Shoaib Malik - a poor choice for test captain - Bring back Younis

Well, the good news is that Salman Butt isn't the captain. Butt, naturally would be disappointed. After hearing his name as a possible choice in the media for a couple of weeks, he must have thought to himself, "Well, maybe I can get a game or two now, if they make me captain!" Well, that's not to be. Don't worry Salman, Imran Nazir will soon be out of the team, and you will make a comeback, score a 100, then a 50, then a string of zeros. But, that's not the point of this post.

Good thing Yousuf isn't the captain. Now is not the time to give the responsibility to another devoutly religious man with a beard till his knees. We need focus, we need direction and we don't need distraction from mullas or the tableeghi. We needed change and change is what we have gotten. Shoaib Malik is now the captain, and this blogger is pleased from the point of view of ODI's, but certainly not with tests.

This chap has 16 test matches under his belt, is by no means, a a test player, or a certainty in the squad and is now the test captain? Rubbish. Test match cricket is truly what cricket is all about and if the PCB have any sense of responsibility, they would do their utmost to convince Younis Khan to become the test captain. That would be ideal in my opinion. Shoaib Malik as ODI captain, and Younis as test, with neither playing playing in the other format, so there is no conflict. Shoaib doesn't deserve to be in the test team, while Younis is possibly, the worst 1 down player, Pakistan has ever produced.

Why is Salman Butt a choice for captain?

It's amusing to read news reports claiming Shoaib Malik and Salman Butt are the front runners to take over the captaincy mantle. I assume the decision, which will be taken real soon, will probably be with regards to both the test and ODI teams.

If it is truly for both squads, then its ridiculous because Salman Butt is not even in the bloody squad. On the other hand, Shoaib Malik has played less than 20 test matches. I just hope they're talking about the ODI team...

Though Butt being an option clearly proves that my opener rotation policy is in full effect at the PCB.

On the bright side, I'm glad Younis Khan is thinking about retiring from ODI's. Good riddance.

The PCB are a bunch of fools and will probably bungle this up. Anyway, at this crucial juncture in Pakistani cricket, being as its all a joke anyway, I'd like to raise my hand and officially announce my candidacy for the Pakistan team captain.

Well, if nothing else, would it be possible to scribble my name in between Imran Farhat and Taufeeq Umar when the next opener rotation round comes about?

Can Rana Naveed save what he fucked up?

Can Rana Naveed stick around and partner Shoaib Malik for another 15 overs?

All he needs to do is rotate the strike for umm, 80 runs or so...

Will he be able to atone for his bullshit bowling earlier in the day?

Yeah, I doubt it myself...

Pakistan is 129/6 needing 113 off 77 balls at 8.8 rpo. Game over!

UPDATE 1

They don't show the score comparisons anymore. Remember the time when, every 5 or 10 overs, they would print out what the opposing team's score was, at that point in their innings...

Oh, I shouldn't blog. Every time I write something, somebody gets out and it makes me unhappy. Well. Rana is gone. Bowled Bravo.

On the brighter side, at least my update to this entry now has something to do with the title. In case, you don't follow. The answer is no. Rana did not save what he fucked up.

UPDATE 2

Pakistan is fighting till the last wicket. Shoaib Malik just made his 50. That's pretty respectable no matter how you look at it. Some key questions arise.

Why does Iftikhar Anjum look more comfortable on the crease than Younis Khan?
Does Kamran Akmal not look at the field placings before he plays his shots?
Does anyone else get immensely ticked off at Inzamam getting LBW so often? Can't he get bowled a few more times?

170/7 after 44 overs.

UPDATE 3

Now we need about 58 runs of 24 balls. 'Impossible isn't it' you ask? Well, we're reaching that gray area of uncertainty. I've accomplished this score many a time in Stick Cricket, and once or twice at ICC Cricket Captain 2005. But never at Brian Lara Cricket 2005.

What's my point?

It's simple. Video games suck because they present a skewed view of reality.

Ah - the curse of the blogger. Bravo gets another one. Anjum is out. Caught by Lara. I promise I won't blog again till the end of the this match! The hopes of Pakistan rest on my typing fingers.

Pakistan 108/4 versus West Indies

Pakistan needs a 134 runs to win at around 7 runs an over. Inzamam looks calm enough. Mohammad Yousuf just got out to a really nice delivery. He was totally set up for that one. I wish Yousuf had stayed till the 40th over or so. Lets see how this game pans out. West Indies definitely have the upper hand by a mile, but I don't think Pakistan are totally out of it just yet.

Shoaib Malik needs to play his natural game and accompany Inzi till the end. I hope we can make a match of it at least. I'd rather lose fighting than get all out for under a 150.

The crowd seems awesome though. It was interesting to see their reaction when MoYo got out. Perhaps there is a bit of respect/irritation that he broke Viv Richard's record a few month's back.

Our openers are shit as usual. Not much more to say till I write my verdict after the game is over.

Oh well. Inzamam just got out LBW. Maybe I'll be writing the verdict sooner than I expected...

Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik Mobilink Jazz commercial

Omar loves commercials and if you're reading this blog, you probably already know that Omar loves cricket. Anyway I just need to type something here, so that the video doesn't look lonely with no text around it. I like this commercial. Its got Afridi and Malik and the model Iman Ali.

Pakistan's opener rotation schedule comes full circle

Salman Butt has just been named as one of Pakistan's World Cup reserves! Which means an another complete cycle and run-through for our young openers is close to completion. Many critics claim that the PCB really has no long term or short term plans or strategies, but one has got to admire the consistency in our opener rotation.

I may be wrong, but this is the pecking order. Salman Butt starts off. Once Butt fails, Taufeeq Umar is slated to be next. Mohammad Hafeez, is around here, though its uncertain whether he comes after Umar or before Farhat. Anyway, Imran Farhat the bandana toting, catch-dropping bastard comes next. Imran Nazir, the young dashing aggressive opener from Peshawar or somewhere around there, comes in dead last. Now these are the openers on the rotation schedule. Yasir Hameed is an opener too, plays like an opener, and also looks like Imran Nazir crossbreed with Taufeeq Umar. Anyway, he is an opener, but somehow he has been placed into the middle order rotation schedule. (That's a lot slower as may be expected)

On occasion, the selectors and management will plug in Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi as openers too. These 3 players are permanent members of the squad, so they are not on the rotation schedule. They are only fit into that opening slot on a temporary/hopeful basis during the transition period. But rest assured, they WILL fail too, so the integrity, frequency and time period of the rotation remains.

In SL last year (March 2006), we had Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik and Imran Farhat as our openers in either test or ODI.

Note: The opener rotation schedule is not biased towards the format of the game. It is speculated that since our openers never cross 60 in either format of the game, and will always aim for a strike rate of over 150 anyway, using them in both formats is sound thinking! As a result, we do not employ specialist test or ODI openers.

In Eng (Summer 2006), It was Salman and Farhat again, but Butt starting doing badly, so Akmal came into open. Kamran Akmal is pretty bad opener. He deserves his own post. So then Mohammad Hafeez came in, scored his 50, which is a tradition for any Pakistani opener who has been out of the side for a while). He failed eventually (a bit sooner than expected), so they got in Taufeeq.

Then WI came to us. Taufeeq was dropped since he played much better in 'ICC Cricket Captain 2005' than in real life. We stuck with Farhat and Hafeeez. Blah blah.

Then we went to SA. Enter Imran Nazir. Bye bye Farhat.

There we have it. So its all just a gamble. Imran Nazir, who 6 months ago was nowhere near being our World Cup opener, is now destined to play the entire tournament. Isn't that amazing? At least its a fair system.

I wonder how I can scribble my name as a possible opener. I'd like to go in right after Farhat, but before Nazir, in the schedule. The reason being, prominent scientists have shown that public expectation in the openers is lowest right after Farhat fails.