Cricketfiles.com

I I won’t kill you with the bat I will stab you in the back like a true Pathan

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday replaced Shoaib Malik with Younis Khan as captain of the national cricket team after a humiliating defeat against Sri Lanka, its chairman said.

Malik led Pakistan to their worst one-day defeat – by 234 runs – in the third and final one-day international in Lahore on Saturday to give Sri Lanka a 2-1 series win.

‘Malik has accepted to step down after the Sri Lanka defeat and we have appointed Younus as the new captain for an indefinite period,’ PCB chairman Ijaz Butt told reporters.

‘We haven’t sacked Malik. In fact, I met Malik and told him about the situation, as the whole nation felt disappointed over the team’s poor performance and a lot of people wanted a change,’ said Butt.

‘That is why I requested Malik to step down and he gracefully accepted.’

Malik led Pakistan in 36 one-day internationals – 12 defeats and 24 wins – including a Pakistan record 12-match winning streak.

Malik also led Pakistan in three Tests, losing two and drawing one.

In contrast, the 31-year-old Younis has led Pakistan in six one-day matches, winning two and losing four.

————————————————————————————

Its a mind boggling decision by PCB, but completely inline with their past tradition of showing shallow knee jerk reactions after every loss it will not solve any problem but will create more mess.

It was not Malik’s fault that the rogue senior player’s were playing for the book makers rather than the country.

It was also not his fault that the conniving senior players were playing with ulterior motives and some of them wanted to see his downfall and were on a quest for power. Pick every major loss Pakistan suffered under Malik you will find only three characters as chief culprits, Younis, Afridi and Shoaib Akhtar.

It was not his fault that the selectors selected a team on the basis of seniority rather than current form.

As the former Pakistani pacer Mohammad Akram said :

The blame culture is still alive and kicking in Pakistani cricketing circles and this time it was Malik whose neck was on the line. Why haven’t the manager or coach or selectors also been sacked? It seems that in Pakistan cricket every time we lose, someone has to get the blame for it and this time it was Malik.

Malik couldn’t go out there and hold the bat for his team mates or bowl for them, they should take individual responsibility for their poor performances, rather than putting all the blame squarely on the captains shoulders.

Malik was constantly being targeted by the supporters of Afridi in the media through out his tenure as a captain, regardless of the results only negatives about his captaincy were highlighted in a systematic campaign spurred by jingoism.

Our hero the world’s greatest all rounder Sahibzada/Haramzada Shahid Ali khan Afridi who can neither bat nor bowl was playing dirty politics within the team and leading this bunch of rogue players.

The guy doesn’t deserve even to qualify to play for a Mohala eleven, let alone make him the captain of the national team, I have seen better players than him playing on the streets, he might excite some school boys with his tulla brand of cricket but for serious cricket  fans he holds no charm, for the past two years he has been capitalizing on the jingoistic support from Karachites and was the royal pain in the ass for the management and the Captain, he survived for so long just because of his dramabaazi, If he failed as an opener he blamed it on the captain that he deliberately sent him as an opener so that in case of his failure he could kick him out of the team, if he failed down the order he and his supporters blamed again on the captain that he should have been sent as an opener so that he could take advantage of powerplays, if he was hit as a bowler again the blame was squared on the captain that he used him in powerplays or when an established batsman was playing. The fact is that brainless idiot is  good for nothing  and he should be axed from the team.ASAP

It has been reported in the media that Afridi’s deliberate under performance is being investigated by PCB, I hope that ICC also takes a note of it and the guy is kicked out of the team forever he has been a constant negative influence on the team along with Shoaib Akhtar.

PCB has rewarded under performance by making Younis Khan the captain, Younis Khan scored a mere 28 runs @ 9.33, and he dropped two crucial catches, Afridi made 14 runs in 3 matches and took 1 wicket @ 4.96/over, both of these players alongwith Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Yousaf have been the biggest criticis of Malik all four of them openly expressed their desire to lead the team during Malik’s captaincy.

Nobody knows what was the rationale behind this decision and nobody knows how it is going to solve the problems faced by Pakistan cricket team as other than Shahid Afridi no other player is facing the axe immediately, same players will produce same results and mark my words Younis is going to prove to be another Inzamam who is going to protect his comrades.

Younis has already said

“don’t expect any miracles from me”.

“There are big problems with our cricket system and it will take time to put things in place,” Younis said soon after the Cricket Board named him as the new captain in place of Shoaib Malik.

Younis said he had agreed to take up the captaincy because of the challenges facing the team but said the board and cricket fans will have to be patient for consistent results.

So why were we expecting miracles from Malik he was playing with the same players and under the same system, we all know the system is not going to change, as the board gave Malik no powers to get rid of under performing players, he had no role in selection, and the fact that these players revolted against him is evident of his desire for a change and improvement.

“I will talk to all the players including Malik and discuss future strategy. Because at the end of the day the players have to perform as a team not individuals,” he said.

Really, we were under the impression only the captain has to perform, you will get no margin from anybody rest assured.

————————————————————————————-

The big question is why Captaincy is so important for these rogue players, we all know these guys don’t play for self pride or honor of the country they play for their self motives and the book makers. Is it the huge amount of money involved in match fixing which makes them so desperately strive for captaincy? Or it is their big ego which can’t let them live in peace?

The way  administrations have bent backwards in front of player power and turned a blind eye toward under performing players leaves no doubt in my mind that this administration had decided in advance to throw away this series.