Afridi set to return with a bang in SL one-dayers
By Waris Ali

Shahid Afridi has played 276 One-day Internationals during his career spanning over a decade. He is inherently an aggressive batsman and enjoys the best strike rate in cricket history.

European superstars gunning for glory in Asia
By Umaid Wasim
The summer transfer window this year has been dominated by Cristiano Ronaldo's transfer to Real Madrid and the clubs' transfer moves which has seen top stars like Kaka, Benzema and Albiol join the club. Ronaldo's transfer has smashed records in terms of transfer fee, unveiling attendance, and shirt sales ñ- which were selling at 15 shirts every thirty seconds.

There are huge contradictions and the dispensation need resolution as Ijaz Butt tries to adjust to a series of syntheses indicating the power of dictatorial process to sweep all before it. Inopportunely, Pakistan cricket gets bewildered, divided between self-interest and petty intrigues.

One needs to locate the explanation for Aamer Sohail, PCB's recent victim and his genius with the political fabric of the fatal player-power and regional divide discourse, affirming Pakistan cricket's right to re-define the future management of country's cricket. Butt, surrounded by his alleys including Intikhab Alam, Yawar Saeed and Mohammad Naeem, also Chairman PCB's brother-in-law, may well not have a capacity of understanding board's aesthetics within the indigenous epistemology.

Disappointingly, inferior management and ruining of institutions now see people changing the behaviour of the cricket organisation in order to claim and consume it as their own. What Butt is doing now, this process of ownership couldn't be understood though described as gloriously Pakistani, a testament to our cross roads culture and the survivalist mentality it has bred. One's concern is with the deep seated fragmentation that exists without our half-hearted and self-centered attempts at institution building.

Someone has recently said that the 'Titanic' is drowning and Aamer may well have sensed and left before the wreckage. I personally feel PCB's recent regime is filled with endless geriatric population, presumably wrong-footed to deal with the modernized sport. Cricket couldn't become a metaphor as it slipped into incompetent hands. Clearly, the tensions exist within this 'disrupted' institution we call the Pakistan Cricket Board; but these unhealed mentalities are worse as we go, though we have greater cause to be disturbed by the culture of mismanagement that permeates the business of the cricket establishment.

One needs to outline clear views with respect to the uprooting of this low-productivity culture, and off suggestions for reform, the problem of determining whose product is Pakistan cricket, remains central to the politics of management and the economics of financial distribution. One needs to put our predicaments on the table, and indicate wider parameters within which the discourse should take place.

Ironically, first Javed Miandad resigned, then Abdul Qadir quit and now Aamer has left Butt's regime.

Interestingly, as reported, these gentlemen weren't really on the right side of the trio that influences Butt the most. Aamer had real reasons to relinquish the office of Director NCA & Game Development. When he joined, I discreetly remember his conversation with me about the solutions to put Pakistan cricket on a strong footing. He identified three or four linked elements; job descriptions and enrollments on merit, full recognition for professionals, the adoption of what is called a professional approach to the game, and the conscious building of management team unity; Leadership of this team comprising high-profiled ex-stars was the key issue, and probably did comprehend all the others but, even for the sake of clarity, Butt couldn't keep the points separate.

Regrettably, the Pakistan Cricket Board is still dominated by power-sharing politicians, relatives and bureaucracy, and a form of personal bias is the rule rather than the exception. What I mean is the linking of genius of people like Miandad, Qadir and Aamer for the full benefit of the Pakistan Cricket Board and its top-tier management team. In other words, without the axis it is problematic whether Aamer's creative blueprints and future plans would have produced a quick and handsome return: Aamer's own genius as an ex-player was conspicuous within the board where incompetence was widely prevalent and this irked quite a few. Second, his ability to stand-up to authority also made him unpopular within the PCB. Unfortunately, impeded by unnecessary checks and bias and he couldn't flower in quite the same way as he intended to. It cannot be sheer coincidence that Aamer didn't dazzle as he should have.

Unlike Qadir, Aamer couldn't forge a clone-like relationship with the PCB and Butt's favourites. He was a clearly different type -- one more cerebral and reflective, more natural and instinctive, and a man who could inspire quite a few.

Aamer has gone and we must acknowledge no one is indispensible; someone else would come and rejoice in the status quo created by Butt, Yawar Saeed etcetera. Nonetheless, it's a shame that a man who actually tried giving the vision for cricket development was given, only a cold corner in the National Cricket Academy. Whatever, as I know Aamer since 1989-90, he has had many excellent qualities that he brought to the jobs he landed with. He was fearless, he would never ask anyone to do something that he could not also try to achieve and he has had many bold, positive ideas. Even as a young player, Aamer had an excellent cricket brain. When you stripped away all the bravado, there would be a great deal of sound tactical sense. He could fix up situations very quickly but he was the unlucky one, his own people failed him.

PCB's current regime is living on borrowed time. And their end mustn't be far away. Aamer has left the ball outside the line, but Butt should watch out his middle-stump. It is not how a cricketing enterprise is run. We have shown our fooled faces to the ICC, we have not been able to use the Twenty20 World Cup win as a vital cog in cricket's development, we have no plans and dishearteningly, the earth around this current PCB is subsiding and they wouldn't be able to stick their heads out of sand, only the tombstones would be a reality.

In the 1990s Pakistan produced two world-class middle order batsmen, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Yousuf. Both played a vital role in the Pakistan batting line-up for a long time, however, following the retirement of former skipper Inzamam after the 2007 World Cup Pakistan find themselves with only two regular dependable batsmen -- Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan.

In the Test series against Sri Lanka with Pakistan having lost the Test series, Yousuf's run out on 90 during the third Test completed his 7000 runs in Test cricket. He becomes the third Pakistani batsman to amass 7000 runs after Javed Miandad (8832) and Inzamam-ul-Huq (8829) runs in longer version of the game.

Yousuf, who returned to international cricket after more than a year, secured top spot in the ICC Test batting ranking for the first time in his career after scoring a century in the first match ousting Younis Khan from the top position in the rankings.

It was the first time that two Pakistani batsmen ñYousuf and Younisñ held the top two positions in the ICC rankings. Yousuf is the only Pakistan batsman to cross the 900-point mark in the ICC points system. Yousuf is also the second in the list of Pakistani batsman with most centuries with 24 hundreds. Inzamam is ahead of him with 25 centuries.

Yousuf made his Test debut against South Africa at Durban in February 1998. Though Pakistan won the Test by 30 runs, Yousuf failed to make his debut memorable with scores of just 4 and 1 in the two innings.

He is known for his ability to score runs at an exceptional rate through his great technique and composed strokeplay. Although capable of hitting the ball hard, Yousuf likes to get his runs running between the wickets.

Yousuf has quickly established himself as a stylish world-class batsman. He is no sluggard, but gathers his runs through traditional, composed stroke-play. He is particularly strong driving through the covers and flicking off his legs. He has shone in both versions of the game; he is quick between the wickets and in the field. Yousuf is an automatic selection.

For the last many years he has been the backbone of the middle-order, showing his talent against all opponents. An overall Test average of over 55 definitely shows his class and consistency.

Yousuf was also named international cricket's Test Player of the Year at the ICC Awards in Johannesburg in 2007. It was the first time that any Pakistani player won this award. Australian skipper Ricky Ponting and England's Kevin Pietersen were the other leading contestants for the Test player category.

During August 9, 2006 to August 8, 2007 Yousuf played six Tests in which he scored 944 runs at an average of 94.40 with the help of five hundreds and two fifties. He finished a wonderful home series against West Indies in November-December 2006 in which he scored 665 Test runs with the average of 133 including four centuries in just three Test matches.

The year 2006 has been the most memorable year in the career of Yousuf. After scoring 124 runs in the second innings of the third Test at Karachi, his tally went up to 1788 runs for the calendar year as he surpassed Sir Viv Richards' 30-year-old record of 1710 runs in the year 1976.

A record ninth century in 2006 was also his fifth in successive matches and he became only the third batsman to put up a streak of five hundreds in successive Tests after Don Bradman, with six, and Jacques Kallis with five.

By Waris Ali

Shahid Afridi has played 276 One-day Internationals during his career spanning over a decade. He is inherently an aggressive batsman and enjoys the best strike rate in cricket history.

However, he is one of the most inconsistent batsmen in the history of the game and is the only player who has scored more than 5000 runs but averages less than 25 runs per innings. During the 258 innings he played out of the total 276 one-dayers, he has scored 5642 runs at an average of 23.31 runs with only four hundreds and 29 fifties. In 43 innings of his 49 Twenty20 matches, he could score only 695 runs at an average of 17 runs with a strike rate of a staggering 155.

In 23 of those ODI innings he has failed to score a single run, while the 75 innings during which he failed to score runs in double figures make up more than 25 percent of his career. Throughout his career, he has never scored fifties in two successive ODIs.

The start of the ICC World Twenty20 championship last month in England has a similar story to narrate. In the first five matches, he could score only 71 runs -- 5 runs against England, 13 against the Netherlands, a duck against Sri Lanka, 29 not out against New Zealand, and 24 against Ireland. He played all the innings of the seven Twenty20 matches and scored only 176 runs at an average of 35 runs and there were seven batsmen above him in the list of top-scorers.

Before Pakistan's semifinal against South Africa he had done nothing so as to attract the audience. Even in some cases, he was criticised badly for his rashness, impulsive hitting and carelessness. But when he was direly needed this time, Afridi proved he is a changed player now; he can stay for as long as needed, and while he is addicted to hit every ball, he has learnt to stop the ball. At times, he can become Sir Vivian Richards and at other times he can play like Sunil Gavaskar.

The semifinal against South Africa had a lot to narrate; but above all the 51 runs knock of Afridi was a calculated display leaving no chance to the bowler to cheat him. In fact, Pakistan could storm into the World Twenty20 final mainly because Afridi shone with bat and ball, dumping South Africa by seven runs. The maverick batsman then grabbed 2-16 with his leg-spin as Pakistan successfully defended 149-4 to restrict the favoured Proteas to 142-5 before a sell-out crowd at Trent Bridge. He was rightly declared player of the match.

Then, came the final, which must be rightly declared one of the best ever games played by any Pakistani cricket team during the last half century.

The 54 runs knock of Afridi won him great credits: first, because it presented a new image of Boom Boom Afridi. He has changed and matured. The patience and prudence Afridi demonstrated during the game even stunned everybody, especially his hardest critics. He proved himself a smash batsman by scoring 54 runs off 40 balls only and an experienced player by staying on the crease for so long time. Great job done, Shahid Afridi!

Though the Pakistan cricket teamís recent tour of Sri Lanka has badly disappointed the nation, they still may recover with the help of Afridi. Younis Khanís team has been badly thrashed in the Test series; Afridi being absent throughout since he did not play the Test series. In a situation while the Pakistani team direly needs a big icon, he may prove to be the messiah.

The five one-day series and then the only Twenty20 match, after the three Tests in Sri Lanka, may prove another springboard for Afridi, if he continues on his consistency.

The summer transfer window this year has been dominated by Cristiano Ronaldo's transfer to Real Madrid and the clubs' transfer moves which has seen top stars like Kaka, Benzema and Albiol join the club. Ronaldo's transfer has smashed records in terms of transfer fee, unveiling attendance, and shirt sales ñ- which were selling at 15 shirts every thirty seconds.

In that mayhem, the transfers of Brazilian superstars Juninho Perunambucano, Ricardo Oliviera and Ailton, and South Korean defender Lee Young Pyo to Asian football clubs have lost their limelight.

The transfer of Juninho is a major coup for Asian football. Juninho has joined Qatari League side Al-Gharaffa on a two-year deal. The 34-year old is regarded as one of the world's greatest free kick takers of the present day and possibly one of the greatest of all time. 29-year old striker Ricardo Oliviera, formerly of AC Milan, joined UAE club Al-Jazira for 14 million pounds -- which is incidentally the highest transfer fee in Asian football -- from Spanish club Real Betis. Ailton, 36, who won the German Footballer of the year award in 2003-04 has joined Chinese Super League club Chongqing.

The Brazilian trio follows fellow country-men Rivaldo and Denilson in moving to play in Asia. Rivaldo, the 1999 FIFA World player of the year, joined Uzbek side Bunyodkor last August and Denilson ñ once the World's most expensive player ñ signed for Vietnamese League side Xi Ma Hai Phong in June having previously played in Asia for Saudi Arabian side Al-Nasr in the 2006-07 season.

Lee Young Pyo on the other hand, has played in the Eredivisie, Bundesliga and the English Premier league and has UEFA Champions League experience as well ñ reaching the semi-final of the 2005 edition with PSV Eindhoven. Lee will team up with Belgian Christian Wilhemsson at the club who was signed in January this year from French side Nantes.

The days when Asia was the destination of choice for ageing superstars looking to wind down their playing careers are back. The trend started in 2003 when a plethora of 30-somethings - including Gabriel Batistuta, Titi Camara, Rom·rio, Claudio Caniggia, Frank Leboeuf, Fernando Hierro and Josep Guardiola - were lured east to Qatar by big salaries offered to them by billionaire owners of these clubs in the oil-rich country.

The players achieved success in Qatari Football. Batistuta was the league's top-scorer, Cannigia won the Crown Prince Cup with Qatar SC, Fernando Hierro captained Al-Rayyan to victory in the Emir Cup and Frenk Leboeuf captained Al Saad to the league title. World Cup '98 winner Marcel Desailly left Chelsea for Al-Gharaffa next year and captained them to a title win in season 2004-05.

The trend spread to other Asian countires as well with oil-rich countries of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait investing heavily on European based players. Thus, the competition shifted from just the Qatari League to the AFC Champions League with Asia's big guns fighting out for the honour of becoming Asia's beat team.

With the Asian Champions' Cup being revamped to AFC Champions League on the lines of its European counterpart, UAE's Al-Ain became the first winners of the AFC Champions League with Werder Bremen striker Boboucar Sanogo spearheading their victorious campaign. Two years later, Al-Ittihad of Saudi Arabia defended the title that they had won in 2004. This time, the inspiration was another European import in the shape of Mohammad Kallon. The ex- Inter Milan striker emerged as the tournament's top-scorer as the Saudi's beat 2003 champions Al-Ain in the final of AFC Champions League 2005.

Similarly, former Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Robson Ponte was the catalyst in Urawa Red Diamonds' Champions League title in 2007 along with fellow Brazilian Washington. Ponte's midfield partner, Shinji Ono's experience of European football was another contributing factor. The Japanese midfielder had won the UEFA Cup with Feyenoord in 2002. Rivaldo single-handedly propelled Bunyodkor to the AFC Champions League semi-finals in 2008 with 5 goals in the competition.

The influx of European stars to Asian football is increasing the profile of the game in the continent. Although they may be at their prime but their experience speaks volumes. Playing against these players week in-week out would provide stiffer competition to Asian footballers so that they are better equipped to take on the European and South American teams. Not only have these older players come to Asia but Argentine Maoro Zarate launched his career with a spell at Qatari club Al-Saad before earning a move to EPL side Birmingham City and subsequently to Serie A side Lazio for a fee of 25 million euros.

Asian football is on the rise and with players having European experience coming to play in the continent it is bound to improve drastically. With these players featuring in the Asian Champions League, it heralds a new dawn for the tournament. Players coming from European leagues can help the game in Asia to develop and if this goes on, it would not be long before an Asian country is crowned as World Champions of the beautiful game.