Pakistan vs. West Indies: A SWOT analysis of the batting orders - Part 1 – ICC World Cup 2011
The group stage of the ICC World Cup 2011 is complete and eight teams will now battle it out for a coveted semi-final spot. Pakistan is all set to face the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/March-c74391 at the Shere Bangla National Stadium
in Mirpur. It is a ‘do or die’ situation for both teams, as the winner advances and the loser goes home.
As both teams understand the importance of their batting line-up, as the flat dry pitch in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 will probably suit the batsmen. The batting order of both teams will play a decisive role in this exciting match. A SWOT analysis of both batting line-ups
is as follows:
Pakistan’s batting line-up includes http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482.
Hafeez and Shehzad form the opening pair that has not really clicked during the tournament. Both are striking batsmen, but lack the sense of the opposition fielding positions and shot points. Shehzad is http://www.senore.com/Cricket/A-Young-c41367 and inexperienced talent, who after scoring
a century during the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755-New Zealand series before the World Cup, managed to cement his place in the squad.
Shehzad possesses an enormous amount of talent, but unfortunately he is unable to manifest it on game day. He plays silly shots without marking the opposition field positions and always gets caught-out. Hafeez is somewhat more experienced, but has shown
some very irresponsible play in this tournament. In all the five innings, he was unable to score a fifty, as he desperately plays aerial shots that fall in the hands of leg-side fielders. Playing against West Indies, they will hardly survive the pace attack,
as Kemar Roach may prove to be deadly for them.
Asad, a right-handed batsman, has been replaced as one-down. He is a talented and sensible batsman that plays according to the situational requirements. In his maiden World Cup game against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045, he performed magnificently and scored a match-winning
78 off 97 balls. In Pakistan’s exciting win over http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746, he finished with match-winning 46. Asad may hold the innings after the likely failure of the opening pair and compensate for the loss. He will have to be careful of leg before, as that is more likely
to haunt him. Pakistan’s cricketing legend http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Imran-Khan-c64237, has suggested putting Asad in the opening pair. Let see how far the team management considers this option, which is likely to be advantageous for Pakistan.
Younis, Misbah and Afridi are the middle-order batsmen with the last being an all-rounder. All three are experienced, talented and sensible players, but luck seems to be cruel to them. Of all three, Younis is doing better in this tournament, scoring 50 against
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Razzaq-c84421 has done well during
last two games, scoring match-winning runs and dominating the crease. Against the out of form Windies, these batsmen are likely to pile up big scores, but Devendra Bishoo may create problems for them.
To be continued in Part 2
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