Waqar Younis discovers a new fast bowler for Pakistan
on November 26th, 2010 at 6:24 amRamiz talked about Abdul Haq during the 2nd test since then I was searching for more information on Haq, I found this article on the internet thought that I should share it with my readers. He first surfaced when he was just 19 years old has played with Umar Gul, his story shows how much injustice is being done in Pak cricket to young talented cricketers, the selectors and talent scouts are blind, the senior players don’t want to help youngsters as they might become future competitors. There is no love or passion for the game only greed and selfishness. Haven’t seen him bowl yet so can’t say how good he is, but if Waqar Younis and Aqib Javed are impressed then he must possess some talent.
ABU DHABI: Ignored in Pakistan and recognised in Abu Dhabi, Abdul Haq dreams of playing for the national cricket team and using the game to send out to the world a message of peace.
Haq, 27, hails from drone-hit North Waziristan’s Mirali region and is a fast bowler. He works as a heavy-duty vehicle driver-cum-supervisor at a local construction company in Abu Dhabi, where he caught the eye of the Pakistan cricket team management. He has now been called to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore to be groomed and possibly represent the national team.
Haq stood in the stands, watching Pakistan’s squad practicing for the second test against South Africa in Abu Dhabi. He was called in to bowl to the batsmen and bowled some extraordinary spells. “I was called by [Pakistan coach] Waqar Younis – who gave me the title of Tagray Pathan (strong pathan) – to bowl to his batsmen. I felt honoured and extremely encouraged when the batsmen seemed to struggle against my bowling,” Haq said. “Younis and [bowling coach] Aqib Javed really appreciated me and later, team manager Intikhab Alam took down my contact details and invited me to the NCA.”
Haq has played with frontline Pakistan bowler Umar Gul in Peshawar but complained that due to the situation in North Waziristan, he never got proper guidance. “When I was 19, I played at the zonal and regional levels and even participated in the Pepsi fast bowling camp in Pakistan. But my talent wasn’t recognised by selectors and I was pushed back into my uncertain life,” Haq says.
Alam said that Haq was very impressive in the nets and demonstrated a lot of pace. “I wonder why, despite being very talented, he was ignored in Pakistan. However, observing his potential, I have noted down his contact details and invited him to the NCA,” he said.
Haq’s native town has been devastated by drone attacks and regularly appears in the news for its links to militancy. The drones are infamous for causing civilian casualties and Haq is proof of that: he lost his cousin Tariq Aziz in a strike two years ago, soon after Aziz had married Haq’s sister.
“I am happy that I got the opportunity to bowl at Pakistan batsmen in the nets and was able to clean bowled Misbah, and Adnan Akmal,” he told reporters in the media box. He thanked Pakistan team officials for inviting him at NCA in Lahore.
Forced to move to Abu Dhabi to make a living, Haq’s love for cricket never diminished and he continued to play at the Abu Dhabi Gymkhana where he was named the bowler of the season. “My father had a transport business but with conditions worsening in Waziristan, we were beset with a myriad of financial problems. So I opted to move to Abu Dhabi and work here.
i think adul haq has a great bowler and i apeal to the PCB to give him a chance
After weeks of nakhray baazi Miandad has agreed to take up the temporary batting and fielding coach role with the pakistan team. He will travel with the team to Newzealand.
Miandad has been drawing a huge salary and has been doing nothing to justify his salary in past coaching job was offered to him but he declined citing his other business commitments and when questions were raised about his futility he very cleverly blamed PCB for not assigning him work.
Even now he accepted his new assignment reluctantly and with a lot of resistance.
I don’t think he will have any positive impact on the team, he has accepted the job uwillingly, during the tour he won’t have much time to work with players.
The real purpose behind his appointment is ssomething else he has been able to live like a leach with PCB only because of his friendship with Zardari.
His presence will create a lot of tension in the team management.
The PCB does not want to select senior players like Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal and Danish Kaneria to avoid altercations with the ICC. The PCB has suspicions but no proof against the players. They are unwilling to take any chances and want to keep any player with a question mark over his integrity out of the
team – because of the ultimatum.
Shoaib Malik is also being ignored because of the HK Super Sixes under his captaincy because Australia required 48 runs in the last over – I’m not sure how he can be blamed for this but I assume they think it may have been fixed
I am sick of this match/spot fixing scandals coming out every other week. I hope ICC & Scotland Yard complete their investigation quickly and bring out the guilty faces as soon as possible.
Whoever is guilty should be banned permanently from cricket, which is much more than just a sport to us. We want fair players in fair competition.
PCB
No innocent until proven guilty for Farhat
Just kidding.
I agree with you completely. Farhat is not innncoent.
I wasn’t sure about Wahab was getting double minded, but when I saw him taking that suicidal run in an ateempt to run out Haider, I was pretty sure then. Haider within the lines stated that I didn’t do what they asked me to do and I didn’t let it happen either”. This was the only instance where he couldn’t have let it happen.
This video was shown in the preliminary suspension hearings.
I think the ICC might be playing a clever game, because if they said publicly that the players could not be picked because of fixing, they could leave themselves open to litigation. The ICC has only cleared Kamran Akmal from the T20 WC.
Apparently, Wahab’s selection for the SA series was only because a senior PCB official guaranteed his innocence. Otherwise, he would have not been selected. I don’t know about Umar Akmal. Wahab Riaz is the link between Butt and Majeed – i.e. in terms of messages and money.
I am sure Farhat is involved. He was involved in the ICL, and he is definitely involved here. When the news broke out in August initially, I suspected him straight away. I have also mentioned and queried his performances recently in threads – particularly where he scored slowly in the ODI against SA – typical of a bracket.
It’s a shame all these Ex players have formed a pressure group to black mail PCB. People should hold Miandad accountable he has extorted enough money from PCB and has not provided any service, he is not even willing to help the players in a brief camp, that is just ridiculous
PCB
But if this video was in possession of ICC the whole time then why Haroon Lorgat made that statement that ICC has no objection over Kamran Akmal playing against South Africa and if Kamran hasn’t been selected for NZ just on the basis of this video then why they have selected Wahab and Umar Akmal.
I was of the view that Pakistan should get Majeed through interpole and our investigators should investigate him, they can legally do that because he has been targeting our young players. If our investigators investigate him a lot more will come out there can be things which the bosses at ICC might not be interested in pursuing especially when it comes to players from other countries. Mazhar was just a middle man who were the main bosses he was dealing with, investigate them and destroy the whole organization.
Farhat did the right thing if he is not involved.
Javed Miandad is not willing to accept the terms and conditions of his contract as batting and fielding consultant because he would have to work under the supervision of Waqar Younis and would have to share his ideas and concepts with him and get his approval. He was also told that he would have no role in team selection.
Apparently, Miandad’s argument is that Waqar played under Miandad when he was captain and coach and it was he who groomed him in international cricket.
Intikhab Alam was also not very keen to have Miandad as part of the coaching staff on tour.
I think Miandad is a joke. The players need some help, and there he is saying I don’t want to report into Waqar. If he really cared, he would take the job and give it his all.
Imran Farhat has decided to serve a legal notice on Mazhar Majeed.
Kamran Akmal has not been picked because of the PCB’s own doubts about links with bookmakers. The clearance letter that he got was only relating to the T20 World Cup.
PCB
Just check the post “one ceaser and nine brutus”. Never accused Younis of underperforming deliberately but did criticized him for poor performance there is a difference between the two.
Anyways you are right Fawad has good temprament that is his asset but other than his faulty technique he has rarely finished off a match playing by himself or by playing the role of the aggressor which his critics say that in Odis in later overs the field is spread out anybody can take singles but if the requirement is to score 8-12 runs an over thats where he leaves the major work for his partners.
Simon Katich and Chanderpaul also have similar footwork but they are extremely strong on the leg side and do not lose their balance while moving. He is a lucky guy again a vaccum has been created in the team because of betting scandals hopefully this year he will overcome his flaws.
I always kept you informed of the players who revolted against Younis, and you still continued to criticise Younis and his performances and suggest he had ulterior motives – you even said he wasted too many balls and slowed the game deliberately. Imran Nazir and T20 WC 2007? There are many other things you accused him which I will not repeat.
Asad Shafiq should not be in the T20 squad. He clearly struggles in the format, as seen in his performances at domestic cricket. I don’t think Fawad Alam should be in the squad either.
I didn’t say Fawad is better than Shafiq. I agree, Shafiq is a lot better because Fawad technique is shocking – but in his defence he still scores runs which says something about his character. All I will say about Shafiq is let’s not talk about this guy as he has produced some brilliant performances, because he hasn’t. His start to international cricket hasn’t been anywhere near as good as Azhar Ali’s/Umar Akmal’s etc.
Wasim
I always kept you informed of the players who revolted against Younis, and you still continued to criticise Younis and his performances and suggest he had ulterior motives – you even said he wasted too many balls and slowed the game deliberately. Imran Nazir and T20 WC 2007? There are many other things you accused him which I will not repeat.
Asad Shafiq should not be in the T20 squad. He clearly struggles in the format, as seen in his performances at domestic cricket. I don’t think Fawad Alam should be in the squad either.
I didn’t say Fawad is better than Shafiq. I agree, Shafiq is a lot better because Fawad technique is shocking – but in his defence he still scores runs which says something about his character. All I will say about Shafiq is let’s not talk about this guy as he has produced some brilliant performances, because he hasn’t. His start to international cricket hasn’t been anywhere near as good as Azhar Ali’s/Umar Akmal’s etc.
Maaz
Don’t worry this problem exists in other countries too, it’s just a matter of time when players from other countries will also be exposed, so far Pakistan cricket is under the scanner but the moment a big fish from the bookie world will get caught many more names will get exposed and this is inevitable to happen as Majeed was just a small time crook his real bosses were in India, SA and UAE. I am sure when he will get grilled or investigated in detail the bigger crooks in the illegal betting world will get caught and that will open a new Pandora box.
I think ICC didn’t find any concrete evidence against Riaz and Akmal this is the main reason they were given clearance. I am not sure after this video PCB will retain them or not because as per ICC’s conditions they have to keep the tainted players away from the game.
I suspect that the video was released by ICC to Jang-group because this video was in their possession, the timing to release this evidence is strange they waited for PCB to announce the team for NZ and released it within hours after that.
Whatever Zulqernain will reveal will have no immediate impact unless ACSU has already obtained corraborating evidence, if not then it will take time to substantiate his allegations.
I have great respect for Mohammad brothers I hope that the information turns out to be false and incorrect as it will also tarnish the reputation of Rashid and Sadiq.
PCB
Shafiq is a far better player than Fawad, unless and until Fawad improves his balance, timing and footwork he will remain a below average player. Shafiq’s performance in England considering the fact that it was his first major series wasn’t bad.
If you look at his batting he has far less problems than Fawad, he has a bigger range of shots his footwork and balance are fine, like many other Asian players he is predominantly an on side player but I was surprised to see him play shots all around the wicket in the test match, which made me think that he can become a solid player just needs more exposure.
The scores Fawad has made and the way he has made anybody could have done that 90% of the time he automatically assumes the role of holding one end the responsibility of scoring is mostly on the batsman at the other end. I think he is lucky in that respect.
Stani’s point is valid, Fawad has been playing for two years, yet his footwork problems are still there, we have nothing against him personally only want to see him improve. He does have a very good temprament and good defense all he needs is to work on his footwork and balance, if he fixes that timing will automatically come.
Wasim
What a laughing stock we are in the cricket world! We have a very low reputation and everyone wants us to be banned from international cricket for one reason or the other! It’s a total mess.
The video was nothing. What kind of evidence is this? He just said some names of players who were with him and the players that weren’t.
I am pretty sure that the fixing claims are genuine nevertheless. How more obvious can you get after the revelations in England this summer from NOTW? We have a full right to believe in them and it would have to be a remarkable turnaround if the claims are not genuine. So at the moment, unless things drastically chance the trio are history. Perhaps leniency could be given towards MA only due to his age and situation. The press has a limit, the evidence is second to none.
Hopefully, Zulqarnain speaks up in the coming days and revelas the full details. Something constructive has to come out of his mouth following such a knee jerk reaction.
I won’t at all be surprised if the match against Afghanistan was fixed in Asian Games. Plenty of suspicious irregularities and the relations with the opposition coach make me a tad speculative. They had such a strong team in terms of ability and it should have been a walk in the park for them.
ASCU and PCB need to clear up this whole episode about ignoring Malik and Kamran. Malik was told to regain his form and he would return and he has done exactly that.
Nonetheless, decent squad. Good to see Shehzad selected. I predict that he will be the leading run scorer in the 3 Match T20 series vs NZ .
Stani
They did offered me but I refused can’t compromise on quality.
Agree with you on Shafiq and Fawad and I am surprised that his name is not in the T20 Squad hopefully he will play the Odis.
The major issue is that they have to factor in the conditions too while judging players, a lot of players who failed in England scored heavily in UAE, some who were dropped after series against England must be thinking that they could have also scored some runs had they played in UAE.
I think first they will have to weed out the corrupt players and to fill the space created they should pick players who have sound technique and temprament and should give them an extended run. That is the only way they can rebuild, the musical chair game should stop.
PCB
As I have said above Majeed is not the only bookie in the world, just like my observation regarding a few players came true the rest will also be exposed.
As regards Ajmal, I am not sure if he has gone the other way or not but I was surprised when he was also one of the players who revolted against Younis, basically all those nine players have given some shady performances and are believed to be corrupt.
You keep on bringing Younis Khan into the discussion, I have said many times that nobody doubts his integrity his form was a major issue and his decision to quit and not to fight was criticized by me like many others, he was questioned by Acsu on three occasions and was cleared. You just refer to one post but deliberately ignore all the others in which I criticised the players revolting against him and vouched for his integrity.
I am not a fortune teller who can look into the future, I only analyze and my analysis can also be wrong once in a while. It’s human to err:
Bottom line is that when we infer from circumstantial evidence we should do it for everyone not for just a particular group of players, there is no harm in it, questions should be raised about shady performances whether there is concrete evidence available or not this is the only way we can fight corruption in the game.
I don’t think Asad Shafiq has impressed. He has been average so far in his international career. He plays spin quite well, but has some technical issues against pace.
They should persist with players, but ultimately runs matter – Fawad has got runs ultimately.
Wasim,
Why don’t you write to cricinfo and say you’ll be their Pak domestic correspondent
I agree with your point that we do not give certain batsmen long enough in the team. The deciding factor should be that if the guy is showing sound technique and good temperament then he SHOULD be persisted with even if he scores low to average. It’s why I was unimpressed with them dropping Shafiq at the beginning of the UAE tour. In England, It was clear the guy had it but he was still dropped. But then there is the opposite. They stick with people that regularly make technical errors and do not learn from their mistakes, like Fawad. Strange.
You did recently in a thread on Shahid Afridi indicate he had ulterior motives regarding his performance. You have also been critical of the performances of Ajmal and Razzaq. Last year you also accussed Younis of corruption. I have always maintained that these players are best and should be in the national team along with Mohammad Yousuf. I take your point about other bookies but I still do not believe these players are involved.
I think Zuqernain will also reveal something new, as well as some PCB people, but I don’t think any major players will be named.
I don’t think Majeed was exaggerating.
Tests:
1. Mohammad Hafeez
2. Asad Shafiq
3. Azhar Ali
4. Misbah Ul-Haq (capt)
5. Younis Khan
6. Umar Akmal
7. Adnan Akmal (wkt)
8. Tanvir Ahmed
9. Wahab Riaz
10. Umar Gul
11. Saeed Ajmal
Taufeeq Umar, Abdur Rehman, Sohail Tanvir,
T20:
1. Mohammad Hafeez
2. Ahmed Shahzad
3. Umar Akmal
4. Younis Khan
5. Shahid Afridi (capt)
6. Fawad Alam
7. Abdul Razzaq
8. Adnan Akmal (wk)
9. Umar Gul
10. Shoaib Akhtar
11. Saeed Ajmal
Abdur Rehman, Tanvir Ahmed, Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz
PCB so with the exception of Yousaf all the players I was saying that they have been underperforming deliberately have been named by Mazhar Majeed. Now the second shock wave will come in two days from Zulqernain Haider I have a strong feeling that a few saints in the team will be exposed alongwith some management officials.
PS: Mazhar didn’t vouched for the honesty of senior players he said that they were not on his books, he is not the only bookie in the world, senior players have there own direct conections in India and Mazhar didn’t represented them as an agent so don’t automatically assume that the rest have been given a certificate of innocence for the rest of their lives.
If ICC had this video then why they gave clearance to Umar Akmal and Riaz? Either Majeed was exaggerating or there is something else which we don’t know yet.
Mazhar Majeed has revealed that Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq and Younis Khan are not corrupt and are innocent.
He has named Kamran Akmal, Wahab Riaz, Imran Farhat and Umar Akmal as the other players involved in spot fixing.
I still believe Kamran Akmal and Shoaib Malik should be in the team. However, if there are some corruption issues, then I agree with the ommissions – they were not cleared for selection by the board’s integrity committee.
Mohammad Yousuf has also not been picked, which I think is a really big mistake. The grounds for that decision are to do with his fitness levels. The warm up games are still three weeks away and his experience especially in NZ conditions would have been important.
I don’t know why Adnan Akmal has been picked. I would much rather see Sarfraz Ahmed given a chance – otherwise why has he been playing for the A team for so long.
Maaz
It has been reported in daily Jang that PCB is ivestigating Sadiq Mohammad, Ghumman and Lateef for Pakistan’s loss against Afghanistan. According to initial reports Naeem Anjum has been exonerated of the allegations it has been reported that he didn’t dropped any catches.
Sadiq Mohammad has been fired by PCB, the trio has been accused of slowing down the run rate, Lateef dropped an easy catch and Sadiq told the top order to bat slowly,the trio has been accused of having close relations with Afghan coach Rashid Lateef the investigators are looking into clues if Pakistan’s was due to this association.
Maaz
I think the selection is balanced and fair, Sami should have been selected, given the length of the tour and the fragility of our pace department we should not use Gul and Shoaib too much before the WC and risk an injury to either one of them.
Malik’s name hasn’t been quoted anywhere in match fixing and he has scored 578 runs in 5 innings in his last domestic outings and has taken 14 wickets that shows he has regained his fitness.
This only shows that either ICC is investigating him also or ICC has permanently discarded him due to his role in creating disunity in the team during last 14 months.
Whatever it is, I think we should move forward and rebuild our team.
Maaz
After the release of new video of Mazhar Majeed by Geo don’t know if Wahab and Umar Akmal will be able to play they will be kept on sidelines citing fitness issues.
The real shock is expected in two days when Zulqernain Haider is going to blow the whistle as stated on his Facebook page, I have a feeling that some of the saints and sufis in the team which have not been exposed by Mazhar Majeed will get exposed by Zulqernain, the administration will suffer the most.
Hope he doesn’t back off this time.
oops Geo missed a player out
Twenty20 squad: Shahid Afridi (capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shahzad, Younis Khan, Umar Akmal, Fawad Alam, Adnan Akmal (wk), Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar, Tanvir Ahmed, Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz (subject to fitness).
Test squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Taufeeq Umar, Younis Khan, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Adnan Akmal (wk), Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Umar Gul, Tanvir Ahmed, Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz.
Squad announced for NZ tour
T20s
Afridi (c)
M.Hafeez
Ahmed shehzad
younis khan
Umar akmal
Adnan akmal
Fawad alam
Saeed Ajmal
Abur Rehman
Abdul Razzaq
Umar Gul
Tanvir Ahmed
Sohail Tanvir
Wahab Riaz
Yusaf Khan
95% of the guys who get selected in National team come from domestic cricket either they play for departments or regional teams, very few get directly selected from Club cricket, only a few examples can be quoted, Wasim Akram, Tauseef Ahmad and a few others.
If you look at Quetta bears team they don’t have any talent there, Shoaib Khan got selected may be a year back or so but couldn’t do anything. Clubs whether they are in Punjab or Karachi most of them are privately owned now a few prominent clubs do get some funds from regional associations but that happens all over Pakistan.
The main problem is that regional associations do nothing to promote cricket at grass root level in smaller provinces neither does the provincial governments do anything and to be very honest Balochis are more inclined toward soccer, if there is a lack of talent coming out of from a particular province then we can’t say that the players from that particular area are being ignored.
As regards Karachi they have the most strongest Association in Pakistan they have the best facilities both private and Public they do get a major chunk of funds but talent wise they havent even produced the talent in comparison to Sialkot in recent years.
Name me a prominent player from Karachi who hasn’t been given a chance, Khurram Manzoor, Khalid Lateef, Faisal Iqbal, Hassan Raza, Sohail Khan, Fawad Alam, Tanveer Ahmad, Asad Shafiq, Shahid Afridi, Sami, Kaneria, Shahzaib Hassan and Sarfraz Ahmad they all hail from Karachi and have been in the team but it’s nobody’s fault that Sami or Sohail Khan couldn’t perform better than the pacers from Punjab or Khyber Pukhtoon Khwa.
Khurram Manzoor, and Lateef got an extended run but if you look at their record it’s not any better than Farhat.
Fawad Alam also has been given an extended run in Odis and T20′s but except for two or three matches he hasn’t done anything, Faisal Iqbal got repeated chances but failed. Sarfraz Ahmad is over rated both as a keeper and as a batsman.
The only player who became a victim or perhaps I should say became a casuality was Asim Kamal he came at a time when the middle order was at it’s peak a lot of players from Punjab also got wasted because they couldn’t find a place in the team because the middle order was doing just fine.
Yes there have been a few biased selections, Imran Farhat shouldn’t have been selected for England and SA. But similarly Faisal Iqbal also shouldn’t have gotten selected a head of many other deserving players.
You will always get one or two players who due to their family connections will get a spot in the team but thats how things happen in Pakistan it’s not just Punjab.
People often say why do Punjabi players get more chances than others. Khurram and Lateef got more than enough chances but they failed, Imran farhat and Yasir Hameed also failed as openers but finally Hafeez and Taufeeq are doing relatively better job so they will retain their position.
Faisal Iqbal, Asad Shafiq, and Fawad got a chance in the middle order. Faisal completely failed even though he was playing against NZ, Umar Akmal performed so he was retained but now when he failed he is also dropped so where is injustice.
Azhar, Asad and Umar Amin got a chance in England the first two availed it and the last one failed and he is out of the team after one series.
You can give me examples of Malik and Kamran Akmal these two players played a lot longer than they should really have but Afridi also started performing only three years ago and he has been playing since last 14 years even today his poor performances go unnoticed because he is worshipped in Karachi.
All the teams in the world do not drop experienced players who can win matches easily.
Cook failed miserably against Pakistan but he scored a double ton against Australia. North has failed in 17 innings in his last 20 tests. Micheal Clarke these days is consistently failing but the selectors won’t drop him.
The key here is technique and the ability of a player to win matches or the over all utility of a player.
I think we get over critical of our players and board sometimes out of frustration which is natural but we should realistically assess the talent in our country, our batsmen no matter where they hail from are not technically equipped to perform in seaming conditions, hence they will fail and unfortunately we are not playing at home these days almost 90% of the times we are playing in foreign conditions which do not suit our batsmen even though it’s not forgiveable but that is the bitter reality we will have to learn to accept.
Corruption is one thing which I would agree with you that it’s more rampant in Punjabi players than those from Karachi or elsewhere, the board has been protecting a few players who are serial underperformers but I would not call it bias or regionalism this is just corruption and this evil needs to be crushed as soon as possible no matter who the player is and no matter where he is from.
You guys I have been saying this for many years but the cricket selection system in Pakistan tends to give preference to Punjab based players. I am not punjab bashing at all but just look at the statistics. Can you guys think of a single player from Baluchistan? Can we really believe that there is not even one player worth his salt from Baluchistan? Obviously the Karachi based cricket associations have been talking about this for a while now but I think they were specifically talking about under representation of Karachi based players.
Re: The afghan team. I think we should remind them that most of their players actually grew up in Pakistan; NWFP to be exact. Bashing Pakistan seems to be their past time so I just ignore it. In fact their captain when giving the interview spoke Pushto in a dialect spoken specifically in the Peshawar/Mardan area. I could tell right away that he must have grown up in Peshawar.
Maaz
Its a shame cricinfo doesn’t provide a detailed coverage on such matches even the bulletins are very consice and do not reveal much. I was only interested in following Junaids performance can’t infer much from the scorecard. The so called Viv Richards ” Umar Amin” failed in the series, Amir sajjad also failed the spinners Yasir shah and Babar performed well. I hoped for a better performance as the A team looked quite strong on paper.!
Finally Manzoor also found some form in the series, he had a poor tour to Srilanka and didn’t do well in T20′s and Odis but did exceptionally well in tests.
Can’t get much heart from this series as if the rain had not wasted precious time it would have been difficult for Pakistan to win the test series, the first test was also washed out by rain.
Pk “A” draw the unoffical test series with WI “A” 0-0. Manzoor was named player of the series. He scored scores of: 100*/102/85 in this series. Previously Pk “A” won the ODI series 2-0, however lost the T20 Series 2-0 (one being determined by a “super over”)
A decent, pleasing and promising tour on the whole. The resources are available in abundance and there is sufficient back up and development waiting in the wings.
The selectors could and should be keeping a close eye.
Stani
In the last decade we have lost more batsmen than bowlers just because the clout our middle order players enjoyed over the years. But by taking Farhats wicket he has shot himself in the foot, Baba Ilyas will never select him.
PCB
I think Ramiz, Waqar , Aaqib and Intikhab have the experience can distinguish between a guy who just got lucky in the nets because the batsmen were complacent and a guy who is genuinely quick and was troubling their players, before every series they invite bowlers from different clubs to bowl in the nets but hardly ever anybody get invitation to join NCA.
I don’t think he will make the national team. In the nets, players are sometimes complacent and also its not like these players have never got out before. He will probably get into a domestic side.
Could you imagine how many have just vanished from the radar? I hope he really is good and we get to see him.
Farhats not a batsman so its ok to erase his name….in fact afterwards, Haq felt guilty about mentioning it
Maaz
In batting Khalid Lateef was the one man army none of the otherguys chipped in, I singled out only two batsmen Ghumman and Ghani as I only could recognize these two in the line up besides Lateef, the rest also failed miserably. The bowlers did an Ok job, Raza Hassan was the pick of the bowlers, the shorter format suits his style of bowling.
By Z eleven I meant that they picked the batting from the bottom of the barrel, Ghumman is not a player for shorter format and Ghani after scoring a 90 against Australia A has never done any thing of note, these guys had a horrible tour with Pakistan A in Srilanka they should not have been picked for this important tournament.Just one more capped player would have won us another gold medal.
Yeah really disappointing stuff with Ghumman’s batting in this series. Wasted too many balls and his strike rate was really low, especially when taking into account the opposition he was playing against. However, T20 Cricket is not his cup of tea. Nevertheless, let’s hope he now performs well for Hyderabad in the QEA.
I disagree, with Wasim that the batting line up was selected from Pakistan’s Z team. That is an extremely exaggerated statement. The purpose of the selection for these games was on youth and they would have been disappointed with the loss against Afghanistan but the result on the whole was not bad.
Anyhow, hockey seems to be dominating the headlines in Pakistan nowadays. Champions again, first time gold medalists in 20 years. A proud moment for the sporting industry in Pakistan. Hopefully, both our cricket and hockey can thrive in the future just like it did in the 90s. Getting the country in the news for all the right reasons.
Khalid Latif plays another match winning knock as Pakistan get the bronze medal in Asian Games. Congratulations to silver medalists Afghanistan and gold medalists Bangladesh in the Mens cricketing event. Raza Hasan was the stand out bowler in the tournament for Pakistan taking 7 wickets for 48 runs in 12 overs combined. What a future prospect he is!!!!
PCB
Yes I know, just noticed that somehow I accidently erased Farhat’s name while editing the post. Only Misbah’s wicket is a surprise maybe South Africans should pick Abdul Haq
I am glad that Bangla boys won the gold I can’t stand the ungrateful Afghans. Can’t believe that they posted so many hateful and insulting comments on cricinfo when they defeated Pakistan, they completely forgot that they are still learning from us, and if we had sent just one more capped player like other teams in the semi finals, we would have easily won.
He got out Farhat, Misbah and Adnan Akmal.
Pakistan cricket team managed to win the bronze medal in Asian games. Khalid Lateef scored an unbeaten 53 poor guy will have to take a lot of of flak as the team lost to Afghanistan under his leadership, I think only the selectors should be blamed for selecting born losers like Ghumman and Ghani once again after they recently failed with the A team in SrilAnka.
The batting line up except Lateef was probably taken from Pakistan’s Z team.
Afghanistan has a golden chance to win a gold medal but I think Bangla boys will crush them.