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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…and that’s just in One Day Internationals. The saying goes that the only completely consistent people are the dead, so going by that, Pakistan cricket seems well and truly dead and buried. The old criminals were back from the dead – the likes of Akhtar and Malik – in a desperate attempt to breathe life back into the team, but to no avail as Pakistan exited the Asia Cup at the first opportunity.

It had been the view of many that a complete clear-out and introduction of new young talent to the international fold would have been worthwhile even if they did nothing but lose for the first few months, because as the evidence shows, the superstars that currently occupy these places have done nothing but that.

Pakistan have won only three international matches since December of last year, a period which included 3 Tests, 7 ODIs and 9 Twenty20 Internationals. Most disturbingly of all, the three matches they won were all Twenty20 games, two of which were against Bangladesh and a poor South African side. And if you think that at least they are good at Twenty20s, well that period included two warm-up Twenty20 losses, one to Pakistan A, and the other to Zimbabwe. Having won just 3 of the last 19 internationals, the up and coming home series in England will bring with it a lot of pressure to put things right and bring some cheer to us long suffering fans.

The PCB has once again demonstrated it’s pointlessness in almost retracting every punishment they handed out to the seven players after the Australian tour. At the time, Ijaz Butt came out with some tough talk saying that he was going to hand out harsh punishments. Indeed, he kept his word at the time with life bans for Mohammed Yousuf and Younis Khan, one year bans for Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved, and heavy fines for the Akmal brothers and Shahid Afridi. With Rana Naved’s hearing still to be concluded, all punishments have been retracted except for the fines the Akmal brothers received which have been reduced by two thirds. It thus goes without saying that If Mohammed Yousuf should come out of retirement, his ban would also have to be lifted.

Untouchables of Pakistan cricket: Innocent when proven guilty

With all that has come out of the inquiry and various player statements, it is clear that Shoaib Malik was one of the worst culprits. Unfortunately, with Malik still around, I can’t see Yousuf changing his mind and returning to the side. I know who I’d rather have back if I had a choice between Malik and Yousuf.

In some ways, the return of the players is evidence of the dearth in Pakistan talent with hardly anyone from the domestic game being trusted to be able to step up into the international side and keep these criminals out.  Many would say that this is something the punished players know and have been taking advantage of for some time. It is why, for most of the seven, it was important that the punishments were upheld, if not entirely, at least to some worthwhile degree. Right now the players must be inwardly laughing at the administration which governs and disciplines them. Ijaz Butt has denied that this will make the PCB seem like a soft touch to the players, but if everyone else thinks that is how it is looking then I’m certain the players are thinking likewise.

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Mohammad Asif’s inclusion in the Champions Trophy squad has divided opinion amongst Pakistani fans. Many feel that he will be undercooked and I get the feeling that the remainder just don’t want to see him back because of the issues he’s had with drugs, which is fair enough.

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.

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Rana Naved was recently awarded a central contract by the PCB after he turned his back on the ICL. He was placed into category C of the contracts, which would see him earn 100,000 Rupees a month. Since most of the ICL players were wholly blamed for joining the unofficial league and criticised for it; here we’ll take a look at what the Pakistan players are earning and whether this is enough to stop their heads turning.

Below is a list of the value of the contract in each category and it makes for some interesting reading

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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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