Yet another ODI series bit the dust when Pakistan lost the series decider against New Zealand on Friday in Abu Dhabi, and found themselves at number 7 in the ODI ranking.

After losing 5 successive ODIs, Pakistan finally broke their losing streak yesterday by beating New Zealand in the first ODI in Dubai.

Despite this victory, Pakistan has a lot to think about leading up to the World Cup, which is just 2 months away now.

Saeed Ajmal's ban did not hamper Pakistan's preparations as much as Mohammad Hafeez' ban has. Pakistan have coped well without Saeed Ajmal, both in tests and ODIs, however without Hafeez' bowling, Pakistan will struggle more often than not.

With Hafeez not being able to bowl, Pakistan's entire balance and make up of the ODI team is impacted. Hafeez' presence in the top order and ability to bowl 10 economical overs with a wicket or two has been a luxury that Pakistan has enjoyed over the past 4 years.

However, now, in the span of just 7 ODIs, Pakistan has to come up with a viable alternative strategy for the World Cup.

The first solution was Haris Sohail. A prolific scorer in domestic First Class cricket, Sohail had played only 4 ODIs and 3 T20s for Pakistan before yesterday. He had not produced much with the bat in those 7 outings, and he had not delivered a single ball.

In his entire cricket career, Sohail had bowled 80 deliveries before the first ODI against New Zealand. Yesterday, Sohail bowled 75% of his entire career's deliveries in a single ODI!

There is no doubt that he did a great job. 10-0-39-0 are returns that Hafeez regularly produces for Pakistan. Sohail made sure that Pakistan does not miss Hafeez' services with the ball; however it remains to be seen if he can do it regularly or not.

Sohail came on to bowl when New Zealand were already on the back foot. Irfan and Wahab had provided vital breakthroughs and Sohail benefited from a batting unit that was under pressure.It will be a different situation when the batting team is on top or when a team is chasing a target against Pakistan.

I'm taking nothing away from Sohail's performance yesterday. He was superb. With both bat and ball and played an instrumental role in ensuring victory for Pakistan.

But, there is still a lot to think about. Three key things to think about:

1. The Professor's Dilemma

The biggest question that needs to be answered is the one regarding Mohammad Hafeez' place in the side. Does he still warrant an automatic selection given that he cannot bowl?

Nasir Jamshed is waiting in the wings. Sarfraz Ahmed can open the batting. There are middle order batsmen who deserve to be playing but are not.

Given all this, does Hafeez make the cut solely as a batsman?

Probably not in my opinion. He was severely exposed in South Africa, and majority of his good innings have come in the subcontinent; so to persist with him solely as a batsman for the World Cup in Australia might not be the best idea for Pakistan.

2. Keep Shoaib Malik OUT!

I could not believe my ears when I heard Rameez Raja mention Shoaib Malik, not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times during the entire match.

You got to be kidding me Rameez. Shoaib Malik is your answer for a batting allrounder? What has the man done in the past 5 years to warrant selection?

Just because he can bowl off spin makes him an option for Pakistan?

NO IT DOES NOT!

Fawad Alam, who happens to be Pakistan's best ODI batsman this year, and Sohaib Maqsood, who has had a tremendous start to his ODI career, can both bowl.

These are your batsmen, along with the newly found Haris Sohail, who can collectively contribute 10 overs in an ODI game for Pakistan.

Shoaib Malik needs to be kept in the wilderness. Or even beyond that if possible.

3. Fix the Middle Order

I still can't get over the fact that Pakistan went into this ODI with the middle order reading Asad Shafiq, Younis Khan, Haris Sohail, Misbah Ul Haq.

I wondered whether Misbah had confused the format of the game because that middle order sounds like one for a test match!

Asad (Test Ave: 40.2; ODI Ave: 25.9); Younis (Test Ave: 53.4; ODI Ave: 31.6); Haris (FC Ave: 52.0; List A Ave: 35.4) are proven performers in the longer version of the game. Anyone with some sense can tell you that the difference between those averages is too significant for them to be considered good for ODIs.

Once again, Haris showed immense potential and won the game for Pakistan, but would he have been able to do the same if Pakistan were chasing a score in the vicinity of 300?

Maybe he would have. I won't take any thing away from him after yesterday's knock. But what in the world are Asad Shafiq and Younis Khan doing playing at 3 and 4 for Pakistan's ODI team!!!?

That too with Umar Akmal and Nasir Jamshed on the bench, and Fawad Alam all the way in Pakistan.

Seriously?

This middle order needs a fix and it needs a fix soon.

Pakistan is running out of time and persisting with Hafeez when he can't bowl, thinking about Shoaib Malik when he can't bat nor bowl, keeping Umar Akmal and Fawad Alam out of the XI when they happen to be your two best batsmen in ODIs, and paying heed to someone's twisted demands to play Asad and Younis will not help their cause at all.

The World Cup is only 2 months away and everything seems to be in disarray.

He made his debut in 2010 in Australia in the test that followed the infamous Sydney test. He played just that one test due to the immense public pressure to oust Kamran Akmal, and then disappeared from the international scene for 3 years before returning again in 2013 for the 3 tests in South Africa.

He played those 3 tests, on wickets where most Pakistani batsmen failed, and managed a top score of 40 in his 6 innings leaving question marks over his batting abilities. He was axed again and didn't play for another year, till he was recalled to replace an injured Adnan Akmal in the second test of the series against Sri Lanka in the UAE earlier this year.

Since then, Sarfraz Ahmed has not looked back.

It has been a marvellous year for him and he has marched on like a man on a mission.

For a man whose batting was doubted by everyone around the world, Sarfraz made one hell of a turnaround to notch up scores of 7, 74, 5, 48, 55, 52*, 103, 55, 109, 15*, 19*, 13*, 112, 24* in 8 test matches in 2014.

This year, Sarfraz has scored 691 runs at an average of 76.77 and a strike rate of 73.12 in 8 tests!

Those figures include feats like the fastest century ever scored by a Pakistani wicketkeeper, the second fastest century ever scored by a wicketkeeper, and the only Pakistani wicketkeeper to score three centuries in a calendar year.

Only AB De Villiers has scored more centuries (4) in a calendar year as the designated wicketkeeper of the team.

Sarfraz' batting has been a revelation and he has been a major factor towards Pakistan's success in test cricket this year.

He is only 12 tests old, yet he has already left a mark on the cricketing map and is fast gaining the reputation of being Pakistan's best wicketkeeper-batsman ever.


There are 8 wicketkeepers who have played at least 10 tests for Pakistan in the history of their test cricket; and as far as their batting prowess is concerned, there haven't been any better than Kamran Akmal and Moin Khan.

Kamran and Moin lead the runs rally for Pakistani wicketkeepers in tests and both have a similar average as well. It can be argued that Kamran was slightly better considering he has 6 test centuries (no wicketkeeper from Pakistan has scored more), with some match winning ones.

Sarfraz, with 3 test centuries is already half way there; and the way he is batting, he could well be above Kamran in just another year.

Sarfraz' test average of 45.88, which is 15 runs better than Pakistan's best ever, already shows his superiority with the bat.

No one among all test wicketkeepers in the world comes close to making the impact that Adam Gilchrist and Andy Flower made with the bat. Sangakkara and AB De Villiers could have had they continued to keep in test cricket; however if Sarfraz can sustain his current form in the long term, he will undoubtedly be remembered among the greatest wicketkeeper batsmen in test cricket ever.

Among his global peers, Sarfraz is right up there in terms of his batting average in tests, among all wicketkeepers who have played at least 10 tests.

This second test against Australia being played in Abu Dhabi is Misbah's 31st test as captain of Pakistan, which puts him level with Inzamam as the third most capped test captain of Pakistan.

Only Javed Miandad (34) and Imran Khan (48) have captained Pakistan in more test matches than Misbah has.

Both, Miandad and Imran are also Pakistan's most successful test captains with 14 test wins apiece.

The last test win over Australia was Misbah's 13th test win as captain.

That is quite an achievement considering that Miandad and Imran are Pakistan's most successful test captains in Pakistan's history.

With the amount of criticism that Misbah receives, it will be quite a slap on the critics faces when he ranks alongside both Miandad and Imran as Pakistan's most successful test captain.

With the ongoing test match against Australia being played and another three to be played against New Zealand next month, Misbah could well become Pakistan's most successful test captain before the end of the year!


What is interesting to note is that Misbah has won a greater percentage of tests as captain than Miandad and Imran did. However, Wasim Akram is the more successful test captain in terms of % wins, winning 48% of his tests as captain of Pakistan.

Misbah has also lost a greater % of tests as compared to Miandad and Imran, however that could also have to do with the higher number of tests that used to end in draws during the 80s.

Miandad, Imran, and Akram also rank above Misbah in terms of W/L ratio in tests as Pakistan captain.

I won't be surprised, however, if Misbah improves on those aspects, i.e. % wins and W/L, considering the way Pakistan are playing and that they face New Zealand in the UAE next.

I have been completely against Misbah as Pakistan's ODI captain. However, I have always maintained that he is the right man to lead Pakistan in test matches, and achieving this record, which may happen as soon as in the next 4 days, will be one huge feather in Misbah's cap.