How come Murali speaks?

Well it is indeed fascinating that the retired Sri Lankan off spinner has come out to throw out his words in the ongoing spot fixing issue that involves Pakistani players to a greater extent. Muttiah Muralitharan seeks life ban for all players who are and were involved in the spot fixing. Of course, there is nothing wrong in Muralitharan making the world know his views for, he was one among those fine cricketers who would be known for as long as the game lives for his awesome off spin and bent elbow more than anything else. That is just not enough.

This would not have made news had it been some other players barring a few like Shane Warne and of course Muttiah Muralitharan. Muralitharan himself was on the verge of losing not only his place in the side but also a life ban, which Muralitharan now insists that the players who are involved in the ugly episode be given. Despite repeated justifications by the Sri Lankan off spinner regarding the bending of his elbow during delivering the off spin, the world was not satisfied with those justifications. The bent elbow episode made news once Muralitharan reached 500 wickets in tests.

That was the time when Muralitharan was a threat to the Aussie leg spinner Shane Warne who was not only closing in on claiming the record but also managed it a couple of times. There was every threat to Muralitharan's career that may be shortened had his bent elbow thing not been set right. News suggests that Muralitharan was fined a no ball repeatedly in the test against Australia in the initial stage of his career for reasons not to be mentioned specially and the then Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga had to bring him to the other end to settle down things.

This is no Mumbaitee | Make Money Online Blogging site for anybody to just follow a procedure and reap the benefits. Once Muralitharan reached the 500 wicket mark, all efforts were made from the Australians' side to stop advancing any further to claim the record which the Aussies had taken it for granted to be theirs. Later on, Muralitharan was also asked by the ICC not to bowl the doosra which was for reasons best known to the ICC considered to be an illegal delivery despite his elbow bending by the same angle as his off spin does. Now, if Muralitharan want a life ban to be imposed on the guilty, he has to look back at his own past to see what a threat of a life ban is all about.

Victory despite all odds for England

Well it was a match between the current world T20 champions and the former world T20 champions - Pakistan who fought it out yesterday at Cardiff and the result can be more clearly told you by none other than the scorecard of the match. However, it need not be specially sited that this blog in particular does not deal with the scorecard or the winners and losers of a match but does deal with the way things have happened regarding both the teams out there. At this point, I don't recommend Shannon's Introspections . However, needless to be said, the onus was on Pakistan to do well.

Until the 1st T20 match between the teams mentioned above, it was only the bad performance by Pakistan in the past 8 months or so which was haunting them. But now, there is the new devil called match/spot fixing which is turning its head towards Pakistan mostly. Though there have been teams like India, England, Australia and Sri Lanka off late mentioned, Pakistan no doubt has a greater in it. And, losing yet another match to some team will just add fuel to the fire and Pakistan have done just that. Scorecard suggests that Pakistan lost only 4 wickets in the first innings.

The entire Pakistan innings never had even a single hit out of the ground. Not even from the blades of Shahid Afridi. In fact, Shahid Afridi came in at number six position when he should have made it to the crease in the top order. Nevermind that even the present position was also not bad though. Should this be considered as a bad performance by Pakistan or a decent one from England with the news speaking about match fixing most of the time? Such matches have happened in the past as well not only for those involving Pakistan but also other teams.

Being known for his hard hitting abilities, Shahid Afridi should have been seen striking the bowlers at will but, instead of that Shahid Afridi was found taking two out of the five wickets that fell during England's batting innings. Another interesting fact from the match is that both teams bowled just 2 extras and what is more! Both the teams gave away one run in the form of wide and another run in the form of leg bye. Well, this may not be owing to some fixing thing and is agreed to be purely coincidental. But, why did even the England innings also didn't contain a single hit out of the ground? Don't worry, even that is not fixed.

Sulieman Benn: A non Aussie sledger

Well whenever the word sledging is heard or is making news, the first name team that comes to everyone's mind is the Aussies starting from Dennis Lillie and Steve Waugh to the present day's players like Brett Lee, Ponting and Hayden. Their sledging is not restricted to on the field alone. Off the field as well, Aussies are masters of sledging which is quite evident from the story of Mathew Hayden calling Harbhajan Singh "an obnoxious weed" some three years down the lane during the Border-Gavaskar trophy 2007-08 and the Commonwealth Bank series that followed. Whatever, that series can be called as mother of sledging.

That series involved everything about sledging starting from the eight umpiring decisions that went wrong and the "monkey" word said to be uttered by Harbhajan Singh at Symonds. Then there was the egg throwing incident on the Sri Lankan off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan (of course not by any of the Australian players) who had come to participate in the Commonwealth Bank series that followed the 4 match India - Australia tests. Finally the Commonwealth Bank series not only ended with India winning the trophy and Adam Gilchrist & Brad Hogg bidding adieu but also with the incident of a streaker being hit by Andrew Symonds on the field.

Anyways, all these were just a recap of how ugly can sledging can get when it crosses the line and also when it doesn't. However, it seems that it is the birth right of an Australian player to say anything about their opponents and the fact that they have been and are today also unbeatable supports their on field deeds. But, outside the Aussie world as well, sledging has its own share but a bit more ugly one. The list includes India's Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh & Zaheer Khan offlate, Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akthar and the latest to join the list has happened to be West Indian Sulieman Benn.

This is the 2^nd time that the West Indian has been seen making news for the wrong reasons, after he was first time banned for doing so in the three match test series against Australia late last year when he had an on field spat with the Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson. This time again, the West Indian is found doing the same and is penalized by none other than the West Indian captain Chris Gayle who asked him to leave the field after the captain decided that Benn was not needed anymore. Though being unable to make a mark in cricket, such things can easily make Benn make headlines.

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?