Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, 1st Test, Karachi, Feb 21-25

Believe it or not....

Few questions to answer

1- Who will open? 17 year old Shahzad or Manzoor
2- Who will be the 2 middle order batsmen out of Faisal, Alam and Kamal?
3- Who will be the 2 bowlers out of Arafat, Sohail Khan and M Talha?

there are 5 debutants in the squad(should have been 7)

Is Pakistan still a country these days?

I thought they only played tests against Rhodesia, Burma & Atlantis these days...

Gary 111 wrote:Is Pakistan still a country these days?

I thought they only played tests against Rhodesia, Burma & Atlantis these days...

good one there...


but yeah Pakistan is still a better team than England in all 3 forms of the game(i know thats not saying much )

The 4 fast bowlers selected have a total of 17 test matches between them(16 for Gul, 1 for Arafat, 0 each for S Khan and M Talha)

so considering that fact it will be difficult to take wickets and at least 90% of the chances have to be taken for Pakistan to have a chance hence selecting Kamran Akmal for his batting ability is a BIG mistake.

"but yeah Pakistan is still a better team than England in all 3 forms of the game(i know thats not saying much "


You could be right, but really it is hard to be sure, because the Pakistanis don't actually play much international cricket these days. England won the last test series between them 3-0. while the most recent ODI series between them ran 2-2. Heck, the P-boys didn't make it past the group stage at the World Cup. Remember that? Good times.

The official rankings show England a smidge ahead in Tests and a smidge behind in ODIs, and that's probably about right.

I'll give you that Pakistan is ahead in T20.

it was a bit of a TIC comment....

you are right about not knowing how good/bad the current Pakistani test team is....i am guessing that they suck.

I think Manzoor will open with Butt, and Alam will get the middle order spot. Pakistan-

Butt
Manzoor
Younis(c)
Misbah
Malik
Alam
Akmal+
Arafat
Gul
Khan
Kaneria

Don't think Manzoor will play

Shahzad just scored a quick 140+* against the same team....

and M Talha should play as welll....

I thought Gul bowled well here in the one match (a T20) I saw him play in. Seemed like a really happy go lucky guy who got on well with his WA team mates

horace wrote:I thought Gul bowled well here in the one match (a T20) I saw him play in. Seemed like a really happy go lucky guy who got on well with his WA team mates

he is now the most experienced( 16 times more than the next one) fast bowler in the current squad

PlanetPakistan wrote:and M Talha should play as welll....

So you say that Pak should play with 13 men in the team?

thats how many they will need...

but no...they should probably drop Arafat and go with MT.

I am glad Sohail Tanvir isn't a part of the squad.

KARACHI: Just weeks after being appointed as Pakistan captain, Younis Khan on Wednesday showed his teeth and then had his say in the selection of the national squad for the opening Test against Sri Lanka starting from Saturday.

Sources told 'The News' that Younis forcefully pushed for the inclusion and omission of several players from the 15-man squad announced by chief selector Abdul Qadir on Wednesday.

According to the sources, Younis gave his recommendations to the national selection committee and then fought for his choices whenever the selectors seemed to be going in any different direction.

At one time, things almost came to a boiling point but in the end better sense prevailed and the team was selected through a consensus.

There were differences of opinion on several players. For example, the selectors were in favour of bringing in left-handed opener Nasir Jamshed but Younis fought for Khurram Manzoor - another young opening batsman - to take that place.

According to one source, even the selectors managed to score a point when they shot down the team management's proposal to have Saeed Ajmal, as another specialist spinner in the squad alongside leg-spinner Danish Kaneria.

There was also some debate on Sohail Tanvir but in the end both the sides agreed that the left-arm pacer is still not fully ready for Test cricket.

"There was certainly some friction between the selectors and Younis over some players but in the end everything was settled," said a source.

so according to this Manzoor will play...

may be they can play all 3 of them(Manzoor, Butt AND A Shahzad)

Reportedly, Afridi is seriously considering to retire from test cricket after he was left out of Pak team for the first test.

This would be his 2nd retirement from test cricket or is it 3rd?

SG wrote:Reportedly, Afridi is seriously considering to retire from test cricket after he was left out of Pak team for the first test.

This would be his 2nd retirement from test cricket or is it 3rd?

hmmm
urdu newspaper is reporting the complete opposite.

" Naomeed niehie, jub bhee mooka mila perform karoon ga" Afridi

Which translates to
" I have NOT given up hope and will perform when ever given a chance"

My interest in cricket has taken a SEVERE hit in the last 14 months of "no show"....in the last 2 months in particular i have been having a "life" and at times have not even bothered to check the scores(thats is SERIOUSLY saying something)....

HENCE

I am looking forward to this test match to revive my interest in the game which i have passionately followed for at least 16 out of the 22 years of my life.

I am preparing to slay the fatted calf.

OP Tipping wrote:I am preparing to slay the fatted calf.

Inzi and Ranatunga in attendance?

According to CI Faisal Iqbal is all set to play AHEAD of Kamal and Alam.

Younis Khan, Pakistan's captain, does not feel that the absence of experienced players will be a deterrent to his side's first Test series in over a year. Pakistan play their first Test in over 14 months from Saturday, and have experienced a serious dearth of cricket in the country because of security reasons but Mahela Jayawardene, Younis' opposite number, expected a tough tour.

"It's true that a few seniors are not with us but they won't be with us forever," Younis said. "It's not possible that Shoaib Akhtar remains with us or I will be there, [Shahid] Afridi is not with us; we have to deal with this. I don't think it will make much difference.

"We are playing after 14 months ... when I last made a comeback after 13 months [in 2004] I scored a century in Karachi and we won the match," he said. "It was also against Sri Lanka. We have played some international cricket in recent times and that too against Sri Lanka. The boys have played first-class cricket and have an idea of the longer version of the game."

While Pakistan have yet to name their final ThXI, Younis confirmed that Asim Kamal, Fawad Alam and Ahmed Shahzad were not in the reckoning.at means Pakistan are likely to open with Salman Butt and Khurram Manzoor - both specialist openers, as Younis endorsed.
"Test cricket has changed [so] you can't use makeshift openers," he said. "In the past Kamran Akmal has done that, he saved the Kolkata Test for us. But I believe makeshift openers should not be tried in Test matches."

Umar Gul, Yasir Arafat, Sohail Khan and rookie Mohammad Talha feature in Pakistan's 12-man squad. "Umar is in top form, Sohail has improved a lot, Talha is our future and a proper athlete, and Arafat can bowl in any conditions," Younis said, adding that the playing XI would be decided based on the nature of the pitch in Karachi.

The match is the second-last of Jayawardene's captaincy and Younis felt it could spur him on. "Jayawardene is struggling a bit but he could make a comeback, maybe with this match [the first Test]," he said. "It's in his mind that he is going after this series so he will definitely try to fight back and leave on a good note. We can't take them [Sri Lanka] lightly, we have to play with our planning, whatever my planning is."


Jayawardene believed Younis would marshal his troops well, even with his limited captaincy experience, and would provide a stiff challenge. "Younis has handled it [captaincy] in the past so you can't call him a new captain and he is probably their most experienced player in the team right now," he said. "I'm sure he is quite capable of handling things. For us, it's all about having a gameplan against Pakistan and executing it. So that's something we are working on."

Jayawardene was unwilling to downplay Pakistan's chances, even though they were not at their strongest. "Both teams have exceptional cricketers and we thoroughly enjoyed our Test cricket over the last 12 months playing home and away," Jayawardene said. "We have some good wins against top sides and we would love to continue that."

It has been a hectic schedule for Sri Lanka for the last 12 months or so, but Jayawardene dismissed any talk of fatigue playing a part in the upcoming series. "Fortunately for us, there was quite a bit of one-day cricket for us, but the Test team is quite different," he said. "There are only four or five guys who played in one-day cricket, so most of the guys are fresh and it's good for us as a team. Once you are playing a Test you have to get into the mindset. I honestly don't feel fatigue is going to play a part in our preparations for the Tests."

PlanetPakistan wrote:My interest in cricket has taken a SEVERE hit in the last 14 months of "no show"....in the last 2 months in particular i have been having a "life" and at times have not even bothered to check the scores(thats is SERIOUSLY saying something)....

.

Then you certainly missed some of the most exciting tests. The tests involving Australia and India are mostly interesting, always. But this time England and SA joined too and we had some superb tests in last 14 months.

Chandan wrote:

PlanetPakistan wrote:My interest in cricket has taken a SEVERE hit in the last 14 months of "no show"....in the last 2 months in particular i have been having a "life" and at times have not even bothered to check the scores(thats is SERIOUSLY saying something)....

.

Then you certainly missed some of the most exciting tests. The tests involving Australia and India are mostly interesting, always. But this time England and SA joined too and we had some superb tests in last 14 months.

did watch most of those games....just skipped almost ALL ODIs and almost every thing(including tests) in the last 2 months.

The last ODI which i properly watched was PAK's 3rd ODI vs WI.

p.s i thought IND vs AUS games in the OCT series were quite boring other than a few spells from ZAK and Ishant