Should Abdul Razzaq play in the next test match? A friendly debate...

Pakistan have won the first test match quite convincingly. The highlights were some great seam bowling from Umar Gul, Ashoka de Silva's pathetic return to international umpiring, Lara's resistance and Mohammad Yousuf's knock.

We may have won the game by quite a big margin, but I was not convinced by overall strength of our bowling attack. Yes, Umar Gul and Shahid Nazir were marvelous. I hope they bowl like this throughout the series, but their supporting cast was shoddy.

Inzamam said Kaneria was unlucky not to have gotten more wickets, but I didn't think he was very incisive. Even so, I know he is a match-winner and would definitely want him to play the next few tests. Said Inzy about Kaneria....

"He bowled very well and I think he was desperately unlucky. He picked up important wickets in the first innings and in the second he was very good, just not very lucky."

Razzaq on the other hand was toothless, pedestrian and rarely looked like he would trouble the batsmen and get a wicket. He bowled only 14 over in this test match. One might argue, he was under bowled and therefore was overshadowed by his fellow pacers.

Well, the reason he was under used was because he was not getting any movement of the pitch, the batsmen were fending him off with ease and his role seemed to be containing rather than attacking.

I am hoping, and have a strong feeling, that he will be dropped for the second test match. We pretty much just played with 3 bowlers, and that is a terrible strategy. Yes, we won the game, but why kill our bowlers doing it? Umar Gul bowled 44 overs, while Shahid Nazir bowled 34. Though that is only slightly higher than what pacers usually bowl over 5 days, it is a hefty percentage of the total overs bowled. Why not incorporate a 3rd seamer who can actually take wickets, be a little threatening and provide us with some variety.

Is Razzaq's batting so good that we desperately need him to play in test matches? He looked completely out of sorts against Edwards and Colleymore, scoring only 5 runs. Shoaib Malik, who is most likely playing again, can be our primary all-rounder, who gives us the batting cover. Why have a second all-rounder? (third if you count Hafeez)

These were some of the questions that my friend Raza and I pondered over...(heavily censored of course...)

Omar - 12:19 PM 11/13/2006

It's a nice test and we are in a good position. Though everyone says this pitch is a batting surface, wickets keep falling. Our bowling is damn weak. Can't expect Razzaq or Malik to get wickets. We will probably win this game, but they (the West Indies batsmen) will get used to Gul soon. I hope they play Niazi or Rehman (in the next game)

Raza - 2:42 PM 11/13/2006

Yeah I like Gul too, and I like Shahid Nazir as well. He's a nice consistent bowler who bowls well with the new ball. And good to see Hafeez getting runs, I hope he solves part of our problem.We should win this one comfortably. I don't know if I want Niazi in, replacing Razzaq might be dangerous since you never know when we might collapse while batting.

Omar - 7:38 AM 11/14/2006

We won, but I don't think this match was convincing enough. We won thanks to Gul and Ashoka. Razzak needs to go. Kaneria can't seem to get wickets though he needs some more time in the middle. I don't understand why he wasn't bowling around the wicket to the left handers. With so much damn spin, he should have been more attacking.

Gul and Nazir are bowling well, but they can't be expected take 15 wickets again. I think we should put faith in our batting and play one all-rounder less. If we collapse, then it should be the top and middle order's fault. Razzaq can't plug gaps that far down the order anyway. He should be dropped for Niazi.

Raza- 6:49 PM 11/14/2006

I cant make up my mind about Razzaq. At times he looks absolutely rubbish while bowling (like this test match), but other times he actually looks like a decent 3rd seamer. In tests he may be a question mark, but in ODI's he's a definite selection, so you have to think twice before dropping him from tests.

Obviously our players aren't mature enough to handle being dropped from one form of the game, who knows, he might lose confidence in the ODIs as well. We were better than Windies but that bloody umpire definitely helped. In all likelihood we'll probably go with the exact same team for second test. If we win that too, then I think third test we should throw all in Niazi for Razzaq and see how he is. It'll be easier to drop Razzaq from a dead test.

Well....lets see what happens! It was nice to win this game though