Pakistan Team for the World Cup 2003

Right now, Australia has five batsmen in the top twenty in the world (with four of them in the top ten). And it has four bowlers in the top ten in the world.

South Africa has five batsmen in the top twenty five of the world. And four bowlers in the top twenty in the world. It also has two all-rounders in the top five in the world.

Pakistan has three bastmen in the top thirty in the world. And four bowlers in the top twenty in the world. It has no all-rounders in the top five in the world. And it only has one batsman (Yohanna) and one bowler (Wasim) in the top ten in the world.

So, statistically speaking, Australia and South Africa are head and shoulders above Pakistan, at this moment.

Bowlers:

Wasim Akram is currently the fifth highest ranked ODI bowler in the world. He has been consistently at that level (+/- 5) since 87, only dropping below slightly in the end of 2001. I don`t see how anyone can say he is over the hill for ODIs. The next highest ranked Pakistani bowler is Saqlain at 15. Waqar is 19th, Shoaib is 20th. The highest rate rating Shoaib has ever had in his whole career is 732 pionts, while Wasim currently sits at over 750 (which is not even his career highest). So Wasim is still better than Shoaib at his best.

Wasim can bat also, a bit. So Wasim is currently the best one-day player in the Pakistan team. So anyone who think Wasim is not needed, should visit http://cricketratings.pwcglobal.com/cricket/cricket.htm.

Shoaib is probably one of the top 5 most feared ODI bowlers in the world. His rating is low now, because he has been injured. So he definitely makes the team. Saqlain makes the team also, since he is the second best off-spinner in the world, after Murli.

This leaves the other two bowling spots open. Pakistan`s batting is its achilles heel. And Pakistan has a lot of good all-rounders. Waqar is not the same bowler he used to be. He is rated only three levels above Afridi, who is 22. Waqar, for the past four years, has been at the same level as Razzaq (who is currently 27, due to injuries).

So Razzaq comes in as the fourth bowler, due to his bowling alone (assuming he gets fit and back to his old form). Razzaq is also a decent batsmen, and one of the top five all-rounders in the world, when fit.

This leaves the fifth bowler slot open. I think it should go to Afridi. He should be considered a bowling all-rounder and not a batting all-rounder. His bowling graph has been going up consistently for the past three years, while Waqar`s has been going up and down. They are both close to each other at the moment, even though Afridi hasn`t been given the opportunity to bowl consistently. Afridi is the 50th best ODI batsman in the world, 25 positions ahead of Wasim. While Waqar is not in the top 100. So Afridi is close to Waqar in bowling (nowdays, though previously Waqar was in a different league), his bowling graph is going up and he can bat somewhat also. He is a good fielder, as well. And Pakistan needs batting and fielding support more than it needs bowling support. Afridi is also a lot younger than Waqar.

This puts Waqar out of the team. He is a good team man, and was the best bowler in the world, in his day. But now I think he is too expensive to be in the team.

Wicketkeeper:

Rashid Latif is a slightly above average keeper, but he is a below-average batsman. People incorrectly think of him as a batsman. He is currently at 392 points, the 82nd best batsman in the world. This is close to the highest as he has ever gone in his career, so he won`t get much better.

Moin Khan was an average keeper, but an average batsman as well. He is currently not rated because he hasn`t been a part of the ODI team. However, when he was playing, I believe he was consistently around 40th to 60th best batsman in the world - significantly higher than Latif. He is also a very gutsy player and one of the best Pakistani players under pressure. He should never have been taken out of the ODI squad. So Moin Khan should be the ODI wicketkeeper, and Latif should be the Test keeper.

Batting:

Pakistan`s batting line-up, according to PwC ratings, is one of the poorest in world. Three batsmen automatically make the team. Yohanna, till a few days ago was the no. 1 ranked batsman in the world. Now he is no. 3 in the world. So he is in.

Inzamam has consistently been in the top 10 in the world. However, he is currently close to the lowest he has ever been in five years, at 21 in the world. Talent-wise he is just below the Tendulkar/Lara category. He has always had enough talent to be in that category. So he is in.

Yonis Khan is not as good a batsman as everyone makes him out to be. He is currently at 31 in the world. However his graph has been consistently improving and this is close to the highest he has ever been. He should get better. So he is in.

These three are really the only world-level batsmen in Pakistan - even Yonis Khan would not make it into most teams. Who should have the opener slots?

Rating-wise, it should be Saeed Anwar, who is 29th and Saleem Elahi who is 42 (Razzaq is 37th, but he is already in as an all-rounder). Imran Nazir is 63rd, so he is even below Afridi. I think the player to watch is Taufeeq Umar. He played extremely well in South Africa. He needs to be the opener in ODIs and Tests. Its better to have an opener who scores slowly, then to have one who does not score at all. So he should be in.

No one deserves the other opening slot. Saeed is as good a choice as any. He was a top 10 batsman in the world, in his day, but now seems to be out of form and distracted. Maybe, he has one good series left in him.

So the complete team should be (should have been):

Taufeeq, Saeed, Afridi, Inzi, Yohanna, Yonis, Moin, Razzaq, Wasim, Saqlain, Shoaib.

Extras should be: Waqar, Azhar, and Imran Nazir

A team needs all of its five batsmen to be in the top thirty in the world, to win the world cup. Pakistan barely has three in the top 30 (and only one in the top 20). Australia has five in the top 20. South Africa has five in the top 25. So Pakistan needs to make up for quality with quantity. With a very long batting lineup, hopefully someone will click.

Pakistan will lose out slightly in wicketkeeping and slightly in bowling (replacing Waqar with Afridi). But, regardless of how good the bowling is it cannot win, if it cannot consistenly score at least 225 - 250 runs. And Wasim, Shoib and Saqlain, with enough runs on the board, can bowl out any side in the world, including Australia. All Afridi and Razzaq will have to do is not give up too many runs (Waqar still takes a lot of wickets, but he gives up way too many runs, and cannot bat).

Captaincy: The captain should be Wasim. But he is out due to the bribery trials. So it should be Moin. He was doing ok, until he got replaced by Rashid. Vice-Captain should be someone who is being groomed to be the next captain and is a sure-shot selection everytime. Yohanna seems to be the obvious choice, if he has the leadership skills.

Chowk is so boring these days....I guess this one will have to do.

Bucs or Raiders, Australia or South Africa, its very difficult to predict anything when the games reach the last 4 or 6 stage. Luck and emotion become more important than skill and balance. It doesn`t really matter if Afridi is opening the innings or Saeed Anwar-both don`t deserve to. But then who knows, Afridi may end up hitting Zaheer Khan for six sixes in the first over and then get clean bowled by one of Tendulkar`s gentle frisbees!!

Sport teams in many ways reflect the national character. The Pakistani team is no exception. They`ll beat India, lose to Zimbabwe(who they recently whitewashed) with 5 top players getting ducks(and corresponding wires in their Bermuda bank accounts) and play a nail biter against England. Of course they`ll be no match for the boring but efficient Australians or South Africans. As long as Shoaib or Youhana kick some butt it will still be worth it.

later
-sac

Naqshbandi: I would bet that South Africa and Australia will reach the finals. It is a toss up after that.

My two cents worth
PagalInsaan #3
I think that you are being unfairly cruel to Waqar. He was the second highest wicket taken in ODI`s in 2002. He is still our best bowler after Akram. I would never include Shoaib in the list as he has the tendency to bowl 6 overs and sit out six matches as injured.

Naqshbandi and rozaiba # 1&2
I also used to be a big fan of Imran Nazir, but having seen him playing recently change my mind. He has absolutely no footwork. The only footwork he has is to get forward across. Messers McGrath, Pollock and company will pick him like a sitting duck. I as well am no fan of Afridi, but keeping in mind that Imran Nazir option is not viable and Salim Elahi being the other option (would someone please get rid of all the Elahi brothers once and for all) I would choose Afridi as he has the tendency to rattle the opposition if (and I emphasize IF) he gets going. He also has the tendency to pick up crucial wickets and should be considered a real all rounder. Saeed on the other hand has slowed down and not what he used to be but still in my opinion the best option available.

You see the current team we have isn’t perhaps the best team out of the fourteen, but it’s the best we could field and has the capability of turning it around.

Nice try Munjan ;)

#3 I think you are too hard on Waqar , save some for Azher Mehmood and others

I hope Pakistan does win--and they are capable of it--but it will take a lot of luck I think! We really don`t have too many world class players: Wasim Akram (way past it), Waqar Younis (ditto) [but I hope both of these two all-time great fast bowlers can produce the goods one more time and prove me wrong!], Inzamam al Haqq (our best batsman!), Yusuf Youhanna (very good but like Inzi can be unpredictable), Saeed Anwar (was the best opening batsmen we ever had but recently been too inconsistent) and Saqlain (a wonderful one-day bowler) and, last but not least, Shoaib Akhtar (the fastest in the history of the game and our only real hope--let`s pray he doesn`t injure himself). Although this sounds like a lot of great players but most of them are either past it or out of form or unpredictable.

The rest are just either starting off or run of the mill cricketers. And add to this the fragility of our batting and its propensity to sudden, infarction-inducing collapses and our club standard fielding and our awful record of chasing totals and we really don`t have too many chances!

Except if we bowl second in each game, one or two of the star batsmen actually click to give us a total of 250 and then hope that Shoaib can do the business.

***

I think Australia are almost guaranteed finalists and almost anyone else could be there with them. I don`t think we`ll get that far but IF we do reach the final I think we will win it! Pakistan Zindabad!

(Then again if we do crap I can always support England! Go on England!! :-))

Jarrar, you should have revised the piece before submitting it. Some unecessary grammatical errors that hindere the flow to a piece this is needed as the greatest cricketing event draws close.

Even if Wasim is past his prime, he`s still the greatest fast bowler today. A total joy to watch bowl.

Youhanna is my favorite batsman as well. He`s one of those `match-winning` types. I had thought that it was a mistake putting him to bat at number 3 as he was an excellent person to play the pivotal matching winning role at the number 5 position. But that change has obviously gotten him lots more runs than at the number 5 position. And I guess it`s all right now that Younis Khan has proven to be as able to handle the position. Younis, Youhana and Inzimam are a great bunch for the middle order.

I agree that Imran Nazir should have been chosen to open. I don`t think much of Shahid Afridi at all. Imran Nazir with another opener (Saeed should not have been included I think) would have been a better combination.

It is the Group of Death. And you cannot discount England. Pakistan could easily face an early exit from the tournament.

In college football, I`m told it`s a must that one support the local division team even if they are the age-old rivals in case the home team doesn`t make it to any of the Bowls.

But man, I can`t get myself to do that- especially not in Pro football- against the Broncos arch nemisis the Raiders. So I too add my voice to `Go Tampa`. What are the rumors in Denver about the possibility of a new QB? you know, the Rams will probably have to release one of their two star QB`s - Wurner or Bulger.

- Imran Khan was doing all sorts of politics when he was in Cricket too ;)

- Shahid Afridi deserves to be hanged, but the cricket board cant resist the Pepsi sponsorship, so he`s gonna play in the world cup for ``Company ki Mashoori``.

- Waqar Younis can neither bowl nor bat, he is only playing as a ``Captain``, which reminds me of Sultan Zarwani, the old UAE captain.




A typical Pakistani match is:


- Pakistan bats first.

- Shahid Afridi stops the ball, everybody thinks he`s gonna play sensibly.

- Sahid Afridi hits hard, lifting is back leg, opening the face of the bat to the sky, and gets caught on Mid-off.

- Pakistan gets real slow.

- 45/6

- Old and diabetic Waseem consolidates

- 160 all out



- Waqar opens the bowling

- Waqar defends 160 with just 1 slip

- Waqar gets hit for a 4

- Waqar removes the slip

- Waqar gets hit the shit out of

- Old and diabetic Waseem bowls a couple of people out

- Waqar lets out a moan every time he throws the ball, reminds everyone of women`s tennis.

- Waqar bowls short-balls

- Waqar gets thrashed

- 12 overs gone, 80/2

- Waqar gives up

- Afridi and Razak start bowling

- Waqar off the field

- 20 runs remaning

- Waqar returns

- Saqlain mushtaq called

- Saqlain Mushtaq jumping around to save singles

- Saqlain bowls a No Ball

- Saqlain gets hit for a four

- Saqlain starts crying

- Pakistan loose the match

- Waqar Younis gives thanx to ``Mighty Allah``

- Waqar Younis says it was ``not our day``

- Tauqeer Zia says ``we are experimenting for the World Cup.``