Pakistan is one of the most balanced side in this edition of the One Day Cricket World Cup tournament with India and South Africa being the other two most well balance sides. What makes Pakistan different from these two teams is variety in talents in their team. They have some of the best explosive batsmen in their ranks complemented by some of the best anchors in Misbah and Yunis. They have some of the good spinners aided by an unorthodox spinner like Shahid Afridi and handy part-time spinner like Mohammad Hafeez. They have more explosive batsmen in the World than any other team in Ahmad Shahzad, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi, and Abdul Razzak. They also possess a useful batting tail down the order. I still think Pakistan can do better with proper planning. I would like to bring to notice certain facts that I observed about Pakistan cricket in the recent times.
Kamran Akmal is one of the most explosive and decisive batsman in shorter formats of the game. He is best used in the late middle order to finish the game. The second best of Kamran comes as an opener. He is not as useful a batsmen in the middle order as he is in the late middle order or as an opener.
Kamran Akmal should open the innings with Ahamad Shahzad with Mohammad Hafeez at 3.
Yunis Khan can play the sheet anchor role with Misbah-ul-Haq. However the problem with Yunis Khan is he often tends to match the other explosive batsmen in his team. Yunis Khan is a different player and can never play like an Umar Akmal or a Shahid Afridi. Moreover, nerves gets to him sometimes when he is not able to get away from the strike and in those situations he often attempts to run by just pushing the ball around, which has led to run outs, most recent of which is in New Zeeland. Yunis Khan should realize that his role would be to stay at the wickets as long as possible and score the runs only when the opportunity comes. If he can stay firm at one side of the wicket, the other explosive batsmen in Pakistan can go after the bowling. He should learn a lesson or two from the way Javed Miandad played. Even though Miandad was a much more talented batsmen, he would still not risk his wicket and would play waiting game in the crucial situation and allow the other explosive batsmen unleash. Yunis has to do something like that.
Umar Akmal should bat at #5. If you have both Yunis Khan and Misbah coming one after the other, it will affect the run rate and lack the variety in batting. If you have Umar Akmal between Yunis Khan and Misbah it will give better balance to batting order as there are more explosive batsmen down the order.
Misbah-Ul-Haq should bat at #6 and should continue the way he played in New Zeeland.
If Shoib Akhtar finds a place in the final eleven, he should be told that he cannot bowl wayward or bowl short balls. At his speed he will go for a lot of runs on subcontinent pitches if he cannot bowl an impeccable line and length. Shoib should bowl in shorter spells of three overs.
They should not bowl the spinners in the last overs of the game.
More importantly, they should bat first if they win the toss, especially in the knockout games, quarter-final, semi-final, and Final of the World Cup.
Finally, I would love to see Kamran Akmal and Umar Akmal open the innings in shorter formats of the game. I think Umar will be a hit as an opener in shorter formats of the game.
Kamran Akmal is one of the most explosive and decisive batsman in shorter formats of the game. He is best used in the late middle order to finish the game. The second best of Kamran comes as an opener. He is not as useful a batsmen in the middle order as he is in the late middle order or as an opener.
Kamran Akmal should open the innings with Ahamad Shahzad with Mohammad Hafeez at 3.
Yunis Khan can play the sheet anchor role with Misbah-ul-Haq. However the problem with Yunis Khan is he often tends to match the other explosive batsmen in his team. Yunis Khan is a different player and can never play like an Umar Akmal or a Shahid Afridi. Moreover, nerves gets to him sometimes when he is not able to get away from the strike and in those situations he often attempts to run by just pushing the ball around, which has led to run outs, most recent of which is in New Zeeland. Yunis Khan should realize that his role would be to stay at the wickets as long as possible and score the runs only when the opportunity comes. If he can stay firm at one side of the wicket, the other explosive batsmen in Pakistan can go after the bowling. He should learn a lesson or two from the way Javed Miandad played. Even though Miandad was a much more talented batsmen, he would still not risk his wicket and would play waiting game in the crucial situation and allow the other explosive batsmen unleash. Yunis has to do something like that.
Umar Akmal should bat at #5. If you have both Yunis Khan and Misbah coming one after the other, it will affect the run rate and lack the variety in batting. If you have Umar Akmal between Yunis Khan and Misbah it will give better balance to batting order as there are more explosive batsmen down the order.
Misbah-Ul-Haq should bat at #6 and should continue the way he played in New Zeeland.
If Shoib Akhtar finds a place in the final eleven, he should be told that he cannot bowl wayward or bowl short balls. At his speed he will go for a lot of runs on subcontinent pitches if he cannot bowl an impeccable line and length. Shoib should bowl in shorter spells of three overs.
They should not bowl the spinners in the last overs of the game.
More importantly, they should bat first if they win the toss, especially in the knockout games, quarter-final, semi-final, and Final of the World Cup.
Finally, I would love to see Kamran Akmal and Umar Akmal open the innings in shorter formats of the game. I think Umar will be a hit as an opener in shorter formats of the game.
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