Rana to miss the series

Just think what a difference he would have made to the bowling line-up. I don’t think batsmen of the caliber of Cook and Collingwood would have managed those two centuries.

You think the Essex stint aggravated Rana’s injury? He will now need surgery for his groin.

It’s unfair to blame Essex for the problem. I think we need to find out whether he knew he was carrying the injury before his Essex stint began. In that case, he himself is also to blame for the problem.

Anyway, I think the problem with Pakistan’s bowling is that they just don’t have the bench strength to take care of the problem. Take Rana’s replacement – Samiullah. He’s done very well in the domestic series in Pakistan, but he’s still an unknown quantity internationally. There’s a definite lack of established players who can come into the team. Basically, Pakistan’s first-choice pace attack exists only on paper and in the mind of their fans.

But remember, Pakistan won in Sri Lanka without Shoaib, Sami or Rana and beat India at Karachi without Inzamam. So that can’t be an excuse for a poor performance.