Pakistan Tour of Zimbabwe

[DexteR]

Finally a Pakistan Cricket Series coming in August. Still a month to go but the team has been announced and here is the schedule:

Just one Test match, 3 ODI matches and two T20 matches to be played.


Chalo na honay sey tou behtar hai na.

[DexteR]

Rameez Raja, Aizaz Cheema and Sohail Tanvir in Pakistan Squad

Pakistan have rewarded some of their consistent performers in domestic cricket by including three uncapped players - top-order batsman Rameez Raja, legspinner Yasir Shah and seamer Aizaz Cheema - as well as fast bowler Sohail Khan, who has played only one Test, in the squad for the tour of Zimbabwe that starts on August 28. There are also recalls for opening batsman Imran Farhat, who hasn't played for Pakistan since the one-day series against South Africa in the UAE in October 2010, and left-arm fast bowler Sohail Tanvir, who was last included for the New Zealand tour earlier in the year.

The squad seems to be an experimental one, with the bowling attack in particular featuring several new names and missing some of the senior players. Umar Gul, Tanvir Ahmed and Wahab Riaz, who have been Pakistan's three premier fast bowlers in recent times, have all been rested, with Sohail Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Cheema and Junaid Khan making up the pace attack. There is also a change in the spin department with Abdur Rehman being rested and Yasir being given an opportunity.

Pakistan's chief selector Mohsin Khan explained that the fresh look to the squad was an effort to blood youngsters. "We have to bring in young players along with seniors so that they could be groomed," he said. "Because it's a short tour we have selected only one squad for all three formats of the game and have rested Riaz and Gul in a hope to try out some youngsters."

Adnan Akmal has reclaimed the wicketkeeper's spot in the squad, meaning Mohammad Salman, who failed to impress with the bat in the West Indies and Ireland, makes way. Allrounder Hammad Azam also failed to have an impact on those tours and has been kept in the standbys to make place for Raja. Ahmed Shehzad, who was dropped after the tour of the West Indies, has been left out again.

Another development is the inclusion of Shoaib Malik, the former Pakistan captain, in the list of standbys. Malik has been involved in a battle with the PCB, whose integrity committee has not cleared him for selection since the controversial tour of England last year. Mohsin said Malik would only be included if he managed to obtain clearance from the PCB. Meanwhile, legspinner Danish Kaneria, who has taken his fight to get clearance to the Sindh High Court, continues to be ignored.

Raja's call-up comes on the back of consistent domestic performance in all formats. He was the leading run-getter in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Division One last season, and was top of the run charts again during the recent Faysal Bank Super Eight Twenty20 Cup. His performances in the T20 competition, which included a 97 in the semi-final and a half-century in the final, led to calls for his inclusion in the national side.

Sohail Khan, Sohail Tanvir and Cheema were all recently part of an emerging players camp at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore, where they received tips from former Pakistan fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz. Sohail Khan and Sohail Tanvir both brought themselves back into the limelight during the Super Eight Twenty20 competition; the former took 14 wickets in Karachi Dolphins' road to the finals, while the latter captained Rawalpindi Rams to the title. Cheema, 31, earned his call-up through another strong first-class season in which he took 57 wickets in eight games in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

Yasir impressed with his 16 wickets in four games during the Faysal Bank Pentangular Cup at the beginning of this year, and then took 3 for 29 for Pakistan A against Afghanistan in a one-dayer. Farhat also did well in the Pentangular, hitting a century and two fifties, and was leading run-getter in the domestic one-day competition before that.

Pakistan squad:
Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Taufiq Umar, Imran Farhat, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Rameez Raja junior, Adnan Akmal (wk), Saeed Ajmal, Yasir Shah, Sohail Tanvir, Sohail Khan, Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema.

Standbys:
Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Khurram Manzoor, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Talha, Hammad Azam, Shoaib Malik (subject to clearance from PCB integrity committee)

[DexteR]

Ramiz Raja Junior (Batsman)



Yasir Shah (Spin Bowler)



Sohail Khan (Bowler)



Aizaz Cheema (Bowler)

[DexteR]

Ramiz Raja Junior (Batsman)



Yasir Shah (Spin Bowler)



Sohail Khan (Bowler)



Aizaz Cheema (Bowler)

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Selectors blunder with bowling for Zimbabwe tour: Qasim

Karachi—Former Chief Selector Iqbal Qasim Friday criticised national selection committee for lack of consistency while picking the 16-member Pakistan squad for Zimbabwe tour.

“Selectors have picked weak and inexperienced bowling attack which may be the cause of concern for the visitors,” he told APP in an interview here.

“Major overhauling has been done in the bowling department with experienced Umer Gul and rising Wahab Riaz and veteran spinner Abdur Rehman were rested,” he noted.

“Pakistan bowling looked very inexperienced in Sohail Khan, Junaid Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Aizaz Cheema and leg-spinner Yasir Shah,” he stressed. He said the only experienced bowler in Pakistan squad is Saeed Ajmal.

“You can not get the opponents out twice in a test match and same may be the case in ODIs,” he commented. Its okay in T20 Internationals but difficult in Test and ODIs, he added.

He hit out at selectors for recalling Adnan Akmal and ousting Muhammad Salman, who toured West Indies and played a couple of ODIs against Ireland.

“That is surprising for me. Once Sarfraz Ahmed part of the team and then came Adnan Akmal before he was dumped in favor of Salman and things have now been reversed,” Iqbal Qasim, who took 999 wickets in first class cricket and 171 wickets in 50 Test matches for Pakistan, pointed out.

He said on papers Pakistan batting looked very formidable with Imran Farhat, Taufiq Umer, Muhammad Hafeez, Younis Khan, Misbah- ul-Haq and Azhar Ali with young guns like Umer Akmal and newcomer Rameez Raja.

“Bowling will be a major problem and it will be big challenge on the Zimbabwe tour,” he remarked.

He questioned the selection of injury prone Lahore pacer Aizaz Cheema, who missed the West Indies after gettting injured.

“I don’t know the criteria under which Aizaz was selected without playing any cricket or showing fitness. May be selectors have got his fitness test, “ he guessed.

He was also surprised at dropping of Karachi medium pacer Tanvir Ahmed, who had performed well in Caribbean tour and in last year’s series against South Africa in United Arab Emirates.—APP

[sheem]

weak side k liye inexperience hi jani chahe sahi kiya hai selectors ne mere khiyal se tu.. potential pata chalegi larko ki

waise ho kidar raha hai yeh tour zimbabwe mai hi?

[Nida_Ali_Nido]

boringgggggggggggggg


Koi acha tour bi hy ya.............

sub aisy hi milain gy

[DexteR]

boring nahi ho ga dono barabar ki teams hai tough competition ho ga. Aur jahan Misbah jesa bikaau insan captain ho wahan kuch bhi ho sakta hai.

[Nida_Ali_Nido]

BARABAR

bus ab yehi sun;na baki tha

wesy haqeqat wohi hy jo u ne bayan ker di hy bro

[Nida_Ali_Nido]

wesy barbar nahi hen.hamary bi 6-7 numb hy ranking men kia hova jo zim k 8 hy to

1 rank nechy hi hy hum se to barbar kesy hove hum