RBS Tournamnet kicked off yesterday at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore. The tournament is featuring 13 domestic teams and will continue for five days. The RBS t20 tournament will have 18 matches, and has a prize money of 4.44m rupees (approx US $55,000), and will help fine-tune Pakistan’s preparations for the World Twenty20 in England next month. 

Shoaib Akhtar who is renowned for creating a controversy for PCB before the start of any series or tournament again created a controversy. The controversy began when PCB released the details of Shoaib’s ailment to the press a decision which many has regarded as unethical as it is causing huge embarrasment for Shoaib but in my opinion he left PCB with no choice,through his actions he has proved to be as malignant and painful as a Genital wart for PCB through out his career showing signs of improvement after every flare up but remained incureable through out his career. Shoaib has a long history of declaring himself fit before every series and using all the tactic available to get selected but during the last three years he consistently failed to bowl his quota of overs in a match and on many occasions he became unfit during the series causing problems for the team management. Now it has become quite clear why Shoaib used to break down during a series it had nothing to do with stamina it was his Genital warts which used to flare up during a series, Shoaib played the seires against West Indies and Australia with this ailment and was again trying to prove himself fit by playing for Islamabad during the current RBS tournament in an attempt to block PCB’s plan to replace him in the T20 WC squad, his shameless presistence to play while being unfit left PCB with no choice but release the details of his ailment. I think PCB has finally decided to get rid of their Genital wart.

The RBS T20 tournament is in full swing, all the 15 players selected for the T20 WC are playing in it and Pakisan’s  ICL rebel players are also playing in this tournament.

During the first day 5 matches were played.

Group A

Faisalabad Wolves crush Quetta Bears by 101, Mohammad Hafeez who captained the Faisalabad team in the absence of Misbah Ul Haq played an innings of 74 off 72 balls which included ten boundaries, Qaiser Abbass scored 80 of 76 balls, it was Naveed Latif’s late cameo that lifted Faisalabad to 218. Saeed Ajmal was the only player in this match who has been selected for the T20 WC he bowled well taking 1 wicket and giving away just 13 runs in his 4 overs. For Quetta Shoaib Khan Jnr scored 55 none of the Quetta bear batsmen could stay on the wicket the match was ompletely one sided.

Group B

Defending champs Sialkot Stallions beat Karachi Zebras comprehensively by eight wickets and more than seven overs to spare, the star of the match was Imran Nazir who scored a 38 ball 68 with 6 fours and 5 sixes, Stallions have been strengthened by the return of Imran Nazir and Tahir Mughal however their pace batter doesn’t have any experienced bowler it will be tough for them to compete against the heavy weights in this tournament this year.

Group C

Islamabad Panthers comfortable beat Younis Khan’s Peshawar Panthers, Younis khan won the toss and opted to bat first his openers failed to give him a decent start, Yasir Hameed looked completely out of form and had no answer for Rao’s Swing, Younis Khan played a decent innings of 70 from 46 balls he was supported well by Sajjad Ahmed 38, Peshawar scored 152/4.  Afaq Raheem played a confident and fluent innings of 41 to give his team a good start however it was Fayyaz who took them to victory in the 18th over with his 46-ball 58, studded with nine fours and a six. Umar gul gave away 41 runs in his 3.4 overs and took only 1 wicket, Rao Iftikhar gave only 24 runs in his 4 overs and took the most important wicket of Yonis Khan, Rao bowled well, he moved the ball both ways he will prove to be quite effective in Englands seaming conditions.

Group D

Lahore Eagles held their nerve to seal a tight seven-wicket win over Abbottabad Rhinos at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground. They were helped by crucial contributions from each of their top three as they chased down 137 with two balls to spare. Opener Abid Ali made a relatively patient 42, and was supported well by both Ahmed Dar (34) and Azhar Ali (40), notching up half-century partnerships with each of them. Yasir Shah took two wickets, but Khaqan Arsal made an unbeaten 16 to see his team through.

Abbottabad limped to their score, squandering a comfortable position at 50 for 1. Wicketkeeper Mir Azam (28) and captain Adnan Raees (35) added 48 for the second wicket, but proceeded very slowly. Their team slipped once they departed, Azhar Ali - who starred in an allround display - taking 2 for 21, and posted an inadequate total.

I think PCB has made a huge blunder by not selecting Imran Nazir, Nasir Jamshed and Razzak in the T20 WC squad, Ahmed Shazaib, Ahmed Shazad and Salman Butt  the three openers selected for T20 WC are not suitable for this format Ahmed Shahzaib and Shehzad are too inexperienced and Butt has proved time and again that he is not a good T20 player. I  think PCB has also made a mistake by selecting  Yasir Arafat and Tanvir both players have failed to perform as all rounders Tanvir is completely out of form, I think Rana Naveed, and Razzak deserved to be selected.

Abdul Qadir probably has some grudge against Nasir Jamshed he continues to ignore him and doing his best to destroy his career it is ridiculous that none of the openers he selected have given any noteable performance so far in the tournament whereas all the domestic openers he ignored have given good performances.