Best bowling option for Pakistan in WC

[Beleg]

azhar mahmood is the wrost bowler ever

every single time hes played for pakistan, the opposition ahs always singled him out and targetted him

Azhar Mahmood used to be a pretty fair bowler. Whilst I have never been a big fan of his bowling, it can't be worse than Razzaq's current bowling form.

Prince EWS,

With Afridi, Malik and Hafeez already existing in the team, there is no real need to play Mahmood unless he genuinely is the next best batsman or the next best bowler - which I seriously doubt.

Pakistan is not going to win this world cup on the strength of their bowling, we just don't have the bowlers to accomplish that. The next best thing, in the ODI format, is to pack the line-up with bits and pieces players, producing a unit which bats all the way day down to 9/10 and hoping that the 'all-rounders' would be able to contribute twenty-five odd overs for not many.

The best available Pakistani line-up is,

Hafeez
Imran Nazir
Yousuf
Inzamam
Younis
Malik
Akmal
Afridi
Mahmood
Naveed/Iftikhar
Gul

Gul, Naveed, Afridi, Mahmood, Malik and Hafeez should be able to bowl fifty overs between them. The above team bats down to nine (with number ten being fairly handy as well if Rana is picked) and has the strike power to really let loose in the last fifteen overs/chasing a target.

 

[Pup Clarke]

.








The best available Pakistani line-up is,

Hafeez
Imran Nazir
Yousuf
Inzamam
Younis
Malik
Akmal
Afridi
Mahmood
Naveed/Iftikhar
Gul

.

You'd have Younis at 5?

 

[rodzilla1010]

Gul, Naveed, Afridi, Mahmood, Malik and Hafeez should be able to bowl fifty overs between them

yeah they will bowl 50 overs between them but for 350 odd runs....and then you can go chase that score with your extra short tail.

 

[rodzilla1010]

why have gul and rana either...put yasir arafat and some other all rounder in there...loads of crap...thank god Inzi has a better brain than that

 

[Prince EWS]

I seem to be arguing two completely opposite points here. I'm arguing for the inclusion of an allrounder to rodzilla, and against the idea to beleg. I seem to be in somewhat of a middle ground - I'd have batting down to 8, while rodzilla would only have it to 7 and Beleg to 9.

If I continue in the vein of arguing, I'll sound very contradictory, so I'll just stop.

 

[Beleg]

yeah they will bowl 50 overs between them but for 350 odd runs....and then you can go chase that score with your extra short tail.

350 runs are not easy to score, the bowling attack I lined-up, while not extra-ordinary under any circumstances, is fairly experienced and competent enough to not go for 350 odd consistently. Gul is Pakistan's strike-bowler, Arafat is pretty ordinary and Anjum is similiar. The later two aren't good enough to be picked based on bowling alone.

The nature of the pitches and the grounds in the West Indies is still an unknown variable; when Pakistan toured WI in 2000, they played in St. Vincent and St. Lucia - two new grounds at that time, both of which proved to be graveyard for batsmen that were accustomed to accumulate runs through hitting against the line. Port of Spain was pretty similiar and Pakistan crawled to 110 odd in forty overs to win the game thanks to a brave but torturous innings played by Inzamam.

 

[Richard]

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.

Razzaq and Mahmood both used to be able to bowl reasonably...

Neither can any more.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Disagree about Rana TBH.He might have got murdered in SA but is still a very good bowler

Very good bowler? When did bowling standards drop THAT low?

 

[Richard]

Too much of watching Rana against India can do that to a person...



(Or West Indies)

 

[Pup Clarke]

Very good bowler? When did bowling standards drop THAT low?

"Very" good is an exaggeration but throughout his career he does have a good one day record.One awful series doesn't mean he's become a really poor bowler overnight.IMO he is a good one day bowler who has gone through a couple of horrer series.Best to get them out of the way before the WC...

 

[IndianByHeart]

Rana has been in awful form lately, I've got the feeling he's gonna get creamed on a flat Wi pitch.

Still bowl good towards the end of innings, i see him as probably the very few hope that Pakistan have, if he can sort out his problems then he can be very useful to Pakistan

 

[IndianByHeart]

What about the following as bowling options in the opening WC game


Umar Gul
Rana Naved
Rao Iftikhar/Azhar Mahmood
Danish Kaneria
Shoaib Malik
Mohammed Hafeez

Thats probably the best bowling lineup that they can have, i would prefer Anjum over Azhar though.

If Danish fails to impress in group matches then he can be replaced by either Azhar or Arafat.

 

[IndianByHeart]

Too much of watching Rana against India can do that to a person...



(Or West Indies)

Or maybe two much of watching SA series may lead a person to think that Rana is rubbish.

 

[Richard]

Not to mention Australia, England, Sri Lanka (mostly) or New Zealand...

 

[Richard]

"Very" good is an exaggeration but throughout his career he does have a good one day record.One awful series doesn't mean he's become a really poor bowler overnight.IMO he is a good one day bowler who has gone through a couple of horrer series.Best to get them out of the way before the WC...

But he's had loads of awful series, and his only good ones have ever come against India and West Indies.

 

[All Rounder]

1.IMRAN NAZIR
2.SHOAIB MALIK
3.YOUSAF
4.INZI
5.YOUNIS
6.AFRIDI OR HAFEEZ
7.AKMAL
8.AZHAR
9.RANA
10.GUL
11.ARAFAT or ANYONE BUT SAMI

 

[IndianByHeart]

But he's had loads of awful series, and his only good ones have ever come against India and West Indies.

If that was true his average would have been really very poor, instead its 27.16 which is better than nearly all Pakistan bowlers!!

 

[IndianByHeart]

But he's had loads of awful series, and his only good ones have ever come against India and West Indies.

An average of 25 against Sl can hardly be described as poor!

 

[Richard]

Except average doesn't tell the true story, as not-unusual...

He's played 7 games against SL (or bowled 7 times against them) - in his first 4 games he was poor (2 abysmal and 2 OK), in this game he bowled well, and in the other 2 he was poor.

As an economy-rate of 5.28-an-over suggests...

As for an overall-average of 27 (a bit better when you remove the Hong Kongs, Kenyas and Zimbabwes), that's poor with an economy-rate of over 5.5-an-over.

And the fact that he's played a large proportion of his games against Ind and WI accounts for why his average isn't poor despite having done poorly against everyone else.

 

[PATRIOTIC]

Though selection of 15 do suggest the defensive mind set of inzi and woolmer, but if PAK want to fancy its chances then they should go with:

1. Nazir/Hafeez
2. Akmal
3. Younis
4. Yousaf
5. Inzi
6. Malik
7. Afridi (once he is available)
8. Azhar
9. Rana
10. Sami
11. Gul

During first two games, while Afridi is not available, Pakistan should play Kaneria for Afridi, and Nazir should play instead of Hafeez.

Personally, I think Pakistan is still a team to watch if there is no rift among the players.