My team
It suddenly hit me last night that the Windies series is less than a week away. With all the shit going down, it completely snuck up on me. Be that as it may, I'm fairly happy with the squad selected, though I would have liked to see Rana maintain his place. But I can understand the argument to drop him - he's looked nothing like the 2005 Rana, and maybe he just needs to go work on his game away from the glare of the media and the pressure of international cricket. Same goes for Salman Butt. Both of them will be back.
Anyways, I'm putting down two teams below: first, the one I'd like to see, and second, the one I think we will see.
1. Yasir Hameed
2. Mohammad Hafeez
3. Younis Khan
4. Mohammad Yousuf
5. Inzamam-ul-Haq
6. Shoaib Malik
7. Kamran Akmal
8. Abdul Razzaq
9. Shahid Nazir
10. Umar Gul
11. Danish Kaneria
Hafeez, Younis, Yousuf, Inzi, Akmal, Gully and Kaneria select themselves. I would play Hameed over Farhat any day. In fact, I would play Begum Nawazish Ali over Farhat any day. I'm in a good mood today, so I don't want to spew any vitriolic hatred over Farhat's batting (not to mention catching). Let's just move on.
At 4 down, you're basically looking at Faisal vs. Malik. I'd play Malik because he gives us another spinning option (our only chance to do anything in this series is prepare Indian type dustbowls and hope only Lara manages to score) and because I think he's a better long term prospect than Faisal. That's no slight on Faisal, who I think has a good future ahead of him as long as he can sort out that Pietersen-like tendancy to spring forward and shift all his weight on the front foot before the ball's even bowled. Pietersen can get away with it because he's about a foot taller than Faisal. The point being, I'd like to see Malik at 6.
After that you have to select two bowlers from among Razzaq, Shahid Nazir, Samiullah Niazi, and this Abdul Rehman fellow (who bowls left-arm spin). I've never seen the last two bowl so I can't really say anything about them, except that I've heard Niazi can bowl and Rehman's pretty good too, and can bat ok as well. But I'm going for the tried and tested here, I know a lot of people can't stand Razzaq in the test team, but he does ok when given the chance and you know what you're going to get with him. Shahid Nazir impressed me greatly on the England tour, him and Gully I think can bowl well together and at least kept the Windies quiet if not rip through the lineup. If Samiullah does get a game, I hope it's in place of Shahid Nazir and not Razzaq because if not, our tail will be awfully long.
Now, here's the team I think we will see.
1. Imran Farhat
2. Mohammad Hafeez
3. Younis Khan
4. Mohammad Yousuf
5. Inzamam-ul-Haq
6. Faisal Iqbal
7. Kamran Akmal
8. Abdul Razzaq
9. Samiullah Niazi
10. Umar Gul
11. Danish Kaneria
I have a bad feeling about Woolmer's opinion on Farhat. I'm getting flashbacks of the middle-of-2004-to-late-2005 period, when Woolmer kept insisting Sami had talent, that he was underappreciated and misunderstood, that he had pace and fire and that he wasn't hugged enough as a child. He took about 18 months longer than everyone else to conclude Sami was utterly shit. And I think the same thing is going to happen with Farhat. He's going to keep making excuses for him and selecting him over more deserving players (Salman Butt, for one). I just have a bad feeling about this. I really hope I'm wrong here but I'm afraid I won't be.
I think they'll select Faisal because they think Hafeez is a slightly better version of Malik and you don't need two of the same kind of players in the team. I understand that argument, I just don't agree with it.
I think they'll go with Samiullah over Shahid Nazir because they think our attack is too predictable otherwise, and the fact that Samiullah bowls left-arm gets him a leg up on Shahid Nazir. Again, I understand the argument, just don't agree with it.
5 days to go! Man, I love Test cricket.
It suddenly hit me last night that the Windies series is less than a week away. With all the shit going down, it completely snuck up on me. Be that as it may, I'm fairly happy with the squad selected, though I would have liked to see Rana maintain his place. But I can understand the argument to drop him - he's looked nothing like the 2005 Rana, and maybe he just needs to go work on his game away from the glare of the media and the pressure of international cricket. Same goes for Salman Butt. Both of them will be back.
Anyways, I'm putting down two teams below: first, the one I'd like to see, and second, the one I think we will see.
1. Yasir Hameed
2. Mohammad Hafeez
3. Younis Khan
4. Mohammad Yousuf
5. Inzamam-ul-Haq
6. Shoaib Malik
7. Kamran Akmal
8. Abdul Razzaq
9. Shahid Nazir
10. Umar Gul
11. Danish Kaneria
Hafeez, Younis, Yousuf, Inzi, Akmal, Gully and Kaneria select themselves. I would play Hameed over Farhat any day. In fact, I would play Begum Nawazish Ali over Farhat any day. I'm in a good mood today, so I don't want to spew any vitriolic hatred over Farhat's batting (not to mention catching). Let's just move on.
At 4 down, you're basically looking at Faisal vs. Malik. I'd play Malik because he gives us another spinning option (our only chance to do anything in this series is prepare Indian type dustbowls and hope only Lara manages to score) and because I think he's a better long term prospect than Faisal. That's no slight on Faisal, who I think has a good future ahead of him as long as he can sort out that Pietersen-like tendancy to spring forward and shift all his weight on the front foot before the ball's even bowled. Pietersen can get away with it because he's about a foot taller than Faisal. The point being, I'd like to see Malik at 6.
After that you have to select two bowlers from among Razzaq, Shahid Nazir, Samiullah Niazi, and this Abdul Rehman fellow (who bowls left-arm spin). I've never seen the last two bowl so I can't really say anything about them, except that I've heard Niazi can bowl and Rehman's pretty good too, and can bat ok as well. But I'm going for the tried and tested here, I know a lot of people can't stand Razzaq in the test team, but he does ok when given the chance and you know what you're going to get with him. Shahid Nazir impressed me greatly on the England tour, him and Gully I think can bowl well together and at least kept the Windies quiet if not rip through the lineup. If Samiullah does get a game, I hope it's in place of Shahid Nazir and not Razzaq because if not, our tail will be awfully long.
Now, here's the team I think we will see.
1. Imran Farhat
2. Mohammad Hafeez
3. Younis Khan
4. Mohammad Yousuf
5. Inzamam-ul-Haq
6. Faisal Iqbal
7. Kamran Akmal
8. Abdul Razzaq
9. Samiullah Niazi
10. Umar Gul
11. Danish Kaneria
I have a bad feeling about Woolmer's opinion on Farhat. I'm getting flashbacks of the middle-of-2004-to-late-2005 period, when Woolmer kept insisting Sami had talent, that he was underappreciated and misunderstood, that he had pace and fire and that he wasn't hugged enough as a child. He took about 18 months longer than everyone else to conclude Sami was utterly shit. And I think the same thing is going to happen with Farhat. He's going to keep making excuses for him and selecting him over more deserving players (Salman Butt, for one). I just have a bad feeling about this. I really hope I'm wrong here but I'm afraid I won't be.
I think they'll select Faisal because they think Hafeez is a slightly better version of Malik and you don't need two of the same kind of players in the team. I understand that argument, I just don't agree with it.
I think they'll go with Samiullah over Shahid Nazir because they think our attack is too predictable otherwise, and the fact that Samiullah bowls left-arm gets him a leg up on Shahid Nazir. Again, I understand the argument, just don't agree with it.
5 days to go! Man, I love Test cricket.
Labels:
Cricket
2 comments:
Firstly I completely agree with your team. One fisherman replaces another at the top of the order but atleast Hameed can catch, or atleast he'll catch more than Farhat would. That being said, they're probably gonna open with Farhat and Hafeez. Why, you ask? You wonder why Woolmer continues to stick with him? Answer: Because if he dropped him, Farhat's psycho Uncle would have his head.
Now to my disagreement. You really think they're going to drop Malik? Are you crazy dude? He scored 148 not out in the last test he played and you think we're gonna drop him. Malik is to Woolmer as Yuvraj is to Chappell; the future. I still think he's being groomed and as I mentioned to you before, I think he'll take over Inzi's number 5 spot when the time comes. I can't believe you think they won't play Malik. Seriously dude, you know better.
As for Sami.......ULLAH!! Metamorphosis perhaps? I don't think they're going to play him in the first test. If they do it should be at Razzlers expense because Nazir was chosen ahead of Razzler in England and should remain above him in the pecking order. Samiullah seems to be in good nick and now would be the best time to give him a go. I'd still go down the safe route, however, and play the exact same team as you. And something tells me that thats what the management will do...except of course, for our boy Farhat...and his GODDAMN UNCLE!
Haha... You are to Salman Butt what Imran Khan is to Sami.
Do NOT delude yourself by thinking that the selectors are allowing him to figure out his game the way they MIGHT be doing for Rana. Butt sucks big time and Farhat is his father which shows how crappy Butt is because Farhat is also pretty terrible.
Get over your Salman Butt thing. And do NOT throw that old (he scored a hundred against AUS) point at me - please refer to Ijaz Ahmed SENIOR's average against Australia. Please show Ijaz the same respect. If anything he went one-up on butt by sleeping with his team-mate's sister.
Butt is also NOT the next Saeed Anwar because I firmly believe he is a VERY UNattractive player to watch.
Post a Comment