The T20 team— a work in progress

After the most incredible jail-break in T20 Internationals history at Colombo’s Premadasa Stadium— no major team has ever won a game from 40 for five in a chase— Shahid Afridi succeeded in silencing most of his critics.

The 34-year old has endured an abject run this year and his place in the team was likely to be under intense scrutiny in case of a reversal in fortunes at the end of the humdinger last Saturday.

But in 19 years as a top flight cricketer, Afridi has brushed aside his detractors almost every other month, for the umpteenth time he bulldozed the opinions of the naysayers with a freakish 22 ball 45 that set a foundation for Anwar Ali and Imad Wasim’s game clinching cameos.

Anwar Ali carves the ball through the off side, Sri Lanka v Pakistan, 2nd T20, Colombo, August 1, 2015. PHOTO: AFP

Pakistan fielded the same eleven in the two match series. Despite the needless media uproar and the alleged bickering, Sarfraz Ahmed— Afridi’s designated deputy— remained confined to the dugout in both games.

Afridi shouldered the responsibility of chucking Sarfraz out of the eleven for the sake of a ‘winning combination’ claiming that the prolific wicket-keeper batsman from Karachi was his ‘main man’.

The ouster can be paralleled by events down under when Misbahul Haq and head coach Waqar Younis had benched Sarfraz from the first four World Cup games— cutting short the ‘oxygen’ supply to their eleven.

Sarfraz is still a work in progress in the shortest format (four innings 85 runs including a 76*) and Afridi and Waqar chose to give Mohammad Rizwan a run behind the stumps to gauge his credentials ahead of the Karachi wicket-keeper.

Rizwan gave a decent account of his potential in the two games and initiated the resurrection in the second game through his second-fiddle role in a 61 run alliance with Afridi.

Mohammad Rizwan drives the ball through the off side, Sri Lanka v Pakistan, 2nd T20, Colombo, August 1, 2015. PHOTO: AFP

There is a surely a real competition for the stumper’s spot in the squad with both Rizwan and Sarfraz in the fray. Ideally both should secure a berth each in the fifteen for WorldT20 in April yet historically Pakistan selections have rarely been ideal.

While the Sarfraz-Rizwan debate is set to rage on for some time, the future of Mohammad Hafeez surely hangs in the balance.

After the unfortunate bowling ban, the all-rounder-turned-batsman faces an uphill task. Since handing over the captaincy following the WorldT20 debacle last year, the Professor has tallied 77 runs in six games at a shade under 13 runs per innings.

His strike rate is hovering around the 115 mark, as a specialist batsman Hafeez needed to up the ante. Against Sri Lanka he managed 28 runs in two games, whether he holds onto his place in the emergence of some impressive batting talent is now the tricky question— at least one batsman amongst the injured duo of Haris Sohail and Sohaib Maqsood is expected to return for the Zimbabwe tour next month.

Shoaib Malik’s stellar form with the bat means that Pakistan can afford to have a free scoring batsman in the top three besides Ahmed Shehzad and his opening partner, while Sohail, Maqsood, Umar Akmal or even Sarfraz can be slotted in to provide that much needed impetus at number three.

Opener Mukhtar Ahmed meanwhile also endured a baptism of fire against the potent Sri Lankan attack. His exciting introduction to the top-level was against the comparatively mediocre attacks of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe where he succeeded in masking his technical frailties with an audaciously attacking display.

The Sialkot lad doesn’t seem to have too much belief in orthodox batting and swipes hard at the ball with minimal foot movement— often looking ungainly—the bouncing ball nailed him in the second game after Angelo Mathews puzzled him with his line and variations in the opening skirmish.

With Nauman Anwar, Sharjeel Khan and Sarfraz available as possible replacements, Mukhtar too doesn’t have time on his side— at least before the WorldT20— he would need to instantly prove his skills against top-class bowling.

The spine in the lower-order though is something to cherish for Afridi and Co. In the shape of Boom Boom, Anwar and Imad, Pakistan possess players that can smack the ball long and hard. Throw in the mix Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir and Bilawal Bhatti— the hero of the Lahore T20 chase against Zimbabwe and the stocks are replenished further.

Shoaib Malik's team-mates are elated after he dismissed Thisara Perera, Sri Lanka v Pakistan, 2nd T20, Colombo, August 1, 2015. PHOTO: AFP

Pakistan can have the luxury of a vastly varied bowling attack if the pack remains fit and inform. Sohail Tanvir— constantly under fire for his lack of penetration— shocked a lot of his detractors by a match winning spell in the opening game. The left-armer though returned to his messy ways in the next game with figures of 4 overs one for 44.

If Tanvir is harbouring hopes of a WorldT20 berth, he would need to fire on all cylinders in the games ahead. On the other hand, Tanvir’s new ball partner Anwar made rapid strides in his new ball stints in both the ODIs and T20s against Sri Lanka.

The right-armer has developed a canny slower one; he also varies his length unerringly, often delivering slower bouncers that are tough to negotiate for the batsman.  His confidence has surely sky rocketed after the stupendous show in the Pearl Island, a fit and inform Anwar has the potential of leaving a lasting impression in the pressure-cooker world stage.

Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Irfan provide the strike power in the middle of the innings. The two left-armers can peg back the very best in the business with their steep bounce and pace, Wahab’s hand injury—sustained in the second Test in Sri Lanka— is nearing a total recovery and the Lahore born can certainly propel the attack from here.

Pakistan can use Yasir Shah as a striking force with Wahab or Irfan in the middle of the innings. The leg-spinner might struggle to cement a place in the eleven in the presence of Afridi and Imad.

Nevertheless the Swabi born is the number one spinner in the country; the think tank can throw him in the mix on a turning track.