Original Post Date: 2nd March 2007
As much as I have enjoyed India beating Pakistan in all the world cups they have clashed in, I do feel bad for the current state of affairs for the Pakistani team.
Inzi can deny all he wants, but the lack of players like Razaq, Asif and Akhtar has significantly hampered any slim chances Pakistan might have had to win the world cup.To start off, Inzi thinks he can regain his 1992 form. To understand what his form really was in 1992, all you have to do is look at this scorecard.
While he could be devastating if he can get that form back, I don't think that is a possibility. Inzy is, was and will always be a lazy cricketer, and he already has every excuse to show up lazy in West Indies.
Mohd. Yousuf is by far the most consistent batsman in the Pakistani squad. He can be expected to play a pretty solid Dravid-esq role thoughout the tournament. The only other name worth mentioning is Shoaib Malik. He is far too familiar with the 'lone warrior" role that he has played on several occassions, and I foresee a few more of those for him before the end of the trip.
Shahid Afridi will provide a few fireworks, but I believe many teams (including, at the risk of falling flat on my face, India) have figured out how to tackle him. Not much can be expected out of the other youngsters, at least with the bat. Yes, an occassional half century or a century, but that will not be enough to beat good teams consistently, which is what is the need of the hour.
Pakistan's strength, at least coming into this world cup, was their bowling attack. If even one of Asif or Akhtar had a good day, they would have been capable of defending a 200ish total. With these players "injured", and Razaq actually injured, I am afraid the dent is beyond repair.
Pakistan will battle it out with England for the bottom spot. Australia, SA, India, WI, SL and NZ will all end up ahead of Pakistan by the end of super eights.
Rao Iftekar has shown that he can play a critical role every now and then, Sami has been in and out of the team, and still is a decent cricketer, and Rana Naved still needs to learn to control the new ball better. A lot will rest on the shoulders of Kaneria, but in the end, it might prove to be too big a burden on the small Carrebean grounds.
Yasir Arafat is too inexperienced to make a difference. His performance under pressure is extremely shaky, as demonstrated by the last Indian visit to Pakistan. Azhar Mahmood is also a relatively weak link in this chain.
Added to all this batting and bowling shortcomings is the shoddy fielding display that can be expected from the team. A few dropped catches and missed run out opportunities are in the making, exactly what Pakistan doesn't need with all its other woes.
OK then, where IS the hope? some of you might ask. Reaslistically speaking, there is none. For the over optimistic Pakistani supporters, only hope is if the stalwarts actually perform to their potential in every game that matters and the youngsters aptly rotate their good performance to provide just enough to beat the right team at the right time, and pray to god that rain chips in at the 12th man slot every now and then, pushing them over the threshold.
If you don't believe me, I have evidence for what I just said here:
1 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt)
2 Younis Khan (vice-captain)
3 Mohammad Hafeez
4 Imran Nazir
5 Mohammad Yousuf
6 Shoaib Malik
7 Azhar Mahmood (replacement for Abdul Razzaq)
8 Shahid Afridi
9 Kamran Akmal
10 Yasir Arafat (replacement for Shoaib Akhtar)
11 Mohd. Sami (replacement for Mohammad Asif)
12 Umar Gul13 Danish Kaneria
14 Rana Naved-ul-Hasan
15 Rao Iftikhar Anjum
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