Showing posts with label Sohaib Maqsood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sohaib Maqsood. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Who will be Pakistan's next ODI captain?


Posted by Q at Wednesday, March 25, 2015 No Comments
While Misbah Ul Haq and Shahid Afridi, the two men who have retired from ODIs following the World Cup, will continue to lead the test and T20 teams respectively, the PCB is in a fix regarding who will be Pakistan's next ODI captain.

Several names have been doing the rounds and everyone from Mohammad Hafeez to Shoaib Malik, Azhar Ali, Sohaib Maqsood, Wahab Riaz, and Sarfraz Ahmed have been named to be in some sort of contention for the post.

Pakistan's next series is against Bangladesh on 15th April so there isn't much time and a decision needs to be taken in the next 2 weeks or so.

It is not an easy decision by any means. No one was really groomed under Misbah as Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Hafeez served as deputies at different times under him. Afridi is gone, while Hafeez, who missed the World Cup due to injury, may only be a short term solution.

Here's our attempt at weighing the candidates and assessing their potential to captain Pakistan's ODI team.

Shoaib Malik

 It is amazing how his name never seems to leave Pakistan's cricket circles despite having done absolutely nothing of note for 5 years now. Malik's previous captaincy stint was a disaster as he alienated senior players in his team and became a yes man to the then PCB Chairman. In my view, Malik is spineless and will do no good to the team by being a part of it. I believe he should be kept away from Pakistan cricket for good.

If the selectors feel that he deserves to be brought back then maybe, just maybe, a comeback to the middle order would be acceptable. But as captain? Absolutely not.

Wahab Riaz

 He is the flavour of the month in Pakistan. He is Pakistan's new superstar, Pakistan's new poster boy. After 19 years of holding on to that mantle, Shahid Afridi finally passed on the baton in his last ever ODI.

Wahab Riaz had an outstanding World Cup. He won games single handedly, scripted victories for Pakistan with the ball, and gave Australia a scare like no one has. His stocks have risen tremendously after this World Cup, but a decision to make him captain will be an emotional one.

Between his 5-for in Mohali in 2011 and this World Cup, does anyone remember where Wahab was? He barely played for Pakistan during these 4 years as he was either out of favour or injured. Even when he played he was thrashed around like a school bowler. There were stories of him being a 'sifarshi', a 'parchi'; someone no one wanted in Pakistan's team. So much so that his inclusion in Pakistan's World Cup squad was also criticized.

A few good games does not make one a captain. Pakistan may have just found their next attacking weapon with the ball; there is no need to burden him with the captaincy. Let us and the cricket world get joy from his bowling while it lasts.

Sohaib Maqsood

I was surprised to hear that he was being considered. In fact his name had come up before the World Cup as well. He doesn't even captain in domestic cricket, hence my surprise. I doubt he is being considered seriously at this point given his below par World Cup performance. He still needs to work on his batting before he can be considered captaincy material in my opinion.

Azhar Ali

 Once again I am not sure why his name is doing the rounds. He doesn't even play ODI cricket for Pakistan. The World Cup showed how far behind Pakistan's batting is compared to the rest of the world. At a time when Pakistan needs to find modern aggressive ODI batsmen, they can't go calling for Azhar Ali's inclusion in ODI cricket.

He is a valuable member of the test team and maybe even a future captain there, but he has no future as an ODI batsman, let alone a captain.

This brings me to the final two candidates - Mohammad Hafeez and Sarfraz Ahmed.

Hafeez has captained Pakistan already, as a full time captain of the T20 team and a stand in for ODIs and Tests. He was Misbah's deputy for the longest time and also captains in the domestic circuit. So he's got ample captaincy experience and he will be back to play ODIs for Pakistan as it was only the injury that kept him out.

Sarfraz Ahmed has captained Pakistan at the U19 level and has a successful U19 World Cup campaign on his CV. He has had a magnificent year in international cricket across all formats and has solidified his position as Pakistan's premier wicketkeeper batsman in tests, ODIs, and T20s. But is he ready to take over the team as captain?

This is what I think should be the plan.

Misbah will lead the test team for probably another year. Pakistan's next few scheduled test series include a tour to Bangladesh in April, a tour to Sri Lanka in july, a series against England and India in the UAE between October and January, and a tour to New Zealand in February. That is how far Misbah is probably looking at and that is how long he should be at the helm of test cricket for Pakistan.

Afridi has already announced that he will captain Pakistan's T20 team till next year's World T20, which will be played in India in March next year.

What this means is that in a year's time, Pakistan will be looking for a test and T20 captain as well.

There are only two cricketers in Pakistan that play all three formats with some sort of success - Sarfraz Ahmed and Ahmed Shehzad. And one of them should be captain across all those formats. No prizes for guess who it should be.

What I would urge PCB's Chairman to do is the following:

1. Call Misbah, Afridi, Hafeez, and Sarfraz in for a meeting.
2. Tell them that he is looking to appoint Sarfraz as captain for Pakistan's test, ODI, and T20 teams.
3. Tell Hafeez that he should captain the ODI team for that 1 year with Sarfraz as his deputy.
4. Tell Misbah and Afridi that Sarfraz will be their deputy as well in Tests and T20s.
5. Tell them all to support Sarfraz and groom him under their captaincy to the best of their abilities.

What this will do is that it would give Sarfraz some more time to learn the ropes under the best captains Pakistan has had in the past 5 years without putting any undue pressure on him. It will then give Pakistan a captain who can probably serve them for the best part of a decade.

That is the best way forward in my opinion.

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Thursday, February 19, 2015

There's a secret to chasing, and Pakistan knows it


Posted by Q at Thursday, February 19, 2015 Pitched (1)
This article first appeared on DAWN.
When India posted 300, the match was as good as over for a majority of people considering how little confidence any of us have in Pakistan's ability to successfully chase totals in ODIs.
But for some, the hope lingered on. It was a flat pitch, the boundaries were short, and Pakistan's 'big hitters' had shown some form ahead of the match. The hope, though, remained just that; hope. Pakistan surrendered meekly, losing their way in the middle, like in so many other chases.
Looking at Pakistan's record while chasing in ODIs since January 1, 2010, there isn't much that one can conclude about their ability to chase. They have won almost as many games as they have lost while chasing in the past five years of ODI cricket. The record reads:
30 Wins

33 Losses

The problem is truly spelt out when one takes a look at ODIs in which Pakistan has been set a target of 250 or more. The record for that since January 1, 2010 is not a good reading. In the past five years, Pakistan has won less than 20% of the ODIs in which their bowlers conceded 250 or more runs. This record reads:
5 Wins

24 Losses

These 5 wins in the past 5 years include:

• Beat Sri Lanka by 4 wickets in Hambantota, August 2014 (Target: 275 in 45 overs [rain-shortened match])
• Beat Bangladesh by 3 wickets in Dhaka, March 2014 (Target: 327 in 50 overs)
• Beat New Zealand by 2 wickets in Napier, February 2011 (Target: 263 in 50 overs)
• Beat South Africa by 1 wicket in Dubai, November 2010 (Target: 275 in 50 overs)
• Beat South Africa by 1 wicket in Abu Dhabi, October 2010 (Target: 287 in 50 overs)
There's an interesting fact about these wins. Except for the win against New Zealand, where the total was chased down in 49 overs, all the other wins were achieved with just one ball to spare. This highlights one very important lesson in chasing: take the game till the end.
There are three key underlying trends in each of these successful run chases that Pakistan can pay attention to in future games.
1. Strong Contribution from an Opening Batsman
Ahmed Shehzad has been an instrumental figure in Pakistan's successful run chases of 250 and above. He played in three of these five ODIs against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and New Zealand and knocked scores of 49, 103, and 42 respectively. Mohammad Hafeez also featured in a couple of these five wins with scores of 52 and 42 against Bangladesh and South Africa respectively.
While Ahmed Shehzad scored 47 in the loss against India, he got bogged down in the latter half of his innings. Additionally, the other factors that I discuss below did not feature prominently for Pakistan in their unsuccessful chase of 300.
There is no doubt that Shehzad will have to play a key role for Pakistan if they are to have a successful World Cup campaign.
2. Continuously Ticking Scoreboard
Fawad Alam is a proven match-winner for Pakistan, and his absence from the World Cup squad raised eyebrows everywhere. He played an instrumental role in three of these five ODI wins by ensuring that he kept rotating the strike in the middle overs, which has been Pakistan's biggest problem in run chases. Fawad did it brilliantly against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and South Africa with scores of 62, 74, and 48 respectively. In each of these games he came in to bat between the 16th and the 23rd over and stayed at the crease till between the 42nd and 50th overs.
In the other two games, against New Zealand and South Africa, it was surprisingly Younis Khan who played the same role in the middle overs with scores of 42 and 73 respectively. Younis is the reason why Fawad is not in the squad, and if Pakistan expects him to play the same role in the World Cup then they need to play him at the right spot and not make him open the innings.
If not Younis, then Pakistan will have to find someone else, maybe Haris Sohail, to play the same role if they are to successfully chase down totals that teams are putting up in this World Cup.
3. Sustained Aggression
In one of the matches against South Africa, Pakistan required a run rate of 8 or more in the last 10 overs of their innings to win the match. Such a scenario is only possible if a team has wickets in hand, or someone plays a blinder at the end of the innings. For Pakistan, it has usually been the latter case, however in each of these five games there have been batsmen who have played scintillating knocks with quickfire finishes, and they have been well supported with aggressive late order hitting.
Against Sri Lanka, it was Sohaib Maqsood's unbeaten 89 off 73 deliveries with support coming from Shahid Afridi who remained unbeaten on 14 off 10 deliveries. Against Bangladesh, it was Shahid Afridi's blazing 59 off 25 deliveries and the support came from Umar Akmal who remained unbeaten on 14 off 9 deliveries. Against New Zealand, it was Misbah-ul-Haq who remained unbeaten on 93 off 91 deliveries and his support came from Sohail Tanvir who was unbeaten on 14 off 6 deliveries. Against South Africa it was Abdul Razzaq (33 off 38), Wahab Riaz (18 off 10), and Zulqarnain Haider (19* off 22) who collectively took Pakistan over the finish line. And in that memorable game against South Africa, it was Abdul Razzaq's blinder unbeaten 109 off only 72 deliveries. He didn't need any support!

It doesn't require much science to figure out that a successful run chase is scripted by a strong opening, a constant flow of runs in the middle overs, and a late flurry. In fact, the same is required when setting up good totals. In Ahmed Shehzad, Haris Sohail, Misbah-ul-Haq, Sohaib Maqsood, Umar Akmal, and Shahid Afridi, Pakistan have the personnel to assume those roles, but they need to be defined appropriately.

Pakistan's management and captain need to put their heads down and come up with the right combination that can provide them with desired results. Accommodating Younis Khan in the playing XI will not achieve that. Level headed decisions are the need of the hour and Pakistan cannot afford to be emotional about their senior players. If Shahid Afridi could take the decision to drop Shoaib Akhtar during the World Cup in 2011, there is no reason why Misbah cannot take the decision to leave Younis Khan out.
Ireland demonstrated the other day that totals in excess of 300 are chaseable. Their script was also very similar to what I described above. Paul Stirling provided the strong opening, Ed Joyce kept the scoreboard moving in the middle overs, and Niall O'Brien finished the game off.
If Pakistan are found in the middle of a 'Gayle-storm' on February 21, they will need to all of this and a bit more. But there is still plenty of cricket left in this World Cup and Pakistan has time on their hands to get their act together.

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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Pakistan's New ODI Team Part 2


Posted by Q at Tuesday, March 26, 2013 Pitched (3)
In Part 1, I wrote about the players that need to be dropped from Pakistan's ODI squad. Just to reiterate, these players are: Misbah, Younis, Malik, Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Farhat, and Gul.

In Part 2 of "Pakistan's new ODI team", I am going to talk about those players that should make up Pakistan's ODI squad.

New ODI Captain: Mohammad Hafeez

With Misbah out of the picture, which should be forced by the PCB if Misbah does not do it himself, Pakistan will need a new ODI captain.

And I think the obvious choice is Mohammad Hafeez.

Hafeez has led the T20 team with reasonable success and has shown that he can carry the batting with responsibility as well when leading the side. He showed that during the World T20, in the series against India, and the only T20 against South Africa.

There is no doubt in my mind that he should be leading the ODI team as well. He has got ample captaincy experience in domestic cricket and has also been among the think tank of Pakistan's international sides for the past 3 years along with Misbah and Afridi.

His role as opener is debatable given his recent failures and despite the fact that he has been Pakistan's most successful opener since the hey days of Saeed Anwar. His exact role in the batting line up will be clearer as I outline the other players that should be drafted into Pakistan's ODI squad.

The OPENERS: Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shehzad, Azhar Ali

Nasir Jamshed is one for the future and I still can't believe that Misbah and Whatmore decided to dump him after 3 ODIs against South Africa.

Don't forget this was the first time in his life that Nasir was batting outside of the subcontinent. We need to be more patient with the ones that have been earmarked for the future. Nasir needs to open for Pakistan in every game and he needs to be given the license to play his natural form of attacking cricket.

Ahmed Shehzad never deserved to be dropped when he was from the ODI team in 2011. He paid the price for being part of the "Shahid Afridi Camp" and has remained out of favor with Misbah, much like Umar Akmal.

There have been talks about disciplinary issues and attitude problems, again like Umar Akmal, but he is too good a talent to be wasted because of all that. Why can't we have better management to take care of these so called disciplinary issues.

After all Shoaib Akhtar managed to play for 15 years. Who can be a bigger disciplinary headache than he was?

As an 18 year old, Shehzad began his ODI career with solid 40s in 2 ODIs against Australia in 2009. When he returned to the team later he formed a solid opening partnership with Hafeez. Having made another comeback, albeit in T20s once Hafeez became captain, Shehzad has shown what Pakistan has been missing.

There can't be a better partner for Nasir than Ahmed Shehzad at the top of the order for Pakistan.

Azhar Ali is considered slow and not one suited for ODIs, but I beg to differ. He has a very good ODI record and averages over 40 in the 14 ODIs that he has played for Pakistan. He is not an attacking player but yet extremely solid and Pakistan can do with his services with Misbah and Younis out of the picture.

I would not select him to open ahead of Nasir or Shehzad, but under certain circumstances Azhar can be preferred, especially if the team requires someone to hold one end up and bat out 50 overs.

Azhar should be in Pakistan's ODI squad as the reserve opener and his case has been further strengthened by his recent performance in the just concluded Faysal Bank ODI Cup where he was 5th highest run scorer with 336 runs in 7 innings at an average of 67 and a healthy strike rate of 74, with 1 century and 2 fifties.

The MIDDLE ORDER: Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Sohaib Maqsood

I have already said it, but I will say it again - Misbah should be made to pay for keeping Umar Akmal and Asad Shafiq on the bench in South Africa. Umar is by far Pakistan's best ODI batsman and has been for the past 3 years, while Asad was in the form of his life during the test series against South Africa and looked like the most accomplished batsman on tour.

How these two cannot make it to Pakistan's playing XI is bemusing to say the least.

The other two batsmen that I would like to see drafted in and made permanent fixtures are Haris Sohail and Sohaib Maqsood.

Haris Sohail has been part of Pakistan's squad several times during the past 1 year and was unlucky to leave the South Africa tour midway due to injury. He has been the best batsman in domestic cricket for the past several seasons and deserves to be given a long run in the middle for Pakistan.

Sohaib Maqsood, a 25 year old hard hitting batsman from Multan, is relatively unknown but he has had a major resurgence as a batsman in the past season. And he is a more than decent off spinner as well.

Sohaib was the leading batsman in the just concluded Faysal Bank ODI Cup notching 475 runs in only 6 innings with 1 century and 3 fifties at a mind-boggling average of 95 and strike rate of 112! Sohaib's List A career gives an impressive reading as well: 26 matches, 972 runs, Average of 46, Strike Rate of 97, 1 century, 6 fifties.

He also has an impressive first class record with over 2,700 runs in 42 matches at an average of 43 with 6 centuries and 18 fifties.

Given the form he is in, Sohaib should walk right into Pakistan's ODI team. In his most recent List A match he knocked his first List A century in a whirlwind knock of 156 off only 95 deliveries including 10 sixes and 13 fours.

The ALL ROUNDERS: Hammad Azam, Anwar Ali

We still haven't found an able replacement for Abdul Razzaq and with Afridi out of the team (based on my assessment) it has become even more important to find a world class all rounder.

Hammad Azam is another player who has been harshly treated by the selectors and the team management. He hardly got to play when he was part of Pakistan's T20 and ODI squads, when he did he showed his immense talent, and then one fine day he found himself out of the team.

Why is something that no one really has the answer to.

His bowling requires a lot of work and it will develop with time. It is his hard hitting batting that Pakistan require lower down the order given their longish tail. Hammad is the ideal batsman to come at number 6 or 7 in the finishing overs of an ODI and provide the sort of impetus to the innings that the likes of Razzaq have in the past.

He is a true finisher and has continuously displayed his finishing skills for Pakistan U19 and his domestic teams.

His bowling is medium pace at best but he has the ability to pick up wickets regularly. His first class bowling record is a lot better than his List A one, however it is an area that can be worked on and improved with time. What is more important is to draft him into the team and provide Pakistan with a lower order batsman and possible 6th bowler.

The other potential all rounder that Pakistan will do well to invest in is Anwar Ali. The boy who rocked India's boat in the U19 World Cup Final back in 2006 had turned out to be quite a fine bowler and hard hitting lower order batsman.

He has played the solitary T20 for Pakistan against Zimbabwe in 2008; he was a part of the squads for the series against Australia and India but did not get another match. Both his List A and First Class averages for batting and bowling are in the 20s, which show that the boy's got the potential to fill in the vacant all rounder's spot in Pakistan's ODI Line Up.

The SPINNERS: Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Raza Hasan

Abdur Rehman has found it difficult to get a game in the presence of Ajmal, Afridi, and Hafeez. With Afridi moving on (hopefully), Rehman should be considered as a starting choice to partner Ajmal and Hafeez in ODIs. 

It is Pakistan's misfortune that Rehman belongs to the same generation as Saeed Ajmal, for any other team (besides India) would kill to have the services of a bowler like Rehman.

Raza Hasan had an extremely impressive World T20, but has been out of commission due to injury since then. He needs to be promoted from T20 cricket to ODIs as well. Pakistan should focus on providing him with as much exposure as possible while Ajmal and Rehman are around for Raza is the future of Pakistan spin bowling.

The FAST BOWLERS: Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Asad Ali, Sadaf Hussain

There is no argument over the fact that Junaid and Irfan are Pakistan's leading pacers at the moment. We need to think long and hard about the others who can support them as I would seriously like to move on from Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Sami et el.

Both Asad Ali and Sadaf Hussain have had very impressive domestic careers thus far.

Asad has 85 wickets in only 45 List A games at a remarkable average of 19 and strike rate of 25.8; while Sadaf has 25 wickets in 15 matches at an average of 23 and strike rate of 30.6. Their first class records are even more impressive.

It is time that Pakistan invests in these new pace bowlers and takes us back to the times when Pakistan's pacers used to be feared all around the world.

The WICKET KEEPER: Mohammad Rizwan

This was the toughest person to pick largely due to the lack of talent on the domestic circuit. We have had enough of Kamran Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed showed that he doesn't belong to the international level, and Adnan Akmal is best suited to test cricket.

What Pakistan need is a wicket keeper, who not only bats well, but bats aggressively. That is the requirement of T20 and ODI cricket in this day and age.

The reason I have gone for Mohammad Rizwan is because he is young (Only 20), has an impressive domestic record (Ave of 44 in first class cricket and 34 in List A cricket), and he had the 2nd highest number of dismissals in the Faysal Bank One Day Cup.

It is time to invest in the youth.

Pakistan's ODI Pool of Players: Mohammad Hafeez (C), Nasir Jamshed, Azhar Ali, Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Sohaib Maqsood, Hammad Azam, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Rizwan, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Asad Ali, Sadaf Hussain, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Raza Hasan

I reckon the selectors need to set up a 0845  number and make it available to everyone in Pakistan so that they get national coverage and take calls from people from all around Pakistan. Surely even the average fan has a better understanding of which players should continue playing ODIs, than the PCB selectors.

If these 18 names are not part of the 30-man preliminary squad that the PCB is supposed to announce soon for the Champions Trophy, I will be disappointed.

I doubt that they will take away the captaincy from Misbah, but they really should. The argument that a new team for a high profile tournament is not wise does not hold for me. The so called senior players have failed continuously and with them there is no way that Pakistan can win the Champions Trophy, so they might as well try out some new players and provide them with much needed exposure.

Plus, Pakistan will play 2 ODIs against Ireland and 2 ODI against Scotland prior to the Champions Trophy, which are ideal to blood these new players and try out the new ODI combination.

Come on PCB, show some balls and make these tough calls.

My ideal XI to start with would be: 1. Nasir Jamshed 2. Ahmed Shehzad 3. Mohammad Hafeez* 4. Umar Akmal 5. Asad Shafiq 6. Hammad Azam / Sohaib Maqsood 7. Mohammad Rizwan+ 8. Anwar Ali 9. Junaid Khan 10. Saeed Ajmal 11. Mohammad Irfan

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