Tag PakvSL-2012

Pkistan cricketer Younis Khan’s poor form has brought about a lot of concerns for Pakistan’s selectors, mainly to the chief selector Iqbal Qasim, who was quoted saying that the entire panel will discuss Younis’ future in ODIs with him after he returns from the tour in Sri Lanka.

The 34-year-old former captain had managed to score a total of just 10 runs in the 3 ODIs against Sri Lanka and was eventually dropped from the eleven. Pakistan lost the series in dramatic fashion, first losing the 4th ODI after a shocking batting collapse, losing 7 wickets in 13 runs and then gave away the final ODI in the last over, conceding 15 runs from it.They lost the series 3-1, with one ODI being washed away.

Younis was dismissed for 5, 4 and 1 in the 3 ODIs, falling twice to Perera and once to Kulasekara. He had made just 67 runs in the Asia Cup as well, which happened in Bangladesh.

Iqbal Qasim spoke to a cricket website about the situation and was quoted saying: “It’s the duty of the senior cricketers to lead the team, to carry the team and to drive it forward, but if one of your senior players is struggling then that puts pressure on the team. Let the tour of Sri Lanka finish and then we will definitely discuss his future plans with him. Younis has of course already requested not to be selected in T20s, I don’t know what he has in mind regarding 50-over cricket.

“I’m sure we will have an amicable chat about his future, as Pakistan needs him for Test cricket for the future. Experience is an invaluable commodity in cricket but you have to be out in the middle performing, which unfortunately Younis has not been doing in 50-over cricket of late.”

Everyone apart from Azhar Ali (217 runs at an average of 54) had difficulties in putting up a formidable score in Sri Lanka. Qasim said their all-round performance was also “below par”. Pakistan’s poor fielding was also stressed on by the chief selector and said the team needed to work on their form from every aspect of the game.

“It’s difficult to put Sri Lanka under pressure in their conditions and the variable weather conditions did not make things easy for Pakistan either. However we should not make excuses, the overall performance of the team was below par. This inconsistency has been hurting Pakistan cricket for many years and it’s about time it was eradicated. One day the fielding is outstanding, the next game it’s very poor and the boys are dropping simple catches. The same with the batting, one day it clicks, the next day it misfires.

“Mohammad Sami is an example of this inconsistency, one day he bowls very well and helps the team to victory, the next day he bowls poorly and costs the team the game. It doesn’t matter what your game plan is going into the game - it’s very difficult to impose that game plan onto the opposition if you are inconsistent,” he added.

Speaking of the inevitable team changes that would happen sooner rather than later, Qasim told the website that the selectors had no major changes on their minds because it would affect every player’s performance, given that they were just a couple of months away from the ICC World T20.

“You cannot chop and change ahead of a World Cup. There is no point selecting a player for a couple of games and then discarding him,” he said. “I think it’s too late to experiment now ahead of the T20 World Cup and I would expect that most of the personnel in the T20 squad in Sri Lanka recently will be retained.

“I don’t think we should panic in this format and make major adjustments to the T20 squad. I think that slowly and gradually our philosophy in both the 50-over format and the twenty over format will bear fruit, but everyone has to be patient.” Pakistan’s all-rounder Shahid Afridi also spoke and promised to review the series loss, hoping to get to the bottom of the team’s problems. Afridi, who scored his record breaking 100 in 37 balls in Sri Lanka in 1996, failed to create any magic here, scoring just 28 runs in 4 innings and taking 3 wickets in the series at an expensive average of 48.66.

“Our performance was not as such as we were expecting. Now I want to consult my elders and then decide on my one-day future. I will have to sincerely review where I stand as far as my performance is concerned,” he was quoted.