Pakistani Tujeh Salam

And so it all begins today 13th of March 2007, wait of four years is over. In just about 2 hours time it begins the mega event of cricket. The event for which, us cricket lovers start the waiting as soon as the last one ends :). So are you feeling the pressure? Oh yea I am, its pressure , excitement , anxiety and all those emotions combined. So let it begin!!!! I am sure all of you have read , analyzed and re-read and re-analyzed chances of Pakistan in this world cup so I wont bore you people with that.

Though severely depleted, written off by almost all the pundits and low on moral this team still has what it takes for a very successful campaign and that doesn’t necessarily mean winning it. But like the two world cups in which Pakistan did great that is 1992 and 1999 this time around too some of the individuals must have a big tournament.

In 1992 we had Javed Miandad, Aamir Sohail, Rameez Raja , Inzaman-ul-Haq featuring in leading scorers and Imran Khan and Wasim Akram chipping in with useful all round performances. It had a perfect blend of experience and youth. Javed Mianded and Rameez Raja the experienced ones and Aamir Shoail and Inzamam-ul-Haq the youth. Likewise it was the pair of Imran and Wasim.

In 1999 another successful campaign and it was the turn of Inzamam and Saeed Anwar to play the role of senior campaigners and Mohammad Yousaf , Wajahatullah Wasti and Abdul Razzaq to provide the youth flare. But more often than not it was our lower middle order in the form of Wasim Akram, Moin Khan and Azhar Mahmood which rescued our batting from the embarrassments.

Similarly in both these tourneys our 3-4 bowlers did tremendous jobs and featured in highest wicket takers. In 1992 those were Wasim Akram, Mushtaq Ahmed and Aaqid Javed and in 1999 we had Saqlain Mushtaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram, Abdul Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood all bagging 13 or more wickets at breath taking averages.

So who will be Miandad, Aamir Sohail, Imran Khan and Inzamam this time around? And who will feature in leading bowlers like Wasim, Shoaib, Saqlain and Aaqib did. Tough questions and we will have to wait and see that which one of the individuals grab the opportunity and follow the foot steps of several greats before them, only time will tell. As for likely contenders I would name Mohammad Yousaf, Younis Khan, Mohammad Hafeez and Kamran Akmal in batting and Umar Gul, Danesh Kaneria Mohamamd Sami and Rao Iftikhar in bowling with likes of Shoaib Malik, Afridi and Inzamam making useful contributions.

In the end I would say no idea about you guys but I would surelly miss Shoaib and Asif not because of what those two promised but because of the moments they gave us, the moments we cherish all our lives.