Afridi did well in his season of domestic cricket in South Africa although he looks to have opted out of domestic cricket in his own country, something we were told he would have to succeed in to win selection. Nazir, by contrast, has performed due diligence by rebuilding his reputation at home and it is a surprise that the selectors have resisted recalling him until now.

Whatever the machinations, I'm all for this daring approach. Now is the time to get these big-hitting players in form before the World Cup. They add an explosive capability to the more trenchant qualities of Pakistan's classy middle-order. There is a risk though that these bombers will inflict more damage on their own men than the opposition.

Call me reckless but I'd have it no other way. The Pakistani cricket team has been most successful when it has attacked, and with Afridi, Razzaq, and Nazir in your batting line-up, attack is turned into all-out assault. Hold onto your sun-hats.

GOD! I couldn't have asked for more,I am not too excited about Afridi, but Imran Nazir and Shabbir, finally Pakistan are thinking right for the world cup.

My batting lineup will be Imrans (Farhat and Nazir) Opening, Followed by Yasir/Yonis one down, Yousuf fourth, Inzi fifth, Razzaq sixth, Kamran Akmal, Shahid/Shoaib Malik and so forth.
I will open the bowling with Shabbir and Asif, Akhtar and Razzaq first and second change and instead of Kaniera have either Afridi or Shoaib.
Extra bowlers to rest the mainstrikes would be Umar Gul and Sami as well as Kaneria

Pakistan should play 3 day test mach abroad with teams like Australia, SA,NZ and India.

it´s good to see imran nazir and afridi back, at least we will get rid of below par hafeez and farhat , they have got so many opportunities and have showed what they are capable of.
in world cup pak can have exciting batting with imran nazir and afridi as openers and malik and razaq in lower order with solid middle order of y,y inzi. thanks God selectors have realised that hafeez and farhat are just club level players.

Pathetic display of batting. I thought Inzamam would be shrewd enough to have a long-on and long-off back against Graeme Smith, as there is a single their either way. Why not expose the other end rather than giving 5 boundaries or more in the same area. At least after a coouple of boundaries...
Do you think Kaneria can pull some magic?

Kamran Akmal is the biggest mistake that Pakistan ever made. What good are his 50 runs that wouldn't be needed if he weren't wicket keeping. I bet he spills a few tomorrow. He should be ashamed of the way he got out in the first innings anyway...
Who cares about the one-day series...

This is how I see it: there is something seriously wrong when you have to drop your twenty-something players to go find some motivation to start performing again. Much as we would like to believe otherwise, the truth of the matter is that both Afridi and Razzaq are over the hill. Already.

The fireworks come when there is spark within. Nazir might perform becuase he still has something to prove. But, for Afridi and Razzaq, the spark will only come now if something truly big happens in their careers. And that something big means a complete shake-up of the one-day team.

The big three, Inzamam, Yousuf and Younus, should retire from the ODI team. Afridi should be made the captain and given the task of building an unbeatable one-day team. This means a completely new-look one-day team wih a lot of young blood and perhaps a high player turnover. Afridi is undoubtedly leadership material and this is the only way I see him performing now. Otherwise, he is bound to wither and fade away. He cannot perform in the shadow of these giants. He needs to lead a young, high-energy team.

For Razzaq, unfortunately, there's no solution. He's just going through the motions of earning his bread and butter. Given his nothing personality, I can't see how he can find the excitement in his game again.

Nice to see both Afridi and Razzaq back! Both are great performers on any platform. Both can win you a game (with bat or ball), and not likely to, by themselves, lose you a game either.

salaam, regardless of the outcome of SA and pakistan ODI series...i would stick with imran nazir and shoaib malik..opners...then younis khan...yousaf..inzi....razzaq...akmal.(zulqarnain)afridi..asif...rana...gul...no if's and but's.... ...this is a winning combination...unless..shoaib is healthy..he can move in for ..rana.....these guys need time to play togather...for some time....and the world cup is our INSHA ALLAH...

EUREKA, its shocking to know how finally PCB has got common sense of which players to select and drop? hope PCB keep having their common sense of which paki players to select n drop atleast till d world cup,or u might again see the stupidity of PCB of including players like faisal iqbal/iftekhar rao/md hafeez/imran farhat in d world cup

I am glad to see, Afridi, Razzaq and Nazir back in the side, our current openers should have been dropped after the first test. Atleast with Afridi there is another dimension.
Afridi and Nazir to open, younis one down then Yousuf, Inzi then Malik, Akmal then Razzaq, Sami Asif and Kaneria. This would be a team to win the world cup with. Or we could lose Akmal and have Nazir keep with space for another bowler, he kept ok when the keeper went off injured.

Yes Afridi or Akhter should made the captain and see the see change to the team they are both give all time 100 percent and love their game and nation they don't succum easily this is the capability will make pak team unbeatable, the ego of Inzy is sopilinig Akhter & Afridi yes it is fact give up inzy,you have won one but lost three world cup,and Note: Farhat,Hafeez,Faisal are Club level player they can not be made international , how long will it take Farhat is since 2001-2 and now 07,Younis should not be in the team(ODI),Nazir& Afridi should open this is the only mentor for winning otherwise see Ausiis to win the world cup............

I think Imran Nazir's performance in the domestic circle merited a comeback. I hope he performs well in the ODIs and also gets that little bit of luck so that he can cement his place in the squad.

Hafeez and Farhat should have been dropped a long time ago - Hafeez is simply not good enough whilst Farhat lacks temperament and shot selection. I would open with Afridi and either Imran Nazir or Shoaib Malik in ODIs - as first 10-15 overs are critical.
Razzaq has to come into team as well for all round skills
Akmal should also be dropped - he has consistently been poor for about 12-18 months now.
Bowlers - I would go with Asif, Shoaib, Gul and combo of Razzaq/Afridi/Malik/Rehman

Uh-oh. Afridi n Razzaq. That is a terrible idea. They are bot overated players who will perform ever 20-30 matches. There is n place for them on Pakistan. Lots of ppl r complaining about Farhat well Afridi will come hit 1 4 n then be out. Farhat has had O.K form as of late. If you really hate Farhat that much then there is Imran Nazir. I expect him to be a decent opener (Better then Farhat Afridi n Hafeez atleast) Oh and i highly suggest we give the 20-20 and one ODI to Zulqernain Haider. See if he can perfrom. If not then i guess we will have to go to Kamran Akmal, who as of late has been eating a lot of Popcorn.

NEWS is a four letter word - the information from all four directions East, West, North, South - its convergence and conjugation at a point becomes, NEWS. In other words news is 4 dimensional. But, in Pakistan news is SIX dimensional, because it also comes from the top and the bottom and sometimes from no where, so add another dimension. Also, the news sources in Pakistan are not only numerous, authentic, unofficial, official, reliable, deniable and even when it is official it is contradictory, especially when there are more than one official relaying the news. In other words, there is always a massive confusion as to which one is real, authentic, official, sane, insane and trust worthy?

Today's Dawn newspaper (Mr. Khalid Khan's article) while quoting his "most deniable resources" wrote: "Afridi faces World Cup snub as selectors ponder four changes." After reading that and while watching Pakistan's pathetic second innings batting live on TV, I wrote my last post in the previous thread re-emphasizing the need of bringing back Shahid Afridi. Now, there is a surprise news on cricinfo and on this blog about the arrival of Afridi and Razzaq in SA along with Imran Nazir!

Kamran Abbassi, SIR; you are playing safe in this thread by supporting the inclusion of Afridi, Imran Nazir and Razzaq and at the same time you are saying "There is a risk though that these bombers will inflict more damage on their own men than the opposition." You mean to say that IF they fail they will put pressure on the middle order? OR do you mean to say IF they explode and score runs they will inflict more damage to the "Gurus" who were earlier keeping these thoroughbreds at bay?

Well, there is no such thing as free lunch and there is NO business without a risk. You have to take risk, increase your stakes and improve your winning chances. In ODI's and twenty20 games you cannot say I want to play safe and win the jackpot too. Its like I wanna have my cake and eat it too. With calculated risks and conservative approach you may beat a team or two like Ireland and Zimbabwe but you won't be winning big matches. You cannot upset teams like Australia and South Africa. World Cup history has proved that Pakistan has never defeated India in any of the world cup encounters. So, you have to have such players in your ODI team.

Regarding the performance of these three players, I do anticipate that they may fail in one or two games but with these players you cannot fail all the time. Besides, for your going in to 'safe mode', you have a solid middle order don't you? But is that a guarantee? The middle order also failed many times and it has happened in SA test matches. But, one thing is for sure whenever these 'bombers' will explode the opposition will be reduced to nothing. WI and NZ has proved this kind of explosive batting time and again they also have three experienced players the rest are rookies. Although the WI team may not look like a safe team to bet on but, they have surprised many in the recent past and so have the Kiwis.

I would reiterate my point again that Kamran Akmal should open with Shahid Afridi and Imran Nazir at no.3 in the ODI matches. As for the rest of the players, there are too many choices and combinations that could be tried and discussed.

And I do agree with the wise man of Gotham, Mr. Euceph Ahmad that it is indeed worth a thought to keep the non explosive type of players out of the ODI and twenty20 matches. Also, I couldn't agree more on the appointment of Afridi as a captain of the ODI team. Because, if you exclude the test middle order (YYI) there is no other option left and Afridi is the only choice to lead, the rest are not captain material.

Afridi as captain?

You must be joking. He has a batting average of 8.5 last year (in odis). Besides, bringing him in the team could be an argument, but a guy that jumps on the pitch in front of the cameras as a captain is ridiculous...
Javed Khan, captains need to think, too, about field placements and so on...They are supposed to lead by example as well. None of the captain's can earn respect from players with just the odd performance. If PCB were to follow you, we have the perfect recipe for anarchy.
Imagine a player coming and hitting a solid 50, to whom Afridi as a captain would tell to play it right and either hit or miss. I mean common...you can't be serious. Younis Khan could only be a reasonable option as captain after Inzamam. People criticize him for his show in the Champions Trophy, but remember how Inzamam became better with time (and Younis would become better faster). Not to mention all the bowlers and the batsman (Inzamam) that were missing. Also, not to mention our beloved Akmal spilling Styris who went on to play a match-winning innings.

See, a team like Australia would destroy these "bombers" very easily. It takes only 10 balls to finish an innings.
You want to win against Australia?
Talk about wiping favoritism out of cricket Pakistan. Guys like Farhat and Iqbal would never have made it to the team otherwise. Secondly, if a keeper loses you a series (England), act like Australia, and kick him out. Get tough with the players, don't make gods out of them.
And players should be selected in the team on the basis of thorough examination of technique, and not experimented just like that otherwise. Once the management is sure the players have a sound technique, it should pick them at the right time when in form.
Moreover, do away with the concept of "youngsters" and grooming them internationally ffor God knows how many years. Big flaws in technique should be idetified locally, groomed locally, and then, when they have proved themselves locally in pressure situations consistently, bring them to international level even if they are 25 and only have another 5 years left in them. We are not building a team which wins the next world cup, we are building a team which wins consistently over a long period of time beginning now.
Lastly, there needs to be a method to team selection, a balance, like as you might see, naturally for right-handed bowlers, left handed batsmen are harder to get out. Say, play 2,3 left handed batsman in the team at various positions. Among the openers one should be agressive, the other a grafter, 3rd position goes to someone like Ponting who can play both ways, at 6 someone who is reliabe under pressure, a left-handed bowler to make things difficult for left handed batsmen, and so on (Zaheer Khan tormented Smith, while look at even a bowler like Poloock's record against left-handers; no wonder the saffers even strugle against Australia). Then players that fit those descriptions can enter the team, exactly knowing what their roles are, so everything is not haphazard but gels.
Worse than that would be how it is...even worse would be if we fill the team with a bunch of bombers..

Hindsight is a great virtue, still playing the whole test series without any all rounder in side was something only our selectors could have achieved. Pakistan has done well despite of selection blunders and not due to good seletion at all and I will like to credit all the players involved in the test series. (Btw does anyone else find ramiz rajas commentary pessimistic and annoying, and I personally think SA will have to work hard to win tomorrow and its not over yet by any means) Now for some criticism, Pakistan could have won the series easily had it not been for some poor selection decisions. With Razzaq and Shoaib Malik unfit pakistan should not have axed Afridi and if his form was too much of a problem for the captain then they could have tried Yasir arafat. (where is azhar mahmood btw) or any of the loads of allrounders available at home. A quick-fire 30 or 40 by an all rounder coming down the order today would have made the difference between loosing and winning the series.

Imran farhat despite my dislike for his selection in the past has redeemed himself somewhat in this series. Hafeez, I had great hopes of him and he is an enigma, he looks good has a not too bad technique but somehow fails very frequently whether its a mind thing or whatever, dropping Salman butt to include Hafeez was a mistake. Salman also fails a lot but then he does play a substantial innnings once in a while something which Hafeez and Yasir failed to do.

Afridi againis someone who fails frequently, he makes a quick fire 10-20 and has the potential to get out most of the times and go on to get something big some of the time. 10-20 is what Farhat, Hafeez and Yasir get on a good day. Only difference is they get out caught in the slips and Afridi in the outfield more often, therefore former is branded reckless and latter as proper batsmen.

Sahid Nazir and Sami well Afridi is a better bowler than both of them, Shahid is past his best and should be discarded promptly, Sami well I am sad he didnt achieve what he could have BUT he has had too many chances now, Its time to realise he will always bowl one or two bad balls per over.I think even he will agree with that. Rana is not a test match bowler, playing him in tests destroys his confidence for one days too. A team with only spinner and umpteen seamers in side discarding Waqar to appoint Mushi, where is the sense in that.

Kamran akmal, he is not that fantastic a batsman to compensate for his poor form with gloves, He should play one dayers but should be dropped from test side until he regains his confidence and technique back.

Question is who to play instead of these players in current series keeping all the injuries in mind. Shabbir, Abdur rehman (SA dont handle left arm spin well and the guy is good, at least could have kept one end quiet), Yasir Arafat and maybe some new bowlers, (we had some very decent bowlers in U 19 what happened to them) could have been included.

However despite the criticism, selectors did have a tough job with all the injuries and players did play well as a unit and did manage to win a test in SA something which more star studded teams havent been able to achieve in the past.

One last note why is everyone so keen on kicking Inzamam out of team after world cup, he is batting well (better than faisal iqbal etc his likely replacement anyway) let him continue until he can. I dont believe in players retiring on a high, we have lost too many players prematurely because of this attitude.

Javed A. Khan what good is cake if u can't eat it. LOL. Anyways Afridi n Razzaq suck. No place for them. Now i will make some predictions for Pak future. Shoaib will be dropped after world cup. Zulqernain Haider will play good n become our full time Wk. Inzi will retire. Younis or Yousof will captain. Imran Nazir willcement his place on Pakistan. Everyone else(Butt, Taufeeq, Farhat, Hafeez, n lotsa other ppl) will fight it out for the other opening position.

Did not want to join this debate but a couple of interesting comments instigate me to do this. It's good to see two Pakistanis agree on something but it could be something better than making Afridi captain, a person whoe struggles every now and then to make it to playing eleven. Though being fan of Pakistan team I always wish and pray that Afridi's fireworks work but deep inside I always know that he may not stay more than 6 balls. I liked Omar Admni's comment " think about Afridi giving advice to solid batsman how to play.... (lol). All the time you guys criticize Inzamam as captain who hit jackpot as there was no one to lead the team. How on earth you can long for something even worse by saying after YYI, Afridi is automatic choice? Aggression is not the only ingredient of a great captain but brain and leading from the front? Unfortunately Mr. Afridi has none of these but aggression. Same goes for Akhtar as he is not different who always speaks of speed before a series and breaks down in the middle of match. Ever wonder why Pakistan team is not getting new pacers? For last 7-8 years I have known only Mohammad Asif as a relatively new face. Other than that only Errant Sami / Fragile Shoib / Illegal Shabir / Mediocre Nazir and even we are trying to make Rana a test bowler. What's going on in Pakistan's domestic cricket/ can't we produce better bowlers or we are almost going to face Indian dilemma....
I still wish Pakistan be a better team and Challenge SA & Australia or atleast make Indians & English teams quite at regular inervals....

Can someone please explain why Danish Kaneria has been dropped for the upcoming one-day series against South Africa just when he has started performing and been replaced by Abdul Rehman?

I think Inzamam should make his retirement annoucement before the World Cup just like Warne and McGrath did just before the Sydney Test. I hope this thing motivates our "Good for nothing Players" to stand up and do something in the World Cup. Otherwise I don't see Pakistan can ever win this tournament.
Why are we keep palying proven failures like Imran Farhat, Mohd. Hafeez, Yasir Hameed and Kamal Akmal? I think thats kind a unfair on Faisal Iqbal who was dumped after the first test match and all these played the entire series without doing anything good to the team.
I think Afridi should be made the capatin. We don't need Younis Khan in the ODI team or any player who doesnt perform well on consistant basis.
I think PCB has to make some wholesale changes to the team otherwise I am afraid to say that Bangladesh and Zimbabwe are gonna be beating us soon.
Cheers Javed Khan I really like your writing style.

OMER Admani;

Oui monsieur, I am talking about Shahid Afridi. And why would Mr. Euceph Ahmad or I be joking on this blog? We all express our views and suggestions, and it was his suggestion, and based on the facts as he presented it and as I see it, I concurred his views, because I find it as a very reasonable suggestion. Although I don't agree with his views most of the time, but that doesn't mean I discard a good suggestion! Besides, neither him nor I have a say in deciding the playing 11 for the WC. So, please don't say that I must be joking or I am not serious. I simply want to answer your questions and try not to make a personal debate about it.

1. Afridi's low batting average in 'one year' doesn't make him a bad player than the current lot that is available for ODI matches. Form is temporary and class is permanent. He has not proved himself as a real classy player yet, but he is certainly better than most of the jokers around. His 4880 runs, 5 centuries, two of them world records, numerous time solo match winner for Pakistan and his 193 wickets speaks in volumes. His current form is due to the fact that he has not been utilized properly by the selectors, captain and coach. Several times they brought him in and dropped him, made him open the innings then threw him down to number 7 or 8. Sometimes, he didn't get a chance to play at a fixed position and with a regular partner. A few of the times he was unlucky to be given out when the ball kissed his shirt an appeal for caught behind was upheld. Or he was given out LBW when he was not or he got run out. These are not excuses, we all know that he plays risky shots, but when he is on a song he wins that match singlehandedly for Pakistan. And thats what Pakistan needs in the 2007 World Cup. The Caribbean pitches suits his batting style and he has a proven track record there.

2. The incident of scruffing the pitch should not make you paranoid that he will jump again! No one is so foolish to repeat the same mistake again and neither should you be ashamed or embarrassed of a one time 'in the heat of the moment' incident. Many players of international repute have done things which were either illegal or immoral and they were also fined, penalized, banned and have been forgotten by the people. Do you want me to name them? Due to space constraints on the blog, I will leave it for you to do the research yourself.

3. By your assessment and your own standards, when Inzi was "Out-Of-Form-ul-Haq" and his average for the whole year was a mere 13, when he lost more pounds in weight than he scored the number of runs, he should have been "kicked out" like the Australians do! Thats what you said right?

Remember when all the senior Pakistani players were banned after the betting scandal, PCB brought Inzi back and not only brought him back, they also made him the captain. Why did they do that? He was totally out of form and was not scoring. Many people were against his recall and his appointment as a captain was considered as the biggest blunder. People called him by names such as Aloo for his laziness and clumsiness. The reason they appointed him as a captain is because, they had no choice, there was no other player with a proven track record also, there was no one senior than Inzi. You have nicely forgotten all this, or you are not aware of the facts. And you are saying, by giving a chance "Inzamam became better with time." You can apply the same law on Inzi but not on Afridi, pour quoi?

4. Its easy for people to give example of Australia, without realizing that Australia has no dearth in terms of talent and not just raw talent but, tested and proven talent, players who have performed, produced results are waiting in the wings and that is because of the infrastructure and the facilities they have, the kind of grounds and playing conditions they have and the selection process and the kind of domestic cricket they play, Pakistan may not have all that in the next 50 years.

Therefore, Pakistan has to rely on those players who have performed in the past and who were match winners and who have a proven track record. You cannot "kick out" a player who has a class. Still it happens only in Pakistan. Luckily during the time of Imran Khan he stepped in and over ruled the PCB politics and kept the players of his choice, had he not been doing this, then there would have been no great players that it has produced in the past. There would have been no Inzi either. But, this doesn't mean such players will continue playing even when they are 35 and past their prime. Afridi is only 26 and yet Mr. Euceph Ahmad considers him as a 'over the hill' player.

Younis Khan is a good player, but only for the test matches, he is not an ODI player. So, considering the available resources there is no one who can take the reigns of captaincy. Do you think the half lost, double minded Abdul Razzaq who is not sure whether to wear a helmet or a cap and decides to wear both at the same time, would take the leadership role?

As for the role of the Captain, it certainly helps his cause when he leads from the front and himself performs. But, it is not necessary that he always scores a 50 or a 100 or take 5 wickets. Recently Ross Taylor the rookie of NZ was hammering the Australian bowlers (he scored a blistering 80+) from the other end Stephen Flemings came down and talked to him and gave him a word of advise. Flemings is not in good form these days and himself he was out cheaply, do you think as a captain he should be ashamed and not have a word with his junior mate? When Flemings or Ricky Ponting were made captain there were other senior players in the team yet the team accepted the decision of the Board. It is the responsibility of the PCB to ensure that ALL players respect the captain. But, the Board has to be free from petty politics and in choosing the right team and the captain, it is then the captain is accepted by ALL, whether he scores or not, he is "The Captain" c'est ca!

I'm not too sure if bringing back Afridi now would be such a big deal. Yeah, Shabbir and Nazir may make a difference, but this had me thinking ... will either of these two players' inclusion be at the expense of Asif? He's quite a phenominal player and shouldn't be sidelined for either of them.

By the way, I noticed a few bloggers has this idea of Afridi being captain. Why would any selector choose a player who has just got back his form in Domestic Cricket to lead the team? Whats wrong with Inzi's leadership? Even if Inzamam's leadership was questioned, I think maybe Mohammad Yousuf or Younis Khan would be given the job.

-Peace!

I hope and pray that Imran Nazir will show some real class this time, and make a permanent place in the Pakistani ODIs teams atleast. While for the Shahid Afridi, we all 'pray' but there is not much 'hope'.

I wish I am proved wrong, as I like the guy, but its just that its long long time that we have seen him 'boom boom' these days, and chances of that on South African pitches is less.... very less.

Here we go again, Inzi this Inzi that, hello the guy won u the 2nd test almost by himself. That is class beat that. Afridi as a captain, wat a joke. I luv Afridi, i luv his style and i think he should be in the team but as captain gimme a break. Younis all the way after Inzi. One group want new commers, when selection team tries new commers n they fail u want them kicked out. Then other group yells give the new commers more chances, when that happened n they consistently fails then this group yells again. Can we have a perfect team always, answer is no. Before the series it was oh we have too many fast bowlers to choose. Akhtar n shabbir dropped cuz of fitness and everyone started screaming bloody murder. Well Akhtar is now injured thank you for bringing him in. Shabbit last week did 10 overs n his ankles were swallowen, as reported by cricinfo and confirmed by PCB medical board and Shabbir himself. Razzaq was out due to injury not due to malice. Afridi was dropped due to his performance. This is not the time to built new team, as world cup is 6 weeks away. This is the time to use what we have to the best of our ability. If I were Inzi I would have long sayed goodbye and to hell with it. Thanks GOd he didn't do it. The problem is not players the problem is thier religious ways that prompt this criticizm, be brave and admit it otherwise hold your peace for ever.

I think Imran Nazir's call up is great and well deserved. Last night on a tv show, Inzy also said he was calling Salman Butt for the ODI series. That can mean Nazir and Butt opening, Younis at 3, Yousuf 4, Inzy 5, Malik 6, Razzaq 7, Akmal 8, Rana 9, Shabbir 10 and Asif 11. Afridi needs to compete with Malik for a place in the team. He doesent want to open and only wants to be btting at 5 or 6. Well 5 belongs to Inzy and 5 belongs to Malik, who has done very well there. So Afridi would simply have to wait his turn.

I think Nazir and Butt opening will give Pakistan their best possible opening combination. Farhat and Hafeez can go back to club cricket.

By the way with regard to Euceph Ahmed's post for dropping Younis,Inzy and Yousuf and making Afridi captain. All I have to ask is, what have you been smoking dude? Whatever it is...pass it over please.

Euceph Ahmed

Mr Omer Admani, just because Afridi and Shohaib Malik refused to give an autograph doesnt mean tat you can should ignore their enormous talent. This guy supports the idea of having Younis Khan as an ODI captain .Younis khan shouldnt be allowed to b in ta ODI team. Hez a good test player but ODI player he is not. A way better choice would b the Living Legend Shoib Malik or the pride of Pakistan ie Shahid Afridi.

First of all the recall of Afridi and Imran Nazir is desperate measures. Im 28 years old and i have been watching cricket sine 1987 and i can recall that for all these 30 years except Saeen Anwar and Aamir Sohail we have always struggled with our top order. Hafeez and Farhat are clearly not test level players. Yaseer Hamid was performing well but his confidance has been destroyed. Where is Salman Butt? the guy who scored 100 in Australia.
Shabbbir was unfit 3 days back and now all of certain he is coming back,it is really confusing
Razzaq is a must in the team , he is a match winner, not sure about Afridi though.
Its a shame so much talent is lost because of politics, poor planning and poor selection.

Glad to see Afridi & Razzaq back. I think Pakistan are now Australia's biggest opponent in winning the World Cup. 2 Questions, Is Ahktar gonna be fit for the WC & whatever happened to Salman Butt? I thought he was pretty good (which is rare for Pak openers since Sohail & Anwar)

Imran Nazir's call up is a good omen for Pakistan cricket. Nazir is an excellent fielder, Pakistan's best, and a very exciting and hard hitting young batsman. We have to remember that the ball will not seam around a lot in the West Indies, however it will skid through and come onto the bat quite nicely. Therefore, Imran Nazir with his hard hitting approach should thrive in those conditions. In fact, I believe he already has a 100 in the West Indies already for Pakistan. I am, however, disappointed with the inclusion of Afridi. When a player gets dropped, and instead sits at home rather than going out and playing domestic cricket to get back into form, then that shows pure arrogance to the selectors. In this case however, Afridi is in the team for past reputation and the fact that Inzy and Bob are both his biggest fans. Lets hope he doesent disappoint his fans and the Pakistani people yet again. I am also sad not to see Salman Butt in the side. Salman is 10 times a better player than Hafeez and Farhat put together, and I think Salman Butt and Imran Nazir opening the innings, with Younis Khan, Yousef, Inzamam, Malik, Afridi, Akmal, Razzaq, Gul and Asif would be a terrific one day line up in the world cup. We would be batting all the way to number 9 with Akmal and our bowling would be Gul, Asif, Razzaq, Afridi and Malik. If the team management feels they want a sixth bowler in there as well, they can use Salman Butt because I've seen him bowl for Lahore in ODI, and he's pretty handy as well. Or they could drop either Malik or Afridi and play a specialist bowler like Rana, Sami or Rao for example. I think our world cup 14 should be Salman Butt, Imran Nazir, Younis Khan, Inzamam Ul Haq, Mohammad Yousef, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sami, Rana Naveed, Shabbir Ahmed. Shabbir should go if he proves form and fitness in South Africa, otherwise we should take Rao Iftikhar. And the prima donna known as Shoaib Akhtar can watch proceedings from his living room, where he can fake as many injuries as he wants.

was Euceph Ahmed drunk when he wrote his comments ?? i cant understand what is so special about afridi ,no doubt he has the attitude & energy of a captain but you need more than that, captain has to lead when everything seems lost and afridi cant do that ..y everyone is advocating for a player who i m sure would once again score no more than 20 in the one day series.he cant stay for more than 3 overs ,he puts more pressure on the batting order rather than sharing it.Even tailenders score more than him.Players like inzi n yousaf are an asset n they have played enough innings in one day that show their ability to score under pressure.We all have very short term memory .One bad performane by a player is enough for us to forget all he has done for the country and all his match winning innings.
And yes imran should open with farhat .Its time for akmal to go back his shaky hands can very well cost us the world cup

ASAK!
its gud dat Afridi,Razzack,Shabbir N Imran nazeer have made a comeback...My line up wil be Imran, Farhat/hamid,Younis,Yousuf,Inzi,malik,Afridi,Shabbir,Asif,Razzack,Sami..
Insha Allah ,Inzi wil Lift the World cup ...I bet

kamran, calm down, and come back to the world of reality, please; in fact its time we abandon this delusional world of fantasy which can never get us anywhere. a batting line up of afridi, nazir, razzaq, malik; shock and awe of course, the results of which we are currently experiencing in Iraq - and this one promises almost similar outcomes. problem with pakistan cricket lately - since afridi's emergence - has been that we've had too many number 6 and 7s of explicitly odi levels, and now we dunno what to do with them, besides the collective dementia that we HAVE to use them. can anyone tell me how many times these "all rounders and shock and awe openers" has won us odi matches under pressure situations, while chasing scores and with wickets down, give me one substantial innings of afridi besides the times he has opened, which he dont wana do anymore anyway. all an opposing team needs to do is apply pressure with fielders and bowl shrewdly without giving them room to hit or find easy singles; and we will experience another explosion - and embarrassment - of the scale of 99 world cup final. there will always be the odd afridi and razzaq boom bang blast, but consistency and profligacy are words they might not have heard of, or care about. how many all rounders does australia has?? or even south africa lately?? or even pakistan during the 92 world cup?? all we need is a quality genuine all rounder, which sadly we dont possess, so at most we can afford 2 - malik and razzaq has offered us most consistency and stability - but afridi and hafeez and even nazir and farhat, we should rather discard. an ideal pakistan world cup team would be:
yasir, malik, younus, yousuf, inzi, razzaq, akmal, rehman, shoaib, gul, asif.

Great news that Imran Nazir and Shahid Afridi are back. If they get going we win, if they don't no big deal, we are anyway 10 for 2 with the present set of openers with no chance of getting going. Asif, Abdul Rehman,Shoiab Malik, Shabbir, Shoaib Akhtar, Razzak, Umar Gul, Asim Kamal and Hassan Raza should all be in the final squad alongwith Younis, Yousuf and Inzi and we have a winning team. The only change needed is in the wicket keeping Department.

Yes I think they did a right thing but we shouldn't open with Afridi Nazir. It should be Nazir and Malik. Zulqarnain Haider should be tested too.

YES FINALLY IMRAN NAZIR, he is the most useful opener along with SALMAN BUTT, lets hope Imran Nazir shows in the ODI what he is capable of and cement his place for the world cup, i think Kamran Akmal have not done a good job behind the stumps, but hey behind the stump job is never easy, but he have not done his keeping job for a while now, although we all do remember some of his finest memories of him keeping, like a brilliant catch of Marcus Trescothick etc, I think Kamran Akmal is a very very good batsman to be ignored, he have a touch of Tendulkar in him, i think he should be used as a batsman and give another keeper a chance in ODI. lets have Imran Nazir and Salman Butt open, Shoaib Malik follows, then younis khan, Mohammad yousuf, Inzamam, Kamran Akmal, Rana Naved, Mohammad Sami, Abdul Rehman, Mohammad Asif. There could be changes like Abdul Razzaq instead of Rana Naved, or Shahid Afridi instead of Abdul Rehman, but for a wicket keeper, we should maybe reconsider Moin Khan or Rashid Latif, and Mohammad Sami have done a good job as he proved what he can do with the ball as well as with the bat, still he could not be the permanent support of Mohammad Asif, the lone bowler who is making things possible for Pakistan. Let's keep our finger crossed for shoaib akhtar or Umar gul or even shabbir ahmad. but i have a serious thoughts about the world cup winning bowlers, "ANWAR ALI AND JAMSHED AHMAD", these two bowlers destroyed the best batting attack in world cup under 19, i really liked anwar ali's inswingers and i also enjoyed Jamshed Ahmad's Wasim Akram style bowling, but lets see what PCB selectors have to say, after all its their call and they have always disappointed pakistani fans before, who knows what are they thinking of next, lets hope for the best and lets pray for PCB not to make any stupid decisions like they did with Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat etc. but anyway, IMRAN NAZIR, YAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY........GO IMRAN GO.......WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO......

i am very good news for me that Afridi is again in Pakistani Squad.

Is anyone else wondering where Salman Butt is? How can any sane selector consider Imran Farhat to be a better opener than Butt? Butt got a 100 here in Australia, and a handful of 50's against the likes of Mcgrath, Warney, Watson and Lee, and he showed good technique and ability. It's nice to see Imran Nazir back, he's done well in Australia as well, however I still believe the Pakistanis are making a big mistake by playing Farhat and leaving out Butt. It could be a world-cup loosing mistake, everyone knows how to get Farhat out. Pitch it up, outside Off-Stump, and move it away just a touch, and the slips are in business.

if afridi has to be included in the team, he should play at number 7. there is no place for him to play as an opener. M. Hafeez and yasser hameed should be give chance in the first three ODIs and then there fate decided. Shoaib Akhtar has no place to be included in the sqaud for the world cup. The rest of the team is okay. Imran nazir can be a given a chance in the first three ODIs and then decided. the rest of the team is performing well. we should rely on them up to the world cup

Selectors finally making some sense!
Though I guess it's a bit late.
As you said Kamran, I am very surprised to know that Shabbir is fit within a week.This credit probably goes to the medical team of PCB who can work wonders.
I am really disappointed with the YOUNG trio of M Hafeez,Farhat and Yasir.The main weakness in my opinion in both Hafeez and Hameed is MENTAL.They dont have that strength to bear the pressure of playing international cricket.The way both of them got out yesterday playing same unnecessary shot shows how much they were aware of the match situation.Why can't these guys play ground shots.Why do Hameed has to keep on hooking even though he already got out in that mode and his technique in playing short ball is faulty.
Farhat isn't a test player and for one days.Afridi is far better than him.
It was a wonderful chance for all these players to make it to the top but not even a single match winning or saving innings from any of these three.
Kamran Akmal should be rested so that he can rediscover his mojo.I don't think we can grant him a license to drop on the basis of one good batting inning.
All praise to Asif.The guy has performed tremendously.I can't recall a single bowler during the past few years having such a
commitment but the burden on him is too much and VERY unfair.Both Sami and Nazir failed completely and this added the pressure on Asif.I hope that he would be able to sustain it.
Sami should be sent out of team for good.He has proved his worth as well as Nazir.The strongest bowling lineup in world on paper hasn't got even one bowler to support its main strike bowler.
A huge credit goes to Shoaib for the win in last test match.
Its hard for me to be optimistic for Pak cricket.The system like every other field of life
in Pakistan is in total disarray.merit has changed its meaning and PCB has become a family business.I dont know where are we heading to.

Afridi as captain? Kicking out Inzimam, Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan out of the team? This has got to be the joke of the century. Think of all the times the three middle order batsmen have won us matches, if you take the three out of the equation we would probably have like a 10% winning percentage.

I mean just think of it like this, Pakistan need 60 to win from 20 overs and they are 5 down. If Afridi would be batting, I could almost guarantee that Pakistan would lose the match. If Inzimam, Mohammad Yousuf or Younis Khan was batting than the target could be achieved with 5 overs still remaining.

However, the comment made that Afridi and Kamran Akmal should open, and Imran Nazir should come one down does make sense. After all, the combination would be better than our current openers who just play out the first 5 overs and make like 17 runs and before you know it, they both are out. With the new combination of Akmal and Afridi, atleast we will have like 40 runs over board before both the openers are out.

it is great news for us bcoz of the inlusion of boom boom afridi & imran nazir in the odi squard and the next thing the selectors should do is remove farhat & hafeez from the squard & bring back salman butt in the team.this will b good for the world cup.

Dear All:

I think Imran Nazir is a good inclusion. We should get rid of Imran Farhat as soon as possible. He will not even qualify in our Local Club Team. Afridi: why does he play. He should be sitting out and playing tape ball cricket.

We also need to think neyon world cup as Inzy wont be there. We should groom Asim Kamal as a wicket keeper instead of Zulqarnaian Haider so he can get a one day spot. Razzaq, Malik and Hafeez should fill the All rounder spots. Any ways i hope selectors think long and hard b4 w cup. At least we should be able to giv a fight to Mighty Australians if now win against them

Adios Amigos

i guess Mr.Euceph Ahmed, you hate pakistani cricker, may be youu are Drunk, you have just recently escaped from a mental hospital, Afridi as Captain is the same joke as Donkey as the most Wise Animal. A team would Inzi, Yousaf and younis is like a Car without engine, wheels and body. I can relate these Foolish thoughts only with you. But i once again say, that Afridi, Imran Nazir are not required in the team and even now PCB is one the most foolish Cricket board which is experiementing with them team just 5 matches before the world cup. we Want some one Sensible, we want some Asim Kamal, a left hander in the middle with some sense. or may be the likes of playing yasir in the middle order along with Y's and inzi..
Come on how come you fan's be so ignorant to see a reality, Afridi is a nothing cricketer, and PCB has done even the worst putting him infront of a team who does not play with its strength rather than your weekness. How can they let a Bull like Afridi to Run away.Afridi and Imran Nazir will be bunnies of Pollock and Co. They would be laughing at us, the same way they laughed at our foolish attacking Pull shots which paid us the first test.
we want only three hitter, Shoaib Malik, Razak and Akaml ( provide he makes the same no of runs as the no of miss stumping and Catches he drop).
Shabbir has always been a very good and hardworking bowler, but i would like to see Umar Gul Fit, to see with Asif and Shabbir he is some one who can lead.
But with Afridi and Imran Nazir in the team i have no hopes for pakistan even to qualify for second round in the world cup.
Even both of them will not cross 20's and 30's in these five matches, I bet on it!

alot of alrounders in the team this not the right combination.plz open with nazir and yasir and dont use farhat plz then yy ant then inzi,afridi or abdul rehman,abdul razzaq and akmal or zulqarnain rana shabbir and then asif. plz use abdul rehman there instead of afridi or hafeez or malik bcoz he is in good form.and dont use asif in all 5 one days.use sami plz

makes me laugh this dude ...Euceph Ahmed... make Afridi the captain and all important middle order should retire ? yea thats his assesment...and replace Gen.Musharraf with Euceph.He also quotes for Razzaq "nothing personality".In cricket we need performance not personality you punk!.Claiming that "Razzq and Afridi are both over the hill" a couple lines later this genius suggests that Afridi should be made the captain?Did you mean over the hill Afridi?the captain?I truely am glad Pakistan selection hasn't gone to hands like Euceph...atleast not yet anyways.Nothin personal but if i was Razzaq i would demand to see your personality.We watch athletes play for their performance not their looks or personality and Murlidharan would tell you that.like i said "get it straight in your head" now the team for me would be dropping both the openers and play 1- Imran Nazir,2- Shahid Afridi,3-Younus Khan(if he must play one dayer, i think Shoaib Malik is a better choice but it ain't gonna happen),4-M.Yousuf,5-Inzi,6-Shoaib Malik,7-AbdurRazzq,8-Kamran Akmal(too early to lose faith in him,boucher did just as bad with a much easier Harris),9-Rana Naved/Shoaib Akhtar(whoever is fit),10-Umar Gul/Shabbir Ahmed(whoever is fit),11-Mohammad Asif. either gonna have to drop Shoaib Malik or the #10 slot if u must play Abdur Rahman. and yes don't retire the pakistan middle order Mr.Euceph..i beg ya !!! goodluck pakistan !

how about we just wait and see.. any player who makes the pakistan team are good so we should criticizing and just watch and see and the one day team dey have selected is good

Hafeez and Farhat should be sacked from the Test side. farhat is the biggest mistake PCB ever made. Look how at long he has been CONTINUOUSLY PLAYED and how rubbish his batting still is. He simply cannot play.
I heard that now there will be a requirement that players who come into playing at first class level should have a reasonable standard of fielding. There should be another requirement- experts and coaches should assess how players would perform outside of the subcontinent and exclude them if they are farhat's and hafeez's calibre.
Why do we get players to play overseas who can’t use their minds, making the same mistakes? I agree that Razzaq and Afridi’s time has come and that they wont perform unless a spark occurs. Maybe playing in the World Cup will trigger that spark?
Looking at how the openers were playing, it was expected that Pakistan would lose this series (at the moment it certainly looks like prince and kallis will take SA home). You really cant have a worse SA side than this, where some of their batsman are out of form. Apart from maybe a solitary innings or two, Amla, Dippenaar, De Villiers have been out of form. SA are not in the top 3 in ICC test rankings- surely Pakistan could have defeated them if only they had better openers.
I am also disappointed with Younis Khan- it seems to me he talks too much and doesn’t perform accordingly. He has been playing international cricket for too long and still is an inconsistent player. In fact, the only times he has been consistent is when he has played against India. I think he has the talent undoubtedly to become Pakistan’s premier batsman, but he doesn’t have the right approach. Sometimes he gets too reckless and sometimes he doesn’t handle pressure well- he needs to watch the ball more.
My lineup for ODI’s and world cup is……Hafeez (because he has improved as a ODI opener although he is unimpressive in Tests), Akmal, Malik, Younis, Yousuf, Inzi, Fawad Alam, Razzaq/Afridi (depends who’s in better form at the time but I don’t think they both should be in the playing XI because of their recent form), Akhtar/Gul ( depends whether Akhtar is fit to play), Asif and Naved (Naved because he is a good ODI bowler). I put akmal at no 2 because he can play attackingly (bob woolmer has always said that Akmal should be an ODI opener, he agrees with me for the following reason)- Akmal has to bat somewhere in the order so why not put him up as opener, I am sure he can do a better job than farhat and butt……malik also gets my vote because he has experience and talent and still something to prove.
Fawad Alam was brilliant in the twenty20 cup, his bowling will be of the same standard, if not better, than Abdur Rehman’s and he can bat better than Farhat, Afridi etc.
In the reserves I’d like to see Abdur rehman, Yasir hameed, Afridi/Razzaq, Asim Kamal, Sami, Shahid Nazir and Imran Nazir.

Bring on the ODIs, cant wait to see pakis playing some attacking cricket..All credit to pak for putting up a good fight agaisnt SA with only 5 players, 2 bowlers and 3 batters and also fielding with 10 players..The missing fielder was the man behind the stumps.Also credit to Kallis and Prince to take SA home after the early breakthrough.
Lets see what ODIs bring us.

yes, i totally agree with u, pakistan should attack head on, thts when they are at their best
obviously we have seen many implosions, but hey thats the way the asian game is played, gota live with it...
Farhat is utter rubbish, throw it on offstump sooner or later he is your man, Hafeez--well don't knw what to say really, but looking at him, seems to have no purpose to his batting...
im not saying that afridi and nazir will make more runs, but the excitement levels are undoubted.

I don't understand inclusion of Afridi without even playing domestic cricket! All the world knows Afridi's weakness after it was exposed by Jason Gillespie and since then he has not scored even a half century. In international cricket only players with good technique can be successful. Look at Imran Farhat and Yasir Hameed, they always get out fishing outside the off stump. All the bowlers know this and always trap them without a fail.

At last Imran Nazir is back in. Abdul Razzaq is the must for any ODI team, but I'm not too sure about Afridi who lacks Abdul Razzaq's sensible approach to the game. But in any case Nazir's recall is excellent news, because he is a very exciting opener and could balance the likes of Yasir Hameed or Mohammad Hafeez to get a good start to an innings.
As to Euceph Ahmed's comment about Abdul Razzaq having a nothing personality, that must be a joke because Razzaq is one of the only consistent and selfless players on the team. His late order hitting is brilliant (remember the ODI series against NZL in 2003-2004, for starters) and he can usually keep things tight in the middle overs with the ball.

hello, well its good to see imran nazir back in action along with afridi and Razzaq. But i would like to mention that why why why and again why, inzamam is willing to play with Imran Farhat and kamran akmal. They are running with terrible forms. Please for God sake, change your mind (even we have lost third test) and inject a new wicket keeper and an opener. Imran Farhat dosnt deserve to be a part of National Team.
Wish you good luck For ODIS.
Regards:
Murshid

Another series in South Africa lost due to missed opportunities. We should have won this series but for two main issues : 1) Farhat,Hafeez and Hameed's reckless shots and inability to learn from their mistakes and 2) The lack of bowling support for Asif and Kaneria. Sami and Nazir's days as test players should end immediately. Pakistan should play Shabbir Ahmed, Mohammad Irshad,Samiullah Niazi, or Yasir Arafat instead of Sami and Nazir. Finally, another reason why we lost was due to Butter-Fingers himself Kamran Akmal. The management must drop him in place of Zulqarnain Haider for the ODI series.

Bring whoever you like in... but have to get rid of Kaneria. I was shocked to see his display of bad sportmanship on the 3rd and final day of the last test! Forget his constant appealing, or the fact that he was wearing tape on his bowling finger...

Kaneria deliberately stuck out his leg in an attempt to trip the running non-striking batsman (Kallis). Although I don't really expect anyone to pay any attention. But after replaying the incident, I have no doubt in my mind that it was deliberate and someone really should look into it.

Check it out yourself. The score 75/4 Ashwell Prince batting and Kaneria bowling. You judge for yourself.

At times this series has been very heated. But this is just unacceptable. I want to hear what kind of punishment one can receive for such "ungentlemanly conduct"?

I guess if you can judge Gibbs by catching a recording... the same rules should apply to all!

Why Imran Farhat is even around the Pakistani Squad?????Could anyone please give me one good reason for that.........

Where is Imran Khan and his brainless quote "Sami is a must in the test and ODI team"? Isent it time for Imran to once again talk nonsense? Maybe Imran should found a Tehreek-e-Insaaf cricket team and he can play his two favourites Akhtar and Sami himself, because we dont need either anymore, thank you very much. It's time for Pakistan to seriously look at finding a 3rd and 4th seamer to support Umar Gul and Mohammad Asif. It cannot be injury-prone and drama-king Akhtar, or the club-level Sami and Shahid Nazir. We need to look elsewhere, perhaps Mohammad Irshad.

I am feeling kind of one man(Inzi bahi,no offense to mean to his game) show in pakistani team right now.If Inzi bhai likes some one he can play otherwise not.I might be wrong but everyone who watched Pakistan losing to SA in Test series will agree with me....

I think Pakistan's loss in SA is a blessing in disguise for the future of our team. The selectors must now seriously replace people like Hafeez,Farhat,Hameed,Shahid Nazir,and Shoaib Akhtar. These guys have disappointed time and time again and have let the team down on crucial occasions. Opening in test match cricket is a unique art, we've have quality openers like Shoaib Mohammad, Muddasar Nazar, Saeed Anwar and Aamir Sohail to name a few who have been succesful at this level, not neccesarily because of great technique but because they have been learned from their mistakes quickly and have been willing to tough it out in the middle for their team. Farhat, Hafeez, and Hameed have proved time and time again that they do not have the guts to survive against top quality bowling and its time for them to go.

In the next test that Pakistan play in fall, I would open with Salman Butt and Shahid Yousuf with Younis at 3, Yousuf 4, Inzy 5, Fawad Alam 6, Akmal 7, Razzaq 8, Gul 9, Asif 10 and Kaneria 11. We must play 6 specialist batters and one allrounder. The allrounder should be Razzaq because he can reverse the ball and hold up an end letting Gul,Asif and Kaneria attack at the other. Test wins will come for Pakistan but only if we learn from our mistakes and remove disappointments like Farhat,Hafeez,Hameed,Nazir,Akhtar and even to a certain extent - Kamran Akmal. Moin Khan and Rashid Latif succeeded at test level for such a long time because both were competing with each other for the spot. Pakistan should drop Akmal for the ODI series against RSA and play Zulqarnain Haider throughout. This way, we can see what Haider is made off, and furthermore Akmal will realize he does not have a right to be complacent because Haider will be around to take the wicketkeepers spot, if Akmal continues to drop catches all the time.

Finally the selectors have made the decision which shows the intent for the world cup.....bringing imran nazir back. He is a class opening batsman who has been overlooked for too long...if he gives us a good start then we will go on and win matches...lately hafeez and farhat have been too slow in the 1st 15 overs nothchin up about 30 runs (if were lucky)!!

For the first time, Omer Admani got it right with uncovering the favoritism; however it is not without errors.

Let me name the 'sifarshi tuttoos" in the team that should be done away with, if Pakistan is serious about delivering the shock and awe treatment, come the World Cup.

1-Imran Farhat (this guy must be some selector’s personal you know what, to stay on for this long)
2-M Hafeez (maybe a team like Kenya would really need this bloke’s services)
3-Shoaib Malik (resting in SA - who paid for his vacation?)
4-Kamran Akmal (With his “fartworks” behind the stumps, I doubt if one innings in an overall lost cause justifies his place….experiment with Zulqarnain in the one-dayers..)
5-Yasir Hameed: Again, just one innings for the whole test series… while Faisal Iqbal was dropped immediately for poor form Yasir was kept in playing eleven while Asim Kamal watched helplessly from the dressing room (double standards---I bet this is Younis’s influence)
6-Naved-ul-Hassan: how can we afford this “sheikhupura ghadagari” with the likes of Asif, Sami, Shoaib (hopefully he is back for the world cup) and Umer Gul. Not to mention Razzaq and Afridi in the pipeline to provide bowling support..

WE NEED TO LET GO OF THE ABOVE LOT and barring “medical problem” as Kamran highlighted…we should be able to deliver the shock and awe treat to all teams especially SA and Australia.

Lastly, I must admit it was frustrating to see Pakistan lose the test series this morning. Blame can be put all around the team...Asif not bowling particularly well yesterday with SA second innings...Inzy's decision to have Sami field in close and injure his hand while he opted to go Nazir...why did he not use Sami from the get go...bias in judgement that Nazir will swing more than Sami....folly unforgiveable....Openers failed through out the series...still chance not given to Asim Kamal....Faisal Iqbal "judged" too hastily and bewildering to see persistence with Hameed.....??? Lets see if Afridi can take over the captaincy and hopefully good changes will happen and then maybe Pakistan team will not look passive and lethargic like it does under Inzy...

Mr Abbasi,
I'm writing from Bangladesh. Well, I'm really happy to know that imran Nazir is back, same with afridi and razzaq. But the question that bugs me is where are the batsman gone from the country of great Zaheer, Miandad, Asif Iqbal, Salim Malik ? At the same time I'm sure that Akmal is one lucky keeper.At least more lucky than Zulkarnain or the Hindu keeper who dropped two indian catches in the final in Australia and never played in Imran's team.

the comment that the first guy left (it told us how the paki line up should look like !) well there is one problem he has 9 batsmen on there already and he added an extra four bowlers, i think there are way to many players in his side and i dont think that they can slip an extra player in the playing 11

Incluion of Shahid Afridi(average 8.5 last year),Imran Nazir (average 18.5 in domestic season

It is time for PCB to change the selection panel (Waseem Bari and co ). Selection of shahid Afridi(average of 8.5 last year)Imran Nazir(average 18.5 in domestic) shahid Nazir,M.SAMI(Average around 48.00 runs per Wicket in test cricket)Hafeez,Imran Farhat,Faisal Iqbal,Yasir Arafat,Fazal-e-Akbar,Roa Iftikhar ,M.Khalil(Shabbir Ahmed
,Umer Gul, Shoiab Akhtar,Rana naveed injured)
and so many others is the example of how much cricketing sence thay have.It seems that we do not have any young fast bowler and opening batsman in our country.All credit goes to Inzi for his unbold captainsy.I am sure Pakistan is the only cricketing nation who can beat Australia in any level of cricket.Anouncment of oneday team is big joke with the loving cricket nation.

Nice to see the three coming back. I think this is the perfect folly for Australia and co. Bring on the World cup!!!

yaa, i am agree with u, pak has more success when they attack n afridi n razzaq they both r match winners n who iz more attacking then them, but they do deserve enough match pratice before world cup. they should play in all 5 odi n 20 20 match,
as for as present test team iz concern they lost bcose of their own mistakes , they lost both 2 tests by playing negative cricket,tail enders were positive so they score some runs rest we all know better,letz hope there will be some positive cricket in iod series n some excitement too.

I say we have Afridi and Imran Nazir open like the days of the old. The current openers have been doing bad enough already without even giving fast starts.

I agree with you 100%, attack is the best strategy for Pakistan and thats where we always do well. About the lineup, please can someone show the door to Mohammad sami and replace him with even a "Mohallah Bowler". I am sure the result will not be any worse if not much better. And why can't we give a try to the reserve wicketkeeper, while, say diplomatically, giving rest to Kamran Akmal. One spilled catch can turn the whole match around and he did spilled a lot more then the matches we lost recently.

AFRIDI and NAZIR on the team could be dangerous, as one of them will have to open. If you ask me, I'm presuming NAZIR is planing to open, making us be one-down in no time.......

All i can say about the selection of Afridi and Imran is let them display their talent if left any. Then again do pak selectors have any other choice besides them? I for one dont think any inclusion or exclusion is gona bag this 2007 cup.

Well we all can talk about Pakistan strength in for ODI's but question still remain the same can do well against SA. Here we go with Imran Nazir's inclusion to this ODI Squad. Can he play positive role as batsman? There is not doubt about talented Imran Nazir but i would say pakistan dropped him 2yrs ago was unfair with opener. As politics remain high in pakistan cricket some how Imran Nazir was out the picture for quite sometime many would agree with me here Thank You to none other but Sheryaar Khan. I dont know if condition will suit Imran Nazir batting style in SA. Its good to see him back but i guess another replace should have make by withdrawing Imran Farhat. Salman Butt another stroke making player remind us old Seed Anwar is going through same strees at the moment. I admire his batting skills much more higher than any other openers pakistani have produce after legendry Anwar and Shoial. I would love to see Imran & Salman batting together. They are both explosive players in both form of the game. Pakistan have tried so many combinations but nothing work in their way now the world cup is near and still doesnt have set opening pair. This is main reason why Great Legendry Imran Khan always say" Pakistan Domestic Cricket structure need to be developed by producing better pitches".
I am sure pakistan team will do well against SA if they get opening start and let middle and lower order consolidate runs nobody can beat Pakistan. We short of Shoiab Akthars pace but Asif and Shabbir can do job. Still pakistan pace power is below if we compare SA's. I am looking fwd to see Imran Nazir, Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razaaq in explosive batting mood. We have to beat SA in SA to gain more confidence taking to the worldcup. PAKISTAN ZINDABAAD AND JEET GA BHE JEETA GA PAKISTAN JEETAY GA!

Its definitely going to be a good addition. On the test front, please do away with Akmal and Farhat. The series loss is due to Mr. Akmal. Kamran, I think you are still going to write something against Kaneria ?. Farhan must leave because his technique cannot be improved, its proven over three series now. He should be rested for two years. Akmal should be rested for two or three series'. Hafeez should be on the probationary period. Sami and Nazir are only backups, only one of them can be afforded in a given match in the future. Though we must credit them for setting up something to bowl at by taking the lead to 160. For now Yasir and Hafeez should open and Asim Kamal should be brought back at number 6. Younis bats best at no. 3 elsewhere he usually fails.

Please get rid of Kamran Akmal(who has costed us English and now SA series).

Firstly, I have to say that Pak went down fighting in the final test- both teams showed poor technique and application in trying conditions. The difference in the end was SA's superior bench strength, their alrounders and our inability to field more then two wicket-takeing bowlers. Everybody is aware that Nazir for certain and Sami to an extent were only completing the eleven!
For all his greatness you have to question Inzi's team choice and batting order.

Aslam-o-Alikum

First of all I praise to Allah for success of Pakistani team. PCB has made the right selection, it’s a bit late but I hope they will use common sense for future. Just an example, Afridi is not only great storming batsman but also a great spinner bowler. Especially in ODI cricket where he is making only 20 to 25 run just from 10 balls, I believe it a lot better than the people who are making from 60 balls and getting out at same time. Now I believe in Afridi, is the man who can blow the wickets easily at least he does not through too many runs. The point I wan to make here is he would not be kicked out of team any time unless he is injured.

Let’s talk about Imran Nazir, what a classic batsman. A great opener, great fielder and I think that all what we want from a young cricketer. And the combination with Afridi or Malik would might give us a sight of Anwer and Sohail.

I don’t like to criticize at any player. All of them had done great job except some and that was PCB mistake not their. What a great would it be where you have youngster like Imran Nazir, Afridi, Malik and strong middle order batsmen (Inzi, Younis, and Mohammad Yousf). Pakistan need a good wicket keeper like Rashid or Moin. Right now we really need a good keeper I don’t know why PCB is not trying different people.

Now the question of the bowlers no doubt we have two great bowler on hand I mean Asif and Shoib. I wonder why they don’t try Anwer Ali from under 19. atleast they should give him a chance. I believe combination of Asif and Anwer may give us a chance to recall our memories about the time when Waqar and Wasim were at fire.

In conclusion the squad I would go with is Imran Nazir, Shoib Malik, Yonis, Yousf, Inzmmam, then we need a great wicket keeper, and a great all rounder would be Razaaq, one more spinner bowler which I belive could be Rehman and two fast bowler Asif and Shoib or Anwer Ali.

Dear Kamran,
I feel the selection committee was spon on this time, though, Yasir Arafat should have been included.

I dont see any reason why Afridi should not have been selected. In a team where Farhat, Hafeez, and Younis can play why not Afridi. I feel Afridi is by far a better One-day player then all of the above.
Finally, Captaincy to Afridi!. Yes y not sounds exciting.

i prefer pakistan give a try of Nazir and Afridi openers and younis one down with m.yousuf and inzamam and razzaq to follow in a 20 / 20 and see the result before make the team for the first one day.

this is the best pakistan line up for the world cup.

i bet if any team can beat them if they are at their best.

Well, The World's most inconsistent, most highly rated and most ill disciplined team lost yet again. Our batsmen lack shot selection, run poorly between the wickets and lack brains as well as patience to build innings against good teams.
Our bowlers, barring Asif have no control over the ball and spray it all over. To me only 3 players merit selection, namely, Inzi, Yousuf, Yunus and Asif. The rest can easily be done away with. It is in fact bewildering that the same set of players are selected again and again despite their repeated failures, and even when dropped for a match or a series, again make their way into the team with out any noticeable performance in any form of cricket or improvement in their technique.

One has to be deprived of basic cricketing sense to play cricketers like Sami, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal, Yasir Hameed, Rana Naveed every now and then. Sami after playing 30 tests has 70 wickets at an average of 45 plus and a strike rate of 80 odd balls per wicket. Kamran Akmal has been dropping catches at the drop of the hat for the last one year, though, people have only noticed his sloppy glove work in the series against SA. Rana is too expensive and inconsistent...And the list goes on and on.

Bring on Sarfraz Ahmad, the under 19 wicket keeper,Akhtar Ayub,Anwar Ali, the under 19 fast bowlers, Najaf Shah, another promising left arm fast bowler, and groom them for future. For batting reinforcements, bring on Fawad Alam(What a cool headed talent he is), Bazid Khan, another batter who is cool headed and can build innings, Shahid Yusuf, Hasan Raza and Muhammad Waseem (a lost talent who is still 28 years).
But alas, who is going to take the daring decisions, not the selectors I belive, not even the cricket board, Yes only the Divine intervention can make things happen fast and for better. Better sense should prevail.....

cricketis all about plitics in pakistan who ever got the sources he is in thats all about pakistani cricket anyhow its never too late to play with the right team which gonna wins the worldcup for pakistan again inshallah

YES!finally imran nazir is bak! i got 2 admit i am a relli big fan of his!(and yes he has dissappointed me many times)i remember his knock against aus a couple of yrs ago when he played gillesspie mcgrath and warne very cleverly.Its also gud 2see tht shabbir is bak.Hope he duz well against south africa and gives some support to asif.Razzak was obviously a natural pick fr the ODI'S but afridi's inclusion duz surprise me alittle.He is a wonderfull player but not consistent.If he finds his mojo we could b real contendars for the worldcup.Moreover i hope pakistans opening problems get solved as our openers were well below par
InshaAllah pakistans chances luk pretty good for the ODI'S and the world cup

I'm dissapointed that Yasir Arafat has once again been overlooked... the last time he played for pakistan (against SA in the champions throphy) he scored 27 of the teams 89 run total - more than both razzaq and afridi put together - and that was whilst having come in at number 9. He's young and very motivated, he has zip with the ball and power with the bat... but most importantly of all he seems to have a good head on his shoulders/ some brains, some intelligence... which i'm afraid to say, as awesome as razzaq and afridi are when and if they come off, in my opinion merits him being given at least an opprtunity to replace them.

Now that Pakistan have lost the Test Series, and As a Pakistani Fan Demanding a change , i hope pakistan loses this ODI series too.. and only then major shake up will take place,

u ask any pakistani right now they will not give Akhtar credit for that second test victory, his 4 wickets were Huge!, imagine south Africa adding 100-150 more runs in that 1st inning, then pakistan wouldve been chasing close to 300 runs instead of 180+

Inzimam and woolmer are slowly destroying this team and the only way management will open up their eyes is if they lose Badly in this Series.. personally im hoping for a whitewash, 5-0 RSA.

Inshallah pakistan will lose this ODI series.
GO South AFrica!

Why Not Salman B ? most of our openers except Hafeez,lack solid technique.S.Africa and Australia know how to explore them very welll and if we are to win anything we need to win against them.

I dont know why people talk of non existent domestic form as regards Imran Nazir who is a proven failure and inferior one day batsman to Irfan Pathan yet never mention guys who score heavily at the domestic level - sorry ACTUALLY score, as if that is somehow a weakness. You need openers who will make big scores but who attack, hence Butt and Akmal will be my choice.

Salam, i am sooo glad of Afridi makin the cut back into the squad. Imran Nazir is also remains an asset to Pakistan cricket. Afridi performed well in his last match domestically, and did well in south africa, where he went 2 play domestic crickt there. Shabbir and Razaak's return will defo make the team stronger. Inshallah all the team can perform and take the confidence into the world cup!

Sorry Dr. Kamran that I am choosing to write on the completed test series and not to your blog. A quick word though: I agree with selection and I can talk lot on it but let's leave it like that. I Hope that Dr. Kamran will read this what I am calling 'Conclusion and some questions'. There are a few points that I hope Dr. Kamran can pass it on to board that I am mentioning. So here is 'Conclusion and some questions'.

So, we have lost again. Congratulations to Kallis and South Africa.

I dare to say that while this was expected and we performed quite well, are we not the ones who don't choose to win the matches? When I say don't choose I mean 'trying everthing possible' to win. While praising all the time players like Kallis, Dravid and now Prince, are we not responsible for not playing Asim Kamal consistently? His 20 more runs scored just by occupying crease would have made difference. right? Taken the match to one more day and more pressure on South Africa, right? While it is allright for Woolmer to blame workload and he is not wrong, but hasn't SA played six tests in two months and won with back up bowling and hasn't Australia played 5 Ashes tests and have now won 6 ODIs in row? We don't have a Smith or Boucher to take risk, score fast and not get out. And what we have, our own anchor in Asim Kamal, we send him back without playing a single match! Someone must look into this.

We must also see into impact of not having (fast bowler) bowling coach on the performance of M Sami, Shahid Nazir and Rana Naved. This must also be answered before world cup.

Players should also get more sincere about injuries and loudly tell them before they become serious. The turth about Shoaib Akhtar must also be made known so that we don't suffer badly in World Cup. We don't know when Inzamam retires, but he may have played his last match in whites. If he plans to continue, he will have to make sure he can play matches without being out regularly.

Kamran Akmal must be clearly told what is his first job. If he cannot keep wickets cleanly, then someone else deserves a chance otherwise it will be demotivating for others looking forward to be part of Pakistan team.

Geoff Boycott on cricinfo blog suggests he played 8 Ashes series and lost only one but none of such players are on the board running the ECB. I wonder, as he puts, Pakistan board is also mainly looked after by men in suits and not those who wore cricket kits. If this is leading to handling issues of injuries in non-professional manner, the balance in PCB personnel should also be looked in.

Some English journalist Ian Woodbridge speculates that Pakistan may be chuked out of World Cup because of drug ban cases and this might be the explosive start to WC this year! I don't see any reason for this to happen but if there is any lobby that will work for that or God knows what, someone should duly inform PCB of such article written and made sure that no media propoganda is raised!

Steve Bucknor told Younis Khan in morning to tell his bowlers to control the banter! I was not watching, if they went over the board, I don't