By Anjum
August 28 2004

Anjum takes stock of where Pakistani cricket is currently at in terms of players and performance and also a look ahead to the ICC Trophy due to be held shortly in England. After the Videocon Cup, currently being held in the wet, drizzly setting of Amstelveen,
Pakistan will travel across the channel to England, to take part in the ICC Champions trophy.

What should Pakistani fans expect from this trophy. For one it has the only trophy the all-conquering Aussies
have been unable to get their hands on. They will undoubtedly go in as favourites.
Teams like Sri Lanka, New Zealand and India, are also contenders. But where does Pakistan fit in ?

The ICC Champions Trophy hasn't exactly been an event in which Pakistan have covered themselves in glory.
In the last event in Sri Lanka, Pakistan were drawn in a similar scenario as the one they face here.
They faced one crucial knock-out game against a strong Test side, and one against a international minnow.
Back then the teams were Sri Lanka and Holland, however here they will face India and Kenya.

Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq will go into the game with two good wins against the Indians at neutral venues over the
last 2 months under his belt. Can he pull off another one? If he does it will almost certainly guarantee Pakistan
a place in the next stage of the tournament.

However, the set-up of the ODI side needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. Younis Khan returned
to the ODI side this year, but has been ineffective to say the least. Other than a century in the Asia Cup
against Hong Kong, he has done little to deserve credit. His selection, was yet another illustration of our
gutless selectors, who would rather be ridiculed than take a chance on an uncapped player.

There is little Asim Kamal has done wrong since being blooded into international cricket. A superb 99 against
the South Africans and a vital 73 against India at Lahore, which set up a Pakistani victory, he has
also performed under pressure in domestic cricket. Wouldn't it be time to blood him into the One Day side ?

Despite a well-below average performance against Hong Kong, Naved-ul-Hasan also seems to have kept his place
in the side. It is hard to justify his inclusion, after he bowled eight overs for a whopping 45 runs, with 7 extras against the
club-level batsmen of Hong Kong.

Danish Kaneria was also dropped after the Asia Cup. His poor fielding and shambolic batting were clearly the reasons for this.
However, the selectors chose Shahid Afridi to replace him. It is hard to justify his inclusion, but after his
match winning performance with the ball, its hard to criticise it also.

The 'A' sides gutless performance also raised a few eyebrows, especially since it is apparant that some players
selected should not be anywhere near the Inernational setup. Tried and tested failures like Naved Latif, Naved Qureshi
and Misbah ul Haq were all selected, ahead of deserving individuals such as Hasan Raza, Bilal Asad and Shahid Yousuf.
Misbah, who will be 30 this year, was named as captain, ahead of the likes of Qaiser Abbas and Iftikhar Anjum.

The few bright spots of the 'A' tour were the batting of Qaiser Abbas and Bazid Khan, and the bowling of Iftihkar Anjum.
Perhaps, these few names could be thrust through, and could be future candidates for the senior side.