Bad light & Kumble ruin India’s chances
on December 12th, 2007 at 11:05 am
First it was Kumble and then it was the bad light which ruined India’s chances to win the series 2-0. India gave Pakistan an impossible target of 374 in 47 overs, being 1-0 in the series Kumble was in no mood to take any chances and decided to play it safe by continuing to bat after lunch showing a lack of courage and a lack of confidence in his bowlers, a decision which might haunt him for sometime. The wicket was already breaking on the final day and if India had put Pakistan into bat after the lunch India could have won the series 2-0 but historically Indian captains always become defensive after taking the lead in a series.
This agonizingly boring series finally came to its end, although India won the series but by preparing flat tracks in the whole series they have not done themselves any favor, many a time the teams from Subcontinent have disillusioned themselves about their batting prowess by preparing flat tracks, and they get a rude awakening when they visit Australia or South Africa. With India scheduled to tour Australia after this series they should have prepared supporting wickets, not only to get some practice but to go for a kill against the weakest Pakistan team of all times.
Many pundits believe that by winning this home series against Pakistan after 27 years, India will get a boost in confidence, but in my opinion this was the weakest Pakistan team they have ever played against, a team which had no leadership and was marred by injuries and illness, India’s victory by 3-2 in the ODI’s and 1-0 in the test series cannot be considered as a convincing victory.
Pakistan’s team on the other hand has hit the lowest ebb of their form and fitness they will return home completely demoralized, during the T20 World cup the team showed some promise under their new Captain Shoaib Malik but now it seems that this team is only suitable for the shortest version of the game as it suits their temperament and technique.
Pakistan team and the PCB management need a major overhaul, the team is clearly divided in two groups and looks completely disintegrated, a change of Captain and coach is requisite but not eminent. But the dilemma is that nobody wants to be the captain of a sinking boat. The so-called senior players completely lack leadership and they fail to lead or inspire the young players in fact this current group of seniors are the most unprofessional group of Pakistani players I have ever come across, by professionalism they mean not to let any money making opportunity slip by, during this whole series these players indulged themselves in too many activities site seeing, writing columns, watching movies, going out in clubs or on private dinners it seemed as if they were not on a professional tour but on a personal excursion trip and because of their extra curricular activities they exposed themselves to bad food and different viruses and at one time half of the team was bed ridden I think the first person to get a pink slip should be the manager of the team who had no control over these Players.
If Pakistan’s batting worry’s were not enough that now it seems that they have run out of quality bowlers, Bowling is no longer their strength, their ace bowler cannot bowl more than four overs in one spell and their trump card gets each wicket at an average of more than 50 runs. It seems their stock bowlers have no idea about their role in the team One thing is for sure Shoaib Akhter, Kineria and Sami their career has approached its end.
Pakistan needs to hire a new management at PCB and new local coaching staff should be employed.
I dont understand why everybody is obsessed with Anil Kumble’s late declaration and nobody looks into the real issue here. We ( I mean the Pakistan Team) were trailing one nil and must win the last Test to level the series. How do we go about it? By playing in the same way or take some gamble? It was the time to make some bold moves. Our strenghth has always been fast bowling and India’s weaness. Send three most promising fast bowlers to replace unfit and out of form players, send Sarafarz Ahmed back to handle W/k duties and relieve Kamran Akamal to concentrate on his batting when he is on his prime form to take care of opening with Salman Butt to take care of one problem. Further more, Shahid Afridi and Fawad Alam should also been sent back to strenghten the late order batting and handle spin requirement. What could have gone wrong? Instead of losing by 1-0 it would be 2-0 but my gut feeling tells me we would have won hands down!!
So far this blog has posted one article on Kumble’s decision and 65 comments covering half a dozen different topics. IMHO would be good to have articles more often, perhaps by giving “learned regulars” like Khansahab and Javed A Khan their own blogs on this site.
Younis is a big enigma!! when they offer the captainship, twice he declines..when some one else is the captain ..he wants it more than anything else!!..but as a player i like him more than m yusuph..i think currently he is number 2 batsman after misbah.
Guys, what’s new on pak captaincy issue? Are pcb officials willing to handover younis the captaincy or will stay with mallik? Whom u guys are backing ?
In India, people do not think much of calling other people, particularly those having weird hairstyles ‘bandar’ or monkey. But in professional football leagues in western countries (particularly in Spain), black players are often subjected to racist taunts in form of monkey chants, and hence these are considered rude in the west.
I agree with Khansahab that the monkey chants were racist. I also agree that Indians are less educated about what constitutes as racist or intolerant behavior in today’s world. Having said that, Indians have always adored Viv and Lara and Clive and others. There were no monkey chants when they toured India. Symonds invited the Indian public’s wrath by commenting in public that he resented the way Indians celebrated their success in T20 and that he was essentially looking forward to showing them their place. I think the public clearly had a right to sledge him. After all, who is he to tell us what is excessive? Indians celebrate even their weddings in what may seem like excessive in comparison with western weddings. It is part of the culture. However, the manner of sledging (i.e. the monkey chants) was clearly based on his race and hence inappropriate.
I dont agree that Malinga is a chucker his action is round arm and is different from that of Shaun Tait. Shaun Tait definitely has a jerk in his wrist which is quite significant but he only jerks when he bowls the faster one.
Murali On the other hand I have no clue how he escaped ban, his Doosra is a clear chucking delivery.
Most of the off spiners have this problem as when they bend their arm they with the final jerk they generate vicious spin on the ball and can bowl with far more accuracy also in comparison to a spin bowler who has a clean action and controls the length by trajectory.
I would like to respond to Amit P and Javed A Khan regarding public sledging and Tait’s action.
Firstly I believe the chanting by Indian crowds was totally and absolutely racist. That the chants were made towards someone like Symonds is in my view a clear indication as to their real purpose. That series was marred by controversy courtesy of Sreesanth and the like. I don’t think the crowd should be defended by posters here. In countries like Pakistan and India, the masses have little tolerance or knowledge of different races and different cultures of the world and hence you get this type of bizarre and unruly behaviour.
I agree with Javed A Khan regarding Tait’s action. I think generally his action is fine and clean; however every now and then when you see him bowling above 90mph you tend to notice a slight jerk. However, the way Tait’s arm comes down as he releases the ball, is in a relatively straight position, as opposed to the more “slingshot” type actions of pacers who are often accused to chucking, like Akhtar or Malinga. Because of this facility with Tait’s natural action, I think it would be relatively harder to discern any excessive bending of the arm- to the naked eye that is.
Malinga I will agree fully with Javed A Khan, is a chucker. In my opinion the reason why many umpires have not called his action as suspect is because recently the Asian bloc in the ICC has become very strong and groupings have formed. Increasingly the Asian cricket boards are backing each other like what happened with Darrell Hair. Umpires are too scared to live through another “Hairgate” if they no-ball Malinga.
However, as international cricket is becoming more and more batsmen-oriented, especially with the advent of T20, I think one or two express deliveries by bowlers should be allowed, even if they are chucking to infuse some balance in the proceedings. I think Malinga should be banned because his action for every ball that he bowls is suspect, but other bowlers like Tait, Afridi and Akhtar who generally do not bend or jerk their arm as much, should be allowed to carry on.
Like Murali, Bhagwat Chandrashekhar also had a congenital defect or a polio inflicted arm which is why he used to bowl in that fashion.
I haven’t seen him bowling but, thanks to the technology and mainly to the u-tube that, everything is possible now. If you see him bowling, his action is even more dubious than Murali’s doosra. I wonder why can’t the other bowlers bowl like Saqlain Mushtaq, the creator of doosra. Actually the name doosra was given by wicket keeper Moin Khan, who used to shout from behind the wickets, “Saaqi Doosra wala.” Or simply doosra.
Anyways, the notion that spinners are docile and there is no harm in the youngsters aping Murali or Harbhajan is wrong, yes it is not that dangerous as compared to the fast bowlers jerking the ball and hitting the batsman. But, you cannot make two set of rules for bowlers, one for spinner and one for fast bowlers, already that 7 degree and 15 degree bending allowance is a mockery of the rules and you cannot make it look more foolish than it already is.
It is not that Shoaib Akhtar cannot bowl without a jerk, he can but, only to add extra pace he does that deliberately. Shabbir Ahmad wasn’t aping Akhtar but he was not corrected when he started to bowl that is because of this chucking culture and later his action was under the scanner and he got booted.
It is very surprising to see that Salinga Malinga is still around with his so-called round arm action, which initially a lot people compared him with Thompson. I saw Thompson’s bowling action which is totally and entirely different from Malinga’s action and in my opinion it is not chucking, throwing but proper bowling. Whereas, Malinga throws and there is no second thought about it.
The point to note here is Malinga does not give a jerk or releases the ball with a jerk, the flow is continuous. BUT the whole process is incorrect, he throws the ball from an angle which is easier than a normal bowling action. In the normal bowling action the shoulder joint does not permit much force in delivering the ball. You have to be really very strong or you must create the acceleration and the momentum by running fast and by moving your arms in a rhythm to bowl and NOT simply to throw. He got away with his throws because of the stupidity of the rule that the action must be continuous! And that is the farcical part of the rules.
Well i love to see batsmen putting effort to survive on the ground but within limits … i cant enjoy ball hitting the helmet all the time solely due to pitch demons or by kinky action. Its not about one Tait …. but imagine in future one pace bowler of height of Michael Holding bending arms and getting exaggerated bounce and pace of the pitch … it can be dangerous for batters. Murli is so popular in india that many aspiring young kids try to copy his action. You can see these kids around the corner. Though spinners cant be so harmful but in future i am afraid cricket will look like baseball. Let cricket be cricket. Well, its my own thought, many may differ and have their own reason.
) .. some noises are inevitable.
Malinga action is round arm .. it doesn’t look that kinky to me. But Tait sure jerk more than Malinga. And about our team reaction .. aus shud thank that ganguly is not the captain otherwise he wud have started ranting by now ab’t Tait action. But i am sure if Tait gets more wickets (specially ganguly
The way aus media and team management reacted ab’t racial abuse was totally farcical. He was monkey chanted just because of his locks and fielding ability… there was no color or race discrimination. We use “bander” word for mocking agility and all. May be in aus monkey symbolize underdeveloped guys. But by these arguments aussies made serious comments on SLan players back in 1996 when they called them bunch of “black monkeys”.
This time aussies authorities are putting some extra effort to avoid public sledging .. because they know how far their crowd can go. This time they have crowd moderator (heard first time in cricketing world) and guess who they have chosen. Merv Hughe!! … greatest of all time sledger. What an irony!
Amit..shouldnt Test matches always be a matter of survival?
It should be a test ot the batsmen and both the bowlers..which is not possible in the shorter versions of the game.Besides we can never be 100 percent sure of catching the one bowl in which the bowler puts extra effort and can also include some illegal bends.The only thing the umpire should look at is if the bowler is over stepping..and let the bowler use a tweak or two of the arm..besides its always much more fun to watch shoaib akthar and murli..every ball one aticipates something to happen..which makes it all the more interesting…and looking at shaun tait..he bowls no different than malinga…i think the kiwis are not being fair….and i wonder how our indian team will react to him…
Wasim Saqib
What do you mean by ‘do you think the Indian team is ready to face the music?” You mean the music “in and from” the crowd or, the music from the pace battery of Lee, Tait, Johnson etc.? The former can be ignored but the later if ignored could prove to be lethal.
Regarding your comment on Shreesanth and Symond’s row which ultimately led to those monkey chants thingi, imo it was blown out of proportion by the Australians. I don’t see there is anything wrong in making monkey chants on the ground and in no way that can be construed as a racial slur or abuse.
I have written a lot on this subject on Mukul’s blog and defended the act of those two men who have been detained for aping the so-called monkey chants in the name of racial abuse, which is by NO means any form of racial abuse. Unfortunately some of the cynics here only remember my comments when I disagreed with Mukul on Shoaib Malik’s case. Zahid Sheikh thanks for taking the trouble and in trying to explain it to the thick skulls. It wouldn’t have gotten in it if I had tried to say the same thing.
Anyways, Wasim about Shaun Tait’s action, this is not the first time people are talking about Tait’s action. And it is not that every single ball he bowls is dubious or suspicious. It is one of his faster ones where he exerts more jerk on his wrist to generate the extra pace, that is questionable. And it is not just Tait, but Show Actor does that, Shahid Afridi’s faster one, Harbhajan, Shoaib Malik and Murali’s doosra, in my opinion they are ALL no-balls.
The other thing is not only the umpires but, the ICC is also helpless in this matter because the bio-mechanics lab in Australia has cleared them on the basis of that 7 and 15 degree bend allowed for spinners and fast bowlers respectively. In case of Murali it was considered as a congenital defect and in case of Shoaib Akhtar it was referred as hyper-extension.
The hyper-extension was explained in detail by Michael Holding when he compared the two arms, i.e., of R. P. Singh and Shoaib Akhtar, but Akhtar dodged that issue and did not want to go into any further detail, because that would expose him.
The point is, can this chucking anomaly be removed entirely from cricket? The only way you can control the bowlers is by penalizing them. The problem is umpires cannot give a no-ball because everything happens so fast and it is almost impossible for the naked eye to spot that jerk (except for the biased hawk-eye of Darrell Hair) whereas, for us it is easy to see and spot that on TV, especially with the replays in slow motion.
The only alternative would be the third umpire coming in action, he must instantly advise the on-field umpire to declare it a no-ball. But, that would take away the opportunity from the batsman to hit it out without the fear of getting out. Hence, the ‘free hit’ rule should be implemented in test & ODI as well. After all the rules are man made (unlike some religions) and if the rule is good in form of the game (twenty20) then it should also be good for the ODI & test match.
what the f*** is going on here …. is it cricket forum ?
Moderator .. please delete all those messages that are even slightest of religious undertone … either in good sense or bad ones.
@Amar,
Fast bowling was always tough to play …. specially on hard n bouncy surfaces. Sometime on under prepared pitches it leads to serious injury. In 60s 70s and 80s test matches are more of survival than anything else .. so making test matches interesting and within the spirit authorities made some rules in favor of batsmen (first one was leg side theory courtesy Larwood .. i think). Think if underarm was allowed ( we call it surra ) .. how difficult for a batsman to score a boundary .. virtually impossible or some kinky action pace bowler bowling on green top or even underprepared tracks (like champion’s trophy pitches in india .. specially mohali where pak bowled out at 86 i think ) it could have broken some bones.
I dont think these limitations(15 deg) are killing bat-ball balance. if any thing is doing harm to bowlers then it is rubber plate .. and this is a serious issue authorities have to look upon. ICC shud take a step toward this and make sure pitches are proper sporting wickets.
Mr. Amar
from what I read i.e., what Javed has written is nothing about religion. What I see is, he did ridicule the Indian cricket players as well as Pakistani cricket players. He also made fun of the Indian film stars. But you are the one who instigated and provoked him as a “religious zealot and a madarsa graduate.”
And now you are showing this holier than thou attitude that you believe in Allah and in all other Gods. If you sincerely do, then you won’t be saying, “I hate when people like javed use such words in cricket form.” Because, Javed never used any such words, whereas you did.
This religious debate should not take place on a cricket forum, if one needs to discuss it, there are other forums which are moderated and if you insult other religions you are kicked out from there. So better not ridicule and taunt Muslims here by using words like madarssa graduates etc. I am sure you weren’t praising him or assuming that Hindus also graduate from madarsas or do they?
Also, if you do not have in-depth knowledge of Islam, don’t say it is a man made religion. Because, then you are hurting the sentiments and feelings of those hundreds of millions who have Faith in Allah and they believe it is a religion from Him and The Holy Book was revealed to them through the Prophet.
If you don’t believe in it, good thats your prerogative to choose whichever religion you wish to or remain an atheist. But, don’t ridicule them because there is a lot more that can go against you as well. People here can ridicule or make fun of cricket players based on their performance or behaviour. Because they are like us.
I guess Javed’s retort is a mere retaliation in jest which is directed towards his own countrymen and their hell bent love and head over heels attitude towards Bollywood, especially Shoaib Akhtar who went to India with the team to play cricket and he has disappointed millions of people and his focus is not on playing cricket but, on bagging a contract for movies. And I see nothing wrong in Javed making fun of them.
Ramiz no problems…as long as you can lead a life as a good human being..believe in what ever you like
and leave me to my beliefs. 
..AND NOW LETS GET BACK TO CRICKET..WE CAN DISCUSS THE REST ON OTHER FORUMS.
amar
i believe in jesus, allah and mohammad pbuh.
I have one question for members..do batsmen have any kind of 15degree 20 degree bat swinging rule?
todays batsmen are fully protected which was not the case when windies were reigning supreme.so barring a beamer why not allow any one to bowl ( exeption an underarm ) in what ever manner..by bending arm or back…get the turn get the speed…i am sure it wont go beyond 160 kmph…and no underarm bowler is going to achive that..besides it will not cause any harm to batsmen..and make it more exciting..as it is the game nowdays is heavily favouring the batsmen.
Chucking has its own history. If ICC goes back to their 7-8 deg rule then many current day bowlers will be tagged as chucker. Murli, bhaji, shoaib akhtar, lee, tait they all bend their arm in excess of 10+ deg …. thats why their action look faulty by naked eye. Tait’s bending is also within the limit of 15 deg .. thats why he is there at international level. But if he is in the upper limit then he might occasionally be breaks this limit. I saw the last 20-20 match between aus and NZ. Tait’s run up was unbelievable shorter and he was firing missile … seemed like half the speed he was generating only through opening of his arm .. this might be the reason NZlanders are crying foul.
I just read on cricinfo that Tait has agreed to get his action inspected by the ICC..so a war of words has started between Tait & NZ.
I think things will really heat up during the ODI series that follows the Tests, when all the young Indian players get a chance to prove their abilities against Aus and SL. There will be plenty of talking then.
Wow! There has already been a comment after mine. You are really doing a good job, Wasim.
i agree with all posts. i think indians will now say that shoaib akhtar has a suspect action. it has been proved so many times by independent tests that shoaib has a legitimate action but indians will not stop moaning.idont think any problem with tait’s action. for all indians who want to moan,shoaib has a hyperextension problem that only creates the illusion of chucking.
i will agree with dr haroon from seattle.i dont think even pakspin got so many hits so quickly as cricketfiles did. wonderful effort and mashallah this blog is already a super hit as dr haroon said. inshallah it will grow in size and stature and emerge as the no 1 blog on the internet (perhaps it alerady is because all cricket blogs have no activity on the internet!)
Wasim,
Tait’s action is similar to that of Malinga and Johnson isn’t it? All these bowlers have slingy actions and can bowl at good pace. Tait is the fastest of the lot. Lee and Akhtar have been called chuckers as well. So either the really fast bowlers or the off-spinners are alleged to be chuckers. I think the Kiwis were calling Tait a chucker because he was bowling well in the match. But tait’s action could still be inspected by the ICC. i don’t really think he is a chucker though.
About the sledging…The main ‘cast’ like Sree, Uthappa etc. will be absent and Bhajji and Symonds may not make it to their respective XIs. The senior players have played enough cricket to know what to say, and to not get affected by crowd behaviour.
I believe the crowd behaviour is being monitored by the Aussie authorities and so there were no bad incidents during the Sri Lanka series, so hopefully there won’t be any when india play.
Wasim Saqib Bhai,
Assalamualikum,
I just wanted to say sir, that congrats people are contributing on this blog. I visit many cricket sites but I can already see that this is receiving the most posts and the quality of discussion is good.
It seems cricketfiles is an instant hit and I will contribute regularly on this blog and become a regular member.
Dr Haroon
Seattle
Interesting couple of last points raised by Wasim.
The chucker issue never seems to die. A new one comes out of the hat every day. Any bowler with some ability seen a threat to batsmen is being branded a chucker. ICC need to revisit these rules seriously as they are being made more and more in favour of batsmen such as restriction on bouncers and tendency to make flatter pitches are all favouring batsmen unfairly.
Ungenetlemanly behaviour such as sledging and excessive appealing are becoming common place now a days. These are the areas need addressing. Such appealing was also evident in India/Pak series and perhaps best illustrated by the cover picture on this thread.
Wasim I dont think the aussies would try sledging tendlya dravid or ganguly..these guys infact thrive on it..it somehow helps them concentrate more and talk through the bat..i am not sure how laxman handles it though!!
Surely the aussies will keep it for the likes of Harbhajan..who i feel is another BIG show off…one good series against aus is what he has for a career…and the way he was sledging the aussies and running away from them when they responded..lol ..i am sure he is going to learn a few things in downunder…
Also personally dissappointed that sreesanth is injured..hes another one who much deserves the aussie treatment…his antics too sometimes go overboard..now i can understand if you can bowl at 160 kmph..but for gawd’s sake..you bowl at just 125kmph…even that tiny agarkar manages 140kmph!!lol
I t should be great fun to watch when the aussies bowl to india..sadly i have exausted all my leaves..wish i was back in college again..i am gonna miss out big time on this series..
I just pray Zaheer and Rp find their touch..then it should be a really exciting series to watch the series where some senior players n legends from both sides will play each other for the very last time.
Look Julab Khan from montreal…..stop fantasizing about your importance…your little cricketing comments invite zilch response from the informed members/bloggers…and no one is interested in your homosexual infatuation with Afridi too
( and khansab now that you quoted about sachin and dravid having an avg of 55 in Austraaaliaa…i am sure you will get to hear about how a certain khandani pathan called afridi once scored 15 runs in Australia off just 5 balls..mate yes australia ..and hence he is the greatest when it comes to batting in Austraaalia 
)
And since you claim ” not ” to be a madrasa grad javed why not behave like one? why do your comments portray to the contrary?
Most of your posts convey a message of ridicule for other cultures and religions…and when you do that people will respond .. and enough of holding mirrors for others…have a look at it yourself.
N stop that constant verbose julab of yours giving the excuse of Mukul’s post for each and every hate filled message of yours.
( Mukul only pointed out shoiabs wrong comments..may be he dosent have the command over english..fine and many did give him the benifit of doubt..but mukul never commented about how you pray..how you look..how your women look ..whome you pray..whome you marry ….etc etc.. )..and trust me..people are educated enough about the practices of other religions as well..but its not in our culture to ridicule others nor is that the upbringing we have had from our elders…
And as i said before i love cricket ..hence i would love to argue with you on your cricketing knowledge rather than argue about man made religions ( sorry members..but thats how i feel..not that i am an athiest..i do believe in a supreme power..but religions i personally feel are man made tools..and we are fools to fight for them ..so apologies if the statement hurts someones religious beliefs/feelings )
So Javed get a life..and stop having that mentality of since xyz ate shit..i too will eat shit…n stick to cricket or afridi..we seriously dont mind that!!:)
“If you like to dish it out you should better be willing to take it also” In the last India- Australia series the Indian and Australian players regularly exchanged unpleasant words, two of the main culprits Srisanth and Andrew symonds will not be playing the series as both of them are injured.But the Australian crowd is waiting for the Indian team since the Indian crowd made life miserable for Andrew symonds by their constant “monkey chants”. Do you think Indian team is ready to face the music?
The kiwis have raised suspicions about Shaun Taits action,is it just a
farcial allegation? or do you guys think that he is a chucker?
I think the one batsman who Australia will not know much about is Wasim Jaffer. Jaffer has a good backfoot technique which is ideal for the bouncy Aussie pitches. He has scored a century at Cape Town and is also in good form currently. He could surprise the Aussie bowlers, who will mainly concentrate on dismissing the middle-order batsmen. This is a good chance for him to cement his place in the team.
In bowling, they should try to play one right-arm bowler along with the lefties; and along with the swing bowlers, they must have a bowler with pace and bounce. Too bad Munaf is not the bowler he once was. Ishant and Pankaj singh are inexperienced. India might miss Sreesanth… Kumble had a great tour of Aus the last time. Maybe the bouncy Aussie pitches suit his style of bowling.
I do not expect the Indian team to trouble the Aussies. All I’m hoping for are exciting test matches, like in the India-Aus series of 2001 and 2003/04 and 2004.
It was obvious from the very beginning that this was the worst Pakistani Cricket Team ever selected. It came as a surprise that we escaped with a 3-2 defeat in ODIs and 1-0 in Tests. After the ODIs it was stupid to send back Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam and Sarfaraz Ahmed back and replace them with Mohammed Sami, Faisal Iqbal and Danish Kaneria when it has become known that they are no more Test match materials. Instead they should have called back back Yasir Hameed, Abdur Rehman, Sohail Tanvir and Rao Iftikhar Anjum and send Asim Kamal, Abdur Rauf, Mohammed Irshad, and Anwar Ali. Who knows Asim may have proven another success story just like Misbah. And in Test matches you need really FAST wicket-taking bowlers, not medium pacers nor run saving troddlers. And no team can afford a spinner who gives away 150-200 runs for 2-3 wickets!! And finally when Kamran Akmal was performing badly behind stumps and batting beutifully why oh why not send him to open with Salman Butt and give the wicket keeping duties to Sarafaz Ahmed who did an excellent job in his only outing.
I am very pleased to come across this blogg and will cotribute regularly in the very near future.
Amar Deep Shit;
You are the same guy from cricinfo right? And you simply cannot ignore me can you? That’s because you are such a low “loife” pathetic pseudo constipated “Intel-actual” chip that you have to blab-out from every possible opening that you have in your anatomy. Jeez, did I say anything to you personally that you are fuming and spitting venom against me?
And what makes you think I am a madarsa graduate or a religious zealot? Are you a “Paath-Shaala Sainik or a Shiv Sena Sainik? ” Just because I have responded on cricinfo to those Indian supporters who ridiculed Inzamam or Shoaib Malik’s post match comments after the twenty20 final and Mukul tried to make a mountain out of a mole, you think I am like one of you? Get a life.
Actually its your avatar Mukul who devoted an entire thread on the subject by splattering filth only to gain cheap popularity. Don’t you think we have the right to respond? Actually I have only showed the mirror to them. For your information I am not religious and I am against any form of extremism be it in religion or wherever. Even they hate me because I never miss any opportunity in giving them a stick. Yes its better that you stick to cricket and avoid those personal comments.
Hey JAVED A.KHAN, MONTREAL, CANADA
Dont worry about India’s Margin of VICTORYand their attitudes, WORRY ABOUT YOUR TEAM’S MARGIN OF LOSS .
Dont worry about India being get thrased in Australia,WORRY ABOUT YOUR TEAM BEING GET TRASHED BY ZIMBABWE AND AUSTRALIA IN YOUR OWN SO CALLED LIVE PITCHES.
Don’t worry about Mr.Siva rama krishnan saying Raafat instead of Arafat(this one is good when compared to what shoaib malik said at 20/20 world cup finals).
Don’t worry about India’s Bollywood(you know all the heroine’s names which even i dont know).
so stop writing all those blah blah blah and concentrate on what has be to be written on CRICKET files.
Tayyab Ali
Before you think of removing the players you should ask for the removal of the PCB officials, it is the PCB that needs overhauling and they are the biggest culprit in destroying the cricket culture in Pakistan owing to their own vested interest and dirty politics.
Shoaib Akhtar definitely needs to be kicked out of the team and he can go to the proverbial “Hell” for his dramay baazy and his politics and bad attitude and bad example, he can be a gangster or whatever in Bollywood. He has been building his chest muscles which are not good for a fast bowler. His intention is to show his naked chest to the Indians like Salman Khan or the other Indian shirtless actors do. Despite the fact that he claims he is in ‘ship shape’ he could hardly bowl 4 overs in a row and thats a shame.
Therefore, in my opinion we don’t need to focus on his idiosyncrasies and his serendipities, we need to talk about the future of the team and the players who can do something to the game and not divert their energies towards Bollywood or for personal gains and media attention.
Danish Kaneria has become a liability in the team like Abdul Rahman, they both are mediocre bowlers and both of them cannot bat or field. It would be better to have all-rounders like Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Fawad Alam and even players like Yasser Arafat in the team. The specialist bowlers have let us down not once but on many occasions.
nice discussion here. will have to agree with the blog owner. i think its gr8 the site iz being updated regularly. i have read all the posts with interest.i think it is so disgraceful that instead of focusing on performance our cricketers are causing factions in the team. look at shoaib akhtar, he is joining bollywood and he couldnt even ball many overs.i am so disappointed with kaneria because he was the main bowler and he when you have enormous expectations with someone and he lets you down, you should take strict measures.hopefully these players will be removed soon.
On the Boxing Day which is the second day of Christmas, why do I have got a feeling that the Australians would be singing this:
On the second day of Christmas the Indians get thrashing at the hands of the……….. Ausss traaayy lian Teeeeeeeam!
On the third day of Christmas the Indians get thrashing at the hands of the ……. Ausss traaaaayy lian Teeeeeeeam !!
Christmas festivities and celebrations goes on up to the 12th day of Christmas. Luckily for the Indian team the Australians would only be singing till the 4th day and the match will be over by then.
Come on guys don’t take it seriously, as someone has has asked you guys to rejoice the inevitable thrashing. So, what goes round comes round Australian Aborigines call it boomerang which is their lethal weapon. So, lets see how the Indian team copes on the hard and bouncy wickets and how they play the boomerang bouncers of Lee and Tait?
salam Wasim bhai,
i think you are very generous in your views when you say test matches will be close. indians are dancing now that they have beaten the weakest pakistani team of all time. but they are certain to be thrashed now.
ek din, ek din, maar to pitni hai
kyun ke australia key ek shaher ka naam “sydney” hai
so my message to indians is, don’t get too over excited because you will suffer a more terrible fate than pakistan did on your soil. lee and tait will destroy your batting and hayden,symonds,ponting,hussey,gilchirst will destroy your batting.we know india will get demolished in australia,can someone tell me why we are even having this dicussion here????
i dont understand why ganguly and kumble are making stupid statements that they will dominate australia on their bowling tracks. that is the most stupid comment someone can make. Sachin is almost done and he cannot have any impact on the series like he used to do, he only plays for himself and if you follow a plan you can get him out. at the moment the indian ego is very high leken bhaiyyon, jab maar piti gi to apna sar sharam se jhukaao gey
Nice to see some discussion on this website from Amar, Hrishi, Wasim Saqib, Samy and Amit p,
I think this Indian team is confident now and confidence always helps. People have predicted performance of Indian players but if statistics are anything to go by then Laxman, Dravid and Tendulkar, all perform well against Australia. It is India’s bowling that lets them down.
I think Dravid and Tendulkar both average around 55 in Australia which is amazing. But the Indian pace attack seems likely to struggle. India will have to depend on Kumble and Harbhajan again to make a difference.
Australia’s bowling is not the same anymore because Warne and McGrath have departed and Lee is not in exceptional form. But their batting is stronger than ever. Their batting will give the Indians a very hard time. You can see teams scoring 250+ against Australia in ODI’s now with relative ease. But Australia still manages to chase targets with minimal hassle.
I also do not have great expectations from Sehwag or Ganguly. Australia know the weaknesses of every batsman. Ganguly will be tempted and tortured with varying lengths and his weakness against the short ball will be exploited. Laxman, Dravid and Tendulkar in my opinion are the three key players for Indian because Australia is a mentally strong team and these three players are quite strong mentally, too.
Sammy, Hirshi and Amar:
I think the seniors in Indian team will do just fine I dont agree with the selection of Sehwag, recently India has been performing well
because the senior players are getting good support from the younger players Jaffer, Yuvraj and Dhoni all of them have been scoring runs consistently.We have to wait and see how they perform on hard and bouncy tracks.
If India’s batting line up clicked in Australia it will be a very exciting series to watch, my main concerns are about India’s bowling most of the bowlers are too young and inexperienced, they have a good bowling attack for the test matches provided that Zaheer ,RP and Munaf remain healthy if so then I think they will be do just fine in the test matches but for Odis they dont have a potent attack.They consistently use a part time 5th bowler in the ODIS and A professional team like Australia will definitely take advantage of this weakness.IMO the test matches will be close but India will face tough time in the ODis.
Congrats, Mr. Wasim Saqib for starting your new blog. Nice discusion between you, Hrishi and Amar for the India team for the Aus series.
I think most of the team will not be very diffrent from the one that played in 2003-04, except for the opening and fast bowling slots, which at the moment are uncertain… dunno why they’ve gone back to sehwag. Aakash Chopra should’ve been given more chances. But it’s most likely that Dravid will open with Jaffer to accomadate Yuvraj.
I don’t really expect much from India or Pakistan when they play Aus… but you never know. Maybe the last tour of Australia will give India confidence, and Pakistan can bounce back when you least expect them.
Best of luck to both teams. Hope they win at least 1 test, or at least try to prevent a whitewash. Both have the talent to beat Aus and hopefully they’ll acquire some mental toughness too.
@Amar
Also add that ausies send their best players in warm-up matches to play against visitors making sure that opponents dont get that so called “match practice”. Whereas in india we send our garbage players to play against them in warm-up matches so that their top batsmen get proper insight of the pitch. Remember 1997 series … that time ranji champion mumbai played against them and aussies lost that warm-up match and that set the tone for the rest of the series.
and we indian paki guys love spicy food.
Now coming to the performances .. i have that gut feeling that ganguly will score in aus too. He was scoring good 40s and 50s in SA and Eng but against pak he overcame that barrier … though it was flat track and poor bowling line-up, but runs behind him will definately help him to score big. I am not expecting 100 .. but good 70s 80s will do. But for that he shud keep his mouth shut and stay away from cheap statements.
Laxman will play as usual as he is playing for last 6 months or so. Somewhat sedate innings. But there is a big puzzle on the top order. Jaffer is slow in his footwork and thats enough for aussies pace attack .. they will try to plumb him. Its upto him .. how much he is going to improve on this front. Second opener is a quiz question so i will leave this for selectors and captain.
Then comes backbone of the indian innings … Dravid and Sachin. If they perform 70% of what they have performed before in aus .. then 500+ runs on the board. But if they score 30s and 40s then situation is hopeless.
Having said that india need 20 wickets to win matches .. and i m hopeless in this front … except at sidney where pitch suits kumble’s bowling.
Btw thanks to wasim for starting new blog on cricket and allow us to post our views. About the fate of the blog all i can say is it depends on the taste of moderator (and i guess wasim is the sole moderator
). Spicy things turns everyone’s attention
Wasim bhai..when it comes to australia they are very cunning in planning the matches..while when in the subcontinent..India Pakistan Srilanka firstly fix up the One day matches..which normally can swing either way..it depends on which team has the better day in case if they are more or less evenly matched…and then comes the real TEST..ie the ” TEST MATCHES “.
Now due to the one dayers being played first..the gora players get accustomed to the playing conditions even though they might lose the oneday series..but they normally are well prepared for the Test matches…( and it really helps as nowdays due to tight schedules one normally gets only one or may be two 3-4 day matches..and god help if some days get rained off )
Now when it comes to Australia..they always start with TEST MATCHES!! and the visiting team gets one practice match..like India is going to get.So the players find it very hard to get accustomed to the bounce and speed of wicket..the result being that by the time they get a hang of the wickets..half the series is over and they have already lost the first match or may be both first as well as second..and then they start performing from the third and last one!! ( which normally is the so called DEAD rubber )..I personally think this is a major reason its difficult to defeat the Aussies for subcontinent players apart from the normal abuse in form of sledging..which sadly even our players are now shamelessly indulging in..
So as far as India performing in Australia is concerned..I think India has only 25% chance in my opinion of drawing the first test..also India sadly dose not have quality bowlers..Zaheer is recovering from injury so is Rp ..i doubt they will be fully fit..the other bowlers are no good..and Pathan is good enough only to bat ..sadly not to bowl!!…from the second test onwards..may be the batting as usual will click and we will be able to force a draw…
But i dont see India winning the series..not even in my wildest dreams..for that you need to have bowlers who can take 20 wickets and i dont see them..batting wise..well it should click..but i doubt it will in the first test as Indians will have to get used first to the bounce and pace.
I wish we had someone like shoaib akthar to complement the likes of tendulkar yuvi laxman dravid and ganguly..we would definitely have won a lot more tournaments trust me!!
As for batsmen..my heart says..Dravid will outshine others..Ganguly since he is blabbering a lot after flogging a lame attack on a very very flat pitch is going to fail..and tendulkar yuvi will score as usual..( nothing new there )
N lastly thank you for updating regularly..finally a working site where the regulars can interact!!and lurkers can have a few laughs and insights as well..:)
i have a few tips on the future of some players:
yasir hameed- he will sell pashtu “chillgozeys” on a “reri” in peshawar
faisal iqbal- he will become a bus driver in karachi
kamran akmal- butterfingers will sell makhan(butter) in lahore railway station
mohammad sami- he is obsessed with his hairstyle so he will open a barber’s shop in laloo khaith
danish kaneria- he will sell tea (malai maar key) in saddar, karachi’s business district
Hirshi
I dont think dhoni will do good in Australia, I think VVS, Sachin and Yuvi will do fine.I am more concerned about Indias bowling in Odis
In test matches they will be Ok.
Amar
I will cover India vs Australia series and the blog will be updated everyday with some intervals we are working on a moderated blog
which will be on air pretty soon.
Well for starters, they have 3 bowlers that hit 150+ mph regularly and the pitches will be bowler friendly. I am not an expert, but since you asked, I am expecting Sachin and Yuvi to do very well. Dhoni and VVS will do alright. Dravid is in a bad patch, he will continue to struggle. Ganguly won’t do as well as he has in the recent past. Sehwag is likely to fail again but there is a small chance that he will do very well. If Pathan gets a chance, I am expecting him to score reasonably.
We will know soon enough.
Hirshi and Amar:
Do you guys think that Indian batsmen will perform the same way in Australia as they did against Pakistan.
Hirshi
I don’t work from home, and yes Khansahab is a polite person only when he is not in his akhroat mode. Hahaha
I am supposed to be working from home as well. Around lunch time already!
Wasim, fine, I will accept your point with reservations. I still have no sympathy for Asif and Akhtar getting injured. But yes, I understand where you are coming from.
Khansahab is a pretty polite person as well and I like reading his posts. Unfortunately, his blog URL is too long (why 786?), so less likely to get visitors. This will probably work better. Khansahab, are you pukhtoon? I spent some time at a research institute working at Pashto speech recognition. Have several pathan friends.
HIRSHI
I don’t know if you read the newspapers or not a few players were not able to get visa because of shortage of time.
Don’t take it like an India/Pakistan issue what I have said is no differrent than Gavaskar and other cricket pundits all over the world.
Wasim,
India and Pakistan are neighbors. Every city in India is within a few hours of flight from any city in Pakistan. If Pak had the bench strength, they could have recalled anyone at any time. In fact they did recall the extra wicketkeeper. So your argument about playing at home vis-a-vis the injury situation is not very well placed. The fact of the matter is that four of India’s first choice bowlers and two first choice batsmen were injured for Bangalore. They could field 11 players because they had enough bench strength in the batting department and did well to hide their bowling weaknesses.
Dead rubber is called dead for a reason.
Thirdly, when India toured Pak last year, the three-match series was won 1-0 in Pakistan’s favor. I remember Pak piling on mammoth first innings totals in the first two tests to take India out of the matches. I don’t recall anyone complaining about the declarations not coming soon enough.
Good luck for Australia for both teams.
Hey Wasim..i can see you just replied to Hrishi..man your at work!! and such a pleasure to see someone “actually replying to the posts”..the bloggers from cricinfo can learn a few things!!
Hrishi..no point in posting to that dumb religious zealot.Cant expect much from the madrassa graduates can you?..just comment on the cricket and ignore that fool from montreal
All he knows is to praise afridi and ridicule tendulkar and shoiab..
..even after all the failures throughout the career ( indeed pyar deewana hota hai )
guess he finds afridi to be a guud player
As for him commenting on hinduism and our culture..let him..barking dogs keep on barking..nothing else much they can do..this is a cricket blog so cant comment much on his comment on pseudo secularism and his rants on pakspin as well…other wise would really like to take him to the cleaners on that!! ….Guess thats what his elders and religion have teached him..ridicule others and look for negatives!! …N my XXX is the longest blah blah blah
N Mr Saquib hope you post this..else this site wouldnt be much diff from pakspin..and i seriously doubt you would be able to post regularly on the blog or update regularly..and cover the india aussie series as well..dunno if you will be getting the time to do it..but if you can..would be a very good thing.The cric info blogs suck..dunno why they cant regularly update!!
Are they not getting paid for it?
Hrish
You are absolutely right that Pakistan will also face the same music when they face Australia, its not that I am saying Australians are Invincible both India and Pakistan have defensive approach
and you cannot beat Australia when You lack in ammunition and preperation.
India tried their best to win the dead rubber so you cant say that the 5th match doesn’t count, and for your record India were playing at home and were never in a situation that they couldn’t even field 11 fit players.
Hi All,
It seems like many on this blog are taking express pleasure in their assessment that India are up for a rude awakening by Australia. It may very well be true that Australia are very likely to beat India. But will the outcome be any different when Australia visit Pakistan? Secondly, why so much anti-India sentiment? How does it matter whether India win or lose to some other country? How is Bollywood any relevant here? I have seen Javed ridiculing Hinduism and Indian culture on Cricinfo. Dude, how is that relevant to a cricket blog? Yes, we are a hero-worshipping culture. Yes, we burn effigies when our heros don’t succeed. Yes, our movies show a lot of skin. Yes, a majority are not Muslims. Let us now discuss cricket.
Some have pointed out that Pakistani team was hampered by injuries. While the latter may have been a fact, I have no sympathy for bowlers lacking in fitness once they got off steriods. They asked for it. That leaves Gul. On the other hand, Indians didn’t have their first choice bowling attack either, Zak, RP, Sree, Munaf. India were effectively fielding their fifth and sixth choice new-ball attack. Add on top injuries to Sachin and Dhoni, not exactly sitting duck batsmen.
Some have expressed an opinion 1-0 and 3-2 wins are somehow moral defeats because the margins should have been larger. The 3-2 involved a 3-1 lead and a dead rubber. The 1-0 could have been a 2-0, and yes, that reveals a certain lack of confidence in bowlers. But the facts are that Pathan and Ishant are not exactly spearheads and Harbhajan hasn’t been in form for more than an year. Yes, it was defensive. Does it matter? Not a whole lot.
good site folks!
well done to mr wasim saqib who it seems has started this blog. i think mr “nikhil” needs to chill out. very good comments by mr Javed A Khan.
what a disappointing series for pakistan fans. india is now going to Australia and i think india will be thrashed. so indians need to stop celebrating because they could have defeated pakistan more comprehensively. the indian bowling is still not up to the mark, otherwise how did pakistan reach a score of 500+?
apparently shoaib malik is going to face questions about the defeat.this whole enquiry system is a sham. i agree with “khansahab” that there needs to be a systematic enquiry system.
anyway i hope some actions are taken. the result can only be in better interests of the pakistani nation.
Dr Haroon
Seattle
Nikhil
Are you going up the hill or down the hill? I am not passing any judgment, I am only expressing my views, did I hit a nerve or stepped on your tail or what? The Indians haven’t kicked Pakistan’s ass actually kicked their own ass by not declaring their ticle_id=499367&aminnings on time and now crying …. in started this on the last day by turning on the flood-lights to help their players continue to play even in bad light. U fact the facts nikko, that you wanted to win it by hook or by crook but at the same time youwanted to secure the match in such a way that Pakistan or even a Martian team cannot achieve that target in that many overs. It goes to prove that Indians do not have any sporting spirit neither they have the balls to do it. That is why I said, Kumble needs a 3alls transplant
Good Moaning khansahab.
I think you haven’t read my comments carefully and just for the heck of criticism you have filled in the blanks. Btw, what is cheap and what is personal is only your perception, if you are referring to those comments on Cowrillas, Gorillas, Gai’s and Sheeps or those cheap shirtless Natay Khans and Patay Khans then, I must say that Bollywood has affected your psyche too, and you are suffering from the so-called pseudo secularism syndrome of India.
As regards Pakistan’s team performance, you are only echoing and confirming my views by saying: nothing can negate the fact that Pakistan were the worse team. There was no planning, no leadership, no passion and there are no paltry excuses this time.
Well my dear khansahab read my first post very carefully, I guess you have skimmed it, but I have clearly said that: “It is known to everyone that this was the weakest team Pakistan has ever produced in the last three decades. So what are you trying to tell here to the bloggers?
And how come your long term is before your short term? Any prudent planning for any business, project, team, goals, objectives etc., the short term comes before the long term, so that the transition from plan A to plan B or Short term to Long Term is smooth. You don’t go forward and then come backwards, unless you are back-footed. Take a look at this link.
Secondly, your suggestions are very vivid and abstract. Try to be more practical, pragmatic and concrete. Spell the names if need be and don’t feel shy. When I say don’t feel shy doesn’t mean you start blabbing out like you have done before on Pak Spin.
Shut up javed a khan from montreal whatever!!!
who the hell are you to give judgment on indian team? your pakistani players were rubbish…………..indians kicked ass and you cant bear it
face the facts dude!!!!!!!!!
it is strange that without proper coach indian team won and with proper coach pakistan lost. i totally agree with mr “pehelwaan” that coach should go now.we need imran khan as coach of the team.everyone left good comments on this site.well done.
Hi, i agree with everything siad by the blog owner.
I think Mohammad Sami is useless and must be removed. Also time is up for Kaneria, Faisal Iqbal and Yasir Hameed.I agree with Mr Javed that Misbah should be captain. Maybe Misbah can be captain for Test and Afridi can be captain for ODI. No hope for butterfingered Kamran Akmal too.I agree with pehelwan that team should be sacked. youngsters need to be played more by this team.
let us hope someone rescues our team
Well i saw this site on search engine. it is a good site. whoever has written it has written it well.
i want to say that what the hell is lawson doing? there has been no improvement in the team. if there is no improvement it means no progress!
i think lawson and team management made 3 main points 1)fielding would imrpove 2) fitness would improve 3) team would be aggressive
well i am sorry to say mr lawson you have not done any of the 3. i think coach should be sacked. team needs fresh planning and strategy.
in fact i think all senior player except yousuf should be sacked.
So starts a new era in the field of cricket blogs. Let us hope Cricketfiles can prove to be a realistic alternative to Pakspin, which featured in depth intellectual discussion from arguably the most learned Pakistani bloggers in the world, but has been marred with unjust and incomprehensible posting rules recently.
It seems Javed A Khan from Montreal, Canada, has pledged to his tirade of cheap personal remarks on this website as well. Javed A Khan, I think you are trying to cover Pakistan’s miserable performance by again being too critical of Indians and the Indian team. Nothing, and I repeat, nothing can negate the fact that Pakistan were the worse team. There was no planning, no leadership, no passion and there are no paltry excuses this time- the better team won.
I would like to mention some long term and short term solutions to the current debacle the Pakistani team is facing:
LONG TERM:
1) The introduction of a rigid accountability culture into the workings of the PCB. This includes independent, impartial committees to oversee the actions of the team captain, senior players and team management. The committee should have the power to make recommendations and the PCB should be given timeframes to adopt those recommendations.
2) The encouragement of seaming pitches in various parts of the country. This is hard to implement, more so since PCB is one of the poorest cricket boards. But there should be a mixture of hard, dry, moist, damp, bouncy etc pitches so that batsmen can accustom themselves to varying batting conditions.
3) The introduction of high profile domestic tournaments where the international XI team should compete with a competent “A” team, a competent “B” team and an emerging, talented “under 19” team (I am aware that some form of this is presently exercised by the PCB but it should occur more on a wider scale)
4) The abolition of corruption and nepotism from the system. One of the objectives of the independent and impartial committees mentioned above should be to scrutinise individuals having close links with famous persons and figures of authority in the country and check their progress (or lack of it)
5) The introduction of a new system to rate fielding standards of emerging players at domestic level. Regardless of how talented the players seem to be, they should only be elevated to the international side if their fielding is of a reasonable standard. I know this is being practised to some extent currently but it needs to be promulgated more actively.
6) The removal of Geoff Lawson (after his contract ends) and the appointment of an inexpensive local coach. If the system is practised with good accountability and discipline the players will respect the coach and do what he says
SHORT TERM:
1) The adoption of a stringent rotational policy whereby inconsistent players who throw their wickets away and do not apply themselves at the crease are easily replaced by players from the “A” team, a competent “B” team or the “under 19” team.
2) Frequent lectures by the team management to players instructing them as to what “consistency” means, how a player becomes a consistent player and the how important it is to keep focus and concentration on the crease
3) A hold on the remuneration of senior cricketers and threats to decrease their remuneration if their inconsistency/lack of commitment persists
4) The introduction of specialist left handed batsmen in the lower middle order (in both Tests and ODI’s) to provide variety to the batting attack and put some pressure on the opposition captain and bowlers
5) The exclusion of specialist openers from any form of international cricket over the next six months and their replacement by middle order players and/or the wicketkeeper batting at the top, with more specialist batsmen and/or in form all-rounders playing in the middle order. This should be done on a “trial” basis over the next six months (as stated above).
I am aware some of these recommendations have been discussed before on Pakspin. Naturally bloggers will have opposing views to some of these proposals, but we have to ask ourselves whether the current system is serving us right?
This seems like a wonderful idea to create this website. I stumbled upon this brainchild reading khansahab in Pak Spin on Cricinfo where he had given info about his own website. This eventually led me to this one and I must say it’s great. Congratulations Wasim and khansahab on your efforts.
It is now getting really frustrating with recent goings on at Cricinfo blogs. Comments getting discarded, the blog getting updated at a snail’s pace and the most recent development of all, the 1000 characters limit. This character assassination was the last straw for me to look for alternatives. So, here I am. I do hope though that this site would be liberal and steady with its hand of censorship.
The writer (I believe Wasim Saqib) has summed up this series excellently. The picture says a lot about how the series was fought. I would like to say though that those who were bragging for 5-0 and 3-0 victories for India were dreaming. Even against the most weakened, illness and injury ridden team, India was only just about a better side. This draw was of India’s own making though. Although the bad light came to Pakistan’s rescue but the Indians were not brave enough. I bet the remaining 11 overs, if they had given themselves a chance to bowl, would have sealed another win for India and improvement in the ranking table. The fact is thought that India’s bowling was also weakened with injuries to Zaheer, R P Singh and Sreesanth. India’s batting though really shone in the series and they won both series on the strength of their batting alone. I disagree though that India would get a rude awakening on their tour Down Under. The form that their batsmen are in could well continue for India on that tour.
I am pleased to see quite a few regulars of Pak Spin here. I hope many others join in. JAVED A KHAN, Misbah being the new captain is a thoughtful idea which Ramiz Raja first aired but more importantly, I believe it’s the selection committee that needs a sack. Having Afridi instead of Iqbal in the squad would definitely have been a better option from multiple angles. His potent bowling, fielding, enthusiastic presence, and a threat of making a quick score late in the order are all plus points against Iqbal’s pathetic average of 24 in this series.
It would be really good to have contributions from all at Pak Spin, Men in White etc.
Hey Wasim bhai ! Firstly, congrats on setting up this blog/website.
With regards to the cricket though, thank God the series is over !
My ego has taken quite a beating…:(
I’ve been really busy but I’ll be back in a day or two !
Great to see Javed bhai here as well: )
We need to get the other contributors on Pakspin here too! :S
Win by hook or by crook. That is the motto of the Indians. Prior to the test series there was an agreement between India and Pakistan that there will be no use of lights during the test matches. But, on the eve of the last day of the last test match at Bangalore the officials switched on the lights prior to the bad light effecting the game to help India. No one other than Ranjan Madugalle had to intervene and he exchanged heated words with the Indian authorities in order to get the lights turned off. Take a look at this link:
http://www.dawn.com/2007/12/13/spt7.htm
The Indians love to boast after every single win. Now, it is Kumble’s turn. How conveniently he has displayed his chivalry by saying 1-0 win is good enough. And then he added, I knew 48 overs were enough to bowl them out. WOW, look at this Nostradamus Maverick approach which is so full of arrogance. He also said that his fast bowling surprised the Pakistani batsmen more than his spin. LOL, he can say that because Shahid Afridi’s faster ones are of the same speed as of Munaf Patel and Irfan Pathan’s average speed fast bowling. It would be interesting to see Kumble bowling fast in Australia.
Whats wrong with Shoaib Malik ? why did he jump into the post match press conference once again? The media was expecting Younus Khan but, this is the second time Malik has done this by taking over the charge at the press conference. I would have understood if he was a good orator or if his speaking abilities were better than others. Officially he is the captain of the team till Dec. 31, 2008, but morally and ethically he should have asked or persuaded YK to take up that job as he lead the team and the media wanted to hear from him how he experienced the game, he was the man on the spot and not Malik.
If Malik needs to earn respect from his team mates whether its a junior or senior he should give them the due they deserve otherwise, there will be divisions and fractions in the team. And it is the captain’s responsibility to gel the team together whichever way it is possible. And his actions on the field and off-the field should not different, because his goal should be for the team.
I have said this before and want to repeat it here, “The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that, their interests and his own are the same. ” This should be the essence or the crux of the matter for a captain to remember, because handling human resources is not the same as handling the sheep. Human beings are far more sensitive, emotional and fragile. To me this act of leading and addressing the press conference by Malik appears to be very selfish and childish. He shouldn’t have done that.
Btw, I like the picture above, it shows how the Indians appeal vociferously at every single ball which is not dispatched to the boundary. Just look at the appeals being made by the bowler and the fielders from different angles, its funny that two of them are stunt, one is Yuvraj and the other is Dravid. When Simon Taufel turned down one of Kumble’s appeal for lbw, Ian Bishop said, “Kumble doesn’t make an inquiry, he demands from the umpire to give the batsman out, and weak umpire could be influenced by his vociferous appeals.”
On Pakistan team selection for the future, our opinions won’t matter to the PCB dimwits, they decide what they feel is right, which always turn out to be wrong. May be they don’t want to change the captain because Nasim Ashraf wants a weak captain to twist his arm or his ankle. But, the media and the public in general is asking for a change in leadership and that is currently being down played due to the political situation in the country. People are not so focused and a majority of them are so upset with the political unrest and this defeat, that they are saying: “Bhaar may jao” or to hell with them.
However, if a change in the leadership takes place, in my opinion there are two options. Considering from the short term perspective to make everyone happy, Misbah should be made the captain. He has already earned decent amount of respect from his team mates and from the nation in general with his brilliant knocks in all forms of the game, his educational background and his ability to speak English makes him the best and the most deserving candidate, besides he is no kid. But, that is Misbah disadvantage too for being 33 and may not last for more than 2-3 years max.
The second option is for the long term and that is Shahid Afridi, most of you may not agree with this, but there is no choice, because there is no one else to lead the team. and he has not refused to lead the team like YK or MOYO. Given the chance he will accept it and he won’t tolerate any nonsense from anyone. It will also improve his own confidence which has been shattered on so many occasions by the management, captain and the coach. Between him and Malik the camaraderie was so good that I never thought Malik would ever drop Afridi from the team. And that too in India? Especially when the team was lacking in the bowling department, who else could have bowled for a longer period of time, Afridi or Akhtar?
Shoaib Akhtar has proved that he is only good for 4 overs thats all. But, that doesn’t mean he can play twenty20? No way Jose, he is unfit for that version of the game too, his best bet is to go to Bollywood and make his dreams come true. He will end up even as a flop villain. He is building his chest muscles these days and roaring to out and join the Indian bandwagon of sleeveless or shirtless heroes. I wonder when their heroines would copy their heroes? Imagine Manisha Cowrilla, Aishwariya Gai and Madhuri Big Sheep and the “aikestras” aping and competing avec Salman Khan & Co., and the new old boy on the block is puffing inhalers before joining them for a rock n’ roll cum bhangra! Good luck to him.
First of all, congratulations to Wasim Saqib for creating this website and the blog for cricket lovers. I was totally cheesed off by that 1000 character restrictions and the regular censorship as well as delayed updating of the other websites on cricinfo.
IF Kumble …. Wasim, that is a BIG “IF” because to do that you have to have balls and Kumble needs a ball transplant to do that. When I wrote this on Pak Spin that Kumble has gone defensive second time, the Indians in particular Rohit reacted very strongly and tried to defend Kumble using the claptrap theory.
The point is, you can’t justify your captaincy by saying “Oh, I have done what others have not done in the last 27 years” i.e., winning a test series at home against Pakistan. This is complacency and timidness which is not going to be effective in Australia. In fact the OZ’s are going to squeeze the dry lemons and make fresh lime juice.
Kumble should have declared by the end of the 4th day because in the morning there is always moisture on the pitch and that would have helped his fast bowlers to grab early wickets, but he didn’t. He played till lunch and even beyond. So, to expect bowling out Pakistan, without thinking that the last 10 overs of the day are always dubious and doubtful owing to bad light was not a good strategy to play defensively. He must be cursing by now, or may not be right now because of the euphoria of winning the test series at home after two and a half decades. But definitely when the dust will settle, the experts will blab and make him feel guilty. Even if he won’t admit that he was defensive, it will haunt him for ever and he would always say, why the frock I didn’t declare the innings early?
The experts will blab……. I used this phrase above because, a couple of days ago Ian Chappell said, excluding Sehwag from the probables is a BIG mistake and the next day they have decided to include Sehwag in the probables for Australia. Now, they can say that the decision was based on Greg Chappell’s advice, but that is so obvious to anyone who has read that interview in one of the Australian newspapers.
Whatever it is, the series is over and now Pakistan should seriously think about reorganizing their efforts and regrouping their team for the year 2008 and beyond. It is known to everyone that this was the weakest team Pakistan has ever produced in the last three decades. Even though the team had a legend called Mohammad Yousuf in the side, whose test record in India is not that great. The other so-called batting legend Younus Khan whose great knocks and 100′s seldom bring any laurels to the country as opposed to Inzi the gr8. Credit should go to Misbah for playing some real patient innings with Kamran Akmal and Sami on more than one occasion.
If Shoaib Malik needs to be removed from the post of captaincy because of the general belief that it is causing too much pressure on his batting and bowling both. In that case it should be done now rather than waiting till the end of December 2008. Also, they must justify the reasons for not including Shahid Afridi in the team because he is such a good player who cannot be ignored. I can ignore Kishore Kumar’s pyar diwana hota hai because the reality is he is definitely better than many of those who are already in the side.
Faisal Iqbal’s second innings 50 should not be considered as an excuse to keep him in the team. Don’t you guys seriously think that Afridi can be a better prospect than Faisal Iqbal or even Yasir Hameed? Besides, rolly polly Danish Kaneria has been extremely expensive and hasn’t taken too many wickets. I can come up with statistics later, but it is a fact that he is very ineffective and impotent in India. Afridi, au contraire, not only bowls well, gives less runs and take wickets, AND, he is a 100 times better fielder than Kaneria and whenever his batting clicks he wins the match single-handedly for Pakistan. How many times Kaneria has done that?
About the Rawalpindi Express, when he is fit (which is a rarity, in fact he is seldom fit in any series) he is good, but we have to accept that he has come of age for the kinda effort he puts in and now he is a mere passenger in that express train which has 11 boogies and a steam less engine.
Pakistan should work on Tanvir, Rao, Arafat (shouldn’t someone tell that idiot Siva Rama Krishna that he is not Raafat but Arafat?) and may be a couple of young fast bowlers. Kamran Akmal is here to stay the only way to put pressure on him is to keep reminding him of a back-up wicketkeeper that will keep him on his toes otherwise he is sitting flat feet on his haunches and bucking up his “Danny BooAye.”
I want Omar Admani to come here on this blog and comment on Akmal and Euceph Ahmad to come and take a panga avec moi plus the not so bright roshandan to pick on Awas and khansahab to sulk and brood in his usual style. Lets have a party here and express our views openly but within certain limits and let the Dhakkan Shukkan stay close to their own mothers, sisters and wives and guard their precious treasures.
I have started typing and didn’t bother to go back and read what I have written but I am sure whatever it is, it is good enough for some to smile and for some to sulk and retaliate. I am waiting for a response, rather responses. Good luck once again.