Posts Tagged ‘Younis Khan’

8 results.
Jan28

PCB reward under performance

by wasim on January 28th, 2009 at 4:33 am
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

I won't kill you with the bat, I will stab you in the back like a true PathanI 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.

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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.

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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.

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4 Comments
Apr13

A rare opportunity for Pakistan

by wasim on April 13th, 2009 at 4:13 am
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

Last three years have been very turbulent for Pakistan cricket, security problems in Pakistan led to the cancellation of many home series against the top teams in the world and the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore put an end to any hopes of hosting any foreign team in Pakistan for foreseeable future, a premature demise of Pakistan cricket was imminent.

Foreseeing this problem, and in order to keep Pakistan relevant in the world of cricket the administrators at PCB found a new home for Pakistan team in Dubai.

The ODi series between Pakistan and Australia will kick off of on 22nd April in Dubai, Pakistan will be playing Australia after four years, its a rare opportunity for Pakistan cricket team to re establish themselves as a force in world cricket.

Pakistan hasn’t played much international cricket in 2008 they will be rusty but the Australians are also struggling with their combination and by resting Ponting, Hussey and Johnson they have made the competition quite even. There is no excuse for the Pakistani team not to perform well against this Australian team as Pakistan will be playing on home like conditions, they do enjoy advantage in the spin department and their top batsmen are in good form, the only area of concern for Pakistan will be the form of their pace bowlers and fielding.

I do not foresee a whitewash by either side, both sides are missing some key players and are quite evenly matched, the only advantage Australia has over Pakistan is that they have played a lot of top level cricket against quality teams during the last year and their players will be battle hardened as opposed to the Pakistani players who will be quite rusty.

The inclusion of ICl players would have given Pakistan a clear advantage over Australia but PCB made a quick U-turn and discarded the three ICL players, which was the right decision in my opinion as these players preferred money over national duty in the past and they might do the same in future, these players should not be considered for national selection unless it is confirmed that they have revoked their ICL contracts.

There were no surprises in the selection done by Qadir & co, however the inclusion of Shoaib Akhtar and Yasir Arafat is objectionable, both the players failed miserably against Sri Lanka and I seriously doubt that they have improved their fitness and form during the last two months.

I hope that Sohail Tanvir has regained his form and fitness otherwise Pakistan will be in trouble.

Mohammad Aamer the 16 year old left arm fast bowler finally got selected for the practice match against Australia, I hope he does well in that match.

Intikhab Alam has hinted that he is going to rely predominantly on spin bowling because he feels that spinners can trouble the Australian batsmen, I don’t know if his assumption is based on facts or he is just trying to make us believe that he is actively participating in the planning for the series because before the Sri lankan series he made similar claims about using an all pace strategy against the Sri lankans which went horribly wrong as his bowlers were bowling all over the place and with out a plan, I hope this time his plan is real and he has actually worked with the players regarding it’s execution.

The forthcoming series against Australia will also be a major test of Younis Khan’s skill as a captain, although his personal performance against the Srilankans was examplary but as a captain on the field he looked short of ideas and creativity. All of his claims about the preparation of lively wickets for the SriLankan series were nothing but lies. He should understand the difference between playing stupid cricket and playing aggressive cricket,  taking 4 slips and asking your bowlers to pepper misdirected short balls is definitely not aggressive cricket, great captains make a plan to attack the weakness of the opposition and make sure that their players do not flaw in executing the plans. I hope that this time he has done his homework and he will show more control while executing his plans.

I have noticed another problem in Younis as a captain he is consisently showing lack of faith in young players and is mostly picking his team on seniority basis, part of this problem stems from the politics going on in the dressing room which is unfortunate but he will have to quickly identify the players who have passed their sell by date and should get rid of them.

My playing eleven for Pakistan will be as follows:

1-Salman Butt

2-Nasir Jamshed

3-Younis Khan

4-Misbah Ul Haq

5-Shoaib Malik

6- Shahid Afridi

7-Fawad Alam

8-Kamran Akmal

9-Sohail Tanvir

10-Umar Gul

11- Rao Iftikhar

Mohammad Aamer should be the 12th man.

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3 Comments
May26

RBS T20 tournament- round up

by wasim on May 26th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

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.

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Oct08

Do us a favor and retire Younis Khan.

by wasim on October 8th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

Since April 2009 Younis Khan has led Pakistan in 13 Odis out of which Pakistan has only won 5,  Pakistan lost a series against Australia, an Odi and Test series against Srilanka  and lost the semi finals of Champions trophy against an injury hit NewZealand team. However Pakistan did won the T20 World cup under him during this period.

Younis Khan was given the captaincy of Pakistan cricket team after a systematic campaign was launched  by a lobby of journalists hailing from Karachi against Malik, they accused  Malik of only winning against minnow teams, and pointed out that his personal performance was not good enough to guarantee him a place in the team, he was also accused of conspiring against senior players and forming cliques in the team.

Malik captained Pakistan team in 36 Odi’s and scored  with an average of 43.75 and also took 22 wickets, Pakistan team won 24 matches under him, where as Younis Khan has captained Pakistan in 18 matches altogether and has scored @ average of only 24.

What has surprised me the most is the pattern of Pakistan team’s performance under YK, he lost the series against Australia and SriLanka from winning positions. Surprisingly, Pakistan won the dead rubber matches in both the series, The pattern of defeats and victories in both series was strikingly similar.

In Champions trophy Pakistan was considered as a 7-2 favorite against the Kiwis but due to some bizzarre planning and decsion making, Pakistan lost against the Newzealand in the semi final, earlier Pakistan performed well in all the practice matches and only lost their group match Australia just by a whisker.

Many believe that Pakistan threw away their match against Australia to oust India from Semi finals and to face a weaker opposition in the semis.

It is the third time that Younis Khan has been accused for his involvement in match fixing, he was investigated by the ICC”s ACU team in India, his team was accused of throwing matches against SriLanka and now again the Chairman of the standing committee of sports in the parliment has personally accused him and the team management for fixing the match against Australia and the Semi finals of the Champion’s trophy.

I don’t know if any of these accusations are true and the accusers have any evidence to support their claims, but the way Pakistan team was led by Younis Khan certainly deserves an investigation..

My only concern is Younis Khan’s personal performance, Younis only averaged 16.77 in the current Champions trophy , he has played  16 matches in ICC world cups and Champions trophies so far and has scored only 225 runs @ 16.07 with a highest score of 35.

Didn’t he promised to lead from the front, didn’t he said that he wants to lead Pakistan team like Imran Khan did ? I wonder what people like Osman Sami and kamran  Abbassi who launched the campaign for Younis have to say now. Osman Sami still believes that team has showed a lot of improvement under him, and Kamran Abbassi rested all the blame on Yousaf. Not a word has been said about Younis Khans contionous poor form and inability to share the work load with Mohammad yousaf.

Younis Khan thinks that by playing with an injured pinky finger in itself is such an act of bravery that it should be regarded as “leading from the front” and he should be hold in the same esteem as when Imran Khan bowled with a stress fracture in his leg against India or Salim Malik batted with one hand against the likes of Marshall, Walsh and Ambrose.The only difference is that those guys performed even with the injury and Younis used his Pimky finger to hide his poor form, to me he looks like a pitiful clown  who thinks he is a god sent saviour of Pakistan cricket, he has done nothing in his career so far which can make him compare himself with Imran Khan, he is an imposter.

I strongly opposed the decision to make him captain and termed it as ” Rewarding Under performance.”

What disgusts me the most about Younis is, when he comes on national Tv and tells self made stories how people on streets begged him to take over the captaincy, and also when he threatens to quit after being crticised by the public.

The fact is that Younis made factions in the team under Malik and underperformed in key matches whether it was the T20 world cup final or the South African Odi series or the Odi series against India he always underperformed in key matches. It is also a fact that Younis was publicly ridiculed in his own home town after 2007 World cup after which he was reluctant to take over a struggling Pakistan team which was also under investigation for the strange death of their coach, but as soon as things went back to normal he along with a few other seniors revolted against Malik, and the regionally biased media fully supported them in their efforts.

Any player can lose his form and all great players go through bad patches during their career, but great players always stand tall when the going gets tough, Younis has never performed in a big tournament.

My main concern about Younis is not his personal form , What bothers me most is his idiotic decision making and the bizzarre ways in which his team loses matches, it has become a behavior pattern of Pakistan team to lose matches from winning positions under YK.

People are criticising YK for his lack of form and the catch he dropped  in the semi final but thats not the issue any player can do those things it’s a part of the game.

My issue is the way he sidelined Umar Akmal and Mohammad Aamer in the match against Australia, what was the point of playing Misbah ahead of Umar when he was not going to play in semi finals, his power play management during the CT was so poor that even a 9 year old could have done a better job, his decision to bat first against a Kiwi side which was completely depleted due to injuries was a serious mistake, his field placement was aweful during the semi finals he had all his ace fielders placed on the boundaries and the Kiwis kept on stealing singles. His decision to bowl out Aamer was also strange, he again marginalized the youngster first by making him bowl 7 straight overs and then not keeping his remaining overs for the batting power play.

It was a straight forward pitch full of runs, there was no movement in the pitch it only had a bit of bounce in it.  Who so ever made the strategy to bat defensively during the power plays should be investigated as Kamran Akmal and Imran Nazir were clearly under the instructions not to go after the Kiwi bowling during the power plays, both the openers had the capability to unsettle the Kiwi bowlers during the power plays but the team management prevented them from playing their natural game.

The jingoistic and biased section of Pakistani media is still targeting Malik and Yousaf, not a word has been said about the poor form of Younis Khan, the way Afridi threw away his wicket and the way Umar Gul bowled. The targets are only Rana Naveed, Mohammad Yousaf and Malik.

Yousaf and Malik were top scorers for Pakistan not only in this tournament but also in the Lankan series, Rana had just one bad match and people are already after his head such is life for Punjabi players in the national team.

There are people who will say in defense of Younis that Pakistan won T20 WC under him, Big deal, we were the finalists in the previous edition and would have easily won it if he had not ran out Imran Nazir and had not thrown his own wicket to a rash shot.

Pakistan’s semi final birth in CT was almost guarnateed since WI never sent their A team and Indian team was struggling with their combination after several key players got injured.

PCB top brass is always hands in gloves with the team management, I don’t expect that they will take any tough action against Younis Khan and the rest of the under performers. Pakistan team can never win consistently until it’s middle order is replaced, Pakistan needs atleast two changes in it’s middle order, Misbah should be dropped and Younis Khan should retire from ODI’s.

Do us a favor and retire Younis Khan.

The Performance of Pakistan’s top players in ICC world cup and ICC Champion’s trophy.


 Mat Runs HS Bat Av 100 Wkts







Imran Khan 28 666 102* 35.05 1 34
Javed Miandad 33 1083 103 43.32 1 4
Wasim Akram 42 466 43 18.8 0 62
Waqar Younis 15 36 11 6 0 24
Inzamam Ul Haq 40 780 81 23.63 0 0
Aamir Sohail 17 610 114 35.88 2 8
Shoaib Malik 15 393 128 30.23 1 10
Younis Khan 16 225 35 16.07 0 0
Saleem Malik 28 606 100 31.89 1 6
Saeed Anwar 25 1204 113* 63.36 5
Ejaz Ahmed 32 570 70 23.75
1
Rameez Raja 16 700 119 53.84 3
Moin Khan 26 323 63 23.07

Mohd Yousaf 26 870 87 39.54 0 0

 The average Younis Khan has in Top ICC events should he even be considered as a top player? He is a pathetic ODI player capable of scoring only on flat tracks and against weak bowling sides.

The performance of Pak captains in ICC world cup and ICC Champions trophy.

 


 Mat Won Runs HS Bat Av 100 Wkts Bowl Av









Imran Khan 22 14 615 102* 38.43 1 24 19.7
Javed Miandad 2 0 60 57* 60 0 0 0
Wasim Akram 15 10 208 43 29.71 0 18 26.5
Waqar Younis 8 3 21 8 4.2 0 9 25.33
Inzamam Ul Haq 6 3 136 41 27.2


Aamir Sohail 2 0 67 55 33.5 0 1 29
Younis Khan 6 2 69 20 11.5 0










 
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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.

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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. 

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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.

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Aug24

Afridi and Ejaz Butt again ignore Younis Khan

by wasim on August 24th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

Pakistan announced it’s Odi and T20 team after Afridi and Ejaz Butt had a meeting. 

The chief selector Mohsin Khan has been criticized a lot for not acting as an independent selector but not a word of criticism is being hurled at Afridi who finalized the whole team with Ejaz Butt in a one to one meeting. Has anybody ever thought that why Is Afridi behaving like a dummy captain? If he believes that certain players are being ignored for wrong reasons and he is not being given a team selected on merit then like all men of integrity and honor he should stand up against Ejaz Butt for truth and Justice.

By just issuing a loose and ambigous statement regarding ignoring Younis he tries to remain politically correct and gives the impression to the rest of the world that he sincerely tries but the matter is really beyond his control.

Is the matter really beyond his control? If it is then I am sorry to say Afridi even though he is supposedly a big and brave pathan is just another poodle of Ejaz Butt, who can only lick his master’s feet and can never stand up against him.

I don’t think in the current situation his role is any different than Mohsin Khan’s.

There is only one real man in PCB and that is Ejaz Butt the rest are just hermaphrodits nobody has the strength and courage to stand up against him.

It’s a dog eat dog world every one is for himself I really don’t think that Afridi has any sincerity with Younis Khan because if he had any then he should have done more than just issuing meaningless statements. These guys are not acting as poodles of Ejaz Butt because he is so powerful they are doing it for their own self interests.

The selected team is as follows:

Squad: Shahid Afridi (capt), Salman Butt, Shahzaib Hasan, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Yousuf, Azhar Ali, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Fawad Alam, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Wahab Riaz.

 

Reserves: Sarfraz Ahmed, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Irfan, Abdur Rehman.

First of all what in the world has Hafeez and Shahzaib done since the T20 WC to get recalled they couldn’t survive in flatter conditions how they are going to cope with conditions where the ball swings both in the air and off the seam.

Where are the advocates of merit now and why are they not raising their voice against the selection of Shahzaib who was a complete failure during the T20 WC.

Afridi has not only ignored Younis Khan but he has also ignored Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmad and Abdur Rehman.

The reserves are not travelling with the team, Asad, Sarfraz and Irfan are playing with Pakistan A and Abdur-Rehman is probably in Pakistan the probability of them getting any real chance is zero.

Why Asad was not selected in place of Hafeez or Shahzaib?

Rahman will become history because he is a direct threat to Afridi himself.

There was no need to keep so many fast bowlers, an additional spinner could have helped a lot especially when Rahman performed really well in the T20 WC.

The selectors have still not learned from their mistakes, they have again picked some players who do not have the technique to play in English conditions the team consists of too many flashy players who will fail miserably in English conditions especially when the new players have not been acclimatized with English conditions.

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Nov20

Pakistan Vs South Africa 2nd test-preview

by wasim on November 20th, 2010 at 2:25 am
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan, Cricket, Cricket South Africa

The second test between South Africa and Pakistan will start today in ABu Dhabi, this will be the first test match on this ground. Both Captains complained about the slowness of the pitch in Dubai which became lifeless after the second day and offered no help to the bowlers. The conditions in Abu Dhabi are also expected to be quite similar there will be no juice in the pitch for the pacers the spinners will have to work hard.

South Africa don’t need to make any changes and might field the same team.

South Africa (possible): 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Alviro Petersen, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Hashim Amla, 5 AB de Villiers, 6 Ashwell Prince, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Johan Botha, 9 Paul Harris, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Morne Morkel

Dale Steyn will have to step up his performance if South Africa has to fancy their chance to win the series, ofcourse there is always a chance that Pakistan choose to self destruct but Pakistani batsmen didn’t looked in much trouble facing the South African bowlers on home like conditions in Dubai. The conditions will remain the same and South Africa will rely heavily on Morkel and Steyn.

Pakistan doesn’t have the bowling to defeat the South Africans in this series, the inclusion of Sami will not make much difference as his average against south Africa is above 60 he has never been effective against the Saffers. Tanvir is the only other choice from the little that I have seen of him he would hardly cause any problems for the Saffers. Tanvir is not genuinely quick he relies on late swing but if the conditions are dry and flat then he would be totally ineffective. But I would pick him a head of Sami.

In the last match Pakistan were rescued By Azhar Ali and Younis Khan, Pakistan once again will rely heavily on these two batsmen as they have the patience to bat long. Umar Akmal is almost certain to get dropped for the shot he played in the last match, he deserves to get dropped but if PCB wants to drop him then they should drop him for a long period of time not just for one match, but if Umar made an honest mistake then I don’t think that he should be dropped, the team management is in better position to make that judgement. His replacement Asad Shafiq is a decent player but tries to play every thing on the leg side with this faulty technique he won’t survive against the express pace of Steyn and Morkel, he has scored heavily in QEA trophy last year which shows that he has the patience to bat long. Asad is almost certain to replace Umar Akmal hopefully he will score some big runs and becomes a legitimate contender for this # 6 spot in the test team.

I don’t expect an improved batting performance from Pakistan their only chance in this match depends on Rahman and Ajmal.

Ajmal was pathetic in the first match he was bowling too flat and was afraid to put a loop on the ball, bowled too many doosra’s and just killed the surprise element, unless and untill he bowls at a higher trajectory and works hard on getting the ball to spin he is never going to be successful in test cricket. He will also have to bowl a nagging line and length he gives away too many runs because of his impatience and over experimentation, if Ajmal and Rahman didn’t stepped up their performance Pakistan has no chance in this match.

Pakistan (possible): 1 Taufeeq Umar, 2 Mohammad Hafeez, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Azhar Ali, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Asad Shafiq, 7 Adnan Akmal (wk), 8 Abdur Rehman, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Tanvir Ahmed, 11 Saeed Ajmal

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