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football The
cricketing world wants a new name to reign cricket India
v Pakistan: Deadly drawn cricket PCB
has shown guts in retaining Shoaib Malik as captain
The Premier League is the world's most watched sporting league and the most lucrative football league. It is followed by around half a billion people in more than 200 countries By Dr Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry With the advent of cable
and availability of so many television channels, people in And one of the most popular sports with the local people is the English Premier Football League. Many Pakistanis especially youngsters now have their own favourite English clubs and also premier league players. A number of people have inquired from the scribe as to what is so special about the English Premier League. Then there are queries about its structure/format and how premier league clubs manage to offer million dollars contract to individual players. The Premier League is the world's most watched sporting league and the most lucrative football league. It is followed by around half a billion people in more than 200 countries. And this is more astonishing if one delves into the history of the Premier League. The Premier League only came into existence as recently as 1992. More amazing was the state
of English soccer before the birth of the Premier League. This led to a five-year ban on English clubs in European competitions. Hence, what to talk of foreign stars playing for English clubs even English players started moving out to other European leagues. Then came the Hillsborough tragedy in 1989 when 96 fans were crushed in the FA Cup semifinal between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. All this led to the Justice Taylor report of 1989. Unlike the Heysel disaster, hooliganism was not blamed for the Hillsborough catastrophe. The Taylor report put it down to congestion due to failure of the local authorities. However it recommended a complete overhaul of grounds and stadiums. This enormous expenditure of refurbishing the stadiums added to the clubs' frustration over not being given a bigger share of television revenues. This also meant that clubs were unable to attract top players. All this led to a 'rebellion'. In 1992, the first division clubs resigned from the football league en masse and formed the 'Premier League' as a limited company. The single most radical step of the newly formed Premier League was the allocation of television rights to Sky TV for an amount of 191 million pounds for five years. And from then onwards there has been no looking back. The Premier League has gone from strength to strength in all aspects. STRUCTURE The Premier League is run as a corporation, owned by 20 member clubs who are 'shareholders'. The clubs have one vote each on issues like rule changes and contracts. The clubs elect the Chairman, Chief Executive and Board of Directors who supervise the daily operations of the league. England's Football Association has no direct role in the day to day affairs of the Premier League but as a special shareholder it does have the veto power during the elections of the Chairman and Chief Executive and also when the league considers new roles. COMPETITION During a season (which lasts from August to May) each club plays the others twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents. This makes a total of 38 games for each club. Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. At the end of each season, the club with the most points is crowned as champion. The three lowest placed teams are relegated into the Football League Championship (the second tier of English league). Three teams from the Championship are promoted to the Premier League in their place. QUALIFICATION FOR EUROPEAN CLUB COMPETITIONS Nowadays, fixtures of the two European club competitions, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup, are also keenly watched in Pakistan. Top clubs of domestic leagues of European countries figure in these two competitions. Different countries have different 'quotas' depending on the ranking of national association in UEFA. So England, Italy, Germany, Spain etc have more slots. In case of the Premier League, the top four teams qualify for the UEFA Champions League of the next season. The fifth placed team automatically qualifies for the UEFA Cup, and the sixth and seventh placed teams can also qualify, depending on what happens in the two domestic knockout competitions of England (FA Cup and the League Cup). If the FA Cup winners and runners-up both finish in the top five of the Premier League, the FA Cup's UEFA Cup spot goes to the sixth placed team in the League. If the League Cup (Carling cup) is won by a team that has already qualified for Europe, the League Cup's UEFA Cup spot also goes to the next highest placed team in the League (unlike the FA Cup spot, it is never transferred to the losing finalist). The highest placed team that has not qualified for the UEFA Cup is allowed the opportunity to compete in the UEFA Intertoto Cup to get into the UEFA Cup. FINANCES The Premier League is easily the richest football league on the planet with revenues expected to be around 1.8 billion pounds in the 2007-08 season (as much as 40% more than its closest rival, Italy's Serie A). While considering all the sporting disciplines, it is fourth behind the three American leagues -- NFL (National Football League), MLB (Major League Baseball) and NBA (National Basketball Association). Some people might be confused by the name National Football League. But this is American football, a game totally different from the global version of football (soccer). However in deciding the wealth of the league another factor should be considered i.e. number of teams. The Premier League has only 20 teams while NFL has 32 and NBA and MLB have 30 teams each. Going by the annual per team revenue, at $185 million the Premier league is only a close second to the NFL ($190 million per team). WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF ALL THIS MONEY? For title sponsorship of the 'Barclays Premier League' Barclays' new deal in 2007 amounts to 65.8 million pounds for three years, some real increase over the years as compared to the first deal of 12 million pounds with Carling. The 2007 TV rights deal is worth 2.7 billion pounds. Half of it will be from Sky. The rest from Setanta, foreign TV rights and Internet and mobile rights. The winner will receive 50 million pounds and the bottom side 30 million out of this income from TV rights. The Premier League sells its television rights on a collective basis unlike some other European Leagues like including Serie A of Italy and La Liga of Spain, in which every club sells its rights individually. In addition, the Premier league clubs make money from participating in European club competitions, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup. The former competition, participated by top ranked clubs of respective leagues, is especially very lucrative, more so if the teams qualify for the latter stages. In 2005, when Liverpool became champions of Europe their share of UEFA's television rights amounted to 20.5 million pounds. Next season, when Arsenal finished as runners-up, they earned 22.4 million pounds from UEFA which was even more that the winners, Spain's Barcelona! This is because of large revenues due to the English television market. Another major source of money is the 'oldest source' i.e. gate money from stadium attendance. The average attendance has been around 35,000 during past few years (fourth highest for any sporting league of the world and for soccer, second only to Germany's Bundesliga). Then the individual clubs have their own lucrative contracts with different sponsors. For exampple, Manchester United has no less than 11 official sponsors including mega names like AIG (American International Group), Audi (Car manufacturers), Nike (Sports wear giants) and Tourism Malaysia. With so much money involved, it is little wonder that some of the world's richest people have recently become owners or major shareholders of the clubs. Just to mention a few: Chelsea is owned by oil tycoon Roman Abramovich, Russia's second richest man. And his massive investment was a major factor in Chelsea's first ever wins (2004-05 and 2005-06) in the Premier league. American billionaire Glazer bought Manchester United in 2005. And in 2006, Aston Villa was purchased by another American billionaire Randy Lerner for more than 62 million pounds. HOW MUCH THE ACTUAL ACTORS AND DIRECTORS EARN? As the revenues of the Premier Leagues soared, the players and managers' earnings also registered a remarkable increase. The average salary of a player in the first Premier League season was £75,000. This has shown a grand increase by an average of 20% per year over the next decade. It peaked in the 2003-04 season with the annual average wage of Premier League touched £676,000. The wages of top stars last year: Michael Owen (Newcastle) 8 million pounds. Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United) 7 million pounds. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) 6 million pounds Frank Lampard (Chelsea) 5.4 million pounds. While the world's highest paid soccer managers were both from Premier League, Chelsea's Jose Maurinho and Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson with five and four million pounds respectively. Sir Alex Ferguson is easily the most successful manager in Champions League history. He guided Manchester United to all its nine title wins in 15 seasons of Premier League. INTERNATIONAL FLAVOUR The Premier League is not only the world's most watched domestic sporting spectacle but also prides in having the most cosmopolitan representation. Players from as many as 66 countries ply their trade in the Premier League. The number of foreign players (other than from UK and Republic of Ireland) is around 350 which make up about 50% of the total. And there were only 11 foreigners at the inception of the league in 1992-93. What a turnaround! In the last World Cup (2006), the Premier League had more than 80 players representing various countries -- highest for any league. On 26 December 1999, Chelsea became the first Premier League side to enter all 11 foreigners in a starting line-up, and on 14 February 2005 Arsenal went a step forward as the first to name a completely foreign 16-man squad for a game. Pakistanis might be wondering that though the Premier League has players from so many diverse parts of the world on its roll, why don't we see anyone from Pakistan/India? Just to give an idea about our standards: India's Baichung Bhutia is widely regarded as the best player to come out of South Asia for the last decade or so. Bhutia played in the English League from 1999-2002. But which tier of English league? It was not the Premier League or even Championship but he played for league One (third tier) club Bury FC. So our football has a lot of ground to cover. One Zesh Rahman, who currently plays for Pakistan's national squad, did play in the Premier League. He was on the roll of Fulham from 2003-2006. And played for them in quite a few games. Presently he plays for Queens Park Rangers which is in the lower Championship. However, Zesh is a born and bred British who learned all his trade in the country of his birth. He only offered his services to the Pakistan national team a couple of seasons back. Still Zesh Rahman has the honour to be the first British of 'full' Asian origin to play in the Premier League. The international influence is even more pronounced at the management level. The Premier League is an English competition yet not a single English manager has ever been successful in winning the competition! There have been only four different managers who have tasted success. They are two Scots (Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United and Kenny Dalglish of Blackburn Rovers), a Frenchman (Arsene Wenger of Arsenal) and a Portuguese (Jose Maurinho of Chelsea). The Premier League virtually rose from the ashes if one considers the state of English football in late 1980s. This remarkable transformation of the world's most lucrative soccer league and the most watched sporting league over a period of few years is one of the greatest success story of recent times. The courage, initiative, vision, strategic planning and marketing shown by Premier League provide a model and inspiration not only to the people connected with running of sports but also to any business. The writer is a freelance contributor ijaz62@hotmail.com
The Aussies have been grabbing all the trophies and are 'the team to beat' in world cricket these days. Four-time World Cup champions (1987, 1999, 2003 and 2007), with three consecutive triumphs, Australia have stretched their dominance to a new level By Muhammad Shahbaz Zahid For a number of years now, the gentlemen's game has been ruled by one nation. The Australians, who have held supremacy throughout, have been simply fantastic. The powerhouses in the game of cricket have conquered almost everything that has come in their way. They have been ruthless as well apart from being dominating. With a number of records to their credit and a lot of insight to go with them, undoubtedly, Australia have made the game as professional as it can get. From youth coaching centres to proper and advanced training facilities, from approaching modern-day techniques to overcome weaknesses to get mentally and physically fit, the Aussies have learned and adapted everything. Though they take the game as a job, their sincerity and commitment towards the liking of sport has made them even stronger. They feel that it's a responsibility on their shoulders to lift the expectations of an expectant nation on their shoulders. And they don't disappoint their fans either. The Aussies have been grabbing all the trophies and are 'the team to beat' in world cricket these days. Four-time World Cup champions (1987, 1999, 2003 and 2007), with three consecutive triumphs, Australia have stretched their dominance to a new level. The one-day game has surrendered to their superiority. Their team has been feared as the best of all time. Though nobody's perfect and the Aussies have shown that too are not when they have suffered defeats, successive too, they have always come back strongly and silenced their critics, who are only a few in numbers. The Twenty20 format isn't liked by much of Australian cricketers. And it was visible too as they failed to adapt the nature of cricket's new version quickly. The limited-over champions didn't shine much in the inaugural World Twenty20 event in South Africa last year. But still, they were a force to be reckoned with and were only outdone by eventual winners India in the semifinals. And don't ask about the five-day game when it comes to them. Australia are on a winning streak of fifteen Test matches at the moment (till the filing of this piece when they were playing against India in the second Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground) and are chasing their own record -- sixteen Test match wins in a row. When Australia lost the Ashes in 2005 1-2, people thought that the time had come when a new name would be seen on top of the ladder. But the Aussies proved that they can't be overthrown that easily and still have what it takes to be the number one side in the world. Australia thrashed England in the next Ashes series on home turf, 5-0, and announced the revival of their super-class game. Their present streak also includes a 2-0 win over the strong Sri Lanka side as well. Being a cricket follower, one does now feel that it is time that some other team steps up, changes gears and starts giving Aussies a run for their money. But who will that team be? Sri Lanka have emerged as a strong candidate in this regard. The team from the subcontinent have been firing on all cylinders recently and are supposedly the next big force in line. They have showed how far they have come under the captaincy of Mahela Jayawardene after reaching the final of the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean. Though they were knocked out early in the T20 event last year, they were the overwhelming favourites at that stage. Sri Lankan players, both batsmen and bowlers, have been a class apart in recent times and are strong candidates this year to be named players of the year. Wicket-keeper/batsman Kumar Sangakkara, the run-making machine, has been the best Test batsman for Sri Lanka and in the world for the last couple of series. Muttiah Muralitharan just broke Shane Warne's world-record and became the highest wicket-taker in Tests. To cap that, Jayawardene's own form has been sublime. His young guns, including bowlers Lasith Malinga and Dilhara Fernando along with experience campaigner Chaminda Vaas, have been performing consistently making up their squad a more powerful unit. Sri Lanka have all the credentials to be on the top of the ladder. They just need a little more luck and consistency to dethrone the all-conquering Aussies. Perhaps the change of their national board's chairman -- former skipper Arjuna Ranatunga has been named new Sri Lanka Cricket chief -- will work in their favour. South Africa have been thereabouts the top of the rankings. They were the first team after a number of years to dethrone the Australians, from the top of the ODI rankings, just before the start of World Cup in the West Indies. But they were left to rue the chances that came in their way again and couldn't capitalise on their good form. The Proteas once again failed to perform in big tournaments and the 'chokers' tag was once again labelled on them. Their Test form has been quite unstable. They did beat Pakistan on their away tour and then won their home ties against Kiwis last year in successive series, but lost their way once the Windies came to visit them. The West Indies absolutely stunned them in the first Test after performing valiantly. If they are to keep the Aussies intact, they will have to stabilise their team further, perform well on a more consistent basis and remove away the chokers tag from them. India, after their run last year when they achieved many historic wins, had been touted to beat Australia and finally achieve what many think is impossible these days. They went Down Under to stop the home team's winning streak and create a legacy of their own. But things didn't work out for them. The Boxing Day Test saw Australia thrash the visiting side. Though people say that they have the strongest batting line-up in the world and quite a reliable bowling department, India too have failed to keep up the pressure on their opponents. And the stress keeps building upon them. The media lambasts them and their fans criticise heavily. And such are the expectations that if they can fulfil their fans' demands, one is sure they can beat the Aussies convincingly. Same is the case with Pakistan. They face the same consequences, approximately similar fan-following and world-wide criticism. But being a die-hard fan, a feeling comes into the equation that Pakistan has a far more talented side than any other. And that isn't the case for now only. They always had the same charisma, flair and hunger for winning matches. But there is something which they lack on. And that is leadership. They need a good captain. Perhaps the present command is of quality but it sure can be improved. The other thing that needs to be done is eradication of politics from within the team and the cricket board too. We all know what politics can do to a unit -- absolutely mess up the situation. Other teams, including the Kiwis, look far away from challenging the Aussies to even beat them in a series. Though New Zealand did what some thought was incredible -- they beat Australia in the Chappell-Hadlee series 3-0 a year ago -- but then surrendered the trophy very easily a month ago. They have been a good one-day side but there Test form has been very poor. And after many of their players joined the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) last year, they are lacking in firepower. The news of pacer Shane Bond joining the ICL too has also shattered their hopes of making good international progress and for the time being they stand nowhere. England were the favourites at one time to be the number one Test side in the world but their away form has been under par since their memorable Ashes triumph over the champs and nothing seems to get them back that golden touch. Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have always looked out of sorts against Australia suggesting it would take decades for teams like them to even think about replacing Australia as world's best. The West Indies have made a good start under their new skipper and are hopeful those days of yester years will come back to rescue them from further slump. The have inducted new blood in their team and seek a far better post-Lara era. One a note of optimism, one hopes that the time will arrive soon when some other country than Australia will be crowned World Champions. A time will come that some other side will create a record of most number of consecutive Test wins. A time will come when a team will simultaneously hold all the coveted titles. Whenever it does, it will be good for the game, for the fans and for the critics. The
writer is a staff member at 'The News' Karachi shehnu@gmail.com
Pakistan cricket: Reflections of heart and soul The key here is the word team. We do not have, nor have we had for a long time, a team. Rather, we have a collection of players whose individual achievements -- or lack thereof -- produce the bottom line By Dr Nauman Niaz I have written a handful of
obituaries of ex-cricketers and several other personalities Farooq hailed from a thriving and an orthodox Kashmiri family. He had come to Pakistan after partition, aged 18 desperate to pursue a career as a broadcaster. He read English news and wrote zealously on cricket in various newspapers. He often tried to get a chance to commentate in international matches, a desire that remained unfulfilled because in the early 1950s Omar Kureishi and Jamsheed Marker had become household names. Such was their acceptance that the veteran Talayarkhan looked completely out of place. Farooq like his brother Rauf Kitchlew (ex-Punjab University and Southern Punjab batsman) was friends with Maqsood Ahmad, an attractive and flamboyant Pakistan cricketer. Such was the friendship that 'Max' used to stay with the family even during the Test matches. Farooq used to narrate stories about how Maqsood had over-eaten on the eve of the Test against India in 1954-55 and how after his epic-making innings of 99 he had dedicated his knock to the 'Bone & Trotter' soup and piles of Nans (bread) that he had eaten at Kitchlew's residence. Farooq's nostalgia and emotionality had seen him taking pains to come all the way from Manchester to Rawalpindi meeting Maqsood when this elegant batsman of the 1950s was fighting his battle with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Both cried, lost in nostalgia. When Maqsood died Farooq waited in dead silence. Farooq had a penchant of supporting Abdul Hafeez Kardar. Such was his passion that he started a signature campaign to force Kardar to take back his retirement. He went on radio and wrote fervently to persuade Kardar to take back his decision in 1957. An eccentric and defiant man in his youthful years, Farooq had to take on his father who was Justice AR Cornelius's colleague and Mian Mohammad Saeed's close acquaintance. Kardar and Mian Saeed were at loggerheads and Cornelius was a strong administrator. However, he was ready to meet them chin-up. His campaign to persuade Kardar out of retirement was interrupted when he left for England by the end of 1957. Fazal Mahmood, then Pakistan's premier fast bowler and Kardar's successor, and Farooq's close friend took him along to Manchester where he had a contract with the local league. After that Farooq got detached from the Pakistan scene, though until his death he was to the core a diehard Pakistani. His last wish was to be buried at Lahore. During a low key life, Farooq wrote a couple of books, one 'The Freedom Fighter' on his paternal grand uncle, Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew and the other 'Book of International Letters' including several pieces on Pakistan cricket. It is indeed regrettable that honest and dedicated gentlemen like Farooq saw the country's cricket defecting to new lows. People like Farooq would continue to die unfulfilled. We often talk about indiscipline hampering Pakistan's growth. It's not only prevalent amongst the players or board employees it's also seen in policy making. We know there are different types of indiscipline -- of the controversial types and the one stemming from the players, also coming from deep-rooted problems in the administration. One must wonder one just can't have an indisciplined team if one has a disciplined board. If the board operations are disciplined, they would know exactly what they want from their players. One needs to see the whole spiral, where it starts from. To blame Shoaib Malik and the players alone for the disaster against South Africa at home and in India is a cop-out, and it ignores huge faults beneath the surface. One needs to be cautiously optimistic, thinking that it may take five or ten years for Pakistan to come at par with stunning outfits such as Australia, if ever. The team is good enough, the talent is there but in competitive hard-minded sport, success stems from a lot more than the eleven players on the field. Our cricket needs a strong foundation. We have to dig deep to identify quality cricketers. We've got some individuals who are good thinkers on the game but not on the PCB or any committee. We need to find the right plan. It's not going to be easy and we can't look for too much. The peculiar structure of the Pakistan team as an entity which is made up of entities feeds the focus on individuals in what should be a team sport. I put it to you that selection is not even vaguely one of the key contributors to the endemic failure of Pakistan cricket teams over the past few months. In fact, I will argue that you could take any reasonable combination of 11 of the best 25 players in the country, and produce a competitive if not world beating team. The idea that you simply need to replace this player with that player and everything will be right is absurd, and it points directly at a lack of appreciation for the role of the team in what is very much a team sport. The key here is the word team. We do not have, nor have we had for a long time, a team. Rather, we have a collection of players whose individual achievements -- or lack thereof -- produce the bottom line. This is not to say that there is no room for individual achievement or expression at all. When the core job is done, the partnership built, the damage repaired, or when the situation requires it, players have a lot more latitude to express themselves as individuals. If you look carefully at the successful Australians, you will see that this is their approach -- always team first, but then when it is appropriate, individual goals are achieved. In terms of the player pool, our country has the same level of talent it always had, perhaps more even, considering that the population is so much greater than it was in Imran Khan's days. The argument that the talent is being bled off to academics or livelihood earning doesn't wash, as inflation and poor economy has always been dominant here, and there is no highly visible outlet for school, college and university cricket presently. Pakistan has always produced an abundance of naturally gifted athletes, and you can see this in the dominance of our youth cricket teams. Regrettably, the low standard of domestic first-class cricket and the lack of any real development structure mean that many of this young talent reaches the senior sides without a solid grasp of the basics. This, however, can be instilled in a stable senior side with remedial coaching, and will in turn filter down to the lower levels. If the expectations in terms of work ethic and what is required from a player are made clear, and a player's place is made clearly conditional upon them, the players who matter will stick and those who don't will fall away. The bottom line here is that we can build a solid, cohesive side with the talent at hand, and compete internationally with that team. Pakistan cricket recently has suffered from the cleavage in the game manipulated by the administrators and power-players. I lay no claim to scholarship. I interpret events according to my lights and though, at times, I may appear judgmental, in the end, I am subjective. I discussed Farooq trying to capture the mood of Pakistan in the fifties, a mood still buoyed by the freshness of a new country but in search of an identity, prickly because a letter was addressed Karachi India but not indignant enough that the Quaid-e-Azam's Pakistan was vanishing into a dream, on course to neo-fascism. Subsequently as we grew up we have seen insurgencies, political assassinations, martial laws, failed democratic governments, the periods of rise of new political elite, the bureaucrats, who became the puppet-masters, engineering palace-coups and the ensuing musical chairs when prime ministers came and went, fast track, circular politics so that we always arrived at the beginning. Very recently, the pro-cricket establishment people have been criticising my scathing comments on the game's governance in the country. I have been a cricket critic, journalist and a historian and in a way, this set the pattern of my life. What had been a passion has become a love affair and with all the ups and downs around me, cricket has remained a constant. The rewards that cricket has given me have not been material. But it has given me an immense amount of joy, even the heartbreaks of a lost Test match have provided an exhilaration of sorts and I have made friends, even among those I have not met and who have only listened to my voice or seen me on television.
By Waris Ali Fifties, centuries and even double centuries piled up a heap of runs. Balls and bowlers were beaten by batsmen, resulting in huge innings full of boundaries and sixes. Though it was great cricket as it apparently looked like, it ended without producing any result; it was,indeed, deadly drawn cricket. This is the story of the cricket played between the subcontinent archrivals, Pakistan and India, during the recent Test series of three matches in India. Whether it is India who may be blamed for preferring to be content with the maiden victory as sufficient for snatching away the series, or it is Pakistan who may be accused of not making struggle enough to demolish the Indian dominance, one thing is sure; it was dead cricket despite claiming huge innings and mighty partnerships. When the Pakistan cricket team lost the first Test match played at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, they were expected to struggle hard in the next Test match played at Eden Gardens in Kolkata to equate the Indian dominance, but the archrivals proved unbeatable. Very miserably, the Pakistani cricket fans set the same expectation from their team in the next Test match also, played at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, but the same result was repeated by the Pakistani team, thus leaving the Indians successful ultimately. The Pakistan cricket team returned to their home lost and forlorn, and the Pakistani cricket fans felt badly despaired. And that is all, for this series; it will teach no lessons to the team and create no awareness among the fans. The next series is standing afoot and the team is all prepared for it. The mountainous innings and mammoth individual runs remained the most characteristic feature of the Test series; there were 14 fifties, eight centuries, including two 150+ and two double centuries scored collectively by Pakistani and Indian team members. In all the six innings in the three Test matches, India scored 276, 203-4, 616-5, 184-4, 626 and 284-6 runs (2189) while losing just 39 wickets at an average of 56 runs per wicket, which means every playing batsman scored an average of a fifty during these six innings. The Pakistan team scored 231, 247, 456, 214-4, 537 and 162-7 runs (1847) while losing 51 wickets at an average of 36 runs per wicket. But all this exercise proved futile, because neither team could yield a result. The real burden lay, in fact, on the shoulders of Pakistani players, who were in dire need of a win to balance the series, at least. Interestingly, the first Test match comprised four low-scoring innings, but was a living contest because it produced result. The subsequent matches seemed just a net practice between the two teams, who seemed to have agreed silently to let each other heap runs and 'amuse' the cricket fans; they did not show least seriousness to play a result-oriented game. The fact is that cricket is a game of competition and piling up runs is subject to this spirit of competition. In a world where a Test match spanning over five days of seven-hour play each involves a number of stakeholders, ranging from cricket fans, either sitting in the stadium or stuck to their television sets, to sponsors who have spent millions to promote the game, the practice of preparing dead pitches, as it may be suspected, or manipulating a game in order to secure a meager win, as India is being accused of, is an act fatal to Test cricket. The fans who spend a lot of time to watch the game either in the stadium or before their television sets, the key factor in making the game popular will turn their back to the game. This situation will lead to a chain of reactions as a domino effect; the companies will refuse to sponsor the longest version of the game, and ultimately the stadium will present a view of a deserted place at a time when the players will be playing in the ground. Victory and defeat are the most important aspects of the game, and it must never end inconclusively. While there is always something special about a clash between India and Pakistan, particularly in cricket and hockey. This situation is laced with the over-cautious behaviour of the archrivals; they want to win at any cost, or at least they hate to be defeated. And this is what disturbed the tempo of the Test series, as most of the observers have concluded. A rare feat of winning both the one-day and Test series against Pakistan achieved by the Indian team under the newly-appointed skipper Kumble was just two drawn Tests away, and the Indian team did this job very well. The Pakistan team is definitely in serious trouble after losing two successive series followed by the Twenty20 debacle in South Africa. Pakistan have suffered a first-ever Test series loss in India in 28 years, a result which has badly upset the situation, endangering the captaincy of Shoaib Malik and the cricket career of certain players. Meanwhile, there are reports that Younis Khan is interested in the job and has the backing of certain players, but the PCB authorities are not ready for the rumoured development. It has been suggested that the back injury that kept Umar Gul out of the series might not have been so serious as to rule him out; he is believed to be the part of the Younis camp. It has also been rumoured that the role of coach Geoff Lawson is also being discussed. PCB Chairman Nasim Ashraf has questioned him as to why he could not get better results from his team. PCB has shown guts in retaining Shoaib Malik as captain The recently concluded tour of India had highlighted shortcomings whether they were in leadership, players fitness, understanding and team management efficiency By Mohammad Akram Chohan The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has shown confidence in the abilities of Shoaib Malik as the skipper of the depleted Pakistan side. This is a good development
considering the track record of our earlier boards as we are The recently concluded tour of India had highlighted all those shortcomings whether they were in leadership, players fitness, understanding and team management efficiency. All these factors had played havoc with Team Pakistan on their recent trip to India. The Pakistan team could not perform up to their potential and the team had to return empty handed despite tall claims of the Board and the team management. The controversies, internal politics, statements and counter statements jeopardised the some positives of the tour. Players like Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Umar Gul and some other players are not on very good terms with their captain and the team management. This can cause a real threat to the unity and harmony of Team Pakistan. In the past whenever a captain had to face this sort of situation, he had to succumb to the pressure. If the PCB is supporting Shoaib Malik these days, it can afford to do so in the current scenario. The situation which prevails these days among the players continued then it would become almost impossible for the Board to stand by its earlier stance. The cricket community in Pakistan is quite familiar with these types of situations when a captain had to step down sensing a revolt. The best way to reduce the intensity of the matter is to take confidence building measures among the boys. The lack of communication is also causing a great amount of difficulty. This should be sorted out in the presence of some dignitaries of the cricketing world such as Wasim Akram. The boys should be provided a chance to tell their side of story in closed door meetings. The captaincy issue has settled for the time being but it is very clear that the coming days for Shoaib Malik as skipper will not be very encouraging. The majority of the senior players are not very happy with him and history suggests that if a captain is not having enough support from his lieutenants, then his tenure can prove of a short duration. One thing which requires a great amount of attention from the Board and the selection Committee is the golden opportunity to try the younger lot against the comparatively weaker Zimbabwean side. Players like Danish Kaneria, Salman Butt, Mohammad Sami should be rested for obvious reasons. They should not be provided a chance to perform against a team which is far inexperienced as compared to them. This is a good omen that the Board has indicated that they are going to give chances to those who have performed at domestic level with continuity. The element of continuity is very important not only for the Board but for the team and the national selection committee too. The Board and selection committee should apply continuity in their policies when taking decisions. The team should bring continuity in their performances to end the infamous lack of professionalism among the players. Pakistan cricket is plagued by so many problems. The Indian tour statistics indicate that one of our premier batsmen Mohammad Yousuf could not produce a much needed performance which was required of him after Inzamam's retirement. He never looked in touch during the whole duration of the tour. His lack of interest badly affected the team performance. The team and the nation were expecting a better show from the bearded maestro but to their sheer disappointment and displeasure, he could not live up to the expectations. Some insiders have indicated that he is not very happy after being ignored for the captaincy. This is the sole reason of his lack of interest in team affairs and his personal performance. The year 2007 ended in complete contrast to 2006 as far as the performance of the Lahore-born batsman was concerned. The concerned authorities should look into this matter on a priority basis to minimise the pressure on the player as he is already under a lot of mental stress after his u-turn in ICL related matters. Mohammad Yousuf with Younis Khan are the backbone of our batting and they should be respected for what they have done battling out in the middle in testing times on numerous occasions.
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Pakistan have got the opportunity of viewing various international sports
competitions of all hues and colours.
Stadiums were in a miserable state and facilities for spectators were going
from bad to worse. But the biggest malaise of English soccer those days was
hooliganism. In 1985, 39 fans died in Belgium's Heysel stadium before the
Liverpool final of the European Cup against Italy's Jeventus.
having tight links with cricket. As we step towards self-disruption, I often
narrate memories of events as they impact on my life. In some respects, I am
both a disinterested narrator and protagonist. Today's article starts with my
recent visit to Lahore to attend to the funeral of Farooq Zakria Kitchlew,
Fazal Mahmood and Waqar Hasan's very close friend.
quite used to situations where the Board had to find someone to be a
scapegoat after a disastrous tour but the matter of concern is that Shoaib
Malik is not very popular among his teammates these days.