Pakistan arrived at the Asia Cup on the back of a strong tri-series in the UAE where their spinners dominated. Mohammad Nawaz took a five-wicket haul in the final, while Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf were the pacemen. In the first game at Asia Cup, perhaps due to the nature of the used-pitch, they went in with just one pacer in Shaheen. Will they just add one more pacer against India or two more? Former Pakistan players Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul and Misbah-ul-Haq presented a case for inclusion of more pacers.
Umar Gul spoke about the need for more pacemen. “Pakistan needs to include at least one more pacer in these conditions. Now, the spinners are taking the wickets for you but where the match phasega (gets tight) in the middle overs or at the death, where the spinners can get hit, only pacer can save you. This game (Oman) didn’t even go the full distance, but in longer games, dew will also play a part here and spinners will struggle to grip the ball. Pacer is needed,” Gul told PTV Sports.
The former captain Misbah too agreed with that assessment, and presented two options.
“There are two options with the new ball. Either Hasan Ali or Salman Mirza. Mirza is a good bowler, gets the ball to come back in – he doesn’t have the pace but is a thinking bowler with back-of-hand slower ones and good yorker. But at this stage of his career, against India, it’s a big question. You are asking too much from him. As he hasn’t been consistently playing. This is one thing that can go either way. So that’s why you try to get players with some experience, who have played this kind of big matches before. Who knows what to do. Pakistan are basically confident with the spinner’s let’s see how they perform.”
Another co-panellist was the former fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar. He too canvassed for two more pacers, but his picks were a bit different from Misbah’s.
‘With new ball, I would go with Hasan Ali. He has played in this situation before. He goes well with the new ball, and goes all in to take wickets, bowls in that corridor well. I think Hasan Ali would be my preference with Shaheen Shah. I would use the first four overs to apply as much pressure as possible.
I would even bring in Haris Rauf in the middle overs. So two more fast bowlers (are needed).”
