Pakistan just barely edges past West Indies in second ODI

Pakistan won the game by two wickets but your resident pessimist wasn't too ecstatic about the outcome. These close games, though usually quite fun to watch, are quite of the indicative of the downward slide in the fortunes of our ODI team. There was nothing encouraging about how we struggled to chase 152. It's evident that cracks still remain in our ODI unit and not much is improving. For one thing, is anyone else even wondering why we're playing so many all-rounders? We played 3 yesterday. Razzak, Malik, and Hafeez...

There are some positives. So Afridi is out. Good. And we played 4 specialist bowlers. Better! But then in Yousuf's absence, we continue to play our bits an pieces players on pitches that have something to offer. Have we not learned our lessons in England and during the Champions Trophy?

Needless to say, I am not too satisfied with this strategy. It may work while we play on our soil (though these latest pitches seem a bit odd), but its definitely going to backfire on South African pitches. Do we realize who we are going to be coming up against? Ntini, Pollock, Nel and company just completed their white-wash of India. SA are going to bounce us out till we cry.

Now I'm satisfied with any 2 out of Hafeez, Shoaib Malik and Imran Farhat for the opening slot. They're decent players, but we can all safely agree, that they're not the most technically sound batsmen. Hafeez and Farhat seem to have temporarily secured their opening slot for the time being, but Malik has not been too convincing of late. He has to shoulder the responsibility of a middle order batsmen, which he is clearly not...plus he's not really performing well of late. Yasir Hameed is in the squad. Let him have a game.

Malik, however, should be in our WC plans, as he IS a good batsmen and has done well for Pakistan in the one-down position. That position for the time being though, has been occupied by our VC, Younis Khan. I think he should be left out for the next game. I understand that he was probably Mohd. Yousuf's replacement, but shouldn't one replace a middle order batsmen with someone similar?

So the point being, we played with 7 guys yesterday who can bowl and bat, when I feel we should probably have replaced one of them at least with a specialist batsmen. Faisal Iqbal, Yasir Hameed are names that come to mind.

As expected, everyone and their mother begins slamming lifting of doping ban

“If I'm walking into a shit storm I want to know which way the wind's blowing”...wise words from Nathan Muir (Robert Redford) in Spy Games. After I wasted 8$ on that movie, this line was probably the only thing that I cared to remember from that crappy film. Somehow or the other, while I was reading all the posts, blogs, and opinion commentaries this morning....the quote came to me and I felt it was quite appropriate for the current situation.

The PCB, which has really bungled one thing after another this year, must have expected this storm...don't know if they knew the direction of the wind though! They can't be that naive, can they?. But they are getting slammed left, right, and center, and rightly so. Their credibility is tarnished and the entire process is nothing but a joke now. My thoughts on this verdict are presented below and were published yesterday...

The Australian boasts a sports headline entitled "Pakistan plays by own rules"...

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) appears to have played the cricket world off a break after an appeals board reversed the drug bans of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif.

As unjust and embarrassing as this decision appears, the PCB can, not for the first time, continue to thumb its nose at the game with impunity because of cricket's shambolic structure.

The article argues that..

At the very least the cricketers should have been forced to prove how the banned substance entered their bodies. This is a prerequisite for a reduction of the sanction under the "exceptional circumstances" rule.

If the bans against Shoaib and Asif are not reinstated then, a little more than a month after the ICC sacked umpire Darrell Hair in disgraceful circumstances and agreed to re-admit pariah Zimbabwe into the Test arena next year, the cricket world will be left without credibility. Yet again.

Well, that parting shot about Hairgate is understandable from an Australian paper. Though the public may differ, Pakistan's daily's weren't too ecstatic. As reported by the IndiaTimes...

"Regardless of a split decision among the three-member review panel that heard their appeals, both Shoaib and Asif have in fact been proved to have taken a banned substance. No review panel in the world can change that fact," an editorial in 'The Post' said.

In the hard-hitting editorial, titled "A strange let-off", it said if the decision of the tribunal was driven by subjective reasons rather than hard evidence, why did they not assign any weight to the pride of Pakistan cricket that would be damaged by fielding two established dope cheaters.

"A nation's pride is much more valuable than the pride of any individual. If by some miracle, Pakistan can win the World Cup utilizing two druggies, will it add to the pride of our nation," it wondered. In a special article, 'The Nation' ridiculed Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Dr. Naseem Ashraf for singing different tunes.

"In what is tantamount to a most stunning total reversal, the tribunal reviewing the appeals of Pakistan's pace spearheads in its verdict has acquitted the duo, overturning the one and two year bans respectively imposed by a PCB tribunal only 34 days ago," it said.

The decision may come as a huge relief for the Pakistan cricket team but the risks of "disgrace" by bringing the two back could be great, it said.

The most important and influential player in this process might probably be WADA, the World Anti Doping Agency. From Reuters...

WADA official Frederic Donze told a Pakistani newspaper that the appeals commission's decision appeared to be unreasonable and a violation of the international anti-doping code.

"We have decided to take up the matter with the ICC. My personal view is that the decision taken by the Pakistan Cricket Board panel is unreasonable," Donze was quoted as saying in The News on Wednesday. Donze said WADA would first look into the decision of the tribunal before making further comments.

On the other end of the spectrum, Brian Lara, who is currently in Pakistan urged people to not jump to conclusions...

West Indies captain Brian Lara urged respect on Wednesday for a decision by the Pakistan Cricket Board to clear bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif of doping and said he hoped there would not be a negative reaction. "We must respect the decision of the Pakistan board. They are people of integrity in there," Lara told a news conference before the second one-day international on Thursday. "I just hope that the negativity surrounding this case does not spiral into anything else," he said.

As far as the ICC goes, Percy Sonn said...

"..the judgment of an appellate tribunal to revoke the bans imposed hardly a month ago showed that there were "inconsistencies" in Pakistan's anti-doping process.

"The judgment highlights inconsistencies in the Pakistan Cricket Board's anti-doping processes and regulations," Sonn said in a statement.

"Cricket has taken significant strides forward in addressing the important issue of drug use in our sport. However, this judgment emphasizes that much more work needs to be done to educate players and to synchronize our Members' efforts to attain a totally drug-free sport," he said.

The under-fire PCB chairman Nasib Ashraf was firmly standing by the appeals process, with WADA chief Dick Pound disagreeing....

Nasib Ashraf, PCB chairman, said after the appeal panel's decision that neither the ICC nor WADA could overturn the Akhtar and Asif verdict. "The ICC or WADA cannot intervene because the doping tests were conducted out of competition by the PCB, and the chapter is now closed," Ashraf said.

WADA head Dick Pound disagreed with the appeal panel's assertion that the players should have been warned. "No, it's quite clear that if you are an international athlete, you've got to be aware of the risks," Pound said. "You don't get any points for saying someone forgot to warn me."

Well...the next step seems to be fresh doping tests for both these players...Lets see where we go from there.

What a farce! Ban for Shoaib and Asif overturned

Is this a joke? Barely a month after the PCB slaps bans on Shoaib and Asif, their appeals tribunal overturns them. This is ridiculous. The entire cricketing world is laughing at us. These is no way that they will be willing to accept this verdict, especially since the PCB paraded them as guilty and left them out to dry. This whole process stinks of incompetence, with the powers-that-be, possibly protecting the star players of the national team. There is no doubt in my mind that the initial verdict was hasty. As my colleague in the blogging world points out, there seemed to be a rush to decision making by the PCB.

They rushed to judgment, and now the country looks like a bunch of bumbling idiots. They should have played it safer earlier. They should have either: (1) stuck to their time-honored traditions of secrecy and dealt with the matter behind closed doors; or (2) opened it to the world and had a proper trial - not one where the sentence was, as it appears, pre-determined, but a real and proper and final one.

What has happened is neither here nor there. And it is shameful. And it makes us look shady.

I'd like to point out that initially, though I felt it was all happening to fast and it might be hasty, I welcomed the ban as the correct and fair decision. This is because I never imagined a complete acquittal being the eventual scenario, plus I assumed a fair and thorough trial.

The PCB were so hell-bent on protecting their own skin. They made the test results public as soon as possible, removed Asif and Akhtar from the Champions squad, thus saving themselves from the embarrassment of a rumored ICC doping test. The PCB, which usually keeps its inner workings and secrets tighter than the KGB, suddenly became the most righteous cricketing authority in the world, handing down 'justice' and verdicts like no other. They banned their rising phenomenon, Mohammed Asif and their tried and tested match winner, Shoaib Akhtar. What a show!

Will the ICC recognize this new verdict? Does the World Doping Agency have a say in this matter? I'm sure they will. Osman Samiuddin's piece in cricinfo hints towards their possible involvement.

The ICC did not have any immediate reaction. "Malcolm Speed is currently in Uganda and we can't comment on the issue unless we have all the details," said Brian Murgatroyd, the ICC spokesman. "We need to go through the judgment and also get the PCB's version before making any comment."

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), in charge of monitoring drugs in sport, said they needed to discuss the matter with the ICC. Frederic Donze, their media relations officer, told Cricinfo: "We will now review the reasons for the decision, liaise with the ICC and consider whether to exercise its right of appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport."

Amidst all this turmoil, the players themselves are awaiting a comeback, and are obviously being brought up for selection. This may not be so simple. From BBC...

Pakistan have resisted the temptation to recall key pacemen Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif for Thursday's second one-day international with West Indies. Neither has played since September and chief selector Wasim Bari said: "I will have to talk to the other selectors before deciding when to consider them."

Let's just wait and see what happens, but I don't think they should play till the ICC and WADA have come to their conclusions. Since 'exceptional circumstances' as being defined differently by the PCB, ICC or WADA came up as the crux of their defense, I suspect some more tests are in order. The ICC which happily accepted the tribunals initial verdict may not be so accommodating to this one.

This process has been embarrassing, taxing and waste of time. I have a feeling Pakistanis are probably overjoyed by this decision. Other cricket fans won't be too happy about this and that's not because two incredible bowlers may return; but that this process of banning and overturning the ban a month later has lacked transparency and looks crooked as hell. I have no explanation...

As far as the players go, if they do join the squad for the SA tour, I can only begin to imagine how the crowd will deal with them. The PCB has not treated them well, which is what we know for sure, and they have gotten true justice. Who knows? The process should have been thorough in the beginning, when they were assumed guilty before the hearings even began. That makes it highly unlikely for anyone to believe and trust them.

I don't know if they are guilty of doping or not, and I suppose no one knows. From what I have read about Nandrolone, it is quite possible that it can be produced endogenously. The Pakistani public will accept this reasoning and give them the benefit of doubt. I'd like to see some more testing and some independent scientific analysis of the results. For all we know, the Shoaib and Asif really could be clean as a whistle, and their dietary supplements may be the cause of the illegal substances.

This trial, retrial and so on has raised more questions than it has has answered, and I think this will continue for a while...