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Sharif
to the rescue? An avid cricket follower, the prime minister has padded up to bat for Pakistan cricket by becoming PCB’s chief patron By Khalid Hussain Pakistan’s seven-wicket triumph against South Africa in Abu Dhabi last Thursday was a much-needed and morale-boosting result — nothing more, nothing less. After Pakistan’s disastrous showing at last summer’s Champions Trophy and their shocking Test defeat against minnows Zimbabwe in Harare, the national team needed to redeem itself. A win against the world’s top Test team is the sort of result which can help Pakistan achieve that task. However, their mission is far from accomplished. Pakistan will have to make sure that they don’t waste what is a perfect opportunity to record a rare series win against the Proteas. Exploring
the reasons behind Pakistan squash’s downfall From
Barcelona with love
Sharif to the rescue? An avid cricket follower, the prime minister has padded up to bat for Pakistan cricket by becoming PCB’s chief patron By Khalid Hussain  Pakistan’s
seven-wicket triumph against South Africa in Abu Dhabi last Thursday was
a much-needed and morale-boosting result — nothing more, nothing less. After Pakistan’s
disastrous showing at last summer’s Champions Trophy and their
shocking Test defeat against minnows Zimbabwe in Harare, the national
team needed to redeem itself. A win against the
world’s top Test team is the sort of result which can help Pakistan
achieve that task. However, their mission is far from accomplished.
Pakistan will have to make sure that they don’t waste what is a
perfect opportunity to record a rare series win against the Proteas. Misbah-ul-Haq and his
men should go for the kill in Dubai which will host the second and final
Test next week. The conditions in Dubai won’t be much different from
what the two sides experienced in Abu Dhabi — the venue of the series
opener — which means that Pakistan would once again be holding the
upper hand. It is going to be hot in Dubai and the track is likely to
provide ample assistance to spinners. Pakistan should exploit both these
factors just like they did in Abu Dhabi. The South Africans,
meanwhile, will find it tough to bounce back and level the series
considering that next week’s Test is Whether Amla plays in
Dubai or stays home with his family one thing is for sure: Pakistan have
grabbed the momentum and are in a good position to win the series. I
believe that they will go on to secure a 2-0 whitewash after recording a
3-0 clean sweep against England in the UAE last year. But unfortunately,
Pakistan cricket won’t be out of the woods even if the national team
punches above its weight and wins a series against the world’s best
team. The issues and problems confronting Pakistan cricket are just too
big. While the national
team is busy playing in the UAE, back home confusion and turmoil remain
the key words when one is talking about Pakistan cricket. The country’s
cricket chiefs were supposed to hold free and fair elections for the
post of PCB chairman by last Friday (October 18). However, it was quite
clear that the deadline set by the courts would expire without elections
taking place. So just a couple of days before its expiry, certain
amendments were made in the PCB Constitution that allowed Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif to become the Board’s chief patron and take steps to
smoothen its day to day functioning. Sharif has appointed
an interim management committee headed by Najam Sethi to run the
Pakistan Cricket Board. The committee includes ex-PCB chairman Shaharyar
Khan, former Pakistan Test captain Zaheer Abbas, Haroon Rasheed and
seasoned bureaucrat Naveed Akram Cheema. The committee’s mandate is to
hold Board elections within 90 days. With this one move,
Sharif has made his intent clear. An avid cricket follower, the prime
minister has padded up to bat for Pakistan cricket by becoming PCB’s
chief patron. In the past, that position was occupied by the President
of Pakistan. On a short term basis,
it’s a positive development for Pakistan cricket. For Sharif, lifting
Pakistan cricket out of its current mess The most important
goal for the interim committee will be to make sure that elections do
take place on time and in the right manner. As PCB’s interim chairman,
Sethi failed to hold the elections but he and fellow committee members
shouldn’t fail again. Several concrete steps are needed to be taken to
lift Pakistan cricket but most of them can only be taken by elected
officials. Pakistan need to bring international action back to its
shores. It will have to bring massive improvement to its domestic system
which is currently in a shambles. And A comprehensive
campaign is needed to provide a much-needed boost to Pakistan cricket.
Najam Sethi and Co can give it a kick-start by paving the path for
transparent elections both at the regional and national levels. The men who form the
interim committee seem to have the required credentials. Shaharyar has
long been associated with Pakistan cricket one way or the other. Zaheer
Abbas is one of the country’s legendary cricketers while Haroon
Rasheed has played various innings as player, coach and administrator.
Naveed Cheema has been part of Pakistan cricket as the national team’s
manager and did a pretty decent job. Sethi was a cricketing nobody till
a few months back but as acting PCB chairman he must have done his
homework by now. The onus is on this group of five to accomplish the
responsibility entrusted to them. Khalid Hussain is
Editor Sports of The News, Karachi Khalid.hussain@thenews.com.pk
Facts and figures show that a dearth of international tournaments in the country is the prime reason why Pakistan continues to suffer a decline in its squash fortunes By Bilal Hussain Cricket is by
far the most popular sport in Pakistan while hockey is the country’s
national game. But neither cricket nor hockey can match the magnitude of
success which Pakistan has achieved in the world of squash. Pakistan ruled the
world of squash for more than four decades. Thanks to the unwavering and
supreme dedication and mastery of great maestros from Hashim Khan and
Roshan Khan to Qamar Zaman and from the unsquashable Jahangir Khan to
the mighty Jansher Khan who earned the eternal glory for their country.
The name of Pakistan would always glitter in the history of squash ever
recorded and elaborated. But that was the good
part of the story. Now the twist: For the last couple of decades,
Pakistan squash has been experiencing a decline. The reasons of this
decline have been discussed many a times but the true synthesis of the
situation with hard facts has never been explored and put across to shun
the vague guesses and false findings. But things are
changing. If you take a long,
hard look at the various facts and figures gathered meticulously by AVM
Syed Razi Nawab, Senior Vice President of Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF),
you will get close to finding the reasons behind the downfall of
Pakistan squash. Nawab, who is also the
Vice President of Asian Squash Federation (ASF), took up this mammoth
task of screening the scores of history pages to find out the trends of
Professional Squash Association (PSA) tournaments and players’
performance on the basis of their regions/countries. The World Squash
Federation (WSF) has distributed the squash world into five regions —
Asia, Europe, Pan America, Africa and Oceania. A total of 445 players
are registered with the PSA representing 59 countries. Out of these
regions leading squash playing nations and number of registered players
are as shown in the table. The table shows that
about 50% of the total PSA players represent England (77 players, 17%),
Pakistan (47 players, 11%), Australia (42 players, 9%), Egypt (38
players, 9%), Canada (17 players, 4%) and the remaining 50% of the
players come from rest of the world. The fact that Pakistan
has the second highest representation in international squash is quite
encouraging. It shows that the desire and eagerness in our players still
exists and PSF’s efforts to promote squash in Pakistan at grassroots
levels bear testimony to the growing strength of Pakistani players in
PSA. However, these facts also show that the problem lies elsewhere. Now just take a glance
at the table to completely comprehend the situation in hand. There are about 800
PSA tournaments around the globe in a calendar year If we look into the
distribution of the PSA tournaments it comes out that the most of the
tournaments are held in Canada and Australia even though the percentage
of players especially from Canada is only 3.8%. To be very specific we
can see that Pakistan is the biggest loser in this case as against 11%
of players we are only awarded 2.2 % of the total PSA tournaments.
Statistics show that this disparity is one of the reasons behind the
downfall of squash in Pakistan. “It is the time when
world bodies need to understand our stance that on the pretext of mere
travel advisories and law and order Pakistan squash cannot be left alone
as tying our one hand and making us play in court cannot work,” says
Nawab. “PSA needs to give
Pakistan its due share in the division of its tournaments so that our
players can get the required exposure and exhibit their talent. Because
of insufficient tournaments on our soil we have to travel to distant
regions like Canada and Australia which creates a lot of administrative
problems like getting visas in time coupled with huge financial
affects,” he stresses “Pakistan has
justified its stance of being a safe country for the game of squash by
holding Asian Masters Championship in 2012 in Lahore where seven world
squash Champions were invited to witness the tournament and 17th Asian
Seniors Squash Championship (Men/Women) in Islamabad in 2013 in which
players from nine Asian countries participated and went back
satisfied,” he adds. “The successful
culmination of these tournaments leaves not even an iota of doubt that
Pakistan deserves international squash back on its soil. As a
recognition of our efforts the PSA has recently allowed Pakistan to hold
a few international events. This step has been
welcomed in Pakistan as it has been allowed after a break of about eight
years while it is also pertinent to mention that Pakistan has had the
capacity and will to hold even much bigger prize money tournaments.” Nawab certainly has a
point. Before the 9/11
terrorist attacks in the US, Pakistan was a major destination for
international squash players. It can regain that status with the help of
international bodies like the PSA and WSF. It is time that they start
providing a helping hand to Pakistan. bilalsports86@yahoo.com Country
% of % of
Tournaments Players
Awarded Australia
9
12 Canada
3.8 10 Pakistan
11 2.2
From
Barcelona with love Si treballes
per la pau, t’oferim les millors armies (If you fight for peace we
offer you best weapons). This is the motto of the Campus for Peace,
University of Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) in Barcelona that recently
organised the 6th International Congress on Peace and Conflictology. International scholars
such as Dr Lou Marinoff, Dr Martina Steiner, Dr Elisabet Ferran and Dr
Eduard Vinyamata were present on the occasion and gave presentations on
different aspects of peace and conflict. I was fortunate to be
part of such a distinguished gathering. UOC assisted the National
Defense University (NDU) in Islamabad in the past in establishing its
Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. This time UOC took the
initiative by establishing a chair of higher learning in the unique
field of Sport for Development & Peace in collaboration with world
renowned Barcelona Football Club and UNESCO. The purpose of establishing
the department is to develop experts who can work to promote the value
of sport in conflict resolution worldwide. A special session on
sport for peace and conflict resolution was included in the congress due
to the efforts of our moderator Claudia Solanes who works in the office
of Sport for Peace and Development in UN and should be credited for
bringing the experts on the subject from all parts of the globe
together. The Olympic fencing
silver medallist sisters Lulwa and Balsam Al Ayoub, who came from
Kuwait, run an organisation by the name of “Swords for Peace” where
they work on humanitarian sport initiatives by promoting fencing among
youth in community clubs and education institutions. Panos Manologlou who
is an active and senior member of a street football project came from
Germany. Tom Woodhouse came from Bradford (England) where there is a
large fan following of Imran Khan. I was asked to present
a case of sport for peace and development in Pakistan which was very
well received by the international audience present at the grand Cosmo
Caixa located in the scenic foothills of historic Tibidabo in Barcelona.
Dr Eduard Vinyamata,
the director of the campus, was very kind to extend his support in
developing a comprehensive sport for peace & development programme
in Pakistan in collaboration with Sports Development Foundation (SDF),
Right to Play (RTP), UOC and any public university of Pakistan willing
to become a stakeholder. As the final session
of the congress was yet in progress, one could already feel the fever of
Saturday football match to be played between Barcelona and Valladolid.
The organisers had made the arrangements for the workshop participants
to witness the much awaited match. When such an
opportunity came, it was impossible to resist the temptation of going to
Campnou, to watch some of the worldís best football players. When I boarded the
metro from Lesseps station for the football stadium, it seemed as if the
entire Barcelona was on its way to Campnou to witness the 90 minute
Barca explosion. Football is not just a
sport in Spain. It is part of Barcelona’s cultural heritage that has
shaped the way of life of the Catalan people. I think that after Antoni
Gaudi, the creator of the most emblematic civic buildings like La
Pedrera and Sagrada Familia, Football Club Barcelona has the maximum
impact on the culture and lifestyle of the Catalan people. The first sight of the
stadium from inside was breathtaking. My mind train quickly ran many
miles to assess the capability of event managers and administrators
responsible for managing a stadium which was inaugurated in 1957 and has
the capacity to accommodate 99,786 spectators. The match started in
the traditional manner with a 64,000 crowd singing the famous Barca
song. The opening moments proved a big disappointment for the crowd
supporting the Barcelona club as Javi Guerra from Valladolid took full
advantage of a sluggish defence and scored the opening goal against
Barca. This was a wakeup call for the sleeping giant, who in the absence
of great Messi took little time in regrouping themselves. What ever happened
after that and later in the second half of the game due to the great
combination between Xavi, Alexis, Neymar, Ramos and Sanchez could be
best described as “poetry on the football field”. Barca kept 70
percent possession of the ball and made 21 attempts on Valladolid goal.
Alexis scored twice, where as Xavi and Neymar scored one goal each. The match ended 4-1 in
the favour of Barcelona which created a history in Spanish league by
winning eight games in a row. There couldn’t have
been a better end of the tour to Barcelona as we witnessed the Gaudi’s
architect at display through football, by the group of twenty two
brilliant players and two outstanding coaches, who were able to fuse the
two forms of performing art into one at Campnou. While on my way back
to my hotel, I thought how terrorism has deprived our youngsters of
sport and cultural activities for many years. I thought of sport as a
very important tool to combat terrorism, religious extremism and
conflicts of various hues and colours. The motto “Si treballes per la
pau, t’oferim les millors armies” was the only thing that I could
recall at that very moment. sdfsports@gmail.com
A
roadmap for our wrestling talent Recently, the
famous Japanese wrestler of yesteryears, Mohammad Hussain Inoki,
formerly Antonio Anoki, visited Pakistan. Anoki gained eternal fame in
Pakistan when he fought two highly publicised duels with Akram (in 1976)
and Zubair alias Jhara (in 1979), both members of Pakistan’s
internationally famous wrestling clan. In Lahore, among other
activities, he witnessed a ‘wrestling dangal’ in the Punjab stadium.
Later, the 70-year-old former king of the ring announced he would take
16-year-old Haroon, nephew of his late opponent Zubair Jhara, to Japan
to give him training of international standard. This grand gesture of
the great wrestler is definitely worth appreciating. This might bring
success to one individual wrestler and his wrestling family. But what
about Pakistani wrestling in general? It remains doubtful if training of
international standard given to just one youngster can revive wrestling
in Pakistan. Pakistan has a proud
wrestling history. At the Commonwealth Games, of the total 24 gold
medals won by Pakistan, the share of the wrestlers is an astonishing 22.
The sport has also brought Pakistan medals from the Asian Games and even
from the Olympics. Yes, Pakistan’s first individual Olympic medal, a
bronze, was achieved by Lahore’s Basheer Pehalwan at the 1960 Rome
Olympics; boxer Hussain Shah, also a bronze medallist in 1988, brought
the only other individual Olympic medal to the country.
Though our wrestlers still shine at the Commonwealth Games, their
performance at the more competitive Asian arena has of late declined. Pakistan was once a
potent wrestling force at the Asian Games. The grapplers won six gold
medals at the Asian Games with the last one coming in 1986. Since then
what to talk of gold, not even a bronze has been won at the Asian Games
by our wrestlers. Winning at the
Common-wealth stage is encouraging but there is not much competition in
wrestling at these games. Whereas Pakistan’s
wrestling fortunes have plummeted, India has had a great rise. In recent
times, they have been winning at every level including the highest
stage. At the 2012 Olympics, the Indian grapplers won one silver and one
bronze medals. They had three (one silver and two bronze) at the world
championships last month. This is a far cry from
the older days when Pakistan was way ahead of India, until the early
1970s. In fact, Pakistani wrestlers of 1960s regarded a bout against an
Indian at the Asiad, CW Games or Olympics as their rest day.
The traditional mud arenas called akhara have always served as a
nursery for Pakistan’s wrestling and the grapplers from akhara
graduated to win the country laurels in the international wrestling
contests fought on the mat. The enthusiasm is
still there. There are always good crowds at important competitions.
This scribe witnessed the last two Sher-e-Punjab Dangals, staged at the
wrestling stadium, Iqbal Park, Lahore. I was thrilled to see
the wonderful atmosphere. The 5,000 capacity stadium was overcrowded.
There were spectators, of all ages, even from outside Lahore: Gujranwala,
Sahiwal, Sialkot, Bahawalpur. There were a number of bouts on the akhara.
A couple of duels involved kids not even into their teens. Hence, the
enthusiasm, public support, tradition and proud history; all is there.
The missing link is training along the modern lines. Indian Badminton
legend Prakash Padukone, father of Bollywood star Deepika Padukone, was
the first Indian to win the prestigious All England Championship —
badminton’s equivalent of Wimbledon in 1980. That year also saw him at
the top of the World Rankings. When in his teens,
Prakash Padukone’s precocious talent was noticed by the state
government of Karnataka and he was sent to Indonesia, the most dominant
badminton nation of that time, along with Asif Pirpia, another highly
promising shuttler of Karnataka. Padukone lived, studied, trained and
played in the highly competitive Indonesian domestic circuit for a few
years. Living, training, playing with Pakistan wrestling
doesn’t need to look that far. Our neighbours and friendly countries
Iran and Turkey are great wrestling nations, winners of medals at the
Olympics and the World Championships. Turkey has a tally of 28 wrestling
gold medals at the Olympics. Iran has eight. At the last London
Olympics, Iran was third at the wrestling medals table with three gold
medals. Arrangements can be
made to invite wrestling coaches from the two countries. After scouting
in different parts of Pakistan they should pick a batch of around 10
young talented wrestlers in early teens. The selected lot should then be
sent to Iran and Turkey to live, study and wrestle for three to four
years. Learning and competing in the most competitive environs would
help them grow into world class wrestlers and bring glories to Pakistan. ijaz62@hotmail.com
The
plight of Pakistan golf Pakistan is
perhaps one of the few countries on earth which doesn’t have golf
academies. We don’t have proper junior programmes; we have coaches but
no employment for them. That’s a sad state of affairs for a country
that is proud of its sporting achievements. Since partition, in
about 68 years, Pakistan has produced world class sportsmen in various
disciplines but as I wrote in my last article things have changed and
now everything is run by professionals. There are proper systems in
place which is the reason why various countries of the world churn out
world class golfers every now and then. Recently a 14-year-old Chinese
boy played in US Masters. How did he achieve that distinction? The
answer is the Chinese golf programme for juniors. In 1995 Pakistan and
India were at the same level in golf, but today there is no comparison
between the two nations. India have their local coaches running golf
academies, which are able to produce world class professionals and
amateurs. They have players playing on every circuit in the world. Their
golf associations take care of their coaches; they have a national golf
academy; and they have one of the best junior golf tours in the world. Are they more talented
than us? Are they richer than us? Are they physically stronger than us?
There is one answer to all these three questions: a big no. The
difference lies in their professional system, which is based on merit
rather than anything else. They have local professionals working with
their golfers, getting attractive salaries, driving luxury cars, living
in nice houses. I am not talking about
the Europeans or the Americans; I am talking about the Indians. Whereas
we wasted a world class golfer like Shabbir Iqbal; a player like him is
born once in centuries. He was wasted because of our inadequate golf
system. Shabbir should have been sent to the United States or Europe. He
would have placed Pakistan among the top ten in the world of golf. In golf one world
class player can change the image of a country. Like Vijay Singh did for
Fiji. He became world’s number one golfer in an era ruled by Tiger
Woods. Today, I believe Ahmed
Saeed of Pakistan Navy is one of the most exciting players on our
domestic circuit. Currently he is the longest hitter on Pakistan’s
golf circuit. He has been trained by me since day one which is why I
really want him to succeed. I hope that he doesn’t end up like Shabbir
and manages to reach where he truly belongs: among the top-ten in
international golf. Pakistan golf is not
able to find young amateur golfers either. The reason is the absence of
golf academies and teaching programmes. A kid by the name of
Shahzada Aman played in Junior World Cup for Pakistan. He is a very
talented golfer. His family paid for my travel to Islamabad for teaching
him because there was no golf academy in Islamabad. This talented kid
has now lost interest in golf and is now busy with his studies. For me,
its talent drain which is really hurting the growth of Pakistan golf. As I write these
lines, I recall the day when Saeed Hai, Pakistan’s tennis legend,
approached me to coach his eldest son — Ali Hai. Ali started golf and
on the first day hit about 400 golf balls. I would make him hit hundreds
of golf balls on a daily basis. After school he would spend his day with
me at the practice range of the Karachi Golf Club. He would play with me
and other club members. Soon, he started to win junior tournaments at
club level and for Pakistan. But the thing is how
many kids have access to proper coaching in Pakistan? A vibrant junior
programme at the grassroots level is the need of the hour for
Pakistan’s golf. The parents of a number of children aspiring to
become golfers ask me why I don’t open a proper golf academy. The
reason is that the situation doesn’t allow me and I am not a
recognised coach in the eyes of national golf officials. Thanks to the success
of golfing stars like Tiger Woods — one of the world’s most famous
sportsmen — parents want their kids to play golf, but there are no
institutions for them to take their kids to. Meanwhile, I do my
Owen Junior programme every year during the winter at Karachi Golf Club.
I started with about ten juniors last year in the summer. It’s hard
for kids to play in Karachi’s extreme heat. This year I got a few
fresh young kids. My goal is to help produce good golfers for Pakistan. In a nutshell, I’m
trying to do my bit for the promotion of golf in Pakistan. Golf is a
major sport worldwide and needs to prosper in Pakistan just like cricket
and hockey. After all, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah — the founder
of Pakistan ñ was a keen golfer. Queries from readers Q: Whenever I
switch golf courses, I have two common problems — bunker shot and
putting. What should I do? Michael Johnson,
Michigan (USA). JB: The sand in the
bunkers is not the same; it can be a little lighter or heavier. It also
depends on what time of the day you play. Playing golf in the morning is
a little different because of dew. The bunkers and the greens are wet
which is why you need to adjust to your putting stroke and bunker shots.
The most important thing is which shot or distance you play with which
wedge because these days every golfer has four wedges. Q: My son Jamal, who
is eight years old, wants to be a golfer; how should we get started? Rashid Khan, Karachi JB: Please bring him
to Karachi Golf Club. I am giving out lessons for juniors there. Q: I want to play
golf. Is there any golf club in Peshawar? Faraza Khan, Peshawar:
JB: Sure, Peshawar
Golf Club is a nice club and has produced a women’s national champion
by the name of Sonia Wali.
Sebastian
Vettel: One of the greatest of all time Three-time F1
World Champion just needs a fifth place finish next Sunday in New Delhi
to secure his fourth consecutive championship. With only 20,000 tickets
sold for the Indian Grand Prix, the German might be crowned the champion
against one of the smallest crowds in recent memory, but that of course
shouldn’t take anything away from what has been yet another astounding
season for the Red Bull driv While there haven’t
been any — and cannot be any — doubts over the Red Bull — Vettel
combo being by far the best in the recent past, there has been a general
reluctance to dub Vettel one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time
despite his achievements. The reason? His car is supposed to be light
years ahead of any of the competitors. It’s obviously true that Vettel
does drive the best F1 car, but then again so did Michael Schumacher, or
even Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso when they ruled the roost. More
often than not, the World Champion is the one that has the best car, but
what makes him the champion is his ability to make the most of his car
and his team, something that Vettel has done brilliantly which has put
him en route to his fourth world crown in four years. Also people seem
to forget that Mark Webber, a great driver no matter which way you might
want to look at it, also drives the same car. This debate can go on
endlessly, but no one can take away the fact that Vettel has made the
best of and got the most out of the machinery that he has — and indeed
on a regular basis. No matter how good your car is, for anyone to be
ahead of the pack — and by some distance — race after race, circuit
after circuit, year after year and in all kinds of conditions, manifests
the hallmark of greatness. Those questioning
Vettel’s skill level as a driver need to watch the highlights of his
win for Toro Rosso on Monza’s wet track in 2008. F1 cars alone don’t
win you races and no matter how gifted the driver is he needs a decent
car to help him win championships. It’s always the driver-car
combination that fights for titles and great cars need great drivers to
propel the team towards greatness. And when someone does it back to back
to back to back, not only is that a testament to his consistency, but
also tells us a lot about his drive (pun unintended) and the hunger to
win. Ayrton Senna was
renowned for his commitment to the sport. And with the exception of
Michael Schumacher, one would struggle to come up with any other driver
who has shown the same level of commitment, other than Vettel. As
renowned F1 commentator Murray Walker puts it: “When the tyres
changed from Bridgestone to Pirelli, Vettel was the only person who went
to Pirelli in Italy to find out how they made the tyres, where they made
the tyres, what sort of tyres they were. That’s the sort of thing that
Senna did and maybe to a lesser extent Schumacher did.” Sebastien Vettel might
not rank in the upper echelons of the most popular F1 drivers, but there
is no denying the fact that by the time he hangs up the index finger of
his right hand, he’d be considered among the very best to have been a
part of Formula One.
khulduneshahid@gmail.com
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their only chance to do so. The ingredients are more or less the same as
they were in Abu Dhabi and the only major difference could be Hashim
Amla — South Africa’s top performer in Abu Dhabi — who might not
be there to rescue his team in Dubai. Amla, who hit a classy ton in the
first Test, has returned home for the birth of his second child and
could miss the final Test.
might
not be on the top of the agenda at a time when the country is facing
issues of humungous proportions like terrorism and a faltering economy.
But cricket is certainly on the prime minister’s menu, something that
was proved by last week’s notification. Boosting Pakistan cricket is
going to be an easier task than improving the country’s security
situation or reviving its economy. That is why one can expect that the
government will throw its weight behind the PCB at a time when an
interim set-up will be making efforts to put Pakistan cricket back on
track.
the
list goes on.
and
against world class players made Padukone a world class player and he
reached heights untouched by an Indian before him. 
er.
