Time for some REAL test Cricket!


By Faraz Shaukat
February 25 2002

With the tour of Bangladesh over and done with, Pakistan now gets set for its home series, well at least a home series away from home, Sharjah to be exact. No doubt the advantage is with Pakistan in terms of crowd support and general knowledge of the pitch, but will the pitch be result orientated?

West Indies have announced a fairly strong squad, barring the once again injured Brian Lara, all of their top players are in the squad. As usual, on paper their bowling is looking very weak again, all of their bowlers are still very in-experienced in international cricket with Mervin Dillon being the only one to gain some level of respect around the world.

Their batting on the other hand has seen the return of some experience, Sherwin Campbell and Shivnarine Chanderpaul are back in the squad, along with a talented batting line that includes players like, Carl Hooper, Daren Ganga, Marlon Samuels, Ridley Jacobs.

Pakistan's squad has seen a few changes with the unavailability of Wasim Akram, it seems Mohammed Zahid has taken his place in the side. After a long lay off from injury and lack of form, Zahid has made a surprise return, I wonder what he has been doing in domestic cricket to deserve such a promotion. The side is packed with bowlers; a quick look at the squad seems to show more bowlers then anything with hardly any batting options. Waqar Younis, Saqlain Mushtaq, Danish Kaneria Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, Abdur Razzaq, Mohammed Sami, Mohammed Zahid. That's almost a full side of bowlers! While the batting is pretty much the same with Faisal Iqbal, Naveed Latif being the only options, however one would expect Naveed Latif to open along with Taufeeq Umar.

PakPassions predictions? I expect another victory for Pakistan, as long as the pitch is supporting for test cricket, I expect Danish Kaneria to continue his amazing run with Saqlain taking a back seat for once. Waqar will play the crucial role of chipping in with the important wickets while Shoaib Akhtar has a new excuse for not performing after being hit in the head with a brick!

A two test series is just as much a joke as playing the series in Sharjah is, not only has Pakistan been forced to play at a neutral venue, I would like to know the reasoning behind playing only two tests? This is a official tour so one can't say it was hastily organized. Just like in England, Pakistan has accepted whatever terms they could get due to the complete lack of revenue coming into Pakistan.

West Indies should really be in for a tough time against this confident and increasingly consistent Pakistan team, sure the series against Bangladesh was a cake walk, but the manner in which they played was truly professional and if the same level of intensity is applied here, I don't think the West Indies have the depth or the temperament to survive.