Just the routine stuff = decimate Kiwis to march ahead!

WC 92, 99, 07, 09, stretch to fifty or twenty overs, play-offs or an important league fixture, Pakistan have on all occasions trounced the poor caps to march ahead triumphantly and this time too they only have to extend that trend. Though, it ain’t easy, or may be it never was on any occasion.

To be brief, things are muddled.

Confused roles are to be ironed out. Play Fawad Alam up in the order or offer him the bench. He's equally capable to replicate what Shoaib Malik did for Pakistan in last T20 WC. Another brave move I may endorse would be to choose one among the so-tagged-package Hafeez & past-relic Misbah ul Haq. Instead, rookie Hammad can be tried, the guy will bring some fresh legs on the field plus you don't need every batter in the touring squad for a 20 over affair, of course, only if managed properly.

Asif's outing against the Poms can be excused to roughness. But he should resume the normal services tomorrow onwards, while Aamir & Ajaml are bowling neatly, Afridi's tasteless outings and Razzaq's confusing role in either discipline is a bottleneck that is hurting the entire XI

The game is again at Kensington Oval; true bounce and short boundaries - a catch-22? Not if you bring your backfoot game into play and simultaneously backfoot can be back tracked by sharp nippy pace bowling.. I still am not ruling out another Sami outing!

On the other hand Kiwis, always more than their actual sums, enjoyed a rare ODI series victory against Pakistan last year, though lost both the T20s. However, Vettori do have more than a couple of match turners at his deployment this time. Other than the skipper, McCullum, Ryder, Taylor, Styris, Oram & specially Bond can turn the game upside down just on their own.

Black Caps are expected to be clinical with their ground fielding and Pakistan have to pick lessons from the ashes of their latest no-show.

It will be a clash of Kiwis method and Green's flair! in the end one skool-of-thought standing..

The Acid Test - Greens locking horns with the Oz at Beausejour!

After rather extended smart media talk Bangladesh were quickly brushed aside for the stage to be fitly set for Acid Test.

Notwithstanding all the fluff about aussies not good at TT will stand null and void on a fresh day, with learned lessons and a more sharp approach towards the slam bang version of the game. Tame stats can be quoted to point their past vulnerabilities but the fact of the matter is that whilst they were busy handsomely managing their post-superstars exodus period (compared to mid-eighties) they rather loss focus on the latest hottie in town - T20!

However, as professionally brutal as they are, they have finally learned their lessons and in recent times have modeled their strategy around T20 specializers a-la Nannes, Cam. White, David Hussey, David Warner, Steven Smith etc. many of them will never have a notable or no test career but they may well earn their nation the only trophy they are yet to get their hands on..

A grand opening partnership yesterday, 3rd best ever, rather marred few niggles that the Oz would love to exploit. for instance, Ajmal should be used more diligently, running is to be tightened up a notch or three, and one got to find space for Muhammad Asif ahead of Razzaq (tight call) or more appropriately Fawad Alam for a more covered and balanced bowling armory.

Aussies are out to prove and naturally they will come hard. Pakistan needs to grind it out for 240 legal deliveries and may be more, if need be. Greens ought to realize, optimistically I believe they do, that an attack comprising Tait, Nannes, Harris & Watson is more potent in totality then Bangla's quartet of slow southpaws.

whatever may happens, Afridi's men will give it their all is the belief I want to believe..

Go Greens!

Messy Greens!

-Hashim N. Malik

As if the ills of match-fixing, ball tempering, players’ revolts, adhocism and International isolation were becoming stale that they suddenly got blessed with fresh derivatives of horrendous indiscipline, deep-rooted lobbying, ball biting, nepotistic rather patriotic passion, hope-crushing streak of defeats, talk-show wars and the concluding lordliest act of going over-Burj Khalifa’s-top to fire bans and fines here, there, everywhere!

And why shouldn’t it be like this? When relics of the bygone era are hell-bend to prove themselves to be remembered as the most incompetent, abrasive, clueless and unimaginative administration ever to don the office, when players are playing each other and not the opposition, when desperation to win anything tips such heights that eating a ball in front of a galaxy of cameras becomes the only ray of survival. And when the best leader in the country is not only marginalized by ‘a team’ within the team but for good ironical measures is being lashed an indefinite ban, and that after bringing home the world-glory for a nation craving for hopec- then even the most ardent of fans are to be convinced that it is not a Bollywood movie but Pakistan cricket.

As Harsha Bhogle would put it “Pakistan continues to make every other nation look like the epitome of good management”.

To say we are in a mess sounds like a blessing. We are nigh to death. The very fabric of every discipline on and off the field is either rotten or in a shambles, with the sole exception of continuous stream of good bowlers. We have long lost the hope of having good openers, instead we pray for stable decency. We have started considering holding-all-the-chances unrealistic rather we endear for them to hold more then they let go. Since two Ys are handed the pictures of their waterloos, we might consider giving Miandad a recall, at whose age Wilfred Rhodes played test cricket regularly, only if the bans are not overturned, of course.

Perhaps, Younis lacked the panache and suave of Imran Khan who in toughest of times held his pride and authority upright, through complete command over his men and the men who gave the impression of controlling his team. Yet, where he lacked in panache, Younis substituted it with Imran-esque brand of courage, lion-heartedness and awful positivity, and in present of times is by far the only sane option to pluck Pakistan’s pride back in the purest version of the game and Younis the-skipper and Younis the-batter must be included for Tour De Britain this summer. Or our love for butchering our leaders, figuratively and literally, will realize again.

As, after the global T20 hoopla, there’s a certain matter of playing unprecedented six tests in Britain against the ashes foes. If we are to match Australia’s test record of sixteen victories with equal number of defeats, then we should not only encourage bans on Younis, Yousuf but should encourage conspiracies against Salman Butt, Fawad Alam and Misbah – get them banned too and write to ICC to withdraw our test status for an indefinite period. For the law says you may also need batsmen and we have none of them.

Yet, we, the innate supporters of our team and its antics somehow manage to find something to cling on to, a Hammad Azam here, a Mohammad Aamer there, a he-will-grow Umar Akmal somewhere in the middle and we waste no time in stitching new hopes.

Practically, radical shifts should be considered normality if any hope to replicate silver-lining of yester years is to be harbored. Despite all of its unprecedented high handedness, the bans will not affect T20 worldcup campaign that much, as Pakistan still got one of the strongest bowling attack around, and a batting line-up one can count to last at least 20 overs. However, by not announcing the captain, PCB again showed why they are so dearly loved by the cricket-freak masses.

The less we say about the board, the better. Every healthy and functional board across the cricketing world elects its members, but here hand-picked masters are planted from the top. The sooner we bring brains equipped with wisdom to cope with the finer nuances of modern sports management, the quicker we will move on from the starting line. The need is to first except the ground realities by heart and then vouch for cricket Pakistan on any and every global forum through diplomatic and ambassadorial exercises’ to initiate a process that will surly take a long while to reap any real benefit.

The bans – way off the line, unheard of or whatever, will at least set a glaring example in front of young colts who in the wake of an age of mighty commercialization of sports are more vulnerable to commitment, discipline and issues of player power. They would know succinctly what is and not cricket.

I hate to write this, but we thrive in turmoil. Just last year, when the third of third in Lahore jittered the cricketing fraternity to the hilt and with it flew away the home games and worldcup 2011, a bunch of spirited men – disregarded by IPL, isolated by cricketing fraternity silently won the world title for its terrorism-struck & hope-starved nation and proved the adage that when united in their skill-display team green is the most instinctive and naturally-gifted one among its global peers.

Another disappointment by IPL can well and truly become another reason to dance and laugh. As, for next forty odd days when majority of international players would be busy redeeming their happy hours in India, the prematurely announced 15-man squad for the T20 worldcup would be trying to jell together and to let go the recent past as quickly as humanly possible. For it contains nothing but intrigue, squabbling and utter hopelessness.

May be, when they meet tired international players at the worldcup they might have a plan. May be, Waqar & Ijaz tune them enough for them to shrug off technical and mental hurdles, may be they truly play for Pakistan again. May be they win again!

Bangla Cricket Hitherto!

Bangladesh is developing a knack of catching good teams cold. After Australia, India had a taste of it, though experience and mental strength prevailed on both occasions eventually. Alike Sri Lanka of late and early nineties, Bangladesh, after graduating from sequences of humiliations punctuated with rare bouts of individual brilliance now need to learn how to finish it off. That's when they'll truly arrive!

Yet, to me it is heartening to see a Prodigy-Kid Shakib-ul-Hasan continously churning out high voltage performances against the better of the world and in the course inspiring a bunch of raw talent around i.e. Mahmudullah, Rubel, Naeem Islam, Raqibul etc...

IMO, BCB selectors need to get Alok Kapali and particularly the Aftab guy back in the fold to add more cement to their batting order..

THE DARK SIDE OF THE COIN…

- Hashim N. Malik

T20 creation led to T20 World Cups, ICL, Stanford hyperbole and before you take a breather IPL – Season 3 is just round the corner. Throw to the mix club-based Champions League, planned Southern/American Premiere Leagues and hosts of other similar interventions springing here, there, everywhere and you’ve got a cricket calendar littered with mercenaric carnivals at the mere cost of bilateral International challenges, reducing them both in value and salability. The true cost, however, is a lot more than what’s presently meeting the naked eye.

Did anyone cared to notice the post IPL performances of cricket-celebs who remained active for the best part of the carnival? International not club performances that is to say whilst representing your country and not a club owned by a chemical processing company.

Let’s analyze,

• Freddie Flintoff, 31, is suddenly too old for Tests.
• Keven Pietersen who rose to fame from previous home Ashes couldn’t gather himself bodily when the most sacred battle made its return to his adopted home.
• Virender Sehwag, living nowadays on the back of his heyday’s footage and doing everything that is not cricket i.e. ICC T20 WC drama is one quick example.
• Jacob Oram never looked so ordinary in every discipline of the game.
• Lasith Malinga, Sri Lanka’s poster boy was left to sign, well posters mainly for the major part of the ongoing Sri Lankan summer due to indifferent form and at times pure exhaustion.
• Zaheer Khan, the Indian bowling spearhead is out and out for a while.

A player either from a established nation i.e. Australia, India, RSA or TGB or a vulnerable one i.e. New Zealand, West Indies etc. can only stretch himself to the extent of his energy and physical capacity. What is not been realized by many is that albeit Twenty20 is a 3 hour roller coaster ride it seeps out as much liveliness and venom out of a player as any other skill-set of the game shall do. Throw to the blend incessant travelling and promotional campaigns and you’ve got a complete recipe for fatigue, exhausted power tanks and productivity bordering on mediocrity.

THIS IS NOT THE WAY CRICKET IS BEEN DONE!

The Big Wigs ala Australia, India, RSA & TGB shall probably survive without much ado. However, the other half of leading Test playing nations, notably West Indies and New Zealand, as discussed in detail below, shall suffer because of reduced value of International games, increased player power and condensed pool of fit and hungry frontrunners.

Caribbean Dilemma

Ah! What to say that is not gloomy about them?

In brief, IPL turned out to be cloud nine for a selected bunch of superstars but is acting as a messenger of death for the credibility and togetherness of Cricket-Caribbean as a whole. The primary bone of contention between WICB and WIPA has its roots in the lure of IPL riches. The players foregathered from a host of Island nations are at this instant succinctly aware that they now have the luxury to go free-lance and do not have to abide by the WICB’s officialdom anymore. Hence, they couldn’t care less if there’s a Test series planned at the Home of Cricket. They’d be indifferent if it clashes and eats into their potential earnings.

Had it not been for the visible fill-in of going free-lance through IPL and domestic events of wealthy cricket playing nations the row between WICB and WIPA would have never stretched this far. Admittedly, the officialdom and high-handedness of WICB is to share the blame but the players will not run scot-free either. One may not confuse their rebellion with that of Packer players from 70’s. The latter fought a cause and made life a lot more financially remunerable for succeeding generations of players and earned the demanded respect on the pretext of sheer brilliance and heroic display in the field where they slaughtered whoever came across. They were a highly professional, disciplined and physically fit unit under the guardianship of a father-figure like skipper Clive Lloyd.

The so-called Protestants of 21^st century are simply mercenaries skipped by a captain who arrives just in time for breakfast before a Test at Lord’s and would not lose sleep if Test cricket dies out. If anything, it shall come as a relief.

To foresee a time where Caribbean Islands are divided into sub-nationalism and are playing every skill-set and caliber that is not International is not a vision of a martian if the current situation goes from worse to the nadir of rottenness.

Sri Lankan Prosperity

Speaking of Lloyd’s men of 70’s I believe the Sri Lankans of today, whilst keeping things constant are the closest in their footsteps. Increasingly becoming one closely knitted unit led by a statesman like skipper Kumara Sangakkara, well versed with today’s realities. They together are not only reaping optimum benefits out of IPL riches (collective refusal to visit UK for a Test series during IPL, making West Indies the makeshift replace’) but are also discharging commanding performance at International level with minimal casualties from the IPL grueling.

The earnings of Sri Lankan’s players shall in turn economically benefit the relatively small Island nation and shall further pump the grass root structure that is already one of the most disciplined in the world.

However, Sri Lanka is one exception!

The gloss of International cricket today, the salability is due to the celeb-power and when a considerable chunk is either not present or performing like ordinary mortals then the void between local and national competitiveness gets condensed.

Kiwi Vulnerability

The demographically disadvantageous Test playing nation has always suffered the drought of Superstars with an odd Hadlee or Crowe or a Bond perhaps appearing every other decade or two. That that thin bunch of celebs found a lucrative voice in shape of IPL and other T20 extravaganzas is contributing more individualistically than collectively.

IPL, the fourth largest world event in terms of value has roped in Vettori, McCullum, Ryder, Taylor & Oram from the Kiwi shores and by the time 1^st Galle Test ended, all but Vettori were either carrying niggles or doing everything in the field except performing. At times their disinterest with the premiere format of the game was so visible that it was ushering through their disposition.

Status Quo

Suddenly it seems like majority who are performing right now either played a little role in IPL – 2 or didn’t played at all. And before you might set the clock alight for the form return of cricket celebs an in-your-face Champions League Club competition is up and running and there you got another string of potential injuries, niggles and exhaustion succeeding as its by product and by the time you’ll look up IPL – 3 is being advertised.

Whose got time and mind for country-to-country encounters? The heart and soul of cricket!

We are stepping into an era with reduced Test careers i.e. Freddie Flintoff or reduced International careers altogether i.e. Andrew ‘Roy’ Symonds - free lance mercenaries’ plying their trade everywhere but at the International stagecoach.

Using T20 to build a wide net of cricket playing nations at competitive level is fine i.e. American Premiere League - but if it is coming at the cost of losing the centuries old fabric of the most sophisticated outdoor game invented by the mankind then strictly in my opinion, as a purist, I will not buy it.

I do not wish to live for the day when to witness a country to country encounter I had to wait for the World Cups.

Pondering…

Hypothetically speaking, would’ve Pakistan able to ooze same vigor and passion and have stood victorious at ICC T20 World Cup 2009 had their stars plied their bodies for as many as fourteen games all over India just before the real international deal?

Think about it!