Pakistan Batting woes ahead of the first ODI against South Africa
Pakistan gets ready to take on South Africa in the first of 5 one day internationals at Abu Dhabi. The curtain raiser of the tour; two T20 internationals went the way of South Africa. Both games ended as one way contests, the reason behind that was simple. There is simply no back bone in the batting lineup of Pakistan. It is no secret that in recent times Pakistan bowling has been doing quite well, but it has been the batsmen who have been letting the team down. It has been the same old story, be it T20s, One-dayers, or even Test matches; Pakistan’s batting has certainly been not good enough. The men in green have lacked any sort of planning and direction in their batting, the lack of quality players and on top of it, reckless strokes, have left the whole world wondering what it would take for Pakistan to put together a formidable lineup.
The selectors have tried almost everything in last 3 years or so. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 cricket has been on a merry-go-round during all this period. Players like Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq have been sidelined and brought back time and again. Moreover, they too have managed to disappoint every single time.
It is not that the selectors have not tried new blood. Only, recently in England, the selectors decided to go into a test series against Australia with an inexperienced batting lineup that actually had 2 test debutants. As expected, Pakistan lost the first test by a big margin and once again there were calls to bring the old faces back. However, they did manage to win the 2nd test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746, but that did not stop the likes of Mohammad Yousuf and company being brought back in the team.
The opening department for Pakistan has been a worry ever since Saeed Anwar and Aamer Sohail retired from the game. Gazillion combinations have been tried, but the only player that actually looked like the one who could be there for a long haul was Salman Butt. Needless to say, everyone knows what happened to him; the left handed batsman is serving a suspension from ICC for allegedly being involved in spot fixing and the future for him, to be put mildly, is uncertain.
Imran Farhat is one man who is constantly being named in all formats of the game in the Pakistan lineup. The left hander has been the centre of controversies, lately, over his selection, as his father-in-law is part of the selection panel in PCB and his performances do not help his case either. The manner, in which he was dismissed in the two T20s against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757, was clear evidence that during the last 9 years or so that he has been part of international cricket he has hardly learnt anything.
Another surprise, before this tour started, was the nomination of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 as Test captain. The man who had been sidelined after the catastrophic tour of Australia is all of a sudden back and leading the team, perhaps nothing too alarming for Pakistan cricket. Another man making yet another comeback is former captain Younis Khan. The middle order batsman was banned for an indefinite period, but like others he was also cleared and will be part of the team for the first time since the Australian tour.
There will be some decisions that will have to be made by the team management as far as the middle order is concerned. As Younis Khan will be in line to play, and so will the promising Asad Shafiq, it will be a difficult choice for the selectors. On the other hand, it will be interesting to see if http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahzaib-Hasan-c2488 and Imran Farhat, who really is under pressure now. All of that will be revealed on Friday when Pakistan once again look to get back to winning ways.
Tags: