So much for the Asian teams...

From a Pakistani point of view, not much to say except its amusing that none of the semi-finalists are from the Subcontinent. This aspect of the story has been covered often enough this past week. Barry Richards pretty much sums it up...

"These are delightful pitches the curators have made. I would give them all medals because they've brought the zip back into the One-day game. All batters, but especially those from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, have failed in this acid test of technique and temperament. I've enjoyed watching them flinch in bowler-friendly conditions. Their inability to adjust has been shocking."

The semi's should be very interesting though. I think South Africa has a chance of beating Australia....

7 Simple Ways to Thrash Pakistan

As I write this article, Pakistan is 81 for 9. Yasir Arafat is batting on 22 accompanied by Iftikhar Rao. Wickets are falling all over the place. Thanks to my team, I will have a miserable day. In any case, in stead of harping about how our players suck, and how we really need to rethink our pool of players, I thought I'd write a commentary about how any team can beat Pakistan in cricket....

Oh...we're all out by the way. 89 runs...

1 - Bowl it short on a bouncy pitch. Short balls are hard to play. They are bouncy, and they are short. Not so easy to play. Put someone on third man. We like to slash viciously and get out there.

2 - On a seaming wicket, bowl straight. Nothing more to say

3 - Do not serve up slow, dusty wickets. We are bullies on those surfaces.

4 - Dive for the ball and field it athlectically. Pakistani batsman don't really see much diving since our grounds, are unfortunately not condusive to diving. But it will build the pressure and wickets will fall

5 - Misfield the ball on purpose, a Pakistani batsman will thinks its another run...and he will get run out. This always works with your 4 year old cousin in galli (street). Trust me. It will work with these guys too.

6 - We like fielding with our legs, especially at the boundary. Bending and diving is hard. (see point 4). Play shots along the ground....We will misfield on occasion. Why take the risk of lofting in the air to get quick runs, when you have a good chance of getting them with 'along the ground' shots?

7 - If none of the above works, just keep fielding well, and bowl tight...We will find a new way to get out. That's how we do...


Congratulations to South Africa. They deserved to win. I thought our bowlers did really well. Some comments about the game are in order

A - Umar Gul is really great on these types of surfaces. I am glad he got his undue credit. But why didn't they let him complete his overs?

B - Arafat for Rana? What sort of move is that. This bouncy wicket would have helped Rana's style. What we need is batsman. Yes, Arafat did well compared to the rest, but I would gotten rid of a bowler for a specialist batsman. Either way. This worked.

C - Ntini and Pollock are awesome! They are such cool bowlers to watch. Ntini, especially, has become such an amazing bowler in the past few years. Is there anyone who uses the crease so effectively?

D - Younis Khan should be dropped from the ODI team. Please believe me...

E - Afridi sucks.

F - Why were Razzak and Afridi laughing out there in the middle when we 6 down? What the hell is so funny?

G - South Africa did a great job to pull back from a loss. Its this determination that Boucher and Kemp had, that we lacked.

H - Can we not play swing and seam? And if so, why do we keep selecting players, allrounders, etxc to play on such wickets? We need batsmen of sound technique. If we can produce Mohammad Yousuf, I am sure there are a couple of guys in domestic cricket, that are talented enough to make the squad and can play the moving ball..

I - All we had to do was last the first 15 overs. We needed to block. We needed to see off Ntini and Pollock. These guys are top rated bowlers, Give them some respect. Our batmen are too comfortable in their situation. They need to shoulder more responsiblity and hold their wicket at all costs. Afridi, Hafeez, Younis played such rash shots.

I'm out...

Shahid Afridi - Statistics aren't looking good

Afridi's time is up. He has played 232 One day internationals. Pakistan has stuck by him, but for all the wrong reasons. We have all been guilty of it. We like the glamor, we like the fact that's he's fearless, that he's an untamed spirit.

The point is, if you can't figure out to bat responsibly in international cricket after 200 games, you really can't expect everyone to keep supporting you.

We all know he can't change, but we all know cricket is changing. His form of cricket is best suited to Twenty20 now...if at all. Pakistan's failed policy of playing too many all-rounders is backfiring in this Champion's Trophy. The coach and selectors should figure out exactly why there is a requirement for certain players. Afridi, needs to be on their mind.

Lets talk stats shall we?

Afridi is thought to be a flat-track bully. Well....truth is, he prefers the slower dustier tracks that India and Pakistan provide. This table below only includes countries within which Afridi has played more than 10 ODI's. Hence the inclusion of UAE and Canada.

I didn't include West Indies, because he has only played 9 games there, but since the World cup is coming up...its all the more important. His average in WI is 26.22 runs with two 50's after 9 innings.



You know what's interesting from this chart? We are due to play South Africa right after the Champions Trophy. No doubt the selectors will choose Afridi again. The entire country will goo "Boom Boom" if we don't right?

1 - He can't play seaming wickets (Eng)
2 - He can't negotiate with bounce (SA, Aus)
3 - He can only play (and maintain his 'healthy' average) in subcontinental conditions.

Sigh...Why are people so stupid!? What Afridi needs is some time off. I like the guy. But he's not the solution to our cricketing crisis. He's one of the problems. Our attachment to something so romanticized. A great, strong Pathan, who doesn't care about authority or rules, and just goes out and does battle.

Who cares? This "warrior" average 20 odd, after 232 games. What he does is, takes the spot of a bowler or a batsman, who can actually score some blood runs. Remember? That's what we're here for....Lets move past him now!


The chart above explain Afridi's average by the year. Well, I needn't comment on anything. It's embarrassing to say that his average this year is around 7. Oh wait. He probably needs everything he can get. 7.69 then....Need anymore convincing?



This chart above, indicates batting by the position in which he has come in to bat. Apparently he insists on batting at 5. Here is Siddharta Vaidyanathan's column in which Younis (another failing batsman), is defending Afridi.

But is batting him at No.5 the option? "We want to utilize Shahid to the hilt," he continued. "As an opener, if he falls early, there is pressure on him and on us. If he comes low down the order, he doesn't have much time. We are trying to give him every chance so that he can settle down. Shahid is the kind of player who can win matches single-handedly. It hasn't paid off till now; it's part of the game.

What that's also meant is that Shoaib Malik, arguably Pakistan's most valuable player over the last two years, gets a chance only at No.6. Younis, though, didn't want that to change. "It's working for the team,"he justified. "He has made almost 100 runs in the first two matches, and he played a match winning knock in the first match. It's good for the team too. Before the tournament, he was out of form, and now is back in the runs. He is happy with his spot in the batting order."

Afridi at No. 5 and Malik at No. 6 meant that Younis needed to shoulder the burden at No. 3. He hardly made an impression in the first two games, managing scores of 7 and 2, but he insisted that it had nothing to do with the pressures of captaincy. "My form has nothing to do with captaincy," he asserted. "I am not the captain for the first time. Last year, in Karachi [against India], I led and performed and we won the game too. There is so much cricket that you can't maintain the same level every time. Ricky Ponting too hasn't made runs in two matches. But yes, as captain, your attention is divided. I am thinking for everyone now. I need to carry the youngsters. Maybe my focus has shifted a little away from my cricket. I need to start to get the focus back. I am constantly learning, I want to keep learning."

Pakistan has rotated its openers like....flies..I don't even know a good analogy. Yet we have kept our faith in Afridi. Salman Butt, Imran Nazir...and a bunch of others have come and gone. I think we should send him opening, or not at all. It's time to draw the line. Pakistan should play to win, and it should field the best team possible in order to do that. In my opinion, Shahid Afridi does not fit into the equation anymore.

Even Bob Woolmer seems like he has no power in this situation. From Mr Vaidyanathan's verdict from the Pak-NZ game...

Woolmer admitted that the Afridi conundrum was causing a few headaches. "Afridi is a very fine player, unfortunately he hasn't clicked which has created a hole. Shahid Afridi has stated that he wants a regular batting place in the side. So we told him No.5 is your place, so go out and perform. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, he has got out. He doesn't want to get out, he is trying his best."

Kamran Abbasi, in his blog entry about Afridi....

But Afridi does need to change one thing. I agree with him that going in too late in the order is a waste of his unique talent. He does, however, need to be mentally prepared to go in anywhere between number 1 and 7 depending on the state of the game. This is not an unreasonable scenario for a mature cricketer. Afridi's oft stated request to bat at number 6 has the ring of an unnecessary obsession--and Afridi is a man of instinct not obsession.

All Pakistan fans--and many from other countries--need their dose of Boom Boom. He has looked a distracted cricketer for many months. One blitz will turn that distraction into joy.

Mr. Abbasi is stating the very facts that make Afridi an unnatural selection in the team, yet he is willing to bypass these FACTS and go straight to the 'joy' and the blitzes. If Afridi was more consistent, more responsible, I would be with everyone supporting him through this bad patch. But the time is up, and his shows of brilliance are too far an in between....He needs to go..


And knowing my luck, Pakistan's inconsistency, and Afridi's spontaneous nature...Afridi will do well tomorrow against South Africa....

Afridi and Younis Khan should be dropped from the ODI team - Someone needs to say it!

More about this later. I already wrote about Younis Khan....I implied that he needs to be dropped.

Afridi has held our team back for way too long now. I never liked him initially. I liked him a bit in the India series last year.

Its insane to see the support he has. I can see how its hard to drop him. But are bowlers really scared of him? His average has slowly been declining. Its not even that great. More about this later. I shall do my research. I know most people are suprirsed at the amount of stats I put up here!
Anyway, Afridi sucks as a batsman, and is not a very good bowler, and needs to replaced by a solid middle order batsman.

Younis Khan should not be in the ODI team. He has not impressed us for 6 years. Why should he do so now? Make someone else the captain and after Inzy retires, make Younis the Test captain.

Who's with me!?

Parore accuses Pakistani pacemen of dabbling in dope since the 90's

Adam Parore in the New Zealand Herald wrote a very interesting article about how this drug controversy just served to compound his already-held beliefs that Pakistani bowlers have been taking performance enhancing drugs for a while. Here are the relevant pieces of his column.

The only thing surprising about the two Pakistan players failing drugs tests is that it hasn't happened sooner. Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif failed tests for the steroid nandrolone and are out of the Champions Trophy. They have a hearing coming up this week and B samples to confirm the findings. If the results are confirmed they should have the book thrown at them, which means a two-year ban, although they might escape with a far shorter suspension, given that the Pakistan board is acting as the judicial panel.

I'm certain this has been going on for years with Pakistan's fast bowlers. We often looked sideways at what some of them were able to achieve. It's not normal to bowl 25 overs on a searing hot day and seem to get faster as the day wears on. I remember thinking more than once in the subcontinent, "somethings not right here". I prided myself on being pretty fit during my career. I'd look at some of these guys and think "you can't do that".

Well, naturally I was startled by his accusation. So I decided to see if atleast the games he played in showed something interesting or maybe alluded to the fact that the Pakistani fast bowlers might be doping. ....

Adam Parore has played only 2 tests in Pakistan, in the 1996/97 season.

New Zealand won the first one by 44 runs. Here are Pakistan's bowling figures for the first innings....

Bowling O M R W
Waqar Younis 15 3 48 4
Shahid Nazir 8 3 15 1
Mushtaq Ahmed 22.1 4 59 4
Saqlain Mushtaq 12 3 24 1

and the second innings....

Bowling O M R W
Waqar Younis 15 6 26 1
Shahid Nazir 16 1 84 1
Mushtaq Ahmed 32 8 84 6
Saqlain Mushtaq 22.2 4 95 2 (1nb)

Hmm...Nothing untoward here. Spinners routinely bowl large chunks of overs. But as Parore was talking about 25+ overs bowled in a day AND the bowler getting faster and faster, I assume he was talking about Waqar and Shahid, who bowled..well..you can read it yourself....less than 20 overs each.

It's possible that Shahid and Waqar bowled them at a stretch....did they? I read the match report as well. Nothing stood out here. Apparently NZ well and truly beat us on the 3rd day. Simon Doull doing most of the damage.

# Day 1: New Zealand 155, Pakistan 52/5 (Saleem Malik 11*, Moin Khan 5*)
# Day 2: Pakistan 191, New Zealand 88/3 (Fleming 12*, Astle 3*)
# Day 3: New Zealand 311, Pakistan 46/5 (Saleem Malik 15*, Mohammad Wasim 0*)

The kiwis only batted 57 overs on the first day. Got Pakistan all out by the middle of the 2nd. And batted till the 3rd. Which means Pakistan bowled at the kiwis in their 2nd innings on the 2nd and 3rd day. So, there is no way, anyone bowled a bunch of overs continously.

The tall and bearded paceman Simon Doull had destroyed the Pakistani batting by claiming five wickets for 46 runs in the first innings. He took three wickets for 39 runs in the second innings, despite having cramps in his thigh, to have a match haul of eight for 85. Simon Doull was declared the "Man-of-the-Match".

There is not much here about the Pakistani pace bowlers, except on the first day, when Waqar took 4 on a seaming track. But by then NZ was all out pretty soon after tea, and Waqar had bowled only 15 overs.
--------------------------------

Maybe the 2nd test had something funny occurrence happen? Maybe a fast bowler went crazy and bowled a 100 overs. Lets see.

Bowling O M R W
Mohammad Zahid 21 5 64 4 (9nb)
Shahid Nazir 9 3 23 0
Mohammad Akram 12 1 48 0
Mushtaq Ahmed 30 3 87 6
Saleem Malik 2 0 9 0 (1nb)

and...

Bowling O M R W
Mohammad Zahid 20 3 66 7 (12nb, 1w)
Mohammad Akram 7 2 11 0
Mushtaq Ahmed 22 7 52 2 (1nb)
Shahid Nazir 7 1 19 1
Saleem Malik 2 0 13 0

No need to write down the boring details, but one can infer from the match analysis, the number of overs....etc...that no fast bowler bowled more than 25 in a day. In fact, never more than 15.

# Day 1: New Zealand 215/8 (Germon 45*, Patel 6*)
# Day 2: New Zealand 249, Pakistan 269/2 (Saeed Anwar 130*, Mushtaq Ahmed 1*)
# Day 3: Pakistan 430, New Zealand 69/0 (Young 38*, Vaughan 26*)

This was Mohammad Zahid's debut. He got 7 wickets in the 2nd innings. But did he bowl his 20 overs at a stretch? I looked at the match report...

PAKISTAN completed an emphatic victory by an innings and 13 runs against New Zealand in the second and final Test at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium to draw the Wills Series.

The match was over a mere 53 minutes after lunch on the fourth day, when New Zealand, who were facing a first-innings deficit of 181, were shattered by 20-year-old medium-pacer Mohammad Zahid to be all out for 168 after having resumed at 69 without loss.

Zahid, from Gaggu Mandi in the Punjab, near the village where Waqar Younis hails from, pulverised the Kiwis' batting by taking seven wickets for 66 to finish with match figures of 11 for 130 to secure the man of the match award and also become the first Pakistan bowler to capture 10 wickets or more on his debut.

Of medium height but with a strong shoulder, Zahid started his rout with the first five of the six wickets that fell before lunch to reduce New Zealand to 137 for six. Moving the ball both ways and extracting a great deal of swing off the pitch, he was too hot to handle once Justin Vaughan was lbw for 27 after sharing an opening stand of 82 with Bryan Young.

Adam Parore, dropped by Inzamam-ul-Haq in the slips off leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed when one, was Zahid's next victim, rapped on the pad in front of the wicket as the ball cut back. Young, the only player to bat with authority, hit 61, with six fours in 174 minutes, before slashing a catch to gully. When captain Lee Germon was deceived off a swinging yorker and Nathan Astle fell lbw, Zahid had taken five for 47 in 11 overs, his first five-wicket Test haul.

I still don't know how many overs were bowled in the 3rd day when New Zealand were batting. But I can make some assumptions...

They ended that day at 69 runs. If they went at 3 runs an over, 23 overs were bowled. If 5 runs an over, then 14 overs were bowled. Since its the new ball, we can assume all the bowlers were pacemen. Since Zahid bowled 20 overs in that innings total, he could have bowled up to 12 of those overs, or 7 at a minimum.

Point being....Parore is has no basis for his accusations....

ICC Cricket Captain 2005 - Some cool screenshots of the games I won

This game was insane. I batted first, obviously and Flintoff and Pickering went nuts! I think I have made more than 328 in a 50 over ODI game before in this game...but I only started saving these screen shots recently.

This game was incredible. I needed 15 to win off the last over in a 4 day County Championship game. Marshall came in after a wicket fell off the first ball and smashed 13 of just 4 deliveries. What a game!

I put all my batsman on full agressive. I think they can do better, but as you can see, it was a spinners pitch. Still 191 off 20 overs is pretty damn good!

Owais Shah went crazy in this game. He made 97 of 62 balls! I made 355 in the alloted 45 overs....The pitch cetainly helped the batsmen...Good game nevertheless...

Pakistan beats Sri Lanka in a thriller!

What a game! Pakistan really needed this. I had the game on video, but I thought the commentary on cricinfo was great. I usually keep both running. Osman Samiuddin, Charlie Austin , and Siddhartha Vaidyanathan wrote some great commentaries on the game, while the bulletin by Dileep Premachandran basically said that this was the best game thus far in the series. All articles echo the same general theme, that this Pakistani side really needed this victory, and they achieved it, not emphatically, but more importantly, dramatically. Obviously, winning this first game was really important if Pakistan is to make a run for the finals. Sri Lanka were a dangerous side. I had predicted we would lose, but I am glad no ones listens to me!
It's also nice to see cricket writers rooting for a Pakistan team that really has been through a lot these past few months.

Some thoughts about the game that stood out for me...

Jayawardene's captaincy
Was anyone else impressed with his field placing? I thought some of the position were unique and quit interesting. Jayasuria was position next to the runner on the off side for a bit. He put himself as a slip whenever a new batsman would come. In contrast, though our bowlers kept in tight, Younis was nowhere near this innovative with the field. Jayawardene also had point and backward point for an over! Thats so strange....but pretty cool. He's also so passionate on the field.

Pitch
The pitch seemed good. The batsman got out to some careless shots. There wasn't much spin in it either. Thank goodness Murali had a wet ball to deal with. Why are all the games at night? This dew factor really does make batting first the easier option if you dont have to many spinners on the side.

Crowd
What an awesome crowd! Were we in Jaipur, India? I thought their support was magnificent. I've always thought Indian crowds were pretty biased, but in the absence of the home nation, I guess they really did support Pakistan after all the controversies and ups and downs.

Afridi
What in the world was he doing. He had no clue how to play Murali. i think he should be dropped til he recovers some sort of form. But will he dropped for the next game though? i doubt it. We won this game, so they will stick to the same side.

Pakistani middle order
Definitely seemed very weak without Inzy in the lineup. After Younis Khan's dismissal, a lot of the onus and leadership went to Yousuf. I think Faisal should play in the next game as he is the next best thing to Inzi. Plus, he has the propensity to play a steady, yet big innings. He is a proper middle order batsman and our middle order is weak. Malik, Razzak, Farhat and Hafeez sorta clicked today, but their techniques against spin and the moving ball are still weak. We need someone with a better temperament to substitute one of them. But which one?

Shoaib, Asif and Mary Jane

This is getting silly, yet still very amusing! The press is smoking (pun intended) these two and making them look like a couple of regular 'corner of the street' druggies! What a believable conversation though! So interesting...


From Dawn.com

KARACHI, Oct 16: While Pakistan cricket was rocked by another unwanted scandal on Monday, an eye-witness from last month�s eventful tour of England disclosed that both Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif smoked cannabis during the five-match One-day series there.

According to the eye-witness, both Shoaib and Asif used the �stuff� after Pakistan had won the third One-day International at the Rose Bowl in Southampton on Sept 5, almost two weeks after the infamous Oval fiasco.

After the day/night fixture, Shoaib was seen allegedly smoking a cannabis-filled cigarette on the lawn of the team hotel along with Pakistan bowling coach, Waqar Younis.

Asif, meanwhile, practised something similar in the privacy of his room on the hotel�s first floor. The eye-witness saw Asif pull out some of the tobacco from his cigarette to stuff it with the banned substance.

He then lit up his cigarette in presence of Azhar Mota, an England-based recruiting agent who had come to strike a deal with Asif for a county contract.

Asif was then seen smoking away merrily as he asked Azhar Mota to fetch him a lucrative contract.

�Azhar bhai, I am interested in a contract worth 100,000 pounds because only then I would be in a position to give you 10,000 (as commission) if the deal is successful,� Asif was quoted as saying.

The eye-witness, who had come to see the matches from the United States and was at the hotel to meet the players that day, also claimed that he saw Azhar Mahmood, the former Pakistan all-rounder, sitting in Mohammad Yousuf�s room where Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan were busy playing cards.

He saw Azhar passing on two small boxes, used for storing naswar, to the players.

According to the eye-witness, Afridi took one box which had naswar inside it while the other box containing the cannabis � a dried preparation or resinous extract made from a plant used generally illegally as a psychotropic drug � was passed on to Asif.

The Southampton incident surprisingly went unreported, unlike the infamous Grenada episode on the 1992-93 tour of the West Indies when Wasim Akram, Waqar, Mushtaq Ahmed and Aaqib Javed were detained before being released on bail since they had marijuana in their possession.

Shoaib sought help from local medicine man......who inadvertently provided him with anabolic steroids

Well - How ridiculous is this news item at Dawn.com!

Cricket-Shoaib's herbal medicine could be to blame, doctor says LONDON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Pakistan pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar, sent home from the Champions Trophy after failing a drugs test, could have taken nandrolone inadvertently while being treated with herbal medicine, his doctor said. "After undergoing surgery in Australia earlier and subsequent treatment for the stress fracture, Shoaib has been seeing a hakim in Pakistan. It is a possibility that nandrolone drug was mixed in herbal medicines that he has been taking. "He has been tested during the ICC events and 2003 World Cup but he has never tested positive," doctor Tauseef Razzaq said. On Tuesday, Shoaib met PCB director of operations Saleem Altaf but both men declined to give details of their meeting. "I met Shoaib this morning and we had a detailed discussion. Asif is due to meet me later in the afternoon. Everything is under control," Altaf told the Press Trust of India. Altaf said the board was in the process of organising a tribunal to hear both players and recommend disciplinary action. "It should be finalised later today because we want to have the hearing as soon as possible," he said.

Is cricket a good workout?

Most people I talk to don't really associate playing a day's game of cricket with any meaningful excercise. Usually they just brush it aside. After all they assume, one just stands in the same spot all day, smelling the danderlions and waiting for the ball to come your way.

Anyway it seems like cricket is definitely shaping (pun intended) towards a more health conscious arena with an increasing focus on running between the wickets, saving runs, and athletic fielding.
I had noticed this picture of the Aussies a while back and was really surprised/impressed. Those guys are cut!

Anyway, recently, an interesting post on cricket-blog pointed me towards an article about how the Aussie coach was using GPS to track his players movements. Whatever wierd method he is trying, Buchanan's work is certainly paying off.
Can the Pakistani's take them on? Yesterday, I would have said NO...but today I found out that Shoaib is allegedly on steroids...so I would put my money on Younis, Inzy and Shoaib!

Sri Lanka vs. Pakistan: Pakistan's team

Choosing 11 players from 12 certainly is not a very difficult. With Asif and Shoaib enjoying the flight back home, Iftikhar Anjum and Umar Gul are sure to play the entire tournament. Gul has been in good form, but I hope combined with Rana, these guys can get some wickets. So which guy is not going to play? What is even more amusing is the guy who will not play has to be the 12th man. So no one will get the day off. I think my team for tomorrow's game will have Mohd. Hafeez as sitting out. They will probably send Afridi, Razzak or Akmal one down to protect the middle order, in case we lose a wicket within the first 10 overs.

My lineup for tomorrow:

Shoaib Malik
Imran Farhat
Younis Khan (captain)
Mohammad Yousuf (vice-captain)
Faisal Iqbal
Shahid Afridi
Abdul Razzaq
Kamran Akmal (wicketkeeper)
Naved-ul-Hasan
Umar Gul
Iftikhar Anjum

Who's going to win?

Sri Lanka will. The pitch will be spinner friendly, judging by these opening encounters. Pakistan isn't playing any specialist spinners. Maharoof is in hot form. Jawardene and Sangakarra are going through a purple patch. The batsman on paper seem to match up but without the opening bowling venom of Asif and Shoaib, Pakistan does not have the ability to strike early with the new ball.

Shoaib and Asif found guilty of doping...

Can things get any worse? The PCB tested the team for dope in September at the behest of the coach Bob Woolmer. This whole tournament is turning out to be a nightmare mixed in with a bad Lollywood movie. The results of the test were supposed to be announced on Tuesday, the day of the first game vs. Sri Lanka! Can things get any more dramatic? Well...they came a day earlier and Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar are going home. Apparently Rana might be in trouble too. Woolmer thinks perhaps there was something in the injections that these players were taking while they were recovering from their injuries. I certainly hope so.

However this was only 1 test. Shouldn't there be atleast a second test just to confirm the findings before the PCB sendt the players home? THey are certainly not supporting the players in this instance. Sure, the lab tests are positive, but in such a big scandal, one needs to double check!

The tournament: Now that we have lost our bowling spearheads, I don't think we have much of a chance. The replacements Arafat and whoever the other guy is are useless.

What about them? If the tests are confirmed positive, these guys need to be suspended. THere is no room for drugs in our sport. Its always tougher to deal with these things when the culprits are from your country. Well, I say suspend them.

What about this drug? Standard steroid structure. I've studied this one before. It can be in the blood in natural quantities like testosterone. However, I am guessing that Asif and Shoaib had more than the 2 nangram/ml which is the limit.

Once again, Pakistan has become the laughing stock of the cricketing world. From BBC...

(Shoaib) said: "I have done nothing wrong. The president has asked me not to comment at this stage." Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer said he was shocked and disappointed when he heard the news but pledged his team would carry on in the tournament. "I have never come across anything like this in my life. We will have to be strong in these situations," he commented. The pair recently returned after long-term injuries. When drugs are used in any sport it is not a great day for that sport and this not a great day for cricket.

"I'm just wondering whether the substance that has been found was in one of those injections they use for those injuries," said Woolmer. He admitted it had been a turbulent six weeks for the Pakistan team, following the forfeited Oval Test fiasco and its repercussions. "When you're hurricane it is pretty stormy and I guess we are in a bit of a hurricane now but we'll get through that. "Cricket has to come first, regardless of what individuals do and we know we are trying to do the right things. It's bad timing but that's the situation." "We've just got to put aside and get on with the Champions Trophy."

Former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal has urged the Pakistan board to take a hard line if the test results are confirmed by the findings from the B samples. "There should be no place whatsoever in any sport for people who take these performance enhancing drugs. They should just be told 'That's it, there's no place for you'," he told the BBC.

PCB head of cricket operations Saleem Altaf said they were expecting the result of the two players' B samples on Tuesday. "As per the preliminary test, the PCB has asked for reconfirmation of the test from the Malaysian laboratory and the results are expected by tomorrow," he said. "PCB has decided to withdraw the two players from the ICC Champions Trophy immediately and they will return home on the first available flight."

England batsman Andrew Strauss said the news had rocked cricket. Speaking on BBC Five Live: "When drugs are used in any sport it is not a great day for that sport and this not a great day for cricket. "The process has got to be gone through and proved. That is the situation and if bans are in place that has got to happen I think. "I don't think it is very common in cricket. I have not heard of it in any team I have been playing in."

I really don't know if its a smart decision to send the players home. Obviously its not good for the team, but should the PCB have waited to double check the tests?

Pakistan's warm up matches against RCA President's XI - Team for the first ODI vs. Sri Lanka

Pakistan beat the RCA President's XI in both the warm up games, but worryingly, they were not able to bowl them out in either one. In the first game, Pakistan batted first and scored 280, and RCA XI played out their 50 overs and scored a 187. They lost only 4 wickets. This is pretty embarrasing.

In the second game, RCA batted first, and yet again, Pakistan were unable to bowl them out. They scored a 198, and again lost only 4 wickets. In fact, with the new ball, Pakistan has only taken 2 wickets. (i.e. within 10 overs...)

Perhaps its the pitch, or the RCA team has incredible defense, but its disappointing to know that Shoaib, Rana and especially Asif were unable to get past their defenses.

On the bright side, the batting is looking good. Kamran and Younis both have half centuries. I still am not sure what the lineup for our first game against Sri Lanka will be.

Shoaib Malik has scores of 28 and 18 no.

Faisal Iqbal 22 and 32 no.

Mohd. Hafeez is 25 no.

Farhat has 49.

Malik has been expensive leaking about 6 runs and over and 8 runs an over, so his bowling has not been too impressive. So no one really stands out. But I think Farhat will open with Malik and Faisal Iqbal will go 3 or 4 down. Hafeez will probably sit out.

Champions Trophy: India vs England - India win, but not very convincingly

I thought India bowled extremely well. Pathan was right on the money and Munaf was quick. Definitely wasn't the best of pitches, and the ball kept rising and sinking at times. However England's first 3 batsman feel to LBW's, which indicates poor form and technique rather than anything else. I felt Ian bell's LBW was extremely unfair. Darryl Harper made a mistake as the ball was going about 6 or 7 inches above the stumps.

As far as Flintoff goes, I think its silly to waste a batsman like him by sending him one down. He is not anew ball batsman and Munaf and Pathan exploited his nervousness.

England is such a weak side on paper. Owais Shah or Alistair Cook should have been in the side. Dalrymple and Yardy are decent players, but they certainly don't seem like the kind that can score the big runs when it matters.

This is a terribly weak England side. They really need to figure out their technique before they match Australia. The Aussies will not just try to beat them, but they will make every effort to humiliate the English by thrashing them convincingly. There is no doubt in my mind, that Australia will retake the ashes unless things improve drastically for England.

As far as India goes, I fell asleep after they bowled out England, so I can't vouch or comment on their batting. But I was impressed with Dravid's field settings in particular. Munaf bowled well and the rest of them did not try anything funny or fancy. They kept their line and length, kept things tight, and waited for the English batsman to make mistakes. It was easy to see that England had lost all hope while they were batting. Perhaps they should have played out their overs and made the most of the game, but towards the end, they just kept throwing their wickets away and getting caught out on long on.

I also thought it was a cool decision by Dravid to bowl first. He said that since they were playing 2 spinners, it would be easier to grip the ball in the first inning rather than deal with the dew at night. That's pretty sweet reasoning.

During the game, it was also funny how the camera kept focusing on Shahrukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra. I know they are celebrities and all, and they have to be different. But what the hell are they wearing. Shahrukh, especially, looks so cheap...

Does Younis Khan deserve to be in the ODI team?

This article has spent a long time in the making. I started writing it just before the England series. I waited till the series concluded as my conclusions and the statistics had changed somewhat.

Now that Younis Khan has been made the captain of the Pakistan team for the Champions Trophy (for the second time), it is an appropriate time to finish this article. Younis Khan is in the news, so I though I should ask some more questions about him.

TESTS

As we are on the same page, I am going to say it right off the bat. Younis is a sure-shot selection for the test team with an average touching 50, including 12 centuries and 15 50's. That number of centuries, 12 certainly does not do justive to his penchant for big runs, so I shall break it down even farther. He has 5 150+ scores:

153 - WI in UAE 2001/02 at Sharjah
267 - 3rd Test v Ind in Ind 2004/05 at Bangalore
199 - 1st Test v Ind in Pak 2005/06 at Lahore
194 - 2nd Test v Ind in Pak 2005/06 at Faisalabad
173 - 3rd Test v Eng in Eng 2006 at Leeds

2 additional centuries almost made it on this list (149* and 147).

Interestingly the 149* was a 2nd innings score against New Zealand with Moin Khan declaring before Younis reached the next milestone. We won the game by 299 runs however...

The conclusion:

Younis Khan is undoubtedly one of the best one down test batsman currently playing today. He is in sublime form. 4 of the big scores above 150+ runs have come in the last two years. In fact, In 8 test matches in the 2006 calendar year, his test average is 61.64, with 3 centuries and 4 50's. He is ranked 4th in the world in tests.

Prior to this sudden PCB crisis, Younis was and had been marked to take over captaincy from Inzamam, probably soon after the 2007 world cup. I like the guy, I think he's inspiring and is a good leader. On account of all these things, plus his stellar batting and seniority in the team, he will make a great Test captain.

Osman Samiuddin writes...

For some time now, Younis Khan has been regarded, unofficially, as the heir apparent. In an interview with Wisden Asia Cricket after the 2003 World Cup, Rashid Latif earmarked Younis, off the record, as the man he was to groom as his successor. And in an interview with Cricinfo in November, Shaharyar Khan was also complimentary about his leadership skills, and Imran Khan has since publicly backed him as captain. Rahul Dravid, who seems as good a judge of character as any, is reportedly very impressed by him.

But..

ODI's

One day international's are a completely different story however. It's been long thought that Younis has the Sehwag virus. Sehwag's test average is 52.12 while his ODI average is 31.75.

Does Younis share the same curse?

....well. Yeah!

After 130 ODI innings prior to the England series, Younis had 1 century to his name and 24 half-centuries with an average of 31.72.

That century, incidently came against mighty Hong Kong at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground during the Asia Cup 2004. Interestingly Younis didn't even win the Man of the Match for that game! Shoaib Malik got it for his 4 wickets plus his own century.

A breakdown of his games against opponents doesn't really show much to support him. The table speaks for itself.
Younis has often said that he has played for the team. I do not have the will power to go through every one of those ODI games and figure out what the circumstances were but I don't know if I can give him the benefit of doubt. I just don't think he has what it takes to play ODI's. He says feels most comfortable at the one down position. Lets look at that then.

Looking at the table above, I don't know if "the batting for the team" argument can go so far. If one is a specialist batsman in an ODI team, then one must deliver at some point and maintain consistency. He has had 35 innings at the one down position, a position with a lot of responsiblity. A position that he enjoys and one that he wants. Yet he has definitely not done so well over the past 7 years.

Is it the pressure perhaps? Maybe he was brought in too early in the innings, or too late? I checked Ricky Ponting's record. It has a similar distribution of innings per position. Over the course of a career, we can assume the perssure situation for these two players is similar.

But here is the important graph.
In 2006, he averages 47.92.

So perhaps he has finally found his groove?

Come to your own conclusions about how Younis Khan has been handled. His best year has certainly been this one. I remember being shocked when he became the vice-captain. I didn't know a thing about him then, but his ODI record certainly didn't impress me. I knew he barely made it into the test team then. Even while scouring through cricinfo's articles referring to him, I found a lot of talk about his test batting, but not much commentary about his ODI batting. I am sure there is a list on cricinfo comparing test and odi batting averages amongst current players. I didn't find it though.

Anyway, his ODI record, without a doubt, is dismal record for player who is so talented and has the capability to deliver. The PCB has stuck with him all this time for ODI's and I suppose I will too. His 2006 average and his performances compared to everyone else, certainly does indicate that he has found his niche in the batting order and as a vice-captain.

After all the drama that he's been involved in, all eyes will certainly be on him this Champion's Trophy.

Thanks to Howstat for the graphs. And cricinfo for the images.

Kamran Abbasi now has a blog on Cricinfo!

Kamran Abbasi has a blog on Cricinfo. This is awesome news. I will definitely be commenting on his blog regularly.

I really want it do well!

Seeing the following RSS headlines from Cricinfo makes me laugh

What a nutty week for Pakistani cricket. I have a bunch of links on this blog on the right. Feeds from various cricket news sources.

Just reading the headlines is amusing...

-Technicality rules Inzamam out of tournament
-'I will be happy to see Inzi lift the trophy...' - Younis
-Younis Khan reinstated as captain
-Shaharyar Khan resigns from PCB
-Younis claims to be Yorkshire captain

Cricinfo's Pakistan rss news feed is like a gossip column!

Pakistan and India most misbehaved teams in World Cricket

What a rubbish report.

Pakistan and India are also the worst-behaved sides with 53 and 44 reports, ahead of South Africa (41) and Australia (38). That the West Indies have received just 13 reports confirms the widely held belief that, despite their at-times sorrowful playing form, they have a deep-rooted respect for the way the game should be played.

More proof that umpiring is biased. Australia is without a doubt, the worst team in terms of behaviour. Yet, they are never fined or pulled aside for dissent as much as the South Asian teams...

Inzy is the most reported captain, while Lara the least. Hmm.

The rest of the story as reported...

TEST skipper Ricky Ponting remains a minor-league miscreant in world cricket compared to Pakistan's controversial Inzamam-ul-Haq.

Inzamam, who was once described as a "potato'' by a Canadian spectator, and feisty Indian captain Sourav Ganguly are officially the worst-behaved players of their generation, according to an ironclad source ... the International Cricket Council's code of conduct rap sheets.

Since the code was introduced under the supervision of match referees in 1992, Inzamam and Ganguly, whose international career appears to be over, have been reported 12 times each, seven times more than Ponting.

Pakistan and India are also the worst-behaved sides with 53 and 44 reports, ahead of South Africa (41) and Australia (38). That the West Indies have received just 13 reports confirms the widely held belief that, despite their at-times sorrowful playing form, they have a deep-rooted respect for the way the game should be played.

It starts with captain Brian Lara who, for all of his occasionally selfish and disruptive ways off the field, is renowned for accepting the umpire's decision. Lara is not perfect - he has one dissent charge for disputing an umpire's call against England - but generally accepts what he gets.

Inzamam, a normally self-contained man who spent the first decade of his career not saying boo, has a series of dissent charges, starting with an incident in Canada when he stormed into a crowd wanting to throttle a spectator who called him a "potato''.

He talks slowly and quietly and for the first half of his 14-year international career often used to say little, claiming he knew little English. That amused former captain Wasim Akram, who once laughed outside a hearing and said, "he understands every bloody word that is said''.

Speaking through an interpreter in Hobart in 2000, Inzamam said: "I am a very humble man, even in my own house.'' But he knows how to find controversy. His most high-profile crime is his recent decision not to return to the field on the fourth day of the fourth Test against England at The Oval.

Ponting's most recent indiscretion was when he questioned a wide call by Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf in Malaysia recently and was fined $4900. Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland has expressed concern at a stream of Australian reports over the past year.

"My strong feeling is that the bar has been raised a little bit by the ICC over the last 18 months,'' Sutherland said.

Younis back as Captain, Shaharyar Khan resigns. Just another day for the Pakistan cricket team

Just another impetous decision by a Pakistani cricketer...who reverses it back within a couple of days.

Why is there so much unnecessary drama?

Afridi retires from test cricket after a succesful series in India claiming that heis burnt out. The entire nation is in shock.

Now Younis gets angry at something, resigns from the captaincy.

The next day the chairman resigns. Good! I like that move. I have been waiting for his ouster for months now. I thought he handled Hairgate terribly. I did support him in the past. I really liked him before. And here..

However, I think he hasn't done enough for the progress of cricket. For example, the ICC schedule has us playing such few test matches and ODI's while the BCCI is having India play the most in international cricket. Pakistan the is the 2nd most powerful cricketing nation (by marketing) in the world. I think he should have used this as a useful leveraging tool just like India does.

Younis resigns. Yousuf back at the helm

What the hell happened?

Here we go again. This is just sad. I have no clue why Younis blew up like this. I really did not see this coming. Is it really such a big deal that Younis waits till Inzamam retire befores he takes over captaincy?

I have some questions which I hope to find answers for.

Why did he get pissed off?
Why didn't they try to calm things down before announcing Yousuf as captain?
Why not Shoaib Malik and Vice captain? I thought he was the next in line for ODI captaincy.
If he is the captain, then why didn't they (PCB) consult him in making team selection decision?

I like Younis a lot. And judging by past follies, I am certain the PCB did something wrong. There is pretty much no players and personnel management in that organization. Whether one is a captain for a day, a weekend or an entire series, he needs to be respected as such and needs to be referred to.

I am sure that the PCB did everything without consulting Younis and without making him feel like he part of the equation.

For a while, Younis's position in the team, for the Champions Trophy as well as subsequent assignments were in doubt. It has been learnt that during the meeting a few officials were in favour of removing Younis from the team altogether. The idea of a disciplinary committee to investigate his actions and subsequent punishment - including his removal from the team - had been mooted

Who in the world do they think they are at the PCB? Are they seriously thinking of getting rid of a player of Younis Khan's calibre? Yes,indiscipline is one thing, and should be accountable, but here is a guy who has given his mind, body and soul for his country. If he has a problem, then the PCB should help him out and resolve the issue rather than play God and decide his future and have a power orgasm over this situation.

Having been groomed as a potential successor for two years now, the chances of Younis becoming captain in the short-term are, according to one PCB official, "extremely dim."

I will be so pissed if he doesn't get captaincy. You stupid clowns at the PCB are the biggest dumasses I have ever heard of.

Happy days....

I miss the good old days...