Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan

Shoaib Malik, the 25 year old Pakistani skipper hails from the city of Sailkot, the north eastern industrial hub of Punjab. A versatile performer on the field, Malik had been ear marked as a future captain in Pakistan Cricket circles much before his eventual appointment following the debacle of 2007 World Cup. His obvious cricketing talent however hasn’t always meant a clean bill of health in the disciplinary records.

Twice he has been reported (and subsequently cleared) for having a suspect action, so much so that captain now bowls only infrequently and almost never balls his contentious “doosra” delivery. His action however, hasn’t been the only polemic point of his career. Two years ago, in Pakistan’s inaugural domestic 20Twenty competition he had intentionally lost a match leading his native Saiklot Stallion team against the Karachi Zebras with the intention of engineering an exit for a rival side, the Lahore Eagles. The Eagles had earlier won against Sialkot in a game where Malik’s side was docked overs for poor over rate, despite, in Malik’s opinion, having an acceptable over rate. Malik’s actions as such were seen as something of a protest against them.

But the Pakistan Cricket Board (and very rightly at that) wasn’t the tiny bit impressed. Immediate actions were undertaken, that involved declaring the result of the match null and void and penalizing Malik with his entire match fee and handed a 1 test match ban. Malik’s punishment could have been even severe, but the fact that he had in due course apologized for his actions, admitting to have been caught up “in the heat of the moment”, probably saved him from further penalties. Rameez Raja at the time said the fiasco could have a lasting impact on Malik’s career, especially his chances of gaining captaincy in the future.

Though Raja’s fears failed to materialize when Malik emerged as an obvious contender for the job after Inzamam’s exit, the young man’s impassioned temperament, that has more the once led him to say or do things he later regrets, has resurfaced again. After winning many plaudits through out the course of the recently concluded ICC 20 Twenty World Cup for how he ably led a young, unrated side right down to the final, Malik landed in hot water over what would appears to be an apparent gaffe at the tournament’s last presentation ceremony.

This article at Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan has been composed by Zainub Razvi.

They say that before a great battle commences, the subtle march of thousands towards the battlefield, producing a humming sound, vibrating the grounds, enters the ears of the brigade already waiting to meet their end. And up above the higher grounds, a vision of the armies of the foe beyond the horizon becomes “before the horizon” and intensifies the nerves of those in the higher grounds who although are resting on firm grounds feel the shiver of the moments to engulve them soon. The earth knows it when the battle will commence and signals the sky red. And what bloodier venue for a blood striken sky than the plains of Africa, home of the lions, the predators at pray which at sunset render the sky bloody red.

We shall go down south where Pakistan awaits India tomorrow. Who’s the predator and who’s the pray is a matter of context. Both have been ruthless, both have been mighty hungry as their recent downfall in the Carribeans thrusted their thirsts for the coming bloody battle that awaits us tomorrow dusk. So who shall be the king of the jungle tommorrow at the inaugral World twenty20 Cup?

This article at Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan has been composed by Atif Abdul-Rahman.

People of Pakistan are abuzz with the tickling thought of another world cup victory. It may not be the World Cup of the fuller version 50 over game but its still a trophy to carry home with pride. There are flashback fond memories of a nation huddled in prayer during the months of Ramadan back in 1992, yet again its Ramadan and Pakistan is on the verge of conquering this beast yet again.

Pakistan batted well, it trumped Australia a few days back more so as I feel the Aussies underperformed, dropping catches and coming through with average style bowling. Today with New Zealand it was yet again the same story, dropped catches, poor batting and average bowling. I do not mean to steal the thunder from the Pakistan Cricket team, but I feel luck was in their favor and would have to bat out of their pants regardless of who emerges from the second semi-final.

Inzamam-ul-Haq, the former Pakistan captain, has been summoned as a witness by a London tribunal that will hear umpire Darrell Hair’s suit against the ICC and the Pakistan board. Hair is suing for alleged racial discrimination in the aftermath of the Oval controversy. Had Inzamam been in Pakistan rather than in England – playing county cricket for Yorkshire – the tribunal would not have had the power to call him.

Hair, is actually going after the ICC for racial discrimination after he was banned from officiating international matches in the aftermath of the Oval saga. It was then that Hair had decided to sue the ICC on charges of racial discrimination. – Cricinfo

This article at Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan has been composed by Teeth Maestro.

There’s something about this Pakistan team and its recent string of performances in this spectacle of the ICC Twenty 20 World Cup that has really struck me. Its not so much that they’ve not really lost any matches so far (and lets be fair, you can hardly term the farce of the “bowl out” against India as a loss) but how they’ve actually played that’s impressed me.

Pakistan Cricket, never really short of activity as such, had been at its eccentric best in the lead up to this tournament. The ICC World Test Player of the Year, Mohammad Yousuf, was apparently dropped. While selectors maintained he was merely “rested” he and another absentee in Abdul Razzaq both signed up for the break away Indian Cricket League, apparently in retaliation to being dropped. There’s been some criticism of the players for this, for how they’ve supposedly fallen for lure of money in place of the honor of representing one’s country, but I’d be inclined to lay the blame flatly on Salu Bhai, Pakistan’s chief selector as he’s affectionately called. I don’t know what the ICL holds for the game for sure, but if it can end some of the monopoly Asian boards have over the sport, and bring in some much need transparency and accountability, it can’t as bad as I’ve been hearing from some quarters.

Back to Pakistan’s lead up, and if all that controversy over selection issues wasn’t enough on its own, Shoaib Akhtar decided on the eve of the tournament to dish up a little fight with Mohammad Asif, later sighting the no-less mercurial Afridi as the reason for the instigation. Asif and Afridi later both denied these claims and Akhtar was promptly send back home. Add in a new captain (Shoaib Malik) and an equally new coach (Geoff Lawson) into the mix and there you go: the typical feel of uncertainty that has become a norm with Pakistani sides of recent years, once again resurfaced. It’s almost as if some one up there has already predestined these things; if ifs not chaotic, it can’t be Pakistan.

But what was has been slightly different this time, is that once things have got out on the field, that chaos has evaded us. Well, part of it at least. The other part, as per Pakistani tradition, always sticks around, almost like they are bad omens in life, so you can learn to appreciate the good ones more. The perfect example of this can be seen in Pakistan’s top order which is still as erratic as ever. Imran Nazir, Mohammad Hafeez and Salmat Butt are all good fielders, and on the ground they add a really positive vibe to Pakistan’s fielding, which too has been uncharacteristically deft in this tournament, especially today, against the world champs Australia. But once they go out to bat, common sense ceases to exist. After two or three perfectly sensible shots, they’ll either feed a half volley down some fielder’s throat or take a big swing without moving their feet at all and pay the price.

This article at Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan has been composed by Zainub Razvi.

The story for any Pakistani watching the last India vs Pakistan a few days back in the Twenty20 match goes quite like the usual roller coaster that is the hallmark of any match between these two arch rivals. You are bound to be treated with one hell of a ride and supporters on both sides of the border prepare for the worst yet pray for a sweet victory.

Pakistan did all the hard work but at the last moment when the bowlers were required to hit the stumps in a penalty-shoot-out / bowl-out we could not even muster a single wicket. Simply embarrassing – but heck its only a game and penalty shoot outs usually leave one side wishing for more – in Pakistan’s case – the only defence the team management could muster up was ‘they had no idea that there was going to be a penalty shoot out’ – truly hilarious

This article at Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan has been composed by Teeth Maestro.

Whew! We won the match, we saw a blazing knock by Boom Boom Afridi hitting 22 runs of seven balls along with a decent spell by both Gul and Afridi taking four wickets a piece. Luckily the match ended in our favor with a 51 run victory, but for gods sake it was Scotland, this should have been a run fest and a practice match for tougher games to follow our batting order should have racked up far more runs then a measly 170 run lead. Considering the first day explosions presented by West Indies when the tried unsuccessfully to wrap up South Africa with a 205 run advantage which too did not prove much for the South Africans as they wrapped up the innings in 17 overs flat.

Keeping the first day WI vs SA match I feel anything less then 180 score is close to a loosing score. and maybe a 200 odd figure could be fighting at best

This article at Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan has been composed by Teeth Maestro.

Nasim Ashraf, the chairman of PCB Cricket has issued a gag order on all PCB player to not discuss Shoaib Ahktar and his assault on Mohd Asif.

“Shoaib was sent home and handed an indefinite ban following a dressing-room scuffle, during which he hit Asif on the thigh with a bat. On arrival in Pakistan, Shoaib blamed Afridi for provoking him, saying that he made offensive comments about his family. Afridi later denied instigating the spat and said he couldn’t understand why Shoaib targeted him.” – Cricinfo

While Nasim Ashraf feeling the heat yet again before the start of another tournament blurted out to Reuters by saying quote “Shoaib and the others should keep their mouth shut on this issue”

This article at Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan has been composed by Teeth Maestro.

Cross Posted from Teeth Maestro: In hot news coming in from South Africa where the Pakistan cricket team is in their final preparations for the upcoming Twenty 20 World Cup. Apart from cricketing news it seems two Pakistani fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Asif have made headlines when they have had a war of words in the dressing room leaving some injuries to Asif which were the result of being hit by a bat on the left thigh.

Following the incident Asif was taken for x-rays and was luckily found to have superficial bruising only. If I were Asif my first reaction would be to place this idiot into his right place by suing him for assault. I like many Pakistanis are not surprised to see Shoaib Akhtar making a fuss all over again some how the cricket selectors fail to see the apparent signs of a psychological problems surrounding the fast bowler not recently but can be seen well over two years ago when this blogger categorically discussed this problem

This article at Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan has been composed by Teeth Maestro.