FAWAD AHMED: Fervent to Play In Ashes

Fawad Ahmed who has made selectors to think about his selection seriously for the up coming ashes. Australia will be going with two specialist spinners for the Ashes. Although not as great as Shane Warne, Bradd Hogg or Straut Mac Gill. Right now no one knows how much potential does this 31 year old Pakistan Refugee has to perform for Australia. But Australian selectors are eager to name Fawad Ahmed to play for Australia in Ashes. But the problem is that under ICC he is not eligible to play for Australia until August 18 and till that Ashes will going to end. However if passport is handed over to him then the story will be quite different. 

He is rated as the best leg spinner in Australian domestic currently. He was used for net practice before Australia take on South Africa to face Imran Tahir effectively. According to Tasmanian Captain Cameron White he believes Fawad to be the best spinner after Shane Warne and Mc Gill. But one more thing Australians do need to consider that Imran Tahir is a copy of Fawad Ahmed but he is not playing as an effective role for South Africa. So there is also a chance that he may misfire in international arena, which Australians don't want from him.

Monty Panesar and Grame Swann are likely to be the part of Ashes. They both played a big role for England victory against India. And they will continue to do so in England against a Australian batting line up which shows weakness against spinners. However, Ashes is not going to be played in India. If it does then England were more than the favorites. The conditions of England are far more different then of Chennai pitch.

Fawad Ahmed  and Nathon Lyon are currently the best spinning options for Australia. I am just wondering if he get the chance to play against India on Chennai pitch. And if he does for what he is praised for in Australia domestic then the equation of the series would be different. At least we may find a tough competition between Australian bowling and Indian batting.

My Pakistan Probable 30 for ICC Champions Trophy-Part 3

The last two post were for the batters and bowlers. Here is now the all rounders list which should be consider for ICC Champions trophy.

All Rounders:
Muhammad Hafeez
Shoaib Malik
Shahid Khan Afridi
Abdul Razzaq
Yasir Arafat

I think if they all get selected that will be enough. Right now Pakistan team has a decent bowling attack and some what a good bench of batting. These players are currently the best all rounders for Pakistan team. Yasir Arafat can play a big role in ICC champions trophy. His experience of playing in England pitches will help Pakistan team. The first two in the list will give the strength to Pakistan in batting department while the last two in bowling. Yes, Boom Boom can support very well in bowling as well as batting.
  Considering about wicket keeper well it is not a problem of adding names but I think PCB will only play with Kamran Akmal in ICC Champions trophy PAK- final 11. So, it will be no use of adding the name of Sarfaraz Ahmed and others. However Sarfaraz should be adopted for Pakistan team in test regularly. So Once again my Probable 30 list is revised.

 

My Pakistan Probable 30 for ICC Champions Trophy-Part 2

In the first part I discuss about the specialist batters. Here is the list of bowlers which should be consider for ICC champions trophy.

Specialist Bowlers:
Muhammad Irfan
Junaid Khan
Umer Gul
Saeed Ajmal
Wahab Riaz
Muhammad Sami
Sohail Tanveer
Abdul Rehman
Raza Hasan
Zulfiqar Babar
Rahat Ali
Ehsan Adil

Muhammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Umer Gul & Saeed Ajmal:
Well they are currently one of the best bowlers in Pakistan team. Umer Gul has some problems in South Africa and he was not able to play in all ODI matches. Junaid Khan is currently bowling brilliantly not only with new ball but also with the oldie. He was very lethal against India recently. Muhammad Irfan is improving day by day. He has out classed Hashim Amla, Graem Smith, Ingram and few other with his serious bounce and pace. Saeed Ajmal will be playing a key role for Pakistan in ICC Champions trophy once again. Ideally speaking they are right now front line bowlers of Pakistan Cricket team.

Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanveer and Muhammad Sami: These three bowlers will be the first choice for replacing the front line fast bowlers. Wahab Riaz has got the opportunity to play in South Africa where he bowl pretty well in the middle overs. He is not bowling that much well in the depth overs and there he is punished very hard by batsman. Same is the problem with Muhammad Sami but he has done quite well in Faysal Bank One Day tournament in which he played in all seven matches and picked 11 wickets with an average of 17.63. That looks a good sign for a fast bowler like Sami who has been to and fro in Pakistan team. Sohai Tanveer is another left arm fast bowler his fitness will be the key. He bowls very well with the new ball, almost make the batsman unplayable.

Abdul Rehman, Zulfiqar Babar and Hasan Raza:
They are considered to be one of the finest spinner and has got full potential to bowl. Abdul Rehman has been a consistent player for Pakistan team in test cricket. He was also considered in WC 2011. He give pretty tough time to batsman like Kumar Sangakkara, Kallis, Pietersen and players of that class. Hasan Raza was used in t20 world cup recently. He will definitely serving Pakistan team in future. Zulfiqar babar is 34 years old and still waiting for his debut. He has an impressive average and economy in first class. 

Ehsan Adil and Rahat Ali:
They both had a fine debut against number 1 test team in ICC ranking. Rahat has got some serious pace with his while Ehsan Adil can seam the bowl very well. His first wicket was one of the best captain Graeme Smith. Surely he will remember that for a long long time.

Pakistan team think tanks has got plenty of options for creating a best bowling line up in ICC champions trophy. Also for the next assignment WC-2015.

My Pakistan Probable 30 for ICC Champions Trophy-Part 1

Pakistan team will soon announce 30 probable for ICC Champions Trophy. In this post I will discuss the specialist batsman who should be the Part of probable 30 and in the next part about all rounders and bowlers.
Pakistan since the birth of cricket is missing a strong batting order. Although many great individual batters were born but not as a unit. Pakistan team once again facing with same problems. They need batsman who can play well as a unit.

Probable Batters(Should Be):
Nasir Jamshed

Ahmed Shehzad

Asad Shafiq

Khurram Manzoor

Umer Akmal

Younus Khan

Misbah-ul-Haq

Imran Farhat

Azhar Ali

Sohaib Maqsood
Shahzaib Hasan
Faisal Iqbal

Nasir Jamshed &Ahmed Shehzad:
They look to be as a future openers for Pakistan Cricket team. Nasir Jamshed will definitely be the key player when Pakistan team will play against India in the group match. Ahmed Shehzad he scored a good 46 knock against South Africa in an only T20 match and every one was surprise why he is not catch for the ODI's?

Asad Shafiq, Misbah-ul-Haq, Younus Khan, Azhar Ali & Umer Akmal:
As a consistent team players they might be in the probable 30 for Pakistan. Asad Shafiq scored a century against South Africa in test matches. But he was not opted regularly for the ODI's. Misbah-ul-Haq is currently Pakistan one of the best batsman in terms of averages. He is the only player in Pakistan team who averages above 30 in all the three formats of cricket. Younus Khan disappoints in the ODI's against South Africa. But his experience will definitely help Pakistan team in ICC champions trophy. Azhar Ali, although his performance against India is not so satisfying but he will be consider for Pakistan probable 30.Umer Akmal was not given any chance against South Africa while he was the part of the squad. Misbah didn't pick him in any of the ODI's against South Africa. He will make a silent entry in Pakistan probable 30.

Khurram Manzoor and Faisal Iqbal: 
Both played really well in Faysal Bank OD tournament and made Karachi Zebras to cruise for the finals. Khurram Manzoor looks to me as a perfect ODI batsman. He has work hard in last couple of months. And considering about the way he performed in the tournament, he should be the part of probable 30 of ICC champions trophy. Faisal Iqbal, he is in 30's and if he get a chance now this might be the last chance he will get. He was in the squad of test series against South Africa but he didn't played.

Sohaib Maqsood and Shahzaib Hasan:
Sohaib belongs to the city of Inzamam-ul-Haq. Sohaib is the top scorer in Faysal Bank OD tournament scoring 475 runs in 6 matches with an average of 95.00. Not only that, He hit 10 sixes against Karachi Dolphins and 17 in the tournament which makes him more special. Shahzaib Hasan is the second highest scorer of the tournament. Although far away from Sohaib Maqsood from runs and also sixes. Shahzaib has a special power of placing the bowl out of the park. He was the part of Pakistan team in ICC T20 world Cup in 2009 in England. 

A Surprise:It may be possible that Pakistan team may announce the name of Muhammad Yousuf for the probable 30. You can expect such kind of surprises from PCB.

Can They Become Champions in Champions Trophy?

ICC Champions trophy also known as the mini world cup. The event will be starting from 6th June2013 in England. The first ICC Champions trophy was held in 1998 in Bangladesh. If we look at the past champions of this mini world cup, all the teams which are participating this year has won it at least one time except the one. Surprisingly, it is Pakistan. Though, India and Srilanka shared this trophy and become champions once.


Apart of not winning this trophy they have never reach to the finals. Last time in Champions trophy they lost against New Zealand in the semi finals. Australia win this trophy two times the most by any team while West Indies has reach in to the finals 3 times the most by any team. However they have only won once. Looking to the past track record Asian teams don't look too good for this tournament.

England has organized the last biggest event which was ICC T-20 world cup and Pakistan team won that. Oh yeah they have also organized the Olympics but Cricket is not the part of it. However England cricket ground became the venue   for Olympics games.

Well the task to become Champions in Champions trophy is a pretty tough one for Pakistan team. And considering the past track record they look least favorite for this title. It will be the toughest assignment for Pakistan team before WC 2015. 

Successful T20 Batsman Of Pakistan-Misbah-ul-Haq

His stats actually told me that He is one of the most successful T-20 batsman of Pakistan Cricket team.

Averaging close to 38 and with a decent strike rate of 110.20 is really a phenomenal effort. Because the best T-20 batsman Chris mighty Gayle averages 35.46. And also the most successful captain MS Dhoni averages about 31.

Misbah ul Haq showed a strong performance against Karachi Dolphins by scoring 85 about few hours ago. He scored 85 of 47 balls in which he hit five sixes. Also not to forget Muhammad Hafeez who scored 102* of 64 balls for Lahore Lions against Multan Tigers, today.

But the post doesn't mean that he should come to T20I's and become the captain. Muhammad Hafeez currently looking very fine from his bat in this format and will learn more as day passes. The idea is a wake up call for middle order batsman like Akmal brothers, Malik and all the others that Misbah-ul-haq has a phenomenal record in his T-20 and he has not announce his retirement so if any question arises regarding Pakistan Batting line up. The most successful batsman will surely be consider for this format. Cheers Misbah.

Youngest player to score a hundred: 15 out of 49 are from Pakistan

Look at the list of youngest player to score a hundred in test cricket.The list contain some of the great players of Cricketing world like Don Bradman, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, Javed Miandad, Hanif Muhammad and some other players.

Out of the 49 players above 15 are from Pakistan Team. The most players by any other side in the above list.And six out of top ten are from Pakistan.

And most hundreds were scored in Pakistan soil out of the left one. But these record will no longer get any replacement from Pakistan side because of no international cricket in Pakistan soil since last four years exactly. As on 3/March/2009 Srilankan team were attacked in Pakistan and thus after that no international cricket is played in Pakistan after on.
From the list shown at left, Taufeeq Umar is the only player who is playing currently for Pakistan in test level consistently. However, players like Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazeer and Abdul Razzaq who became one of the youngest player to score a hundred but presently situation seems to be a lot of different for them. Umer Akmal is not considered for the test cricket due to his temperament while Salman Butt is out of the international cricket presently.

Pakistan Cricket always had the talent for the test cricket and were nourished. Although they were considered to be having weak batting side but still the list shows that the players are capable of creating and enlightening history. Still there are lot of Shahid Afridi's, Hanif Muhammad and Akmal kind of players are present in Pakistan cricket academies and they will come more swiftly towards test cricket if international Cricket in Pakistan gets back. Because it becomes hard for young players as they learn cricketing basics in Karachi, Lahore and some other cities' ground and then they have to go to play in Dubai and some other venues under alien conditions.

Pakistan Government should take some serious and effective actions although they are doing their best to take Pakistan Cricket team out of this trouble. At moment Pakistan test cricket is sacrificing the most.

Umer Gul Dozed New Zealand And South Africa

After a fabulous performance by Umer Gul against South Africa picking up five wickets and give only six runs.He has now become the highest wicket taker in T-20 international. He has shown this performance against New Zealand in World cup 2009 and restricting New Zealand at 99. Today South Africa were chasing a huge total of 196 against an experienced bowling lineup of Pakistan. Although they got a good start but when the bowl was handed to Umer Gul then he dozed South Africans.


And after winning against South Africa they move up to third position along India in ICC T-20 ranking. Although they lost their position in ICC test ranking few weeks ago after Pakistan were white washed by South African in test cricket.

So, South Africa won the test series by 3-0 and Pakistan won T-20 by 1-0. Now it comes to ODI's in which both the teams look balance against each other, not an easy task to choose the one out of the two like the way it was in Test and T-20.

Lets see how both the team comes up against each other in ODI format?
It will be a good ODI series between the two sides.

Pakistan team looking favorite for Sunday's fixture

The way South Africa looking favorite in the test series and has prove it, in the same manner Pakistan is looking favorite for the Sunday's t-20 fixture. Pakistan team whitewashed by SA in the test series which cost Pakistan team to jump to fifth position in ICC ranking.

South Africa on the other hand has adopted the strategy from England of having three different captains for three different formats. Faf Du Plessis will be leading the young t-20 side for South Africa while AB De Villiers will be leading the ODI side. For South Africa they are targeting to create a good T-20 side before next year T-20 world cup as they will be playing about 10-15 T-20 matches before the start of fifth T-20 world cup. So they have adopted a mixture of young and experienced players for this series. Although one match was abandoned due to heavy rain and the only Sunday's fixture is remaining to decide the series.

Zulfiqar Babar might have to wait for the next series as in a good spinning lineup of Pakistan, it becomes very difficult for anyone to get a chance. On the other hand Asad Ali is a good fast bowler who is only selected for the T-20 squad. He should be given the chance as against the normal lineup of South Africa you may take such kind of actions. And who knows he might be the next Waqar Younus of Pakistan, who on the same venue did the hat-trick against New Zealand. 

My Pak-11 for Sunday's fixture:
Ahmed Shehzad
Nasir Jamshed
Muhammad Hafeez
Umar Akmal
Shoaib Malik
Shahid Afridi
Kamran Akmal
Umer Gul
Asad Ali/ Wahab Riaz/Junaid Khan
Saeed Ajmal
Muhammad Irfan