I am not sure if Sarfraz Ahmed deserves a spot over Kamran Akmal as the latter has been a clutch batsman for Pakistan. Also, it is sad to say that the new bowlers tried did not impress as i had hoped. In my opinion, with the exception of Sohail Khan's pace, only Abdur Rauf seemed like a mature bowler who bowled in the right channels. Can we gamble and take an inexperienced bowler such as Sohail Khan based merely on his pace and groom him in the international arena?

I wouldn't go so far as to say no lessons have been learned, but, I agree that, due to haphazard team selection, we don't know enough about many of the players who were tried.

Nasir Jamshed was given a few opportunities and looks good. Kamran Hussain looked half-decent and I completely agree that bowlers with pace like Sohail Khan need to be given more opportunities. Salman Butt showed again why he shouldn't be anywhere near the first team.

I was disappointed that Fawad Alam was not given a proper opportunity to show his batting prowess. I genuinely believe he's a class player and he also bowls decent left arm spin.

To beat Australia, we're going to have to rely on a strong batting line up, a well rounded pace attack, and good fielding. I would play Afridi, Malik and Alam, with no other specialist spinner and 3 pace bowlers. The batting will have depth, the fielding will be better, and the spinning option will be covered with the aforementioned.

Too true. Sadly a series win against Zimbabwe counts for nothing. In fact the players had nothing to win and everything to lose.

That said. These games are still classed as ODI's and that should give a few of the youngsters at least a little confidence going into the future.

I think Kamran wasnt watching the same match as everyone else. Sohail Khan was average at best, Abdur Rauf bowled with much more purpose in the last match and was probably the stand out bowler in the series even though he only played one game. The left arm seamers were poor, Sohail Tanvir bowled well but none of the left arm quicks have the ability to swing the ball into the batsman. Thats the key between an average quick and someone like Wasim Akram or Irfan Pathan. They could swing the ball both ways but this current generation of Pakistan left arm seamers only know how to move the ball away... By the way what happened to Anwar Ali??? He was in the provisional squad but wasnt played which is sad... Anyone who watched his demolition
of India in the under 19 World Cup final will know what a talent he is...

I think our selector did good job to try as many of the young players in Zimbabwe series. We would like to see PCB work on Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz, Abdur Rauf & Nasir Jamshed to get fit & ready for Australia series.

I was also bemused by this introduction of players for the sake of it and was going to write about it. What we emerged with is absolutely nothing (although I am satisfied that the new keeper is much better than Akmal). Sohail Khan was the best of the fast bowlers (nevermind the wickets), he bowled some good bouncers and looked threatening as opposed to some others who took wickets and didn't look good. I was hoping these two would get a run for 5 matches, not seeing a few faces each time to come up with nothing new. Fawad Alam was never promoted up the order to test his batting skills (I was hoping to see him in particular!). A good argument for that could be mantaining a consistent batting order (as Aus does), but the batting order was consistently tampered with instead. Get rid of Butt and try the two new openers. There is nothing to lose by altering the openers, changing the keeper, and introducing Sohail Khan.

I agree with giving long run to the pace bowlers but I still think that most of the players tested were 'NOT EXTRAORDINARY' Atleast one or two should have come up with meaningful performance against Zimbabwe.
* Zamran Hussain looked good as an allrounder but too old for long term investment.
* Nasir Jamshed is a good prospect but I doubt his future performances against Australia or SA.
* Khurram Manzoor, Glimpse of VVS Laxman and a real prospect for future opener but his bottom hand play may be more suited to test then ODI
* Khalid Latif Mad Max, After showing early promise in the innings he started playing cross batted as if he is playing tennis ball cricket in his backyard.
* Rizwan Ahmed, sould get more chance as a spinner allrounder. He is capable to save 20-30 runs in the field in ODI which should be considered.
* Wahab Khan & Sohail Khan needs to be given another chance
* Samiullah Khan was just a Hype
* PCB no comment
* Captain is improving
* Coach real test ahead

Kamran on one hand you criticised selectors for introducing too many youngesters but in the same breath you are talking about the new find in the shape of Sohail Khan by emphesising more investment in him.
I think the current selectors are doing great job.
through papars i came to know that captain and coach were utterly against the induction of some new faces into the team particularly Nasir Jamshed as opener.but that guy proved himself in the few games he played.same is for Sohail Khan.
so if you got some new promising players out of this meaningless series,than its a huge achievement on selectors part & one should appreciate them for that rather than criticise them.
I tend to support selectors more now because when they inducted Misbah-ul-haq into the Twenty20 WC at the expense of Yousaf than knivies were out for them and everybody including me was having a go at them.but he proved himself to the extent that today he is Pak team vice captain.
so reserve some credit for them.

I agree with Mr. Kamran Abbasi. PCB should have introduced just three new faces who best deserved it. After this series, i dont think any newcomer will be certain that he will play against Australia. Sarfraz Ahmed's keeping is excellent and far much better than Akmal's. But this was a very good opportunity to check his batting but again it was not used by the team.

Oh why so negative Mr Abbasi? Let us look on the positives - firstly Shoaib Malik has once again proved his worth to the team with both bat and ball and secured man of the series. Tanvir has played consistently well, we have unearthed talent such as Jamshed, Rauf and Manzoor looks like a good prospect. Pakistan won the series 5 -0 and in the final game the youngsters really stepped up to the mark and did not crack under the pressure - managing to bowl Zimbabwe out with just one recognised specialist bowler.Rizwan's catch in the final odi can be seen as symbolic of a new generation's attitude towards fielding and Misbah Ul Haq actually finished a game off!

Pakistan have climbed the ODI rankings from 7th to 5th and this might be the catalyst that ignites a resurgence in Pakistani Cricket...at least for a while! so lets try and support our team.

well it just shows that selectors had no idea about whats going on in the cricket.and they just said oh lets try them out in the middle against zimbabwe.hand the pakistan cap for pennies and now these cricketrs can claim a hand to pension and privledges scheme if there will be any in the future.The way things look,may be in this age i can be one day chosen to play.Well Done Nasim Ashraf,that was an excellent process to look for future IMRAN KHANs of the country.
rather than just letting the team to gel togather with couple of changes which they would have worked out by excercising the selectors to wath and access some domestic games.Tha team will not gel togather agisnt australia,take my word,
shahid

I don't understand why the Pakistan team management is constantly criticized - the worst culprits being Javed Miandad and to some extent Imran Khan. In general I like your column Kamran, but lately you have been unnecessarily critical. You are correct that the 5-0 win didn't mean much. However, what else could the selectors have done. They tried new pace bowlers. They tried a new wicket-keeper, and I agree with you that Sarfaraz didn't get enough of a chance - but that's shades of grey, we are not talking of changing a player but maybe giving Sarfaraz an extra game or two. We tried a new opener and gave him a good run. We cut Salman as everybody was asking, but perhaps that will hurt his confidence - this is a tough decision for which there is no right answer. So the best thing we can do in such situations is to let the professionals do their work. That way our comments will be taken seriusly and not brushed aside as needless criticizm.

I agree that few meningful conclusions can be drawn from this 5-0 victory with so many changes in the team. It did not allow any new players to settle down and "earn a name" for themselves in the set up. It also showed a degree of disrespect to the touring team - "we can beat you with whatever team we cobble together", and this can't be right. However, I think the other player to look at more closely in the future will be Jamshed, the opener.

surely Pakistan can beat Austrailia's run of 16 successive Test victories by consecutively playing Zimbabwe for 17 tests!. Game on - lets do it after the Aussies thrash Pakistan in Pakistan 3-0 this March

Yes it is indeed a mistake to give 9 caps in a series, we could help Shoaib Akhter to get tuned for the Australians. The front line bowler of the Quaideazam trophy that is Sohail Khan, is only get to play 1 match, so as with Khalid Latif. I think the selectors should have given the chance to 3 to 4 players and should give them the whole 5 matches, as the case with Nasir Jamshed. Everyone was praising the performance of Sohail khan and Khurram Manzoor and they only had 1 match its very strange.Pakistan cap should not be so cheap.

I was missing Kamran's comments on this. Thanks he is back and as usual brings out the best of the worst. I think that Zimbabwe series was managed as it was supposed to be testing out new blood. I think five ODI series is a small time to showcase new talent. That should rest where it is the domestic cricket. The domestic cricket is supposed to provide all the answers to talent. I think that had the selectors tested only a couple of people Kamran would have come out and said Oh the selectors were too conservative with the selections and afraid of a team of calibre of Zimbabwe why didnot they test out the complete bench strength. Its not just Kamran if in doubt read some one like Sanjay Jha and u would laugh out loud.

Kamran, yes there were too many substitutions in this series but I’m sure there will be a different strategy against Aus, how effective it would be is yet to be seen. Openers should be given a chance for the whole series. Sarfraz Ahmed was impressive and he should definitely replace Kamran Akmal but it depends whether Shoaib quits dating Akmal. It’s good to see that Pak has a good pool of fast bowlers and I agree with your point that pace should be preferred, Sohail Khan does look quick but needs grooming. I wish we had Waqar Younis as a bowling coach; it makes me sick to see one of the best treated like sh*t. What we’ll really miss is a quality specialist spinner. Danish is mediocre at best and if Aisf and Gul are not fully fit, we won’t even see a close series, it will be Aus whipping our bowlers to all postal codes of the country. If Pak want to sell the tickets for the series they better play Afridi, no matter what your perception of Afridi is, he is a hot commodity, more entertaining than Halo video game. At the end, I would like to congratulate New York Giants fans here for winning the Super Bowl and defeating Patriots, which any other team couldn’t do including my Pittsburgh Steelers.

We need proper cricket team( regional ) playing against each other hence the competition will improve and then we shall produce fast bowlers, in the past we have relied on individuals being at the right place at the right time like Wasim Akram or Waraq Younis but this kind AD-HOC thinking can't work in the long run for PAKISTANI Cricket.

This series should have been like taking candy from a baby. I never thought I'd see the day when a Pakistani bowling attack would struggle to consistently bowl out a sub-par Zimbabwe side.

Yeah we won 5-0 but it kind of feels like beating up your little brother; You know you can whoop his ass but theres not much fun in it.

What advantages did Pakistan gain before taking on the Australians? Is Zimbabwe an adequate preperation before we play the most dominant team in the world?

I strongly believe that to be the best, you have to play and compete with the best. You can't be one of the big boys unless you hang with the big boys.

One of the biggest reasons for India's success in recent memory is that they have consistently played against Australia and South Africa, forcing them to raise their own game.

While we can pat ourselves on the back because we beat Zimbabwe into the ground, Australia looms menacingly on the horizon and I fear we might be a little underdone.

Not only should there be more chances for people like wahab riaz and sohail khan. People like waqar younis, sikander bakht should never be allowed to commentate on TV. I was hoping that someone would say something about this but this issue is so important please allow me to digress. These people had their own agenda and were using the microphone to propagate it. Sikander said " He is playing too many shots" whenever a new player hit a four . what century are you living in? Waqar had a soft spot for abdur rauf, so much so that he forgot to appreciate other performances. Commentary was filled with negativity, thickheadedness and biases
and was hard to listen to. Every positive thing was followed by these people finding something negative and harping on it. It was filled with" when we used to play.... when we used to play... and a mutual admiration society. I would say to them, get over it. You are not playing anymore. A shameful display by the so called greats.

You are very right Kamran. Pakistan should invest in fast bowlers.Wahab Riaz really impressed me. I strongly think he should be given more chances.

I saw all five matches and i can't draw even a single outstanding player from whatever they tried. Althought we won 5-0 but didn't gain anything except for Malik who improved his average and bagged some cheap wickets and got Man of Series as well, at least now he got another point to answer the media that "I performed against Zimbabwe, look at my average and wickets!"
The current Zimbabwe team was no better than any club level team in Pakistan.

Wow Kamran!

It's been more than 10 days since your last blog entry. What took you so long?

Anyways, my take on this series is probably milder compared to yours.

I do believe the PCB should invest more in the pace bowlers. But I strongly feel that Sarfraz Ahmed deserves a longer look. And the first couple of games against mighty Australia could help in the assesment. I'm sick and tired of PCB (and possibly Shoaib Malik, too?) sticking to Kamran Akmal. It's like using a dead donkey to carry you load. He is, as he would be called in North America, GARBAGE.

One other thing I saw was Nasir Jamshed, the find of the series. He needs to be given a good look too. Khurram Manzoor, it's Imran Farhat all over again. But maybe he could pair well with Nasir Jamshed as both are fairly young and could work well together. If Salman Butt needs to be on this team, he needs to pull his stuff together or be side swiped by these yongsters.

I hope my comments get posted the third time around.

I totally agree with you Kamran. Pakistan should have played with a similar line up in all 5 games rather than changing the team in every game. I think Sohail Khan, Fawad Alam, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Kamran Hussein should have play all the games, as these guys definitely looked like the most promising of the lot, and good performances by them would keep the performances in check for some of the seniors such as Akmal, Butt, Anjum, and to some extent Afridi.

Kamran, the dialectical materialism provided by way of your analysis or synthesis, combined with your interpretation of reality that views the subject matter, which you have discussed in the previous thread i.e., the team selection followed by the changes made during this series for name sake and the interpretations thereof, are on the spot. You are right that the reasoning has to be from the general to the particular in identifying and solving the problems. But the PCB is like a purblind nocturnal. Their decision making is absolutely pathetic right from the day the doctor prescribed placebos. On top of that they talk of wholesale changes and makes haphazard changes. Its run by a dictatorial boss who wants to achieve utopia by experimenting change like changing dresses to make a final product by creating more conflicts between opposites arising from the internal contradictions inherent in all events, ideas, movements and poor decision making. The "sporadic brilliance" as our fellow blogger Omer Admani once commented on the performance of the young Pakistani team, appears more like a regular feature now, in fact its more like a disease in the team, a pattern is formed and they are trapped in it. From among the newbies, apart from Nasir Jamshed no one else got more chances and the bloke failed more than he succeeded and that too "sporadically," perhaps he emulates Afridi or Imran Nazir, hence the opening conundrum is in continuum. The bowling department is very weak especially the much talked "express" bowling from the province that produces super fast bowlers seems to have dried out. Finally something for the cry baby called roTTU, Hassan aka masala theossa or cheap spicy dosa. Come on spice boys stop crying, whining and cribbing, if you cannot comment on cricket, stop mourning like a widow, it sounds pathetic for a man to cry like a child or a widow. Learn lessons from the Zimbabwe series - play your best cards - but don't act like cheap lemon tarts.

I completely agree that paksitan selection committee has missed a great opputunity to test youngster. Other than Nasir Jamsheed who got four chances, no other youngester was given a consistent run. This was not the right way to test youngsters. They should have been given more chances. Even when the youngsters were tried it looks like that seniors/captains are more worried about first making sure they themself performed well before giving any resonable opputunity to youngsters.

But no matter what, please implore the selectors not to pick Kamran Akmal.

Strongly agree.No point handing debuts to so many players, many of whom may not get to wear the Paki colors again. Better would have been to stick with a few and try to gel them strongly with the rest. With Shoaib, Umar, Asif all fit and likes of Tanveer, Arafat & Iftikhar being satisfactory over last year or so as the 4th seemer, it probably would have been better to persist with 1 or 2 new comers throughout the 5 game series and prepare a strong backup candidate. Jamshed got a long run b/c of his brace of 50s upfront else selectors wont have been shy of having dumped him by the 3rd ODI and tried a couple more openers. With Yasir Hameed having gotten starts throughout the India test series, this should have been used as an opportunity to give him & Butt some confidence along with Jamshed. Looking at Jamshed, he appears another one of those flat track, no foot work bully, albeit hitting straight more often than across. Guess we found one who would get caught at midoff then at midwicket

From last four years, we are playing against week countries like a tiger and against good team like a weak fox. Last world cup was the big example; we even lost against Ireland in the foreign country. Malik performance reminds me his mentor Inzi, against Bangladesh he contained his highest batting average 80 and against Australia he contained his lowest average, Inzi never scored century against Australia in Australia.Malik does not deserve slot in the test matches.Fawad Alam, Sarfraz Ahmed, Khurrum Manzoor, Sohail Khan and Abdur Rouf should be perm member of the team. Alam should replace Malik and Sarfraz must replace Kamran Akmal.Latif & Jamshaed should have continues chances. Fielding from young players was Very impressive. Highest scorer of Quaid-e-Azam trophy Namunallah did not make place in playing eleven. Is it merit? We must rid off from Akmal, Butt and Malik. Why Yasir Arfat had chance again? Where is Anwar Ali?(WC 19 hero)

Dawar USA

The selection process for the Pakistan squad remains an eternal mystery. We have essentially seen the same old group of players for the past decade.While sticking with the same core of players can work for a team like Australia due to extremely high professional standards, it has failed miserably for Pakistan, especially due to complacency on our players part.The need to fresh blood could have been fullfilled to an extent in the Zimbabwe series, but we failed to do so yet again.We don't have a contigency plan for our team should our batting or bowling stars get injured, for which the PCB is solely to blame. Instead of making our cricket board a professional organization we keep hearing about a new selection committee every year, who give us nonsensical reasons for adding or dropping players and never demonstrate a consistent selection criteria.Though these selectors have failed consistenly there us no accountability.BTW what's the criteria for the selection of the selectors themselves?

I wander where will Pakistan end up in another couple of years,people like ASIM KAMAL,and the bowlers who won the last under 19 world cup for pakistan,and MOHAMMED IRSHARD seems like will get a worst treatment than MISBAH

In total agreement with you here!
Sarfraz I thought brought back good memories of how we used to once feel ie., safe behind the stumps. But as I said on your previous post also, not only fast bowling but also spin department needs some expoloration and unfortunately we didn't try much. On fast bowling we need very meticulous planning in terms of what we want the pace battery to be like. In my view, with a fit Asif, Umer and Shoaib we need only a couple more. With Sohail Tanveer in, perhaps we want to invest our time in two of the lot that we saw recently.
In batting we should only have specialists!

I completely agree with you. I do not think Zinbabwe series is any good benchmark for any conclusions. Other than Nasir Jamshed, I do not see any youngster is given ample chance to prove anything. But nontheless, I think playing youngsters is not bad but it should be controlled and not haphazard

Fawad Alam: Definitely a prospect of the future, good fielder, compotent bowler, from the looks of it an impressive batsmen, a genuine allrounder who i think should be given a chance in the tests against Aussies.
Samiullah Khan: All hype, no talent, enough said
Nasir Jamshed: an option for the future but i think he is a one trick phony,too aggressive.
Khalid Latif: A long term prospect who the Pcb should try and get into the team as long as he cuts down on the "carribean shots".
khuram Manzoor: A typical pakistani opening batsmen, throws his bat at the seamers and cant play spin to save his life, no way.
Wahab Riaz: A good bowler i believe, wasim akram should teach him a few things, this gut can be lethal on the international arena if he is mentored
Kamran Hussain: a prospect, but we need players who can stick around, in bowling as you become older, the bowling talent lessens.
Abdur Rauf: same as Wahab riaz
Sohail Khan: Waqar Younis should help this guy, he could be a talent

So Mr. Javed A Khan finally showed up but with some trashy attacks, funny though, citing me, TTU, and Hasan as cheap. Dude, I read all the posts, the guys you mentioned posted their comments with class and presented facts with their arguments, which probably were too spicy for you. Like I said before I doubt you are the same Javed A Khan who was articulate and classy, not trashy and depressing. It’s tempting to reply you in the same manner you posted but I’ll say this; if you wanna win a discussion, back up your facts and learn to take criticism for your lame posts and screw ups. You might win over an average Joe like “Awas” but folks with some brain needs more than vocabulary mumbo jumbo with no substance, anti establishment, and depressing views. No hard feelings.

Sarfaraz Ahmed:good keeper, better than Akmal by a longshot, but we have yet to see his batting, so I cant make a judgment, but i heard his first class batting average is beter than Akmals, so make what you want to make of that.
Salman Butt: Not a new player, but even though he failed against zimbabawe, i still think that one of the openers in the tests should be him.
My other opener would be either: Malik, Akmal, Jamshed or Latif
Malik: it gives more options im the middle order, including the possibility of Fawad Alam at number 6 or 7.
Akmal: same reasons as Malik
Jamshed: has an aggresive approach, but there must be caution if the PCB do pick him, this is Australia, not the 10th ranked Zimbabwe(who probabaly had no idea how to answer his aggresiveness)
Latif: Out of the three new openers, he looked the part playing with a straight bat most of the time, however he has to lose the cross batted shots if he is to succeed.

Coach; his biggest test is next
captain: geting there

having watched the series from afar and having been a great fan of pakistani cricket for a long time these are the conclusions i have drawn.
1)the talent in pakistan is horrible.it left me wondering whether this was the great country that produced an assembly line of fantastic players for over 40years.The only genuine talent that was unearthed was the wicket keeper.the pakistani selectors have persisted with akmal for to long and its high time they dropped him.Though i did not watch sohail khan i did watch nasher jamshed and rauf.Nasher jamshed will be found out against better attacks on better wickets.Rauf is not even touching 120 and that excludes him from an elite bowling attack.If pakistan need to compete at the test level they need to get a captain with some spunk,and get gul,asif fit.Danish kaneria is a top bowler and needs to start performing. I honestly think Pakistan cricket is at its worst in abouut 20 years and i genuinely hope that changes for the good of cricket.

Pakistan selectors seem to believe the method of selecting the Pakistan team is trial and error. I this is the correct method then same should be done with the selection committee. Anyone could have done what they have done by selecting the top performers. Their job is to find a person who is suitable for the job required of him and judge him by his technique, confidence and desire to play for his country. Pakistan is wasting its time on medium pacers in the presence of Asif, Rao and Arafat. Pakistan should have used this oppurtunity to give Yasir Arafat confidence as a premier allrounder. Allow Sami to take some wickets so he gets confidence. With the exception of Wahab Riaz and Nasir Jamshed no one impressed much. Sohail Khan needs to sort out his fielding and run-up otherwise he would provide good competition for Kaneria in the Worst fielder category. It seems that the Pakistan ODI Cap is very cheap. I am also astonished that Mr Kamran had not posted a blog on the central contracts.

Sarfaraz needs more games and Akmal should stay out as much as possible.
Sohail Tanvir should have been rested as he has established himself. Others should have been given more chances.
For Fawad Alam I think its the same bias attitude of PCB toward karachi cricketers. They are not giving him enough chances. Misbah should have come after Fawad or Younis should not have played the game to give these people some chance. They did the same with Hasan Raza. Didn't give him enough chances. He was a class player.
Nasir was ok but shows the same problem as butt, umar and farhat showed. He is just an average player and Australia will definately figure him out as Zimbabwae did in the last 3 games. We need to find more opener or coach the available ones better.
Asif, Umar and Shoaib should get fit for Australia as the new blood is not special. May be need more grooming but still they look average.

I was really disappointed that fawad alam and sarfraz ahmed werent given a proper chance to bat. From what ive seen fawad alam could be the missing 2nd all rounder link in the team and we need to know the level of ahmed's batting( as we already know of his keeping skills)
i would also recommend ridding of nasir jamshed until he has at least been on tour with pakistan A for 2 years. In the last 3 odi's he got out in a very immature fashion

I think you are all wrong espeically kamran abassi, as this 5 - 0 won series meant alot as it shows pakistan has the bench strength to win without their premier pace bowlers. In addition it gave exposure and rewarded all those players who have been successful domestically . We discovered two very talented openers in nasir jamshed and mansoor and some very bright prospects as left handed pace bowlers and it gave sohail tanvir expereince as a spearhead fast bowlers which he proved very able . It also allowed our senior players to get some form and confidence yousuf, younis, malik and misbah all contributed . afridi was excellent and we found two talented allrounders in Alam and kamran hussain . also our fast bowlers should be well rested,overall pakistan cricket is definately heading in right direction and its exciting to see bring on australia !!!

salman butt, kamran akmal, shoiab, asif , gul all better sort out their fitness and form otherwise i say drop them and look for the future

There is no reason for pakistan to try so many young faces if they are unsure of their first choice 11 players, the best playing 11 wins you matches not the "bench" players from pavillion

Kamran Akaml, Butt and Malik should replace by Sarfraz Ahmed, Jamshaed or Khurrum Manzoor and Fawad Alam.
We can keep Malik for while in one day and see how he performs against good teams like Austrlia & SA. From last four years he became unfit just b4 the serise or during the serise against good teams.
Sarfraz Ahmed is also a very good batsman probably this is the reason Malik never tried Sarfraz on top number.He is good frieed of Akmal.Where is under 19 hero Anwar Ali? Where is Quaid-e-Azam trophy highest scorer Nomanullah? Why not captain give proper chance to Fawad Alam?
he should be a permenant player of our team. Only Sohail Khan and Abdul Rauf impress in the new fast bowlers. We saw after long time that our wicket keeper did stumps. wow sorry for Danish, his carrer destroyed by Akmal. Why Khalid Latif had only one chance?

Thumbs Up For Green Team.Also For Adam Khan To come on last 12 in A1GP in Sydney.Hat,s of to Both green teams.U people make us PROUD TO BE A PAKISTANI.....

Javed Khan, you have resorted to name calling, while I did not do any such. And I do not know and have nothing to do with TTU or Theosa.

But still how come you are able to post more than 1000 characters?

Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist has announced his retirement from cricket after he dropped catch of Laxman in the match. Shame on you Akmal, I think you to retire atkeast 90 times because you dropped 90 catches/stumps in ur career (highest by any wicket keeper).
Srafraz Ahmed should be a permenant memeber of the team. I like the technique of Khurrum Manzoor, he is a student of great Saeed Anwar and Rashid Latif. He played for same club as both of them. He is the best young opener available in the country. Sohail Khan and Abdur Rauf impressed every one. Fawad Alam should be a permenant player of our team. I do not see any place of Malik in the test cricket. Afridi should be a captain. Malik perform well against weak bowling, I agree with some one above, he followed the steps of his mentor Inzimam.

Raja Punjabi

Election 2008 solagon,
NO TO Kamran Akmal.
For the sake of GOD,
PLEASE do not select Kamran again.
Danish lost his A contract becasue of him.

Sarfraz Ahmed and Fawad Alam
should be the perm member of the team.
No to Butt also.

LOL, Mr. Javed Khan. It’s funny, in Kamran’s previous blog actually it was you who was hiding under the name of “Awas” where you pretended to be a friend of yourself, here is a quote from him “Hassan, theossa, Pittsburgh, U.S.A. and TTU are definitely the same personalities in different guises”. In fact, the only similarity they had, they all took on you. Here is what you wrote in your post on this blog, “Finally something for the cry baby called roTTU, Hassan aka masala theossa or cheap spicy dosa”. Interesting han? Very similar posts! Actually I never complained about your lengthy posts, but Mr. Javed A Khan a.k.a.“Awas” wtf?

Hammad Siddiqi, Cincinnati Ohio, by the way, I heard you guys wanna get rid of Chad Johnson, would you guys be interested in trading him for Hines Ward? We need a home runner in our receiving corp. Although, division rivals, I still wanna see Cincinnati’s high powered offence. Go Bengals.

Flipper, good post and good analysis! There is actually no good spinner available, we need one though. I agree with your selection but not sure if we’ll have three fully fit fast bowlers.

Waqar Tajuddin, I like your optimism for what we gained from this series. Folks here perhaps are having unrealistic expectations of Pak-Aus series. If I look at the history, even the strongest Pak sides had tough time beating Aus yet this weasel little eleven.

I am in total disagreement with you. Criticism for the sake of it is not beneficial for anyone. I think the current selectors should be congratulated for brining in players like Misbah, and Sohail Tanveer in the last 6-8 months in addition to blooding Fawad Alam, Nasir Jamshed, Sohail Khan, and Khurram Manzoor. All new finds and all blooded in the last 12 months. I think we are in the process of identifying back ups and all this can only be credited to the selectors and not to the captain or the retired lot of wise players.
This series was meant to test out newer tactics, mindsets, and players. I think this is exactly what we have achieved. In short the right way forward and for once we should appreciate the selectors as well.

I think you've fallen for the hype over Sohail Khan. Yes, you have a point that all the debutants should have been given more then a solitary opportunity, but Sohail Khan's hype does not point to future stardom. He wasn't the 90 mph monster we expected, nor was he as effective. Sure, he deserves another chance, but so does everyone in life. He couldn't do it when it mattered most, who's to guarantee that he'll do better next time.
Besides that, I'm no expert but I believe I noticed some serious technical flaws. If I did so, then surely so did Lawson and our qualified personnel. Just maybe, there may have been some method behind Pakistan's usual madness.

Sarfraz Ahmed should replace Kamran Akmal as soon as possible, cause Kamran Akmal did help pakistan batting line mostly against India, but also because of his drop catches we have lost series against England and South Africa. Also spinner performance depend much on wicket keeper, and we have wasted a telented spinner like Danish Kaneria because of bad wicket keeping. When a keeper drop a catch if hurts the bowler mentally.

The PCB did the right thing by trying out some new faces but there were just too many for one series and without any planning or strategy which won't help Pakistan prepare adequately for the Aussies. There should have been more first class matches against Zimbabwe to really test the worth of some players in the longer version. You can't judge someone for the test class from his performance in an ODI. I don't understand why is the PCB scared of trying two different teams for ODIs and Tests. Shoaib Malik can lead in ODIs because he merits a place there but certainly not in tests and thereby denying players like Asim Kamal and Naumanullah who should be in the test team. Either Misbah or Younis should lead in tests. The selectors didn't give even chances to all the new players. All new players must be told that they'd get only couple of games regardless of their performance to allow equal opportunities for all. Despite the experiments, we aren't sure of who'll make the final XI. G'luck Pak

What we learned is that Pakistan cricket is as dead as a dead parrot, whose finally had a heartattack from being stuck in the cage for too long.

Pretty soon we will follow the example of the west indies, the fans are gonna lose interest and leave. Man I know plenty of them dudes who no longer follow pak cricket.

I think that dead Parrot virus, is incurable and even the Birdman of Alcatraz would've lost hope of finding a cure for it.

P.s. all them guys at the P.c.b. need mandatory drug tests the way they are behaving you would think all of them is on Crack, smack and the hash combined.

why Kamran Akmal again?
He should go to ICL or better to come to Peshawer.
we will tune him.
He needs break.
What is btw him & Malik?

Gulab Khan

Kamran Abbasi, you are wrong! Again, I say you are wrong! I am talking from PCB's Afsar Shahi point of view. Since they got the power to strike in or strike out, they have all the wisdom and everybody else is W R O N G!!!!!!!! Got It!!!

i think the lesson should have learned that we need two good opener and one or two good fast bowler. In the opining department i think Nasir is a good find but he needs time and i'm not sure about other opener nobody impressed me. then bowler i think we can't go without Akhtar and Gull against australia. we already have sohail Tanvir so we need just two more i think Sohail khan and Abudr Rauf are two good prospect but they need some good coaching, a good coach can polish their hidden abilities and one more thing i think in test matches we need a good spinner Danish kaneria is not the same guy his performance is not up to par recently, so we need another good spin bowler, I don't know who????

finally i think theossa from Pittsburg and Javed A Khan from montrial both are same Guy....nepotism..?

lets clear this up... stop sledging the selectors please. firstly people talking about salman butt need to think before they say anything, salman was our best batsmen in India in ODI's if your brains can function that far back.so dont call for his head when he fails in 3 ODI's. Thats how the selectors destroyed Taufeeq umar's career who averaged 40+ in tests and he was dropped because he did not play well in the one dayers.

i heard TTU say manzoor is not good enough for him because he can actually play the seamers, wow seriously man we are actually looking for someone that can play fast bowlers as openers because no one in pakistan seems to know how to play seamers (remember ireland). Oh he prolly has a cooler head than jamshed who just reminds me off Imran nazir.

Jamshed wont work against the Aussies because he has no temperament, aussie bowlers wont let him play like the zimbabwe medium pacers did nor will they be dropping too many catches.

carrying on, sarfraz is being groomed, why put him under needless pressure and dent his confidence already. his glovework is amazing for such a young keeper he will develop his batting as time goes on.

Niazi was tested BECAUSE he averages below 19 in first class. for me thats enough reason to give him a couple of games against zimbabwe.

fawad is another player whom you wouldnt want to put pressure on and his case is similar to Sarfraz's.
Sohail khan will get more chances without a doubt but i did not watch him therefore know nothing about him.
Why not try the forgotten genius, Hassan Raza, still only 26 but more mature still has the highest first class average over all in Pakistan.
Anwar Ali lovers - he has failed to deliver in the first class arena so does not deserve a chance yet.
The lot that were picked are the best in pakistan by record however,a few deserved more chances.
Well done selectors for not picking junaid zia and others related to you!!!

I don't know about lessons learned but few positives from the series are:
1) Captain shoaib is back in form with man of series award and this will help him against Australia.
2) New comers like Nasir, Wahab and Rauf have impressed and should be groomed for future.

Paksitan definitely needs fit shoaib akhtar and Asif as all new comers are not looking ready for top level. We need to give more chances to new spinners like Yasir Shah, Rizwan etc so we can get rid of pathetic Danish.
Batting is looking solid with Yousaf, Younis, Misbah, Salman, Akmal, Malik and Afridi.
We also need a quality all rounder and so far we have not anyone who can fill the gap for Razzaq. PCB should think abt contacting Razzaq for Austrailia series.

MR Abrar ul haq( 1st comment ) please think out of the punjab and think bout country for once ..i dont see how can you defend kamran akmal's position . i mean are you serious ?? the guy has been gven million chances and he has cost us series .. just because he can score once in a while yes once in a while doesnt mean he deserve a chance in the team , and we all know why sarfraz ahmed is not given any opportunity cuz he is from karachi and please dont tell me that i m not being realistic ..PCB is pathetic and i would to rub it on their face !!

Pessimism never helps but the fact tha we haven't been able to win a single test against the aussies even with a far superior bowling and batting line-up (than now) for the last 12 years, it's not quite right to be optimistic either. It wasn't the best way to prepare for a series against a team like Australia. It seems as if the confidence of the team was so down in the dumps that the only team they knew they could beat was zimbabwe.

Shoaib malik seems to be selfish.He intentionally dropped afridi for the last one day
& did not allow him to bat in the 1st & 4th one day & himself batted one down in the 4th match
instead of fawad alam.He just wanted to get the man of the series award.I don't understand why they drop afridi by saying he is rested.Afridi never wanted to rest.Actually he would have got the man of the series award.Last year also against sri lanka he was dropped for the last match & was denied the man of the series award.The selectors,malik & lawson should know that people come to watch afridi not shoaib malik.By axing afridi they are killing the interest in the game.Also whenever afridi starts
doing well they drop him so that he looses the rhythm & form.I think malik & lawson do not want afridi in the team. If this is true than pcb should immediately sack malik & lawson as they cannot toy around with a great cricketer.The selectors should include afridi in both forms of the game against australia.

Ubaid you are spot on about the commentry box. The problem with our team is that there are too many people with their own agendas trying to influence the team selection. I heard Mushy and Waqar question umpteen times the chances of success of the newbies!! Who do they want instead. If you can give chances to Imran Nazeer, Imran Farhat, Butt etc etc for such a long time who clearly donnot have the technique or temprament then why question new commers who play in a compact fashion and exhibit good technique.
I am afraid they will face the same cruel handling as some other compact players who were only given odd chances against tough oppositions as replacements. There is a clear pattern here. The machinery has started working.
Weak characters thrive only when sorrounded by like minded weak sychophants. Inzi was a master in this act. You needed to be a high level 'Inzi bhai' sucker to succeed. Shoaib Malik has grown up in that atmosphere and has learned a trick or two.
God help us!

Kamran Akmal really needs to go, he should have some self pity on himself and leave. Sarfaraz Ahmad should've been given a chance to bat, he definately is a much better keeper than Kamran, and even if he isn't a better batsman than Kamran i would still play with him instead. As far as the other new players are concerned Nasir Jamshed and Sohail Khan look like they have some potential for future stars, they should just be groomed properly by the right people. But for some odd reason I doubt that Shoaib Malik is gonna drop Akmal for Sarfaraz or give Sohail Khan a proper run.

I think we did achieve something out of this series, first Shoaib Malik performed after some time thus cementing his place as a player to some some extent. Sarfraz Ahmed was outstanding behind the stumps. I am sure he can contribute with the bat too. Nasir Jamshed was okay but seems to lack the ability to convert 50's into 100's. This has to change quickly so he needs coaching here. Khurram Manzoor and even Latif looked promising. I am not too sure about fast bowlers, all of them looked similar to Shahid Nazir, Rao, Sami, meaning did not add anything new. But I agree, we should have picked two and stuck with them through the series to gain some insight. Fawad Alam should have been batting slightly up as I saw lot of promise in him. One thing should be clear now, we should get rid of Yasir Hameed, Imran Farhat, Taufiq Omer and infuse some new blood. Salman Butt should be rested for a series maybe. Akmal the keeper should be gotten rid of but can be used as batsman if all others fail.

Well it seems like the PCB where just trying to fulfill their promise made to the upcoming & promising cricketers that they will get a chance to prove their skills in the international arena had if they perform well at domestic level. Whatd the point in giving these youngsters false hopes by making them just 1 or 2 match players. Nasir Jamshed had a good series as he not only scored runs but also gave the team flying starts. BUt the real test awaits when he plays agains the top international sides and on foreign soil. Well Kamran Akmal should have been rested for the Zimbabwean series & Sarfaraz Ahmed should have been given the opportunity to play in all the 5 games. Sarfaraz Ahmed should be in the national side as that would mean Kamran Akmal will be on his toes as he would know a couple of bad performance would mean that there is someone awaiting to take his place. Among the allrounders Fawad Alam should be given a few more opportunities.

Amount the new seamers, Sohal Khan, Wahab Khan & Abdur Rauf stand out. Abdur Rauf seems the more mature of the three whereas Shial Khan has got good pace & with proper grooming & excercise can be among the bowlers who can bowl consistently at or more 140kph. He has the pace in him but with proper guidance from players like Imran Khan, Wasim Akram or Waqar Younis, he can achieve great heights. He need to be fed in with the killer instincts and who can be better the the 3 great fast bowlers Pakistan has produced. Sohail Tanvir is good utility bowler with an unusual action & a resonable pace. Also he can also bat a bit and thus can be placed in the catagory of allrounders (a bowler who can bat a bit). I think Pakistan should also look out to a good leg spinner. The new kid on the block, razwan should be provided with good opportunities. By the way where did Mansoor Amjad disappeared. Why wasn't he given any opportunity.

Hi,

Iam from India. If you guys are so much against Akmal's keeping skills, why don't you just play him as a batsman and let Sarfaraz keep. There isn't much class in your batting lineup to take on Australia even in subcontinent pitches. Also don't discard your openers Butt and Yasir. They seem to have the best technique to survive in test cricket. In the long run, you need to invest in young players and give them time to succeed. The problem with India and Pakisthan is that the media does not show much maturity. Most of them are reactionary rather than being constructive. It is important that you identify some players with decent technique and more important tempermant and invest in them and don't expect results overnight. International cricket is all about tempermant & mental. If you have it you will survive and prosper. Example, Greame Hick and Chandrapaul While Hick failed inspite of glorious talent Chandrapaul did because he is strong mentally This Aus team is more hype Gud Luck

Disagree with your criticism of selectors. This was the first series against a minnow and selectors had to give as many new players a chance as possible. Next series against Australia, we will not have this luxury anymore. Selectors will then need to stick to the most promising players recognized and available, including Sohail Khan, Sarfaraz, Nasir, Wahab, Rauf and, hopefully, fit again Asif and Omar. Shoaib can be played in one days in spurts and has no place in a test squad - he is not fit enuff to last 5 overs, let alone 5 days.

Kamran has to go. While his utility as a batsman is there, he currently holds the specialist keeper position. And let's all face it he can't keep to save his life. Gilchrist retired after dropping one catch! Pat Symcox was dropped by SA in the very next test after his century saved SA from losing to Pakistan... reason: he was a specialist bowler and didn't threaten Pakistani batsmen.

Essence, we need to develop a specialist approach as well.

just cannot believe that Kamran Akmal has been given a contract again...infact its Akmal who should be paying the PCB for being allowed to play...at least he should be paying Kaneria...

Akmal has no shame..no shame at all...he is hurting us just by stepping onto the cricket field....he's nearly killed off Danish Kaneria's career...
If he'd have caught Kallis in the 30's we'd probably have won the first test last fall in Khi...and then same for the ODI's..
and who can forget stellar performance against England in 2006..where it all began..

If I see him in Pakistan colours im going to put me own cigarette out in me eye!!

I feel I must respond to Imran.

I believe I am completely jusstified in calling for Salman Butt to be dropped. He did OK against India in the ODI series, but he was my no means spectacular. He had one exceptional innings and not too much else.

Please look at his overall career record. He has played 19 tests (a fair few on very flat pitches) and averages under 30. He has played 44 ODIs and averages just over 30. Butt seems like a perfectly nice young man, I just don't think he's good enough at the very top level. He clearly has a weakness outside his off stump, and good bowlers on a track that offers anything will exploit it. He will make some runs, but I doubt his average will ever rise significantly above 30. This means that he isn't good enough.

I agree that Sarfraz should have a good run in the team at the expense of Kamran. Please do remember that Kamran has played some truly memorable innings, especially that century he belted when Pak were 39 for 6. Don't hate the man!!

About the experiment of Left Hand Pacers, I would say that Only Kamran Hussain is different from others because Kamran can swing the ball in as well as out. On the other hand Niazi & Wahab can only angle the ball across the right hander & swing it away which makes the batsmen much easier to play. Plus Kamran Hussain can bat as a proper all rounder as well. However, Wahab Riaz has better pace and line & length as compared to Niazi and Kamran. But according to requirement of modern cricket, Pakistan needs to have batting depths too. and Kamran Hussain provides it. While Wahab cant bat all. In short, For ODIs i would recommend Kamran Hussain to be given chance. Wahab is good too.

The Zim series was a total waste of time. How long will this weak cricket that noone is interested in go on? ICC must act. But will they?

Even if you had given just a few youngsters a run of 5 matches, in the end how can you judge them when they're playing a team that would barely beat most first class sides. Further, I don't know if anyone was actually watching the cricket, instead of following it on the net, Nasir Jamshed was not impressive. He is another batsman in the mould of Imran Nazir/shahid afridi. Stand and deliver works fine against the minnows, but when playing quality teams you need someone with solid technique. NJ showed no footwork, and just swung through the line (rather baseballish really). Manzoor was only given a solitary innings, however his shot selection, footwork and technique were far better than NJ's (except for the cross batted heave he got out on). As for the bowlers, I withhold judgement until they have faced quality opposition and truly proven their worth. Sohail Khan was fast, but that was about it, no movement of the seam, no swing. The lefties flattered to deceive but no inswing.

There are some good thoughtful posts on this blog and some alternate thinkers like Zahid Irfan, Javed Iqbal, TTU, Imran as well as an emerging coalition against Kamran Akmal including me, Ahmed Abdul Quadeer, Dawar, LA USA, Zakir Khan, Imran, Norfolk, VA, Raja Punjabi, Danish, Shani

Dawar, LA, USA brought a good point that how teams benefit from playing against top sides. Back in the day, Imran Khan played series after series against West Indies and developed a hard nosed cricket team with fighting spirit. Later, Sri Lanka played a fair amount of cricket against Pakistan and become an elite side. Playing against weak teams can give you a false sense of confidence, however, in Pak case, it was somewhat helpful to try some new players and “restore” some confidence.

ASIF, you go bro, I’m a hard core Afridi fan too and good to see an “unbiased” Afridi support.

Gulab Khan you stole the show by asking question of the day, “What is btw Kamran & Malik?”

I agree with you Mr.Abbasi the series didn't realy help to construct a lethal strategy for the future.Zimbabwe were simply unadeqate but they showed nevertheless that Pakistan's newcomers are not that good as has been harped about.Sohail Khan and Abdur Rauf are worth trying and Nasir Jamshed is a possibility but i am not sure whether he can succeed against Australia.As for Sarfraz he looks a better keeper but Akmal has served Pakistan well in a crisis and i would persist with him.I beleve India's idea of having 2 diffferent teams for Test and Odis is good reasoning as it keeps the players fresh.We can experiment with that and see whether Akmal becomes a better Keeper as a result.He is too talented to be discarded.

People people people........hold on, every one is talking did we learn any ting or did we leanr any thing, well lokk at this way untill we have chief like Ashraf and his selection team Pakistan is doomed. Now let's talk about the series, I am sorry to say that we have no bowlers what so ever, sohail, Tanveer, nasir etc.... they are all fill in the gaps, not wicket taking or match winning players, and we need agrassive match winners, and what about our Capt he needs a kick in the bud to wake up and stand up like a leader, he looks to like he is a begger, i mean can some one at least give him new set of bating pads, he looks so scared and not learning how to be a leader. Batting we are still stuck with Yousaf, Younas, and Malik only good thing is our may be new start new HAQ, but our board likes to just mess things up so bad that that named him a vice capt, comon people what do you think other players feel about this, just put your self in their shoes. To me this series proved none.

I mean if any one think that Pakistna is ready for Australia wake up man, you will see bad pitches and team management bad selection and worst defeats. Nasim Asram should be thrown in the ocean without the life vest. We need match winners, not average players team is already filled with average players, for god sake when was the last time we won the match with Tanveer, we need GUL, Asif, shoaib, Rana, Razaller, Shabir, people talk about shoaib not fit well if even walks up to the stumps and bowl that is still delivered at 140K, ask any one else to do this, yes I agree he needs to be better fit, but don't you think that's the responsibilty of the board, and physio what the hell are they doing why can't the work on him and make him loose 20lbs, constantly blaming him is old now change the tactics. What about our Capt, i mean i like him as a player, but he is not capt meterial, we have tried every thing else, why can't we try one more and make Younas a Capt and Afridi the vice Capt

Can anyone imagine any team handing out that many ODI caps to their players even against a weaker opposition as did Pakistan? Do you think India, Australia or even Bangladesh would try out that many new faces against Zimbabwe at the expense of their 1st choice players? I think not. They respect their opposition and field a full strength team to ensure they win each game comprehensively. For Pakistan, only one player got 4-for and just one went on to score a century; failed to take all ten wickets in each game and completely lacked that killer instincts. Team compositions were simply horrible; once even playing allrounders till #11 position. Sending Arafat to bat at 11 and then dropping him was unfair. Sarfraz should have played the entire series. We saw too many new guys with wrong techniques making their debut prematurely. Doesn't anyone check this before letting them loose on the field? PCB should have given chance to regular members low in confidence like Sami and Kaneria. Howzat!

Dear Kamran, the easiest thing is to criticize; the toughest is to suggest that there is a sure way of doing better. As far as trying too many new faces in the just concluded Pak-Zim series is concerned, I dont think I would have had a better idea; would you? I agree with you, however, about Sarfaraz abd Sohail Khan. I think both need an extended run. So, if they are to be considered against the Aussies, I would persevere with them throughout the series. I dont mind at all if Kamran Akmal is asked to sit out a whole series, so that we let Sarfaraz make a statement with his keeping and batting without him having to worry about being dumped after one or two matches.

The funniest part of this series was the victory lap performed by the team after winning the series against Zimbabwe. It left many of us wondering whether this victory was a feat worth celebrating at all. This team is a far cry from the one that reached the world cup final in 1999.The Pakistani cap is being handed out like a worthless souvenir and there is little or no stability in the side. The captain is a tactless cricketer whose own career has been average at best. He does not even warrantee a place in the Test match side and out of the fifteen players selected for the test matches in India he was the most undeserving of the lot.
What the over-smart PCB chairman forgot in his hastiness to quell the Mullah revolution in the team was that you cannot make a mediocre cricketer into a captain in the hope that he will start to perform well and will inspire others to do so. Essentially what is missing in this Pakistan team is an inspirational leader, someone who is confident of his place in the side and can inspire others around him to perform well. On paper, a fit Pakistan team can still give Australia a run for its money. Admittedly Pakistan has problems in the spin department which it can nullify to a large extent by dropping Kaneria and playing Afridi. I am sure that if Afridi bowls as many overs as Kaneria he will at least emulate the latter’s pathetic strike rate if not surpass it. A pace attack led by Shoaib Akhter, Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul can cause the Aussies some serious concerns. But they will need to be supported by a decent keeper. The Pakistan middle order appears to be solid and there are no immediate concerns there (at least on flat subcontinent wickets). What they will need are opening stands of a degree of respectability. The selectors will have to persevere with Butt and will need to gamble on Afridi for the Australian tour. Most importantly the Pakistan side will have to look the Aussies in the eye and show the sort of fight that would have done Imran’s cornered tigers proud.

Akmals batting?his average is high 20s but if he spills pontings catch or symonds(or both which is usualy the case) can that make up for his meager 30s?A keeper's main job is to keep,sarfraz did a great job.
I liked Rauf's bowling and Sohail should be given a chance even though he wasnt among the wickets. Mansoor batted very well and if Jamshed can be coached into not playing suicidal shots,we got quite a bit out of this series.Where is Gul btw?

Lessons Learned:
We need fit shoaib akhtar and Muhammad asif as young fast bowlers were not looking threathening even against Zimbabwe. Rauf was looking good but not in the category of Wasim, Waqar and Shoaib.
In batting Nasir has proved his worth and he can be a good opening partner with Salman.

it was good to see that finally Pakistani administration introduced the fresh legs and also at under-19 level they recruited the young guys for the 2010. Although in the last year we see a very bad record of Pakistani team but along with it Naseem Ashraf made some very good and bold decisions, like making Shaib captain and then Misbah Ul Haq as vice captain.Now the ball in in the coach's court how he shuffle the players according to conditions and teams. Another important thing is fitness of players. Current injured squad have the big names like Muhamamd Asif and Umer Gul which is not good sign as australia is next to visit the Pakistani soil.
Azhar Iqbal

I to a certain extent agree with Kamran. The problem with having 9 debutants is that there will be a real selection dilemma. Its fair to say Nasir Jamshed looks a good prospect but if he continues to play the way he did wickets will be handed to the Aussies on a platter. The biggest find probably in the series is Sarfraz Ahmed who undoubtedly is a very good keeper is very chirpy which is always a part of wicketkeeping.What the team management in my view should do is have a reserve team and the substitutes in the Pakistan squad should be consistent. I feel that the debuts are handed out too frequently and after that they are forgotten.A good example is Najaf Shah who played for Pakistan in the series at Abu Dhabi and troubled Sanath Jayasuriya but after that there is no sign of him. Apart from this Sohail Khan should be seriously groomed by perhaps Waqar or Aaquib..We need a real quickie...
cheers

Its quite remarkable how people can sit on thier respective laptops and comments on each and every aspect of cricket.

For all those guys criticizing Malik for being a medicure captain i bet you were the most excited when he was elected, and remeber he was only elected when Younis made himself unavailable . He stood for his country.

Interesting thread Kamran but the problem is if Pakistan hadn’t experimented en-mass then many would have been questioning why not? I have not seen much of Sohail Khan’s bowling but from little that I have his demeanour is quite like Waqar Younis. Hope he can emulate him as well.

Hassan – In the previous thread you explained, you are not what I thought you were. I would put it down to a case of mistaken identity ;)- So my apology.

Javed A. Khan, Montreal
"After all we have Younis/Yousuf/Afridi who are far better than Sachin/Ganguly/Laxman/Sehwag/Dravid and some of the rubbish Indian young upcoming players."

Wow! Incredible! Is this a statement from a learned critic OR ramblings from a troubled individual? Any cricket lover from either side of the border will attest to the quality of these players, the only flaw being the inconsistency of Afridi and Sehwag.
I think PCB's incapacity to rein in talent like Shoaib Akhtar is the cause of the present mess. Younis's reluctance to lead when given the opportunity was a major setback, as he is a respected batsman and could have delivered. PCB should think outside the box and enlist such individuals in management courses and teach them how to lead teams and get the best out of them.

A Zimbabwe series in not a true test of strength, however the Aussies will be different. They are almost, but not quiet invincible as India has twice stopped their 17th test win.

I think we should take a few things from this series. we were looking for an opener and a keeper to begin with.we donot need ten new semi fast bowlers. look at australia. they donot introduce just anybody for the heck of it. i did not see any of the new bowlers was any better than our established ones.we take the keeper and one of the new openers with salman butt. the rest keep the same team.

There was no decent new all rounder. I would suggest Pakistan bring back Abdul Razzaq especially for the ODI's and I hope Afridi plays in the test matches as well as the ODI's

I saw a lot of people sporting Afradi in this thread and previous. I don’t know why are people sporting Afradi. What are you impressed with? Afradi is a big chump. Nobody is discussing his performance against good teams if you are blaming Malik that he got runs against poor/mediocre team then why are you giving credit to afraid against poor teams he always performed against mediocre teams on batting paradise pitches like in India, Pak SL and Sharjah that’s it, but if you check his performance against good teams in overseas and even in subcontinent he is pathetic in both form of game here is prove
Afradi in test matches against good teams
Vs
Australia 1998-2005 Mat 2 Runs 74 Ave 18.50
England 2000-2006 Mat 6 Runs 238 Ave26.44
I don’t consider NL as a good team but even against them poor Afradi
New Zealand 2002-2002 Mat 1 Runs 0 Ave 0.00
Afradi In
In Australia 2005-2005 Mat 1 Runs 58 Ave 29.00
in England 2006-2006 Mat 2 Runs 49 Ave 16.33
Again I don’t consider SL and BD as good team
in Sri Lanka 2006-2006 Mat 1 Runs 14 Ave 14.00
Now Afradi’s performance in ODI’s against good teams and remember in ODI’s Ave below 30 means the guy is pathetic and pitiable
Vs
v Australia 1996-2005 Mat 27 Runs 439 Ave 16.88
v England 1997-2006 Mat 17 Runs 271 Ave 18.06
v South Africa 1996-2007 Mat 22 Runs 500 Ave 23.80
v West Indies 1996-2006 Mat 25 Runs 440 Ave 18.33
I don’t consider BD and Kenya as good team but look at his Ave
v Bangladesh 1997-2002 Mat 8 Runs 173 Ave 28.83
v Kenya 1996-2004 Mat 4 Runs 61 Ave 20.33
Now Afardi in overseas
in Australia 1996-2005 Mat 29 Runs 551 Ave 20.40
in England 1999-2006 Mat 21 Runs 231 Ave 12.83
in South Africa 1998-2007 Mat 16 Runs 225 Ave 15.00
and again I don’t consider SL, BD and Zimbabwe as good team
in Bangladesh 1998-2002 Mat 14 Runs 289 Ave 24.08
in Sri Lanka 1997-2006 Mat 9 Runs 89 Ave 14.83
in Zimbabwe 1998-2002 Mat 7 Runs 104Ave 17.33
I think nobody can complaint that he didn’t get enough chances. He has been playing for last 12 years now. If I were selector I would have dropped him long ago. A player after playing 253 Matches and has career over 12 years, couldn’t get maturity, what can I say………its just pathetic…

I think we did not learn much from Zimbabwe as first we should find the balance of the team and then players who can perform on that. In my opinion, one day team should have 3 fast bowlers(letg arm, right arm and proper Fast),3 allrounders(2 spinners, 1 (fast if playing away and spinner if playing home) and 1 keeper and 4 batsman (2 openers and 2 middle order). but problem is as we have 3 very strong middle order batsman, we can not try play with 2 openers and that is causing a real problem in batting.

Mr Abassi great article ! Firstly I would like to say please ridiculous restrcitions and allow this commment to be posted the more the merrier!

Interesting article, I do believe we can’t really gain any real insight from the tour to Zimbabwe, no disrespect intended. I just feel they are not on the same level and the tour was to short.

My concern will be for the up and coming tour of Australia. Does Pakistan stick with the same player who seem more and more like to fail then prosper such as Salman Butt, Shoiab Akhtar(probably break down after half a day), Kamran Akmal and few others who although can put together a good performance but have shown little or no consistency.

I firmly believe Pakistan selectors need to show some backbone and try out some players against Australia by giving them a fair run and see how they go. If they do well then excellent but if they fail, which is highly likely playing against the most challenging team in international sport they should still be appreciated and compared with other experienced members of the Pakistan side such as Shoiab Malik and Younis khan and see how they fared.

With reference to the 2nd paragraph of Kamran's thread, "Assuming Australia do visit Pakistan," that assumption is getting closer to a possibility (not yet a reality) after Nasim Ashraf's visit to Dubai and meeting the ICC officials and assuring them of top level security for the Australians. Also, echoing the words of Zimbabwe's captain that they were looked after very well may not still convince the Australians, yet something to brag about. Everyone is waiting for the Feb.18th elections and the situation after that would clear the air and perhaps make this possibility into a reality, which could be either way. Then we can talk about with some belief and certainty about whom to play and what problems to confront with? Kamran Abbasi's hypothesis that Sohail Khan should be tried more, as he has displayed some potential, is a point to contemplate on how India has invested its faith in their fast bowlers. Especially in Ishant Sharma, who as a newbie gave a real tough time to Ricky Ponting. Historically Pakistan has produced better fast bowlers than India. Sohail Khan has not taken a wicket in the match he played but, he has generated more speed, bounce than others and possess the promises of a fit fast bowler who needs to be tried a little more. To me, if the Australians do visit Pakistan, then it seems very likely that the selectors would once again look at Shoaib Akhtar to strengthen the fast bowling department. Sohail Khan if he plays along with him may learn a few tricks from the old horse. And finally, for those who devote their entire comments on this blog in adoring me and showering praises and accolades on me at a personal level may continue to worship if shirk is allowed in their religion. Hassan, even if you repeat that a 1000 times it won't get into your thick skull because you still don't know nothing about me.

Fawad Alam should replace characterless Malik on permanent basis.
I agree with some folks above who brought valid point that Malik becomes unfit against Strong team and become super fit against weak team.
He was unfit again in the last series against India in India, he was unfit against SA (two times), one was just b4 the world cup. He was unfit in Champions trophy. He was unfit against Australia. He was fit against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, and Ireland etc.
Kick him out.
Afrid should be a Captain.
Sarfraz Ahmed (ex captain of Under 19 team who won the WC for us) should be his deputy.
This is called vision,which we lacking in our lahore base PCB HQ. Sohail Khan, Khurrum Manzoor, Fawad ALam, Sarfraz Ahmed,Nouman Ullah, Kahlid Latif and Rauf Ahmed Should be play against the Austrlia.

Raja Pakistani

Kamran AKmal & Shoaib Malik should be out. Board should have polices for evey one same. Shoaib Akthar was demoted due to his attitude. What about Malik, now????

Lessons learnt from Zimbabwe series?? Very simple...

Pakistan should only play against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Thats all !!!