Thursday, February 25, 2010

Praises to Tendulkar, but...

Being a sporty person, I admit that yesterday's innings played by Tendulkar against the Proteas at Gwalior, was one worth watching innings of all time, no doubt about it and I also admit that records are meant to be broken, so this time its for Tendulkar next time it would be someone else! and I also admit that the great record by the great Saeed Anwar was broken by another great Sachin Tendulkar.

But last night when I was watching a Indian Cricket Channel (don't wanna mention channel's name) they were praising Tendulkar (I don't mind that anyways) but on the other hand overshadowing Saeed Anwar's brilliance! Thats where I object, because it was eminent that whenever Saeed Anwar scored Pakistan benefited and won the match, including the famous 194 inning against the same team in Madras almost 13 years ago. Secondly Saeed Anwar steadied the ship and played a chance-less inning. Thirdly it was a inning played on opposition's homeground, so opposition at that time had the home-advantage, in that scenario he played that inning, it should be praised in that manner too,

What I want is to praise Sachin Tendulkar for his brilliance but do not over-shadow the brilliance of Saeed Anwar because Sachin's most marvelous innings for India went in vein, including the 175 against the Aussies when they toured India, so record says for it self, this batsman literally played for personal milestone i.e. personal landmarks first than country... What a shame!

Peace!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Pakistan v England 2nd T20 match played at Dubai, videos

Pakistan v England, 2nd T20 at Dubai Sports City Cricket Stadium, Dubai, Part 1


Pakistan v England, 2nd T20 at Dubai Sports City Cricket Stadium, Dubai, Part 2


Pakistan v England, 2nd T20 at Dubai Sports City Cricket Stadium, Dubai, Part 3


Pakistan v England, 2nd T20 at Dubai Sports City Cricket Stadium, Dubai, Part 4



Pakistan v England, 2nd T20 at Dubai Sports City Cricket Stadium, Dubai, Part 5


Pakistan v England, 2nd T20 at Dubai Sports City Cricket Stadium, Dubai, Part 6

Re: Captains laud Razzaq onslaught

Spectacular scoring feats aren't exactly a novelty in Twenty20 cricket, but both England's captain, Paul Collingwood, and his opposite number, Shoaib Malik, had to concede that Abdul Razzaq's ferocious late onslaught in the second Twenty20 in Dubai had taken the breath away. From an uncompromising position of 78 for 5 after 13 overs, Razzaq turned the contest on its head with a brilliant unbeaten 46 from 18 balls, including five sweetly struck sixes that left no room for equivocation.
"There's no shame in losing like that," said Collingwood. "We're disappointed because we've lost, but sometimes players play innings that deserve to win the game for their country. [Razzaq] put his heart into the innings and struck the ball cleanly from ball one, and sometimes there's not a lot you can do as a fielding unit to stop a guy like that."
Malik, for his part, used the word "awesome" on at least six separate occasions to sum up an innings that ended Pakistan's ignominious run of 10 defeats in a row, in all formats, that stretches back to their tour of New Zealand before Christmas. "We needed this performance before the T20 World Cup, because we were struggling before these two matches," he said. "The way our boys played was awesome to see, and his hitting was absolutely clean and marvellous. He's one of the best players in our team."
"When I went to the crease I was very confident," said Razzaq, who shared in a match-turning stand of 48 in four overs with Fawad Alam. "I was telling Fawad we should win this one. I was saying 'you can, you will' and we did. The team needed that, to hit the ball hard. Thankfully I hit, I think, five sixes because the team needed that to get victory."
England now head off to Bangladesh for three ODIs and two Tests, meaning that the Twenty20 format will be put on the back-burner until the squad reconvenes in the Caribbean for the World Twenty20. With consecutive shared series against South Africa in November and now Pakistan in February, Collingwood is confident that they are ready to put on a decent performance in April and May, starting with a tricky group that includes Ireland and West Indies.
"We've done some great stuff, and there's a lot of positives to take out of the game," he said. "Kevin Pietersen looked at his best again, which is crucial for England, and we've done some fantastic stuff in the last few games so the boys should be very proud. They've been working on their skills and we feel we are moving forward in this format of the game, but it just took that last five or six overs for one batsman to turn it around, and you take your hat off to him. It was pure hitting and it was very hard to bowl at him."
One man who bore the brunt of Razzaq's onslaught was England's debutant, Ajmal Shahzad, who had a night to remember, for all manner of reasons. His first over was the stuff of schoolboy dreams, as he rebounded from a first-ball boundary to scalp both of Pakistan's openers in the space of three balls, but the denouement was disappointing, as Razzaq smoked him into the stands for two match-sealing sixes.
"He's come in against the world's best Twenty side, and it's not easy when you're bowling against guys like that," said Collingwood. "But he's got the talent, he's certainly got the pace, and also the aggression to go with it. When you've got a combination like that you learn all the time, and he'll learn a hell of a lot from this experience tonight. I know he enjoyed it, which is a good thing. He certainly didn't shy away from it, and he's got all the attributes."
Joe Denly, on the other hand, is looking like a man in need of a break from the front line, after adding a torturous 5 from 10 balls to a Twenty20 tally that now reads 20 runs in five innings. With Somerset's hard-hitting Craig Kieswetter now competing for a place in the ODIs in Bangladesh, it's highly possible that England will have themselves another new opening combination in place by the time the World Twenty20 gets underway.
"I'm sure he's disappointed with his form," said Collingwood, when asked about Denly. "We've seen what he can do in county cricket, and his domestic record is very good. Batting at the top of the order is a confidence thing, and [he needs] one innings when he gets it away, to get the ball rolling. But Joe is a three-dimensional cricketer. He bowls useful legspin, and he's a great lad to have in the dressing room. Let's hope his form turns around."
Andrew Miller is UK editor of Cricinfo
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Like it said, it was a breath taking inning of Razzaq which took the game away from the Englishmen. Well done Razzaq, and clearly showed the higher officials what he is capable of. His reaction just after that blistering inning was the example of his exemplary and long lasting reply to those who made him sidelined! This is the way to go Razzaq. Cheers

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Re: Pakistan not ruled out of Champions League

The possibility of a Pakistan domestic side participating in the Champions League Twenty20 this year - though bleak - has not been entirely written off yet, either by the league or the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
Pakistan did not have a representative in the inaugural tournament last year, the only Test-playing nation other than Bangladesh to not have a representative in the 12-team league. Sialkot Staliions - then Pakistan's domestic Twenty20 champions - had been invited to participate in the very first Champions League, but that was postponed because of the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008.
Since then, as ties between the governments and cricket boards of India and Pakistan have become frostier not only have the two countries not had a bilateral series, Pakistan's players have not participated in the IPL and not been invited to the Champions League.
Relations have worsened further following the decision of the IPL franchises this year to not pick any Pakistani players, despite Pakistan being the World Twenty20 champions and having as many as 12 players up for auction. The PCB eventually decided to revoke all NOCs it had given to players hoping to participate in the IPL, but the door may remain open for participation in this year's Champions League, which is a multi-board venture and may not be played in India.
Discussion on a Pakistan representative was expected to take place in the last meeting of the league's governing council between officials from the Indian board, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa. But a senior league official said the number of teams in this year's tournament - to be held in September - has not been finalised.
"No final decision on participating countries/teams has been made for this year's event," Dean Kino, the league's director of business and legal affairs and key member of the core management, told Cricinfo when asked specifically about the possibility of a Pakistan side being invited.
No contact has yet been made with the PCB and though the IPL remains off-limits, the Champions League is a possibility. "Nothing has been discussed with us by any of the boards involved in the tournament as yet," Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, told Cricinfo. "The IPL remains persona non grata for us, but if there is some contact about the Champions League we will consider the situation, where it is played and when. We would be amenable to sending a team should we get an invite and the situation is feasible."
Pakistan's domestic Twenty20 tournament has not yet been held this season; it is scheduled to be played between late February and early March. Pakistan's ODI series with England in September also clashes with the dates of the Champions League, which makes it unlikely that any domestic champion will be able to call on its best players should there even be an invite.
Osman Samiuddin is Pakistan editor of Cricinfo
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Seems there still a plot being made for more snubbing of Pakistani players in the multimillion Domestic T20 tournament which involves some of the best domestic T20 teams. Hats off to our cricket board and May Allah the Almighty be the Savior of this Sport in Pakistan!

Peace!

Old rift between Shoaib Malik and Muhammad Yousuf

Today, on the 14th of February in 2010, news have confirmed that the man who was according to Muhammad Yousuf, was the person creating disturbance in the team was Shoaib Malik, what a rubbish. Even National Cricket Team coach, Mr. Intikhab Alam mentioned that Muhammad Yousuf was a defensive approached captain in the hearing. I am not taking side of anyone but when a person is not willing to take the captaincy for the team, and on the other hand the person who's accusing has shown very much keen interest. What does it show? It clearly shows there's a Smelly Drama King in the team, who's doing all these politics.

Not only Muhammad Yousuf but everyone should be ashamed, how selfish and rude we've been to our country and with the Cricket Team's Emblem embossed on their kits, blazers and other related things, are we showing that much courage and patriotism like our elders did?

Did anyone one remember that during the 1992 world cup which we won, there was a serious rift between Imran Khan and Javed Miandad, but they killed their ego for the sake of the country, and when they played as a team, the world knows what was the result that time. What's going on in this team. Everyone is busy pulling each others leg instead of seeing country's stake. Is for that reason we like cricket? Is that reason for we respect them and give them revenues unlike other sports?

Instead of saying he's responsible and he's not, why can't they play as a team. I say lets kick all these bulky fishes outside, so that they know who's the boss and whom they accountable to?

Power to Pakistan


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Saturday, February 06, 2010

'Shahid's desire to win was there for all to see'


'Shahid's desire to win was there for all to see'

"No I just was trying to smell it, [to see] how it was feeling."
Shahid Afridi tells of his lovin' feelin' for the ball soon after the end of the match

"There is no team in the world that doesn't tamper with the ball. My methods were wrong. I am embarrassed, I shouldn't have done it. I just wanted to win us a game but this was the wrong way to do it."
Afridi regrets his actions after being banned

"I'm just watching like you. If he did that it is not a good image for Pakistan. He can tell you better."
Mohammad Yousuf, the Pakistan captain who missed the game, was just a silent spectator

"Shahid's desire to win today was there for all to see."
Afridi's manager Umran Khan admires his client's never-say-die spirit

"He would have had all sorts of things going through his mind for the last couple of overs and as captain you have enough going through your head without worrying about things like that."
Australian captain Ricky Ponting can bring himself to sympathize

"There must have been a bet, or perhaps he was drunk."
The Times' Patrick Kidd gives some plausible explanations

"Perhaps he didn't appreciate the lunch he was given in Australia."
Graeme Smith, South Africa captain, kicks off the series of endless jokes that the incident will prompt

"Whatever justification or excuse … cannot justify the act because in the laws of cricket it is illegal … He's so talented and you can see the [good] body language when the team is playing under him. All this is going his way. It is so foolish."
Former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal clearly does not support Afridi's actions

"It's no secret that everyone wants to change the condition of the ball but that's through shining the ball and things like that."
Australia bowler Dirk Nannes rejects Afridi's claims that all teams tamper with the ball

"I don't think there was any malice in what he did, but given his track record he probably got off lightly. I think five-six matches should have been the minimum."
Former Australian batsman Mark Waugh thinks the penalty should have been heavier
I am not justifying his acts nor sympathizing with his acts. He shouldn't have had done so because now other teams are openly pointing out jokes on him, keeping in mind unlike India, we lack in lobbying dept. There's not that much stronger lobbying from our side to satisfy these goras.
Just because of his foolish act we were humiliated, else Stuart Broad did the same in South Africa but he was spared just because his daddy is on a good post.
Might is Right
Now these stains will haunt Pakistani cricket for long, which is still suffering from the wounds of the previous years.
Peace!

Re: Under-strength West Indies chase respect

[reference]http://www.cricinfo.com/ausvwi09/content/current/story/447136.html[/reference]

Under-strength West Indies chase respect

West Indies kicked off Australia's home summer and now they're back to finish it off with five ODIs and two Twenty20s after the Australians completed a tri-format clean-sweep of Pakistan. Chris Gayle's men showed more consistent fight in the Test series than did Mohammad Yousuf's team and they have started their return leg of the Australian tour well, by posting a remarkable 5 for 399 - of which Gayle made 146 - in 45 overs against the Prime Minister's XI.
The two batting stars are Gayle and Kieron Pollard, who thrilled Australian crowds during the Big Bash last month, but the loss of Dwayne Bravo due to a broken thumb is a big blow to a team already missing Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul. It is a while since this outfit has played 50-over cricket, though. The player-board crisis meant a second-string team was sent to the Champions Trophy having also lost at home to Bangladesh and Gayle hasn't led a full-strength ODI team since early July.
For Australia, the challenge is to attempt to maintain the superb winning run they have enjoyed in the 50-over format over the past few months. Since the start of the post-Ashes one-dayers in the United Kingdom, Australia have won a remarkable 20 of 24 ODIs, with a dead-rubber loss to England and two defeats at the hands of India their only blemishes.
Form guide (most recent first)
Australia WWWWW
West Indies LLLLL
What can I say about it! I think it'll also be a 5-0 encounter but the aggression Chris Gayle has shown that we will win 4-1, that thing was blemish in Mohammad Yousuf's captaincy that we need to win and to win comprehensively and with bigger margins against the bigger opponents.
Even during the last tour of Australia, everyone recommended that Mohammad Yousuf's captaincy didn't had that spark which is required for the skipper leading the team. The reason of having reference of this article is to see the clear mindset of both the skippers! Its eminent that Aussies won't let them win each match easily but they have conveyed a strong message to the opponents.

Still having these pitfalls, he's insisting that he wants to be the skipper for the side, he doesn't have that capabilities, he might be world's best player but it doesn't matter that he should be equally the same capable skipper. But he may not understand this, like the Chairman of the Cricket Board of Pakistan, he's also a big U-turner. Everyone knows what he said before the dead rubber test match at Hobart about the captaincy, now his stance on his captaincy that he had the best of the records compared to the past one, seeking pure lack of information.

The other captains admit didn't had the best of the record, but they managed to have some respectable record with them in Australia.

Peace out!

Friday, February 05, 2010

Atlast, the later part of the humiliation received

Today's contest between Pakistan and Australia for the one only T20 clash was a match to watch. At the start when Pakistan came into bowling, they bowling fired up and restricted the OZs to 127 all out, everyone bet for it that it were Pakistan's day now, and plus the way Akmals were playing, Pakistan were into control of the match with equation going with run-a-ball and close competition between runs and the balls were going on, at some instance it looked Pakistan were on the lead and on the other hand it seemed the other way around.

Australia 127 (Hussey 40*, Gul 3-20) beat Pakistan 9 for 125 (K Akmal 64, Tait 3-13) by 2 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Umar Gul led Pakistan with 3 for 20, Australia v Pakistan, only Twenty20 international, MCG, 5 February, 2010
Umar Gul took three wickets but it turned into Australia's night © Getty Images

Shaun Tait proved he can still be a force at international level as he helped Australia to a tense two-run win that completed a clean-sweep across all three formats against Pakistan this summer. Tait bowled the fastest ball ever recorded in Australia and grabbed 3 for 13 including the key wicket of Kamran Akmal, who had threatened to end Australia's streak with his highest Twenty20 score.
Pakistan's trip has been notable for terrible fielding and the inability to capitalise whenever they got on top of Australia. This time their fielding was sharper than it had been at any stage over the past couple of months but their failure to keep Australia down remained a major issue. Despite dismissing Australia for 127 and being on track at 4 for 98 in the 15th over, they found a way to lose.
The problems began when Kamran chipped to mid-on for 64 from 33 balls to hand Tait his third wicket. Steven Smith then delivered two important breakthroughs on debut when he had Fawad Alam caught at slip and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan stumped, and the wickets kept tumbling. In the end, Pakistan needed 10 from the final Shane Watson over. Umar Akmal was on strike, having been the key after the loss of his brother, but when he holed out from the first ball the result was all but sealed.
It was a shame that Kamran's team-mates couldn't reward him after he led an impressive fightback when the visitors had stumbled to 2 for 10. Kamran was a one-man resistance movement and raced to a 25-ball half-century, the quickest ever by a Pakistan batsman in a Twenty20 international.
His fifty came up with a typically muscular pull for six off Dirk Nannes and at the time Pakistan were 4 for 81 and no other batsman in their line-up had reached double figures. It was an incredible turnaround for a man who was dropped from both the Test and ODI sides during the tour and had a best international score of 34 in any format on the trip.
In a match where Tait broke the 160kph barrier and his new-ball partner Nannes was fast and accurate, the first-change Mitchell Johnson was a welcome relief and Kamran helped blast 20 off Johnson's first over. Despite the support of his brother Umar (21), there wasn't enough of a spread in the runs from the rest of the Pakistanis.
The trouble began with the quick loss of both the openers. Nannes' first over was a maiden that included the run-out of Imran Nazir as the pressure built, and Tait didn't drop below 150kph in his opening spell. He hit 160.7kph, which was the fastest ball recorded in Australia, and from a 152kph offering had Imran Farhat caught at slip for 8.
That undid much of the good work from Pakistan in the field after they dismissed Australia with eight balls to spare, with David Hussey holding things together during an unbeaten 40. Only twice in a 20-over match had Australia scored less than their 127 and it was thanks to great bowling from Umar Gul and a sharp fielding effort from his team-mates. Three run-outs hurt Australia badly, including two that resulted in flat, accurate throws from the outfield from Umar Akmal.
But the most impressive was Fawad's effort to get rid of Cameron White for 4. A Gul short ball lobbed off White's body to point where Fawad took the catch, but while the umpire was turning down the appeal, White wandered out of his crease and was brilliantly snared by a smart throw.
It was the second good thing that Fawad did in the field after he held a sharp chance at point to send Michael Clarke on his way for 32 from 26 balls. Clarke's innings was useful but didn't exactly disprove the doubters who believe he is unsuited to Twenty20 cricket.
He began in promising enough fashion with a cracking cut for four from his first delivery but there was only one more boundary and most of his runs came from scrambled ones and twos. Neither of Australia's debutants had innings to remember - Travis Birt was out second ball when he missed a paddle sweep and was bowled, and Smith was bowled by Rana's slower delivery for 8.
The Twenty20 specialist David Warner made a handy 24 but his dismissal sparked a mini-collapse of 5 for 27. The last of those wickets was Brad Haddin, stumped down the leg side. It was one of several good things Kamran did for the match. He simply didn't have enough support with the bat.
Brydon Coverdale is a staff writer at Cricinfo

Atlast some fight was shown in this match, else like some analists said that Pakistani team seemed as if it forgot to finish the match. The only thing that is bothering me is that we had a series clean wash, i.e. 3-0 test series, 5-0 one day series and 1only T20 match 1-0 and no win in the bag from the Australian tour.

Monday, February 01, 2010

A happening day in Pakistan cricket

Today was indeed a cashing day for Cricketing Media Personnel as Pakistan, once again was put into the headline news, thanks to the dismal performance. The first one was the white-wash of Australia on Pakistan, the second in the history of Pakistan Cricket, after 1988 in Imran Khan's captaincy. 

The second one was resignation of chief selector Mr. Iqbal Qasim who didn't compromised on his dignity and after today's white-wash, he resigned, I second him because literally some "senior players" tried showing their powers on him by pressurizing him to send their favourite players to New Zealand and than in Australia the skippers comments about the Selection committee that he wanted a particular player but the selection committee didn't listened! Hats off to you Mr. Qasim, although you had a short tenure but unlike some of the other officials, you took the responsibility on your shoulders by resigning and not glued to the selection committee seat.

The third one was rather more similar and close to Pakistan cricket, that is ball tempering, which in the past it were accused and similarly tonight, Afridi was caught on the cameras scrubbing the ball, and he was penalized for 2 T20 matches, which means the T20 match on February 5, 2010 and later in Abu Dhabi against the English, but the captaincy changed had shown some difference in the field. At one stage Pakistan were 0 for 2 wickets and 17 for 3 and after that they managed to touch the 200 mark. Plus later, they were able to take 8 Aussie wickets, even though they were chasing a small target. Thats what an aggressive captain can do! but for now on for these coming T20 matches, I think Shoaib Malik or Kamran Akmal would be assigned as the T20 Captain for temporary basis as MoYo is not in T20 format, Younus Khan is retired from T20. Lets hope for the best.

The fourth one was rather violent and amusing both. Just when the Aussies won the match, an expectator rushed into the ground and tackled Khalid Latif violently after breaching the security cordon. Although Khalid Latif wasn't that much hurt but action is likely to be taken against the spectator and Pakistan's management will also look at the incident in further detail. Lets hope so. The later half of 2009 and start of 2010 wasn't a good one for Pakistan.

Peace!

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