Pakistan formidable on paper but ordinary on performance

Leaving aside the controversies unnecessarily created by the befuddled Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) over captaincy, the hiring of half a dozen "White Elephants" and selection of Wasim Akram the team picked for the two Tests against England is not the strongest to visit the British Isle. The first Test starts from Thursday at Lords, London.

On paper, the 17-member team named by the "dummy selectors" and rubber-stamped by the "yes men" of Advisor Council, the squad appears "formidable". But if past performance is any yardstick the team is an ordinary one comprised of brittle batting lineup, less menacing attack and probably the worst international fielding side.

A look at the squad gives a clear impression that it is a compromised one. Several players have been left out because either they are not the blue-eyed boys of the PCB or skipper Waqar Younis - lucky to be in the side - voted against their inclusion to include his long-time buddies. Besides several players have found their way into the team despite being a spent force or are known to break down as and when they feel like it, to be "joy riders" as the case has been with Shoaib Akhtar.

On the other hand the trio of Moin Khan, Shahid Afridi and Imran Nazir have been axed on the flimsy pretext that they are inconsistent. If consistency has been the criteria then only Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saeed Anwar, Yousuf Youhana and probably Saqlain Mushtaq will walk into the team.

Ironically the trio are fittest players and in Imran Nazir and Shahid Afridi, Pakistan has two best fielders who are worth at least 20 runs being in the side. Batting has always been Pakistan's Achilles heels over the years and the eight batsmen selected do not inspire confidence considering their recent form.

Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saeed Anwar and Yousuf Youhana are no doubt class acts but more than often they too have surrendered when put under pressure. Saleem Elahi, Imran Farhat, Younis Khan, Faisal Iqbal and Mohammad Wasim are still a long way to be regarded as Test certainties. A better option for the "dummy selectors" would have been to persist with Shahid Afridi and Imran Nazir who under proper guidance are capable of becoming match winners and far better prospect than Saleem Elahi and Imran Farhat.

And on seaming tracks with cloud cover our batsmen are in a for a torrid time against England's seam attack whose virtue is line and length as they proved in our own backyard early this year. Every time Pakistan play our pundits and experts go berserk claiming that the great duo of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis are good enough to destroy the opposition as they did so devastatingly in early and late 90s.

Now we have to accept the reality that these two great speedsters are not the potent force they were and the recent statistics reveal that they are no more match-winners specially in five-day Test. Not once in last couple of years Waqar Younis has bowled Pakistan to victory in a Test or taken five wickets in an innings, a bench-mark for a great bowler. The last occasion Wasim Akram scalped five or more batsmen in an innings was in Sri Lanka and not surprisingly Pakistan won that Test.

With the conditions favouring seamers rather than spinners in two Tests it is strange to pick Mushtaq Ahmed who has been in and out of the team like a yo-yo for so long. He is certainly over the hill and it will be a surprise if he finds a place in Tests.

Saqlain Mushtaq too has so far failed to deliver the goods expected of a world class spinner. He has been inconsistent and cannot be placed in the same league as Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, the two spinners with proven track record as match-winners.

Pakistan's other options in attack are injury-prone and with suspect action, Shoaib Akhtar. A bowler with an altered action is never the same specially in case of a pacer. So the highly pampered "Rawalpindi Express" on whom PCB has spent millions of rupees is most likely to become a "tourist" not for the first time.

Teenager Mohammad Sami still requires time and perform regularly to be regarded as an international player. Abdur Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood are mediocre medium-paced whose averages of 41 and 37 runs per wicket are not going to put awe into English batsmen who are fed on the staple diet of medium-paced stuff day in and day out.

Prediction in cricket is a hazardous business but all signs are that Waqar Younis and his team-mates are in for a tough time in the two- Test series. And if Pakistan manages to draw the series it should be taken as a moral victory considering the team's spate of poor returns at Test level in recent years.