Pakistan in the Calendar Year 2025

 

Pakistan in the calendar year started off poorly with the Champions trophy exit and had an almost winless tour of New Zealand winning just one twenty20 international in the entire tour. Then their year got better in October winning one test match against mighty South Africa who are the reigning World test champions.

In November Pakistan proved to be almost unbeatable with wins against South Africa in the twenty20 internationals and ODI series. They then went on to defeat Sri Lanka in the ODI series 3-0.  After that they defeated Sri Lanka in the Final of the Twenty20 international Tri nations series also featuring Zimbabwe.

Thus in the later part of the year Pakistan's performance improved although they had an another low of being defeated for the first time in ODI series in 34 years against the West Indies by 2-1 margin.

In the end what I would like to say is that Pakistan made a huge recovery in the later part of the year by defeating a strong team like South Africa after having a disastrous start to the year.

Aamir Sohail a reliable opener and partner of Saeed Anwar in opening

 

Aamir Sohail was a reliable opener and Saeed Anwar's opening partner in the 1990's. Saeed Anwar- Aamir Sohail opening partnership is considered the best opening pair in the history of Pakistan. Saeed Anwar was the aggressor and a bit more talented than Aamir Sohail as he could hit boundaries at will but on the other hand Aamir Sohail was a bit more cautious and defensive as compared to Saeed Anwar and would often rotate the strike with Saeed Anwar by taking singles.

In the 1992 World Cup Aamir Sohail played a number of important innings for Pakistan as an opener and hence proved vital in Pakistan's 1992 World Cup win. His innings of 50 plus in the do or die match against Australia proved to be a match winning innings which lead Pakistan into the semi finals of the 1992 World Cup. Aamir Sohail - Ramiz Raja opening partnerships were vital for Pakistan in the 1992 World Cup as they set a platform for Pakistan to put up decent totals in the tournament. 

Aamir Sohail was also successful in his brief stay as Pakistani captain as he led Pakistan to Singer Cup success in 1996 in a tournament also featuring Sri Lanka and India. Pakistan also were victorious in the 1998 Sahara Cup in Canada under Aamir Sohail's leadership which they won by a convincing margin of 4-1. Pakistan also won their first ever test match against South Africa in Durban in 1998 under Aamir Sohail's captaincy.

In the end what I would like to say is that had Aamir Sohail not lost his stroke playing ability in batting he would not have retired abruptly in the year 2000.

Aaqib Javed a fine seam bowler

 

Aaqib Javed used to be a fine medium pace bowler for Pakistan in the late 1980's until 1998. He had a particular very deceptive slower ball and he deceived many world class batsmen with his change of pace slower ball like getting the all important wicket of New Zealand's pinch hitter Mark Greatbatch with a slower ball which went right though his defences to clean bowled him in the 1992 World Cup Semi Final of 1992 played in Auckland New Zealand.

He alongwith Wasim Akram were the main bowlers of 1992 World Cup in the pace department and was Wasim Akram's opening bowling partner at the other end. He alongwith Wasim Akram and Mushtaq Ahmed played a vital role in Pakistan's 1992 World Cup victory. Waqar Younis was injured and missed the 1992 World Cup and hence Aaqib Javed took the responsibility to support Wasim Akram in the bowling department in the 1992 World Cup.

In the end what I would like to say is that had Pakistan not found Shoaib Akhtar to replace Aaqib Javed in 1998 then Aaqib Javed would have had a lot longer career rather than retiring from international cricket in 1998.

Mike Hesson as coach

 

Mike Hesson as Pakistan's whiteball coach is doing a fine job with the Pakistani cricket team. Pakistan has been doing well under his coaching with series win over Bangladesh 3-0 at home in twenty20 internationals, Series win over South Africa in both the twenty20 international series and ODI series by identical margin of 2-1 and winning the trination series also involving Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe at home. Besides these victories Pakistan also won the West Indies series 2-1 in West Indies which was a Twenty20 international series, the Pakistan-UAE- Afghanistan trination series in Sharjah was also won by Pakistan under Hesson and they also reached the Final of Asia Cup all this under Hesson's coaching. As a mere aberration Pakistan lost the Bangladesh Series 2-1 in twenty20 internationals and they lost the ODI series against  West Indies 2-1 played in West Indies under Hesson's coaching.

One thing I like about Hesson is that Pakistani batsmen are playing more aggressively, positively and with better strike rates than before. Pakistani batsmen are showing positive intent under Hesson's coaching which is a positive sign for Pakistani cricket. Also Hesson's strategy of bringing more all rounders to the team is a good move by Hesson which is paying dividends and working for the Pakistan cricket team.

In the end what I would like to say is that Hesson is going to improve Pakistan's performance even further and Pakistan are one of the favourites to win the Twenty20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka 2026 In Sha Allah.

Salim Malik an elegant batsman

 

Salim Malik played the 1999 World Cup and then was banned for playing international cricket again.

He was accused of match fixing on Australia's 1994 tour of Pakistan when he allegedly bribed Mark Waugh, Shane Warne and Tim May to throw matches deliberately by under performing.  Under Justice Qayyum's report on match fixing and tainted players Saleem Malik was given life ban from playing international cricket.

Saleem Malik was a stylish and elegant batsman. He was particularly known for accumulating runs by taking a lot of singles, twos and threes and then improvising to hit strokes to all parts of the ground for sixes and fours. He was known to rescue Pakistan from collapses and was a match winner.

In the end what i would like to say is that a promising career of an elegant batsmen such as Salim Malik ended because of match fixing allegations.  

Salman Butt a promising captain

 

 

Salman Butt was proving to be a brilliant captain of the Pakistani team until he was proven to be guilty of spot fixing in Pakistan's tour of England in 2010. He alongwith Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Amir were proven to be guilty of spot fixing just after he captained Pakistan to it's first victory in tests in 15 years against Australia at Lords in 2010 and also defeating England in a test match in their ill fated tour of England in 2010. Muhammad Amir was given an early reprieve in the spot fixing case but Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif served full punishment of ban in playing international cricket for 7 years.

Salman Butt as a captain was a master tactician and he proved that in the test win against Australia and he would have proved to be a very successful test captain had he involved himself in spot fixing.

As a player he was a solid opener and particularly scored a lot of centuries and runs against the old enemy India.  His match winning centuries in BCCI platinum Jubilee match in 2004 and in the Final of Kitply Cup in 2008 were innings of note.

In the end what I would like to say is that Salman Butt ruined his career by involving himself in spot fixing.