Pakistan Team for the World Cup 2003

Pakistan has opted to go for the experienced team in their attempt to bring the second world cup trophy to Pakistan. The accumulative experience of the Pakistani team, in terms of games played, is 2181 games, I seriously doubt any other team can better this. This almost looks like the successful experiment Oakland Raiders did in the bid for their first trip to the super bowl in last 19 years (Go Tempa Bay, need I say I live in Denver ?).

I remember soon after Pakistan’s humiliation by Ozies in the 1999 world cup final Gen. Tauqir Zia was reported in the news papers saying “We are building our team for the next (this) world cup” and oddly almost 75 % of the team is same as the one which participated in the 1999 world cup, where they were cut to their size by Australia and Bangladesh. Ijaz Ahmed, Moin Khan, Mushtaq Ahmed, Salim Malik and Wajahat Wasti are the only personnel missing from the squad that went to England in the May of 1999 to win the world cup. Among these players, I think, only Moin Khan and Wajahat Wasti must be playing competitive cricket and rest of the lot is either banned or aged enough that they can’t make in to a playing eleven of even a local team.

One wonders what type of team building activities PCB been doing when the team lacks the youngsters who were groomed during this period ? The notable ommisions are Imran Nazir, Faisal Iqbal and Shoaib Malik. I think that the team did not need Saeed Anwar and Wasim Akram as both of them are way past their prime and are more of a burden on the team than being of any help. What is worst is that Akram cannot claim to be a clean man when it comes to the match fixing and his shadowy deeds of the past will always raise an eye brow or two. By no means I want to say that he is not a great player rather I think there are not very many bowlers on the face of the earth who can parallel Akram’s achievements and cricketing abilities, but I honestly think his prime time has been long gone. I have also seen news about the fact that an attempt is being made to nominate him as a captain of world cup squad, I hope and wish these news are wrong. I also wish I am proven wrong and that Akram, like an aged fine vintage Bordeaux wine, hasn’t lost his charm, glamour, mystique, accuracy and aggressiveness. In my personal opinion I don’t think there has ever been a single fast bowler better than Sir. Richard Hadlee and a man, Wasim Akram, who is often compared with him must be a great bowler, but the thing is he is diabetic (which would ultimately limit his athletic abilities), aged and way past his prime Shoaib Malik or Muhammad Zahid might have been a better bet for Pakistan.

I have seen some of the games in which Saeed Anwar was playing with his fresh religious look, I have no problem about his religious outlook, but I have observed that he has become a very unathletic and less agile individual. He needs to be more athletic and someone needs to tell him “For God’s sake please don’t spend 15 minutes in changing the grip of your bat in a game of the magnitude of world cup final and get out on the very next ball”.

Rashid Latif is one of the best wicket keepers in the world at this time although lesser of a batsman when compared with Moin Khan, but as Imran Khan use to say “I would take a wicket keeper who takes Viv Richard’s catch and scores a duck over a keeper who scores a century but drops Richards few times”. I believe he should have been an integral part of the team in all of these years when he was running his Cricket Academy, so in plain words a great inclusion in the team.

I am still at odds with the idea of playing Saleem Elahi by benching Imran Nazir. I think Imran Nazir is going to be a great prospect for the Pakistani team and not letting him participate in the world cup is a mistake.

I think sometime in late 1998 a good Indian friend of mine told me that you guys have this new player named Yousaf Youhana who is a combination of Gavaskar and Vivian Richards, both my batting idols. Immediately I went to the local Indian/Pakistani store in Denver and rented bunch of Pakistani games and was surprised with the sheer talent and elegance this fellow, Youhanna, was blessed with. Then years later I was watching him playing against a mediocre English side while he was facing a below average left handed medium pacer Salsburry while he, Youhanna, called Alec Stewart “Hey Stewart come here, tell him (the bowler) not to look at me, go tell him, tell him”. That spoke how little mental toughness this guy has, I hope over the years he has considerably improved in this area, which is what Pakistani team always lacked since the days of the great Khan. I have always thought that talent is a package deal and can not be separated from:
· Playing talent,
· Talent to integrate with the team,
· Talent to figure out your own talents (hence knowing your limits),
· Talent to play as per your talent,
· Talent to keep yourself mentally and physically fit for the big games,
· Talent to impart your talent to new comers in a respectable manner.

I always think our team who never stops to boost about the most talented, only in the sense of playing talent, side in the world always lacked severely in the rest of the categories. Like all other qualities these qualities are also learnt at home, that is domestic cricket which has not produced a great cricketer in the last 20+ years of my cricket following. Most of these guys were brought in the lime light of cricketing glamour when they were merely teenagers, thus missing the vital opportunity to perfect the art of scheming a strategy and ability to channel their abundance of talent. This worked well when a great personality like Imran Khan was around but ever since he opted to be a politician and the guys, who never had a strong personality of Khan, just screwed the whole setup for their ego and cheap monitory goals. I don’t see PCB doing anything notable to improve the cricketing infrastructure of the country and seems to believe that somehow magically they will be crowned as world champs.

Pakistan is in the pool that can be called, as per FIFA world cup speak, “the pool of death” that is Australia, England, India, Pakistan and Zimbabwe are the teams that are not fun to play with. Australia, India and Pakistan seems likely to advanced to the super six level, but didn’t Zimbabwe beaten sunlight out of India in the 1999 world cup and practically ruined their party? That might still happen and England and Zimbabwe are more than capable doing the same to one of the big threes.

Pakistan, besides South Africa and Zimbabwe, is the only team who had the opportunity to play in the conditions where the world cup is staged and are based in Johannesburg, which is second to none when it comes to the cricketing facilities. I hope they exploit these advantages and win the most prestigious trophy one more time.

Marquee match of the world cup will take place on the Saturday March 1st 2003, yes, between Pakistan and India and my prediction, like in all previous world cup match ups, is that Pakistan will be victorious and I hope, unlike in other world cup matches, Pakistan wins this one. Its bit like this: even in the worst years a true Broncos fan (like I proudly am) can never even dream of supporting hated Riaders. So although I rationally think that this year will be the one when home team will win the world cup (and that ain’t gonna be Zimbabwe or Kenya) but still Gooo P.A.K.I.S.T.A.N.