The future looks bright

Khaleej Times reported after Pakistan's triumph in the second match of the three match Warid Cup, that Pakistan's Chief Selector Salahuddin Salu praised Shoaib Malik's captaincy citing his dynamic leadership in the series against Sri Lanka. He claimed that he and his team of selectors' took a bold step to appoint young Malik as the skipper which was the right decision.

''Malik proved that he was the right choice to lead Pakistan as he lead from the front. Hats off to him and the team for their brilliant performance. All the credit goes to them only.'' ''He himself bowled splendidly and used his players well.'' Salahuddin was also happy with the fact that the 25-year-old all-rounder has received full support from the senior players of the team.

Well, I would love to see what Mr. Salu had to say after the final match where all the old frailties were fully exposed by a ruthless but under strength Sri Lankan team. While there is no doubt that Shoaib Malik has been instrumental in Pakistan's recent successes, the recent series primarily belonged to Afridi's allround performances in the first two matches. Its important for Pakistan not to look at this one off victory as an ultimate achievement but just a step in the right direction. Its also important for them to sit down and analyze these three matches in order to pin point the shortcomings that have plagued their team for a long time. While there are some positives that could be taken from the series including the return of Salman Butt and Yasir Hameed at the top of the order that has helped restore some sanity in the batting order, the gaping holes left because of the absence of Inzy and Younis are too big to fill. Mohammad Yousaf looked a shadow of last year and Abdul Razzaq scratched around for a few runs before getting out in the second game. Shoaib Malik's captaincy also didn’t come under pressure too often in this series, and when it did in the second and third game, he appeared to come up slightly short, especially in setting up the batting order and bringing in bowling changes at the right intervals.

Shoaib definitely needs a good coach to guide him through this tough first year of his captaincy when Pakistan is scheduled to play some tough series against India, South Africa and Australia. That said, it was reassuring to see that as far as fast bowling is concerned Pakistan has been building good bench strength even in the absence of some top names. Najaf Shah has been the latest addition to this long list of prospects and he looked quite impressive in his first outing for the national side. He was also greatly praised by Waqar Younis as a very talented young prospect who with persistent hard work could one day fill Wasim Akram's shoes.