Speaking exclusively to PakPassion.net, former Pakistan batsman Basit Ali stated that he felt Umar Akmal at this stage of his career is not the right man to bat at the number three position. "He's a good young player, but I think he's a bit too flashy to be batting at the key number three position. Perhaps in future that may be his favoured batting position, but I don’t think it’s the right move at this point in this young man's career".

"Younus Khan in my opinion is the right man to be batting at three for Pakistan, but if he is not available then it has to be Yousuf who takes the responsibility on his shoulders and bats at number three. There is no point in chopping and changing the batting order and having makeshift number three batsmen who bat there for one innings and then it's all change once again. Yousuf should have batted at number three in both innings and whilst he didn’t bat at three in the first innings, I think it’s a good move by him to come in at one down in the second inings in Wellington" added Basit.

Responding to a question on how he thought Pakistan should approach the remaining play in the Wellington test match, Basit stated "Days 3 and 4 in New Zealand are usually the best for batting and I would urge Pakistan to look to bat all of day 3 and then insert New Zealand at some point on day 4. I would expect Danish Kaneria's wrist spin to lead Pakistan to victory. Danish looked very impressive in the first innings and he could be the most penetrative bowler in the second innings for Pakistan. Whilst both teams have not made big scores, the wicket is a good one and I think it is pretty good for batting. Credit to the New Zealand groundsmen for 2 very good wickets in the test series so far".

Basit when asked about whom he thought would lead Pakistan on the forthcoming tour of Australia stated "I think its a simple case of if Pakistan wins the series in New Zealand, then the Board will retain Yousuf. However if Pakistan were to lose the test series in New Zealand and Younus not to make himself available for the tour of Australia, then it's anyone's guess who could be captain. There seems to be very little foresight from the Board at the moment, you win one series and you are flavour of the month, you lose one series as captain and you are discarded and that is exactly what could happen to Yousuf".