It was undoubtedly a lacklusture display of cricket by Pakistan today, but we must also understand what exactly was the purpose of a warm-up game. The fans of the green camp were expecting the team to go all out and probably come close to winning the game. The expectations were very high and the team should have displayed some will to play.

From the word go, there was lack of seriousness, perhaps the very fact that it wasn’t a competitive game was playing on their minds. Also, there was clear evidence of the lack of match practice. To be fair to the captain, he doesn’t have a lot of opportunities to have a look at his players under match conditions and that is why the bowlers were given the ball in a weird manner despite getting hit all over the park. I’m not a fan of YK’s captaincy, but obviously there is no one else suited to do the job, and now that he IS the captain, there is no point in asking for a change.

Another point to note is that there was no plan to conduct the match, against the opposition. If at all there was any plan, it was to give exposure to all men and if the performance is bad, let them continue so that they may improve in time for the real games.

If anything was disappointing, it was the fielding. The extreme lethergy and repulsion from the ball is a worrying sign because the warm-up game should have been used to improve agility in the field too.

The final playing XI to step on the ground to play against the hosts is almost clear. Ahmed Shehzad seemed very confident and will probably open Salman Butt. Kamran Akmal can also be used to open the innings. Younis Khan, Misbah ul Haq and Shoaib Malik will be the sensible batsmen who will try to stabilise the innings when things go wrong. Shahid Afridi will feature in all games but his batting will be nothing to count on. So we have seven confirmed players here. Saeed Ajmal, the spinner, is also likely to be guaranteed a place, given the fact that slow bowlers are very useful in this format of the game. The trio of Ajmal, Afridi and Malik will do the spin job. The inclusion of Fawad Alam is unlikely in the main XI. The problem area is three seamers – Gul and Tanvir will make it for their experience while Arafat may have an edge against Mohammed Amir due to his allround abilities and experience too. The final problem to deal with is the batting order and the bowling order too.

Tanvir must open the bowling but who shall be his newball partner? Arafat? A big NO! Gul can do the job, but as a captain I’d love to use Gul’s 4 overs at the end. If they go with the latter option then maybe Amir will be used instead to open the attack with Tanvir. Again, two left armers isn’t a great option.

The batting is also complicated. Who shall open with Ahmed Shehzad? Akmal, Butt? I’d love to use Afridi there, but I really don’t know why he doesn’t open the innings (as if he scores lots of runs down the order).

My playing XI in order will be:

Ahmed Shehzad
Salmab Butt
Kamran Akmal
Younis Khan
Shoaib Malik
Misbah ul Haq
Shahid Afridi
Yasir Arafat
Sohail Tanvir
Umar Gul
Saeed Ajmal

But given a situation the batting order should be flexible enough to move around the players to suit the requirement.

The final point to note for the game today is that Team India is coming out of IPL, and have a lot of match experience in their bag. The team Pakistan as facing today was much stronger and experienced than the one they faced 2 years ago in the finals. So despite the fact that Pakistan performed badly, credit must be given to the Indians for making a mockery out of Pakistan’s bowling attack.

With that, lets hope the Greens will learn the lesson and make us proud in the coming days!