In his latest exclusive blog for PakPassion.net, former Pakistan batsman and current television analyst Mohammad Wasim writes in detail about Pakistan's preparations for the 2015 World Cup, discusses the likely composition of the Pakistan bowling and batting line-ups, assesses the roles of individual players such as Ahmed Shehzad and Younis Khan in providing a platform which the likes of Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi and Sarfraz Ahmed can capitalize on during the later part of the innings.

By Mohammad Wasim (4th January, 2015)

Considering the fitness levels of most of our bowlers plus the lack of quality in our bowling attack other than Mohammad Irfan, the loss of Saeed Ajmal is a major setback to our bowling resources. Now with Hafeez unlikely to bowl at the World Cup, the whole combination of the team has been disturbed as we saw in last one day series against New Zealand.

So World Cup 2015, what's in store? To do well at the World Cup, it all depends on our batting. Normally they say bowlers win you Test matches and batsmen ODIs. But our batsmen have to take extra responsibility to provide an extra cushion to our bowling. 

The good signs for Pakistan are that most of the batsmen have shown some good form recently. Ahmed Shehzad will play a key role as an opener. In my view he is the best equipped batsman for bouncy pitches. He has good technique on the back foot and he is very strong on both square sides of the wicket. The extra bounce will help him to play spinners also as we saw him at times struggling recently against the spinners and rotating the strike. I would like to see Ahmed getting one or two big hundreds in the first few games. He has everything it takes to become an accomplished batsman.

Mohammmad Hafeez is a natural stroke maker and we all know once he is in he can make the difference. Extra bounce should suit him also. His problem is to survive early on against the new ball. He still has few technical issues early on in his innings. I am sure Grant Flower will work on him and do the necessary adjustments.

After the two openers nobody is sure yet what will be our team combination, but speaking in general, Younis at number three has to play his role and the batting will be banking on his experience. I think his role should be simple and that is to play the anchor role and make sure we play the full fifty overs as we struggle to do so at times. But at the same time Younis has to make sure he takes care of the strike rate which at times is an issue. 

As we saw in the last series, Haris Sohail can bat and most importantly he has the temperament to handle the pressure. I won't say much about him because Grant Flower needs to spend a lot of time with Haris on his back foot technique as he gets bogged down on short pitch deliveries as New Zealand worked him out. 

If our top order lays down a good platform for our team, then Misbah-ul-Haq can play a different role in the team. Together with Shahid Afridi, Sarfraz Ahmed and another all-rounder whoever is in the team, that makes a big power hitting group. 

We all know how clean Misbah can hit the ball and how long, but in the past there were mostly situations where he had to rebuild the innings. The more Misbah stays away from the new ball, the better it is for Pakistan.

Shahid has shown some great form with the bat against New Zealand. We don't and should not expect Afridi to fire in every game with the bat but his bowling will be very important in every game.

Sarfraz Ahmed will have the key role of a finisher, which he has shown already that he is capable of. His batting will be very important in the last fifteen overs or so. He knows his game very well and that's his strength. His life will be much easier behind the stumps with the gloves during the World Cup on much more bouncy tracks than the dead tracks in the UAE, as there were a few question marks on his wicket keeping quality during the series in the UAE.

The rest of the team? Well there are still question marks for everyone. Maybe the selectors knows that already but they are waiting for some good performances in the Pentangular Cup. I don't really agree with this policy because the quality of cricket in this tournament is not good enough to check form and ability, although you can check the fitness of your bowlers. But let's see, is the stage set to bring our World Cup specialists back? 

I believe you need a couple of batsmen in the squad who have good technique for World Cup conditions. For me Umar Akmal and Azhar Ali should be those options. They are both good against pace and good on the back foot. Plus Azhar Ali is very handy with the ball. In the absence of Hafeez's bowling we will need another option. I would not rely or put too much pressure on Haris Sohail as a bowler as it will affect his main job which is batting.

So the final squad will be announced very soon. Preparations wise the Pakistan team is far behind other teams. So our coaching staff has a big job on their hands. First to choose the right combination and then for me the most important part which is to make sure each player knows his role in the team and what to do in which situation without panicking. For that communication is very important and I think that's something that has been missing in the recent past. A lot of homework needs to be done although we are short of international cricket but we have plenty of time left for good training, practices and adjustments. I hope the National Cricket Academy will provide players facilities which are close to conditions down under and most importantly let people do their jobs. 

We all hope and pray like 1992 when nobody thought Pakistan could win the World Cup that we can surprise the world this time also. The only difference is this time the World Cup is not in Ramadan....

Discuss!