One day after a historic white wash against England in the Test Series at Home, the PCB Selection Committee has announced the squad for the 4 One Days and 3 T20 matches to be played against England from the 13th of February.
Misbah ul Haq has been retained the Captain of the team and just like the past series; He will not have a Deputy.
One Day Squad:
The squad for the One Days looks very balanced and strong, it is some what same to the one that was announced for the ODI series against Bangladesh about 2 months ago; however the big news was the non inclusion of All rounder Shoaib Malik. Malik who made his come back into the team for the tour to Zimbabwe in September 2011, was found struggling with both bat and ball through out. After a failure tour to Zimbabwe, Malik due to his experience was included in the team for the following series against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, however in those two tours, Malik failed horribly which led his exclusion from the squad.
Surprise element was the inclusion of Hammad Azam. The talented All rounder has impressive performances under his belt at the Domestic level for his team Rawalpindi and Department National Bank and constant solid performances with bat and ball have convinced the selectors to include him in the squad for the major Limited overs series against England.
Retention of both Azhar Ali and Adnan Akmal was a refreshing news, as both of them were initially not considered for the Limited Overs Cricket, however their selection in the ODI team on the basis of Impressive performances in the Test Series suggest that the selectors are willing to give chances to players on the basis of current form and performances rather focusing on the past performances.
Sohail Tanvir has also been axed from the squad, his exclusion was some what justified by the fact that off late his performances were not impressive enough to earn him a spot in the team plus the presence of Left arm Fast bowlers like Wahab Riaz and Junaid Khan also created tough competition for a place in the squad.
Once again Pakistan will be heavily relying on the spin trio of Afridi, Ajmal and Hafeez in the bowling department, they will be well supported by Umar Gul, and Aizaz Cheema. Also Misbah has the choice of including any of the Left Armers from Junaid and Wahab. Hammad Azam is also very handy with the ball.
The batting lineup looks very strong, Mohammad Hafeez has been in very good form off late and he is set to perform well in the coming series as well, Younis Khan, Misbah ul Haq, Umar Akmal and Asad Shafiq make up a very strong batting order. If Hammad Azam is played, he too is a proper batsman. Apart from Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat is likely to be the other opener, Farhat has not had the best of times of late, however he has the potential to do well against England.
Over all the Pakistani Squad for the One Days looks very balanced and considering the good form the team is in these days, rest assured that they will start the series as firm favorites.
Twenty 20 Squad:
Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Adnan Akmal (wk), Junaid Khan, Umar Gul, Aizaz Cheema, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Wahab Riaz, Hammad Azam, Awais Zia.
The Twenty 20 squad just has one change from the ODI squad, Awais Zia is included in the team in place of Younis Khan. Awais Zia is a Left Handed Opener who plays for Rawalpindi in the First Class Circuit, and is a very Hard Hitting batsman. He played an important role for the Rawalpindi Rams in their successful campaign at the National T20 Super Eight Competition, where in the final he played a very impressive innings against a strong bowling unit of Karachi Dolphins and was Rawalpindi's Man of the tournament. After that he once against impressed one and all by his swash bucking batting in the National T20 Cup played in September 2011. He also played an important role in making Pakistan the champions of the S.A.A.R.C T20 Cup, Zia scored 2 centuries in the tournament and was judged Man of the Series. His selection in the team is a motivating factor for the other youngsters who are doing well at the domestic level.
Other players in te squad are all in good form and have contributed to the team's success recently. Mohammad Hafeez and Shahid Afridi will be the main men as both are world class All rounders and are ranked higher in the ICC Twenty 20 rankings. Saeed Ajmal and Umar Gul will be another point of strength for the team, as they too have been phenomenal in the game's shortest format.
Umar Akmal will be main gun in the batting department, he will be eager to perform and prove his potential. Misbah ul Haq and Asad Shafiq are the main stays of the batting.
With a historic white wash inflicted by the Green Shirts on the English team, the expectations of a series win from team Pakistan are very high, Misbah is man of the moment and under his captaincy, it is on the cards that this bunch of talented players will do well and win the series against England.
GeoSuper