Pakistan's preparations for the tour of NewZealand
The controversy-prone Pakistani cricket team is looking ahead to win their next series in New Zealand, as part of their 2011 World Cup preparations, without experienced campaigners Kamran Akmal and Shoaib Malik.
The Pakistani selectors overlooked the veteran batsmen when they announced the Test and Twenty20 squads, after the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) integrity committee did not give clearance to the two players. Pakistan will play three Twenty20 matches, two
Tests and six One-day Internationals on their tour of New Zealand starting 26 December.
It seems that Pakistan dropped these players on the instructions of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Otherwise these batsmen have a tremendous record in international as well as domestic cricket. This has also put a huge question mark over their
chances of making the list of probables for the World Cup.
Both players performed well in their recent domestic Quaid-e-Azam trophy matches. Wicketkeeper Akmal, who has played 53 Tests and 123 one-dayers, scored 638 runs in six domestic matches with an average of 70.88. While all-rounder Shaoib Malik, who has featured
in 32 Tests and 192 one-dayers, scored 562 runs in three matches with an average of 112.40.
Commenting on the situation, Akmal urged the PCB to consider him for the team as a batsman. He was of the view that if he has no place in the team as a wicketkeeper, then he should considered as an opener. He denied all the spot-fixing allegations, which
surfaced in a newly released video of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mazhar-c75448 Majeed – the man behind the spot-fixing controversy.
Former skipper Shoaib Malik asked the PCB to give him reasons behind his exclusion from the team. He said that the PCB had advised him to play domestic cricket in order to prove his fitness and form. He maintained that the PCB had not told him why he was
dropped.
Earlier, Pakistani skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 is
capable of winning the World Cup without Malik and Kamran.
The training camp for the series started on 8 December, and will continue until 15 December. The management is focusing more on players fielding and fitness. Pakistan had to face fitness problems in the recent series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757, and Muhammad Yousaf,
Wahab Riaz and Tanveer were left out of the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 squad due to injuries.
Muhammad Yousaf was dropped, while other two are included in the squad. Both have to pass fitness tests before the departure of the team.
Test cricketer Javed Miandad has been appointed as batting consultant by the PCB, after seeing the spectacular batting collapses of the team during the last series, and has joined the team in their training sessions.
However there are still some concerns over http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Javed-Miandad-c66580’s appointment as batting consultant. The PCB has not revealed whether Miandad would travel with the team or not, and Coach Waqar Younis and Manager Intikhab Alam have expressed their apprehensions
to the PCB.
All of Pakistan’s tours in 2010 have ended in disaster, putting them in further trouble with the ICC. Seven players were punished on disciplinary grounds after the devastating tour of Australian where Pakistan lost all three Tests, five one-day internationals
and one Twenty20 match. Later, three Pakistani players were suspended by the ICC on spot-fixing charges during the tour of England. Wicketkeeper Zulqurnain Haider then abandoned the team on their tour of the UAE.
Considering everything that has happened during the past year, the PCB should review all its mistakes, in order to avoid any more humiliation during the teams’ final assignment before the 2011 World Cup.
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