PAKISTAN's WORLD CUP 2015 SQUAD - PREVIEW

S. Afridi(389)

Y. Khan(259)

Misbah UL Haq(153) (C)

M. Hafeez(153)

U. Akmal(102) (WK)

A. Shehad(56)

J. Khan(48)

W. Riaz(47)

M. Irfan(38)

S. Ahmed(34)

S. Maqsood(18)

S. Khan(5)

H. Sohail(3)

E. Adil(2)

Y. Shah(1)

Entering the tournament as one of the most under-rated team and having been called the dark horses, Pakistan is believed to be one of the countries where conflicts, confusion regarding captaincy, and fixing issues arise every now and then. Leaving everything behind, Pakistan would like to play the brand of cricket they played way back in 1992. They won a few major tournaments after that like the Asia Cup, WC t20 but they would like to feast upon the Mega event coming up n February and March this year.


With a mixture of cool captaincy, experience and youth on its side, Pakistan would fancy their chance. Misbah-ul Haq, the captain, maintaining his cool in every situation is also known for his attacking captaincy. Though after missing his main gun Saeed Ajmal, Misbah may become a bit defensive as he has even lost the services of Hafeez from the bowling department till he gets his action cleared. Even after losing Hafeez and Ajmal he has likes of Afridi, Irfan, Junaid, Riaz in his side.


With the likes of Shahid Afrdi, Younus Khan, Mohammad Hafeez Pakistan seems to be in safe hands. Apart from them the batting department has the likes of Ahmed Shehazad who is touted as the next big thing in Pakistan cricket. He proved his abilities through the under-19 level and soon was drafted into the national squad. Since then there has been no looking back for the young man. He is likely to open the innings along side Hafeez. Right mix of experience adn Youth again. At No.3 would be Younis Khan, the Mr. Dependable for Pakistan for over a decade now. He would be followed by Captain Misbah. Misbah's cool and calmness would help the team a lot as it has a lot of stroke makers in its line up lower down the order.


The middle and lower middle order is also filled up with exciting stroke makers who can turn the tide in favour of Pakistan at any moment of the game. Umar Akmal, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Shahid Afridi would be lethal down the order if Pakistan's top order provide a solid base for the lower order. Likes of Afridi, Akmal and Sarfaraz can clear the field with ease. Even their mishits goes for a maximum.


The x-factor for Pakistan would be Harris Sohail. With Hafeez getting banned from bowling and playing as a specialist batsmen, Harris Sohail being more than handy with the ball can  also make inroads into the opposition batting line up as we saw in the series vs New Zealand. He can also come up the order and can play the role of an anchor. mean while can also bat down the order and smoke a few out of the ground to boost up the final score.

While there is no doubt that Pakistan keeps producing amazing left arm bowlers, The squad has 3 left arm pacers. Mohammad Irfan, the tall, lanky pacer who extracts extra bounce from the good length area is a threat in Australian condition. Wahab Riaz, a proven match winner who puts a lot of thinking and hard work into his bowling is likely to exploit the conditions there.

While the selectors have kept a few tried and tested players, they have also given a chance to the new comers like Sohail Khan, Yasir Shah, Ehsan Adil. Sohaib Maqsood, Junaid and Riaz have all recived a call up to the national squad.

With dark clouds over the Pakistan cricket every now and then, right from losing badly in 2007 WC to mysterious Bob Woolmer murder case, multiple batting failures to occasional bowling failures, Pakistan has faced it all. Now its high time for the under-rated nation to be called as a leading contender. But only time will say who takes hold of Mega event.