Today Pakistan made an experimental decision to play Younis Khan as wicket keeper in place of flu-ed Moin Khan. I think this could prove be a good decision provided Younis Khan can prove equipped to keep against spinners. Bob Woolmer is reportedly not high on Kamran Akmal who did not do himself any good by flopping badly in A tour to Kenya. I am sure there are other talented WC batsmen but Younis Khan ploy is interesting. I am all in favour of playing specialist keeper rather than part timers but I would like to see Younis Khan given a few matches in this new role. I thought today Younis was quite okay in his first onedayer as keeper. Not a single bye conceded and thats quite an achievement against Sami, Afridi and Malik. His real test would be against Shoaib Akhtar.
I second that. I think Younis kept extremely well. We did not see any blunders, and the only chance he was offered (a nick off a Shoaib Malik no-ball) he caught very well. Additionally, he also seemed to time his dives very well on the balls going down the leg side. I must say I was pleasently surprised. As you can see, it lifted his overall game pretty well too, as he scored a match winning 77. He is physically very fit, which surely helped. Probably the only thing missing was the advice and assistance Moin provides to the captain, which will come with time.
Very good thread saby.....i am so glad to see this stretegic move by Babloo and Co. I am in favor of such a move for a long time. Though i had no clue that younis can also keep the wickets. Therefore, I always recommended Asim kamal's name. But younis did a great job based on what you guys are telling me. i did not see the match live.
It is extremly important to have a keeper- batsmen these days as it provides extra depth to the team in one days. IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FOR ONE DAY INTERNATIONALS. Moeen should quit cricket now. He shud. i would pick younis over toufeeq any give day. we really need younis in the middle and today he showed us why we need him. And the only way he can fit into the team is by keeping the wickets too. He is an extremly professional player with no-nonsense attitude.
well if you let me say, i would like younis to come at No 3. He is a good player technically and he can awlays stay there to socre 30 to 50 runs on 50 to 70 balls and that would be a big plus.I can not emphasize the importance of those 40 odd runs. Malik can come at No 6 after Yoyo. Razzaq at 7 and afirid at No 8.
Again a very good move by babloo and they shud keep moving in this direction. kamal is horrible horrible with bat and there is no need of him.
AKMAL IS A GREAT WICKET KEEPER, HE JUST CAN NOT BAT! AS FOR YOUNIS I WOULD LOVE TO SEE HIM IN COING MATCHES AND IF IT WORKS WE CAN USE HIM AFTER AUSSIE TOUR!!! WE NEED MOIN FOR THAT TOUR!
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*Originally posted by Jazba_pk: *
AKMAL IS A GREAT WICKET KEEPER, HE JUST CAN NOT BAT! AS FOR YOUNIS I WOULD LOVE TO SEE HIM IN COING MATCHES AND IF IT WORKS WE CAN USE HIM AFTER AUSSIE TOUR!!! WE NEED MOIN FOR THAT TOUR!
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We need Moin for Australia, we need Moin for India we need Moin for England. Get over it yaar, Moin in all likelyhood is a finished article. He always kept his place in the team through some gritty batting, he always was a below par keeper. Recently he has lost his batting touch and is horribly out of form. If his form continues on the tour to Australia, you can kiss that tour goodbye because his keeping isnt gonna win matches. I would not take decisions right now on australian tour and see how this arrangement fares for now.
Isnt it refreshing to see a player doing all he can to make the starting eleven? First it happened with Afridi and now Younis. We need such dedications for sure.
p.s Thanks for posting in all caps,we got your point :-D
Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer put pressure on regular wicket-keeper Moin Khan by saying batsman Younis Khan could do the job in one-day internationals.
With Moin ill, Younis had the gloves on against Zimbabwe on Sunday and did a decent job. He was also named man of the match for his innings of 70.
Woolmer said: "I knew he could keep and I think he did an excellent job.
“Now we have another good option before us for one-day cricket which is a positive step forward for the team.”
Younis said: "Nowadays one-day cricket is all about all-rounders so it puts me in a healthy position for the future.
He said keeping to the express pace of Shoaib Akhtar, who was rested for the match, would not to be a problem.
“It is much harder keeping against the spinners and I managed that well today,” he added.
Zimbabwe coach Phil Simmons said his team’s fighting performance against Pakistan, when they were firmly in the contest until the final quarter of the match, was encouraging.
Captain Tatenda Taibu added: “It was good to see everyone play their role. It is a right step forward for us.”
so what do people think…
Moin in Tests, Yunis in ODI’s as keeper?
Use that structure and we have pretty close to a perfect ODI batting order. That means you have a great batsman like Razzaq at 7, solid.
I know in the other thread somebody mentioned Taufiq as a keeper, but Taufiq, to me anyway, is garbage. I still wake up in cold sweats seeing visions of him “batting” against India in the debacle of 2003.
You mean Kamran Akmal and not Asim Kamal.!!!!!!!!
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thank ehsan bhai..u r rite..i meant to say kamran akmal not asim kamal....
as a matter of fact i want asim kamal to be given a chance for One Day matches too....or in other words, i want some one in the team who can bat at no 3 with responsibility and keep one end safe...of course we do not have a Ponting at No. 3 but how abt if we can find some one like ex-srilankan Grusinha....
To me, if younis can keep wickets reasonably well, he can fit into the team's composition really well.....after all he averages above 33 in ODI with a strike rate of almost 74 percent. Please dont think that i have started praising younis khan just because he scored a fifty today . I have always favored him. I believe that his talent was wasted by asking him to do something, which he was not capable of doing. And that is by asking him to bat at no 6 or 7 and expect him to hit some big hits....another think I like abt younis is his professionalism. He is a very dedicated player and as pointed out by saby, he is willing to do anything to be a part of the team. We need this kind of attitude in the team.
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*Originally posted by armughal: *
i think dravid has set the trend that'll make keepers go out of business.... :p
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Unless a side has a wicketkeeper-batsman like Adam Gilchrist, having a specialist wicket-keeper for one-days is too much of a luxury.
However, the thing with India is that even so-called 'specialist' wicket-keepers aren't too great behind the stumps...e.g. Patel, Dasgupta (haven't seen Karthik)...so it makes sense to use Dravid for that role.
Talking of Asim Kamal...I was wondering why have the Pak powers-that-be keeping him out....I mean they have been picking Misbah,Bajid, Salman Butt....etc....but why not Asim Kamal. He looked like a man for the future during the Indo-Pak series. So what happened ?
w.r.t Moin, the writing is already on the wall - he is on the way out. But he's still an important part of the Pak unit at the moment. I'd say keep him in the squad, if not in the XI, just until we establish a stable order and the next gloveman. At that point he should get the message and depart gracefully.
We should groom Akmal as a specialist keeper for the tests, and choose either of Taufeeq or Younis after giving them both a looksie for the day games. Younis kept quite well, and if he shows the samd standard against better oppositions when facing out first-string attack, he's a shoe-in.
He already is the fittest member of the team, a committed team-man, and can provide good backup support to Inzi and YoYo in the middle order. A very good candidate for the next one-day keeper in my books.
Some1, Younis is still the weak link in the Pak middle order (if included) as he always was. The fact that he may be a keeper candidate now is simply becuase his keeping ability moulds him into a diff fit for the Pak XI.
Keeping in mind the other current options at our disposal are:
-Moin: a slightly above average keeper with good batting skills (who's lost his touch and performing poorly with the bat as he ages).
-Taufeeq: an opener who has the ability to keep (but has serious flaws in his batting game, against the moving ball etc.).
-Kamran Akmal: a specialist keeper (who can't bat worth siht).
In that light, now that Younis has shown he may be able to keep at the international level, already being a semi-decent (but not outstanding) bat, he definitely deserves a try-out for the job.
Some1 the way Woolmer is using Afridi is quiet acceptable, i.e. a bowler who can bat a bit an dhit a few lusty blows towars the end fo the innings. What was not acceptable was him opening and gifiting his wicket away. Hopefully that phase is over.
As for Younis Khan I would still like to try Asim Kaml and then decide who is better or whether anyone of them can perform the dual role of wicketkeeping and batting like Dravid. Early days yet.
I agree.. Pakistani team doesnt Younis Khan purely as a batsman, but if he can keep wickets as well as he did in the last match, then he can be a good option as a wicket keeper batsman cuz Moin's form recently has gone down and his batting now sucks.. Younis can atleast bat and his batting average is healthy.
Well I always thought Younis khan will be a much better contributor in Test matches but looking at our shacky and inexperience batting then maybe giving Younis khan a role in ODI won't be a bad decision. He might not be a match winner but he can stay at the wicket, that is what we really need from him. We already have enough hitters. I believe he will be more effective at number 3. Only Inzi and Yoyo are better than him in the footwork.It will be a huge bonus for Pak if he continues to be a good keeper.Nobody can question his athleticism.
As far Asim kamal is concerned , I have read he has been performing very poorly lately against Kenya A. His fitness and fielding are also a big question mark. Bubloo aint happy about that..
Afridi is back in favour mainly because of his improved bowling NOT because of his sixes off pathan.
Younis Khan still doesnt deserve a batting spot in the team but he is willing to work hard for the wicket keeper and that can only be a good sign.
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Afridi has been bowling well but has also been batting better then he used to. Scoring runs a little more consistently, n scoring them at the death when the team really needs them. Also, batting lower in the order means his wicket is cheaper n less imp. then batting as an opener. I hope he can continue to play like this. I remember wat he did in Australia in 97 when Pak toured under Wasim akram. If he can even come close to that then he would have accomplished alot.
As for yonuis, one only hopes that he can be consistent with both the bat n behind the wicket. If so then we can play 4 regular bowlers, which will be great. Shoaib, Sami, Shabbir n Rao (for instance) + Afridi, Abdur Razzak n Malik. That is a PRETTY gd bowling line up...
