. So far he hasn’t played any one day cricket so its yet to be seen how he performs when it comes to scoring quick runs but looking at his technique against quality bowlers its safe to assume he would be ok in one day cricket as well.

Danish Kaneria: This lad reminds of our legendry leg spinner Abdul Qadir. No, not by his action or anything but by his consistency of performance. Just like Qadir he can perform brilliantly one day and look like an ordinary bowler the other. He was given a chance against Bangladesh and he bowled very ordinarily. A lot of people wrote him off since he couldn’t do anything against Bangladesh. But what a strong comeback by the leggie. I hope he continues to ball the way he did in the last test match and we would fill the void of Saqlain very easily.

Mohammad Sami: He might be quick but he is definitely not in the same class as Shoaib. Of course when Shoaib is in full no one is in that class but I think this guy will one day become our main weapon. At a young age he has already played with legends like Wasim and Waqar. Right now opening with one of the most fearsome bowlers in the world, Sami at times looks ordinary just because Shoaib is bowling wonderfully well. He doesn’t lack commitment as evident from the fact that he played despite running a fever and I think he bowled really well. He was unlucky not to get wickets but he certainly deserved to get a few. One of the most promising bowlers, a guy to look out for.

phewwww that was a lot of typing.

10

I think I have already said plenty on most of the players here, Sami, Taufeeq and Shoaib Malik I liked even going back a couple of years, Gul and Shabbir are going to be important as well. Asim Kamal looks like a real find at test level anyway, and I also think Salman Butt has as much potential as Imran Farhat and we definitely need to give him some games maybe at ODI level. If Farhat or Taufeeq are injured he should be first replacement.

Danish Kaneria has improved dramtically and following his devastating show against SA I expect him to become the best leg-spinner in the world.

11

i m surprised not many ppl mentioned Yasir Hameed. To me he is still the first find of the rebuilding process :D

12

What abt Humayon Farhat...i think he can become a good enough keeper too...

I think Humayon and Kamran, look good enough to take the job of donning the gloves, from Moin and Rashid.

Both are good hard hitting batsmen and reliable keepers.

In the batsmen section. We have Taufeeq Umar and Imran Farhat as openers. Seriously, in this last game, they reminded me of the good old days of Saeed Anwar and Aamir Sohail. Though Imran may need to to work on his technique a bit, whcih Iam sure Miandad will take care of, he neverthless has all that it takes to go to the top. Taufeeq on the other hand looks all set to cement his position in the side. Earlier on this past winter....we say that he had a problem with stiff shoulders. Glad to see that it got sorted out....

Than we have Yasir Hameed. Though i have'nt seen him play yet, but the way he is going on scoring seems that he mite already have cemented his position in the team.

Asim Kamal played an awesome innings. Full of patience and maturity. This is exactly what Pakistan needs. He should be given more chances atleast at the test level. He along with Misbah ul Haq will provide great stability to the middle order.

Coming to the bowlers....we have three top class lethal bowlers in Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammed Sami and Danesh Kaneria.

Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Sami seem to have taken the job, of the opening with the new ball, really well. Pakistan is really lucky to have two lethal fastbowlers with extreme pace and variety, who seem to have taken over the job very well from Wasim and Waqar.

Danesh Kaneria, should have cemented his position in the team now, after proving his worth against the Proteas. The natural successor to Mushtaq and Saqlain. He has the height and disguises his stock balls really well to surprise the best of the batsmen. He has all that he needs to become one of the best leg spinners in the world. Good bye Saqi and Mushi....

Then we have out allrounders....Shoaib Malik and Abdul Razzaq, who are of emense help, and often a times win us crucial matches. Look good enough to take over the role of the leading the side in the future.

Shoaib Malik has really improved as a batsman, and therby strengthening the lower order. Abdur Razzaq too can be really good with the bat. Although his bowling lately has been nothing but ordinary, we all hope that it should be nothing but a bad phase, as he has shown us many times what he can do with the ball.

Younis Khan has all of sudden recieved a great amount of competition and his position in the team seems in jeopardy. Glad to see Mohammed Hafeez out of the picture. We should have genuine batsmen at the top. Batsmen with strong technique and fluent stokemakers. The secret to a good innings score lies in a good opening partnership, and we saw exactly that in this match.

The rebuilding looks great, and now the only thing required is that the selectors stick to the players and dont keep shuffling.

Good luck to Pakistan....on this test series!!

13

I see a lot of praises, though for now all of them deserve it :k:. I hope they can live upto all the praises when they leave Pakistan to play on foreign pitches like NZ and others :k:

14

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by earthquake: *I don’t think Faisal Iqbal deserve any more chances he is an
incomplete batsman and choke at the crucial moment, pretty much same
goes for Younis Khan, who hasn't been consistent
[/quote]

i don think so. this is the core of players for the long term, not for a series or two. both faisal n yonis r talented, if they can improve their temprament and consistency, there is no reason y they shdn't be brought back