Blaze's XI
1) Barry Richards
2) Younis Khan
3) Rahul Dravid
4) Mahela Jayawardene (captain)
5) Polly Umrigar
6) Chris Cairns
7) Syed Kirmani (wicketkeeper)
8) Muttiah Muralitharan
9) Shoaib Akhtar
10)Sydney Barnes
11)Frank Tyson
12th man : Daniel Vettori
Strengths
1) Extremely good bowling attack : There is the raw pace of Frank Tyson and Shoaib Akhtar; there is Muttiah Muralitharan, the highest wicket-taker ever and one of the greatest bowlers of all time; Sydney Barnes, the statistical freak, perhaps one of the closest there has ever been to the bowling equivalent of Bradman; Chris Cairns - not quite in the league of an Imran Khan or a Gary Sobers, but a ridiculously good all-rounder (vastly under-rated too, I might add). Would be the perfect foil for Frank Tyson, Shoaib Akhtar and Sydney Barnes.
2) Solid opening pair and middle-order : Everyone knows how good Barry Richards was, and while Younis Khan, arguably Pakistan's finest batsman since Javed Miandad, hasn't opened all that much, he knows all about facing the new ball. In Rahul Dravid and Mahela Jaywardene, the side has two very fine batsmen who have nearly twenty-two thousand test runs between them.
Weaknesses
Chris Cairns and Syed Kirmani batting at six and seven means there is no real depth in the batting line-up. If the strong top-order flunks, the team is screwed.