Preview: Pakistan look to maintain momentum

By Jamie Alter

 

With two wins on the trot, Pakistan face up against a struggling and demoralized Canadian outfit in Colombo with an opportunity to smooth out cracks in their artillery ahead of sternest tests in the weeks to follow.

By Jamie Alter

Colombo: Mar 3, 2011

With two wins on the trot, Pakistan face up against a struggling and demoralized Canadian outfit in Colombo with an opportunity to smooth out cracks in their artillery ahead of sternest tests in the weeks to follow.

 

Having crushed Kenya by 205 runs and pipped Sri Lanka by 11 runs, Pakistan will expect nothing less than a big win – maximum points must be accrued and a positive Net Run Rate maintained – over Canada who have struggled to cope with quality pace and spin.

 

Pakistan’s fielding was sloppy during the narrow win over Sri Lanka, and Shahid Afridi has identified the area while calling on his players to step up in the field and with the ball. The squad underwent a gruelling training session on Tuesday under coach Waqar Younis and looked to be working hard to erase any doubts.

 

Pakistan may use this match to experiment ahead of the clash with New Zealand on March 8 in Pallekele, near the hilly town of Kandy. “We can use the match against Canada as good practice before playing New Zealand which is going to be a tough game,” said Afridi. “We don’t want to make many changes in our combination but there will be one or two for the next match.”

 

Abdul Razzaq has spoken about his keenness to bat up the order – he has played just 10 balls and bowled just five overs in each game – and it remains to be seen how the team management responds. Ahmed Shehzad has failed to ignite, and with Kamran Akmal in fine form there could be a case for Kamran to slot back up to opening the innings and trying out Razzaq a couple places higher to see what damage he can inflict on Canada.

 

Abdur Rehman, the left-arm spinner, has been ruled out of the match after suffering a leg injury, and should be replaced by Saeed Ajmal. Misbah-ul-Haq’s minor hamstring strain isn’t a worry but there are indications that the team management might opt to rest him and bring in young middle-order batsman Asad Shafiq. The other possible change is a rest for Shoaib Akhtar and a World Cup debut for left-arm pacer Wahab Riaz.

 

Canada’s campaign has been forgettable. They began with a 210-run defeat to Sri Lanka and on Monday were handed out a 175-run loss by Zimbabwe. They shuffled their batting line-up in both matches but without success. John Davison, despite failing to score in the World Cup, shouldn’t be shafted from the opener’s position because of what he brings to the table.

 

Nitish Kumar, the 16-year-old batsman, was preferred as Davison’s opening partner and should receive an extended run. Tyson Gordon had no impact on the match for Canada against Zimbabwe, and may find himself out of the playing 11 in case Canada opt for another bowler.

“We need to comeback somehow, it’s us as a batting unit that’s failing and that’s the most disappointing part,” said Ashish Bagai, Canada’s captain. “It’s our own mistakes which are going on again and again.”

 

Teams

 

Pakistan (probable): Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal (wk), Younis Khan,  Misbah-ul-Haq/Asad Shafiq,  Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi (c), Abdul Razzaq, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul , Shoaib Akhtar/Wahab Riaz.

 

Canada (probable): John Davison, Nitish Kumar, Ruvindu Gunasekera, Zubin Surkari, Jimmy Hansra, Ashish Bagai (c & wk), Rizwan Cheema, Tyson Gordon, Khurram Chohan, Harvir Baidwan, Balaji Rao.

 

Umpires: Daryl Harper (Australia) and Nigel Llong (England).

 

Time: 14.30 local (09.00 GMT).

 

(Jamie Alter is a freelance cricket writer, having worked at ESPNcricinfo and All Sports Magazine. His first book, The History of World Cup Cricket, is out now)

 

Pictures © Getty Images

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