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Pakistan cricket continues to embroil itself in self inflicted problems, just when the fans begin to take a sigh of relief that the discords within the team have been settled or repurcussions of the latest scandal are over the players and the management brew a new problem out of nowhere.

In the latest episode of Pakistan cricket’s never ending soap opera ” Shahid Afridi has announced retirement from international cricket after he was stripped off from captaincy of Pakistan’s Odi team. 

The root cause of the current crisis was an altercation between Waqar Younis and Afridi during the Carribean tour, it was reported that Waqar Younis and the team management were dominating the tour selection committee and marginalized the Captain for which which Afridi rightfully protested infront of the media upon his return from the tour. He was immediately issued a warning, later on Afridi withdrew himself from the Irish tour when he heard that he was being removed from the captaincy of akistan’s Odi team.

To a sane mind it would seem highly strange that how a simple issue of difference of opinion between the management and the captain got so out of control that first the management had to strip a sitting captain of his job for issuing a harmless statement in the media and as a result the captain who also happens to be Pakistan’s ” MVP” in the limited overs format for quite some time had to announce his retirement from international cricket citing his unability to play under current management.

Recently the SriLankan team went through a lot of changes nobody announced their retirement, the English team removed Collingwood from Captaincy of their T20 team. The Australian made Ricky Ponting to step down from captaincy, The WICB removed Gayle not only from captaincy but also from the team.

If the rest of the world can undergo these changes smoothly why is that Cricket Pakistan can’t deal with these isssue like simple managerial routines.  In my opinion the arguments within Pakistan cricket are never based on principles they always stem from power struggle, the desire for power and control stems from corruption which is rampant in Pakistan cricket. Every body wants the Lions share, the management by controlling the team and using the players as puppets and the captains want the Lions share since they have to bite the bullet after every unsuccessful tournament.

Why Ijaz But wanted to reward Misbah by making him the captain of Pakistan’s Odi team? For singlehandedly losing the WC semi final? Or for losing a test and drawing a test series against a team which can’t beat even a decent club side in Pakistan. Why Waqar Younis wants to control the team selection his main job is coaching he is not the selector he doesn’t lead the team on the field he is not ultimately responsible for the team’s performance infront of the media?

The reason is simple, given his role in corruption in the past and his decision to step down of the coaching job under Nasim Ashraf tells us a lot why he wants to take control of the team.

I have never been a huge fan of Afridi as I have always considered him one of the players who have always been involved in power struggle and even though I think that he was wronged in the current situation but I think he got what he deserved. Now by playing the regional card he is once again trying to gain sympathies of the nation but I would have been more sympathetic to him if he had exposed the management and the coach or the so called Lahore Lobby, but I guess his hands are also dirty so he can’t speak the truth and can only play dirty politics.

After the World cup the site has been inactive as I was bored by the standard of cricket played by Pakistan and the recurrent upheavels in Pakistan cricket have become too predictable. I think our voice has no value and it always falls on deaf ears, so why waste our time and effort.

In a tournament only one team gets the ultimate glory the rest of them come home empty handed. Unfortunately Pakistan’s world cup campaign was cut short by a dominant Indian team.

The nation is divided and confused that should they accord a warm welcome to their heroes for making it to the final four and barely missing to reach the final stage or should they hold the culprits accountable who didn’t put up a fight and handed over the match in a silver platter to their opponents.

The opinion is divided, a lot of people are sick and tired of the match fixing scandals as they bring more humiliation to the nation then a mere defeat, majority in Pakistan doesn’t want to hear about any match fixing allegations or any sort of corruption associated with their team. Then there are people who think that qualifying for the Semis and topping the group was a major achievement given the turmoil the team faced during the last four years, the team already exceeded the expectations of everybody.

India started the game with a lot of aggression, Sehwag gave his team a flying start, It was Gul’s second over both him and Afridi had a mini chat after which they decided to change  the field and left only two fielders on the ON side, I am not sure whose brilliant idea it was Afridi’s or Gul’s but both were in it, the next three deliveries were bowled on Sehwag’s pads which he flicked to the unprotected boundary with effortless ease. Why Gul bowled on the pads when he had just two fielders on the leg side???? But wait it gets even worse, Afridi after the third boundary decided to react to situation and placed two more fielders on the ON side and by doing so he created gaps on the off side. Gul realizing that On side field is plugged gifted two deliveries wide and short outside off stump so that Sehwag can easily find the boundary, bowlers usually bowl according to field but Gul was in the mood of giving gifts to Sehwag.

In his first over Gul moved the ball away from the batsmen twice which showed that there was movement, even Razzaq in his first over moved the ball but in his second and third overs Gul for some odd reason was not holding the seam up right  but from cross seam, why he did that only he can answer.

I don’t want to take any credit away from Sehwag he still had to find the gaps and put away those balls for boundaries. 

But as for Gul all I can say is that it was highly un charecteristic of him for not using the seam properly and not taking enough protection on the on side, he didn’t use the bouncer or his yorkers when Sehwag was slaughtering him.

The commentators kept on saying that this pitch is as flat as a cemented pitch but that wasn’t the case Razzaq moved the ball so did Wahab Riaz and the Indian bowlers.

Next up was Wahab Riaz, the damage was done or (the job was done) after 5 overs India were 47. The easy runs given by Gul provided the Indians a cushion to bat slowly when the spinners were introduced. Wahab and Saeed Ajmal brought Pakistan back into the game. Wahab got rid off Sehwag but two successive third umpire decisions went against Pakistan, Tendulkar was LBW plumb in front of wickets but the Hawk eye showed that the ball was missing the legstump, I am not sure how this technology works but the predictive path shown by hawk eye was all bull shit the blue line had a kink in it, I am not sure why it was there do they allow some degrees of turn for off spinners but that curve or kink was unexplainable. The very next ball Tendulkar got stumped by Akmal but once again the third umpire decided it too quickly it was a close call and a mattter of just one frame but if one looks at the shadow of the stumps the bails were off and Tendulkar’s feet was still not completely grounded. But anyways it was a close call and it had to go in favor of the batsman.

Afrter this Pakisan dropped four catches of Tendukar, looked like that Pakistan team were desperate to allow him to make his century, the first culprit was Kamran Akmal, the second one was Misbah, then Younis and Umar Akmal. Fielding is not Pakistan teams strength but dropping easy catches of the same batsman by three of your best fielders should raise eyebrows especially when there was a lot of bets placed on Tendulkar scoring a 100 against Pakistan and with each dropped catch more people betted in favor of the him scoring a century.

Wahab Riaz got two wickets on two consecutive deliveries and brought back Pakistan in the game the run rate had already dropped, but Afridi eased the pressure on Dhoni by spreading the field and not having close in fielders, he didn’t gave Ajmal a slip which was criminal, The fielders who were in the circle were placed  way to back and easy singles were given to the Indians at this stage. If he had applied more pressure Pakistan could have restrained India around 230.

India managed to set a target of 260 to Pakistan due to a fine knock by Raina in the end and once again poor bowling by Umar Gul at death who kept on bowling full tosses in his last spell.

Given the nature of the pitch and the fast out field 260 was not a huge score for Pakistan they just needed a solid start and had to accumulate in the middle and had to preserve wickets.

The openers did a fine job they gave a decent start Pakistan were 44/1 after 9overs Kamran Akmal  was the first one to go getting out in his usual manner slicing a square drive staright to a fielder. Plenty of batting was to follow, people hoped that in this match either Razzaq or U Akmal will be sent up the order  if the openers got out early but Afridi follows a default template, the moment Shafiq came in the runs dried up for a few overs, In the next 7 overs Pakistan just scored 26 runs and lost another wicket.

Hafeez batting at 43 had a brain fade and attempted a paddle sweep to a ball which was way outside off stump and was fuller in length and threw away his wicket, he had hit seven crisp boundaries and was scoring freely, but this has been a highlight of his career he always scores a nice 3o and then becomes too overconfident and plays a stupid shot.

It would  be unfair if I do not praise Munaf and Nehra here, they bowled beautifully moved the ball both ways and kept the batsman guessing their line and length was immaculate which makes me wonder why Gul couldn’t move the ball.

Pakistan were 70/1 after 15 overs and Inida were 99/1 at the same stage exactly 29 runs a head which eventually became the margin of defeat.

 Even after Hafeez got out the match was evenly poised the fans hoped that Younis Khan who is the best player of spin in Pakistan will play a grinding knock alongwith Shafiq and will take Pakistan to a strong position but Younis left all the burden of scoring on young Asad Shafiq and Younis kept on wasting precious overs on the other side, The pair scored 33 runs from 8.2 overs out of which Younis scored only 11 runs and faced 24 balls, Indian bowling was tight through out this period but Younis Khan took no initiative and put a lot of pressure on the young batsman on the other end. Eventually Shafiq feeling the heat  tried to cut a straight delivery from Yuvraj and missed it completely and got bowled at 30. Pakistan were 103/3 after 24 overs, the run rate was climbing and they needed to accelerate a lot of responsibility fell on the shoulders of Yk and Misbah.

Younis got out eleven balls later it was a soft dismissal for a batsman of his stature Yuvraj enticed him to drive and he spooned a catch straight to Raina. India were on top at this stage and Pakistan went into panic mode. This is the time in the match where the real bizarre drama unfolded, Misbah went into a complete shell and left all the scoring responsibility on his partners, it makes sense that one of the Pakistan main batsman had to bat till end but not taking singles was criminal he wasted 4-5 deliveries in most of the overs he faced and failed to rotate the strike even Saeed Ajmal could have done this job. Umar Akmal started his innings aggressively and for a moment Pakistani fans thought that they will come back in the match but in the 33rd over Umar took a single on the first ball and Misbah blocked all the five remaining deliveries, that  put immense pressure on Umar to improvise and score, experienced Harbhajan sensed that Umar will try to attempt a big shot on the On side which was largely vacant produced a beauty, he bowled a quicker one on the middle and off which kept straight Umar who was already loaded for a pull shot with a high back lift was surprised by the pace of the ball and missed it completely and was bowled. Pakistan were 142/5 after 33.1 overs.

Theoretically they still had a chance as Afridi and Razzaq were still to come but the knowing the form of these two Pakistani fans knew that the match was over. Razzaq came a head of Afridi plenty of overs were left he had all the time in the world to get set and then launch but he lasted only 3 overs and scored 3 runs off 9 balls. He completely missed a leg cutter from Munaf and got bowled. Imran Khan’s stance of playing an extra bowler got vindicated as Razzaq bowled only two overs and scored just 3 runs, Rahman could have been a better option both with bat and ball than him, the need to play another bowler is never felt when Pakistan bowls out the opposition at a below par score but whenver they play against a strong batting side and are chasing a big total Razzaq becomes the weak link in their combination he can’t bowl on flat tracks and bats too low to be effective and the management never prepared him for a major batting role as during the last two months he rarely got any opportunity to bat, they were reluctant to give him the role of a floater due to lack of confidence so what was the logic behind playing him, Pakistan could have done well by playing Rahman or Akhtar or they could have played an extra batsman.

Misbah batted like as if he was battling to save a test match in the last session, he can play the big shots, but the way he batted it showed the only objective in his mind was to take the match to the last over why the power play wasn’t taken when Razzaq or Afridi came to the crease is another mind boggling mystery, Afridi left the power play for Ajmal and Wahab Riaz, the margin of defeat was only 29 runs if Pakistan had taken the power play early a few boundaries here and there could have brought Pakistan closer to their target, ofcourse india could have finished the match much earlier too but atleast Pakistan would have gone down trying, they never gave themselves a chance and I hold Misbah and Afridi accountable for that, they were the chief culprits, they weren’t facing the best bowling attack in the world that they were so reluctant to hit the ball.

India could have won the match fair and square no disrespect is intended for the Indian team, they did what they were supposed to do my criticism is only aimed at a few Pakistani players and their captain due to their tactical blunders and mind boggling performance they missed a chance of qualifying for the finals, why those blunders were made it is anybody’s guess, some say that some of the players were bought out, some suggest that YK and Misbah underperformed to humiliate Afridi but how can they justify Afridi’s decision not to take the batting power play and not to apply pressure when 5 Indian wickets had fallen.

No team wins every match and it is wrong to suggest that whenever Pakistan team loses it is because of match fixing, Pakistan team is not invincible but then again this team was recently investigated for Match/ spot fixing three of their top players got suspended allegations were made against several others who got away because there wasn’t enough evidence available, if we take into account the above factors and look at the circumstantial evidence it is hard for me to bury my head in the sand and think that the culprits of this match just had a bad day and they didn’t had any ulterior motive.

South Africa also surprisingly lost, England and Australia also got knocked out in the second round, but if we look at the performance of those teams they weren’t as bizzarre as Pakistan’s, the only comparison I can draw here is West Indies loss against England in the group stages. I hope that Afridi will be asked by authorities to explain why he didn’t took the power play early, and why he didn’t provided his bowlers with enough cover during critical stages of the match, and I am more disgusted by Misbah then anything else.

Congratulations to my Indian friends and good luck for the finals, we had a light hearted banter going on before the match that was only to spice up things, there was no hatred or insult involved in it.

I always knew that in order to beat India,Pakistan will have to bring in their A game and then they will have a chance but unfortunately that didn’t happen.

We had a good world cup atleast less disappointing than the last two, but  the ugly performance by a few seniors spoiled the whole fun.

India won their Quarter final fixture against Australia and now they will face traditional rivals Pakistan in the semi final.

I always wanted a semi final clash between Pakistan and India and my wish has come true, there was no other possible matchup in this tournament which could have elevated the excitement level of this tournament than a semi final clash between India and Pakistan.

One country will get all the joy and the bragging rights the other will be left in sheer agony and completely heart broken. The fans need assurances and reassurances that their team won’t disappoint them, this week will be the most nerve wrecking week for the fans in both countries, defeat is not an option for either side, as nothing hurts more than losing to your traditional foe and nothing will be more joyous than knocking out your traditional foe out of the competetion, perhaps the joy would be even more than lifting the trophy.

It would be a final game before the final. This match is not for the faint hearted, people will get heart attacks, television screens will be shattered, effigies of the players will be burned their houses will get attacked careers of some of the players on the losing side will end abruptly.

And those who will end up victorious will get showered with all kinds of gifts and accolades, their will be endless parties winning this match will tantamount to winning a war.

The players on both teams are aware of these facts and the team which will hold on to it’s nerves will win the match.

Both teams are high on confidence, India has a home advantage and will be backed by a huge crowd but at the same time the expectations of the home crowd will put enormous pressure on their team.

Pakistan has a huge disadvantage as this match would be their first match in India, the conditions in India and SriLanka are quite different, the low bounce and slow pace of the tracks will make their pacers struggle so the burden will have to be picked up by their spinners and the chances of victory largely depend on how well they change their game plan according to the conditions in India. It’s a win or go home situation there is no margin of error for either team. The conditions in India won’t be alltogether alien for Pakistan as they play on similar conditions at home the only challenge will be how quickly their bowlers adjust their game.

If the bowlers will get a set back the batsmen will get a boost as the weak Indian bowling and the flat tracks in India should be mouth watering for them.

Indian team will also face a stiff challenge as for the first time in the tournament they will face a team which plays spin as good as them and possesses a very potent bowling attack.

The past record is heavily in favor of India, Pakistan is yet to beat India in a world cup match.

For India Sachin, Yuvraj and Zaheer Khan are in great form.

For Pakistan there is nobody in their batting line up who stands out they have depth in their batting and so far in every match it’s a different hero who stood up. Umar Gul, Afridi, Ajmal and Hafeez are the players to watch for India.

It’s going to be a great contest at the end of the day the team which will play better cricket will win.

The scenario for quarter finals have become quite clear now.

The QF matches would be as follows:

Pak Vs West Indies                               at  Shere Bangla Stadium, Mirpur

Australia Vs India                                at   Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad

New Zealand Vs South Africa          at  Shere Bangla Stadium, Mirpur

SriLanka Vs England                           at  Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

Pakistan Vs West Indies

Pakistan got the easiest draw out of all the teams but like Pakistan, WestIndies is also very mercurial and they might run into a WestIndies team which plays to it’s strength so Pakistan team should not get too complacent they should prepare themselves for a tough match. Since 2009 West Indies haven’t beaten any major test playing nation in Odi’s except Bangladesh so it doesn’t matter which combination they bring on to the field they are an inherently inferior team.

West Indies strengths

With the introduction of Rampaul their pace attack would be quite formidable, something which Pakistan should be cautious of, Gayle and Pollard are the only two players who can single handedly snatch the game away from their opponents.

WestIndies weakness

Their batting depends on just two players if they have to post a big total or chase it, Gayle and Pollard. D Smith has also been performing but he hasn’t won WestIndies a game without these other two chipping in. The lack of depth and experience in the batting is a key problem for the Windies. Their captain doesn’t deserve a place in the playing eleven, both his leadership and his performance has been quite poor in the tournamnet so far. West Indies also do not have a decent spin attack without which it is not possible to compete in Asian conditions.

Pakistan Strengths

The team has only played bad in just five overs through out the tournament so far, they have beaten two of the strongest teams in the tournament and have the momentum behind them, their major strength is their bowling, with Umar Gul and Afridi in top form and other bowlers also turning up more than decent performances Pakistan’s bowling combination is very strong their bowling combination gives them a lot of flexibility to defend and attack.  The batting also has depth and variety in it.

Pakistan Weakness.

WestIndies has quite a few Left handers in their line up which might cause problems for Pakistan as generally they don’t bowl well against Left handers. Shoiab Akhtar should get included in place of Riaz and Pakistan should play Ajmal in place of Rahman.

The openers haven’t provided a solid platform through out the tournament which is the biggest weak point of Pakistan team.

Afridi goes in panic mode when things are not going well a lot will depend how he handles and backs his bowlers if Gayle or Pollard gets going. Ideally he should be patient and continue to attack and once these two players are gone the rest will be easy, WestIndies have an inherently weak batting line up so they are bound to implode.

Favorite

Pakistan is the clear Favorite to win this contest. Unless their batting collapses or Gayle or pollard play out of their skins.

India Vs Australia

If India batted first and managed a big total they are most likely to win this contest as Australian batting depends on just Shane Watson. Australia’s only chance rest with their bowling. But a lot will depend on the conditions, in India so far the pacers have looked helpless, Australian pace trio looked extremely good in Srilankan conditions but things might be different in India.

Australia will have to drop Tait and play Hastings instead. They will also have to drop White. India’s vulnerability against quality fast bowlers will be the only strength of the Australians.

Australia stength

Bowling

Australia Weakness

Lack of depth and form  in batting and the absence of another quality spinner.

India Strength

Formidabble batting and calm leadership. In form bowler in Zaheer Khan and a wonderful spin attack.

India’s weakness

India has at least three good bowlers but the other three can become a huge liability. The batting line up is long but the lower order has collapsed on multiple occasions failing to takefull advantage of the plat form set by the top batsmen.

Favorite

India

Australia has won the toss and elected to bat first, Pakistan has made one change Umar Akmal comes in place of Ahmad Shahzad.

Umar Gul drew the first blood for Pakistan, when he clean bowled Watson. Afridi has used Gul’s 5 overs upfront which is a surprising. Pakistan has already wasted one review now they have just made 4 successfull reviews out of 16.

It’s been a very tentative start by Australia, they were clearly very cautious against Umar Gul probably wanted to see his first spell off they know they will get 10 overs between Razzaq and Hafeez in the middle to milk.  It;s 36/1 after 10 overs.

Afridi and Riaz replaced Gul and Rahman and the runs started flowing, Wahab has been wayward in particular bowled the first over on pads and has been up and down in the second, surprisingly he hasn;t swung the ball. Pakistan bowling the wrong line to Ponting and allowing him settle down. 

It’s not a very easy pitch to bat on so Pakistan should not give freebies to Australia, the pitch is two paced, it’s offering some spin and bounce. Its 70/1 after 16 overs, Wahab has released pressure from the Aussies.

Ponting is gone, Hafeez got him twice in one over, Misbah dropped him and Kamran Akmal held on to the catch the umpire gave it not out despite the huge noise but Pakistan made a successful review.

Riaz will have to move the ball Australia is under pressure at this stage if Pakistan gets a wicket at this stage they will be on top. Riaz has given away 25 off 3 overs very expensive. Riaz has been wayward he can’t get  the ball back in.

Finally Riaz got it right, Haddin is gone poked at a ball moving away and Kamran Akmal took another catch.

Once again wrong line from Riaz first wise down the leg side and the second one way outside off slashed to the thirdman boundary for 4.  Why Shoaib Akhtar was dropped?

The three straight wins at the beginnings of the tournament turned Pakistan from an underdog to one of the main contenders for the title. Pakistan despite having a few weak spots in their combination played their first three matches quite positively, the results raised the expectations of their fans, but then came the shock, Kamran Akmal  through his shady wicketkeeping  helped New Zealand to win their match against Pakistan.

All of a sudden, the team which resurrected itself quite successfully after the mortal blow of the  spot fixing scandal has once again began to crumble. The dropped catches by Akmal not only made Pakistan lose that match but have also triggered a  series of events which have completely derailed the team from it’s course.

Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Akmal, the two most vital players in Pakistan team both lost their job because of Kamran Akmal’s latest blunders behind the stumps.  Akhtar was made to pay the price for the crime of somebody else, and Umar Akmal is probably facing some sort of disciplinary action as once again he faked an injury to ensure that his brother retains his place in the team.

The shenanigans of Akmal brothers have once again destroyed the atmosphere in the dressing room,  Shoaib Akhtar must be devastated, I’m sure he must have had shown his displeasure to the captain and the coach for punishing him for Akmal’s crime and must be holding a grudge against the Akmal brothers and the captain.

I feel sorry for Afridi and Waqar they had no choice but to surrender against the black mailing of Akmal brothers. The selectors created a serious handicap in the team by not selecting a reserve wicket keeper for which they solely should be held accountable.

Afridi who is usually quite aggressive as a leader has become extremely defensive, partly because he desperately wanted to qualify for the quarter finals and partly because  he apparently is having some mistrust for some players in the team. He was already facing quite a few problems related to the combination of the team, the top three batsmen were consistently failing, him and Razzaq have not gotten many batting opportunities in the tournament so far. He has faced a lot of criticism for not playing Ajmal and not using Razzaq to his fullest potential. As a result he hasn’t looked very calm on the field, made some serious mistakes in the game against New Zealand and almost in every match thus far he has not utilized the batting power play properly.

Now that Pakistan has qualified for the Quarter finals, the team management should only focus on the postives and should leave all the negatives behind.

Only one team is going to win the world cup and the rest will have to go home empty handed. The fear of losing will not allow Pakistan team to play according to its potential, from the next match onwards Afridi will have to lead in his usual manner and will have to shed all the fears as Pakistan team plays it’s best cricket when they play aggressively.

It was a good decision by the team management to underplay the K  Akmal incident. The team should move forward and forget the match against Newzealand and should focus on just the positives so that the whole team gains confidence and play their remaining matches with a positive attitude rather than in fear and in a negative frame of mind.

They should remember that so far they have only lost one match and they lost it because of those dropped catches and because they played poor cricket in five overs. Except those five overs our bowling has been at par with Australia and South Africa. The top three batsmen have failed but Pakistan still managed to win 4 out of 5 matches which shows that the batting has some strength especially because neither Afridi nor Razzaq has thus far contributed with the bat.  The conditions on which Pakistan team have been playing it’s matches have been only seen in the games in which Pakistan has featured, other teams have consistently been getting flat tracks as a result their batting has looked much stronger than it really is, and there is a marked difference between the conditions in India and SriLanka in general.

The form of Ahmad Shahzad has been a concern but Afridi will have to persist with him, we can’t drop him at this stage, Inzamam failed through out the tournament in 1992 but his innings in semi final and the final helped Pakistan win that world cup. He has the capability but has been making silly mistakes to lose his wicket.

The biggest problem Pakistan team has been facing is their failure to pace the innings properly, if the top order attempts to play quickly they lose too many quick wickets and if they pace it slowly then they don’t leave enough overs for Afridi and Razzaq to get settled and then launch as a result they lose quick wickets in the end. I think this problem can be solved by changing the batting order a bit or using either Afridi or Razzaq as a floater.

The game against Australia is a critical one but Pakistan team should take no pressure of the outcome of that game and should just enjoy that game, every game is a new game, they should just go out and play their natural game and ignore all that talk of taking the momentum to the QF, as it will only add pressure on the players.

It doesn’t matter which team we face in QF because if winning the world cup is the objective then we should be ready to take on any team at any stage of the world cup. It’s time to shed all fears and focus just on the game.

Once again self created uncertainties surround Pakistan team, after the match against NewZealand it was Kamran Akmal whose place in the team was uncertain, but gradually the team management changed their stance from dropping him to declaring him indespensable. Then Umar Akmal injured his finger while fielding and missed one day of practice, there were rumours that he did it to leave no option for the management but to select his brother, but the very next day both the captain and the coach issued statements that Umar was fit to play, his finger had no swelling on it, and we have seen players playing with minor fractures, so what really compelled the management to drop Umar Akmal will remain a mystery. The most plausible answer to this mystery is that they wanted to justify the inclusion of Kamran Akmal.

The match has been interrupted by rain several times during the Zimbabwean innings first the match was reduced to 43 overs and finally to 38 overs. After winning the toss Zimbabwe decided to bat first suprisingly in over cast conditions, perhaps the decision was influenced by weather reports and they were hoping that their score will get inflated due to Duckworth and Lewis calculation and Pakistan will struggle to chase in overcast conditions. They scored 151 in 39.4 overs for the loss of 7 wickets. Pakistan were given a revised target of 162 from 38 overs.

Ahmad Shahzad’s poor form continued he was the first one to go, he is an exciting batsman who can play strokes all around the wicket but because of lack of experience and poor shot selection he hasn’t been able to perform to his potential.

Pakistan are 111/3 at this stage they should win it quite comfortbly from here. Hafeez and Asad Shafiq both played responsibly and have brought Pakistan close to victory.

This is almost a must win game for Pakistan, or else they will be competeing with Zimbabwe for the last position in group A.

PS: I am in the process of customizing the site, the process has taken longer than I anticipated, this new look is temporary I have been going back and forth while running some tests, which might have caused some inconvenience to the visitors. I sincerely apologize for that. Please bear with me for a few more days.

India batting first posted a decent total of 296 on a wicket which was suppose to cause some problems for the batsmen in the second innings. They could have posted a mammoth total had they not collapsed from 267/1 in the 40th over to 296 all out. Excellent fielding and some good pace bowling by Steyn held India back.

India have done well to not allow SA to get to a flying start, Zaheer Khan nailed Smith for the 12th time, and HarBhajan got rid of the dangerous Amla.

Pressure is building on South Africa they need boundaries which are not coming. the required run rate is approaching 8rpo.Very soon they will have to take extra risks which and they might loose wicktets during this time.

A lot has been said about Indian bowling before the world cup, at times they look a bowler short and at times their bowlers look like club level cricketers, but world cup is a long tournament, India might get a few extremely flat tracks where there spin heavy bowling attack will get a mauling but for majority of the tracks in subcontinent their bowling is ideal. In my opinion 50% of India’s chances rest on their luck, if they got unfavorable conditions which are not suitable for their spinners in the knock out stage of the tournament India will be in trouble.

Right now they are favorites to win this match.