Pakistan v http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760: A test of two inexperienced batting lineups - Part Two
Continued from the previous part ..
On the other side of the coin, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Yousuf-c77465 and Younis Khan have held Pakistan’s batting together in Test match cricket over the years but the green shirts do not have any of them available in this series. Yousuf lost the confidence of Pakistan’s selection
committee last year, whereas Younis was on the tour but had to go back home after the sad demise of his brother.
The situation of West Indian batting is quite similar with Pakistan’s; however Misbah ul Haq and company have a psychological advantage as they won their last Test series comprehensively against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 earlier this year.
The onus is on http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Hafeez-c76898 to take up the role of the senior batsmen in the team and guide the youngsters through difficult phases.
Although Pakistan’s batting looks young on paper but they have been performing well in international cricket since last eight months. Hafeez and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Azhar-Ali-c46890 has
showcased his skills quite beautifully at the highest stage of the game since making his debut in Pakistan’s tour of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 last year.
The best thing for the green shirts is the form of their captain who has led them from front ever since he took over the role of Test captain. Since the series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/United-Arab-Emirates-c3033, Misbah has scored six half-centuries in seven innings
and played a number of knocks under trying circumstances.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Younis-Khan-c98325 means that the youngest
Akmal has another chance of proving his mettle in the longer version of the sport.
Akmal was a permanent member of Pakistan team in all the formats of the game but he seems to have caught a disease of impatience since last year or so. This is an ideal opportunity for him to prove to the selectors that he is also suitable for the five-day
version of the game; otherwise he might be labeled as a limited overs specialist for the rest of his career like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482.
Wicketkeeper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Salman-c77287 is going to make his Test debut today and Pakistan team management would be expecting notable contributions from him in the series as he has been performing quite well with the bat in recent years in the domestic cricket of Pakistan.
Apart from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tanvir-Ahmed-c92718 are also capable of scoring some crucial runs for the green shirts.
Pakistan have a slight edge over the Caribbean team in the batting department but there is not much to choose between the two young batting lineups. Let’s hope that these young batsmen can make their mark in international cricket by performing well in this
series and who knows, we might witness the making of some future superstars.
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