Pakistan have India as arch rivals in cricket, but according to Shoaib Akhtar (who has many friends in Mumbai) :- beating Australia brings the best pleasure!Australia refused to tour Pakistan some 6 months ago but now, a Pakistan vs Australia ODI series in Dubai & Abu Dhabi is organised by PCB and it's the perfect time for Rawalpindi express to make a comeback. Pakistan are set to tour Australia by the year end, and hence, this is the perfect time for Shoaib Akhtar to regain his fastest self to help his team compete against world champions!Another aspect making it perfect for Shoaib Akhtar to make a comeback into Pakistan cricket team after 8 months is his friend, his captain Younus Khan. Younus has taken over from Shoaib Mallik and will provide all the support former world's fastest bowler will require to win back the cricketing fans.Salman Butt, Misbah-ul-Haq and Shoaib Mallik will act as the pillar of Pakistani batting against Australia in this 5 ODI & a T20 game while likes of Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir and Rao Iftikkhar Anjum will take up the support part as fast bowlers.Shaid Afridi retains his place as spinner, although he has failed to complile a respectable batting score in last couple of years. Saeed Ajmal, the experienced left arm spinner, is the second twicker in Pakistan squad along with Fawad Alam who is a spinning all rounder and Yasir Arafat = the medium pacer all rounder!Nasir Jamshed : a left handed batsman from Lahore also makes the cut for australian series. 19 year old has already played 3 years of first class cricket in Pakistan but last year, he scored heavily to impress selectors. Jamshed has also played 9 one day internationals for Pakistan, scoring 343 runs at an average of exactly 49/innings and a fine strike-rate of 103.62!Ahmad Shehzad : is second rookie in the squad. Pakistan selectors love throwing VERY YOUNG boys into International level and Ahmad Shehzad was just 17 years and 130 days old on his national call up. Sehzad has played 13 first class game, scoring steadily at an average of over 40/innings.Pakistan Squad for Australia ODIs in Abu Dhabi & Dubai, 2009 :-Younus Khan (captain), Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed, Misbah-ul-Haq (vice-captain), Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal (wicketkeeper), Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Iftikhar Anjum, Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Arafat, Fawad Alam, Ahmad Shahzad and Saeed Ajmal.
No comments:
Post a Comment