Pakistan have been unstoppable ever since Shahid Afridi burst into the middle of the Sheikh Zayed Stadium when his side was 75 for 4 in the 24th over of the 1st ODI. And their bowlers have looked a class apart and I wouldn’t stop from saying that their overall attack is the best in the world at the moment! With Mohammad Aamer to do the job with the shiny new white ball, Afridi and Ajmal to bamboozle the batsmen in the middle overs and Umar Gul to get the reversing yorkers in the end, Pakistan can at any time be successful in defending scores of anything over 250.

The Kiwis in the first ODI had just the one penetrative bowler in Shane Bond Of course, Vettori too can be counted as a very good bowler but we have all seen that even he cannot stop the likes of Afridi, Kamran Akmal when they get going. Infact Afridi enjoyed batting against Shane Bond because of the extra pace that was allowing the ball to come onto the bat. In the second ODI, the Kiwis will be strengthened just a little bit by the return of Kyle Mills who should be complementing Bond with his swing bowling. Ian Butler or probably Nathan McCullum will have to make way for him. Pakistan on the other hand should make a change and somehow get Shoaib Malik in, its really hard to understand how they could keep such a proven talent on the bench.

Salman Butt could be the casualty after his duck in the first ODI. I would have kept him in the side because of his potential and rather drop Khalid Latif, who did score a fifty but was simply an unattractive one to say the least. For the Kiwis, its time for players like Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris and Jacob Oram to play to their potential. McCullum and Taylor should not feel shy of taking their time at the top of the order as they have the shots to cover up for any slow starts.

Younis Khan’s team won the first ODI by a thumping margin but if they want to be a professional world class unit then their fielding has got to improve. If I remember, a couple of easy catches were spilled down starting from a slip catch dropped by Salman Butt. On the positive side, there was a good running catch taken by substitute fielder Imran Farhat.

There is of course a lot of scope for improvement in the running between the wickets for Pakistan. ‘Drop and run’ is a common feature in today’s international cricket. What would have been a dot ball is converted into a short single by the smart early calls. The Pakistanis could do well by watching the tapes of the India-Australia Series in which top order batsmen of both the sides do exactly that.

One more dilemma for Pakistan is Mohammad Yousuf. The world knows what a classy batsman he is. The world knows what a lovely touch he has when he strikes the ball ever so effortlessly. But in the limited overs version, Yousuf can be a burden of sorts when it comes to running between the wickets and fielding! Yousuf is always in the potential danger of not only getting himself run out but also running out his partner. He is also a slow mover on the field and often the batsmen can steal runs out of him whenever they desire to. Younis Khan who is about the same age as Yousuf doesn’t have that problem, he is one of the better fielders in the Pakistan team and also a swift runner. Pakistan will have to carefully keep an eye on the future with the 2011 World Cup not that far away.

For this Abu Dhabi Series, I can safely say that Pakistan are difficult to beat as far as New Zealand are concerned. Pakistan will have to play very bad if the Kiwis have to win in any of the remaining two ODIs. However, the Kiwis do stand a good chance of beating the World T20 Champs in the two Twenty20 internationals in Dubai which should be an even contest.

Tags: Mohammad Yousuf, New Zealand Cricket, Pakistan Cricket, Pakistan Vs New Zealand, Younis Khan