No better time to beat reeling India

The proverbial iron has not been hotter in a very long time and if Pakistan are to break their World Cup jinx against India, then they must strike now.

But in order to do that, brave decisions need to be taken. Pakistan are out of form but so are India, and no longer do the World Champions boast the aura that they did four years ago on that fateful night in Mohali.

Pakistan have never been good chasers but their best chance of making it 5-1 in World Cups is chasing down a target. But in order to keep India — still a formidable batting line-up — to a gettable score, Pakistan must play with five specialist bowlers. Three pacers — Muhammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz and Sohail Khan — and two spinners — Shahid Afridi and Yasir Shah — would be my pick.

Ahmed Shehzad and Nasir Jamshed should open the batting while Younus Khan, Misbahul Haq, Haris Sohail and Umar Akmal should make up the middle order. Sohaib Maqsood and Sarfraz Ahmed, for all their good work in recent times, will unfortunately have to sit out.

However, I fear that Misbah and Waqar will opt for the safer option of playing an extra batsman and that may come back to bite Pakistan as Haris bowling 10 overs can prove costly.

Sarfraz, also, has been misused and should have been entrusted with the opening slot once Muhammad Hafeez was ruled out, especially considering that he was our best batsman last year. Calling Jamshed instead will surely impact Sarfraz’s confidence and I see little point in taking him as the third opener if the management did not believe that he could fulfil that role.

Pakistan must spin it around

While a lot has been made of the help fast-bowlers get Down Under, I believe that the spinners may yet decide the fate of the tournament; the ‘five fielders inside the circle’ rule suits them much more than it suits the quicks.



India can call on the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina to bowl 25 overs of the 50 if the quicker bowlers are going for runs. Pakistan, on the other hand, are still undecided on their best eleven and Haris should be used as the sixth bowler instead of the fifth.

Much has also been made of India being proficient with the bat and profligate with the ball, but four of the five World Cup matches that they have won against Pakistan – with the 2003 win being the only exception – have stemmed from uncharacteristically tight bowling from the Indians.

The key, therefore, lies in Pakistan’s batsmen rotating the strike often and taking the attack to India whenever possible. India will look to stifle the batsmen and should not be given the chance to do so.

The pressure in the middle

Pakistan-India matches are a different ball game altogether, and when you add to that the extra nerves that the World Cup brings with it, the stadium becomes a humming cauldron of pressure for the players. I remember having to drink water again and again when we faced them in 1996 as my throat was constantly parched.

But once I went out there in the middle, it all went away due to the adrenaline rush. The likes of Shehzad, Akmal, Misbah and Afridi – match-winners all – need to harness this adrenaline if the nation is to be celebrating on February 15.

India are reeling, they have only won one match – against Afghanistan – since coming to Australia back in November. The iron is hot, the champions are faltering. All that Pakistan need to do now, is strike.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 14^th, 2015.

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