The Blazer
Club Cricketer
Hey guys. I started playing ICC 2006 recently and been having a lot of trouble finding a good, stable opening pair for Pakistan.
WC '07 has just passed and so far my best opening partnership [in Tests] has been Shehzad Malik and Imran Farhat. They've opened for me quite a few times now but I'm still not happy with their performance. I've played through three series with them, and the highest 1st wicket stand between them has been just 127 runs! To be fair though, Malik is quite decent (averages 57.90) but Farhat has been the real problem. Only made two 100s and three 50s in his last 20 innings (averages 31.50).
I'm more worried about my opening pair in ODIs, however. In my game, Pak have really slipped in the ODI form of the game; currently ranked 4th and suffered a 4-0 whitewash against South Africa before the WC! I've tried the Malik/Farhat combination but Farhat scores way too slowly to be any use in ODIs. I've tried Malik/Taufeeq and Taufeeq/Nazir as well. Taufeeq and Nazir opened in the ODI Series against West Indies in 2006 and averaged 56.70. I'm really thinking about bringing them back. However, Shehzad Malik recently impressed by scoring 120 not out in an ODI. For the WC I decided to make him open with Shoaib Malik. The two Maliks failed quite badly, and were the main factor in Pak being knocked out in the group stage! The pair scored too slowly (we're talking a runrate of 3.50 here!) and when they did try and be aggressive, they got out.
So has anyone found a good reliable opening pair for Pakistan in ICC 2006? I'm sure there are some real promising batsmen that I've missed out; I would be very grateful if anyone could help out!
WC '07 has just passed and so far my best opening partnership [in Tests] has been Shehzad Malik and Imran Farhat. They've opened for me quite a few times now but I'm still not happy with their performance. I've played through three series with them, and the highest 1st wicket stand between them has been just 127 runs! To be fair though, Malik is quite decent (averages 57.90) but Farhat has been the real problem. Only made two 100s and three 50s in his last 20 innings (averages 31.50).
I'm more worried about my opening pair in ODIs, however. In my game, Pak have really slipped in the ODI form of the game; currently ranked 4th and suffered a 4-0 whitewash against South Africa before the WC! I've tried the Malik/Farhat combination but Farhat scores way too slowly to be any use in ODIs. I've tried Malik/Taufeeq and Taufeeq/Nazir as well. Taufeeq and Nazir opened in the ODI Series against West Indies in 2006 and averaged 56.70. I'm really thinking about bringing them back. However, Shehzad Malik recently impressed by scoring 120 not out in an ODI. For the WC I decided to make him open with Shoaib Malik. The two Maliks failed quite badly, and were the main factor in Pak being knocked out in the group stage! The pair scored too slowly (we're talking a runrate of 3.50 here!) and when they did try and be aggressive, they got out.
So has anyone found a good reliable opening pair for Pakistan in ICC 2006? I'm sure there are some real promising batsmen that I've missed out; I would be very grateful if anyone could help out!
