At the time of writing (Tuesday) Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) look set to be headed towards the Sunday final of the ongoing Pakistan Cup at Faisalabad’s Iqbal Stadium, after all teams barring table toppers Sindh have played three matches each. Sindh are at the summit despite having played a game less.
Meanwhile KPK are second from top despite having Younis Khan - or rather, having had him. Younis stomped out of the tournament in rage after his team’s third match, after a bust-up over the ‘substandard umpiring in the tournament’. Younis had claimed that he only participated in the Pakistan Cup, because it was obligatory for him. He later apologised on Tuesday and expressed willingness to return to the tournament, but the PCB Chairman refused saying, “We have to demonstrate that no one is bigger than the game.”
Do the performances at the Pakistan Cup tell us anything that we don't already know?
While Younis seems hell-bent on tarnishing his legacy through off-the-field antics, the tournament itself hasn’t answered any of the questions that Pakistan cricket had posed. In fact the Pakistan Cup may just be posing new questions for all relevant stakeholders.
Do Khurram Manzoor’s back-to-back tons, for example, tell us anything that we don’t know? That he scores for fun domestically and is often found out at the international level.
Does Balochistan captain Azhar Ali’s century against Sindh, help address question marks over his place in - let alone leadership of - the ODI side?
What about Ahmed Shehzad, who has scored 167 runs for KPK in three matches at an average of 55.66 and a strike rate of 101.21?
All of the current top four run-getters in the Pakistan Cup have played international cricket for Pakistan. One of them is Misbah-ul-Haq whose 82 against Sindh wasn’t enough to take his Islamabad side to victory.
Younis Khan
Sindh’s Sami Aslam is second from top with 183 runs, behind his teammate Khurram Manzoor who has 223 runs in two innings. Out of Shehzad, Manzoor and Aslam, the latter hasn’t been given enough opportunities to prove himself and was dropped from all forms after failing to score in Tests. Sami Aslam deserves an extended run in the team after seeing both Shehzad and Manzoor strikingly failing recently despite contrasting durations in the national team.
Continuing with the ongoing surge of ‘late bloomers’ in Pakistan cricket, KPK’s Zohaib Khan is the one player who has managed to stand out among the players without international caps. Zohaib who had failed to impress with both bat and bowl for Lahore Qalandars during the Pakistan Super League (PSL), is among the top five run-scorers and wicket-takers with 137 runs - including two half centuries - and 8 wickets. Zohaib is in fact the top-wicket taker ahead of Sindh’s Mohammed Amir - who has 7 - and is a part of the rise of slow left-arm bowling all-rounders that have sprung up since the PSL. But having turned 32 last month, can he truly be the all-rounder that Pakistan lack in the limited-overs? Has he showed enough to suggest that he should be preferred over Imad Wasim or Mohammad Nawaz?
Amir has continued his run of good form since his ban ended. But for a change, he is witnessing his team translate his performance into wins - something he did not get at the BPL, PSL or internationally with Pakistan. Unless the British Home Ministry becomes a hurdle, Amir should be spearheading Pakistan’s attack in England, during the summer, in the ultimate redemption tour.
The crowd at Faisalabad's Iqbal Stadium
Punjab’s Amad Butt is one of the few youngsters that would have got the selectors’ attention during the Pakistan Cup. Amad is third on the wicket-takers’ list with 6 wickets, and has showed that he can bat as well. At 20 years of age, he is exactly the kind of player that needs to be groomed as a modern-day cricketer, and could maybe evolve into an all-rounder as well.
If it eventually turns out to be a Sindh-KPK final, we will get to see Sarfraz Ahmed getting another shot at glory after falling short at the final hurdle during the PSL. His leadership of Quetta Gladiators during the PSL and of Sindh in the Pakistan Cup hints at success for the newly appointed Pakistan T20 captain at the international level as well.
Interestingly, a Sindh-KPK final would also give Ahmed Shehzad - appointed captain after Younis Khan left the tournament - a shot at leading his side to glory. Shehzad, masterminding his side’s win in the Pakistan Cup, would throw a spanner into the works and might give the newly formed section committee its first real headache. He might want to careful with dressing room glasses though…
