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.

An inclusion that I am certainly in favour of was that of Azhar Ali. With the absence of Younis Khan, Azhar should go straight into the ODI side to bolster the middle-order batting line up. He has all the attributes: technique, temperament, talent, to become a permanent fixture in our ODI side for years to come as I am sure he will be in the Test side.

As expected, Shoaib Akhtar also retains his place from the squad that faced Australia in the Twenty20s earlier in the tour. With Wahab Riaz also included and Akhtar’s level of fitness considered, it will be interesting to see if Akhtar makes the ODI team. If he does, it may well be a straight battle between Umar Gul and Riaz for the final spot with the other two taken up by Asif and Aamer. We must not forget Gul’s deadliness in the shorter form and that Wahab has been quite expensive in this form in the past. Although, with Abdul Razzaq and Saeed Ajmal also in the squad, and considering the fact that Afridi will bowl himself, it will be interesting to see how many pacers are included in the attack from the five of Aamer, Asif, Gul, Akhtar and Riaz. Certainly that’s one area in which we’re spoilt for choice.

All in all, it looks a very exciting squad with plenty to work with for captain Shahid Afridi ahead of the World Cup:

Squad for the five ODIs and two Twenty20s:

Shahid Afridi (capt), Salman Butt, Shahzaib Hasan, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Yousuf, Azhar Ali, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Fawad Alam, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Asif, Mohammed Aamer, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Wahab Riaz.

Reserves:

Sarfraz Ahmed, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Irfan, Abdur Rehman.

The chief protagonists in the fight back for Pakistan were Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Asif and Rana Naved who bowled maidens in both the 45th and 47th overs of the Australian innings. This meant that not only had the Aussies have to worry about wickets but also the number of balls remaining.

Australia tied the game with a ball remaining which meant that India were out of the tournament at that point. Requiring one off the last ball they got there with a bye to keeper Kamran Akmal whose throw, had it hit the stumps, would have resulted in the game finishing tied rather than in an Australian win.

Pakistan again demonstrated why they have the world’s premier bowling attack. It had it all, spin, unerringly accurate yorkers…it was a joy to watch. Who said 50 over ODIs were boring? Well they certainly are not when Pakistan play them!

Pakistan will now play New Zealand in the semi-finals on the 3rd of October. Aamer will no doubt be back for that but Asif’s second spell would have got the captain and selectors wondering. He did well but expect Pakistan to go into the semi-finals with the side that beat India in the group stages.

Umar Gul and Younis Khan have come out and said how they’d love to beat India but there’s a trophy out there up for grabs, a tournament, so let’s concentrate on that. Holding the Champions Trophy as well as the Twenty20 World Cup will strengthen any argument about Pakistan being the side to beat in the shorter form of the game so there’s plenty of incentive there.

The other group (B), is made up of England, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka.

So to the team. This is a real tough one as the 50 over form, though criticicsed, still does throw up different challenges to the twenty over game. Having said that, the abilities of our players would probably see the Pakistan 50 over team the most similar to its twenty20 team than any of the other countries. The one change which will probably be a given is Mohammad Yousuf coming in to strengthen the middle order. Here’s my picks:

Imran Nazir
Kamran Akmal (wk)
Younis Khan (c)
Mohammad Yousuf
Umar Akmal
Naved-ul-Hasan
Shahid Afridi (vc)
Umar Gul
Saeed Ajmal
Mohammad Aamer
Mohammad Asif

Fawad Alam
Iftikhar Anjum
Misbah-ul-Haq
Shoaib Malik

The tail does seem a  bit long but there’s no point taking Asif if he’s not going to play. We have 60 overs available from our bowlers so options for the captain if a bowler has an off day. Admittedly, it’s a bold batting line up as 50 overs is a long time but they’ll just have to step up to the mark, particularly the opening pair. It’s encouraging to see competition for places as two players who were dead certs not long ago, Misbah and Malik, will now find it tough to find a place in the team in my opinion.

Will Pakistan come out as winners? Well, with the short format and a potentially difficult group, a good start is vital. Get that and I think it’s a real possibilty. Watch out for Umar Akmal and Mohammad Aamer.

If you keep in mind Pakistan’s tour to Australia which follows the Champions Trophy, then bringing Asif back now would be the right thing to do in my opinion, but whether the selectors thought of this is another matter. This will be a vital series for us and we’ll need our best bowling attack and Asif would certainly fit into that category as he’s arguably the most talented seam bowler in world cricket.  The Australian tour comprises of 3 Tests, 5 ODIs and a Twenty20. If Asif was not picked for the Champions Trophy then it would be very difficult to justify his inclusion in a team to play Australia, especially with the 3 Test matches coming up first.

The fact that the Champions Trophy is a short tournament in which he’ll come up against quality but where the result won’t matter as much as it would in a WC tournament, makes it a good place to return. If he does fail, then at least he’ll fail here and not on a long and important tour.

As for whether he deserves any more chances, he’d probably point to the ones Shoaib Akthar has been given. But rather than use Akthar as an example of what he can get away with, Asif should use him as an example of what not to do and take his chance this time as it may be his last.

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. That place will no doubt be taken by Mohammad Asif who will return from his ban on September the 22nd. He will be the perfect new ball partner for Aamer, with his ability to seam the ball early on.

If we need to make up overs in a match, our world class spinners can easily do this to give the above three pacers a break. Added to that, an all rounder such as Razzaq, Rana or even Arafat can contribute should more pace be required. Shoaib loses out here because of the fact that he is just a bowler.

Shoaib failed to turn up for a fitness test for the one day series which follows the Sri lankan Tests, citing the illness of his mother. The fact that he is a disruptive influence and hardly fit, it will be better to pick reliable players in order to have a steady team selection. It looks as if Shoaib’s fate is sealed

Shoaib still feels he’s got “three-four good years left” in him. Looking at the reasons discussed, Bollywood awaits, time for Shoaib Akhtar to become Shoaib the Actor. What a waste.