Preview - Pakistan

PAKISTAN

In the last World Cup Pakistan failed to reach the second round and Waqar Younis (the captain) was promptly kicked out along with the failing Inzamam. There have been quite a bit of changes since then under Inzy and Bob Woolmer. One of the biggest challenges for Inzy as a captain would be to get the best out of his players.

The most unpredictable team at the moment, Pakistan can go great heights as well as go to bad depths. Just like WI, it depends on whether Pakistani players have fire in their belly to do well.

The 1-3 drubbing they just received against South Africa should be forgotten by now, but not the lessons. Akmal should not open and Inzy should not bat low down the order. Inzy’s form and performance is extremely critical to his team’s chances. A horrible run in 2003 World Cup caused Pakistan to pull out after Round one. A great Inzy won the cup for Pakistan in 1992. Most often than not, Inzy is in reactive mode. That should change to proactive mode if his team is to go the distance in this edition.

Pakistan will definitely miss the all-round skills of Razzaq both with the ball as 2nd change bowler and also as a lower order fire power batsman. They do have some amount of depth in their batting with Malik, Afridi and Akmal (if he can get into some form) to provide some biffing, to up the run rate in the slog overs.

Inzy’s cool head and some team application can take them to semis….if not their dream will end at the Super 8 stage. Yet another world class batsman (Inzamam) playing his last World Cup and if one can look deep, then at the age of 37, this might be his last series as well.

Strengths:
· Mohd Yousuf’s amazing form.
· Lots of all-rounders.
· Batting depth.

Weaknesses:
· The Most Unpredictable Team.
· Poor Opening Stands.
· Malik wasted too much lower down the order.
· Kamran Akmal’s horrible batting and keeping form.
· Can Susceptible while chasing.

Key Players:
· Inzamam, Mohd Yousuf

Dark Horse:
· Shoaib Malik, a fit Umar Gul.

My Take:
· Super 8 Stage (Semi final if lucky).

My Team:
Mohd Hafeez, Imran Nazir, Younis Khan, Mohd Yousuf, Inzamam (c), Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal (wk), Rana Naved, Mohd Sami, Umar Gul.

(For the 1st match – replace Afridi with Azhar Mahmood since Afridi is facing a ban).