Posts Tagged ‘Kamran Akmal’

10 results.
Dec04

It will be hard to lose from here

by wasim on December 4th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket New Zealand, Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

The love of Father in Law prevailed over justice, honor and integrity. To everybody’s utmost surprise Imran Farhat again made it to the playing eleven after single handedly causing the loss in the first match. I saw it coming Mohammad Yousaf didn’t had the balls to remove Farhat from the slips in the first match it was highly unlikely that he would drop him from the second test altogether.

Both openers batted with extreme caution and gave the team a solid start, but these days it doesn’t seem normal if Pakistan’s top three don’t collapse cheaply, Salman Butt was the first one to go trying to pull O’Brien but only getting the top edge, Imran Farhat soon followed attempting a lazy cut shot to Vettori, it was a nothing shot and he wasted all the hard work he did earlier, Vettori delivered another blow in the same over when he trapped Mohammad Yousaf in front of wickets on his deadly arm ball, within a span of 3 overs and six runs Pakistan lost three quick wickets.

When Butt got out everybody was expecting either Malik or Misbah to come out to bat at # 3 but that didn’t happen it was Umar Akmal who walked out to bat at # 3, Umar who was majestic in the first test looked very nervous and edgy he was fortunate to survive a few edges and was beaten outside the off stump on many occasions but luck favors the brave he scored a brave 46 until Tuffey found the gap between his bat and pad and rattled his stumps. The funny thing is that even though Yousaf, Misbah and Malik tried to avoid batting higher but they all had to come early because wickets kept tumbling.

This probably should be the last test ever played by Malik, he started of his innings with two aggressive strokes but played a horrible stroke a few balls later to throw away his wicket, he can’t make a sacrifice for the team, he can’t bat, he can’t bowl and he is not even that cute so why the fuck he is in the team it is anybody’s guess.

Misbah looked solid when he came to bat in, it looked he was all set for a big innings but then everybody has their personal demons, Misbah couldn’t resist a slog sweep of Vettori just before the close of play last night and threw away all the hard work he did earlier on. But the composure with which he batted earlier should give some hope to the fans and should clear off some uncertainty in the Pak dressing room.

Pakistan were reeling at 166/6 when the play was called off due to bad light, with Aamer and Akmal senior at the crease.

Daniel Vettori hoped to finish off Pakistan tail quickly but that didn’t happen Kamran Akmal first had a partnership of 37 with Aamer and then had a 64 run partnership with Umar Gul and the Kiwis started missing Bond sorely.

The tail wagged for Pakistan and almost added100 runs.

The pitch appears to be a bit quicker than the one at Dunedin a total of 264 was decent enough on this track.

Aamer for the third consecutive time struck for Pakistan in the first over, both openers got removed rather cheaply, Salman Butt dropped Flynn when he was at 0.

The real damage was inflicted by Umar Gul who removed the dangerous Ross Taylor,  Umar Gul made one swing into the right hander late and Taylor made the fatal decision to leave it.

New Zealand had no answer to the late swing and perfect line and length of Asif, Asif took another four wickets to take his series tally to 12 from three innings. Danish Kineria also made his presence felt by taking three quick wickets, Danish looked quite fit and in form an in form Danish was the only missing piece in Pakistan’s near perfect bowling attack.

New Zealand conceded a lead of 165 runs which might prove to be decisive on this wicket. Although Vettori claimed that his side is capable of scoring 400+ runs in the last innings but that seems highly optimistic.

The openers again gave Pakistan a fairly decent start at least by Pakistani standards, there is still a lot to be desired in the runs column but at least Butt and Farhat are seeing off the new ball. In test matches this is the most important job responsibility of an opener.

Pakistan lead by 229 runs Misbah and Yousaf are on the crease, Yousaf who decided to come at # 3 after facing a lot of criticism for sending Umar Akmal at # 3 in the first innings survived a few anxious moments the first session will be very important for Pakistan tommorrow if they manage to score 100 runs without losing many wickets Pakistan will win this match.

Lets not get too optimistic, if Pakistan team’s recent behaviour is of any indication then we might see another batting collapse tommorrow before lunch.

└ Tags: , ,
 Comment 
Dec20

A positive start by Pakistan

by wasim on December 20th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

Pakistan started there Australian tour in a positive fashion. Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal both scored contrasting centuries in the tour opening three day practice match against Tasmania. The pitch reportedly had some juice in it for fast bowlers, both Imran Farhat and Salman Butt batted patiently and they managed to see off the new ball. They survived hostile bowling spells by the Tasmanian pacers led by Brett Geeves.

 Pakistan haven’t played a lot of test cricket in recent years as a result their batsmen were finding it difficult to adjust to this format they lacked the determination and the skill to bat through sessions but the three test series in NewZealand provided there batsmen a rare opportunity to adjust mentally and technique wise to the longer format. Almost all the batsmen showed some determination and got good starts but with the exception of Butt and Akmal nobody else could convert it into a big score but the good thing was everybody got good match practice and chipped in with a few runs.

Pakistan scored 437 runs and at the close of the second day Tasmania were 132/6.

Abdul Rauf, Mohammad Aamer and Saeed Ajmal took two wickets each, Umar Gul was the most expensive out of the Pakistani bowlers and also failed to take any wickets most probably he will get replaced by Sami or Rauf in the first test.

Ricky Ponting has said “ Australia’s bid for success would rest with keeping Pakistan on the back foot.

“As a package, if you look at their team they’ve got a number of exceptional players,” he said.

“If they stick together as a group and play well together as a team, they can be very dangerous.

“Our job is to make sure we don’t let them gel too much and combine too well.

The Aussie’s will try to target the key players in Pakistan team, they know which players are under pressure to perform and that is the only way they can not allow the team to Gel.

Australia is planning to tackle Pakistan with sheer pace and bounce, I don’t think that they will make the mistake to prepare tracks which offer too much movement as Asif and Kaneria has already demonstrated their capabilities in New Zealand, Australia will ensure that they neutralize these two bowlers. Perhaps this was the main reason that Pakistan recalled Sami they wanted a bowler who could consistently bowl in high 140′s.

This crop of Young Aussie pacers just rely on pace, bounce and seam movement they are not good at moving the old ball Pakistan’s best bet will be to make them tired and then go on attack. Pakistan has a more balanced bowling attack than Australia all they have to do is to lift up their fielding and batting.

After the Sulieman Benn incident the Aussies will be cautious and hopefully there will be no ugly incidents on the ground.

It will be an interesting series, Pak cricket fans should support their players through good and bad times during the whole series and should refrain from over criticism of players.

└ Tags: , , , , ,
6 Comments
Jan06

Drop Kamran Akmal for good

by wasim on January 6th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

[caption id="attachment_1266" align="alignleft" width="160" caption="The face of an eternal loser"]The face of an eternal loser[/caption]
How many times more we have to see this fuckin face with the same fuckin expression on it. He dropped four catches in this match and missed one run out. Along with his Captain he orchestrated the most successful and spectecular rescue plan not for his own team but the opposition.
 
Each time the Australians were in deep trouble Kamran Akmal came to their rescue like a Guardian Angel.
 
The Aussies after conceding a lead of 206 runs in their first innings were in desperate need of a good start to their second innings, an early loss of Shane Watson would have meant an innings defeat, and Kamran Akmal realizing this problem gave Watson a new life when he willfully forgot to take the bails off in a run out attempt when Watson was not even in the frame. How bizzarre is that, wicket keepers all over the world just take the bails off as a matter of routine even when they know that the batsman has made his ground. But Kamran standng right on top of the stumps, and Watson was nowhere in the frame but still he didn’t took the bails off. For me that was an indication where the match was heading but I still believed that some of the players will be able to pull it off for pakistan as Australia was in a deep hole.
[caption id="attachment_1268" align="alignright" width="250" caption="Thank god he made it"]Thank god he made it[/caption]
 
 
Australia at one stage had a lead of just 51 runs and they had only two wickets left, all of their hopes were pinned on Hussey only he could have extended the Australian lead around 100, Kamran Akmal realized that and dropped every simple catch which Hussey offered him.
 
The match which should have finished on the third day extended into the fourth with Australia having a lead of 80 runs. 
 
Everybody expected that they will just be able to add another 10-20 runs and will get out first thing in the morning.
When a Pak journalist after the third days play asked Yousaf is he confident that his team will win, Yousaf said ” it’s too early to make any predictions”.
 
On the fourth day Yousaf took all the close in fielders away and posted them somewhere in the ground  where they were least effective. Neither they could catch nor they could stop any boundaries even the # 8 batsman Siddle batted like Dravid, the pair added 123 runs together for the ninth wicket.
 
The bizzarre field placement by Yousaf gave a clear message to Hussey that you are free to score runs we are not interested in getting you out, Hussey took the opportunity and batted beautifully and alongwith Siddle he bailed his team out of the jail.
 
Yousaf made sure that Siddle doesn’t face Sami until Australia gets completely out of the woods, and when he introduced Sami  into the attack Siddle edged him to Kamran Akmal but Kamran Akmal again generously refused to latch on it.
 
Finally Mohammad Asif got Siddle out and Australia set Pakistan a target of 176.
 
Pakistan got a flying start they were 50/2 when their captain threw away his wicket on a ball which even a school boy could have belted for four. Yousaf was well set and before that shot he had played some beautiful strokes all over the ground.
 
After the loss of Yousaf’s wicket Australia for the first time in the game had a realistic chance of winning the match. Misbah usually scores 10-20 runs but this time around his 10-20 runs would have really made the difference so he decided to get out on the second ball he faced.  In came Mr Fuck Face Akmal, I knew he won’t last long and he didn’t some people are quite predictable, he again made the same fuck faced expression but this time it was a bit different one could see the smile behind the despair.
 
As a result Pakistan failed to win a test in Australia after 15 years all because of Mr Fuck face Akmal’s generosity.
 
I can accept that those four dropped catches were a coincidence but I can never believe that his inability to remove the bails was a coincidence, this time it was so obvious that even the Australian commentators were also laughing about it and each time he caught a ball they remarked “ Oh he latched on to it because he knew it was not out.”.
 
It can’t get more embarrassing for Pakistan than this, I think we the fans deserve better than this, these players pretend to compete the fans do not watch and support their team to see this WWF version of cricket.
 
Australia didn’t beat Pakistan we defeated ourselves and some players helped the opposition in winning this match. Pakistan’s captain and vice captain were the chief culprits the whole world laughed at Yousaf’s field placement and the way he got out, Kamran Akmal’s wicket keeping and batting was a joke.
 
But the sad part is that the morons at PCB will do nothing about it, Kamran Akmal will continue to play, Yousaf will remain the captain and Misbah might get dropped for the next match and will return in the next series.
 
It’s not that we can’t accept a loss, if the players had played to their potential and the opposition had dominated us nobody would criticise them but this was a poor acting job not a competition. The first match was lost because of dropped catches by the same culprits and because of poor selection, we again lost a series because of poor management, and some bizzarre performances.
 
Misbah and Kamran Akmal should be punished and they shoud be dropped permanently from the team.
 
I am not going to support Yousaf as a captain anymore we don’t want another Inzamam as a captain.
└ Tags: , ,
40 Comments
Jan09

Who is next?

by wasim on January 9th, 2010 at 11:49 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

After the Australian tour major shake up in PCB and the team management is expected. It’s highly unlikely that Ejaz Butt, Mohammad Yousaf and Intikhab Alam will be able to retain their posts.

It’s been two years that the sports ministry backed by a lobby of some powerful senators and MP’s have been scrambling to get the cash rich PCB under Ministry of sports. The loss at Sydney and Rs 7 billion of irregular expenditures uncovered by the Auditors of Public accounts committee have provided enough fuel to their campaign, now it won’t be hard for them to get the constitution of PCB amended, under the new amendments the PCB chief will be nothing more than a rubber stamp he will have to get approval for every thing from the ministry of sports. 

The Political vultures if they succeeded in making this transition of PCB will make the institution bankrupt within a year and like Squash and Hockey the game of Cricket will also die in Pakistan.

The current PCB chairman was also not elected for the job, he was hand picked by the President of Pakistan on the recommendation of Ch Ahmed Mukhtar (Defence minister of Pakistan) who happens to be the brother in law of Ejaz Butt and also a business partner in Service Industries.

There is no question that Ejaz Butt is nothing more than a puppet, just like his predecessor Nasim Ashraf. The real power is in the hands of the Patron in chief after the Sydney loss Butt is almost certain to lose his job and after every debacle we will continue to change faces there is no dearth of cronies in Pakistan. The question is when the whole system which breeds the policies of nepotism, cronyism and corruption will get changed.

Nothing will change as long as the Mafia style governance of state institutions is not changed, hand picked executives are given goals to meet and they are only accountable to one man, after every crises a new face is appointed new promises are made but the same policies continue which produce same results.

People like Ejaz Butt are expendable the Patron in chief will find thousands like him, but it is hard to find players who can compete at international level and are willing to sell their conscience those who are available they are protected like a rare species and they form the core of the team, series after series and year after year the same players are rotated and recycled in the team to keep the circus running.

The captain might get disgraced and lose his job but he will retain his position in the team, The Vice Captain will make a return in the next series, the two senior batsmen will continue to play interchangeably as no deserving youngster will be given an extended run to adjust himself in their place at international level.

So who is next?

Who will be our next Captain who is willing to disgrace himself ? Who will be our next coach who is willing to be removed unceremoniously in future?

Who will be the next ring master who will keep the circus running for the DON?

└ Tags: , , , ,
12 Comments
Jan12

Kamran Akmal’s shameless act of defiance

by wasim on January 12th, 2010 at 6:03 am
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

The fight between the National selection committee of Pakistan and the tour selection committee has intensified as Pakistan’s embattled and disgraced wicket keeper is not willing to give up his position with out putting up a fight.

Kamran Akmal’s performance in the Sydney test was perhaps the worst wicket keeping performance in the history of test cricket. To calm down the huge public outcry the National selectors of Pakistan decided to drop him for the rest of the tour and sent Sarfraz Ahmed as his replacement in emergency to Hobart.

That decision should have put an end to the Kamran Akmal saga but Kamran Akmal sensing strong support from skipper Mohammad Yousaf, Coach Intikhab Alam and Ex captain Inzamam Ul Haq decided to put up a strong fight in a shameless act of defiance.

If it was any other player from any other country the dropped player would have been flown back home on the first flight available, but one can’t expect such prudence from a Cricket board which is governed by morons.

The third test will start in two days, still the confusion remains regarding who will keep wickets for Pakistan.

The National selectors and manager Intikhab Alam say “it will definitely be Sarfraz Ahmed“, but the rest of the tour selection committee says” the decision is not final yet it will be taken one day before the match in a meeting” of the four member tour selection committee of which Akmal himself is a member and is entitled to vote in it.

Any player having a little bit of dignity after such a pathetic and embarassing performance would have apologized to the nation and accepted his responsibility and would have withdrawn himself from the rest of the tour and offered all the support to the young rookie taking his place in a gesture of being a team player but Kamran Akmal chose otherwise he is issuing one statement every day expressing his resolve to participate in the Hobart test.

It is true that just a few weeks ago Kamran Akmal along with his brother was a hero of Pakistan cricket team people like Osman Sami ud din  were suggesting in their articles that all six of Akmal brothers should play in Pakistan team to end the batting woe’s of the team. 

 Within a span of four weeks Kamran Akmal from a hero turned into a zero, such has been the magintude of his blunder.

Akmal thinks that he deserved forgiveness and another chance to redeem himself as in the last 12 months he played an important role in all the matches that Pakistan won but he fails to understand that he has robbed the nation of the joy of defeating Australia in Australia after 15 years, his crime is unforgiveable especially when most people view his poor performance with a suspicion of foul play. His redemption is not impossible as people in the past have forgiven and forgotten bigger crimes, as a nation we have a short term memory.

But at the moment Akmal is going through a mental break down he needs sincere and sane people around him who should show him the right way to redemption but unfortunately right now he is not surrounded by friends, he is surrounded by his partners in crime who also fear the inevitable fate of losing their jobs after the tour, they know if Akmal succeeded in getting another chance then they also might be able to retain their jobs. His only sincere friend in the team is his brother, who has also been dragged into the controversy and that is the biggest mistake Kamran has committed.

If Umar Akmal didn’t played the third match and faked his injury not only he will ruin and tarnish his own career forever but will also further damage any chances of redemption for his brother.

Kamran Akmal should not play in the rest of the tour he should fully support Sarfraz Ahmed and his brother should perform to the best of his abilites with the bat this is the only way he can redeem himself, he will only make people more angry if he tried to muscle his way into the third test.

└ Tags: ,
8 Comments
Feb08

PCB sends key T20 players on Vacation with pay

by wasim on February 8th, 2010 at 9:24 am
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

Pakistan has announced it’s team for the Dubai T20 series against England.

Shoaib Malik (capt), Imran Farhat, Imran Nazir, Khalid Latif, Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Yasir Arafat, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Talha, Wahab Riaz, Umar Gul.

Reserves: Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Aamer Sajjad, Mohammad Aamer.

 Dubai Authorities have refused to make an exception to their laws and allow Asif into their country, However it has been learned from a confidential source that he can still be granted permission to play in Dubai if he illegally captures a pair of Falcons and gift them to Shiekh Ibne Shiekh of Dubai only then the Sheikh might reconsider lifting the bar, but if he brings two young boys for illegal Camel racing then not only he will get immunity but will also get access to Shiekh Ibne Shiekh’s private drug cabinet. But sources claim that Asif pushed his luck by wanting an access to Sheikh’s haram and the negotiations failed. 

Kamran Akmal has been given a  vacation with pay so he won’t be playing this series.

However PCB top management was not so kind to Shahid Afridi who desperately wanted this vacation, he even committed ball tampering for it and almost lost all of his front teeth, but his action didn’t amused the board officials who want to make an example of him, so they refused to send him on paid vacation and decided to further punish him by making him play under Shoaib Malik.

 Coach Intikhab Alam and Manager Abdul Raqeeb are also given paid vacation however sources claim that their paid vacation may turn into a permanent vacation in the next few days. Ejaz Ahmed will be the new coach for this tour.

Khalid Latif and Fawad Alam have been retained for this tour because the condition of performing does not apply to players from Karachi. Oh my bad my conscience just reminded me that Fawad has been selected just for his fielding.

Imran Farhat won a lottery because his father in law got rid off Kamran Akmal and made room for his SOB oops, I mean SIL. Can somebody inform Ilyas & co that the kid who opened for Pakistan in T20 WC Shahzaib Hassan  will also be in Dubai during this series playing for Pakistan A.

Another player who has been given a vacation with pay is Rana Naveed. Why? I really don’t know the answer. May be he has a “warri watta” with Abdul Razzaq one comes back from the vacation and the other one goes, but I was just wondering wouldn’t it be nice to play match fit players rather than big names who haven’t played any cricket in last three months. But then again everybody should get a paid vacation once in a while.

Yasir Arafat has been recalled from a long paid vacation, finally somebody noticed that he is still on the payroll and has been on vacation for so long so better make the MF do some work.

Rao and Aamer wanted to visit Dubai for shopping so their names have been included as reserves even though Aamer is injured but just to silence the critics and to make the 17 year old happy he is going as a reserve.

Pakistan eleven is scheduled to play a T20 match against Pakistan A team. I am more interested in this match rather than the series against England. The A team includes the top domestic players from this season and I am 100% sure they would be dying to give the senior team some serious whipping.

└ Tags: , , , ,
79 Comments
Mar10

It’s a cover up

by wasim on March 10th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

The Pakistan Cricket Board has barred former captains Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan from the national team indefinitely for behaviour they say contributed to Pakistan’s poor performance on its recent tour of Australia.

PCB on Wednesday also imposed one-year bans on Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved after implementing the recommendations of an inquiry committee formed to evaluate Pakistan’s dismal performance against Australia in December and January.

Malik and Naved were also fined two million rupees, wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal was handed a fine of three million rupees and Umar Akmal, younger brother of Kamran, was fined two million rupees.

Shahid Afridi was fined 3 million rupees (US$35,200) for ball tampering during the one-day series against Australia.

————————————————————————————————————————

For the time being an average fan will be satisfied that finally justice has been done and player’s power has been eradicated from Pakistan cricket.

In my opinion the whole inquiry process has been a huge cover up and in a few months all of these players will get restored and their fines will be overturned because of the following reasons.

 

  • The inquiry process was carried out by an in house committee rather than an independent Judicial inquiry like the Justice Qayyum inquiry. After Qayyum’s inquiry all the statements given by players, the whole proceedings of the inquiry alongwith the evidence presented were made public as a result nobody had any doubt about the fairness of the process and nobody had any sympathy with the players. Even though the recommendations of the current inquiry committee have been implemented but their are several loop holes deliberately left in the report because of which I strongly believe that all the players will be able to make a come back. The central contracts expired on Dec 31′st legally the players can go to the court and get the fines revoked because they were no longer employed by PCB when these fines were announced.  Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousaf  can get their bans over turned from any court as their stance has been vindicated by the inquiry committee’s report so why they are being punished? It is not clear as of yet.

 

  • Questions will be raised in the media why PCB didn’t nipped the evil in the bud when these players were showing rogue behavior on different tours and were under performing to pull the legs of each other, Since the details of the statements made by the accused have not been made public, does it mean that the top brass was also involved in promoting factionalism for their own vested interests and tried to cover up their own role by keeping the proceedings of the inquiry secret. 

 

  • Through out the last year several players of Pakistan team and at times the whole team has been accused of match fixing, even Mr Butt acknowledged that match fixing is prevailant but can’t be proved, since the inquiry committee was not independent and it’s proceedings have been kept secret and the fact that PCB didn’t do anything to curtail player’s power in the last two years, in fact on many occasions they encouraged it and protected the rogue players,  hence it is fair to believe that the top management was itself nurturing a corrupt culture, hence it is fair to believe that PCB deliberately covered up the evidence regarding the involvement of it’s executives in various mutiny’s and their role in mismanaging the serious situations on several occasions.

 

  • Younis Khan refused to be a part of a corrupt setup and is only getting punished for that sole reason. In his case only PCB officials were guilty, they never supported him because apparently it didn’t suited their vested interests and now by punishing him they have covered up their own role. It is quite evident from Younis Khan’s case that PCB’s top brass itself was accomplice with some of the rogue players and was encouraging them against Younis Khan.

 

  • Apparently Afridi has been punished for his ball tampering but I think legally they can’t punish him for one offence twice, I think behind the scenes their is more to it than what meets the eye he has been a central character in all the revolts and mutiny’s since Inzamam.

All the players except Younis Khan deserved this harsh treatment, the players are only puppets they could not have carried out their plans if they didn’t had any official sanction from PCB’s top brass.  Justice has been served to the players but the main culprits (the board officials) are still unpunished and are still controlling the affairs of PCB. The board officials won’t get away with it as very soon the players will hit back at the board and will try to take them down along with them.

The people of Pakistan should demand from PCB to release the full minutes of the proceeding of the inquiry committee alongwith the statements and evidences furnished by all the players and officials.

We deserve to know what was the role of the current management in prolonging this issue, people also deserve to know the real reasons behing the bans imposed on Younis and Yousaf.

I would appeal to the Chief Justice of Pakistan that he should take a suo motto notice of the situation and set up a special judicial commission for this purpose. 

└ Tags: , , , , , , ,
Apr26

Can Pakistan successfully defend it’s T20 title?

by wasim on April 26th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

Team Pakistan has left for the Carribean to defend their title under the leadership of their star player Shahid Afridi. They recieved a few major blows due to injuries and selectorial blunders due to which questions are being raised whether they can successfully defend their title or can reach the final four.

Most people believe that Pakistan excel in T20  format not because of any method or strategy but simply because the format suits the style of cricket they play. This notion is totally wrong.

Pakistan in the last two T20 world cups employed one strategy, they divided the 20 over game in three segments, the first six overs, the middle eight overs and the last six overs.

In batting in first six overs their strategy was to take full advantage of the powerplays without losing more than one or two wickets. In the middle eight overs the strategy was again to keep the wickets in tact by cutting down on high risk shots and by scoring through improvisation usually the middle eight overs are bowled by spinners and Pakistan had Malik and Younis who were the best players of spin at the crease during these overs, in the last six overs with wickets intact and power hitters on the crease their strategy was not to hit every ball out of the park but to score  @ 9 or 10 runs an over no matter how they come.

In the first six overs Pakistan scored @ 7.38 rpo and conceded runs @ 7.75 rpo their batting average was just 24.18 and their bowling average was 34.87 which clearly indicates that the oppositions performed better against Pakistan in the first six overs. Pakistan’s opening pace attack is still the same they will probably still open with Aamer and Razzaq or Aamer and Asif unless Waqar has considerably improved Aamer’s bowling I don’t see Pakistan improving in the bowling department in the first six overs. Since there is no Imran Nazir and no Shahzaib Hassan it will be hard for Pakistan to improve their batting average or run rate in the first six overs. Pakistan probably will open with Hafeez and Akmal or Butt and Akmal, Hafeez although he is in excellent form but has never been a big match player if he failed to score as an opener all the pressure will be on Akmal and Pakistan’s performance might deteriorate in the first six overs. Butt might score some runs but he won’t be able to improve Pakistan’s run rate.

Shahid Afridi has been Pakistan’s leading batsman in the first six overs with a strike rate of over 200, I don’t see him batting at #3, I think Umar Akmal will bat at #3 and Afridi at #4. The first six overs is an area which will pose a lot of problems for Pakistan both in bowling and batting. Asif is more dangerous with the new ball and so is Razzaq, if Pakistan is going to play only three fast bowlers then which bowler will play the role of Umar Gul at death will cause a lot of problems. Afridi will have to open with Razzaq and Aamer and will probably bowl them 2 overs each and Asif and Aamer probably will share the last four overs.

The middle overs have been a major strength of Pakistan, they scored @ 7.33 rpo and conceded only 6.12 rpo their batting average during this period was 38.44 and bowling average 16.33 this is the period where Younis Khan and Malik consolidated the innings. Both players were hugely underappreciated in the last tournament YK out of 123 balls he played only played 21 dot balls his dot ball % was the least for any batsman in the tournament. Pakistan will be playing without YK and Malik and in their absence all the responsibility will be on Umar Akmal, Misbah and Fawad Alam.

Misbah internationally hasn’t done anything in the last year his domestic form has been excellent in all formats of the game but it will be interesting to see if he can play the role of Younis Khan for Pakistan in this tournament or not Pakistan’s chances of success depend a lot on his performance. Fawad Alam has the capacity to play the role of a consolidator he should not bat down the order nor he should bat at #3, I think #4 will be ideal for him.

In bowling Pakistan’s spin attack has been reinforced, Afridi and Ajmal are still in the team with the inclusion of Hafeez they will have another good spinner which might allow Afridi to keep Ajmal’s over in the last 10. Ajmal after Gul was Pakistan’s best bowler at death. I think with the wickets more conducive for spin bowling in the Carribean bowling wise Pakistan might repeat or improve their performance in the middle overs but batting wise they face a huge challenge they do have players like Umar Akmal, Afridi, Misbah and Fawad but with the exception of Fawad the rest of the batsmen rely more on boundaries to score than on working the ball which increases the risk of failure.

Pakistan have been excellent with the ball in the last six overs, they have scored @ of almost 8 rpo and conceded only 6.75 runs per over and also took 20 wickets during this period.

Ajmal’s econ rate was 5.25 and Gul’s econ rate was 5.55 both bowlers took 8 wickets each during these overs. Ajmal is still in the team but the absence of Gul will seriously hurt Pakistan who is the world’s leading T20 bowler and a specialist in death overs. I don’t think Asif, Razzaq or Aamer can bowl as effectively as Gul at death due to which I think Pakistan should play Sami instead of Asif.

It’s a difficult choice but in my opinion Sami can bowl at death more effectively than Asif, Pakistan also has an option of dropping Ajmal and playing with four fast bowlers or Playing with one less batsman which in my opinion is not a good Idea. This is the biggest challenge Pakistan team management is facing who they are going to plan their last six overs and which bowlers are going to bowl them, Ajmal can bowl 2 overs but who will bowl the other four. I think it should be Aamer or Sami.

In batting Pakistan has enough fire power to imorve their RPO in the last six overs Razzaq is in excellent form, batting wise Pakistan can improve in the last six overs.

Pakistan in my opinion are not favorites but they do have the capability to win the tournament, the absence of Umar Gul will hurt them the most as he has been the X factor for Pakistan in this format.

 

Probable 11

1-Akmal 2-Hafeez 3-Latif 4-Afridi 5-Misbah 6-Fawad 7- Umar Akmal 8- Razzaq 9- Sami/Asif , 10-Aamer 11-Ajmal

Oppositions

Australia looks to be a strong favorite to win this tournament, their batsmen and their bowlers are in supreme form but a lot will depend on the performance of their pace bowlers who gave away a lot of runs in the last edition and failed to defend some decent totals, Dirk Nannes is in good form, they have several spin options, but I guess Steve smith and  Nathan Hauritz will be their main spinners their batting has a lot of fire power in it but the key to their success wil be how their players adjust to the low bounce in West Indies.

SriLanka is another team which is a serious contender, they have one of the best spin attack, their batting has a lot of variety but the form of Sangakara is questionable their pace attack is decent. The conditions in WI will suit the SriLankan team.

India is also a major contender but they have been hit by injury to Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj singh are also not in form. But India still has a lot of fire power in their batting but they might struggle with their bowling. The selection of Piyush Chawla and leaving out Uthappa might hurt team India.

England has also developed a good team for the format their batting has a lot of fire power, their bowling is decent. They are underrated in this format but I think they will make it into the final four.

West Indies are quite strong in this format but because of  a lethargic and unprofessional approach they never produce results justifying the talent they possess. But playing infront of home crowd might provide them the extra spark.

South Africa also has a good team but they rely heavily on Smith and Kallis in their batting which might cause problems for them, they also lack in the spin department.

NewZealand doesn’t have the firepower to make it to the finals they might reach the Semis but I don’t see them winning the tournament.

└ Tags: , , , , , , , ,
47 Comments
Jul30

Kamran Akmal the pretend wicket keeper

by wasim on July 30th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

Once again Kamran Akmal has produced a Sydney like shitty performance behind the stumps. Dropped a very easy catch of Strauss and missed  the simplest stumping chance of Collingwood, but this hasn’t been everything that he did wrong he has been standing too far behind the stumps and as a result  quite a few edges dropped in front of him, normally wicket keepers stand way behind when they are low on confidence.

In England the ball swings after it passes the stumps but if that was the problem why Akmal kept behind the wickets so confidently against Australia, he never dived on many balls going down the leg side which normally he stops. The ball in Trent bridge is not moving as it did in Leeds if he kept behind the wickets with confidence there then there was absolutely no excuse for him to stand way behind the wickets here.

Any keeper can drop catches but the technique Akmal displayed here was appalling and cannot be justified by saying that he is just a poor keeper, he kept decently against Australia.

The way both brthers batted in the last test was also questionable and once again Umar Akmal failed in this test, he also told Azhar Ali not to use the review when he clearly didn’t got an edge.

Just when I was writing this line Kamran Akmal got out for a duck, man I hate his fuck face.

England has bowled beautifully but they haven’t been that good to justify a 46/6 scoreline, Pakistan’s batting has been appaling. Their tail starts from #4 Umar Amin hasn’t done anything, Akmal brothers are only good for T20, Malik is still hanging in there and might get his 10-20 runs.

This performance has been a joke and Kamran Akmal did a great acting job behind the stumps, I think it’s time that we dump this pretend wicket keeper for good.

└ Tags:
50 Comments
Jan21

Pakistan Vs New Zealand Odi series- Preview

by wasim on January 21st, 2011 at 5:43 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

After winning the test series against New Zealand Pakistan are being considered as favorites against New Zealand in the six match Odi series. The recent results for both the teams in Odi’s also suggest that Pakistan are the favorities, New Zeland lost all five matches against Bangladesh and Pakistan had two closely contested series against South Africa and England on both occassions they lost the series 3-2.

The last time these two teams faced each other in Odi’s it was in Dubai in Nov 2009, Pakistan won the series 3-2.  On paper Pakistan looks a much weaker side than the side which played in 2009 they are without Salman, Butt, Khalid lateef, Malik, Mohammad Yusaf and Aamer. But if we look at the averages of these players in that series then it is safe to say that this weaker looking side is much better. New Zealand has only one noteable ommission and that would be of Shane Bond.

New Zealand won the T20 series quite confortably, if the result of that series is of any indication then it would be a closely contested series. Pakistan cricket team lately has played better cricket despite facing some serious controversies and distractions but since the trouble makers and tainted superstars have been axed from the test team the unpredictability has been eliminated to some extent, the team and the players more or less perform as is expected of them.

But in the Odi’s and T20 the team is still quite unpredictable, the performance of key players like Razzaq, Afridi, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal and Umar Gul has been completely inconsistent. All these players are highly aggressive players the calmness which Younis, Malik and Misbah used to bring to the middle order is missing, the team plays instinctively and apparently there is no planning or strategy in pacing the innings as a result when one or two of these players churn out a spectecular performance we win but when we lose quick wickets due to flashy stroke play there is no one who can stabilize the innings.

Younis Khan has always been a great test player but in Odi’s he hasn’t been able to perform according to his stature, the inclusion of Misbah should bring in some maturity and calmness in the middle, obviously this time he would not be playing as a late order pinch hitter his role will be that of an anchor,

Pakistan has too many flashy player in their line up who can only play in one style and cannot play a grinding innings if the situation requires this is the main reason Pakistan hasn’t been as successful in Odis as it should have been.

Afridi’s leadership has also been poor, the calmness and maturity which is required from a leader is totally missing, he has never been a great tactician of the game, raw aggression has been the only highlight of his game which more than often proves to be handicap.  He is under enormous pressure by the PCB management to change his game and play a more mature role in the team, his back is against the wall at the moment and in my opinion he throughly deserved this criticism, he is one of the most talented limited overs allrounders in the world with a small adjustment in his game he can do wonders for pakistan cricket.

PCB’s managemnt usually gets criticised and blamed for every turmoil the team gets into but when things move in the right direction the media fails to appreciate them. I think dropping Yousaf and Malik was  necessary as both players were consistently underperforming and creating cliques in the team. Akmal brothers also needed to be disciplined and by sidelining both brothers during the last two series PCB has sent them a strong a message.

Pakistan should win this series 6-0 but given the nature of our batting line up I would say that 4-2 sounds more realistic.

The bowling won’t be a worry in this series but Afridi, Ajmal and Gul should regain their full form between the first match of this series and the quarterfinal of the world cup.

Pakistan might rest Wahab Riaz in the first two or three matches and play Sohail Tanvir.

New Zealand  has always been a good Odi side but their recent form has been dismal, their key players , Guptil, Taylor, McCullum and Styris will have to play oout of their skins but even then they don’t have depth and quality in their bowling which will make it hard to win matches.  

New Zealand: 1 Jesse Ryder, 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Ross Taylor, 4 Scott Styris, 5 James Franklin, 6 Brendon McCullum (wk), 7 Jacob Oram, 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Nathan McCullum, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Hamish Bennett

Pakistan (probable): 1 Kamran Akmal (wk), 2 Mohammad Hafeez, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq, 5 Umar Akmal, 6 Shahid Afridi (capt), 7 Abdul Razzaq, 8 Umar Gul, 9 Abdur Rehman / Saeed Ajmal, 10 Wahab Riaz / Sohail Tanvir, 11 Shoaib Akhtar

└ Tags: , , , ,
39 Comments