ICC CWC 2011:- A proud journey

If we look back at Pakistan's last 15 months we will see a dark time starting with the Australian tour and the Sydney debacle. That was followed by the bans on several key players, not to mention Afridi's ball-biting incident. This was follwed by the spot-fixing trio and Wicket-Keeper Zulqarnain Haider's run away from the Dubai ODI series against South Africa. This added by no home International cricket.Just a controversy free tour can be regarded as a success.


Pakistan's World Cup came to a end as arch-rivals India beat Pakistan in Mohali in the Semi-Final stage, by 29 runs. This was a game with a build-up like no other have I witnessed in 22 years of watching Cricket. The tension and drama was unbearable at times. In the end it came down to the pressure of chasing in a game in the magnitude of this that made the difference.


If we closely look at the campaign, there were loads of positives to come out of it; with the highlights being:-
Afridi taking 21 wickets
Umar Gul finishing with 14 scalps
Misbah top scoring with 3 half centuries
Umar Akmal taking two man of the match awards for his brisk batting.
The downside being Kamran Akmal's blunders continue, Younis Khan looking way below his best and Abdul Razzaq having a below par tournament.


In my opinion, Pakistan need to start building a team for the next World Cup, even if it means a few failures now they need to blood new young talent and persist with them in the long-time. As Ive stated on my other articles Pakistan have many bright young players and this is their time.
My ODI team for the future:-
Hafeez
Babar Azam
Azhar Ali
Asad Shafiq
Umar Akmal
Hammad Azam
Shahid Afridi (C)
Wahab Riaz
Umar Gul
Junaid Khan
Raza Hasan.

Yes before people come at me, Raza Hasan and Babar Azam are young and not ready but they need the exposure to the big stage so they need to be brought forward slowly. Saeed Ajmal will be a great tutor to Hasan and Azam should be brought into the line-up in a years time.

Thankyou Shahid and Team Green for restoring Pakistan's reputation in World Cricket.
Pakistan Zindabad