Best bowling option for Pakistan in WC

[IndianByHeart]

Now that Akhtar and Asif are out of world cup and Razzak is forced to miss the cup coz of injury Pakistan seems to be have a big problem as far as their bowling is concerned.They need to have atleast three wicket taking bowlers in the team, as bowling out opponents is the only option to win a OD match.Considering that i wonder if giving Kaneria a chance would be a good idea for Pakistan.

The bowling options that Pakistan have, is 1, Gull 2 Rana Naveed 3 Iftikhar Anjum 4 Sami 5 Yasir Arafat 6 Afridi 7 Danish 8 Azhar Mahmood 9 Malik/Hafeez

Which 5 bowlers you think Pakistan should go ahead with?

 

[Natman20]

1. Gul
2. Rana Naved
3. Iftikhar Anjum
4. Danish Kaneria
5. Shahid Afridi

 

[haroon510]

Now that Akhtar and Asif are out of world cup and Razzak is forced to miss the cup coz of injury Pakistan seems to be have a big problem as far as their bowling is concerned.They need to have atleast three wicket taking bowlers in the team, as bowling out opponents is the only option to win a OD match.Considering that i wonder if giving Kaneria a chance would be a good idea for Pakistan.

The bowling options that Pakistan have, is 1, Gull 2 Rana Naveed 3 Iftikhar Anjum 4 Sami 5 Yasir Arafat 6 Afridi 7 Danish 8 Azhar Mahmood 9 Malik/Hafeez

Which 5 bowlers you think Pakistan should go ahead with?

i think this would be a good team for pakistan

nazir
hafeez
younis
yousuf
inzi
malik
kamran akmal
azhar mahmood
sami
rana
gul

when afridi comes back drop hafeez and put malik or younis in opening. i say kunaria is in no shape for one day game so he shouldn't be played as long as these bowlers bowle well.

 

[Prince EWS]

1. Gul
2. Rana Naved
3. Iftikhar Anjum
4. Danish Kaneria
5. Shahid Afridi

Agreed. Hafeez and Malik will be in the team as well and can obviously bowl a bit. I wouldn't be playing Sami, Mahmood or Arafat at this stage.

 

[IndianByHeart]

i think this would be a good team for pakistan

nazir
hafeez
younis
yousuf
inzi
malik
kamran akmal
azhar mahmood
sami
rana
gul

when afridi comes back drop hafeez and put malik or younis in opening. i say kunaria is in no shape for one day game so he shouldn't be played as long as these bowlers bowle well.

What makes you think that Sami will do good ?, he seems to have a terrible record.
Also what do you think about Arafat? can he be a better bet than Anjum?? I think Arafat is still very much unknown player, has hardly played much cricket, this might be his chance to impress.

 

[Richard]

What makes you think that Sami will do good ?, he seems to have a terrible record.

Yes, he does seem to, doesn't he...

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Agreed. Hafeez and Malik will be in the team as well and can obviously bowl a bit. I wouldn't be playing Sami, Mahmood or Arafat at this stage.

Surely Hafeez is in the team more for his bowling than his batting though.

 

[Beleg]

Prince EWS,

Mahmood has to play, he's pretty much a straight replacement for Razzaq who is considered to be one of our more useful ODI players.

Personally, I'll sit Kaneria out - I have more faith in Malik and Hafeez bringing down fifteen moderately good overs than Kaneria picking up either wickets or keeping things tight.


This is shaping up to be the worst bowling attack Pakistan has fielded into a major ODI tournament.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

What makes you think that Sami will do good ?, he seems to have a terrible record.
Also what do you think about Arafat? can he be a better bet than Anjum?? I think Arafat is still very much unknown player, has hardly played much cricket, this might be his chance to impress.

I've seen a bit of Arafat in England and I've seen a bit of Iftikhar Anjum for Pakistan. Arafat is the better of the two from what I've seen, but neither has done much at international level to dtae.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Surely Hafeez is in the team more for his bowling than his batting though.

Can't agree with that.Hafeez is primarly a top order batsmen and part time spinner.He's got a poor record with the bat in one day cricket but is selected primarly for his batting.His bowling is a bonus if he gets through 5-6 overs.He will eventually come good as IMO he looks a decent player.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Prince EWS,

Mahmood has to play, he's pretty much a straight replacement for Razzaq who is considered to be one of our more useful ODI players.

The thing is, Mahmood and Razzaq are two totally different types of players. Razzaq's greatest worth to the Pakistan team in recent times has been his batting, as his bowling has largely been rubbish. Mahmood's greater worth would be bowling than his batting, surely. Mahmood won't be batting in the lower middle order. Or he shouldn't be, at least.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Can't agree with that.Hafeez is primarly a top order batsmen and part time spinner.He's got a poor record with the bat in one day cricket but is selected primarly for his batting.His bowling is a bonus if he gets through 5-6 overs.He will eventually come good as IMO he looks a decent player.

Mohammad Hafeez has done nothing in ODI cricket with the bat to suggest that he should still be picked. He has, however, bowled well fairly consistently. The man has now played 44 innings and averages less than 20, with most of those innings opening the batting. With the ball he has 33 wickets at an average of 34.09 and an economy of 4.43. His worth to the team is so clearly greater with the ball than the bat.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Mohammad Hafeez has done nothing in ODI cricket with the bat to suggest that he should still be picked. He has, however, bowled well fairly consistently. The man has now played 44 innings and averages less than 20, with most of those innings opening the batting. With the ball he has 33 wickets at an average of 34.09 and an economy of 4.43. His worth to the team is so clearly greater with the ball than the bat.

He might come good with the bat at the WC?.You never know...

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

He might come good with the bat at the WC?.You never know...

It'd be about time. It'll be the 11th ODI series he's participating in.

 

[Beleg]

The thing is, Mahmood and Razzaq are two totally different types of players. Razzaq's greatest worth to the Pakistan team in recent times has been his batting, as his bowling has largely been rubbish. Mahmood's greater worth would be bowling than his batting, surely. Mahmood won't be batting in the lower middle order. Or he shouldn't be, at least.

You are correct, they are pretty different players - but the role they'll be asked to play in the team is the same, ideally coming in at six/seven and blasting away at the end whilst doing a reasonable containing job with the ball. Razzaq's batting superiority is off-set by Mahmood's better bowling form, so overall Pakistan breaks just about even.

There's no doubt in my mind that Mahmood has the talent and ability to play innings which, if not quite upto par with Razzaq's brutal death order onslaughts, will be more than useful. The question is whether he'll be able to harnass the talent effectively; I haven't followed Mahmood's recent career, but I remember watching Mahmood flay 100 odd against the likes of Pollock and Donald at Durban (I think that innings was picked as the seventh best of all time in the wisden list) and anybody who can do that is perfectly capable of batting at six/seven IMO.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I haven't followed Mahmood's recent career, but I remember watching Mahmood flay 100 odd against the likes of Pollock and Donald at Durban (I think that innings was picked as the seventh best of all time in the wisden list) and anybody who can do that is perfectly capable of batting at six/seven IMO.

In a Test match maybe, but OD cricket is very very different. And Mahmood has never suggested that he's good enough to bat at 6 in ODI cricket. 7 is pushing it too.

 

[Evermind]

I sincerely suggest they beg Imran Khan and Wasim Akram to come out of retirement.

 

[Richard]

I've seen Mahmood play several Razzaq-esque innings, myself.

Equally rubbish bowler, though.

 

[rodzilla1010]

my team for the first ODI

Hafiz
Nazir
Younis
Yousaf
Inzi
Malik
Akmal
Rana
Rao
Gul
Kaneria

 

[Pup Clarke]

Equally rubbish bowler, though.

Touch harsh IMO.Mahmood is actually a decent bowler primarly picked for his bowling.Razzaq has never been really good with either bat or ball.Razzaq's bowling in the last 2 years has really been average.Mahmood IMO is a much better bowler than Razzaq and will probably fit in at 7 or 8.