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cricket The
spot-fixing trial India
avenge England humiliation
S for safety
cricket On a pleasant morning in March this year, I managed
to get hold of Shahid Afridi at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground in
Colombo. Pakistan were back in the Sri Lankan capital after playing
their 2011 World Cup pool games against New Zealand and Zimbabwe in
Kandy and were now preparing to meet defending champions Australia in
their last league game. Though the quarterfinals were still a few days away,
there was already talk of old rivals Pakistan and India meeting in the
last-eight stage of the World Cup. The way the two groups were shaping
up, there was a big possibility of such a clash taking place in the
Indian city of Ahmadabad, something that inevitably refreshed memories
of the Pakistan-India quarterfinal of the 1996 World Cup which Pakistan
lost in Bangalore. I asked Afridi, then Pakistan’s captain, whether
his team was ready to face India in the quarterfinals. He first smiled,
looked towards the sky and said: “We are hoping that we don’t have
to meet them (India) in the quarterfinals. It’s not that we are scared
of them it’s just that our team’s strength is nothing as compared to
theirs.” The prayers of Afridi and his boys didn’t go
unheard. Pakistan went on to stun Australia at the R
Premadasa Stadium to top the pool and set up a relatively easy
quarterfinal against the West Indies. The Greenshirts crushed them by
ten wickets in Dhaka only to face India in the first semifinal in Mohali. I caught up with Afridi again just before the team
left for Mohali and asked him whether he was confident facing the
Indians in their own backyard. This time his reply was different: “We
are ready for them and are confident of reaching the final.” But his voice lacked something. It lacked self
belief. It wasn’t that Afridi thought it was impossible to beat MS
Dhoni’s in-form India in India. It was just that he knew that his boys
didn’t really believe that they could achieve such a feat. Pakistan had their moments in that Mohali clash but
in the end their lack of self-belief let them down. Such lack of belief in their own abilities, I
personally believe, is one of the biggest reasons why Pakistan have
become an under-achieving team in international cricket following the
glory days of Imran Khan, Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram. More recently, Pakistan failed to go all the way in
their Test series opener against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi mainly because,
deep inside, they never really believed they could beat their
higher-ranked opponents even after taking a huge first-inning lead. Pakistan’s defensive mind-set, perhaps a product
of an alarming dearth of self-belief, allowed Sri Lanka to claw their
way back into the match and finally salvage an honourable draw. This weakness is not just plaguing our players. Our
cricket administrators are suffering from it too. They have stopped
thinking big and have developed the habit of celebrating even the
smallest of wins. It’s pretty clear that the biggest challenge
facing our cricket bosses is the return of international matches to
Pakistan. Our country hasn’t played host to a proper international
cricket match since the Sri Lankan team was forced to rush back home in
March 2009 after being attacked by terrorists in Lahore. It’s been almost three years since that
unfortunate incident took place but so far little has been done to
engineer the return of international cricket to Pakistan. Officially, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials
will tell you that they are making all out efforts to convince the
cricket world that they should help revive international matches in
Pakistan. They will tell you that the PCB was in close consultations
with the International Cricket Council (ICC) and other national cricket
boards to resolve this issue. But privately, they will confide in you that the
idea of bringing international cricket back to Pakistan is absurd
considering the fact that the country is struggling against terrorism as
suicide bombings are still a daily routine here. “Do you expect any foreign team is going to visit
Pakistan under such adverse circumstances,” a senior PCB official
asked me. “It’s childish to think that international matches can
take place in Pakistan in the near future,” he stressed in an informal
chat. Nobody can argue the fact that bringing
international cricket back to Pakistan is a gigantic task especially
after what happened to Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore. But it’s
certainly not impossible. Even during their fiercest battles against Tamil
separatists, the Sri Lankans continued to host international cricket
teams for decades. For years Sri Lanka struggled to cope with a civil
war but cricket went on. Our current security situation, in many ways, is
worse than what Sri Lanka had to endure but that doesn’t mean that we
just sit back and let our ‘home’ matches get played in offshore
venues like Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. It just doesn’t feel right. What our cricket administrators need is self belief
and the will to make things happen. It’s true that they don’t have
any say when it comes to external factors but they do have the means to
prepare a blueprint that can help bring international cricket back to
Pakistan. Ijaz Butt, the previous PCB chairman, announced soon
after being relieved of his position by the government earlier this
month that the Board has five billion rupees in its coffers. That means
funds shouldnít be a problem for his successor Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf.
All the new PCB chief and whatever team he forms around him will need is
self belief. khalidhraj@gmail.com
The
spot-fixing trial The tainted Pakistani duo of Salman Butt and
Mohammad Asif have been subject to a criminal trial in London for
attempting to defraud bookmakers for the last month and have been
grilled by the prosecutors barring the exception of Mohammad Amir —
the third culprit — who in a pretrial confession accepted to having
been involved in spot-fixing. At the outset it may be said that had Amir confessed
or rather accepted his involvement which he did belatedly right before
the trial he perhaps would have gotten away with a lower grade
punishment given his tender age and complete lack of exposure at the
International level in terms of maturity. Anyways what’s done is done
and the board ought to learn and nurture talents (Junaid Khan) like Amir
more cautiously in the future. We may never know what the truth of the
matter is and like any optimistic Pakistani I would also hope albeit
unrealistically that at least Amir and Asif aren’t convicted solely
for their bowling prowess. However, that would be far from reality and
like many other instances we Pakistani’s would be the first to set an
example in terms of players being convicted for bringing the game into
disrepute. It is worth looking into the background from where
it all started in cricket’s history. The famous Justice Qayyum’s
report comes to mind which acquitted famous names like Wasim Akram
simply because he was a personal favourite of the Justice and other big
names like Waqar Younis, Mushtaq Ahmed and Saeed Anwar also got away
with minor fines which in itself was the first step towards comforting
upcoming youngsters that they may be able to get away with anything in
Pakistan which was a crime in itself given the lack of exposure and
background of most emerging cricketers in Pakistan. However, it did not
end there and we were all shocked to hear about Hansie Cronje and his
confessions regarding that infamous Indian tour where he had conspired
with bookies in order to set up matches. Cricket, back then, was
oblivious to the concept of spot-fixing and in those days it was only
match-fixing which was a cause for concern for the authorities. The ICC thereafter realised the need for stricter
measures in the game such as the ban on use of cell phones during the
course of a match and greater surveillance on players by their boards
and in general when touring. We must not forget India’s emergence in
the last ten years as a force in the ICC in terms of maneuvering or
rather tilting the ICC heavily in favour of India and Indian players
simply due to India being a huge market in terms of sponsorships
(money). One such example would be the Indian Premier League.
It is no hidden fact that India often gets five-match Test series which
gives them long tours allowing their players to play on average 15 Tests
a year and a healthy amount of limited-overs cricket which is privy to
India’s strong batting line-up. It doesn’t come as much surprise,
but over the decade or so ever since the involvement of Mohammad
Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja and their Another example of an inquiry that seems to have
taken a back step or died down completely with no media coverage or no
interest being taken in it by the ICC is that of the ex-IPL pundit Lalit
Modi hailed by many as the most innovative entrepreneur by launching the
IPL. The question remains why has his inquiry been put in the cold
storage, why is the ICC not keen or rather prompt in pursuing the matter
at hand? Why is the Indian media silent on the issue? I do not for once sympathise with the Pakistani trio
and they should rightly be punished for what they have done but this
blatant discrimination against the Pakistanis on the international forum
due to total Indian dominance is uncalled for. It is a result of our
lack of unity not only in the board due to its ad-hocism but as a nation
as well in allowing us to be the sacrificial goat(s). To date
Woolmer’s death boggles one’s mind as to whether it was natural or
made to look natural, as many believed he wanted to blow the whistle on
match-fixing in Pakistan. The question then remains as Salman Butt
exhibited during his cross examining in the trial by saying that the
“WWE (wrestling) is rigged and people still watch it so it really
depends” that what is the measure of honesty and nationalism. In
hindsight such a reply only goes to show the lack of nationalism, that
feeling of pride just to be able to represent your nation as
ambassadors, money of course being a secondary concern. One only hopes and wishes that whatever the outcome
of this trial, the ICC develops a policy whereby in spite of its Indian
majority there is uniformity in the manner in which players are governed
in order to ensure that the game does not suffer and is halted in
development in terms of more nations becoming member of the ICC as
playing teams. umairkazi@gmail.com
India
avenge England humiliation Last summer, soon after winning the World Cup on
home soil, India easily surrendered on the tour of England where they
lost the Test series 4-0, one-day series 3-0 and also the one-off T20
game. However, just weeks later The Indians avenged those defeats by
thrashing England 5-0 in a one-day series that concluded last week in
India. In the last ODI in Kolkata, England had a good
chance to avoid whitewash as they were in very strong position at 129-0
while chasing 272 but the tourists collapsed to 176 all out against the
Indian spinners. It was England’s second 5-0 whitewash in
consecutive ODI tours of India. Earlier, England suffered a whitewash in
India in 2008. This was India’s third clean sweep in a five-game
series. The previous ones were against After the series triumph, India jumped two positions
to 3rd place in the ICC One-day Internationals ranking from the fifth
spot while on the other hand England slipped from fourth to fifth
position. Now England lead sixth-placed Pakistan by just five rating
points. Pakistan have a perfect chance of reducing that lead if they
beat Sri Lanka in next moneht’s ODI series in the UAE. The whitewash must have come as a big relief for
India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as he won the battle in absence of
his key players including Sachin Tendulkar, Verinder Sehwag, Yuvraj
Singh, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh. England who were installed as No 1 in the
recently-launched Twenty20 rankings and claimed the No 1 spot in the
Test rankings for the first time since its introduction after beating
India 4-0 in the home series two months back surprisingly surrendered
without any worthwhile resistance. England were just outclassed by the Indian spinners.
Despite the absence of Harbhajan Singh, two young spinners — Ravindra
Jadeja (11-187) and Ravichandran Ashwin (10-202)óproved good enough to
dismantle England. On the other hand, Graeme Swann who is the top ODI
bowler in the ICC rankings, took only two wickets after conceding 191
runs in four matches. Collectively three English spinners (Swann, Patel
and Borthwick) picked up just six wickets while conceding 432 runs at 72
runs per wicket. India’s Virat Kholi was the most successful
batsman of the series with 270 runs in five innings. His average was 90
including one hundred and one fifty. Gautam Gambhir (213) and skipper M
S Dhoni (212) were the other leading scorers from the hosts. Dhoni
remained unbeaten in all four innings he played. Jonathan Trott was the
highest scorer from England with 202 runs, averaging 50.50 with the help
of one fifty. On the bowling side, India’s left-arm orthodox
spinner Ravindra Jadeja was the most successful bowler with 11 wickets
at an average of just 17. From the visitors Steven Finn emerged as the
most successful bowler with eight scalps at anaverage of 31.62. Khurrams87@yahoo.com
Winds of change
Earlier this month, hockey officials in Australia
successfully experimented with a new, nine-a-side format that has been
devised in a bid to make the sport more attractive for fans. The
four-nation Super Series hockey tournament in Perth that featured
Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and India turned out to be an instant
hit as spectators flooded the ground to watch a series of action-packed
encounter.
Australia went on to win the title quite comfortably
beating Trans-Tasmanian rivals New Zealand in the final. Pakistan, who
narrowly missed a place in the final, defeated old rivals India to
finish third.
Experts back home believe that the country’s
hockey authorities should make efforts to ensure that national players
adapt to the innovative format quickly.
“The new format of Hockey 9s is aimed at giving
more space to players in the field so that they could score more. In
order to further augment the chances of scoring in a given match, the
goal posts have been widened by one metre,” hockey legend Islahuddin
Siddiqui told ‘The News on Sunday’.
Stressing that rule changes in hockey are
inevitable, Islah advised PHF to start implementing the new format at
local level so that when the new rules are imposed internationally,
Pakistan are already well-versed with the new format.
With an aim to make hockey faster and more
viewer-friendly, Hockey Australia launched a revolutionary nine-a-side
tournament, which was played in Perth from October 20 to 23.
The event named “LANCO International Super
Series” featured hosts Australia, India, Pakistan and New Zealand in
the men’s category. Hosts clinched the inaugural title followed by its
New Zealand at second place. Pakistan came third followed by India at
fourth place. The women event was also contested, in which India,
Australia and Malaysia participated.
The nine-a-side format was sanctioned by the
International Hockey Federation and was played under new rules, which
aimed at ensuring fast-paced hockey. This is the first time such a
tournament was played internationally.
The new rules for the event included teams having
nine players a side as against the usual 11, 15 minutes per half as
compared to 35 minutes halves, bigger goals (1 metre wider), unlimited
substitutions, one player from each team will be required to stay in the
opposition half to create more space, one-on-one penalty shootout where
the striker is allowed only eight seconds to score.
The ground rules have also been relaxed to encourage
continuous play. The format allows only two defenders besides the
goalkeeper to stop penalty corners. To add to it, there must not be more
than four players from the attacking team for taking the penalty
corners.
The players also need to stand outside the 23-metre
line before they receive the out push from the back line and the penalty
corner must be executed within 25 seconds.
However, in case of long corners it is five players
versus five. Again the attackers have to be outside the 23-metre area.
Islah, stressing the need to start acquainting local
players with the new rules, said that the federation should also
establish smaller grounds and start staging Hockey Sevens as well, which
many European countries have been playing for some time.
“Many European countries have been organising
Hockey Sevens’ events locally as well, which have only seven players
on field. They have smaller grounds as compared to normal hockey. I
believe such format helps in developing skills. Moreover, lesser the
players in the field, the more fitness is required from the players,”
said Islah, a former Pakistan captain.
“The ever modifying rules could only be
implemented properly when there are people who know about it, which is
why we need well-trained officials,” said Islah, who has served as a
member of the FIH Rules Board in the past.
He said that hockey needs attention from the
sponsors, adding that they will get attracted to the sport if its
viewership increases.
“By making hockey more thrilling, the number of
hockey fans could be increased and subsequently the sponsors would also
come forward. So the changes are being directed at making hockey a
better game,” he said.
Islah, who has also served as national coach and
manager, said that if the new rules are implemented properly then
Pakistani players could successfully adapt to the new requirements of
hockey.
But he added that the new format needs high level of
fitness because reduced number of players in the field has to be
supplemented by it.
“Certainly the pressure would rise on individual
player as there would be less number of players in the field and each
one of them to cover a larger area. It is more exhausting, consequently
requiring higher level of fitness from the players,” he explained.
bilalsports86@yahoo.com
S for safety Two back-to-back tragic deaths of ace IndyCar driver
Dan Wheldon of Britain at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 16 and
Moto Grand Prix rider Marco Simoncelli of Italy last Sunday in Sepang
(Malaysia) have raised concerns about the safety element in motor
sports. The 33-year-old Briton, who won the famed
Indianapolis 500 twice, was caught up in a horrific chain-reaction crash
in the race what would have been IndyCar’s season finale. Fifteen cars
were involved in the fiery melee on the 12th lap after which the race
was cancelled. Following Wheldon’s death, drivers questioned the
wisdom of running the IndyCar finale on a very fast, high-banked oval,
which had not staged an event in the series for 11 years, with a
34-strong field that included several part-time drivers. Other observers suggested that overall safety
standards in IndyCar racing were 20 years behind those practiced in
Formula One, in which a major revision was instigated following the
deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger in 1994. There have been 25 deaths in the 62-year history of
MotoGP, 45 deaths in the 61-year history of the FIA Formula One World
Championship and 52 deaths in the 63-year history of Nascar. That’s a
total of 122 deaths in the last 65 years. Some of the most notable accidents in history are
the Dale Earnhardt’s accident at the 2001 Daytona 500, when briefly
brushing another driver, Earnhardt’s car veered to the bottom of the
track then started to ascend, at this point Earnhardt’s car collided
with fellow racer Ken Schrader and hit the wall, he died setting off a
firestorm of scrutiny and safety modifications. In another tragic twist of irony, Glen
“Fireball” Roberts, considered the first superstar of NASCAR, was
involved in a single car accident that reinforced his nickname. During the seventh lap of the Charlotte World 600 in
1964, two cars in front of Roberts collided. This caused leaked fuel to
ignite in a burst of flames. Trying to avoid the accident, Roberts lost
control and crashed into the retaining wall of the infield, flipping his
car which subsequently burst into flames. Roberts was pinned in the
cockpit as gasoline streamed in from the fuel tank and burned 80 percent
of his body. He died in the hospital six weeks later. Just hours before a public memorial service for
Wheldon on Sunday, was due to start in Indianapolis, Indiana, Italian
Moto Grand Prix rider Marco Simoncelli died after a horrific crash at
the Malaysian GP in Sepang. This crash started to ring a bell for Motorsports
organisers to get more safety in the sport. Simoncelli’s death will likely add fuel to
questions being asked about the dangers of racing, and Sepang
International Circuit chairman Mokhzani Mahathir said the track’s
first-ever fatality would prompt a new look at safety. “Sepang race organisers have to re-look at safety
from every angle again,” he said. “We will see from it (the
investigation) if there is anything we could have done differently.” It happened again on last Friday during the MotoGP 2
practice session when organisers failed to warn the rider about the
‘wet patch’ on the track, in which Britain’s Bradley Smith fell
and broke his collarbone. The Sepang International Circuit (SIC), the
organisers of the Malaysian Grand Prix, were fined almost US$ 21,000 by
the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) — but it’s not the
ultimate solution for the problem. “When I got to Turn 10, I saw yellow flags waving
and I thought it was because of the crashes before me. I slowed down and
the next thing I saw was the wet track and I almost immediately lost
control of the bike,” said Bradley. This scenario and Simoncelli’s tragic death have
emphasised the need for stricter supervision and vigilance when it comes
to safety measures on the track. Yet another Moto racing legend Giacomo Agostini
suggested that, changes to the behaviour of MotoGP tyres could help
avoid crashes. Agostini, a 15-time world champion, said that the
proliferation of electronic rider aids on modern MotoGP bikes was not a
factor, but that there could be a need to look at the nature of MotoGP
tyres. “Tyres have been blamed too. Sure, tyres get some
blame, in the sense that tyres are some of the most important things on
a motorcycle. Nowadays, all riders demand the tyre to last from the
first to the last lap, with no performance loss,” Agostini told an
Italian radio in an interview. But overall thoughts about the particular sport
according to an Italian woman MotoGP rider Andrea Dovizioso is
‘dangerous’. “You forget sometimes how easily something like
this (death) can happen. Sometimes our sport is just too dangerous,”
Dovizioso said. Some fans are sad and some are shocked but they are
all skeptical about the safety measures which are under considerations
by the racing bodies around the globe. It’s time that safety takes
driving seat in the world of motorsports. hasan.junaid.iqbal@gmail.com
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respective bans hardly has any Indian cricketer been involved in
match-fixing or has been accused of. It is pertinent to mention here
that the involvement or rather meeting of Suresh Raina on the Sri Lankan
tour with a bookie just before the Pakistani trio was accused went
absolutely unnoticed. It was perhaps reported in a few newspapers here
and there but very quickly covered up and ignored by the ICC and the
Indian media smartly.
England in 2008 and New Zealand in 2010. 
