Imran Farhat, Shahzaib Hasan, Awais Zia, Imran Nazir ... Pakistan has had a number of mediocre openers in the past. The list is endless.

But there have been none worse than Khurram Manzoor.

Just like Sami has for the bowlers, Khurram has set the bar really really low for Pakistan's openers!

If reports of Ahmed Shehzad being recalled for the World T20 to replace Khurram are true, then I could not have woken up to better news.

Sure Shehzad has had a bad year in international cricket. He has been woefully out of form. However; he did well in the PSL. If Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif can be selected due to their PSL performances then there was no reason to drop Shehzad in the first place.

Despite his recent bad form, Ahmed Shehzad has been Pakistan's most trusted opener, along with Mohammad Hafeez, across formats in past 6 years. There is absolutely no reason why Shehzad and Hafeez should not be opening for Pakistan across formats.

If only Pakistan's selectors smoked a little less pot and paid more attention.

It is not often that men running the Pakistan Cricket Board are praised, because more often than not their acts, statements, selections, and management is so unprofessional that one wonders what these people have done in life besides being friendly with those running the country.

When a die hard eternally optimistic Pakistan cricket fan gives up, it pretty much shows how damn sad the state of affairs is in Pakistan cricket.

I can't watch the Pakistan ODI team any more.

Since Ijaz Butt committed the single biggest mistake ever in the history of cricket in Pakistan by removing Shahid Afridi from the helm of Pakistan's ODI team and making Misbah its captain, Pakistan's ODI cricket has suffered immensely.

His supporters will always talk about the Asia Cup win and the amazing series win over India at the end of 2012, but that is not enough.

We have been humiliated 4-0 by England and 3-1 by Sri Lanka, we have lost ODI series to Australia and South Africa, and we have just been miserably embarrassed in the Champions Trophy.

The Asia Cup, the series win in India, and the 4-1 domination of Sri Lanka at the end of 2011 are the only 3 major ODI victories that Misbah's ODI team can boast of.

Take a closer look and you will find out that it is the same set of players that led Pakistan to those ODI wins - Shahid Afridi, Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez, Junaid Khan, Saeed Ajmal and ofcourse Misbah.

These are your match winners.

What the other players are doing in the XI, or for that matter even in the squad, is beyond me.

Pakistan's utterly disgraceful ODI performances over the past two years have nothing to do with the captaincy, the presence of Misbah, or a defensive mindset.

The foremost reason for these horrid ODI performances is the selection.

The selectors who select the squad, along with Misbah and Whatmore who select the XI, are all at fault.



Mindboggling to see players like Shoaib Malik continue to play every single ODI despite not putting up even one half decent performance for over 3 years. I do not understand how he makes it to the squad in the first place, let alone the playing XI.

The same is the case regarding Imran Farhat who has been torturing us for 12 years now. I have been watching this sorry batsman since 2001 and there has been absolutely no change in the way he looks, bats, and loses his wicket - it was shit in 2001 and it is shit now in 2013.

When will the selectors realize that both Malik and Farhat are mediocre cricketers, domestic bashers, and no good for international cricket?

I really do feel that the average public is far smarter than those people warming the selectors seats in the PCB.

What is even more disturbing is that players like Malik and Farhat continue to keep getting their chances while promising batsmen like Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali, and Haris Sohail do not even make it to the squads.

The treatment of Umar Akmal is a sorry tale, while Haris Sohail probably does not understand what more he needs to do to break into the team.

Much like Shoaib Malik doesn't understand what he has to do to get the damn axe!

The selectors and the team management have committed so many blunders in the past 2 years that it is quite inexplicable how they continue to hold their positions.

1. How can you drop Umar Akmal, first from the playing XI and then from the squad, while he is your top ranked ODI batsman and averages 40 in the 30 ODIs that he has played under Misbah?

2. How can you drop Azhar Ali from the ODI team after he has averaged 41 in 14 ODIs under Misbah? I understand that he may not have the best strike rate in the world but for a team that struggles to play 50 overs these days, a batsman who can stand his ground for a long time should be a blessing.

3. How can you drop Shahid Afridi, not once but twice from the ODI team, but continue to select Shoaib Malik?

4. How can you drop Nasir Jamshed, who averages 46+ in 20 ODIs under Misbah, for the last 2 ODIs against South Africa and play Imran Farhat in his place?

5. How can you drop Asad Shafiq for the Champions Trophy match against South Africa, yet play both Shoaib Malik and Imran Farhat?

6. How can you not find a wicket keeper to replace Kamran Akmal?

7. I agree with the decision to drop Younis Khan and Shahid Afridi, but I don't understand how they can be axed when players like Shoaib Malik and Imran Farhat are in the team?

8. Are the stats shown above only understood by the public? Are the selectors really that illiterate?

So many questions, absolutely no answers, and yet no accountability for the selectors, coach, or captain.

Sad.

Pakistan needs a new ODI team, and it needs one now.

All talk of the Champions Trophy being an important tournament and that major changes should not be made before it, but after it, is all Bull.

This can't go on.

It should be a criminal offence to keep players like Nasir Jamshed, Umar Akmal, and Asad Shafiq on the bench. Nasir played the first 3 ODIs, Asad played only the first, and Umar played none!

Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik have to go

There is absolutely no way that Misbah or Whatmore or anyone within the PCB and team management can justify the exclusion of these players while Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik continue to enjoy a "no questions asked" run in ODIs for Pakistan.

Umar Akmal is currently Pakistan's top ranked ODI batsman and the only Pakistan batsman in the Top 20 of the ICC Rankings. Yet he fails to find a place in the team.

In his last 20 ODI innings, Umar Akmal has scored 618 runs at an average of 36.35 with 7 fifties.

How does anyone with that sort of record in the last year find himself out of the team?

Compare that to the last 20 ODI innings of Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik and one can't help but curse Misbah and Whatmore for keeping Pakistan's future on the bench and playing players who are well past their prime in ODI cricket.

Younis Khan: 420 runs at an average of 22.11 with 3 fifties.
Shoaib Malik: 318 runs at an average of 18.70 with 0 fifties.

Moreover, the problem with both Younis and Malik is not a recent one, which is why it pisses me off even more to see them part of Pakistan's ODI set up.

Younis has never been a good ODI player. His test credentials are unmatchable, but as number 3 in ODIs for Pakistan he has largely been a failure. A career average of 31 and only 6 centuries in over 250 ODIs for your country while batting at number 3 does no justice to a player of Younis' caliber.

I reckon he should have left ODIs a long time ago. Or should have been asked to leave.

Malik's is a different story. He has just not been the player that he used to be. Once an amazing ODI batsman for Pakistan, he seems to have lost the plot.

The last time Shoaib Malik scored anything more than 40 was his 128 against India in September 2009. That is his only fifty plus score in the past 3.5 years, and since then Malik has been an utter failure and deserves to be dumped into oblivion.

Misbah Ul Haq Needs to Move on as well

There is no doubt that Misbah has done a great job captaining Pakistan since the time he took over in 2010 right after the spot fixing scandal. However, this great job has been done in test cricket.

It was a regressive step to make Misbah captain of the ODI and T20 team and take the reigns away from Afridi and it has been a regressive period for Pakistan's ODI team ever since.

I would be the first one to agree that Misbah has played a tremendous role anchoring innings after innings in ODIs while wickets fall around him, however he is not good for the ODI team. We need young and fresh legs, we need our future batsmen to be playing more ODIs, and we need to build a team that can be competitive in 2015 because no matter how hard Misbah tries there is no way he will be playing a World Cup at 41 !

Even if he was winning ODI after ODI for Pakistan, I would strip him off the ODI captaincy just for keeping talent like Umar, Asad, and Nasir on the bench.

Shahid Afridi's Time is also Over

I have been Afridi's biggest supporter over the past decade and it is very hard for me to say this but his time is also over. I have always believed that Afridi, first and foremost, is a bowler; and whatever he does with the bat should be considered a bonus.

And his bowling is no where close to the level it used to be at a year ago. He has lost his magic charm and his ability to pick wickets regularly. He was the best bowler in ODIs in the world for 5 years, but he no longer is.

I do not want to speculate the reasons why, but its obvious that age is catching up and he doesn't pose any threat to international batsmen any more. And he surely can't continue playing as a batsman.

He found batting form during this series against South Africa, but that's enough to keep him in the team.

I know it will break millions of hearts to see Afridi leave the game, but I guess he can continue entertaining us in Pakistan colors in T20s and in the various T20 leagues around the world.

Other Players who Should not be Playing ODIs for Pakistan

Imran Farhat, Kamran Akmal, and Umar Gul are also players that need to be forgotten once and for all.

I fail to understand how Gul has managed to play for Pakistan for a decade! He is at best a super T20 bowler, but in ODIs, and even in Tests, he has barely delivered.

Kamran Akmal is probably the most debatable out of all the players mentioned given that he is finally finding some batting form, but Pakistan have also stuck with him for much longer than they should have.

It is time to find and groom a new wicket keeper who is also an effective batsman. Or a good batsman who is also an effective wicket keeper.

Imran Farhat is pretty useless and has hardly looked like an international opener, yet he is another player who has been around for over a decade for no reason at all. Yes he scored 93 but he tried his best to get out multiple times during that innings; he also consumed 140 odd deliveries and no it wasn't a test match!

With openers like Nasir Jamshed and Ahmed Shehzad around, Imran Farhat should be no where close to the squad, let alone the XI.

The Champions Trophy is coming and all these changes need to be made before that. Fans going to London to watch the last edition of the tournament, after getting tickets from places like the Big Ticket Shop, do not want to be left disappointed be seeing the same names fail game after game.

In the next part, I will discuss the players who can potentially replace these over-the-hill-cricketers in ODIs for Pakistan.

With the T20 series shared between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, all eyes are now on the ODI series that begins on 7th June.

I will never advocate the inclusion of Kamran Akmal in any Pakistan team. Imran Nazir might be good enough to still play T20s for Pakistan, but I feel he's too unreliable for ODIs. But Ahmed Shehzad is Pakistan's future, and I don't understand how he can continued to be ignored.

His performance in the BPL speaks for itself.

Well alright, maybe the BPL performance is not enough evidence, but someone please tell me what he did wrong to get dropped from the team in the first place.

I heard of some disciplinary issues. So are you telling me that there is no one in the Pakistan team management that can discipline this 20 year old kid? Seriously?

The National One Day Championship in Pakistan hasn't happened yet this season, but one can always compare Nasir and Shehzad's performances in the domestic T20 and first class games.

During the current 2011-12 domestic season, Ahmed Shehzad has outperformed Nasir Jamshed in every competition, besides the Pentangular Cup. If you include the BPL among these, then one can see that Shehzad has done better than Nasir in four domestic tournaments out of five.

Then what made the selectors go for Nasir and not Shehzad?

It is not that Nasir has done badly. He has had a decent season domestically and he is a proven performer at the domestic level. His BPL stint also showed that he is in good form.

It is just that Shehzad has done better.

Why he remains on the sidelines, is anyone's guess.

- Former Pakistan Captain Inzamam Ul Haq who led the Lahore Badshahs in the ICL Edelweiss 20s Challenge and is leading the ICL Pakistanis in the ICL 20s World Series.

Moin Khan, who is coaching the teams captained by Inzamam, is also the ICL agent for Pakistan. He gets a neat commission from the ICL for every Pakistani player he signs on and has been instrumental in getting together an international looking Pakistan side for the league.

The presence of big names like Inzamam have led a number of Pakistani cricketers to jump ship. Ignorance on part of the PCB is another factor leading players like Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar, Mohammad Sami joining the ICL bandwagon.

You can't blame the cricketers - for apart from being ignored for national duty, they earn more from the ICL than from playing domestic cricket and maybe even earn more than their IPL counterparts.

The PCB here failed on several accounts.

Where does all this leave Pakistan cricket?

Not in very good shape unfortunately.

The domestic competitions this year, despite having the first choice internationals, lacked subtance due to 18 of the countries' top cricketers playing in the ICL.

If another dozen or 2 dozen cricketers join the ICL it would leave the domestic structure in tatters with only 2nd and 3rd grade cricketers participating in it. Or rather only those whom the ICL are not interested in.

So what should the PCB do about this?

Its quite simple honestly.

Let the cricketers earn their livelihood by playing in the ICL and allow them to play domestic cricket in Pakistan. Its not that these cricketers don't want to play for their regional teams or departments - they do, the PCB has banned them.

Imran Farhat and Taufeeq Umar have a case filed with the High Court to overturn the bans. Abdul Razzak has filed one as well.

The sooner the PCB realises that the ban is unfair, and its only going to hurt them, the better.

But then if the bans are overturned the PCB will come into the bad books of the BCCI. They can't afford to do that.

Someone then needs to knock some sense into the BCCI. Who can do that? The ICC? CA?

All the national cricket boards need to come together and stand up to the BCCI. They need to let the BCCI know that they are at a loss since they are not getting a share of IPL revenues and at the same time they are losing cricketers to the ICL because of their support to the BCCI.

I hope that sanity prevails and the boards don't go for a cut in IPL revenues as opposed to having their domestic cricketers back.