No more blind slogging

Well a person who had made news for the right as well as the wrong reasons has decided to call it a day when yesterday the Pakistani slogger-Shahid Afridi quits international cricket. This would mean most of the major cricketing websites would focus on his three fastest hundreds that came against three sub-continent nations namely Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh. But, speaking facts, Shahid Afridi's absence in the Pakistani batting line up should boost up their middle order for, Shahid Afridi is no way better than some Shoaib Akthar or any other tail end batsmen when it comes to batting.

With so many beautiful shots out there like the cover-drive, the on-drive and much more, Shahid Afridi has had only one shot-just blindly whip the bat and in case it makes contact with the ball you have six runs added to your credit. And, in case the ball nicks the edge of the bat, the slip fielder would be having one more catch to his credit and that is all. In that regard, Shahid Afridi is a batsman one of his kind. Even tail end batsmen would think a dozen times before going in for a shot unlike Shahid Afridi from Pakistan.

We can remember the Australian nightwatchman Jason Gillespie who got a double hundred against Bangladesh which is too much for his standard as a batsman. It was just the helplessness of the Pakistan Crickat Board (PCB) which hardly had any option but to crown Afridi as the Pakistani captain for the 2011 world cup. Afridi should consider himself to be lucky for, he was the captain of the Pakistan side which defeated Australia after their unbeaten 36 match streak and made it to the finals after Waqar Younis and Inzamam (who were better captains compared to Shahid Afridi) could not manage.

Irrespective of the situation his team was in, Shahid Afridi took no serious responsibility of his team and used to slog blindly. The three fastest hundreds out of his six centuries should be nothing but fluke. On the other hand, his bowling had a good amount of variation and used to deceive even the most awesome batsmen which saw him bag two five wicket hauls and an equal number of four wicket hauls in the recently concluded world cup. When most of his fans expected him to showcast his power with the bat, he kept them in suspense when his ball listened to him rather then his bat.

Karachi Association's selfish take

Well, all of us are aware of the way the PCB behaved in an awkward manner when Pakistan lost all matches in their tour to Australia late last year. The PCB dropped as many as 8 players from the playing eleven which then was forced to be reverted back when there was the world T20 championship and making a stupid decision would prove costly for the PCB. Had the PCB continued with the decision to exclude all the dropped players, then, may be the PCB itself might have been dropped. PCB would have made news for being dropped for dropping.

No matter what the Pakistan team's performance had to say to the field but, such things often happen to every team like India lost all three matches in the super eights of the world T20 not once but twice in 2009 and then in this year's edition. So has been the case with Australia who failed to get past the initial stage of the world T20 last year when they lost both their matches to West Indies and Sri Lanka in 2009. Getting into the details would be something out of the topic. Coming to the topic, the Karachi association has found to throw its words regarding Pakistan's performance in the test against England.

In both the test matches against England, Pakistan slumped to their lowest totals when they lost all their wickets for a score of 80 in the second innings of the first test and 72 in the first innings of the second test off late. One has to be fortunate rather to come across such beautiful performances by the team which has been found making news for all the wrong reasons since their disastrous tour of Australia as mentioned last year. This performance against England can only add fuel to fire and this time it is not the PCB but the Karachi association which is found breaking its silence.

What has got to do with the squad that toured England when the same Pakistan team was found beating the mighty Aussies just a month back. In fact, Pakistan came out more victorious on that tour when they convincingly beat the Aussies in the 2 T20 games which they played and than in the second test after losing the first test. Pakistan were successful in bowling the Aussie batsmen for a partly score of 88 in the first innings of the second test. So, just think why is the same squad not been credited by the Karachi association when they lose the same to England? Why should Karachi boast of players from its side when the national team can benefit if it behaves otherwise.

Inzy decides to come to light

Well the retired Pakistani batsman, Inzamam Ul Haq has shown his interest in becoming the batting coach for his team if the latest news in Pakistan cricket is anywhere to go by. This, if at all happens, would be another star batsman taking over as the coach of the Pakistan team after Javed Miandad was selected as the Pakistani coach in the bilateral series involving India in 2004. Though secondary at the moment, that was after a long gap of 12 years that India were touring Pakistan for reasons once again which are secondary here. Whatsoever, Inzamam's nod for the job should be worth a thought by the PCB.

The Pakistan team need not be blamed for losing 3 + 5 + 1 matches against Australia last year which was extended to two more T20 losses at the hands of Australia in the T20 world cup followed by a loss in the first test in England. Likewise, it would be worth mentioning that they did win the second test against Australia unexpectedly not before whitewashing the same in the two T20 games that preceded the test series. One doubt that everyone should be found asking should be why was there no one day games played between the countries? Anyways, why should we bother when ICC didn't? Right!

Coming to Inzy, the man has been not only out of any cricketing action but has also been out from all sorts of cricket news. After his retirement from all forms of the game in 2007, Inzy was found starting the 2nd innings of his cricketing life when he was found playing for Lahore Badshahs in the banned Indian Cricket League. Since then, Inzamam has neither been seen playing in any of the domestic leagues (atleast as far as my knowledge goes) nor found taking the mike in his hand and doing some sort of commentary stuff like say Wasim Akram is doing after is retirement some 7 years ago.

And, how long can Inzy keep himself isolated from the world of cricket, when he has made news for the good reasons in the field since the 1992 world cup for a decade and a half. As a matter of fact, Imran Kahn was found making news in the elections when he stood opposite Benazir Bhutto and then Waqar Younis is seen coaching the bowlers of the national team after 6 years of retiring from all forms of the game. I doubt whether anybody knows that Waqar Younis is the third highest wicket taker in ODIs. And then, despite a hattrick in the 1999 world cup and just 12 scalps less than 300 to his name, Saqlain Mushtaq is a forgotten episode in Pak cricket.

The careers after retirement for a cricketer would be commentator, coach, columnist or finally player in other leagues. And, with the ICL breathing its last and IPL closing all doors for Pakistani players, the only option left for Inzy would be coach and it would be no surprise that he is utmost needed for the job.

The PCB corrects itself

Well before anybody would term the PCB as mentally sick, it is a good news to the entire cricket world and especially Pakistan cricket that the bans and fines on the Pakistani players that included Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan among the eight has been finally scrapped not by anyone else but by the PCB itself. Needless to be said, the aforementioned Pakistan players were imposed hefty fines and unimaginable bans after their disastrous tour of Australia where Pakistan returned home without even a single win from three tests + 5 One dayers + 1 T20 game that was played.

Recently, the ban of one year and a fine of a whooping 2 million rupees on Shoaib Malik was lifted by a tribunal which reduced the fine by half which has now entitled Shoaib Malik to pay just rupees 1 million. The word just is far from being justified here when the matter involves sums upto rupees one million. But, the comparison here is done with 2 million and needless to be said is far greater than 1 million rupees. And, with Pakistan being winners of the world T20 last year, the amount should not be as big as it is thought to be.

The poorest of poor performance by the Pakistani players should and can never be forgiven no matter what. It does not matter that it was Australia whom Pakistan were facing in their own den and a victory is far from being achieved. But, even a defeat in all matches is far from expected as far as Pakistan is considered. The Pakistani players deserve a harsh punishment but not a crazy one like it has been done by the PCB. However, when the ban on Shoaib Malik has been revoked and fine reduced, it looks like the PCB is rethinking on its decision which is rather crazy as mentioned.

Now, the PCB has revoked the bans and reduced fines for other players as well long before the Pakistan cricket follows the West Indies team. There is the multi team starer Asia cup to be stared in the coming month and with most of the Pakistani players facing the axe, there might be a major disaster waiting to happen in case the PCB does not turn up. A hint regarding the same has been felt in the recently concluded ICC world T20 when Pakistan lost games to England and New Zealand in the super eights after losing the group stage encounter with the Aussies.

Tribunal lifts crazy ban on Malik

Well no fool on earth would have upheld the one year ban on Shoaib Malik which in addition was also supported with a fine of Rs2 million all for coming back empty handed in the tour of Australia earlier this year where Pakistan lost 9 games to Australia which included 3 tests, 5 one day internationals and one T20 game. But, this should not mean any sort of crazy action like what the PCB has been seen doing. One has to wonder what does one mean by a fine of 2 million rupees. Not even a burglar would have been made to pay this much fine.

Condemnations have come in from all corners of the globe regarding the PCB's ban on eight Pakistani players and as mentioned above the fine of 2 million rupees. If the performance of the Pakistani players in Australia were shocking, more shocking was the way their cricket board reacted to that performance. The PCB should have gone mentally sick when such a crazy fine and punishment was imposed on the players. This condemnation does not mean that the bad patch created by the Pakistani players need to be given a go ahead. Such poor performance does not deserve any sort of pardon no matter what.

The PCB was never found taking any such decisions towards the Pakistani players when they were omitted from the world cup in 2007 after losing their matches against West Indies and Ireland, which Pakistan was expected to win effortlessly. However, the PCB was found taking a similar decision when Pakistan failed to get past the initial round after losing their round robin games to Australia, England and India in the 2003 world cup held in South Africa. This was just another bilateral series by Pakistan and a loss should not have been dealt with so crazily. But, forgiving such a hapless performance is totally out of the way.

In case the court had upheld Shoaib Malik's ban, people's thinking towards the court would had to change for the wrong reasons. It is not Pakistan alone who have returned with an empty hand from Australia. Even teams like South Africa, India and England have failed to win a test series in Australia. Their performance might have been better than Pakistan in 2010 but not satisfactory. Pakistan did everything they could to get into the semis of the world T20 and also tried enough to enter the finals which by bad luck didn't happen. And coming to the end, even the ICC should ban Pakistan from playing cricket for failing to host any cricket matches in its country since past 3 years that is if at all PCB's action in justified.

PCB does another blunder regarding T20 squad

Just a day after the PCB axed a couple of players from the national team, with some the remaining players given a year bans and finally by imposing a hefty fine on the remaining players, the very same PCB has selected the world T20 probables. With the decision to drop and impose fines on so many players itself being a joke, one can imagine the reason behind judging which player should be given a life ban and which player should be just let off with a fine. There were 2 players namely Mohammed Yousuf and Younis Khan who were axed from the team permanently.

However, I remember Mohammed Yousuf becoming the number one batsman in test cricket less than a year back which he hardly deserved. That was a time when the entire Pakistan team had made a comeback after having a year in 2008 where Pakistan didn't play a single test match. And then, just one performance was enough to see him top the rankings. And then, coming to the squad for the world T20, both Mohammed Yousuf and Younis Khan were aged 35 and, their service to the Pakistan can be expected to be limited. And, moreover Younis Khan had quit T20 cricket and a ban on him can in no way trouble anyone.

And, if at all there has to be someone who can be thought of as a certainity in the Pakistan squad for the upcoming world T20 would be Shahid Afridi for the lone reason that he can swing the ball though baseless and irresponsible. Much to one's surprise, Shahid Afridi was awarded the man of the series in the inaugural edition of the T20 world cup and then in 2009 was the man of the match on two consecutive and important occasions- in the semi finals and the finals of the tournament. And now, the PCB once again suspects his capabilities as captain.

One has to wonder that someone who has not been able to be a responsible player despite playing for a decade is being made a captain. Perhaps! it is too far that one fine day the PCB might even rope in Afridi as a coach of the Pakistan team. It was the Akmal brothers who were responsible for the loss to Australia in the second test at Sydney when Kamran Akmal dropped three catches which helped Australia win the match from nowhere. And, it was the run out of Salman Butt that spiolt Pakistan's party in one of the games. But, all four have been included in the T20 squad. Rana Naved and Asif were pretty decent with the ball, with the latter being devastative when he took 4 Aussie wickets to restrict Australia to 127 at Sydney.

So, it would not be wrong to say that the PCB has given harsh punishments for players who deserved lesser punishments and the players who were seriously irresponsible were let of with a year bans and also with a fine which today's cricketers can earn in a short period of time. May be the PCB is waiting for the T20 world cup to get over so that the remaining players can be given harsher punishments.

Should the WICB also follow the PCB?

This would not have been the case even if the Pakistani players had involved themselves into some sort of scandal like the match fixing one. Neither this would have been the case had the players backing out from a tour citing some unnecessary reasons. But, the decision that the PCB has taken needs a thorough analysis. This was and is the way the PCB had earlier dealt with the Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akthar, who even today has not been able to make it back to the international arena and has no option but to cool his heels doing what he thinks is 2^nd best to playing cricket.

One need not be specially mentioned that the action taken by the PCB against 7 of its players is totally baseless. This is not the first time that the PCB has taken such a stand against its players. Earlier in 2003, after Pakistan failed to go past the 1st round in the world cup at South Africa, 8 of the Pakistani players namely Wasim akram, Waqar Younis, Saqlain Mushtaq, Saeed Anwar, Shoaib Akthar, Inzamam Ul Haq, Saeed Anwar and Rashid Latif were sacked from international cricket. And, a year later, it had be the same Inzaman to come back and lead Pakistan to a test win against Bangladesh, when all seemed to be lost for Pakistan.

Luckily, Shoaib's ban was revoked when he appeared in the tri series featuring Sri Lanka, Pakiatan and New Zealand very soon after his suspension from the team. And now, the PCB has taken the same approach towards their players for losing the Aussie tour. One has to wonder as to what would the PCB gain after sacking these players. It was the PCB who pushed Younus Khan to play against Australia and now the same player is sacked. And, when these players, among whom were senior players as well are shown the doors, upon who does the PCB rely to take the Pakistani cricket forward?

It is not only Pakistan who have failed to return with a win against Australia in Australia. Even the West Indies who were found touring the same Australia returned without a single win from Australia. All the West Indies could achieve was a drawn test at Adelaide and then a 4-0 defeat as against the 5-0 defeat the Pakistan had. Though it is agreed that the one off match was abandoned which would have seen the West Indies also crumble to a 5-0 defeat. And, the Pakistan team atleast came close to winning the T20 game unlike the West Indies who gave it away totally without a fight. So, should the WICB also follw PCB?

A reason to sack Shoaib Akthar

As expected, this time as well, the Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akthar has been eliminated from the list of probables for the world T20 beginning this April. Though this was not a shock news for most of us, it is truly disappointing for atleast some of us if not all. Shoaib Akthar need not be in full praise for the world's fastest delivery bowled by him with a bent elbow which he might be proud of. Neither was his pace of any danger to any of the well known batsmen of the world. On the otherhand, bowlers with a lesser pace and some part time bowlers have managed to fare better than Shoaib.

One need not compare Shoaib with Wasim Akthar or Waqar Younis but, it has been found that every Pakistani captain prefers a part time bowler (who has converted himself into a full time one due to lack of the same in Pakistan cricket) in Shahid Afridi, who is now a days seen bowling 10 overs in every ODI he is found playing. His flash in the pan brilliance was evident when he was able to take 4 wickets for Kolkata Knight Riders in the very first match that he played for the same. This was done against the Delhi Daredevils at Kolkata only to be belted for 14.5 runs an over by Sanath Jayasuriya in their 68 run chase in the next game.

Unlike it has happened to Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan, Shoaib Akthar has been lucky when it came to his bent elbow. Muralitharan was targetted by the entire world with Australians having a major share in it when he was about to claim the world record for having the most wickets in test cricket. But, Shoaib Akthar's other related controversies have always found haunting him wherever he goes and whomever he faces. It is not the ICC alone that has targetted Shoaib off late but the PCB itself when it considers Shoaib Akthar to be dangerous for them off the field than to the opposition on it.

And time as well, the PCB has sidelined Shoaib Akthar for the T20 world cup that is due in the Caribbean in April this year. And the lame excuse that the PCB is found giving this time is neither got to do anything with his fitness or his form. But, the PCB terms Shoaib Akthar unfit for the tour citing his long term absence from international cricket, which reports suggest that Shoaib last played for Pakistan somewhere in May 2009 against Australia at UAE. But, even Pakistan had not played test cricket for more than a year in 2008 after all teams started boycotting their tours to Pakistan. Should the ICC also ban Pak from playing test cricket?

When tail-enders take no responsibility...

When an Aussie bowler who made an ODI debut at the age of 30+ and in his second one dayer picks up his first 5 wicket haul against a team who have a history of winning a world cup and making it to the finals of another, one has to indeed question whether Pakistan are indeed interested in playing serious cricket be it the one day or test cricket. If one goes through the scorecard of yesterday's third one day international between Australia and Pakistan, the Pakistani captain did the same mistake that he was found doing in the first ODI.

This time at Adelaide as well, Mohammed Yousuf went in for just five bowlers who bowled their full quota of 10 overs each. May be, had the ICC not imposed any such rules regarding the number of overs a bowler can bowl in an ODI match, Yousuf would have even gone in for just one or two bowlers to bowl the entire 50 overs. The other side of the coin is also that the Pakistan side had hardly any bowler who could give the main bowlers a break and step in as a part time bowler. Such is the destiny of today's Pakistan cricket.

If the recent past is given a close look at, chasing a total of even 300+ is not considered a difficult task. May be this doesn't hold good as far as Australia is considered. At the end of the day, anyone can come out with a reason regarding their team's loss. And how much weight that reason can be given becomes a different issue altogether. Compared to the previous ODIs, Pakistan have been putting a better performance each time they faced the Aussies. They bought the Aussies close to 50 overs in the first ODI while chasing 275. And in the 2nd, they utilized an extra bowler though they ultimately got out for 127.

Now, in the 3^rd, Pakistan despite losing 4 quick wickets for 60 runs put up an 85 run partnership that could have well been converted to a winning total of 287. Some irresponsible shots from the blades of Shahid Afridi and Naved-Ul-Hasan have to be dealt with seriously if this is not happen once again. It looks like the PCB has failed in handling Afridi, who has the power to make it big but is allowed to play reckless shots, which are at most of the times irresponsible. Such shots can make only a gully cricketer and not an international. It is no more than a black mark on Afridi for playing such shots.

A 19 year old Umar Akmal along with Fawad Alam were found playing decent cricket compared to what Afridi & Naved played. Tail end batting is assumed by the Pakistani players to just give an entertainment to the crowd and nothing else. It is the performance of these tail enders who make a difference between a victory and a defeat. Pakistan have to learn from the Aussies who had a last ball victory in the ICC Champions Trophy which was made possible by tail enders Brett Lee & Nathan Hauritz who put up a 19 run partnership and also stood for 20 balls without taking unwanted risks like the ones taken by Afridi & Naved.