Good win by Pakistan today but still we are lacking a match winning player like Inzimam. Still the players having a load of experience in their pocket but they are far behind to become a match finisher.
Still the concerns have to work hard to find talents across the country and also to build a institute who crafts these talents as a match winning players not in cricket but in every sports where in past we rule the world and now we are far behind to hold a title.
Players are asset for a country and has to be treated as an asset for a win win situation.

Afridi, one of the most talented cricketers in the world, today showed us his bowling and fielding class. I feel tempted to criticise the shot which led to his dismissal, but today, for the sake of Pakistan’s victory and his contribution behind it, I will dismiss it as “the typical Afridi batting performance, the norm”. Afridi and Inzamam are Mr Abbasi’s favourite players probably as a considerable number of his posts are directly dedicated to them. Afridi should open in Twenty20 cricket but he is already a proven failure as an ODI opener. I completely disagree with Mr Abbasi that Afridi should open in ODI’s.
Once again Younis Khan threw his wicket away at a crucial juncture. The reason why I attack Younis so much is because he is a very talented player who has a huge responsibility on his shoulders, but I don’t think he respects that. No matter what everyone says Younis has been a major disappointment in ODI’s and a thoroughly inconsistent batsman. I never thought he was suited to the no 3 position and I think Misbah and Younis should switch batting positions. Whenever Younis and Akmal are pushed to the limit they start focusing and perform well for one series, but then their consistency drops again.
Yasir Hameed lacks batting practice and confidence and I guess if someone like Imran Nazir or Salman Butt is preferred over someone of Yasir’s calibre, it can hit him hard on the heart. Although I would prefer if Khalid Latif is used as opener in the next match, just for the sake of trying out someone other than the disappointing stock openers we have seen for the past 4 years, I think Yasir will get another chance to redeem himself.
My last two or three posts have not been accepted by Mr Abbasi although I don’t think I stated anything perverse in them- most of them consisted of reasonable, inoffensive replies to Omer Admani and Osman Ali Khairi. Since Mr Abbasi does not want to allow them I will not waste his and my time pasting them again.
I am of the view that Yousuf should have been Man of the Match because he held the Pakistani innings together and Pakistan would not have won had it not been for his patient innings under pressure. Afridi’s enthralling catch and bowling performance were huge factors why he was considered over Yousuf. On a lighter note may I suggest that AB DeVilliers should have been Pakistan’s Man of the Match, because if he had taken Misbah’s easy catch on the first delivery Misbah faced, Pakistan would have had to depend heavily on the inconsistent/unreliable Akmal and the rookie Tanvir and may well have faced defeat!

Finally, I saw the movie “Scent of a Woman” for the first time yesterday, which is considered to be one of the finest ever made. The character of Colonel Frank Slade, played by the inimitable Al Pacino, kept reminding me of Javed A Khan from Montreal, Canada :-)

Its good to see him opening the innings but one thing should be clear in his role that hes a specialist bowler, Do your best in batting but not at the expense of bowling.
Make it clear to him that you are accountable for bowling not batting. Whatever you will do in batting would be considered as a bonus not an excuse to poor bowling.
By doing so we have already spoiled the career of Kamran Akmal. In past he was a very good wicketkeeper & a handy batsman. We overburdened Akmal to take a lead for one special batsman & what happened is history now. Today we are talking to get rid of him because of poor wicketkeeping not the batting. If its not funny!
Yes its funny for us but not for the poor chap.

Mr. Kamran Abassi,
For the first time I completely agree with you!

Afridi should be opening (at least in the subcontinent), the vice captain needs a rest (and so does Hafeez), and Akmal needs to go back to school cricket. It is not like it is a mere blip, he drops balls that don't deflect at all. So, naturally, he will consistently drop when there is an edge, and a good spin bowler is a very average one with Akmal behind the wickets.

Also, it is a good thing you wrote a very small article, it makes the call for changes much more powerful and the matter concerning Akmal is not lost in the melee.

Agreed that Yasir Hameed fluffed it today. However, kamran akmal has performed very well with the bat numerous times before. Therefore, we shouldn't commit the stupidity of dropping him from the team.

I agree with you Kamran Sahib, PCB and selectors must end this torture named ‘Kamran Akmal’
The chances that he has been given are plentiful but he is still not learning. Pakistan has lost so many games due to his poor keeping. I would say 1st Test was lost due to his drop catches and lost chance of stumping. Kaneria must hate him by now because he is the one whose bowling was not well rewarded due to Akmal’s drop chances.

Selectors should try Zulqernain Hyder or anybody else who’s in the queue.

About Afridi, I still believe he should be made captain and Shoaib Malik vice captain. Malik looks defensive in his approach so far. He can not even ask anybody to open unless they want to! (in this case Afridi) I expect a captain to show strong command with friendly disposition over his team and place field according to the situation. I think he is too soft to be a commanding and clever captain. I believe Afridi will perform even better if made captain. His recent performance alone is enough to convince selectors and PCB.

Salman Butt is unlucky to gel his place within the playing 11. He has to qualify in the playing squad first. He does not deserve an automatic permanent place in the team, making him vice captain with his pathetic performance is unfair with players like Afridi who rightly deserves to be a captain or at least a vice captain. But if PCB makes someone vice captain with the aim to groom him as a future captain then Malik should be vice captain and Afridi a captain so that in the next 2-3 years time Malik is fully prepared and mature to take the charge. It would be a U-turn for PCB though but it is not a new thing for them or us, is it? Malik was made captain until December 2007 anyway. It was not a permanent appointment so why can’t we expect more changes? Imran Nazir, Hafiz need to sit out now fir ever because they did not take advantage of several opportunities presented to them. I think selectors should include Yasir Hamid and Fawad Alam in the team now and Akmal must go. I do not want to see his miserable face every time he misses a chance to catch or stump. He is only in the team to lower the morale of Pak team on a given day! Enough is enough. Please get rid of Akmal and give chance to others who are eager and passionate to perform.

Very good performance by the whole team in general and Afridi in particular. He is our best bowler at the moment and his batting is a bonus for us.

It is really very saddening to see the standard of wicketkeeping of Pakistan. For Pakistan, the wicketkeeper has been probably the worst fielder on the field. The bowlers have to be praised that they can still win a match despite such poor performances behind the stumps and all over the field. Looking at Kamran Akmal, I think that his mind is just not there in the game, probably the fear of being dropped is on his mind. It would be very fair to give him some rest even if he is better than other options available.

Pragmatic people do not like to play lottery. Afridi is no different. Despite being the senior most player, he has not improved his game a wee bit. He is as unreliable as any other youngster with talent. Three players in our current team are most over-rated younus khan, afridi and akmal. For fresh approach team needs to move on without them.

For the love of God Akmal must be banished without delay..
its torture alright...chinese water torture rather than the drip drop kind that Kamran is mentioning..
If I have to sit and watch Akmal flff another catch im going to jump my fourth story window....

How about giving Zulqarnain a chance...id be willing to give Geoff Boycotts Grand mum a go at keeping wickets for us now...

afridi was spot on ,he is clearly supporting the youngsters and his performance is exemplary(on field).
heres a simple little question which i never got a satisfactory answer or never will, i guess.
JUST AS A REAL BAD EXPERIMENT CAN WE TRY ANOTHER WICKET KEEPER PLEASE????

I feel vindicated about Afridi. If we have to go with unpredictability at the top of the order then no one but Afridi should be there. I think they should persist with this combination. Yasir Hameed may not have performed today but he deserves a longer run. Trust Pakistan's selectors to bungle up a promising career. Hopefully they haven't messed it up much.

Yeah Afridi was a treat like he always is when he performs well. It is always either fasting or feasting with him and it was the latter earlier today.
On a sidenote, how come we have a vice captain who cannot find a place in playing 11. Cant we find another man, perhaps afridi, to be the vice captain. Someone who deserve to be and is part of playing 11????

Once again great performance by Shahid Afridi in every aspects of the match i.e. Batting (He scored 32 runs on 18 balls), Bowling (He got Three wickets) and Fielding (and 2 catches).
He should be appointed Vice Captain.

Kamran Akmal should be out.
Sarfraz Ahmed Wicket Keeper batsman (He was under 19 captain of the winning team) or Salman Ahmed Wicket Keeper from Faisalabad (Rashid Latif brought Salman's name) are the best available choices in the country.

Dawar
LA USA

I think Shahid Afridi has become a better cricketer since he started focusing on his bowling. To be fair to him he should be considered a bowling allrounder who can tear the other team apart with his batting if he gets going. However, he needs to make his place in the team based on his bowling which he is currently doing and hence has revitalised his position in the team.
Other point that you raised in your article is absolutely critical. PCB needs to rest kamran right away and try couple of other keepers - we've already seen him dropping so many catches in this test and ODI series. Kamran seems to have a huge problem anticipating ball movement against the spin bolwers. He simply cannot keep against spinners - it feels like a miracle when he is actually able to hold on to fine edge (forget the thick edge). It takes a little while for the new keeper to make his place and hence, it is even more ciritical that we try a new keeper now if we want to build a winning momentum.
A dropped catch has a snowball effect of demotivating the bowler and the whole team. On the other hand the surviving batsman learns a lesson and usually tries to capitalize on it.

Afridi, The Pathan from Karachi.
Once again you are brilliant.

PCB should appoint Aafridi captain.
He has more experince and expertise than Shoaib Malik.

I do not see place of Kamran Akmal and Misba in the team for an Indian tour.
We all know Shoaib is a good friend of Misba but its not mean that Shoaib give more chances to Misba than other players.
He should replace by any good allrounder ro Asim Kamal.

Gulab Khan
Peshawer

Oh the hypocrisy!!!. Granted Kami needs work on his keeping but he needs to be in the team for india where we will need his grit. So lay off it. You are the same kamran abbasi that advocated for moin khan to come back to the team a decade ago, after the later had cost pakistan numerous matches with his gloves. The most memmorable being the test series in WI right after the tied one day sereis in the mid nineties when wasim and waqar were in their prime. Moin was like a person with his hands made out of brick, and couldn't catch a cold and continued to do that throughout his carreer. A truly horrible WK and much worse than akmal in terms of technique ( for those of you , who know about wicket keeping). But you never asked for anyone else to be given a chance than. I had written to you than and I am writing to you now. Take off your glasses. I don't care if you put this post in or not. Just take care of your biases.

Without doubt, Afridi is a match winner on a given day and can sway the match decisively in Pakistan's favor with the bat. Even if he works in one out of five matches with the bat (20%), Pakistan is likely to be on the winning end. So the Pakistan management should take into account this probability and should give Afridi now an extended run at the opening slot in limited overs cricket atleast in the Subcontinent. Mohammad Yousaf is as reliable as ever. Younis Khan needs to stop failing in 4 matches and then working out in one and needs to be more consistent. Anywayz, well done boys for today and all the best with the remainder of the series.

ABbasi bai i agree totally with you on shahid afridi shud open in asia
Yasir is crap man bring bak BUTT? or Imran?
Kamran Akmal shudnt be dropped! He has served pakistan sooo well in the past
drops today were very hard chances plus he is a good batsmen and wicket keeping can surely improve

I agree on the Akmal issue with you. Most teams either have an exceptional wicketkeeper who can bat, or an exceptional batsman who can keep wickets. On Akmal's current form, we have neither. He needs to be rested and given a chance to work on his glovework.

Too right, Akmal's confidence has hit an all time low and he needs to buck up his ideas.. a stint out of the side could do him the world of good.

Imran Khan once said that AFRIDI IS A LOTTERY. He indeed is you can't win it everytime but if you win it then it is a very special one. And he showed it once again today.But people should not always expect highly from the player in every game not only Afridi but the others as well. Because its a game we Pakistanis should understand.

Agreed.
Afridi should be the vice captain. Butt doesn't deserve a place in the team, let along being a vice captain. Keeping a nonplaying vice captain only perpetuates the image that we are the laughing stock of the cricketing world.

Another fact to support the above mentioned impression is our continued persistence with Akmal. A keeper is a keeper first, second, and third, and then a batsman. Akmal did not only drop 2 catches today--I challenge people to look back at all of our test defeats over the last 18 months, and you will find a huge letoff by Akmal as being a major contributing factor. We have other good candidates--it is time that we gave them a chance, and these ODIs are the perfect opportunity.

Allowing Afridi to open the innings in any form of the game is to:

1. Deny a worthy specialist youngster (if one exists) an opportunity - and I do not mean Butt, Nazir, Hameed, Hafeez, Taufiq Umar, or Akmal. These gentlemen must all be dropped - immediately.
2.Resign to the fact that Pakistan will be at least 1 down by the 2nd or 3rd over(about the length of an average Afridi innings).
3. A corrollary to point # 2: Resign to the fact that Pakistan will almost never have an opening partnership of a 100 or more.
4. Weaken the power hitting options in the last 5 overs of the game when, IMO, Afridi may be best utilized. His calling in life is to blast the ball - not to stay at the wicket, which is what is required of an opener.
5. Admit once and for all that there is little batting talent available in Pakistan.
6. Ensure that there will be frantic search, in the middle of an away tour, for another opener (which will ultimately be make-shift) when Afridi fails consistently on seaming tracks.

In the long run this short-sighted approach is not good for Pakistan cricket. We need visionaries at the helm.

Jack Murphy

Maybe SA should try and win the next 2 games, because I wouldn't want Pakistan to embarrass them with 4-1 scoreline.

Having Afridi open the batting is a really bad idea. An opener needs to be a consistent and high quality batsman. Afridi is neither. Although he was able to score 32 runs today (after being dropped at 10), if his past performance is any indicator, he is likely to only embarrass himself as an opening batsman. Having him at the top of the order would continue the disastrous instability in Pakistan batting. It has been argued that Afridi could not be worse than Nazir or Hafeez or Butt. That is probably true. They are all pretty bad. But I fail to see the logic in replacing a bad batsman (say Nazir) with another equally bad or worse batsman (Afridi)? Find somebody else to open.

It is much better to have him come in late, throw his bat around, and try to -once in about 10 occasions -score a fifty. Afridi did bowl well and deserves praise for his overall contribution today.

The selectors should stick with Yasir Hameed. He has one of the best records among current Pakistani batsmen and—although he is unlikely to set the world on fire in one day cricket—given adequate opportunity could become a strong batsman.

Inshallah we will win the next match, and then have the opportunity to pick an alternative keeper for the final ODI. Look how many England have gone through in months since Pakistan toured UK - 6 maybe?
Hameed did not totally fail, 42 partnership was better than some, and he was not the first one out! 18 isn’t a huge score, but I got the impression he was trying to do a Yousuf, and bat through the innings - okay he did not manage this, but the intent was there. Today’s not a great example, but he is head and shoulders above, Taufeeq, Farhat & Hafeez in pure (international) class alone - he really needs a decent run, otherwise we’ll end up with another Asim Kamal / Bazid Khan. We really need to start nurturing our players - we have a chance to be the best with a 2nd successive great coach - I hope PCB lean towards some consistency in respect of selection. I personally have had Afridi and Hameed as my ODI openers for the last 3 years (Hafeez as cover) and possibly Hameed and Butt for the Tests with Taufeeq and Farhat - until recently, as cover. Bold? Well let’s see.
Afridi was at his bombastic best. Speedy 20's, 30's with the odd manic 50 will do just nicely! His wickets, aggressive bowling & un-Pakistani fielding are just bolt-ons to the main reason why we all love him!
How many players have destroyed McGrath & Pollock so wilfully as Afridi? Let him keep playing like the 16 year old we all cherish from 1996…

Shahid Afridi deserves a permanent spot in the test team. Pakistan team managment has wasted this talented cricketer during the last 10 years. His test record is not spectacular but far better than the player opted over him. He has a test average of 38 with 5 hundreds from 26 games which is not bad at all compared to the other openers selected during the last 4-5 years. he has an added ability of being a useful bowler and someone who can spark some energy in the field. I can see the point if he was benched in favour of players like Saeed Anwer or Aamir Sohail but the current bunch that has been opening is totally a waste of his talent.

Lets look at the current group of openers who are playing musical chairs. Salman Butt probably is the most talented of the lot but he has not capitalized on his opportunities, from 16 test matches, he is averaging 28 with 2 centuries. Imran Farhat from 27 matches is scoring at 33 with 2 hundreds. Mohd. Hafeez is scoring at 33 with 2 centuries from 11 games. Imran Nazir has scored similarly at 33 with 2 centuries from his 8 test outings. Taufeeq Umar has scored 4 hundreds and is averaging 39 from his 25 test opportunities. Finally, Yasir Hameed who played 20 tests is averaging below 36 with 2 centuries which were both scored on his debut against the Mighty Bangla desh.

From the above stats among the 8 supposed openers, Afridi has the most centuries and second highest test average behind Taufeeq Umar. with his added ability as a bowler and his leadership, he should clearly be in the test squad. Until there is a better player scouted, Afridi is a deserved test player for Pakistan. The team managment needs to think out of the box and experiment with the opening pair with different options like may be pairing Asim Kamal with Misbah Ul Haq. Both these players have displayed poise and calm during the opportunities that have been so far offered to them. This opening batsman void after the retirement of Anwer is not going to be filled any time soon if the same set of players are tried over and over and over again.

Kamran Akmal with all his problems is the best available player for the position. Until we can find a Dhoni or Gilchrist, he is our best bet.

Kamran Akmal has to go, not only that he drops catches but he can't stand up close to the wickets when medium fast bowlers are bowling.
If we look at Gilchrist or Boucher they always come up close to the wickets whenever any batsman
is in aggressive mode and is batting from outside the crease.During this current series I have observed that several SA batsman when they get set they start standing outside the crease and deny the bowler the desired length,many batsman in International cricket employ this technique but good keepers always come up and put pressure on the batsman for a stumping chance.He is not a good keeper at all its and its about time that PCB should show him the door.
Pakistan Played extermely well today, I would have been more satisfied if they had scored the required runs in 40 overs.Shahid Afridi performed in every department of the game, and it was a good Idea to send him to open the innings as none of the other openers are performing so might as well send him to open,with his clean hitting he can deliver each time if he slows down a little bit and does not try to hit a boundary on every other ball.But I think it's a waste,to even float such an ideas as in past it has always landed on the deaf ears of Afridi he can't change his style.Its because of his batting style that people love him and for the same reason they hate him.

The Younis Khan bubble got burst after just one match and he is back to his usual self.He is simply not good enough to play ODI cricket.

I don't think any new wicketkeeper will perform any worse than Akmal's current performances. This makes it the ideal moment to shift gears and move on to a brand new 'keeper who can only improve from thereon. Oh, how ignorant people seem to be when they point out Akmal's (more than?) occassional batting performances and totally ignore the extravagantly high cost of his wicketkeeping lapses. A wicetkeeper's primary responsibility is just that. Anything beyond that is a bonus. Can anyone imagine persevering with Danish Kaneria as a leg spinner if he totally lost form but made an occasssional fifty down(or even up)the order.
I have not seen Imtiaz Ahmad in action, but clearly Pakistan has only produced two worldclass wicketkeepers - Bari and Latif! All the others have been average(or below)wicketkeepers even if good batsmen.And even some of them (remember Ashraf Ali, Salim Yusuf, Taslim Arif, Anil Dalpat, Zulqarnain) would do better than Akmal as he currently stands. Pakistan simply cannot afford the high cost of Akmal's keeping- and the selectors have a responsibility to the nation to provide the best possible person on current form for the 'keeping slot. I hope they are able to take this difficult step.

Congrats to Malik and Pakistan team for taking lead in the one day series. Mohd Yousaf has again proved that he is the only world class player in the team. Afridi is in good bowling form and some of his "tullas" worked today so that was a bonus.
Pakistan needs Shoaib Akhtar and Asif back for India as they are real match winners. PCB should try to bring back Razzaq in the team as we are missing his hard hitting abilities in the end overs. Salman should be given a chance in next match, we need to give him confidence for India series. There is no way Kamran Akmal should be out. He is a talented wicket keeper batsman. Today he missed 2 hard chances and same thing could have happened to any other keeper. Trying any under 19 kid against India in India would be a real disaster.

A good win for Pakistan. In fact it was a great team work by them. Everyone contributed in it bowlers, fielders and batsmen. Now coming to Afridi, he is an ideal cricketer a complete cricketer have in the 11 men squad. He can bat, can bowl and can field better than anyone else in the team. He must open the innings especially in the Sub-continent. And i always believe that Yasir Hameed is the best opener available in Pakistan since he made his debut. He is so unlucky that he is not part of the Pakistan Team since long. But I am sure that the selectors will keep an eye on the averages of all openers of Pakistan since 2003 and will select the team then. Yasir Hameed is well above them all with round about average of 39 in ODIs.

Yes i agree that Kamran Akmal needs a break, improve batting and wicket keeping skills in which he isn't up to the task, dropping catches on crucial moments let team morale down. Pakistan coach and management needs to get a solid openers.

Muhammad Hafeez and Imran Nazir responded badly in past two or three series, opening an innings with Afridi and Hameed is a good step. Afridi is keen to open the innings and he wants to play his natural strokes so he should be given a chance in first 15 overs.

Finally, some consistency; winning two matches consecutively seems quite impressive. I must say it was a typical Afridi performance with the bat and, as it has come to notice of late, his bowling performance was top notch. Since, there have been quite a few comments on yesterday's victory, I would want to comment on another 'issue' - racism. Alot of skirmishes were witnessed during Australia's tour to India - Symonds-Sreesanth-Harbajhan being in the spotlight - which forced the ICC to send letters to BCCI demanding a report on the allegation of racism. I was surprised to read in the article that Malcom Speed had written to PCB regarding racist comments as well. The over all ambience on the field is very amiable between South African and Pakistani players. The general body language and the sportsmen spirit has been impeccable through out the series. I hope the Pakistani players have the sense to keep their noses out of an issue as serious and potentially damaging as it is. Good luck to the team for the rest of the series.

Well done Afridi, again you showed that you are the most inconsistent but the most valuable player of Pakistan team. No matter, how much experience you get and how many senior players give you tips, you only play your game with your own plans and strategies. I know that you always want to give 110% like your strike rate but please try to stay on the wicket for some more time. We all love you and pray for you that you do very best in the upcoming India tour as you did it last time. Selectors should consider you a permanent
one day opener in the sub continent pitches.
Good Luck for the rest of two matches and Next series.

It's heartening to see Pakistan are leading the series so far but there are serious underlying problems that PCB still needs to address. You have just two world class bowlers in your team; Afridi and Umar Gul and One world class batsman in Mohamed Yousuf. 3 good players don't make a good cricket team. I am not a Pakistani but have supported this team since I was a boy. When they won the world cup I was still very young to fully understand what it meant. Will PCB grant us the joy of getting to see PAK lift another world cup in our lifetime?

Afridi, no doubt, has improved his bowling technique and variety which is well evident by looking at his bowling figures after most every match recently. And, he is a good fielder which is constantly emanating bundles of energy on field and bucking up his team. I wish he is successful in controlling his batting temperament too. If he manages to bat wisely, there is no stopping him being named the "BEST ALL ROUNDER" on scene these days.

I don't see the need of too much back lash on Kamran Akmal. Even Vivian Richards had a few bad patches in his career. Look at how Hayden and Ganguly fought those black patches and are right up there at the top. We need to persevere a bit more with Kamran and actually encourage him to improve his wicketkeeping.

I have always felt that Afridi is slightly under-rated as a bowler. Afridi opening the innings is not an ideal situation... but I guess that if you consider the 300 regular openers are performing, it is much better to go ahead with him.

I think that. apart from performance, Afridi is always looking to contribute. You just cant keep him out of the game.

His bowling has really matured over the past 2 months.

It hurts to see Akmal's performance taking a nose-dive. There was a time when he was rated by Ian Chappel as the best keeper, in terms of pure keeping ability. His batting was also doing wonders.

But now, he has become quite a burden. The number of catches he has dropped is shocking. You look at how other teams have keepers who are key players... Gilchrist, Sangakarra, Boucher, Dhoni.
Pakistan must try out other keepers. I have heard there are some pretty impressive guys in the domestic circuit. Since the England tour last year, the PCB has been too kind to him.

Kamran, I agree with your point of view about Afridi....he needs a bit of self-confidence....what Pakistani team did was to make him open in a game, then number 5, then 7...then dropped for couple of matches....then bringing him in.....these things make a batsman feel very bad and make him lose his faith in his capabilities...this is applicable to all in the team...in my opinion....Afridi (as well as other opening pairs) should have given at least 5-6 matches to open....by the time...i think they will acquire some self-confidence

I wanna draw an example....s.lanka, australia, SA despite openers' failure sometime...they stick to their openers to give them a chance....that's what made Sanath, Hayden such great batsmen

Today Pakistan wins matches not because of Akmal, but in spite of Akmal.

Rana Naveed, Mohammed Hafeez and Kamran Akmal were the architects behind Pakistan's performance in the World Cup. The first two have mercifully be shown the door and now its high time someone else replace Akmal. Heck, in current form, even Misbah ul Haq or Yasir Hameed or Younis Khan can keep wickets equally good.

I totally agree that Shahid Afridi must open the innings at all times, especially when all know that Pakistan have not got an established opening pair. I also think that Afridi should be made at least vice captain of the ODI team, in place of a NON PLAYING Salman Butt (who frankly....does not deserve to be in a ODI team). I was surprised to see that Yasir Hameed has over 2000 runs at an average of 38+, an average not maintained by many batsmen like younis khan in the same version of the game. I think Yasir is a better choice than Hafeez, Butt and Imran Farhat.

Shahid Afridi should be used as an opener in ODIs since Pakistan anyway loses 2 to 3 wickets at the top anyway, so where is the risk? Other opener spot is a problem, it is suggested to try new faces instead of using same old recycled faces. As regards Kamran Akmal he needs proper coaching not being dropped. Don't forget what he did on the India tour last time. He is a gutsy player and will improve with coaching. I don't think a replacement better than him currently exists in Pakistan. However, 2 wicketkeepers should be in the squad. Younis Khan needs to grow up and play like a senior, experienced player.

Well I have read all the posts... I believe that Afridi has improved a lot and he is batting much consistently than before. As a bowler he has improved leaps and bounds... On current bowling form he is the best bowler in the side... I agree with a suggestion that we should view Afridi as a bowler and if he bats well that is a bonus… Though another school of thought may be that since he is the senior most team member he should take the responsibility of batting more sensibly… If he cuts out the percentage of some of the high risk shots then he will become better.

Yousuf was able to play the way he was because Afridi had ensured that the run rate will never come in the picture.

On Akmal what can we all say... it is true that we should give someone else a chance. It is like telling Akmal that he is not indispensable... Couple of years ago he was almost the best WK in the game and now he is in the league of Matt Prior only Prior is a better batsman. my suggestion would be to take two WK to India. Drop Kamran for the first two matches so that he knows he has competition… That may help him to improve.

All the best to the team for the next two matches and the Indian tour

Shahid Afridi's symphonies are short and brief and when he is on song, he is a treat to watch, it is like a "simple harmonic motion." A motion that is neither driven nor damped it simply oscillates. The motion is periodic and repetitive without any standard intervals in a specific manner which goes on boom-boom with brute force and there is no damping. In physics and engineering, "damping" is mathematically modeled as a force with magnitude proportional to that of the velocity of the object but opposite in direction to it. Thus, for a simple mechanical damper, the force F is related to the velocity v by

F = -cv
where c is the damping coefficient.
Similarly the letter F in Afridi, stands for Force.

Most people on this blog know that I support Shahid Afridi, not blindly (jamais) but, righteously and forthrightly like a 'straight-shooter.'

I endorse Dr. Abbassi's view on defending Afridi's batting in the opening slot. The caption of this thread if translated in Punjabi is, "Jithay dee whatever, utthay aan khloti." :-) I have been saying it since ages, that this is where he belongs in the ODI and twenty20 world, especially when playing on the subcontinent tracks, where he has a very good track record. Often his critics refer him as a flat track bully or a one time trick pony! But, time and again he has proved his critics wrong and some of them have to eat their words and "chew the cud" like a humble cow and admit that: "Afridi is one of the most talented cricketers in the world, today showed us his bowling and fielding class." ;-) Oh, yeah the catch - he can't believe that he held that catch of "A.B. Deliver" that is how our Pra Waqqa pronounced his name a couple of times.

The only reason Afridi's prominence is obvious now is because, he is not under someone's shadow or at the mercy of the captain and the coach when they used to play yo-yo with his batting order and team selection. Very often he was rested or dropped without any justification and that hampers anyone's confidence. Now, in order to cement his place in the team he has not only focused on improving his bowling but, he has taken up this role of a senior member of the team in a very positive way and he keeps encouraging the juniors as if he is "The Leader", which in a way he is the back seat driver and he controls this 12 cylinder Ferrari Testarossa. If he continues to perform with bat and ball on a regular basis, I am sure a lot of his supporters would ask him to take over from Malik, which is not a good idea.

I have said this before and I would reiterate my point again, that removing Malik from the captaincy post would be a very bad idea, its not in the interest of the team. Like a country elects a leader for a four year term and once he is elected, everyone should be behind him. And Malik is not a total pay&do, he is a fast learner, he needs to improve his English and his communication skills, which won't come in a day but, he has improved, he has rectified the errors he made earlier, in the third ODI his body language was very positive and he was seen leading from the front and thats what I like to see in him, his aggression.

Wasim Saqib on your questioning the genuineness and authenticity, I want to ask you, have you heard Kabir Das?

"Kabira, kuVaan aik hai
Aur pani bharay anaik
Bhaanday hee may bhaid hai
Paani sab may aik"

Baat "agham" keh dee nee - ray mo say Naina milayee kay!
Konsi baat? Gambhir baat, yani Gehri baat.
Vo baat jis ka saaray fasany may koi zikr na thaa......

Well....Afridi should open with a guy in the U-19 team who is currently in place for Hafiz. I think his name is .... yes.....Khalid Latif and (gosh) his avg. for ODIs is 49-50.....WOW.....now dont you think this guy deserves a place in the team.....Afridis main target to open and score is about 30-40....not much but effective and yes for kamran akmal.....sarfraz ahmed or Zulqairnan Haider should do.....well....better than Akmal but Ubaid is right....we will need Akmal during the India tour and then maybe they could try after that....?

It was nice to see Pakistan do well against South Africa. Pakistan's record is poor and it seems that many good player become injured during or around SA tour or when we play the Aussies. I have tried to find what the problem is with Pakistan team and think is lack of aggresion. The Aussies do it well against us. Shoaib Akhtar is very good at this but his ego has let him and his followers like my self down.

Come on Pakistan show us what you can really do.

I think Yasir Hameed shud open because he is very sensible opener and the way he got out was just a very good catch from Kallis but from my point of view Yasir should open

Pakistan need to think outside the box with Afridi.

He should be used as an opener while chasing, and as a lower order batsmen if PK bats first. That way, his true strength - slogging - will be utilized either way.

The role of the lower order in the first innings in ODIs is to knock the ball around and accelerate - a perfect role for Afridi.

But Afridi is not who you want batting down the order in second innings, where he would have to critically plan a chase with few wickets to spare.

If he opens while chasing (like against SA in Faislabad), he can hit the ball around for a few overs and hopefully bring down the run rate for the rest of the lineup.

Afridi is a wildcard. He should be used in a flexible way.

You are right! Kamran Akmal needs to go. How many chances he need. We dont need his batting but we need his wicket keeping. We lost so many matches because of him dropping important catches of very solid players. Like what happened in Karachi test when he dropped Kallis. He dropped couple catches and let go couple of stumping and then make 40 - 50 runs and sometime he does not even make 30+ runs. But by dropping catches and fluffing the stumping he actually cost the team 100 of runs each time so what is the point of his 40 - 50 runs.

The opening conundrum continues to baffle pakistani selectors. Any pair they choose must be give a decent run of at least ten games before booting them. With the current revolving door policy, new opening pairs will be tried in every game and expected to score heavy in their first outing, failing which... exit old openers and enter new pair.

The selectors need to be more responsible. They need to study the games of the potential candidates, shirtlist and then pick a final pair and stick to them for some time. Give them ten games, give them a definite target to achieve, say, an average of 40 after ten games. If the target is not achieved, then drop them justifiably.

It was Afridi's day, wonderful performance by afridi,it will be great if he can continue to perform like that on Indian tour, but IS it the long term solution??
Afridi is a sort of Player, when he performs well (specailly with the bat), one thinks that ah! what a talent , with him in the team, Pak can be world beaters , but on another day when he throws away his wicket, he puts his position under a question mark.
No doubt, he has improved his bowling immensly. Worth trying Afridi as an opener in the indian series considering the conditions and the importance of the tour.

You guys need to wake up. Afridi has proved time and again that he is not an opener. However seeing as we are playing the next 5 months of cricket in the sub continent, that India is coming up next and the fact that we have no one else putting their hand up at the top of the innings, it is understandable why afridi may be persisted with at the top. But to think he solves the opening issue we have is pure delusional.
Moving on to Kamrans name sake, Mr Akmal. Yes I agree that time is running out, but we can not offload him now with two BIG series coming up. He is vital to the balance of the side coming in at number 7 in the test matches, and he is a proven run scorer in the subcontinent. And seeing as Afridi may come in to the tests against India, we may well need the Kamran to open the innings. But imagine if we did drop akmal and got a wickie who couldn't bat at number 7 followed by akhtar,gul, kaneria and asif. We need Kamran guys and against India at least I back him to deliver.

I agree with most people on this post that Kamran Akmal needs to be given a rest. He came into the pakistan team with a bang, with some brilliant batting performances, even though his wicketkeeping wasn't much to boast about. However his batting form has considerably dipped and his wicketkeeping is becoming abit of a joke, he seriously needs to take time out. Someone else should be given a chance, i'm not sure who is available but surely their glovework cant be as bad as kamran akmals. I'm not saying permanantely get rid of him, but give him a rest... and let him fight for his place back in the squad, only then will he improve. As for Afridi, well you either love him or you hate him... but in recent years Afridi's bowling has improved dramatically and he is consitantly taking wickets and being economical aswell. In the past we were using Afridi as a batting allrounder but now we've got it right, he should have a role in the team as a bowling allrouder...and should aim to improve his bowling even further.

I agree with Kamran, I think Afridi should open as we are always 2 down for not very many so there is no harm in letting him go in. If he comes off then we are off to a great start and if he does not then it is no different from being on not very many for 1 or 2 down. As for mr A.A.khan mentioning J.a.khan in the same sentance as Al Pacino....I am not so sure!!

I agree afridi should open in all forms of the game. he is wasted lower down and the openers are not doing anything.
kamran akmal is a burden for the team. we lost in england because of imran farhat and kamran's missed chances. we must have an alternative.

He is in his own league, incompareable, unmatched, scintillating, sensational, maddest of all mad maxes, he is the prince who sets the heartbeat of spectatles himself, his lovers heartbeat depends on his mood which ultimately dictated performance.---- What should we expect from him, he is one we (cricket fans)will remember with tears of happiness, with his flavour of true but stupid lover. He didn't perform in 1999 final, no one performed in 2003, his patriotism charged him to disqualify from any meaningful think of 2007. His energy took pakistan to T20 final, he restricted the opposition to 141, and he broke our heart with first ball stupidity. He still brings sensation in us, he makes us restless whether we expect from him or not. He hits McGrath, Pollack, Kumble and Murali as no one can dare to even think, but he is one to go out on their first ball. He was probably born to ride bike in death circus. Hmm , he again plays with us, working fantastically on his bowling which we never respected, he was always a fantastic energi in field, now he praises his team as the best captain Pakistan never had, his batting, he will always play with us, believe me---he is born to play with cricket fans, a Pathan born in Karachi, playing his best in Punjab, what a play! Can he ever make amends of the not the proper use of batting talent he could use to make us 3times (probably 4) World champion---------- Still we don't have answer because we fight between Mind & heart--- coz we love him----thats why he is the Prince of cricket, prince of hearts either own or opposition. The only question is whether Prince ever become the King? i think he should take a leaf from Yousuf's book, but we never know what he has in his box of tricks.

Afridi's best spot is no6, 7 or 8 position. Go and check the cricinfo ODI statsguru filtering thing. I believe Younis should only be kept in Test matches, due to his inability to play according to the situation. This is my team for next ODI.

1. Hameed (Imran Khan rates him best Pakistan opener right now and his technique is definitely the best, he needs to be given a longer run so he doesn't feel the pressure of being dropped)
2. Latif (New guy, great against AusA team, lets try him out)
3. Akmal (makes good use of powerplays)
4. Yousuf (Auto selection)
5. Malik (Auto selection)
6. Misbah (Should be permanent in Pakistan squads from now on)
7. Afridi (Best bowler in side, huge improvement, bats better when ball not swinging)
8. Tanvir (Handy batsman like Akram, hard to pick his action still, this guy should be trained)
9. Rehman (Should only play ODI's, economical)
10. Gul (hugely improved bowler, Pak's best PACE bowler in ODI, better than Asif, Asif better in Tests though)
11. Rao (Bowled very well in the series so far, hasn't done anything wrong...YET)

Afridi is dangerous when he is on the roll, but he needs to be consistent, this goes for the whole team. Yesterday their fielding was of high quality and the game before it was disastruos. I also agree that Malik is too soft for the captaincy, Afridi is the right person, it will also lift his game even more

Well Afridi is what he is, failing and performing on and off. I agree that Pakistan needs Yasir in the top order. I would rather have him one down. I would also like to have Nazir as opener with Afridi, the coach should just ask him to take it easy. What we currently need are atleast a couple of batsmen that have a raw talent comparable to Inzi, Saeed or Aamir Sohail. Yasir and both Imrans (Nazir and Farhat) have the necessary reflexes. They just needed to be groomed right, which they haven't been. Nazir tries to copy Afridi (which he is not), Farhat is too reckless and Yasir doesn't consistently gets a chance. Yasir will get better if he stays in the team. Look at how quickly he decides to play or leave the ball around the off stump, this is rare for Pakistani/Indian batsmen. Sure Hamid is slow bu remember Yusuf was very slow when he came in but he improved. As for Butt,Tofeeq Umar and Hafeez I am not very impressed. They can at times play cute shots and score big innings but their basic technique is faulty.
One other batsman that should be given a chance in tests is Asim Kamal even if Misbah is to be dropped.

Guys - I stand vindicated, I mean if I was ever observed on this blog in the past, people would know that I have been advocating a 1 to 2 year rest for Kamran Akmal. It was this "deafening silence" from Pak Spin stalwarts that always bewildered me. Kamran Akmal has played his due role in England test series thrashing (more than 10 missed chances), champion's trophy debacle (missed chances and extras), South Africa test series (around 10 missed chances) and one day series and latest is this South Africa home series (key opportunities missed). If he had been dropped in England, it would have done a world of good for both him and for Pakistan. Currently he is arguably the worst wicket keeper in all test playing nations. For Kaneria alone he has cost him at least 15 extra test wicket. Spare a thought for poor Kaneria. Its Akmal who's the culprit not Kaneria. Shoaib Malik, the outragreously-defensive captain of team Paksitan, please listen to us.

He is a class by himself. I rate him one of the best cricketer ever produced by Pakistan but due to his lack of discipline, his figures do not justice with him.

Nevertheless, pak team without him is ....... well I dont want to imagine that.

I completely agree, Akmal should also be replaced with some talented young wicketkeeper/batsman. We are in situation now to do some more postiive experiments that may be giving chance to Khalid Lataif in one of two matches. Another important thing is, place of Misbah, he is good for limited over and but from the aspect of technique he is not that talented player nor his age is in accord with future player which can fulfill the gap of Inzimam. We should also think about that position very quickly, especially for the test matches so that a young player can be groomed to fulfill the gap of Inzimam in terms of quality.

Cheers

Dear Mr kamran
If u wanna c Pakistan cricket team as it is now....Unreliable, inconsistant, most of the time gets beaten by Australia and South Africa, ranks on average number 3,4 or 5 in the world, every now and then falls on a low score and not even certain to win at home soil, ...............only then u would want a tried and tested mediocre batsman like afridi to open all the time.
All the successful teams in the world have got top four batsmen who are capable to score big. If Pakistan wants to compete against Autralia then they need their top four players capable of big innings. Right now we only have got one and a half which is Yousuf and younus. Shoaib malik is playing his part very well as a number 5, which is playing around someone who is already holding the innings.
There is no doubt about afridi's alround capabilities but we shouldnt be expecting more from him. He has turned into a very reliable bowler and a batsman capable of anything between 15 to 30. he wil do it where ever he palys.

Now after knowing this will u still wanna paly him at the top of the order or use him according to his capabilities as an allrounder.
Khalid Lateef is good inclusion in the squad, i haven t seen him batting but still I know that he is capable of scoring big centuries and he has been doing it consistantly enough specially in the domestic fifty over format in the recent past, so why not give him a go.
There is no reason not to replace Kamran Akmal right now after he's been performing so poorly for a long time now. The only reason I can think of is that there is "NO" one in Pakistan's domestic cricket scene right now who could take the role of a modern wicket keeper Batsman in Pakistan team. I used the word modern because we all know how important part the wicketkeepers are playing in today's cirket.
I hope we find someone capable soon.

I'll keep it vrief & short

Afridi is the best utility all-rounder we have at present. Yasir should still be retained (despite scoring 18).
Akmal ?? It's time to ship out if you can't shape up.
Salman Butt: Don't understand why he was appointed as vice captain, particularly when he wasn't in the team at the time of being elected as vice captain. Indeed a mystery

You can never keep a good man down and Lala proved that. Yeah he might fail a heck of a lot of times but can you imagine an Pakistan team without him?

Afridi reminds me of a ticking time bomb, sometimes other teams defuse him but the dangerof him exploding with either bat or ball or in the field is ever present. His exuberence, tenacity and skill is the essence of Pakistani Cricket for me. May his bombast live on and on!

Please put Akmal out of his misery. It's so pathetic to see him like this. Theres no doubt he's an exceptional athlete and his grit and gumption has served us well. However sometimes a man needs to just go out there and find himself. Maybe a stint in the domestic or county circuits would work so he can go sort himself out. If this crap continues, he might lose confidence permenantly and a great player could be lost forever. Give the youngbloods a chance. Zulqarnanin Haider, even his little brother...anyone!

Afridi is a vital cog especially if your team is against the wall and you need that all rounder. with discipline he could end up being like what Klusener was to South Africa in 1999. As far as Akmal goes, hey drop him. He had his chance and go to a new keeper. time is short. Taufeeq Umar may have to fill in the short while.

While I agree with you, Kamran I still feel that Afridi needed to do a little more with the bat. He should have carried on in the same vein and scored atleast 50. Let's face it. Afridi won't be getting any younger. He needs to take responsibility as a senior player much the same as Sanath Jayasuriya. Jayasuriya was also a trailblazer but with time he settled down and although the aggressive batting streak remains, he can put his head down and concentrate. Look at his conversion rate. Whenever he gets a start, he capitalizes it. Afridi should do the same if he wants to continue playing till 38.
Another point mentioned is of Kamran Akmal. He definetly is a let down. He is neither a good keeper nor a good batsman. He should be dispensed with and a new face brought in who is primarily an excellent keeper and a decent batsman.
2 points Pakistan need to focus on are that of Younis Khan and the all rounder's slot. with younis at 3, Pakistan is always at a disadvantage. maybe it would be worth an experiment to send misbah or even shoaib malik himself at 3. someone who is technically sound and a swift scorer as well. With Wasim Akram's retirement, Pakistan have never been able to find a good one day no. 7 or 8. Someone who is capable of scoring a run a ball consistently and a good bowler as well. razzaq has retired and never was a good bowler. pakistan need to fill in this gap quickly. a good fast bowler who can bat well is a must at 8 and rao, sohail or azhar mahmood do not fit the bill. experiments with the openers continue but i think Pakistan would be better off with yasir hameed or salman butt to partner afridi.

guys i beleive us pakistanis love to scrutinize the mistakes moer than anything,. when we win, we love pakistan (and yes even kamran akmal) but when we lose, we need a scapegoat and unfortunately, it has to be akmal. id give him another 12 months at most. by the way, did anyone notice the "baba jee of cricket" was back on screen waving the flag in the crowd with his green throw and white beard? :)

The thought processes and strategies of this selection committee are no less dysfunctional than the one run by Wasim Bari. If you go back to comments made by salahuddin Ahmed when he was first appointed you will see that he clearly stated that Hafeez would be used as a utility cricketer in ODI's but not as an opener. So what did they do? They used him as an opener! We also heard that alternatives for Kamran Akmal would be used. So what to the selectors do? They ignore Zulqarnain for the 'A' team and choose Sarfaraz who does well. So how do they reward him? Instead of trying him out in this series they send him on a meaningless jaunt to Honk Kong for the 6's. Same thing with Yasser Arafat! He belongs in the ODI squad atleast in the 14. Lets just get one thing straight there is no logic to selection in Pakistan it is simply political call.

I think we should stop talking about Kamran Akmal, everyone on this blog is roaring from last one year but its not taking any effect so lets stop talking about him.
Shoaib Malik is an extremely defensive captain, simply doesn't know how to set the field, whenever a bowler is hit a boundary he simply places the fielder right at that place, LOL what kinda startegy is that? and please someone tell him what to say at the toss and the post match ceremony, otherwise demote him to a Vice Captain and make Afridi Captain so that Malik can be groomed for future if he persists and keeps his place in the team, for now Afridi is the best bet. I am certainly amazed with Javed A(fridi) Khan's U-Turn over praising Afridi, by the way Mr. we should give the credit where its due!
Afridi, win us one more match in the upcoming two matches as anyone else in the team doesn't look like winning one.

Kamran Akmal should be out.

Replace him by Sarfraz Ahmed (Ex Captin of winning under 19 team). He is a wicket keeper batsman.
Sarfraz is young and good with both bat and gloves.

We need new wicket keeper and new openers for both test & one day.
Openers could be from the following list:
Khalid Latif
Khurrum Manzoor
Yasir Hamid
Asim Kamal
Shadab Kabir
Saeed bin Nasir
Ahmed Shezad Malik

Saima Khan
Islamabad

Shahid Afridi deserves a permanent spot in the test team. Pakistan team managment has wasted this talented cricketer during the last 10 years. His test record is not spectacular but far better than the player opted over him. He has a test average of 38 with 5 hundreds from 26 games. another thing is his bowling i beleive if we trust him as a bowler only he will brought a lot of wickets bcoz now he is a very improved his bowling ability and he already picked wickets in his cart of ( Tendulkar-3, Ganguly-2, GA Hick, IR Bell, V Sehwag, TT Samaraveera, Sarwan, DS Lehmann, VVS Laxman, ME Waugh, BC Lara, AJ Stewart, N Hussain, and SR Waugh) these are parmanent Test Batsmen bowled by Afridi, thats why i thing he will better than Kaneria also. Pls read some history of kaneria. his last 22 innings he only takes 1 time 5 wickets in an inning, and in his 40 odd test he give over 100 or 150 runs are 30 times. huh lots of runs i think. so there is a good time to give a parmnent chance to Afridi to play a full series in India i bet if he bowls equally overs with Kaneria he will take more wickets bcoz he has lots of variaties in his bowling.

I agree another keeper should be tried.a keeper who can bat well would be good,also it would be worth trying misbah-tanvir as opening combination

Everyone is an expert - in praising Afridi and also in criticizing him - those who praise him likes to see him open the innings or at least bat in the top order that is where he is better utilized. Throwing him down the batting order at number 8 is a sheer waste of his talent. Some people think that he is good for the last 5 overs to slog and assume thats an ideal place for him in a ideal condition. They are talking like this, because of a few instances where a player like Razzaq or Afridi came in and slogged boom boom in the death overs.

Realistically speaking, how many times this so-called ideal condition has prevailed? Hardly a few, may be a couple odd ones in case of Razzaq and a few in case of Afridi. Instead of ruing or lamenting about the glorious past, they should think about how to hone the batting skills of Sohail Tanvir and he can take up that role of big hitting in the death overs. He is quite capable of doing that, Rao and Gul can swing their bats, but Tanvir has shots up his sleeve. He needs to be groomed for that late order blast.

A cricketing brain needs to delve deeper into the statistics and see where these players have scored most runs in their career? While playing at the top order or in the end as sloggers in the death overs? I don't need to go back to dig out the stats to prove my point, because that has been done so many times and people keep forgetting about them. To rue over the fact that there aren't any stable openers in the team or lament about the past glories and talk about Saeed Anwar is not going to change the situation.

The situation can only improve if the team management is not experimenting with new players (team selection) and by shuffling the batting order so often. Because, these players have already proved at the domestic level before entering the International arena and even in the ODI's they have proved their worth. They can do better if they are assured of their selection. Some people on this blog believe that none of these players are good and they need to be dropped or discarded immediately. Then why not ask for Pakistan under-19 to take over the national side?

Thats not the way you build a team, the induction has to be slow and gradual, you don't appoint fresh graduates as managers and general managers, before holding a responsible post they go through a process, on job training etc., and then promotions, if they are thrown in the deep end without any experience then, the results are catastrophic. One doesn't need to quote an isolated case, but what I am talking about is the general rule which is the norm of the industry.

When dealing with Shahid Afridi, people tend to forget that there are other players in the team too and what is their role? When he fails, shouldn't they score? When Afridi scores big, like Inzamam used to score, the team wins on most occasions and when Younis Khan scores big, do I need to mention what the results are?

Pakistan needs to find a good opening partner with Shahid Afridi, one who has good sound technique and better temperament and who is likely to stay for a long time at the crease, while Afridi can make best use of the new ball and goes back in ten overs, the damage is done. In case he fails like, Hafeez, Nazir, Akmal, Butt, Farhat etc., what difference does it make? Among the whole bunch of tried and tested openers who can play the second fiddle role with Afridi?

The only name that comes to my mind in the current bunch of players available is, Yasir Hameed. He has scored over 2000 runs in ODI matches and has an average of 38, three hundreds and twelve fifties a good sound batting prospect with good temperament. Unlike Afridi, he can stay for long at the crease and like Afridi he too was a victim and was treated in the same manner, in and out of the team on the basis of a couple of bad performances. But, the actual reason may be different than what is told to the general public.

Give these openers a carte blanch that they will play the entire series as openers and give them assurances that they will not be removed or dropped in case of a failure. That kind of assurance gives boost to the confidence of any player when he is assured of his place in the team irrespective of a few poor performances. It is the confidence that plays the biggest role in a player's mind, (being over confident like Akmal is the result of complacency and the thought of becoming indispensable) which leads to his playing his natural game and performing par excellence.

PS.

In my previous post in the previous thread, I said: " the chances of SA playing in Karachi are very remote and they might trade off to play the 5th ODI in Lahore." That is exactly what they have done. Perhaps running away from a possible 4-1 defeat would be a real shame and will add another sticker on their backs (besides Chokers) chickened out!

Eamiran has actually made some valid and intelligent points regarding Afridi. I think Afridi’s supporters should read them over a few times. I fully agree with Wasim Saqib that it is because of Afridi’s batting style that he is loved as well as (ironically) hated. Let me clarify here that the problem is not with Afridi’s bowling and fielding, the problem is strictly with his batting.
However where I will disagree with Eamiran is where he states we must confess that Pakistan lacks talent with as far as opening batsmen are concerned. I may feel resigned to acquiesce to that point if Khalid Latif or Khurram Manzoor fail after being tried for a reasonable amount of time, as Hafeez, Butt or Nazir have been.
The point I am going to make now is a reasonable one without regional bias. I once saw Aamir Sohail’s interview where he stated that batsmen from Karachi are more mature than batsmen from Punjab or NWFP. He said part of that is due to genetic and regional characteristics in people. Aamir gave the example of Punjab, which has always produced the best fast bowlers in Pakistan, due to the physical stamina and fitness of Punjabis (I also saw an interview of Zaheer Abbas once where he was asked why Karachi is under represented in the international side although it has a wealth of batting talent. Zaheer replied that Karachiites suffer from poorer stamina and fitness levels as opposed to Punjabis or Pathans, hence their under representation in the international squads). Now that is what Aamir Sohail said and I will not offer any subjective opinions on his commentary.
Aamir’s statement makes me wonder how Hanif Mohammad and Saeed Anwar are considered to be the best openers Pakistan has produced to date. Both hailed from Karachi. Saeed Anwar was not the most technically sound player but he had an unusual gift where he could find gaps in the field almost at will. I remember how batsmen like Basit Ali and Asif Mujtaba were hailed as being supremely talented although they could not maintain consistency and consequently were dropped. Both of these players have played some excellent innings under pressure which surprised everyone. Here the point is regarding openers though, and I do feel that now the need is greater than ever to employ the services of Khalid Latif and Khurram Manzoor (with Yasir Hameed and Taufeeq Umar being considered possible replacements). There is no harm in trying especially since every stock opener has failed recently. Let us exhaust all options we have got and then come to any conclusion regarding whether we have any opening talent in Pakistan or not.

Well well well, once again Afrid and his position as an opner is being discussed. Guys did we forget that if does open and the bazooka does not fire then we have no one else in the lower order to hit sixes in the death overs, before we had razaq so at least some coverage was there. In my opinion, they should send Misbah to open with Nazir, because he has good bating skills and can hold one end, and Nazir can play his shots then come Younas Khan, Yoyo, Malik, Afridi, Akmal, Tanveer, Akhtar when he comes back in the team, and Asif, and for sure no place for Rao and company, instead, they should bring back Rana or Shabir, because they both are wicket taking bowlers.
I have been watching the ODI series and let me say this, Pakistan barely won the matches, Malik looks week and not Aggrasive at all. I totally Agree that Afridi should be named as Vice Capt not Salman butt who does not have a place in playing 11 right now, Afridi right now is our biggest asset behind Yoyo, and he is been put under lot of pressure down the oder in batting and been asked to score 100 + runs in the last six or seven over because our openers and middel order is not able to score runs even after facing 50 + balls so it's a shame on all those players that they get so much time at the crease vs Afridi who has not time to adjust.
Now come to Akmal, well if we have a good keeper in the A team then we should bring him to the national team and switch places with Akmal 50% of the matches, that way Akmal will get rest and can focus on the batting and keeping. Ok now let's talk about Rao and company type of bowlers, we need every one as a wicket taking bowlers not just to bowl 10 over and may be take 1 wicket , so far tis guy Rao stinks so should be let go right away and instead bring back Rana and Shabir, comon this guy shabir has spent more than a year fixing his action and he is such a good bowler he deserev a chance to be back, I gurantee you if we have Akhtar, Asif, Shabir, Tanveer and Afridi no team has a chance against Pakistan to score more than 250.

For all those who r backing Karan Akmal up with their coments, Akmal missed 13 chances in the 4 tests in England, these 13 chances do not include the difficult ones, 9 of them were off Danish Kaneria's bowling. Akmal then went on to miss another 12 chances in the 3 tests in SA, again I m not including the difficult ones, 7 of them were off Danish Kaneria's bowling. Akmal missed Jaques Kallis on 32 in the first test here in Pakistan and we lost by nearly the same number of runs that Jaques Kallis went on to score after being dropped, and it wasn't a difficult chance either.

Believe me the whole Indian tour depends on Akmal's performance with the glove. If he can keep well on the spinning tracks the we are certain to put on some fight otherwise we have no chance, just like against England and SA we would be ruing Akmal's performances. I think its better to give a chance to some talented youngster. I know its a risk but its one that we have to take cuz the stupid Pakistani selectors have wasted another home series by not trying out any new opener or wicket-keeper.

Another weakling in the team is Misbah(in test matches that is), we should've tried someone else in his place against SA. Just like Misbah is not good enough in tests, Younis Khan is a burden in onedayers, he has failed miserably so far and I m sure he is going to play one big innings in the last two onedayers(if an idiotic decision of selecting him again is made by the management), so that he is retained in the oneday squad against india. I m not a great believeer in stats alone but younis is averaging only 22.36 in 2007 with a strike rate in mid 70's. His only innings of substance this year was against SA, when he scored 93 runs. His second highest score this year is 32 and remember that he is in the team as a specialist batsman. He doesn't bowl, he doesn't play with an outstanding strike rate either, he sould be seleted in the test matches only and it will be a relief to see a Pakistan oneday team without him.

For all those who r backing Kamran Akmal up with their comments; Akmal missed 13 chances in the 4 tests in England, these 13 chances do not include the difficult ones, 9 of them were off Danish Kaneria's bowling. Akmal then went on to miss another 12 chances in the 3 tests in SA, again I m not including the difficult ones, 7 of them were off Danish Kaneria's bowling. Akmal missed Jaques Kallis on 32 in the first test here in Pakistan and we lost by nearly the same number of runs that Jaques Kallis went on to score after being dropped, and it wasn't a difficult chance either.

Believe me the whole Indian tour depends on Akmal's performance with the glove. If he can keep well on the spinning tracks then we are certain to put on some fight otherwise we have no chance, just like against England and SA we would be ruing Akmal's performances. I think its better to give a chance to some talented youngster. I know its a risk but its one that we have to take b'cuz the stupid Pakistani selectors have wasted another home series by not trying out any new opener or wicket-keeper.

Another weakling in the team is Misbah(in test matches that is), we should've tried someone else in his place against SA. Just like Misbah is not good enough in tests, Younis Khan is a burden in onedayers, he has failed miserably so far and I m sure he is going to play one big innings in the last two onedayers(if an idiotic decision of selecting him again is made by the management), so that he is retained in the oneday squad against india. I m not a great believeer in stats alone but younis is averaging only 22.36 in 2007 with a strike rate in mid 70's. His only innings of substance this year was against SA, when he scored 93 runs. His second highest score this year is 32 and remember that he is in the team as a specialist batsman. He doesn't bowl, he doesn't play with an outstanding strike rate either, he should be selected in the test matches only and it will be a relief to see a Pakistan oneday team without him.

Kamran you were critical of Afridi in your "September 27, 2007 Afridi halts the shots" blog for not playing the test series but I am glad that you see the strong side of Afridi in the short format of the game. I think Afridi either finds the test format too boring or he knows his limitations. In either case, we should respect his decision to bow out of test series.

I like Afridi because he always plays to win, or atleast he tries to, not to mention entertaining the crowd. He is wild at times but if the criteria is to select a player with two best skills out of (batting, bowling and fielding) then Afridi will give you atleast two on most days. To top it off, if he is hitting the ball into the orbit on a given day then he is unstoppable. This is the strength in Afridi which puts him above any Pakistani player in the 50 over squad.

Mr. tabs Farooq

What are you not so sure of? Me, I am stumped by the comparison of age and looks avec Al Pacino, who is an Italian American. I am a Pakistani Canadian and I do have a French accent but, not a French goatie beard like Colonel Frank Slade. Moreover, Al Pacino belongs to my father's era rather, my Godfather's era. Yeah, he is a good actor and that, "Scent of a woman" is a good movie that won many awards. I am not an actor for sure. In any case thats the viewer's or bloggers perception about me. The fact is, I am definitely better looking and more handsome than Al-Whoever! ;-)

I think the decision needs to be made on what should we designate Kamran Akmal as. A batsman who can keep or a keeper who can bat. The latter is only good in ODI and T20 but not in test matches. I have read lot of comments about Kamran being a good batsman etc. so they he should be selected as a batsman (if he is good enough). So IMO Kamran Akmal should be made limited overs keeper for Pakistani team and they should select a new keeper for the test team.

As far as opening is concerned I think Yasir Hameed should be given few matches to prove his worth. I think Imran Nazir and Yasir Hameed will be a good opening combination for Pakistan. As far as Salman Butt is concerned, he should be released from the team so he can play first class cricket and rediscover his form. He is a good batsman and we need him in form for the India series.

The joke of the thread
"If he(Afridi) continues to perform with bat and ball on a regular basis, I am sure......"
One can only say "anokha laadla khailan ko mangey chand rey, anokha ladla..."
If is the popular word used by our presidents.
It reminds me the referendum of one of our presidents, if you obey God then I am your president.
If I would be elected president then I would put off my uniform.

And the list goes on.

Beychara "if"

Though Yasir Hameed fluffed, we should persist with him. He has the best ODI average among all opening choices we have. He should be given full opportunity. I would say, looking at his record, he is the only solid choice we have.

Afridi: Back where he NEVER belonged:

Mr. Abbasi,

Respectfully disagreeing with you let me say the above should have been the heading of your Blog. Not now but, some ten years ago (When there were no Blogs). Why? Because the sheer support Afridi received from the top, luck, and because of the fact decline in Pakistan cricket resources. I will come back to this in a bit. First, let me say this, whenever, Afridi or any other member of Pakistan Cricket team excels, like any other Pakistan Cricket supporter I am thrilled. Whether, it is Afridi hitting sixes and batting at over 100 plus strike rate or Shoib Akhtar numbing and humbling the best of the batsmen with his 100 mile per hour bowling speed.

I believe, no matter how great of a bowler Akhtar is, he should never have been pampered the way he has been by numerous Cricket Administrations. As, I believe he has done more damage than good to Cricket in Pakistan or at least to the senior team. Lets, get back to Afridi as, he is the topic in this Blog. Having grown and participated with the 20 and 10 overs per side tennis, tape ball and hard ball Ramzan Cricket tournament generation, I have witnessed like many others, there have been and are plenty of other Afridi’s on the streets of Karachi and else where in Pakistan. Why then just Afridi? The truth is we could never get over his fastest century. He was primarily selected in his first tournament as a Leg spinner who could bat a bit and who initially batted among the tale enders. If one role backs the years and ODI’s since Afridi got his first break, till now. Afridi has a set pattern while batting, one whirlwind innings followed by approximately 6 to 10 innings of sheer disappointments (I wonder having gotten so much used to the pattern does it still count a disappointment :?). As a bowler, for the major part of his initial few years, he could not be trusted for a full quota of 10 overs as, he simply was not good enough. He used to share 10 overs with others and if I am not mistaken he sometimes was not even called upon to bowl at all. The point I am trying to make is, in my eyes, Afridi has been very lucky that in all subsequent administrations he found strong supporters as he is a crowd and revenue puller ( Unfortunately, for this very reason I mean revenue, Bangladesh got the status of Test and ODI in a haste but, it is another topic). The other big factor for Afridi enjoying this lengthy career is the decline in the standards and frequency of World Class batsmen Pakistan has been producing since the era that ended with Miandad. Basically, Afridi has honed and polished his ODI’s bowling capabilities after he got into Pakistan team. His Batting has neither gone forward nor backwards. After having played 243 ODI’s he has a batting average of 23.44 and bowling average is 35.01 which was lurking around 40 not too long ago. Of course, over the years he has become invaluable to Pakistan team as far as ODI are concerned and looking at the sideline I do not see anyone who can do any better than him.

In the end one can safely say due to the decline in the standards of Pakistan cricket we had to settle and support what we got.

Still wishing well to Pakistan Cricket Cheers…….

Have you guys forgotten about Moin Khan, he used to drop easy catches all the time, still he is admired by many to this day. This is how Pakistan Cricket works.
Ash Zed- with all the due respect
Aridi a class in himself??? I haven't seen anything classy about his batting,sure he is effective but class well, he is a laparoo.
I haven't seen anyth