Waqar's men capable of bouncing back

Pakistan face Sri Lanka Wednesday in the second match of the Morocco Cup knowing how important it is for them to pick the maximum points to stay on course for Aug 21 final.

For Sri Lanka, it will be a double header as they play South Africa Thursday to complete the first round action in this $250,000 double league competition.

Pakistan were Monday let down both by the bowlers and the batsmen. But these are early days in the tournament and the team has the ability to bounce back and get back on victory track. Only fools would rule them out from this event after one defeat.

Nevertheless, Pakistan will have to show a lot of professionalism to get their basics right, most importantly the team combination. There can be no two opinions that there were many flaws in their performance Monday. But that's typical of Pakistan who are gradually earning the reputation of slow starters.

The biggest mistake the team management committed Monday was to include Shahid Afridi as a specialist bowler. Shahid is a utility cricketer known for his exploits with the bat and potential to chip in with a few cheap overs in the middle of the innings.

The decision to play five specialist bowlers makes sense. But going in the match with three specialists bowlers and two batting allrounders and that too against a team like South Africa was mindboggling.

Also ignored was the fact that Saqlain Mushtaq was playing after coming from different conditions besides his wife is expecting a baby later this month.

Pakistan also didn't do their homework properly and their recent successes have been because they have kept the pressure on the opponents right through the innings after Wasim Akram or Waqar Younis have created the initial inroads. Shoaib Akhtar, coming at one change, used to exploit those situations.

Waqar left South Africa struggling by picking the wickets of Gary Kirsten and Jacques Kallis. But there was no Shoaib to keep the momentum going as Herschelle Gibbs and Nicky Boje broke the shackles and took the game away from Pakistan.

As Shoaib is not in the team, paceman Mohammad Sami is the man who can do the job that is required. He has the pace and accuracy that is so very vital.

Nonetheless, it may look simple for everyone to make these conclusions. But the bottomline is that the team management has problems of its own. They are in a fix and wondering whom to drop to include another specialist bowler for the upcoming games.

Pakistan coach Mudassar Nazar admitted that changes would be made without going into details.

On the face of it, it appears that either Younis Khan or Shahid Afridi will get the axe as Saqlain's place looks secure as he has the confidence of the skipper. Shahid did his job with the bat, at least, and also showed his worth as a sixth bowler. That leaves Younis as the most probable candidate to sit out to make way for another bowler, most probably Sami.

The other bad thing about Pakistan Monday was that all the frontline batsmen got starts but threw their hardwork out of the window with senseless shot selection. No partnerships were built and none of the big guns managed significant scores.

Pakistan has the psychological edge over Sri Lanka after comprehensively defeating them in the final in April. Sri Lanka are also under tremendous pressure after producing a poor performance in England.

"Past performances count for nothing as this is a fresh tournament," Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya said.

Teams (from):

PAKISTAN: Waqar Younis (captain), Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir, Yousuf Youhana, Inzamam-ul Haq, Younis Khan, Abdul Razzaq, Rashid Latif, Wasim Akram, Mohammad Sami, Azhar Mahmood, Shoaib Malik, Saqlain Mushtaq, Misbah-ul-Haq.

SRI LANKA: Sanath Jayasuriya (captain), Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena, Aravinda de Silva, Russel Arnold, Hasantha Fernando, Chaminda Vaas, Chamila Gamage, Dilhara Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan, Charitha Buddika, Upul Chandana, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Pulasthi Gunaratne.