An Unsurprising Victory
Umar Akmal. Photo:AFP
There is nothing to celebrate in limping to a five-wicket win over a significantly weakened West Indian team. There are, however, some lessons to be learned that should stand Pakistan in good stead against in their upcoming matches against India and Australia, one of which they must win to qualify for the semi finals.
1. Umar Akmal is a real find. In the series against Sri Lanka, he showed his ability to hit the ball a long way. Yesterday he came into bat as Pakistan were struggling and yet saw them through to victory.
2. Pakistan has two openers who average under 30 in ODIs. One of them must be dropped. Since Kamran Akmal is, at least theoretically if his dropped catches and missed stumpings over the last three years are anything to go by, also our wicket keeper it is Imran Nazir who has to go. He should be replaced by Shoaib Malik at the top of the order.
3. Use the power play depending on who is at the crease rather than which over it is. Many commentators have pointed out that teams may benefit more from utilising the power play in the middle overs rather than waiting till the end. But there seems to be universal agreement that the biggest hitters should be at the crease when it is used. I disagree. Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal and Rana Naved are going to score quickly at the end of an innings no matter how many fielders are outside the circle. Younus Khan and Mohammad Yousuf seem content to nudge the ball around during the middle overs; employing the power play when they are the crease should boost their run rate significantly.
4. Do not bring Mohammed Asif back into the team. He hasn’t played in two years and having not chosen him for the match against the West Indies, it would be silly to chose him for the crunch games.
5. Have fun. Here is what Younus Khan said about non-T20 cricket (via Five Rupees):
If you want to play only fun cricket, play Twenty20. You cannot have one guy taking all the fun from all formats. You can’t get married and have six girlfriends as well, because you will get stuck somewhere.
And this is what he said about T20s:
[I] have never attached too much importance to Twenty20 cricket, as it is fun cricket.
It is clear that for Pakistan fun = victory.
The opinions expressed in this article and the views shared by readers in the comment forum below do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance or policies of Newsline.
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Aamir is also a real find.But I’m impressed with Umar Akmal.Technique and Temperament-spot on.I’m expecting Pakistan-India game to be a real cracker. You do remember Centurion drama of World Cup 2003..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1guE59y32Y
Bilish: I remember that game all too well. I was in Chicago at the time and watched it at an Indian friend’s house. Us Pakistanis were outnumbered about 10-1 by the Indians. It was one of the most traumatic nights of my life.
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