World Twenty20: Latif backs Babar’s induction in playing eleven

Pakistan look to amend ways in Australia meeting today.

KARACHI:

Pakistan will be keen to bounce back in their second World Twenty20 (T20) match when they face Australia, after succumbing to a seven-wicket loss to India.

Keeping the defeat in mind, former skipper and newly appointed chief selector Rashid Latif has called for the induction of left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar.

Even though captain Mohammad Hafeez has laid special emphasis on Babar, he was not played against India, Pakistan instead opted for three fast-bowlers — Umar Gul, Junaid Khan and Bilawal Bhatti.

On the other hand, Indian skipper MS Dhoni gambled with three spinners including Amit Mishra, and the move paid dividends.

Latif said he favoured Babar over Bhatti as the former could earn wickets for Pakistan.

“Pakistan should play Babar instead of Bhatti because he isn’t an easy bowler to deal with,” Latif told The Express Tribune.

“He will bring a new dimension to Pakistan’s bowling attack. Pitches in Bangladesh are spin-friendly and he’ll prove handy even with dew on the ground since he has a good arm ball.”

Latif added that Pakistan lost to their archrivals after failing to take full advantage of the power play, and should lose the cautious approach by looking to score more runs.

On the other hand another former Test cricketer Basit Ali stated that Pakistan should drop Junaid Khan and Shoaib Malik in favour of Babar and Sharjeel Khan respectively in order to go with an attacking approach.

“The team management should go with Babar and Sharjeel because both players are of an aggressive nature,” he said.

“In the T20 format, you need players who can attack and both of them have the capability to be match winners on their day.

“Also, Kamran Akmal should be asked to bat in the middle-order and Sharjeel must be given confidence to open.”

Australia up for spin challenge, says Bailey

Visiting teams have often found themselves tied up in tangles by the local tweakers on the sub-continental dustbowls, but Australia captain George Bailey asserted his team is up to the spin challenge in the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh.

“Spin plays a huge role in T20 wherever it’s played in the world,” Bailey told reporters on the eve of Australia’s first Super-10 match against a spin-heavy Pakistan side.

“In these conditions it tends to be match-winning. It’s a challenge. We know we are going to face a lot of spin, we know we are probably going to bowl a lot of spin.”

Pakistan women open T20 campaign today

Pakistan will play their opening match in the Women’s World T20 against South Africa in Sylhet on Saturday.

Led by Sana Mir, Pakistan lost to England in their first warm-up match before turning fortunes around by taking a win over hosts Bangladesh in their second warm-up game. They won by a narrow five-run margin.

Mir and Nahida Khan have crucial roles to play in the middle-order with the bat, while opening bowler Asmavia Iqbal, who took three wickets against Bangladesh, is a key component of the bowling unit.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2014.

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