Possible team for the final

[Jahangir Khan]

Now that we have qualified, we need to think about the team for the final.

I think Salman Butt should have been dropped 2 games ago in favour of Hafeez. Butt is a good long term prospect but he is out of form and struggling. In today's match he didn't know what he was doing. His bowling will be useless against Aus and he also dropped an easy catch today which could have cost us the game.

Hafeez showed improvements the last time he played so he deserves a chance. I also think it is too late to select Taufeeq because he hasn't played yet.

If reports about the death of Rana's father are true then he too could be out of the finals, this would be a major loss for us.

My team would thus be:

Yasir
Akmal
Hafeez
YoYo
Inzi
Malik
Razzaq
Afridi
Rana/Azhar
Rao
Khalil

Without Rana the Aussies would consider themselves as major favourites.

[MIG]

Pakistan should request replacements from back home, how is this Nazeer guy everyone is on about ? or will it be Riaz Afridi ?

[Daoud]

If Rana isnt playing, and Azhar is, we might as well not show up. Well maybe not that bad, but we'd have lost before a ball is bowled. They better call for a replacement

[tahaqureshi]

well i think sami should be fit by now and really needs to suppotr the team..

they should definitely call him up for the finals..

i mean iftikhar just isn't producing the goods..

khalil on the other hand looks very good

and wat reports are u talking about rana's father passing away?

[MIG]

Agreed - Azhar seems really out of it - problem is that Pak will need to win the Friday game or pressure from Aus will be to hard to bear. Team selection has to be exactly right. We already have Rao not firing and more liabilities will leave us with no hope.

Batting wise, we are looking OK - I think Salman should stay and see VB series out with Akmal.

[tahaqureshi]

MIG is rite about salman and akmal opening..

on the other hand..i don't think we have another specialist seamer..do we?

therefore we have to opt for getting sami back and possibly even shabbir..

[tahaqureshi]

HAMEED needs to stay in the team in my view..
he looked alrite today and got bowled to an awkward delivery

[Rudi hater]

Jahangir Khan, you are kidding me Salman should be replace by Hafeez I would not even have him in my reserve the guy is useless. I would brinng in Taufeeq if necessary for Yasir bt certainly not Hafeez..

[Sheikh_Ji]

my team:

Butt
Hameed/Hafeez
Malik
Yoyo
Inzi
Akmal
Razzaq
Afridi
Rana
Khalil
Rao

I think everyone is being a little too harsh on Rao...He has been bowling well; swinging the ball both ways...but he needs a bit more luck.

[Jahangir Khan]

Ghafoor Rehman

You misunderstood me. I think Butt has more talent than Hafeez but he has had five failures out of six games. Butt wasted so many balls today and he didn't look fluent. He kept trying to pull the ball even though he was struggling with this shot.

Hafeez is a superior bowler and fielder to Butt and his batting against WI showed promise. He scored 41 from 41 balls when we were chasing a big target of 340 while Butt played a pull and got caught again. It is also not fair to play Taufeeq now and expect him to succeed. He will be under pressure.

Yasir looked good aswell so he definitely plays. Look at the example of the Aussies. People like Hayden and Lehmann are out of form so they might be dropped after being given many chances.

I know Butt is a PP favourite but he hasn't performed and is looking uncomfortable
Another factor is that we need six bowlers but I think it is not worth calling replacements, they will find it hard to settle in such a short space of time.

[Officer Barbrady]

If Hameed has to play why shoudn't he open? What is the point of opening with Akmal? I still feel he can really add to our middle order and bat at 7. We should open with two openers with Akmal in the middle order.

My starting lineup:
1 and 2) Salman/Taufeeq/Hameed
3) Inzi
4) Youhana
5) Malik (I prefer him at 5 but he can go at 3 if Inzi/YY want to hide)
6) Razzak
7) Akmal
8) Afridi (floating position can come up before Razzak if needed)
9) Rana
10) Rao
11) Khalil

To an extent this series has once again shown the importance of specialists. Khalil and Hameed remain better options than the allround abilities of Mahmood and Hafeez.

Taha- Hameed got out to a poor shot.

[exuberance]

I think the winning combination should be kept as it is right now..

[Bailan]

The team which player last nite was the single more ideal team you can have ... given the current squad.

They just need to optamize the batting order, here is what i would like to see

Butt
Hameed
Malik
Youhana
Inzi
Razzaq
Afridi
Akmal
Rana
Rao
Khalil

The lower order can be adjusted, as per required ...

[Shahzebayub]

What a bowling

[Strike!]

What a bowling

What a bump.

[Down2Earth]

wth :))

that's a really poor team :inzi

[ddss]

wth :))

that's a really poor team :inzi

Its actually pretty good. Bowling is just decent though