Mohammad Asif, Pakistan - Player profile

Everyone always seems a bit begrudging in their praise of Mohammad Asif. They always make out like he's one for the purists because he's a subtle sort of bowler. It's rubbish. He's a great bowler. He's just not massively quick. He swings the ball, he seams the ball and he's tall. It's more than Glenn McGrath does and no-one's reigning in their praise of him.

Top drawer.

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Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Pakistan - Player profile

Don't let Rana Naved-ul-Hasan's granddad looks fool you. He'd rather knock out your middle stump than pop down to B&Q on a Tuesday for a 20% discount. He'd rather knock your leg stump out than sit in his local pub playing dominos on pension day. He'd rather knock out your off stump than wear seven jumpers, an overcoat and a hat when it's 30 degrees.

He's a swing bowler, by the way.

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Mohammad Yousuf, Pakistan - Player profile

Mohammad Yousuf used to be called Yousuf Youhana before he converted to Islam. We preferred 'Yousuf Youhana' as a name. We'd like to underline that this is purely based on sound: 'Yousuf Youhana' is alliterative. 'Mohammad Yousuf' isn't.

Mohammad Yousuf is always referred to as the 'technician' of Pakistan's Big Three - Yousuf, Younis and Inzy. This means that he's technically the best, but maybe a bit duller than the other two. Everyone's duller than Inzy - there's no shame in that.

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Younis Khan, Pakistan - Player profile

Younis Khan's supposed to be 28. Yeah, right and how old's Abdul Razzaq, 26? What? He is supposed to be 26? That's just ridiculous.

Younis Khan, whatever his age, is a masterly and ferocious batsman. With Inzy and Mohammad Yousuf also in their middle order, Pakistan's line-up is so full of talent it's actually painful to read their names on one teamsheet.

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Umar Gul, Pakistan - Player profile

We always thought that Umar Gul looked quite like the actor Ciaran Hinds, but we could never find a picture of Ciaran Hinds that was good enough. Then we did, but we couldn't find a picture of Umar Gul that looked as much like Umar Gul as we remembered him. Overall we're going to have to accept that Umar Gul doesn't look much like Ciaran Hinds.

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Mohammad Hafeez, Pakistan - Player profile

Mohammad Hafeez is Pakistan's fifth choice opening batsman after Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed and Taufeeq Umar.

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Taufeeq Umar, Pakistan - Player profile

Taufeeq Umar is Pakistan's fifth choice opening batsman after Mohammad Hafeez, Salman Butt, Imran Farhat and Yasir Hameed.

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Yasir Hameed, Pakistan - Player profile

Yasir Hameed is Pakistan's fifth choice opening batsman after Taufeeq Umar, Mohammad Hafeez, Salman Butt and Imran Farhat.

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Imran Farhat, Pakistan - Player profile

Imran Farhat is Pakistan's fifth choice opening batsman after Yasir Hameed, Taufeeq Umar, Mohammad Hafeez and Salman Butt.

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Salman Butt, Pakistan - Player profile

Salman Butt is Pakistan's fifth choice opening batsman after Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Taufeeq Umar and Mohammad Hafeez.

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South Africa

Loots Bosman
Mark Boucher
A B de Villiers
Herschelle Gibbs
Andrew Hall
Jacques Kallis
Justin Kemp
Charl Langeveldt
Andre Nel
Makhaya Ntini
Robin Peterson
Shaun Pollock
Ashwell Prince
Graeme Smith
Roger Telemachus

Main page

Other South Africa players we wrote about who didn't make the squad:

Nicky Boje
Jacques Rudolph