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cricket
Why
can't we have Pakistan-India
series: cricket The
great chasers, yet the losers India
dominate against Pakistan in lop-sided rubbers
There might be some other contenders for the post, even Rameez Raja said in-form batsman Misbah-ul-Haq could be a nominee, but for now no one other than Younis seems to be the likely candidate By Muhammad Shahbaz Zahid As feared, Pakistan lost the recently-played Test series as well. After going down in the One-day International (ODI) series against arch-rivals India, the national team couldn't live up to the expectations and faltered in three-match Test rubber as well. It didn't come as much of a
surprise after Pakistan's recent failures, both in the ODI and Test series,
against the visiting Proteas. Pakistan, who had lost to South Africa on their away tour just before the 50-over World Cup in the Caribbean this year, failed to overpower Graeme Smith's men, who once again showed they were the team to beat after all-conquering Aussies. The start of the New Year (2007) for Team Pakistan was as poor as it ended. After the South Africa tour, the team under the captaincy of all-influential Inzamam-ul-Haq had the daunting task ahead -- the World Cup. Inzamam, who was the hero in Pakistan's World Cup triumph way back in 1992, was unable this time around to lead the side towards glory. Perhaps, the pressure was so much on the Greenshirts to perform that they didn't even managed to get past the group stages. They lost to minnows Ireland then, who stunned the cricketing world and shattered the team's (Pakistan) hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages. Then the team was given another shocker as the news came up that coach Bob Woolmer had passed away. March 18th was the day when this tragic news came to knowledge. The interrogation into Woolmer's death went on and on giving several reasons for his death. The murder theory came up, then the poison theory. And it didn't stop here only. Afterwards, it was revealed that he wasn't murdered or strangled by a towel perhaps; but died because of a heart attack. If that wasn't enough, the case was opened again with few claiming that Woolmer wasn't a victim of a heart attack but was indeed murdered (strangled in few cases). That re-opening of the case went for a few weeks but was closed down again after nothing solid came up. Coming back to the Pakistan scenario, Inzamam as expected, went down from his post as the national skipper and decided to continue playing Test cricket, much to the dislike of many cricketing pundits and fans. As the whole burden of the World Cup disaster fell on to the shoulders of Inzamam, after a probe committee solely blamed him for the incident, it was ominous that Inzamam's future was in a disarray. Then, somebody had to captain the side and fill in Inzi's shoes. That was one question nobody was daring to answer. It had been a bad experience for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in appointing another person in place of Inzamam when Younis Khan was named as the skipper for the Champions Trophy last year (after Inzi was banned for a few matches because of The Oval Test incident). Then there was a u-turn again and things changed rapidly. The PCB again tried to convince Younis to take up the job but he refused again. Younis was so upset with the ongoing politics that he even opted out of playing in Pakistan's ODI series against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi after the World Cup. All-rounder Shoaib Malik was then handed over the captaincy in the limited-form of the game for that particular series. And it was a perfect start for his tenure. Sri Lanka, who had just played the World Cup final against Australia, lost the series 1-2 though they were missing some of their key players from their line-up. Twenty20, the new form of the game, was reaching its peak at that time. And the next big event for Team Pakistan was the inaugural edition of the World Twenty20 event in South Africa. Malik's team once again dominated the proceedings, giving a pleasant surprise to every one, and reached the final of the tournament. Luck just ran out of favour for Pakistan as they lost the match in the final over, to India. There was some fighting spirit shown by the new-look team in South Africa that pleased everyone. Though Pakistan didn't win the coveted trophy, they still gave their opponents a run for their money. Even that painful lost to their neighbours was welcomed with open arms by Pakistan's loyal fans. But suddenly, the team's success rate went down rapidly. As mentioned above, Team Pakistan weren't able to show their magic at home against the visiting Proteas. Then, they lost the away series to India. Two consecutive series losses against the top teams of the world have obviously raised questions about the place of some players in the side. And the most prominent one is skipper Shoaib Malik. Malik has failed to deliver match-winning performances for the side since being given the role. Though he played brilliantly in the last ODI against India, it didn't mean much for Pakistan as it was a dead rubber. And in the Test series too, though Malik played just one match and had to opt out of the remaining two because of an injury, his performance was below par. And it is not only about his performances. They was he has been leading the team has raised quite a few eyebrows. Former Pakistan skippers have asked questions about his abilities to lead the side in crunch situations. His tactics on the field are just as ordinary as his performances on the pitch. The PCB had extended Malik's tenure for another year after his brilliant start as a skipper. But now the think-tanks in the PCB are mulling over their decision as well. As another year is on the horizon, one looks over the past year's event and thinks what the team achieved during that particular period and where they disappointed their millions of fans. The first and the foremost issue will be of the captaincy. If Malik doesn't continue on and the decision makers opt for some other player, who would that player be then. Many cricketing brains think that Malik's under-par performance might lead to his downfall very soon. His Test place is under scrutiny too. When Younis was made the stand-in skipper for the last two Tests on the Indian tour, he said in a press conference that he doesn't like to take over the leading role because that affects his personal performance and he isn't able to play to his full potential. Pakistan fought back valiantly after conceding massive scores in first innings of both the matches and avoided follow-on. And Younis played splendid innings in both of those matches. His role in the team was very visible and his body language was totally 'of a leader'. So the PCB will have to work out how to convince Younis if they are to replace Malik. There might be some other contenders for the post, even Rameez Raja said in-form batsman Misbah-ul-Haq could be a nominee, but for now no one other than Younis seems to be the likely candidate. And even if Malik is to continue, he has to be given more confidence. Malik, along with the Board, has to work out strategies for the development of the team. He has to get a vote of confidence from his senior teammates so that the team unites more. And furthermore, he has to improve on his own show. The problems with Pakistan openers continued throughout the year. Many pairings were tested. Many experiments failed. Some were successful but weren't continued with. This second issue has to be sought out. Salman Butt, after being stripped off the vice-captaincy role, stormed back into the team and was one of the leading runscorers for Pakistan in the ODI series against India. That performance of his has cemented his place in the line-up. Yasir Hameed, though, didn't fulfil the expectations but he certainly has a character to fill in the opening slot. What our team needs to do is to stick on with a certain pairing. Though experimentation can be done but only if the team is playing in a different form of the game. There can be specialised openers for Twenty20 matches or for ODIs but whoever they are, they have got to be given a good run. After Abdul Razzaq's ouster from the national team, when he wasn't selected for the World T20 event, the side is lacking a good all-rounder. Shahid Afridi, like always, has the star power but has disappointed the fans more than he has entertained them. He has got to be more consistent with his form. Of course he is a vital part of the team but no one can take that many risks with Afridi. This third issue can be resolved by giving youngsters like Fawad Alam more chances. Injection of new blood in the team has always helped the cause and Fawad's inclusion certainly seconded this thought after his involvement in few of the matches he was selected for. The inclusion of Yasir Arafat did do wonders for the team as well. The all-rounder made his Test debut in the last Test at Bangalore and took five-for. He also contributed with the bat as well. One of the most important aspects the team has been lacking for quite a while now is the better fitness of its players. And pacers are the ones who have been making the headlines for their lack of fitness and injuries. Mohammad Asif, the most consistent bowler for Pakistan for the last year or so, is out of the team because of an elbow injury. Asif's record speaks for itself and his absence from the team was clearly seen. He didn't play in the Test series against South Africa and also missed the India series. And after going through an operation in Australia, his chances of playing against the Aussies in March-April next year look slim. He will definitely miss the home series against Zimbabwe. Pakistan's ace pacer Shoaib Akhtar did play his part in the India series and was the pick of the bowlers there but he isn't perfectly fit either. Every now and then he was seen in pain and agony, wasn't able to bowl long spells and on occasions left the field too unable to continue to field. Umar Gul is also out of the side and that hasn't helped Pakistan's cause in any case. And with the comeback of out-of-action Mohammad Sami and inexperienced Sohail Tanvir and Rao Iftikhar in the line-up, things certainly went against the team during their tour of India. More attention should be given towards this issue in the future. Pakistan has always been known as a pace-oriented team and has given birth to many famous pacers in the past. Physical training should be an area of concern from now on. New coach Geoff Lawson has been very quite from the word go. His participation must've been there but nothing much comes out of his camp. May be he is still a bit nervous of coaching such a hugely talented side. May be he likes to keep his word to himself and doesn't like to share. Whatever the reason is, the general audience doesn't see him interacting a lot with the players. That wasn't the same case when Woolmer used to coach the side. He was far more interactive with his players and was generally full of ideas and strategies. Our team needs to build more confidence among themselves and cooperate with each other more. There are many more areas of concern but the basic ones have been highlighted here. Cricket though remains as popular as ever in our cricket-mad nation but one has to realise that the downfall might come sooner if things don't go right now. We are an expectant nation. We need results, positive ones. And when we don't get them, we criticise, we are hurt. We need our team to pull up the tempo and rise to the occasion. The next assignment for the team is after a gap of good few weeks. Hopefully by the time our heroes take on the field, these problems will be sorted out and the New Year will bring joy to the fans, who are in search of a new revolution. The
writer is a staff member at 'The News' Karachi shehnu@gmail.com
The dressing room atmosphere is greatly affecting the players' performances and they have become the laughing stock of the world cricket community By Muhammad Akram Chohan The Pakistan cricket team is confronted with a lot of problems these days, among them the most notable ones are the captaincy issue and discipline. After the retirement of Inzamam-ul-Haq,the PCB had offered Younis Khan to take over the reins of the Pakistan team but Younis showed reluctance to take up the top job. The Board had limited choices then. Mohammad Yousuf emerged as the most likely candidate but somehow he was ignored for the honour, after having been handed over the job initially. Shoaib Malik who has limited experience under his belt and was never in contention for the job earlier, succeeded in getting the nod of the top management of PCB. Shoaib Malik was given the captaincy in the hope that he is young and would lead from the front in testing times. Initially, the Board were quite satisfied with their decision as the team had performed brilliantly under his leadership in Abu Dhabi against the World Cup finalists, Sri Lanka, in May earlier this year. Pakistan's performance was quite satisfactory during the inaugural Twenty20 world cup as they were runners-up only losing the final to arch rivals India. The discipline and the command of Shoaib over the boys was never in any danger. But unfortunately the situation started getting out of control in the series against the Proteas. The outcome of the series had indicated that but cricket enthusiasts and the PCB officials were quite optimistic that the series against the arch rivals India would provide a golden chance for the boys to amend their earlier performances. This could not happen as the team has returned empty handed. This is just because of the lack of coordination among the senior players and the skipper. Shoaib Malik totally failed to live up to expectation as a player and also could not inspire the team as a skipper with his timely decisions. I am not saying all this just because of the results of the just concluded series. The broad daylight fact is that Shoaib Malik never looked comfortable during the entire series. During the second Test match of the series when he had to sit out owing to an injury, whenever the camera spotted him he was all alone. This was totally in contrast of the dressing room atmosphere of the rival party, the Indians. Their players are certainly having differences of opinion over quite a few issues. In the recent past Rahul Dravid stepped down from the captaincy citing personal reasons but that was not the case in reality. When Sourav Ganguly was captaining the side, Sachin Tendulkar and other senior players barring Rahul Dravid were having some serious reservations but they never made it public. Yuvraj Singh and Sourav Ganguly were at loggerheads when the latter was captaining. Azharuddin and Tendulkar could never get along well. Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar were in complete contrast to each other as far as their approach towards the game was concerned. All these bitter and hidden facts never surfaced in public just to avoid any big controversy. Unfortunately this is not the case here in Pakistan. Former captain Inzamam and Shoaib Akhtar publicly showed their lack of interest in sorting out their differences. Younis Khan and Shahid Afridi were involved in some ugly episodes. Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, Javed Miandad and Rameez Raja, Saleem Malik and Rashid Latif are a few examples from a long list of infighting and enmity in the Pakistan team ranks which one can point out. All these bitter relations and uncompromising attitudes had played havoc with the team spirit in the past too. That's why if one goes through the outcome of those matches which were played in that particular era, statistics/results had reflected very clearly that the team could not perform at its potential in spite of having some big names of all times. This was just because of lack of trust and professionalism, miscommunication, leg pulling, unhealthy tactics and above all dirty politics. Now the scenario is the same. The news of growing tension among certain players with the skipper erupting every day. This is really unfortunate as the dressing room atmosphere is greatly affecting the players' performances and they have become the laughing stock of the world cricket community. This is just ridiculous and at the same time very amazing that a senior player like Younis Khan is behaving so childishly. If he had faced some sort of resistance or intervention from the coach or captain while implementing his rules of the game, then he should have contacted the PCB high ups rather than opening a Pandora's box. He should have realised that by going public over the differences with the skipper or team management he has put Pakistan cricket once again at the path of destruction. If he has some reservations then the best way is that to sort all of them in closed doors meeting. There should be some difference in club cricket and national team affairs. The team is in bad need of a guy who can lead from the front and should have an inspirational personality with an aggressive approach. Apart from Shoaib Malik, there are three serious contenders for the top slot. Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan and Shoaib Akhtar are those persons. If one goes through and assesses them as future leaders it can be said without much of difficulty that Shoaib Akhtar stands favourite among them. In spite of being unwell for a couple of days and hospitalised, he had consented to take part in the second Test just to strengthen the depleted Pakistan pace attack which was without the services of the talented duo of Muhammad Asif and Umar Gul. This reflects the real fighting spirit and unconquerable approach of the Rawalpindi Express. If Shoaib Akhtar succeeded in getting the top slot, it can bring a change in his lifestyle. He is a team man and had shown character by saying a firm no to the lucrative offer from ICL. This is just because of his charismatic personality, attitude and self confidence that wherever he goes the media chases him. There is no doubt that Yousuf and Younis are the backbone of our team batting line-up but the responsibility of captaining a national team requires other things too. This is totally a different ball game. The foremost thing which is required for a successful captain is his approach towards the game and his ability of timely decisions. Another thing which forms a successful captain is his way of looking at certain things. If one is so sentimental that on each and every petty thing he can part ways with the team, then appointing him as captain would be a great gamble. Younis and Yousuf have this attitude problem. A mentally strong and mature person is the need of the hour. Shoaib Akhtar can prove a great leader as we have seen in the past that fast bowlers in comparison to batsmen had produced better results. Legendary cricketers Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis have proven this ideology. Javed Miandad, Saleem Malik and Zaheer Abbas in spite of been good in their department could not produce the desired results. Some media reports have suggested that PCB is thinking on the lines to appoint Misbah-ul-Haq as captain. If PCB is thinking of making any such move in their future plans, they should drop it with out further delay as this can prove a devastating step as the seniors will never accept a much junior player to have command over them. Misbah is certainly not the person Pakistan cricket is looking for the slot but Shoaib Akhtar is. The need of the hour is that PCB should handle this tricky situation with extreme maturity otherwise the possibility of matters going from bad to worse cannot be ruled out.
Some pleasant and painful facts Pakistan had the option of left-arm spinner Abdul Rehman and pacer Rao Iftikhar Anjum in India but our 'visionary' tour officials strangely kept faith in the highly ineffective duo of Kaneria and Sami By Ghalib Mehmood Bajwa With the closing of the Test series against arch-rivals India, Pakistan's international cricket calendar year has come to an end. Though Pakistan suffered a double debacle of Test and ODI rubbers in India, the three-match Test series rather confirmed some cheerful and at the same time some painful facts relating to the Pakistan team. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) high ups need to plan their future strategies in the light of these eye-opening realities if they want to raise the performance level of the Pakistan team against other leading sides in the months to come. First of all Pakistan's tour selection committee that normally comprises the captain, coach and manager, emerged as responsible for some strange decisions and selections. The tour selectors remained casual in their decisions and the selection of highly ordinary, expensive and half fit bowlers like Mohammad Sami, Danish Kaneria and Shoaib Akhtar for the entire Test series was strong evidence of the strange approach of tour officials. One can assess the approach of our tour team management, who fielded two ineffective and one less than half fit bowlers in the last two Tests. In the first Test at Delhi, the Pakistan team played good cricket. Then our bowlers especially Shoaib Akhtar was fit and did well by bowling out India cheaply in both innings. They put Pakistan on track for victory but unfortunately our batsmen committed some fatal mistakes at crucial stages that cost Pakistan not only the Test but a 1-0 lead. However, in the remaining two Tests, the Pakistan batting clicked but our bowling department caved in due to fitness problems and above all biased selection. Pakistan had the options of left-arm spinner Abdul Rehman and pacer Rao Iftikhar Anjum in India but our 'visionary' tour officials strangely kept faith in the highly ineffective duo of Kaneria and Sami. It was our ordinary and bite-less bowling due to which India managed to pile up huge totals (616-5 and 626) in the last two Tests. And after having such mammoth totals on board, Pakistan had only one option to play for draw and fortunately they managed to do that. In this regard, the role of our batsmen particularly Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan and Kamran Akmal, who demonstrated great fighting ability and sensible batting, is highly appreciable. The act of the recalling of Mohammad Sami and continuous faith in the expensive Kaneria especially in the presence of quality bowlers like Abdul Rehman and Abdul Rauf is quite mysterious. Leg-spinner Danish Kaneria failed to impress once more in the three-Test rubber. His bowling figures -- 12 wickets in three Tests at 52.33 -- reflected his class and calibre quite clearly. It is the right time for our selectors to look elsewhere beyond Kaneria. There is Abdul Rehman and several other good slow bowlers who can serve Pakistan in the spin bowling department at least better than Kaneria. There is no need to explain the talent Abdul Rehman has. He already has proved his potential in ODIs and Tests as well. It's true that Pakistan is facing a serious crisis in pace bowling but any seamer, who is performing well in domestic season, could have been taken to India instead of Sami. In other words, we can say that by bringing Sami back, the Pakistan selectors wasted another chance to prepare a young pacer for future commitments. Fast bowlers Abdul Rauf and Junaid Zia are doing well in the on-going Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. Junaid has captured 35 wickets wickets and scored over 400 runs so far including four fifties in Pakistan's premier first-class tournament. They or any other deserving youngster could have been tested on the Pakistan-like wickets in India. As far as Sami's present or past performance is concerned, that is not a secret now. Astonishingly, he is playing international cricket for Pakistan as a strike bowler for the last six years. But he never rose to the occasion throughout his career barring some occasional performances. Sami crossed a 'landmark barrier' during the just ending India Test series. The first Test at Feroz Shah Kotla ground Delhi became his fifth Test in which he could not grab a single wicket. While in the second Test, Sami achieved a 'rare feat' of a 50-run average per wicket. Sami got this 'honour' in his ninth over in India's first innings of the Kolkata Test. It is to be noted here that Sami is the only bowler to have such a pathetic double of 50-plus wickets and bowling average in Tests. During the three-Test rubber, the right-arm seamer got four wickets at 118.75 while at the conclusion of India series, Sami's career bowling average is 51.37. It is to be noted here that Sami has a comparatively good average in his ODI and first-class careers. He has taken 118 wickets in 83 ODIs at 28.44 and 308 wickets in 91 first-class games at 31.83. And now a few word about Pakistan's in-form batsman Misbah-ul-Haq, who continued to impress in every form of game since his comeback in Twenty20 World Cup last September. He has transformed himself into a world class batsman and proved that he had been overlooked unfairly for a long time. In 2007, majestic Misbah gathered 551 runs in five Tests including a healthy aggregate of 464 against India. Younis Khan, Pakistan's senior batsman and stand-in captain in last two Tests, has emerged as a great fighter during the just ending cricketing year. At Kolkata, Younis completed a fighting century on the fifth day that played important part in saving the second Test match. Remember, Younis reached the three figure mark by playing a reverse sweep off Harbhajan Singh. It is to be noted here that out of his 15 Test centuries, six were scored in the second innings and a century in second innings always played an important role in either winning or saving a Test match. However, Younis needs to be more responsible after his dismissal through an irresponsible reverse sweep shot at his personal score of 80 in the first innings at Bangalore. After the retirement of Inzamam, Younis along with Yousuf and Misbah, formed Pakistan's batting mainstay and I think there is no need to brief him about the right time to play shots like reverse sweep. Normally a batsman plays such unnecessary strokes when his team is out of danger and he himself has reached his individual landmark. But at Bangalore, Younis lost his wicket at his individual score of 80 and at that time the Pakistan team were 224 runs away from the initial target of 426 to avoid the follow-on. Luckily, the batsmen who followed clicked and Pakistan managed to save the follow-on. The
writer is a staffer at 'The News' in Lahore ghalibmbajwa@hotmail.com
cricket Pakistan cricket is in a state of chaos Unfortunately, where we stand today, there is little to feel good about. The irresistible feeling is of anger mixed with torture By Dr Nauman Niaz For Sourav Ganguly the Pakistanis were a delineation of an avatar from his Bhagwan. Ganguly strolled into the Test at Bangalore filled with cynicism. He was almost left out from the eleven picked for the second Test. He was given an opportunity, just because the venue was Kolkata, his hometown. In order to avoid rioting, the selectors named him on the team. Ganguly, 'Dada' as he is affectionately termed, availed all his chances against a horribly mediocre Pakistan bowling attack and pulled a magnificent hundred, in the process almost overshadowing Wasim Jaffer's double century. At Bangalore, his was a monumental double hundred. It wasn't Ganguly in full gear still he registered the seventh highest score and the most runs in an innings by a left-hander in India's cricket history. The Pakistanis were a little lower than being dismal and their bowling pitiable. At Kolkata Pakistan played
the Test with only couple of specialist bowlers (Danish Unfortunately, where we stand today, there is little to feel good about. The irresistible feeling is of anger mixed with torture. Just to be powerful and in the centre of the action, the PCB high-ups and policy-makers, competent or incompetent have put the team through a cataclysm. Conventions and rules have virtually been ruined, balance of the team destroyed, its future fettered and languishing. With reference to management, the best and brightest have been overlooked, national heroes damned and termed as conspirators. Dr Nasim Ashraf is expected to grill people behind the team selection and management decisions and preferably change the captain. If he does that, taking people to task he would be avoiding leaving behind a trail of shame. And if he doesn't, his will be another recipe for disaster. Nasim's year in office hasn't been able to give even a faint hope that he had grip running cricket in the country. His involvement with the NCHD has reaped a rich harvest of policies turning into practical deeds, with a large sequence of literacy centers established in over 120 districts of Pakistan. He is an able man, intelligent, astute and incisive. Regrettably, he seems totally alien running the game in the country. His selection of the team posted in Lahore, the choices deliberate or unintentional seemed completely out of place. If ever Nasim intends to put things back on track, the 'charitable' appointments in the PCB need quite a few sackings or at least a performance appraisal. It may have been possible to be charitable if a higher purpose was involved. If, for example he alone could take the cricket management to formidability; he couldn't, as he has a handful of other jobs to handle, a bit of politics and a major chunk of his energies drained into human development. His coming to cricket might well have been imperative if there were tasks that could not be completed without him. And why is he needed to continue in office; does the destiny of cricket hang on him working as Chairman of the PCB? Explanations could then be made for him in the larger interest of the game in Pakistan. This isn't the case. The team faces countless problems but none of them forces or necessitates Dr Nasim's indispensability. If anything, seeing recent developments, the opposite is true. Or he should leave aside the NCHD and get going with restructuring, re-directing and re-developing cricket. And there is a general opinion he'll be better off attending to the human development. Cricket needs mercy. The problem of openers leading to continuous failures, fragile middle-order and lack of fitness of the top bowlers Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami is due to a mixture of half measures and neglect by the top-heavy PCB. These were inherited, and allowed to worsen and grow in proportions when timely action could have halted them in the initial stages. An example of this meander is the infamous experiments of the openers -- Imran Farhat and Salman Butt, Butt and Kamran Akmal, Akmal and Shahid Afridi, Afridi and Taufeeq Umar, Butt and Mohammad Hafeez, Hafeez and Butt, even Younis Khan opening... etcetera. A problem that could have been tackled right at the start with less damage required Butt being given the vice-captaincy and then sacked in the end. In bowling, time has come that we should stop betting on Shoaib Akhtar. He is a splendid bowler, presumably the only match winner still he hasn't been able to achieve top fitness levels since his arrival in international cricket in 1997. Mercifully, Akhtar did a brilliant job in the first Test at the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground but it was unpardonable having included him not fully fit in the line-up for the second Test. Why should we have allowed Shoaib's fitness tested insensately? Sami and Akhtar's inclusion in the team when they weren't mentally and physically in the shape to let anxiety override their ambitions in a Test match, the oscillation between them playing half-fit or rested sent a message of weakness. Instead of a confused approach being used, it was either retreat or a full scale gamble. This led to collateral damage with further anger against the already tainted PCB. The Pakistan team's selection is often about home-grown insurgency and reckless decisions such as sending Yasir Arafat from Rawalpindi to Kolkata and then asked to pick the towels looked insensible, laughable still. Dropping Shahid Afridi and Rao Iftikhar Anjum, retrospectively showed the decision mucked with idiocy. It looked more imprudent then PCB's Director HR's presence in India. With the tour management compelled to include unfit players in the team, it is an admission of failure. Dr Nasim's government also did practically nothing to develop cricket only allowing its top directors enjoying perks and the cozy comfort of first class travelling on tours where their presence wasn't really required. It's not about luxurious existence of the ruling elite of the PCB such endeavours only delineating the attitude. This has been partially due to neglect and mainly because of incapability and internal intrigue. These people totally alien to cricket were built up and even allowed to occupy a far larger role than their real size because it helped Dr Nasim to forge a false sense of security. And once he had become completely dependent on them, how could he afford to antagonise them? But he could have interrupted their wild sprees. The fact is that other than take a decision to bring back Misbah-ul-Haq and thereby giving an unprecedented boost to the middle order, there is little good that Dr Nasim's government has done. It would be useless to minimise the importance of Pakistan reaching the Twenty20 World Cup final in South Africa though it didn't show reserves building up. But, it would be equally futile to deny the damage that Nasim's directors have done to cricket. Barely a year in power, Dr Nasim is now unacceptable to an overwhelming majority of people. In effect, besides the critics and top ex-players Dr Nasim's collection of directors have antagonised the general public, in fact the entire intelligentsia of the country. Thus far, from being indispensable and acceptable, this PCB has become a liability. The unfortunate part is that with inept working staff, Dr Nasim is going nowhere. It seems now is time for a change. The Dr Nasim run board has become unpopular. Either they do not realise how low they have sunk in public esteem or is there a way out for Dr Nasim? Can he retrieve the situation and with it a degree of his acceptability? The best thing that he can do for cricket's better future is to remove a couple of his top men to set the house in order or tender his own resignation. We need to give voice to our grievances. A complete management failure has put Pakistan cricket to its severest test. White has continued to darken rapidly and effortlessly become black. Such is the self of rules of self-perpetuation that at any given time, we have had a hard time determining where it all starts and where it all ends. We need to differentiate the sincere from the lackeys, capable from the incapable and the honest from the dishonest. It is never too late to do the right thing but Dr Nasim's directors have shown themselves to be incapable of this. Nasim should realise that flamboyant appointments have become the yardstick by which his future actions will be assessed. If he cannot draw back on this and a least does not even ensure fair selection, he will only stoke criticism that is in heaps against him. The great chasers, yet the losers They are, no doubt, aggressive chasers, yet they are inconsistent and debacle-prone By Waris Ali They have lost the ODI series, and they were ready to lose. They are, no doubt, aggressive chasers of a total as high as 321 runs; they are yet inconsistent in the department of batting. They are the Pakistan cricket team who swung from victory to defeat during the series; they lost the first ODI but won the second, then again lost the third and again lost the fourth, completing their loss in the series: the victory in the last ODI is almost meaningless. Though the 44-run opening partnership in the first one-dayer at Nehru Stadium in Guwahati granted a reasonable start which could be built up into a big target, the utter failure of Shoaib Malik and wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal with just 2 and 12 runs, respectively, confined the innings total to 239 runs, an easy target. The second One-day International was among those thrilling and characteristic matches of Pakistan which remind the cricket fans that the Pakistan team could win any match against any team on any ground. The mounting target of 322 runs powered by 99 runs of India's century master Sachin Tendulkar and Gambhir's 57 was so challengingly conquered by the Pakistani batsmen, top among them Younis Khan with his 117 and Misbah with 49, Butt with 37 and Afridi with a decisive knock of 29 not out, that the fast falling graph of our cricket shot up high enough to revive hopes of series victory. The third One-day International which was played out by the Pakistan team without any noticeable batting innings, except Salman Butt's 129 and Misbah's 38, weakened Pakistan's chances of winning the series. The slow moving innings by the two were wasted away since no other batsmen could make a good contribution to the moderate target of 294 runs. Afridi, Younis, Yousuf and Shoaib could collectively add just 61 runs to the innings total. Pakistan lost the last six wickets, including those of Salman Butt, Misbah-ul-Haq and Kamran Akmal, for just 34 runs. The Pakistan team demonstrated little sense of responsibility in the fourth one-dayer in view of its being a decisive match for the series. While they chose to bat first, they could not manage to pile a big total despite the 99 not out by Yousuf, 68 by Younis and 40 by Misbah; Salman Butt's duck and Afridi's 1 were the reason. The target of 256 runs was made even easier by the aggressive batting of Sachin Tendulkar who for the second time consecutively was sent to pavilion when his individual score was in the 90s. India won the ODI series, consecutively. The last one-dayer was just a game to play; India was not interested to win the match and Pakistan, by winning it, could not change its status as the series losers. After losing the toss, Pakistan were put to bat which ended up at an innings total of 306 runs for 6 comprising captain Shoaib Malik's 89 and Yousuaf's 74. In reply, while Yuvraj and Sharma scored fifties, the other batsmen were not serious enough to win this game being played against the losers. Expectedly, Pakistan's Yousuf stood as the top-scorer in the one-day series by making 283 runs in five matches with an average of 94 runs, followed by Yuvraj Singh with 272 runs and Sachin Tendulkar with 259 runs at an average of 68 and 51 runs, respectively. Surprisingly, Salman Butt of Pakistan was Pakistan's top scorer with 335 runs in six matches, however. While Shoaib Akhtar could bag just seven wickets at anaverage of 26 runs per wicket in four matches, Sohail Tanvir surpassed him snatching one wicket more in as many matches, however at a lower average of 22 runs per wicket. In fact, the team is rapidly falling from bad toworse, more particularly against the Indians. During the final of the Twenty20 World Championship played in South Africa this year in September against the arch-rivals India, the Pakistani team could not achieve a moderate target of 157 runs as all the 10 players failed to play all the 20 overs. While the Indian total depended on the 75-run knock by Gambhir, none of the Pakistani players could score a fifty. While the 63-run partnership in the Indian innings speaks of stable batting by Indian players, the highest partnership in the Pakistani innings was confined to 34 runs only. While Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi were the batting specialists and expected to lead the innings, they shocked the nation by returning to the pavilion by scoring only 10 runs collectively. The Pakistani innings shamefully comprised three ducks and two single figure individual innings. Pakistan could not fare well in the whole tournament; the unimpressive victories against Scotland and Bangladesh are major examples of it. According to a simple analysis of the Pakistani batting line, only in two of the seven Twenty20 matches, Pakistan's opening partnership could score a fifty; 59-run partnership against Bangladesh and 60 runs against New Zealand. In the remaining matches, it scored 2, 9, 12, 22 and 25 runs. India remained far more consistent; with one century partnership and one fifty partnership, the record of the Indian opening stand comprised 30, 32, 76, 136 and zero and 11 runs. The story comprising the accounts of the last three series in 2004, 2005 and 2006 also endorses the conclusion that the Pakistan cricket team has been failing to show a consistent performance against the archrivals India. Though the Pakistan team fared rather well during the reciprocal tour of India in the year 2005 by beating the hosts in the six-ODI series by 4-2 and did not let the arch-rivals win the three-Test series, the two tours of the Indian team are an account of a poor performance of the Pakistan team. The five-ODI series in the Indian team's tour of Pakistan in 2004 fell in the lap of the visitors by 3-2, when they beat the hosts by 40 runs in the last One-day International played in Lahore. The series in the longer version of the game comprising three Test was also snatched by the tourists by 2-1 when they thrashed Pakistan by one innings and 131 runs in the last Test match played in Rawalpindi. The five-ODI series between the two arch-rivals in January-February 2006 was bagged by India by 4-1, however, the Test series was elegantly snatched by the hosts by 1-0 when they won the last Test after the two drawn games.
It is surprising to see that on pitches where Indian batsmen scored centuries and double centuries turned into minefields when Pakistan was batting By Khurram Mahmood After losing the one-day series against India by 3-2, Pakistan also lost the Test series by 1-0. It was Pakistan's first Test series defeat on Indian soil since 1979-80 when Sunil Gavaskar's eleven beat Pakistan by 2-0 in the six-Test rubber. Pakistan also survived a possible defeat in the third Test at Bangalore when bad light saved them when Pakistan had slumped from 144-3 to 154-7 and around 14 overs remained. But as agreed playing conditions didn't allow the use of artificial lights, so the match ended as a draw. Overall it was a disappointing Test series for Pakistan. In all three Tests Pakistan never came close to win a Test. On the other hand India never went on the back foot except the early stages of the first innings of the third Test. Anil Kumble remained successful in his first assignment as Test skipper while Shoaib Malik lost a second successive Test series since he was appointed as captain of the national side. The first Test at Delhi, Pakistan lost by six wickets. Anil Kumble received the Man of the Match award in his first Test as skipper while in the other two Tests Pakistan hardly managed to draw. It is surprising to see that on pitches where Indian batsmen scored centuries and double centuries turned into minefields when Pakistan was batting. From the last decade, Pakistan's batting has revolved around the trio of Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan. After the retirement of Inzamam, another 'Haq' (Misbah) has replaced him and justified his selection with his consistent performances. Misbah is currently playing the role of man-of-crises for Pakistan. But as far as age is concerned Yousuf, Younis and Misbah can't play for a long time. Therefore, Pakistan should have talented youngsters as back up who can replace them, but there is a huge gap between the standard of senior and junior players. No youngster is seen on the domestic circuit who can replace these veteran players with confidence and take the pressure especially against the major teams. Opening has been a permanent problem for Pakistan since the retirement of Saeed Anwar, no opener has cemented his place in the national side. Scoring in the 30s, 40s, is not enough for the top order. But in the Test series against India Salman Butt and Yasir Hameed performed much better and played confidently. Yasir Hameed was dismissed five times by Anil Kumble in six innings, which shows his weakness against spin bowling especially against leg-spin. But the average opening stand in the series he provided with Salman was over 41 runs per innings which was not bad in pressure conditions. The said pair needs more and consistent chances to improve their performance. Younis Khan, the stand-in captain, also performed well under pressure and scored the second highest runs (260) for Pakistan. Credit must go to him to draw the last two Test matches with his limited bowling resources. Pakistan need an aggressive skipper to win matches against the top teams. Younis Khan is the best choice among the available players. He should continue as skipper and Shoaib Malik or Salman Butt should play as his deputy for quiet sometime to gain the experience of how to handle the pressure situations. Pakistan's bowling were toothless in the series as India twice -- in Kolkata and Bangalore -- scored over 600 runs in an innings. Till the end the Pakistan team and the spectators waited for a match-winning spell from the 'match winner' Shoaib Akhtar, but it never come. Playing with a half-fit fast bowler especially Shoaib Akhtar was always a risk and Pakistan paid the price for it. The decision of including Shoaib Akhtar in the second Test squad surprised the critics. For a common man it's not possible to start his routine after being discharged from hospital with fever. So how was it possible for a fast bowler like Shoaib Akhtar to play a Test and bowl long spells with full energy? But the management played a gamble and that backfired as Shoaib left the field after bowling a first spell of just four overs. He returned for a two-over spell just after lunch. And two more overs before the close of play. Shoaib completed an unusual full Test series; but fighting with fitness and injury in all three Tests, ended with nine wickets at 33.11. Without Shoaib the fast bowling burden would have come on Mohammad Sami and the inexperienced Sohail Tanvir. Sohail took two wickets while Sami remained wicketless in the first two Tests. Only Yasir Arafat impressed with his seven wickets haul on his debut Test. Indian batsmen took full advantage of the Pakistan weak bowling and scored one double hundred, two centuries and three fifties. Mohammad Sami failed to capitalise on the advantage he received in the absence of Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul. Sami took only four wickets at a high average of 118.75. 'Trump card' leg-spinner Danish Kaneria took 12 wickets with a high average of 52.33 while on the other hand Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble took 18 wickets in three Tests at an average of 26.50 Before the next major series against Australia Pakistan have around three months to regroup. The first most important thing is fitness. The management should also find and groom an alternate for Danish Kaneria as his performance was not upto the expectations. Man of the Series Sourav Ganguly was the top socrer of the Test series with 534 runs at an average of 89 with the help of one double hundred, one hundred and one fifty. For Pakistan the new man-of-crises Misbah-ul-Haq scored the most 464 runs with an average of 116 including two centuries and one half-century. On the bowling side, veteran leg-spinner Anil Kumble took 18 wickets at an average of 26.50 while Danish Kaneria bagged 12 wickets for Pakistan with a high average of over 52. The
writer works in the art department at 'The News on Sunday' in Karachi,
khurrams87@yahoo.com PAKISTAN IN INDIA TEST SERIES 2007-08
AVERAGES India batting averages Player Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 VVS Laxman 3 5 4 209 112* 209.00 57.73 1 1 IK Pathan 1 2 1 123 102 123.00 69.88 1 0 SC Ganguly 3 6 0 534 239 89.00 68.28 2 1 Yuvraj Singh 1 2 0 171 169 85.50 79.53 1 0 MS Dhoni 2 3 1 144 57 72.00 61.01 0 2 SR Tendulkar 2 3 1 139 82 69.50 63.18 0 2 W Jaffer 3 6 0 378 202 63.00 63.21 1 2 R Dravid 3 6 1 191 50 38.20 42.53 0 1 KD Karthik 3 6 0 115 52 19.16 54.50 0 1 A Kumble 3 2 0 28 24 14.00 34.56 0 0 Z Khan 2 1 0 9 9 9.00 64.28 0 0 G Gambhir 1 2 0 8 5 4.00 22.22 0 0 Harbhajan Singh 3 2 0 5 4 2.50 45.45 0 0 MM Patel 2 1 0 0 0 0.00 0.00 0 0 I Sharma 1 1 1 0 0* - 0.00 0 0 India bowling averages Player Mat Overs Mdns Runs Wkts BBI Ave Econ SR 5WI Ct St VVS Laxman 3 1.0 0 2 1 1-2 2.00 2.00 6.0 0 1 0 Yuvraj Singh 1 9.0 2 20 2 2-9 10.00 2.22 27.0 0 1 0 SC Ganguly 3 37.0 10 77 4 2-20 19.25 2.08 55.5 0 0 0 A Kumble 3 178.3 46 477 18 5-60 26.50 2.67 59.5 1 1 0 I Sharma 1 39.1 13 140 5 5-118 28.00 3.57 47.0 1 2 0 Z Khan 2 71.2 17 191 5 2-45 38.20 2.67 85.6 0 1 0 Harbhajan Singh 3 152.5 27 441 10 5-122 44.10 2.88 91.7 1 2 0 MM Patel 2 65.0 14 215 3 1-21 71.66 3.30 130.0 0 1 0 IK Pathan 1 44.0 18 110 1 1-80 110.00 2.50 264.0 0 0 0 SR Tendulkar 2 14.0 1 47 0 - - 3.35 - 0 0 0 MS Dhoni 2 - - - - - - - - - 2 0 R Dravid 3 - - - - - - - - - 4 0 G Gambhir 1 - - - - - - - - - 2 0 W Jaffer 3 - - - - - - - - - 2 0 KD Karthik 3 - - - - - - - - - 3 1 Pakistan batting averages Player Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Misbah-ul-Haq 3 6 2 464 161* 116.00 43.85 2 1 Younis Khan 3 6 1 260 107* 52.00 53.94 1 1 Kamran Akmal 3 6 0 249 119 41.50 52.64 1 1 Salman Butt 3 6 0 197 68 32.83 36.21 0 2 Mohammad Yousuf 3 6 2 129 44* 32.25 46.90 0 0 Yasir Hameed 3 6 0 158 39 26.33 55.83 0 0 Mohammad Sami 3 5 2 76 38 25.33 28.78 0 0 Faisal Iqbal 2 3 0 73 51 24.33 56.58 0 1 Yasir Arafat 1 2 0 44 44 22.00 61.11 0 0 Sohail Tanvir 2 3 0 17 13 5.66 38.63 0 0 Shoaib Malik 1 2 0 11 11 5.50 26.82 0 0 Danish Kaneria 3 4 0 4 4 1.00 33.33 0 0 Shoaib Akhtar 3 4 1 3 2 1.00 14.28 0 0 Pakistan bowling averages Player Mat Overs Mdns Runs Wkts BBI Ave Econ SR 5WI Ct St Yasir Arafat 1 52.3 8 210 7 5-161 30.00 4.00 45.0 1 0 0 Shoaib Akhtar 3 97.5 17 298 9 4-58 33.11 3.04 65.2 0 1 0 Danish Kaneria 3 175.0 22 628 12 4-59 52.33 3.58 87.5 0 0 0 Sohail Tanvir 2 84.0 15 316 5 3-83 63.20 3.76 100.8 0 2 0 Salman Butt 3 17.5 1 77 1 1-36 77.00 4.31 107.0 0 1 0 Mohammad Sami 3 122.0 12 475 4 2-63 118.75 3.89 183.0 0 0 0 Younis Khan 3 2.0 0 14 0 - - 7.00 - 0 2 0 Yasir Hameed 3 11.0 0 67 0 - 6.09 - 0 0 0 Faisal Iqbal 2 - - - - - - - - - 2 0 Kamran Akmal 3 - - - - - - - - - 10 0 Misbah-ul-Haq 3 - - - - - - - - - 2 0 M Yousuf 3 - - - - - - - - - 0 0 Shoaib Malik 1 - - - - - - - - 0 0
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Kaneria and Sohail Tanvir) whilst the other two Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad
Sami were evidently unfit. In another time, in another team, this would have
been regretful, but in India it was desperation. Misbah-ul Haq and Kamran
Akmal in the first innings and Younis Khan in the second were the only silver
linings, rediscovering the truth. It was a rare time of elation and good
cheer. Generally Pakistan cricket's has seen a miserable year.