Stani Army

Pakistan have announced the squad for the upcoming ODI series and Twenty Internationals against England and there are a few interesting changes. It does seem that one squad of 16 has been announced for both formats with the likes of Abdur Rehman and Shoaib Malik who had made  the 14 man Twenty20 squad that beat Australia 2-0 earlier on the tour, missing out this time around.

The fortunes of Yousuf and Malik seem to be going in opposite directions

Shoaib Malik’s exclusion for the last Test against England came as no surprise but his exclusion from this limited over squad is slightly more surprising. With Fawad Alam and Mohammed Hafeez coming back in, maybe Malik’s role would have been seen as being covered adequately enough. Hafeez’s inclusion also means that there is no place for Imran Farhat, who strangely enough, is probably more suited to the shorter form.

Most interestingly, Mohammed Yousuf has completed his come back by being named also. One would think that he’d only be used in the ODIs but I for one am certain he could do a job in the Twenty20 see-ball hit-ball form of the game. Younis Khan was overlooked because, according to captain Shahid Afridi, he has not sorted out his dispute with the PCB. In what seems a very unsympathetic and ruthless statement, Afridi said: “I asked the chairman PCB about the situation with Younis twice. But the clearance wasn’t given by the PCB. I did what I had to do”. Make of that what you will.

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I can’t help think that for some of the Pakistan players, this tour of England will be a defining one. Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik and Shoaib Akhtar seem to be in the last chance saloon and will be hoping for some better than average performances if their international careers are to be prolonged. With captain Shahid Afridi looking to introduce younger talent, and the PCB ready to come down hard on unruly behaviour, it is now or never for the aforementioned three.

Peculiarly, it will also be a defining tour for three players that haven’t made any of the announced squads: Mohammed Yousuf, Younis Khan and Misbah Ul-Haq. The performances of those that are about to fill the slots of these three veterans, may dictate how easily they get back into the side, or if they do so at all. Performances on the pitch aside, even just a happy camp with a good dressing room atmosphere may be enough to keep Younis and Yousuf out. I say this because the PCB and the captain may get the sense of having ‘moved on’ thus will view the selection of Younis and Yousuf as a potentially troublesome retrograde step.

Whatever happens as a result of the current side doing well over here in England, it can only be a good thing for Pakistan cricket in the long term, if the current crop put in some commendable performances here in England.

We did mention on Stani Army that Umar Gul would be missed at the Twenty20 World Cup, and today he showed just why. At the end of the 17^th over, Australia were still in it with Michael Hussey still at the crease. On came Gul for his 3^rd over and cleaned up the dangerous Hussey with a superb yorker that seemed to move both ways. At the end of that over, in which Gul also took the wicket of Tim Paine, the game was effectively over. Once again he has shown why he is the best Twenty20 bowler in the world.

But what gave the bowlers something to bowl at was the superb innings from Umar Akmal. With Pakistan missing Mohammed Yousuf, Younis Khan and Misbah Ul-Haq from their squads, the talk before this tour was of the younger Akmal having to step up to the mark. He has certainly started off very well, with an innings of class, filled with a complete range of strokes. Hopefully there will be more to come from him.

Shahid Afridi also had a good game in the field. Though he failed with the bat, he bowled at his attacking best, took two very good catches and made the right bowling changes at the right times. His decision not to risk Shoaib Akhtar for a 3^rd over was a strong and correct one.

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Pakistan’s Twenty20 World Cup semi-final loss took Australia’s domination over Pakistan to 12 wins in a row in all formats. Whilst a lot of credit must be given to the Australians for their performance in the semi-final, I disagree with Pakistan Coach Waqar Younis who said “I don’t think we went wrong anywhere. We did a good job, but you’ve just got to give credit to the Australians….I thought we bowled pretty well”. I know that it is our batsmen that usually lose us games and not our bowlers, so we cannot be too critical of them. But some of the bowling in defending 191 in the semi-final was brainless. Even up until the last four overs, just two reasonable overs from four would have made it almost impossible for Australia to come back from and win the game. Yet both Aamer and Ajmal were guilty of bowling the wrong line and far too short. Saeed Ajmal was trusted for the last over as he had done a very good job when Pakistan were in a similar situation in the game against South Africa. Ajmal thought he’d proceed in doing the same thing whilst failing to realise he was bowling to Michael Hussey. Short, and to middle and leg, Hussey just picked him off for sixes. Ajmal should have realised after his first delivery to Hussey that the way to go was full and wide to the off side, but that would have meant thinking for himself.

In general, Pakistan did not deserve to retain the World Cup even if they had squeezed into the semi-finals. Every team had either stayed at the same level from last time or improved, apart from us and maybe India.

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Strangely, there was a chance that Pakistan, the World Champions, could have been out of the tournament just 24 hours into their defence. But a relatively comfortable win against Bangladesh has erased that fear. Barring an unexpected win for Bangladesh over Australia, Pakistan can now look forward to the super-eight stages of the competition but with a lot of improvements to make.

Though the openers did very well against Bangladesh, they became unstuck against Australia, who look like a force to be reckoned with having got their selection right this time around. Salman Butt played a nice knock in the first game but, and there’s always a but with Salman, he let himself down when it really mattered. It’s fine to do well against Bangladesh but his poor innings against Australia, a game in which Butt-er fingers also dropped catch, has made his Bangladesh innings pretty much insignificant in my eyes. The question mark is still there; will Butt deliver with the bat when it’s really needed? I’ve certainly given up on him ever improving his fielding. I just feel Imran Nazir should be here in his place, as Mohammad Hafeez could quite easily have played the consolidatory role Butt is probably in the line-up for. Added to his batting, Nazir is also one of our best fielders.

Captain Shahid Afridi also needs to step up his game. Not only has his batting and bowling been poor, but so has his captaincy. Clapping the Salman Butt dropped catch is just not good enough. Imran khan would have stared at Butt until he disintegrated into the ground beneath him. These are grown men; there is no place for these niceties. Watch an Australia drop a catch and watch the reaction of the captain and bowler, and you could bet they won’t be clapping their hands.

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As I watched Ijaz Butt, the Chairman of the PCB, stand at the after-match presentation ceremony, there was a discernible difference between his appearance after the first twenty20 against England and the second one. After the first one, you could see the worry on his face as he tried to both listen in on what the captains were saying whilst sifting through the many excuses in his head as to why Pakistan had not won a single match ten matches in a row. At the second presentation ceremony, he looked as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders as he stood there with his head held high.

Yes, Pakistan managed to win something eventually but this win must not paper over the cracks like wins such as this have done so in the past. The management, coaching and captaincy issues still remain, not to mention the fact that we still are yet to find a settled opening pair and a reliable middle order.

Abdul Razzaq: Single handedly stopped the run of Pakistan’s 10 straight losses in all forms

What was obvious in both Twenty20s was that they followed a pattern which has become synonymous with Pakistan’s recent performances in that they found themselves in winning positions only to relinquish their hold on the game. But for the brilliance of Abdul Razzaq in the second Twenty20, this pattern would have continued for eleven straight games. Once again, it would be easy to use this as an excuse that only a few tweaks are needed here and there but you don’t lose ten games in a row if your problems are small and easily fixed.

One interesting call which came from the guys at MTJAG, was to make Abdul Razzaq captain. Before you dismiss it, consider the fact that none of our current candidates are obviously suitable and the problems we have had in bringing back the same old faces to take over as captain in the past. Would a new face in the role be a better option? Certainly, he seems respected among the players and is increasingly becoming a vital cog in the Pakistan team since his return from the ICL. It was his call-up to the World Twenty20 team which coincided with Pakistan’s up-turn and eventually lead to us being crowned World Champions. Could Razzaq be the perfect candidate to build a new team around? Many of you may have noticed his reaction after he bludgeoned the ball for six to take Pakistan home in the second Twenty20. It was the reaction of a determined and hungry man as his after-match comments clearly showed: “I was telling Fawad we should win this one. I was saying ‘you can, you will’ and we did”. Certainly, we could do with more of that attitude from all of our players.

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With the emergence of Mohammad Aamer, would a fit Shoaib have a place in the Pakistan first team?

In the past, we’ve had to keep on going back to Shoaib because there was no one else fast or good enough to partner Umar Gul as the other of the two Pakistan pace spearheads. Maybe part of the reason for his bad behaviour was that he felt he brought something unique to the Pakistan attack so was thus indispensable and could do pretty much what he liked. His recent comment, “I am the fastest bowler in history and it’s not possible for everyone to bowl at 150 (kph)”, does give some indication of such a mindset. Yet now that we have Aamer, and due the reasons which we will now examine, I think Shoaib would find it very difficult to get a place in any of our sides.

His reverse swing and slower ball skills will not be missed as Gul has demonstrated that he is one of the very best exploiters of these qualities. His pace will not also be a miss as both Gul and Aamer are adequately fast enough. In most of our sides, barring injury, we will probably go with three main fast bowlers due to the strength of our all rounders and spinners. With Gul and Aamer a certainty, this leaves one place

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I’m not sure if anyone else remembers reading cricinfo’s bulletin for the Super 8s match Pakistan played against New Zealand, but there were parts of it that made me wonder. It was written by Sidarth Monga who, in the past, has been accused by various fans of his obvious bias. Here it was in regards to Pakistan being able to recall Abdul Razzaq after the ICL cancelled his contract. Have a read of his bulletin and see what you make of it.

Sidarth Monga:

“How Pakistan would want to thank BCCI for the “amnesty” it accorded the ICL players.”

“Once the euphoria of this performance dies, Pakistan will want to thank the man returning to international cricket for allowing them to go ahead with their preferred bowling strategy.”

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