INDIAN captain Mahendra Dhoni last night attempted to justify his team’s embarrassing nine-wicket mauling by Australia as a mere “practice match”, India fielded a Young team and were playing without their Big Four who performed so well in the tests their young players failed to match the intensity of the Aussies.
The current year will be very important for the world cricket as most of the teams are rebuilding their core and are trying to enhance their bench strength in preparations for the 2011 WC. Both India and Pakistan are going through the same phase and are struggling to find good players who are ready for International cricket its mainly because of poor coaching standards of domestic cricket in both countries The young players either learn by playing against the senior players or they learn from a mentor or coach, unfortunately in Pakistan most of the senior players do not play domestic cricket and prefer to play overseas for monetary reasons, India on the other hand is changing its domestic cricket by introducing IPL and ICL, their young players will get instant exposure to top class international players in near future and they will be better equipped to step into International cricket. Australia is a prime example, they have almost effortlessly reconfigured their core after the retirement of key players their new players have made a smooth and effortless transition into International cricket, this shows that Australia has the most depth as far as their bench is concerned and their new players are completely ready for International cricket before they are drafted.
In the recently concluded series against Zimbabwe Pakistan tried a lot of young players most of them came with a lot of promise and hype preceding them but only a few left any positive impression, almost all the new pace bowlers with the exception of Kamran Hussain were flat and single dimensional none of them was able to move the ball in the air or of the seam, Sohail Khan was the quickest but his average speed was not in 140’s it was in 130’s and the fastest ball he bowled was only @142kph he looked over weight didn’t had a smooth run up and even struggled to bowl a well directed bouncer. He has the talent but he needs to improve his skill level otherwise he will be another Sami in the making, Kamran Hussain swung the ball in both directions although he lacked speed but he can prove to be dangerous in shorter version of the game and on tracks suitable for swing bowling he needs to improve his speed out of all the left handed bowlers he was the only one who could swing the ball in to a right handed batsman. Abdul Rauf had pace he is well built but he was bowling all over the place and failed to swing the ball his run up was good but still needs to be improved. Wahab Riaz was the quickest amongst all the new recruits he is tall lean and has a smooth run up and was not afraid to bowl short the only thing lacking was swing he is young and if he is coached well he can be an exciting prospect for us in future, Pakistan tried three new openers out of which Khurram Manzoor and Nasir Jamshed impressed everybody its too early to say if they will be successful against tougher oppositions but they do have the talent and Pakistan should invest on them in future. Fawad Alam was also tried but his bowling is average he is a good batsman and if he improves his bowling skills he will certainly stay in the team for a long time to come, I was most impressed by Sarfraz Ahmed he is energetic and has good reflexes he is our future keeper.
Pakistan will have to revert back to Shoaib Akhter and Umar gul for the Australian series, Akhter was demoted in the central contract categories, which he has not signed, it seems he wants to keep his options open, by signing on a Rs200,000 per month contract he does not want to tie his hands he is doing movie deals and endorsement deals in India and is trying to signup for county cricket all these ventures are far more lucrative financially than the central contract therefore he snubbed it, he knows there is nobody in the country who can take his place and he can dictate terms.
PCB will never be able to find replacement of Shoaib unless and until they either hire Wasim or Waqar for coaching, bowling is an art and you need a mentor or coach.
A lot of criticism is being hurled at PCB and selectors for trying out so many players against Zimbabwe, I think both India and Pakistan should stay the course and should continue to try out young players until they are satisfied by the Team and its bench players, they might lose a series or two during the process but that is not a high price keeping in view the long term dividends.
Cricket Australia has refused to send its team to Pakistan, according to a news published in Daily Jang, Nasim Ashraf and O’Connor met in Dubai and the Aussie chief has expressed his concerns relating to security issues and has proposed to play on a neutral venue, the Aussie chief citing a severe resistance from the players union has expressed CA’s unability to send its team to Pakistan.
PCB chief Nasim Ashraf while refusing to play at a neutral venue also stated that SA, Zimbabwe, Aus A team and Aus U-19 team have made successful visits to Pakistan in recent months without any security concerns, he also pointed out that the last time Australia visited Pakistan was in 1998 almost 10 years ago and Pakistani cricket fans will be deprived from cricket.
Mr. Nasim Ashraf also explained the extreme security measures, PCB has been planning for the security of Aussie players.
Although no final decision has been taken so far as the Aussie’s want to wait and observe the security situation after the general elections in Pakistan.But from the initial discussions it appears that CA is all set not to send its team to Pakistan and have already made up their mind in this respect.
PCB should not budge from its position and should impose counter sanctions on CA, Pakistan team should not play Australia on any ground until they compensate Pakistan for the losses and tour Pakistan.
Final Result
Sind 149 (Naumanullah 47, Shakeel-ur-Rehman 6-28) and 309 for 5 (Manzoor 118, Latif 72, Alam 51* ) beat North West Frontier Province 203 (Shakeel-ur-Rehman 45, Sohail 4-65) and 254 (Younis 111, Kaneria 5-62, Ali 3-66) by five wickets.
Sind managed to beat NWFP quite comfortably although their was a minor collapse when they lost three quick wickets but a scintillating innings from Alam and a trade mark cameo from Afridi saw them home.
In the other game the Federal Capital batsmen held Punjab for a draw. The Capital Areas’ effort was led by test discard Bazid Khan who scored a composed 172, and he was well supported by Usman Saeed (65) and Yasir Arafat (56*).
| P | W | WLF | L | DWF | DLF | ND | A | Pts | NetRRF | |||
| 1 | Sind | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.164 | |
| 2 | Punjab | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1.644 | |
| 3 | Federal Areas | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1.644 | |
| 4 | North West Frontier Province | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -0.164 |
Now the tournament takes a break for a week due to the elections in the country and action will resume again on 22nd February with 2 more matches: Federal Capital vs Baluchistan and Punjab vs NWFP – the latter will be a cracker as it will pit Younis Khan vs the rest of the Pakistan middle order (Malik, Yousuf, and Misbah).
DAY 3
Federal Areas 383 and 37 for 3 trail Punjab 599 for 7 dec (Butt 290, Jamshed 108, Yousuf 56, Azam 3-133) by 179 runs
Scorecard
Salman Butt hit an astonishing 50 fours during his 290 © AFP
Salman Butt fell only 10 runs short of his triple century, he resumed the innings with Nasir Jamshed who carried his form from the Zimbabwe series and added 290 runs for the second wicket before both Butt and Nasir were dismissed by Shehzad Alam, Jamshed scored 108.
Butt was the star of the day his strike rate was amazing he took only 318 balls to score 290 runs,
Butt continued his domestic form but the question is will he be able to score against Australia.
For the moment he has silenced his critics. His innings was against Pakistan’s front line pace attack so cannot be regarded as fluke. Mohammed Yousuf also scored a fluent 50 before the Punjab team declared for 599.
This match is perhaps the last nail in Shoaib Akhter’s coffin he alongwith Arafat and Tanvir went for over four runs an over and failed to take any wickets.
At close of play Federal area’s team was 37 for 3, Aizaz cheema got rid of both the openers and Abdur Rehman took the third wicket leaving federal area trailing by 179 runs.
Sind 149 and 130 for 0 (Manzoor 74*, Latif 56*) need another 179 runs to beat North West Frontier Province 203 and 254 (Younis 111, Kaneria 5-62, Ali 3-66)
Scorecard
Having conceding the first-innings lead to North West Frontier Province on the second day, Sind fought back strongly on the third day to still be in with a chance of victory.
Leading by 200 runs with seven wickets in hand in their second innings and captain Younis Khan still at the crease, NWFP were done in by Danish Kaneria’s 5 for 62. Kaneria, who recently expressed his disappointment at not being handed a central contract by the Pakistan board, dismissed Nos 6 -10 as NWFP crumbled to 254 all out from 150 for 3 at the end of the second day. NWFP fought well but they do not have the batting or bowling strength as compared to Sind
Yasir Hameed again disappointed and failed to seize the opportunity.
Younis’ 111 was the only substantial contribution, the next best was only 26. Shahid Afridi, the Sind captain, chipped in with the wicket of his opposition counterpart, while Anwar Ali ended with 3 for 66.
Needing the highest total of the match to win the game, Sind were off to a solid start. Khalid Latif and Khurram Manzoor, two others fighting for the opening slot in the Pakistan line-up, scored patient fifties as their team finished at 130 for no loss. Sind need another 179 with ten wickets left, but given the propensity of batting collapses in this match, it is still anybody’s game.
The cashed up unofficial cricket league ICL continues to feast on Pakistan’s talent stock, eight more players, Sami, Naved-ul-Hasan, Mushtaq Ahmed, Humayun Farhat, Shahid Nazir, Hasan Raza, Imran Nazir and Riaz Afridi have signed lucrative contracts with ICL and the eminent life ban on Shoaib Akhter might also compel him to sign a deal in the next few days.
Besides these eight players six other players, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar, Shabbir Ahmed, Abdul Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood have already joined ICL. Off spinner Arshad Khan is also rumoured to have signed a contract with ICL he may join the league from next season.
The situation is nothing short of a major crisis for PCB as Pakistan’s bench strength and its domestic pool of players is fast depleting as almost all the second string players who do not get selected in the National team are opting for ICL. Although these players were mostly test discards and with the exception of Sami, Imran farhat, Imran Nazir and Shabbir Ahmed none of these players had any realistic chance of representing Pakistan in any form of the game, but these are all senior and experienced players and if they continue to play domestic cricket youngsters can learn a lot from these players. Also the quality of Pakistan’s domestic competitions will further deteriorate as most of the players who have any international experience will be either playing ICL or its official clone IPL.
But what worry’s me the most is the trend any player who is not being selected in the National team is willing to go on auction, and ICC and PCB are in no mood to soften their stand to ban those players who opt for ICL, this migration will continue if unchecked or not contained and Pakistan will be most affected as we have one of the largest pool of talented players who have no problem regarding adjusting in India because of similarities in language and culture. Financial incentives will also play a major role as what these players make domestically is chump change in comparison to what they would be receiving from ICL.
ICL’s official clone IPL is creating even bigger problems, if ICL is recruiting second string players from all over the world IPL is targeting the best and is getting them with far more ease as it is officially recognized. IPL has a 44 day schedule and I can’t believe that it will not affect the domestic setup of other countries, already we have seen that the Australian players are more keen to play IPL’s inaugural game on April 18th and make money rather than make an official tour to Pakistan, the incentives are so lucrative that their player’s union boss Paul Marsh even threatened that the players are ready to leave International cricket if a stand alone slot for IPL is not carved out where no International matches are being played.
The situation is already creating tremors in England where English club owners know that there is no way that they will be able to attract foreign players any more. If a separate window is not carved out for IPL it will trigger a lot of premature retirements in International cricket as the temptation to get rich is too big.
There is a clause in IPL’s agreement that no player will be able to play the tournament before two years from his date of retirement a clause which might get challenged in the court.
The threat of ICL and IPL are real, and by imposing bans on players the situation will remain unsolved, ICC should recognize ICL and try to regulate them. In fact both the bodies should be regulated they should not be able to recruit a player if a NOC is not granted by the respective board of the player and a quota for each league per country should be announced so that the domestic tournaments of these countries should not get affected.
Sri lanka won the toss and elected to bat and after 20 overs are 62/2 both teams are struggling to find help from their bench and are suffering from similar problems. I was a bit surprised at the Indian selection they again persisted with Uthappa who is completely out of sorts, both India and Srilanka are suffering from sudden batting collapses and both have a hole in their line up in the lower middle order.
Srilanka after losing its openers are trying to grind out the middle overs and are trying to preserve wickets for the slog overs, Sangakara is in top form but he is not getting much help from other Srilankan batsmen. This match is important for both the teams although they will face each other one more time but both are desperate to earn additional point to reach the finals. India made a mistake by not playing Sehwag he should have been given preference over Uthappa.
India clinched a thriller from Srilanka who again failed to capitalize on the platform laid by Sangakara, Yuvraj finally scored and came out of his bad patch he played a fantastic innings of 76 Yuvraj got out with India still requiring 81 runs to win but Captain Dhoni saw them home in a tense finish with two wickets to spare.
Earlier India were reeling at 35/3 and the match was slipping away from India that Yuvraj came to crease and batted fluently he struck 10 fours and 1 six in his 76 and Dhoni played a very sensible innings identifying his role and played according to the situation and took no risk he played an uncharacteristic knock of 50 with no boundaries.
Srilanka still have a chance to reach the finals but they will have to win most of their remaining games.
Pardeep Sangwan puts India on top
17 year old Pradeep Sangwan of Delhi, a left-arm medium pacer who swings the ball both ways at a nippy pace, has crippled South Africa by picking up four wickets in five overs! Earlier SA won the toss and elected to bat and ran right into Pardeep Sangwan who made SA batsmen look clueless against his swing bowling he was ably supported on the other end by Argal. SA were bundled out for 149 in 30.1 overs India are 51/1 as the match is still in progress.
India went on to win the match comfortably and maintained their top position in the group B their team looks very balanced and very impressive.
Defending champions struggling against the kiwis
Newzealand won the toss and put Pakistan into bat their seamers made full use of the conditions and sent four Pakistani batsmen back to the pavilion for just 28 runs. Pakistan recovered because of a gutsy innings from Salah-ud-din and A Asad, in the end they were restricted to 156 in 47.1 overs. The champions will have to bowl their heart out to win this one.
Pakistan’s bowlers were upto the task, reducing New Zealand to 51 for 4 in the 23rd over. Harry Boam led the chase with a patient 38 and his partnership with Greg Morgan took them closer but legspinner Ahmed Shehzad grabbed three wickets to hasten the end.
PCB chairman has promised that he will announce good news in the next 24 hours as a break through is expected anytime, PCB officials seem quite sure that they have convinced Australian chief about security issues and he is willing to send the Australian team to Pakistan, it should be noted here that in the event of cancelling the tour cricket Australia was facing a fine of US$ 2.3 mil. Pakistan’s case was lobbied by other member nations in the meeting held in Malaysia, a final decision will be announced on Tuesday.
Eight IPL franchisees will be getting together to bid for the cricketers they want in their teams. On offer, for a price, are some of the world’s finest cricketers, from Ricky Ponting to Shaun Pollock, Chris Gayle to Shoaib Akhtar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni to Muttiah Muralitharan. Eager to buy them are some of India’s biggest corporate names, from United Spirits to Reliance Industries, and a couple of the country’s brightest faces – Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and leading lady Preity Zinta.
The cell phones will ring off the hook, the “open bidding” will take place behind closed doors inside the Regal Room at the Hilton Towers. About six representatives from each of the eight teams will be seated around separate tables with computer screens to track the action.
The auction process is complicated and tensions will rise, each team has to spend a minimum of $3.3 million but can’t go above $5 million.
The bid starts with the annual “base player fee” that has already been fixed by the IPL. This base player fee assumes that the player is available for the entire tournament. This fee will be adjusted on a pro-rata basis, depending on the players’ availability.
The players will be divided into “sets” of approximately 12 each, according to their base player fee, cricketing speciality and expected availability for the opening season. But the bids will start with a set of marquee players like Gilchrist, Dhoni, Ricky Ponting and Chris Gayle. A random draw will decide the order in which players go up on the block.
Bid increments have been fixed at $5000 for bids up to $100,000, $10,000 for bids between $100,000 and $250,000, and $25,000 for bids between $250,000 and $500,000. Increments over the $500,000 mark will be at the auctioneer’s discretion.
The minimum “percentage availability” for any player included in the auction will be 25 per cent. Thus, even if a player is expected to be either completely unavailable or only available for less than four of the DLF IPL matches in 2008, 25 per cent of the player fee bid for that player in the auction will count against the $5 million purse. For example, the purchase for $400,000 of a player who is expected to be completely unavailable in 2008 will cause a deduction of $100,000 from the franchise’s overall $5 million purse.
If more than one franchise is interested in signing a particular foreign player from outside the current pool, the IPL’s organisers will hold another auction. But Indian players who are not in the pool can be signed at any time.
Each team has to choose 8 international players, 4 under 22 players, 4 players from the local catchment areasThere is no cap on the number of Indian players but no team can select more than two Aussie players.
Sachin, Ganguly, Dravid, Sehwag and Yuvraj are the Icon players and will not be available for auction.
We will keep on updating this thread as the auction progresses.
You are more than welcome to post your picks for different teams.
The first hard news out – and it’s big news. India’s captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, has been bought by the Chennai franchise for US$1.5 million. The other first picks: Adam Gilchrist has gone to Hyderabad for US$700,000, Muttiah Muralitharan to Chennai for US$600,000, Shane Warne to Jaipur for US$450,000 and Shoaib Akhtar to Kolkata for US$425,000. So Chennai has already spent US$2.1 million and grabbed two big names. It is unlikely that anyone will beat Dhoni’s figure but in these times anything is possible.
I think kolkata was a clear winner after the first round as they got shoaib pretty cheap, they still have a lot of salary cap in hand and they can go for some big names.
Hyderabad also got a good bargain as openers are a key in T20 they got a world class opener and a world class keeper its not that bad of a deal also he will be free to play and will have no further International commitment.
In the second round of bidding, Mumbai got active and bought Sanath Jayasuriya for $9,75,000 (his base price being $2,50,000) and Harbhajan Singh for $8,50,000 (his base price being $2,50,000). The other players who were picked in the second round of bidding were: Anil Kumble by Bangalore for $5,00,000 (base price: $2,50,000) and Kumar Sangakkara by Mohali for $7,00,000 (base price: $2,50,000).
Glenn McGrath and Mohammad Yousuf haven’t found any takers so far, so they have gone into the reserve pool and will be picked later.
Mumbai made huge mistake and spent a little under two mil for Jayasuriya and Harbhajan, Jayasuriya is not the same any more they have spent half of their salary cap on two average players. Mohali made a good pick they paid 0.7 mil for Sangakara which is not bad.
Andrew Symonds became the second-most expensive player in the IPL, as Hyderabad bought him for $1.35m (his base price being $2,50,000). The others picked in the third round of the bidding include: Brett Lee bought by Mohali for $9,00,000 (base price: $3,00,000), Brendan McCullum bought by Kolkata for $7,00,000 (base price: $1,75,000), Jacob Oram bought by Chennai for $6,75,000 (base price: $2,00,000), Daniel Vettori bought by Delhi for $6,25,000 (base price: $2,50,000).
Ricky Ponting and Mathew Hayden didn’t draw too much of money, their tour to Pakistan could have had something to do with it. Ponting waw bought by Kolkata for $4,00,000 and Hayden by Chennai for $3,75,000.
Like McGrath and Yousuf, Mike Hussey didn’t find any takers, and will be sent into the reserve pool.
©2007-2012 Cricketfiles.com | Powered by WordPress with Easel | Subscribe: RSS | Back to Top ↑
Recent Comments