He has struggled with his confidence in recent times, but I think this performance will go a long way in reestablishing him as one of Pakistan’s main strike bowlers. Quite frankly, Waqar was disappointing, for a bowler with his experience he looked totally out of sorts on the first day when Ponting went after him.

On the batting side, the promise was there, without their quite being the finished product. Younis got to 50 in both innings and gifted his wicket away, Taufeeq played a particularly impressive innings, in my view, and threw it away with a wild slash. Faisal was also impressive but I think, like Taufeeq, once he got into the 80’s, the inexperience came into play. Misbah and Razzak were disappointing, both looking all at sea against the spin of Warne. But enough was shown to justify Waqar’s confidence going to Sharjah. The Aussies will be tough to beat from 1 down, but clearly the potential is there, if some lessons are taken out of this match.

In my view the following changes should be made for the 2^nd test. Kaneria for Sami: This would only be righting a past wrong, it may not have changed the test match, but clearly the conditions for the 1^st test suited Kaneria more than Sami and the same will be the case in Sharjah. Hasan Raza for Abdul Razzak: This one will raise eyebrows, but let me explain. Hasan is probably the best young batsmen of spin bowling we have, his record for Pakistan ‘A’ against Sri Lanka is evidence of that, even Muddassar is on record as saying, after the ‘A’ team tour to Sri Lanka last year that Hasan was a quality player of spin.

Razzak is at best a 7 or 8 batsmen who can bowl in helpful conditions. Sharjah over a 5-day test match is not likely to be a kind place for him, especially the way he handled Warne. You can bet that the minute he walks in Steve Waugh will hand the ball to Warne, regardless of how old or new it is. The last change I would make is drop Imran Nazir, while he did get 40 in the 2^nd innings, he was lucky not to have been dismissed twice before he got to 25. He inability to move his feet is too big a flaw against the likes of Mcgrath and Bichel (now the Gillespie is injured). But who do we replace him with? The obvious answer would be Imran Farhat since he is the other specialist opener in the side, plus he is a leftie and as Taufeeq showed, it is a lot easier for the lefties to handle Warne than for the right handed players.

So my playing XI for the 2^nd test would be: Taufeeq, Imran, Misbah, Younis, Faisal, Hasan, Rashid, Saqlain, Waqar, Shoaib, Kaneria. People will probably quarrel with the fact that I only have 4 bowlers in the side, but quite frankly these are the four that will take the 20 wickets needed. Of the 20 wickets that fell in Colombo 16 fell to Shoaib and Saqlain, that is likely to be the case again in Sharjah, playing Razzak so that he can bowl 15-20 overs in the match and pick up a wicket or two is just not reason enough given his weakness against spin. I would much rather have Taufeeq and/or Imran Farhat share the responsibility of a part time 5^th bowler if needed.

This is not saying anything against Razzak, I see him as a future Pakistan Captain, but the role he needs to play is as a bowling all rounder not a batting all rounder and that role only comes into play when both Wasim and Waqar leave the scene and he can bat at 7 or 8 and play the role of a genuine 3^rd seamer in helpful conditions.