The Pakistani Spectator

The weather in this part of the world can be so unpredictable that you never know what you will face in the morning snow or rain. The Americans rely so much on weather forecast and always tune in the local weather channel on TV or go to weather.com instead of looking outside the window. It may be clear right now but a snow storm can be on the way. Everyone carried an umbrella in his car or bag if commuting in Metro rail system for the bad weather. I was not sure how bad the weather will be during last week like Our Cricket Team so i decided to take a break from blogging and do not watch any match till i come out of shock which i got from Sydney. I was lucky to survive a major jolt as it was not beyond expectations and I wrote it in my blog on January 06,2010(Can we win in Sydney?).

A lot has been said and written on the latest loss of test and series to Australia umpteenth time and it has been accepted by our board as fait accompli. We cannot win from Australia as they are very tough. Look at the statement of Shane Watson and Ricky Ponting on 3rd day and they were confident of their victory. We were sure of our defeat once again and we got what we asked for, remember we never deserved it. Michael Hussey scored first time in 12 months due to Akmal’s tilted hands a recent discovery by Dr. Intikhab Alam after the guy has played like 48 Test Matches and 111 ODIs. Since he has a permanent fault in his hands which hampers his wicket keeping against spinners especially Danish Kaneria who had once again figures of 5-151. Danish has got 5 wicket hauls of 15 in 57 test matches out of which he has been generous enough to give over 100 runs in an innings his total tally being 37 times in these test matches. Captain Yusuf still thinks we have not enough praise and respect for Danish despite such a wonderful record. Same can be true for Kamran Akmal as well because he may have won us couple of ODIs and drawn may one Test but how many matches we lost due to him? Any guesses? Must be close to run outs affected by Yusuf.

Now what’s our future in wicket keeping if Sarfraz Ahmed also fails or performs under par which he should not as he has the experience of leading Pakistan U19 and should be mentally tough but still thinking of alternatives. I looked at the latest Quaid Trophy- 2009 figures of the wicket keepers and was only impresses by two youngsters who could be potential reserve wicket keepers Islamabad glove man Naeem Anjum and Multan WK Gulraiz Sadaf. Both are in their  early 20s and can also bat better than some of their counterparts. What should we do now is a million dollar question but i think we should permanently play Sarfraz as WK till he falters……….no way you guessed me wrong. We must play reserve WK after every 10 Tests and 15 ODIs so as to give him confidence and feel of International cricket so that he knows all the playing bowlers and is comfortable when behind the stumps.

We should now forget Misbah, Malik, Faisal, Danish, Rauf and Yusuf as well. I think the 35 club should be sown the door and new players like Naved Yasin from Multan, Asad Shafiq from Karachi, Abid Ali from Lahore, Sharjeel Khan from Hyderabad and in Bowlers Muhammad Rameez of Rawalpindi, Junaid Khan of Abbottabad, Shehzad Azam of Islamabad and Muhammad Talha with Muhammad Irfan can be the players worth investing for future. The current U19 team also has one future prospect in its captain Azeem Ghuman. We must not invest in any player who is over 22 years of age unless he is exceptional and can not be omitted.  Then  looking beyond 2013 we should try to do some talent hunting and try to find out some batsmen of 6-0 or 6+ height and similar bowlers as well. We urgently need a spinner who can spin the ball like Nauthan Hauritz or Graeme Swann of England. As far as Kamran Akamal is concerned he can be a ideal choice for number 3 yes i don’t want to discard him. I will play him as a batsman at 3 when he gets his confidence back as we have invested a lot in him and he deserves a better treatment.

After all this shake up who is going to lead the team? Shahid Afridi with full powers like Daniel Vettori but with full responsibilities as well for the results. Azeem Ghuman after his return from world cup should also be drafted into the team as he has the stamina and temprament of a better test player. He should be the vice captain of the team as an understudy to Afridi who should be kept at top for next 5 years with clear mind.  I am not looking at Hobart at all rather i am looking at future of Pakistan Cricket. Is anybody listening including patron of PCB?