Sharjah: Pakistan's 2nd Home-ground

Another one-day tournament, another trophy for Pakistan. Despite key injuries, Pakistan has done very well in the tournament. They did the right thing and that was to peak at the correct time. Australia also peaked at the right time when they won the last world cup starting from a loss to Pakistan and NZ. ODI's is all about formula cricket, sticking to a plan, having the right players, team spirit, talent and of course the confidence to know you will win. But of course there are exceptions to all this and in cricket that can be just one over. Shoaib Akhtar showed that against SA when he took 3 wickets in one over and changed the course of the game.

SA has not been playing to their full strength but was the dominant side for the opening games. India had the batting to power themselves into the final but the strong top order in Ganguly, Tendulkar, Dravid and Azharuddin failed to deliver. Ganguly is still the way forward for India and its early days yet for this talented left-hander to demonstrate what he is capable of. India has decent bowling in Prasad, Srinath, Agarkar, Joshi and Kumble. The question mark is with the all-rounder. Robin Singh, who bowled well in this tournament, is not their long-term answer. They have never been able to replace Kapil Dev, in whom they had a pacy strike bowler and a great striker of the ball.

The find of the tournament for Pakistan has been the form of youngster Imran Nazir, a real promising youngster from whom I was very impressed. A common frailty in the kamikaze style Pakistani batting, is a real lack of application and temperament. The opening combination has been a problem since Aamer Sohail lost his touch and frankly speaking Shahid Afridi has not been a solution to this problem by under-fulfilling expectancies after his crazy batting debut scoring a 38-ball century. Imran showed in the tournament he has a great mature head, matched by a wide array of shots and despite being a lanky lad has enough power to clear boundaries. In fact, alongwith Hansie Cronje, he won the joint award for having hit the most sixes. The most positive point of his batting is the fact that he plays straight which explains why he was hard to dismiss. This is unlike most sub-continental batsmen who play wristy shots and tend to play across the line especially towards the legside. Having said that he can play wristy shots and improvise with the wicket. I will not be surprised if he can carry this form and confidence into the forthcoming West Indies series. The other aspect of his game is his sharp fielding (hardly a Pakistani attribute) and his quick reflexes at cover point inspired everyone else in the field. Younis Khan played two decent innings in the matches and fielded brilliantly. The test arena suits Younis more to ODI's but he showed great promise when Moin Khan trusted to send the youngster in the testing No. 3 position. Arshad Khan has done well as a replacement for Saqlain and it'll be interesting whether Mushtaq Ahmed will play ahead of him for the West Indies tour.

It wasn't a long time ago when Wasim Akram discouraged Waqar's inclusion and now it seems a strange request coming from such an experienced pro who once partnered him. A few months back Waqar has had to contend with injuries, lack of form and overall support. Injuries to Shoaib, Azhar and Wasim gave him the opportunity to bounce back displaying great character and mental strength. The man of the series award at Sharjah should give him that added confidence and challenge all claims that he's passed it.

Captaincy may have affected Moin Khan's batting but he has led the transitional team remarkably despite injuries to key players. As if Moin's constant encouragement behind the stumps is not enough, he was lively and vocal throughout the matches. Recently batting has not been up to mark with Saeed Anwar crucially missing and this may explain Moin's preference to bat first.

Miandad's expertise will be of great benefit as the batting has somewhat clicked and his experience of West Indies will be useful since only Inzamam, Waqar and Wasim Akram last toured here. The vice-captaincy to a revitalised Inzamam has given him extra responsibilities but it has not changed his quiet sombre mood whilst fielding.

Razzaq, who was Pakistan's best player down under, under-performed at Sharjah but did well when it mattered. Although he did not take lots of wickets, a half-fit Wasim bowled economically and will rely on his 15 years of experience instead of that brilliant pace he had a few years back. He was clever enough to cut short his run-up a decade ago and as long as he stays fit, he will take wickets and probably go beyond the 450 mark in Test Matches.

Shoaib Akhtar will burn himself out if he is going to carry on with his outrageous run-up. Despite his slight action change, he can still bowl with a ferocious as he recently clocked 156mph at Sharjah. Playing county games may give him useful experience on English conditions but will not aid in a long bowling career. Arguably, Waqar and Wasim are classic examples of this case.

The last time Pakistan beat South Africa in a One-day game was way back in 1994 and now won two matches in a row. Sharjah is like a home ground for Pakistan and with their current dreaded home form, might as well start playing test matches there!