Salman Butt wants to continue with Azhar Ali and Umar Amin
Pakistan’s recent humiliating defeat against England has caused the PCB and its selection committee to take some important decisions. Pakistan’s batting line-up collapsed on 80 runs in second innings of the first test match against England on Sunday. Skipper Salman Butt had opted to go with an inexperienced and young batting department which had proved its worth in the second test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 had won. Pakistan’s selection committee and management had showed a lot of confidence in both the youngsters and had labelled them as the ones for the future.
The third and fourth position was given to young Azhar Ali and Umar Amin. Both had shown a lot of promise in the domestic format of the game but at the international level, they hardly impressed anyone. Azhar Ali got good starts, including a fifty, but failed to convert his small starts into big scores. Umar Amin, who was labelled as the “Viv Richards of the future” by team manager Yawar Saeed, completely failed to play any decent innings. He may have had a good footwork and brilliant technique but that alone cannot help his cause. Amin needs to score runs if he wants to cement his place in the playing eleven.
PCB has now called veteran batsman Mohammad Yousuf to England following Pakistan’s disastrous batting display in its last test match played against England in Trent Bridge, Nottingham. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Danish-Kaneria-c1314 has been dropped from the national squad and young Raza Hassan is being sent for the English tour. This decision has apparently not gone well with Pakistani Skipper Salman Butt, who was asking for a longer run for youngsters. He said that Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan are in no way a solution to Pakistan’s batting failure.
"Having seen the past results can anybody over here tell me how many wins Pakistan had with the people who were previously playing? Whoever is in the Pakistan side is there because of his ability and needs to be given time to show what they are capable of," Butt said. "Had we been winning with them in the team in the past two years then it could've been a mistake. But the results were the same. In fact these guys pulled off a victory after 15 years. So people are not seeing the reality."
Coach Waqar Younis had a similar response like Butt, when he was asked about Pakistan’s inexperienced batting order. Waqar, with a smirk on his face, ruled out the option of two Y’s on account of their unavailability. "Look, one is retired [Yousuf]. We can't really bring somebody back from retirement. The other one [Younis] has got serious issues with the cricket board [PCB],"Waqar said. He further added that this unit had the potential to make it big in test cricket but this will require digesting a few defeats. He was also asking for a longer run to these players but PCB chairman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128 has other plans for the team. Moments after Pakistan’s defeat, PCB announced that Younis will be sent to England to give Pakistan’s batting line-up a lift. "If you compare the Pakistan side from the last two to three years to this one it is a big improvement," Waqar said. "We want to make this into a big unit. We might have to take a couple losses but this unit looks good."
Mohammad Yousuf may not be welcomed by his fellow mates on account of his behaviour with the squad, but one thing is for sure that the veteran batsman has a classic touch with his bat. He averages 53.07 in test cricket while his average in England is around 65 runs. The 35-year-old will join the squad without any domestic practice behind him. Yousuf after opting to retire, remained out of touch with domestic cricket and only recently has shown his willingness to make a comeback.
The inclusion of Mohammad Yousuf in the squad will surely effect the dressing room environment since these players don’t feel comfortable around him. Either Yousuf will have to play a match wining innings or this will turn out to be another crisis for Pakistani cricket. Mohammad Yousuf was publically critical of Salman Butt in last year’s Australian tour, when he said that Butt was a “lazy cricketer”. Surely Butt doesn’t want Yousuf in the squad and has backed his young players, "I am just two games old: we have won one and lost the other. So I can never think of saying they have not responded. I can't be that impatient," Butt said. "What do you expect from them - win every game? That will not happen. This is the time when you back your players. It is just a matter of putting up a performance whether it being bowling, fielding, batting. The faith I have in them, I know they can make a comeback."
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