PAKISTAN'S UNIQUE FEAT

On Tuesday Pakistan became the only team to feature in the semi finals of all four World Twenty20 tournaments that have taken place thus far.

Pakistan were also the only team to have featured in the semi final line up of the three previous World T20 tournaments.

And they remain the only team to have played two World T20 Finals; however they could be joined by Australia or Sri Lanka if either of them qualify for the finals.

That record is impeccable.

On Thursday, when Pakistan take on Sri Lanka in the 1st Semi Final of the World T20 2012, it will be the 4th consecutive World T20 semi final that Shahid Afridi and Kamran Akmal will play. While it will be the 3rd World T20 semi final for Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Saeed Ajmal, and Umar Gul.

That is one experienced line up.

If it were not for a Michael Hussey juggernaut in 2010, Pakistan would have played a 3rd straight World T20 final, but it was an unbelievable and an unfortunate day in St. Lucia for the Pakistanis as Hussey produced a whirlwind and shattered Pakistan's hopes.

HISTORICAL ADVANTAGE WITH PAKISTAN

This time, the Greens are up against Sri Lanka, who started this World T20 as one of the favorites. Playing the Sri Lankans on their home ground is never easy, but I believe Pakistan has it in them to go all the way.

Historically, Pakistan has done well against the Sri Lankans, winning 6 out of the 9 T20 internationals that the teams have played against each other.

Out of the three matches they have played in World T20 tournaments, Pakistan have won 2 (including the final of the World T20 2009) and Sri Lanka 1.

BOTH TEAMS PRETTY EVEN IN THIS WORLD T20

Both, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have looked very strong during this World T20, however I feel that Pakistan has been the more dominant team out of the two.

Pakistan completely outplayed New Zealand and Bangladesh during the Group stages, and dominated Australia in their last Super 8 game. They stuttered against South Africa, but came back strongly to win that game narrowly. They have had only 1 bad game in the entire tournament and that was against India where they looked meek and out of sorts.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, remained unbeaten in the Super 8 stage beating England, West Indies, and New Zealand on their way to the semi finals. While they dominated the West Indies and England, they tied against New Zealand and won in the super over. They annihilated Zimbabwe in the opening match of the World T20 and only lost a shortened 7-over sprint to South Africa in the group stages.

Besides the historical advantage that Pakistan holds, there is very little to choose between the two teams as far as this tournament is concerned.

TOP 3 THE KEY TO BOTH TEAMS' BATTING

As far as the batting is concerned, Pakistan's top 3 of Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Nazir, and Nasir Jamshed are their leading run scorers in this tournament. The top order has traditionally been a worry for Pakistan, but in this tournament it is their top 3 who have done the bulk of the scoring.

Even the middle order comprising of the Akmal brothers, Shoaib Malik, and now Abdul Razzaq looks solid. Razzaq showed some touch during Pakistan's last Super 8 game against Australia, and if he can fire with the bat in the closing overs, it will provide Pakistan with the much needed fire power lower down, which has been missing due to Afridi's bad form with the bat.

For Sri Lanka as well, it is their top 3 of Jayawardene, Dilshan, & Sangakkara who are their leading run scorers in this World T20. Even though their middle order remains largely untested, the likes of Matthews, Thirimanne, Mendis, and the hard hitting Perera can be very dangerous on their day.

BOTH TEAMS HAVE A FORMIDABLE ATTACK

Sri Lanka has two match winning bowlers in their ranks in Lasith Malinga and Ajantha Mendis, both of whom are among the leading wicket takers in this World T20. Mendis had a rare off day in the last Super 8 game against England and Pakistan has traditionally played him well, but he still poses a threat, while Malinga is the sort of bowler who can turn a  match on its head within an over.

For Pakistan, Saeed Ajmal is the key, who is also among the leading wicket takers in this tournament. Even though they possess another two top quality match winning bowlers in Afridi and Umar Gul, both of them have been off color in this World T20. While Afridi has still managed to remain relatively economical, Gul has gone for over 10 runs an over.

Gul did seem to come back to some sort of rhythm in Pakistan's last game against Australia, but he is still far away from being the dangerous death bowler he once was in T20s.

The rise of Raza Hasan though is a positive sign for Pakistan. The 20 year old did what no other bowler has managed to do in this entire tournament - he tamed the man beast Shane Watson and finally ended his run scoring spree.


What has been remarkable about Raza is that he has opened the bowling for Pakistan in all their three Super 8 games against the batting power houses of Australia, South Africa, and India, and has managed an economy rate of only 4.36 in 11 overs, which is the best economy in this World T20 for any one who has bowled more than 5 overs.

TOO CLOSE TO CALL

Even though Sri Lanka have the home advantage, Pakistan were based in Colombo for their Super 8 games and are well accustomed to the conditions. There is no doubt that both teams are going to attack with spin, and it will possibly come down to which team plays the other's spin better.

It is going to be a cracker of a match. Even though I am stopping short of calling out a sure shot winner, I do believe that the winner of this semi final will lift the trophy on Sunday.

Everyone knows that Sri Lanka's test bowling attack has struggled since the retirement of Muralitharan. Sri Lanka is still in search for a bowling attack that can consistently pick up 20 wickets and win them test matches.


Kanishka Balachandran over at Cricinfo talks about the promise that has been shown by Nuwan Kulasekara as Sri Lanka's pace spearhead for test matches. 


Kulasekara has been a sure starter in ODIs for a long time now, however his test appearances have not been as regular. He did well in the 1st test against Pakistan, but I have my doubts about whether he truly can be the bowler to fill the gaps in a bowling unit that has struggled in recent times.


Doing well against Pakistan is not anything new for Kulasekara.


His record suggests that he was probably born to do well against Pakistan.

It is as if his sole purpose in life is to torment Pakistan batsmen.

In 5 test matches against Pakistan, Kulasekara has 25 wickets at an average of 16.4 !

That is 25 of his 31 test wickets.

How can a bowler who has only 6 wickets in 8 tests matches have 25 wickets in 5 matches against one opposition?

Beats me really.

Even his record against Pakistan in ODIs (22 wickets at 27.00) is decidedly superior to his overall ODI record (bowling average of 34).

Kulasekara has the third best bowling average in the history of test cricket against Pakistan! He may be good, but we really make him look like the best.



So when it comes to Pakistan, sure Nuwan Kulasekara is the answer to all of Sri Lanka's bowling woes. But for all other teams, Sri Lanka will definitely have to to dig deeper and find those match winners to replace the threat that used to be posed by Muttiah Muralitharan.

Younis Khan is the first Pakistan batsman to score over 1,000 runs in 4th innings of tests. He also has the the best average among all test batsmen that have scored over 1,000 4th innings test runs, and the second best 4th innings average ever (only Bradman's is higher). #TheRealKingKhan

The last time I wrote about Younis Khan was 4 months ago when he had just knocked up a century against England in Dubai. It was a fantastic innings, and right after that I wrote a post titled "Why Younis Khan is King".

In that post, I highlighted how well (rather better) Younis Khan compares with the batsmen who are popularly referred to as the 'modern greats' of the test arena. What I didn't touch upon in that post was the area where Younis Khan really does reign supreme - The 4th Innings of a Test Match!

Thanks to Mahela Jayawardena's mind boggling decision to not enforce the follow on, Younis Khan got another opportunity to show the world what he is capable of in the 4th innings of a test.

Even though he didn't save the test match for Pakistan (which was never really on the cards given the amount of runs and overs we were up against), Younis Khan did play a splendid knock and in the process became the first ever Pakistan batsman (and 21st overall) to cross 1,000 4th innings test runs.

Achievement?

Definitely.

But there is a bigger achievement.

Younis Khan has the best average among all the test batsmen that have scored over a 1,000 4th innings runs.


Unfortunately Younis fell 13 runs short of his 21st test century today against Sri Lanka, but had he got there he would have become the first ever batsman to score 5 centuries in the 4th innings of a test.

Yes the first ever! Younis currently has 4 4th innings tons and stands level with Sunil Gavaskar, Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting, and Ramnaresh Sarwan.

He truly is the King of the 4th Innings!

Well, not really. I'd simply say he's the King. Be it the 1st innings or the 4th innings, Younis Khan is the real KING KHAN!

If only Pakistan played more test matches...

The past year, 2011, was one of the best cricketing years in the history of Pakistan in terms of team results. Even though there were no outstanding individual performances, as Pakistan is used to, nor were there earth shattering results, but Pakistan won more games than they lost in all formats of the game, and even ended the year with the best win:loss ratio in ODIs among all teams.

It is a norm with Pakistan fans to call for a head or two of a player after a couple of failures. We have no patience at all with our cricketers. Or for that matter anyone from politicians to entertainers to sports players.

My recent twitter feed has been overflowing with people calling for Younis Khan to be axed from the ODI team. General discussions on online cricket forums and facebook are revolving around the same "drop Younis Khan" topic.


Is it really time for him to go?

With a test average of 52.44 and 20 centuries, Younis Khan is one of the best test cricketers of his time. One of the all time Pakistani greats, and arguably the best test number 3 our country has produced.

But when you look at his ODI record, it leaves a lot to be desired. An average of 32.33 and only 6 hundreds is not a record of a good ODI batsman who has batted at number 3 for most, if not all, of his ODI career.

Typically, any ODI team's top 3 batsmen are the ones that are expected to play long innings and make big hundreds. On that front, Younis Khan has failed more often than not.

I believe that the difference of 20 runs between his test and ODI average is probably one of the biggest difference between averages across formats for batsmen.

Besides this below par overall ODI record, Younis has had a lean patch of late as well, which has also led to increased calls for his axing from the shorter version of the game.

He scored his last ODI century almost 4 years ago in an ODI against the West Indies in Abu Dhabi. His last 15 ODI innings have produced only two scores above 50, which includes one against Afghanistan - that 70* is also his highest score in his last 15 ODIs.

Does Younis Khan deserve a place in Pakistan's ODI XI with players like Asad Shafiq (sitting on the bench), Azhar Ali (cementing his position in the ODI squad) and Nasir Jamshed (who will eventually return from injury) having built strong cases for a place in the team?



Probably not.

When Jamshed returns from injury, he will in all likelihood slot back into the opening position with Hafeez. Plus it will be difficult to drop Azhar Ali after his innings of 96 against Sri Lanka and his overall impressive start in ODIs (averaging almost 40 in his first 6 innings with two fifties).

Then, it would be difficult to keep Younis Khan in the team. Definitely more difficult than it is now, as Asad Shafiq, who is the potential replacement if Younis is axed right now, doesn't have a much better ODI record (averages under 30 in 29 ODIs) than Younis himself.

The calls to include Shafiq might be justified given that he is a promising cricketer and has a potentially bright future, but he is not as solid as Azhar Ali is, nor as flamboyant as Umar Akmal. His inclusion in the team will make the batting line up even more weaker than it is now I feel.

Just a few days ago I thought that Younis Khan still had it in him to continue in ODIs, but after giving it some thought and considering his value to the test team, I believe it is time for him to move on. It may even prolong his test career, which will truly benefit Pakistan.

Plus it is also better for Pakistan to transition now with him retiring from ODIs while Misbah carries on for some more time, instead of both the seniors exiting the format at the same time leaving a gaping hole in the middle order.

I hope the team management / selectors are also thinking on the same lines and someone is having this discussion with Younis.

He deserves a fitting finale and farewell, and not an axe similar to what majority of Pakistan's retired cricketers got in their careers.

This ODI series against Sri Lanka should be his last I think.

Do it Younis, do it before they axe you!

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

No PCB press conference is ever held without some heads turning and shouting WTF!

It all started well with Misbah stepping down from the T20 captaincy, and Zaka Ashraf announcing Mohammad Hafeez as the new captain of Pakistan's T20 team.

Well played by the PCB and Misbah in ensuring that it happened the right way with Misbah "stepping down" and not being pushed out.

I won't deny that I was rooting for Afridi to take over the captaincy once again but I guess the selectors wanted to look ahead at the future. With Hafeez taking over the T20 captaincy, he is also being set up for taking over the leadership in all 3 formats of the game once Misbah moves on. Which will definitely happen in the next year or two at most.

It is up to Hafeez now to demonstrate his leadership potential, which all of us have heard of, and make that role of captain in all three formats his very own going forward.

Till now, all was well and good. But then came the announcements of the three squads.

There were stories going around that the PCB, selectors, and coaching staff were contemplating going for three different teams. And go for different they did.

The only common theme in all three squads is that each squad comprises of 16 players, and only 4 players are present in all 3 squads: Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, and MOHAMMAD SAMI !!!

Great that he's made a comeback, but man how does one pacer go from being out of favour for so long to being in favour for all 3 formats. Something that only 3 regular international players have managed.

The selectors made a number of changes with some new faces being introduced, several players earning a comeback, and a few being dropped. Its a bit of a khichdi really, a total hotch potch.

I don't mean to undermine the PCB selectors. I'm sure it was hard work, and I'm sure that long hours were spent discussing the composition of the T20, ODI, and Test squads. But I really don't remember the last time when so many players made a comeback to the team at the same time!

T20 SQUAD
Retained: Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Malik, Hammad Azam
Dropped: Misbah Ul Haq, Awais Zia, Wahab Riaz, Asad Shafiq, Abdur Rehman, Aizaz Cheema, Adnan Akmal, Imran Farhat, Junaid Khan
Comebacks: Khalid Latif, Ahmed Shehzad, Yasir Arafat, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Sami, Nasir Jamshed
New Faces: Shakeel Ansar, Raza Hasan, Haris Sohail

This is what is called a major overhaul!

As many as 9 players have been dropped from the T20 squad that took on England. Not only is there a new captain, there are 3 new faces, and as many as 6 players making a comeback to Pakistan's T20 team.

Shoaib Malik's retention upsets me considering how he has continuously failed at the international level. But to be fair, he did seem to come back to form near the end of the T20 series against England, and he performed reasonably well in the Faysal Bank Super Eight T-20 Cup (FB T20) while leading his Sialkot Stallions to the title.

Out of the 9 players who have been dropped, Awais Zia and Asad Shafiq are questionable. He didn't set the stage on fire in his debut series against England, however he did seem to have good potential. It really doesn't make sense to drop someone after just 1 series.

Besides Khalif Latif, who was the leading run scorer in the FB T20, the other comebacks do not really make sense to me.

I am a big supporter of Ahmed Shehzad and I think he is a future Pakistan opener, however unless the Bangladesh Premier League was part of the selection criteria, there is no basis for Shehzad's return. Other batsmen, namely Imran Nazir, Asad Shafiq, and Shahzaib Hasan scored more runs in the FB T20. Moreover, Imran Nazir and Shahzaib had decent outings in the BPL as well.

Yasir Arafat, Sohail Tanvir, and Mohammad Sami have done nothing of note in domestic T20 competitions to warrant a comeback into the team. Sami was outstanding in the BPL, Tanvir was a star in the South African T20 competition, and Arafat has been a consistent performer in the English county scene; but if foreign competitions are criteria for selection then the selectors need to make that clear.

Despite the comebacks being questionable, the three new faces in the T20 team are all well deserved. Haris Sohail and Shakeel Ansar, both from the Sialkot Stallions were among the top 5 run scorers in the FB T20.

Shakeel has been picked as the wicket keeper, and his century, which was the only one in the FB T20, showed that he can bat. Even though his first class and List A record does not leave much to be desired, his T20 record is impressive. But he is 33 years old so the selectors aren't exactly looking at a future prospect here.

Haris Sohail performed consistently for the Stallions in the FB T20, and has been a solid performer at the domestic level for the last 5 years. He has an exemplary first class record averaging close to 47, while his T20 record, with an average over a 100 is phenomenal. At 23, he is definitely one for the future.

Raza Hasan has been on the fringes of national selection for quite some time now, and the 19 year old left arm spinner is also considered as the long term first choice spinner for Pakistan's ODI and test squads. He has displaced Abdur Rehman in the T20 team and with time he will get promoted to the other formats as well if he puts up impressive performances in international cricket. His call to the national team could not have been better timed with him finishing at the top of the wicket taking tally in the FB T20.

The PCB selectors have picked a young T20 team, obviously keeping the World T20 in mind, however it is largely inexperienced as well.

It will be interesting to see the combination they go in with considering the team has as many as 5 openers in Hafeez, Jamshed, Shehzad, Latif, and Shakeel.

My XI: 1. Ahmed Shehzad 2. Shakeel Ansar 3. Mohammad Hafeez 4. Umar Akmal 5. Haris Sohail 6. Hammad Azam 7. Shahid Afridi 8. Umar Gul 9. Mohammad Sami 10. Saeed Ajmal 11. Raza Hasan

ODI SQUAD
Retained: Misbah-ul Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Nasir Jamshed, Younis Khan, Umar Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Asad Shafiq, Aizaz Cheema, Azhar Ali
Dropped: Hammad Azam, Wahab Riaz
Comebacks: Imran Farhat, Mohammad Sami 
New Faces: Rahat Ali

By in large, Pakistan's ODI squad is what it was in the Asia Cup and the series against England prior to that, with just a few changes, which really do not make much sense.

Wahab Riaz has hardly been played by Pakistan in recent times, but he's always been considered as good potential, but suddenly he finds himself out of favour. The person replacing him is Mohammad Sami, who once again did not do much in last season's List A cricket in the domestic scene.

Imran Farhat's inclusion and Hammad Azam's exclusion is completely nonsensical! Farhat was dropped for the Asia Cup on the back of repeated poor performances and yet he comes back for the series against Sri Lanka. On what basis!?

And poor Hammad Azam. Every chance that he has got, he has shown his potential. With Pakistan missing genuine allrounders, Hammad is one player who can be groomed to fill in the gap left open by Abdul Razzaq, and which would be left even more widely open in a few years once Afridi hangs up his boots.

Yet the selectors have gone with an ODI squad without him.

Rahat Ali must have impressed Dave Whatmore and the selectors during the fast bowlers camp that was recently held. He also had an impressive first class season picking up 61 wickets at an average of 19 finishing the season as one of the leading wicket takers.

But that was first class cricket, which should get him place in the test team, not List A cricket!

My XI: 1. Mohammad Hafeez 2. Nasir Jamshed 3. Younis Khan 4. Umar Akmal 5. Misbah Ul Haq 6. Shahid Afridi 7. Sarfraz Ahmed 8. Umar Gul 9. Mohammad Sami 10. Saeed Ajmal 11. Aizaz Cheema


TEST SQUAD
Retained: Misbah-ul Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Taufeeq Umar, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Adnan Akmal, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema
Dropped: Umar Akmal, Imran Farhat, Mohammad Talha, Wahab Riaz
Comebacks: Faisal Iqbal, Mohammad Sami 
New Faces: Afaq Raheem, Ayub Dogar

With the way Pakistan's test team has performed over the past 18 months, there really was no need for any changes to the test squad, yet the selectors thought otherwise.

But why drop Umar Akmal, who is the future of Pakistan's batting? Sure he has not been part of the starting XI in tests with Asad Shafiq being preferred over him, but Umar's presence in the squad as the reserve batsman is imperative to his development as a player.

Faisal Iqbal makes a comeback based on his recent impressive domestic performance, which was one of his most successful seasons with 1013 runs at an average of 53.3. Faisal's 5 centuries during the past season were second only to Usman Salahuddin's 7, and the last time Faisal came into the Pakistan team on the back of so many centuries, he scored another one against India in Karachi.

However The likes of Fawad Alam (1062 runs ar 64.5), Haris Sohail (1184 runs at 49.33), and Yasir Hameed (1124 runs at 46.8) would be disappointed at being overlooked in favor of Faisal Iqbal.

But the man who would be most disappointed is Usman Salahuddin. With 1401 first class runs, he was the second highest run scorer in the past domestic season, and his average of 77.8 is a good 15 runs more than the next best average during the season. Moreover, no one scored as many first class hundreds as Usman did during the 2011-12 home season.

Yet he finds himself on the sidelines, while Afaq Raheem and Ayub Dogar make the squad for the first time ever.

Afaq Raheem was the the only one who scored more first class runs than Usman did during the past season, with 1420 runs at an average of 54.6, but he also played 6 more innings than Usman did. There is no doubt that Raheem deserves his places in the squad on the back of his domestic performance, but I believe even Usman does.

Considering that Usman is only 21, he should be considered as one for the future, especially over the likes of Ayub Dogar, who despite being the 3rd highest run scorer behing Raheem and Usman, is 32 and not really one that Pakistan can build their test future around.

This is the only format where I think Mohammad Sami deserves to make a comeback. His 56 first class wickets at an average of 16.6 not only resulted in one of his best ever domestic seasons, but also ensured that he was the best experience fast bowler on the domestic circuit during the past one year.

But he doesn't take international wickets! A bowling average of 50 is hardly one to be proud of, but I really hope that Sami can set his record right going forward. This will surely be his last chance.

My XI: 1. Mohammad Hafeez 2. Taufeeq Umar 3. Azhar Ali 4. Younis Khan 5. Misbah Ul Haq 6. Asad Shafiq 7. Adnan Akmal 8. Umar Gul 9. Mohammad Sami 10. Abdur Rehman 11. Saeed Ajmal