2010 for Green Shirts

More grays than greens for Pakistan this year By the time I am writing this only some mere 7 hours remaining before the clocks in Pakistan will struck 12 for announcement of a new year 2011. Although whatever I've seen during the past 12 months which were not good for Pakistan and Pakistan used to be in the news for bad names, and because of that, the integrity of Pakistan, Pakistan Cricket and Pakistan Nation got at shock, I say don't blame others for your own mishap, others will laugh at you at your blunders, try to keep your house clean and that point fingers on others. Similarly was the case in Pakistan, as there wasn't home games for Pakistan at home, so such dirty games were played in GSL that it will require atleast 10 years to heal it. It all started from the very first month of 2010, when Pakistan lost an already won Sydney Test against the Home Team because of their unusual fielding lapses, the main contributor, as already known the chronicles of Senior Akmal and what he did, and like some commentators at that time mentioned, Kamran Akmal didn't dropped the catch but the victory itself, and so we lost the first test of 2010 against Aussies at Sydney, and from that point things started to go wrong for Pakistan, lost the dead rubber Hobart test, than 5-0 losing in ODIs and not even a single victory in bag in their own favourite format T20. After the conclusion of the series, there were many changes expected. Last year for Pakistan was famous for their captaincy changes, this time it was famous for their controversies one into another haunting Pakistan Cricket. The leaked video told the story that there were differences amongst the team players (who're suppose to play with a team work) and that's why their teamwork was at stake. An assistant coach of Pakistan Cricket also told that Mr. Shoaib Malik aka Shoaib Mirza (the drama queen) was doing the job of that matchstick which was already in flames and accidentally someone put some petrol nearby. After that disastrous tour to down-under, they had some gap, utilizing it, the PCB boss' had a single body appellate tribunal on the accused players. The players whom they nominated, 90% of them got away because of sources, but the player who won us ICC World T20 2009, Younus Khan, he was made to sit on the benches on the personal ego of PCB boss, where I differ from them as PCB is the abbreviation for Pakistan's Cricket Board and so they've to keep their hawk-eyes on the cricketing affairs which can affect Pakistan's integrity, plus even in PCB's legal documents, PCB boss is liable to keep his personal ego at side and maintain country's interest first, so when players were penalized and even Rana Naveed is under penalization, why can't PCB boss be? Plus this is a National Team for Cricket and represents a Nation, so no one should be allowed to play with it. When fingers were pointed on several of its players, so can't they have had taken serious steps that time, like talent hunt and finding new prospects and keeping them in stand by behind the players currently playing? This is the only way Pakistan cricket can be started to clean, else when given free space they'll show their true colour. Plus apart from the players' section, management should also be audited and should be given under a strict control. After the conclusion of Pak tour to Aussies, it was two T20 match series against the England Cricket Team at Dubai, where Shoaib Mirza (oh! I'm sorry, Shoaib Malik) skippered the side, as Shahid Afridi was found chewing the ball during the Perth ODI, and because of it Afridi was penalized for 2 T20s, so managed to level the series 1-1, after that it was World T20 2010, where Pakistan had many changes like having a new kit brand, Afridi announced captain for ODIs Tests and T20s, but before the start of this series they were under a mammoth pressure, thanks to the recent controversies and secondly the hype created by the western and Indian media around Pakistan, still they crawled their way to the semi finals of the T20 tournament, where they lost the match against the Aussies after scoring a mammoth 190 odd score in 120 balls, and the complexion of the game changed when Mike Hussey started his famous onslaught and made Aussies the victorious side when needing 18 runs in 6 balls off Saeed Ajmal who bowled the penultimate over of the match. Later on it was England who won the T20 Event and were the first time that England won any ICC tournament since they incepted. After the Event which we weren't able to defend for 9 months, it was the Asia Cup which was played in only one center of Sri Lanka  i.e. Dambulla, where Pakistan apart from the Bangladesh game, weren't able to win a single match although Sri Lanka and India games were both a nail biters, but in the end Pakistan won the third position just like the previous Asia Cup which was held in Lahore and Karachi, but the trophy went to India for playing like champions. Just after the conclusion of the Asia Cup, was the home-series against the Aussies in England, where Pakistan started well and won the series 2-0 comprehensively and ended a vacuum of 13 matches in a row against the Aussies since 2009 Champions Trophy super 8s match at Centurion, South Africa. But since the test series started between both team, the controversies, it seems haunted the way for Pakistan team, it all started from the Lord's test when it started from Ponting elbowing Muhammad Aamer, and later when Marcus North became an unsung hero who shattered the hopes of Pakistanis saving the test match, and so the Lord's went to Australia, plus after the conclusion of Lord's test, it was Shahid Afridi who resigned as captain and returned home, and so the captaincy cap was given to Salman Butt for Leeds Test, and there Pakistan managed to reply well by bowling Australia out inside the three figures mark and in reply Pakistan was able to take handsome lead, but like the legacy with Australians, they never give upped the hope and were fighting till the last ball and their tail-enders specially Steve Smith, who scored 70 odd runs to bring the 2nd inning leads to 170 odd. But as Pakistan expected and sports channels who were airing that broadcast were making us flashback to the Sydney Test, but thanks to mighty Allah, we won the match by 3 wickets. After that, the most controversial series Pakistan ever had in England was to start, the first two test matches England managed to won them comprehensively but at the Oval test, Pakistan managed to won playing aggressive game and had a dream debut for Wahab Riaz who took 5 wickets on debut in swinging conditions. Although Swann used to disturb Pakistani players alot. But after that win it seemed Pakistan forgot how to win a match, as when Lord's test started it was almost an Even Stevens but at the night of 3rd day of the test match, there was a News Tabloid News of the World, which is known for its cheap publicity stunts, exposed that this test match could be a spot fixed as whatever the prove they gave clearly showed that a particular ball of the particular over will be a No-Ball, sounds funny but when on the third day of the test match similar sorta thing happened when Aamer and Asif both bowled No-Balls at a particular point, the same night that tabloid published the findings of the sting operation they had during the Oval test. Resulting in which Pakistan Cricket Board made a fatal mistake that they didn't took the initiative and went first to punish them before the Governing body did, and so in return Salman Butt, Muhammad Aamer and Muhammad Asif were banned with immediate effect. Pakistan lost test series 3-1, T20 series 2-0 and ODI series 3-2, thanks to a cameo from Abdul Razzaq at The Brit Oval, we were able to had some respect in the series. After the conclusion of this series, the name of Pakistan was ruined, and even the spectators outside the ground were found yelling at them, and even some cricket teams showed their grievances playing against the Pakistani team which was polluted during the England Series. Some players of South Africa showed the same and even Justin Vaughan, the NZC head clearly said that this fact can't be ignored that the effect of recent controversy will not have any effect on current Pakistani series to Kiwi-Land, when it comes to crowd interest. Anyways after that series, Pakistan had an unsuccessful home-series against the Proteas at Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where Pakistan lost all the matches of T20 format and was able to gain some respect by losing the series 3-2, thanks to innings from Abdul Razzaq in 2nd ODI scoring 109 and single handedly won Pakistan a match, and than in the 4th ODI, it was Younus Khan who showed why he's among the best middle order batsman in current cricket, who scored 73 and put Pakistan into command even when occasionally Pakistanis aren't good at chasing but still they were able to chase down scores more than 250 against a Quality South African team. During the series, the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 trophy was presented in a peculiar style, by posing it through an aquarium, and two South African players AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn had the honours. This series also had a bad taste by the departing of Zulqarnain Haider just on the morning of 5th ODI for UK, later it was known that he was already seeking for UK citizenship at the time when he was with the team that was touring England. Another Controversy... The test series was again started with the gray clouds as Danish Kaneria wasn't allowed to take off from Karachi for Dubai although he was included in the team amid ICC reaction. Apart from that Adnan Akmal was included in the side to replace Senior Akmal. Although no one was expecting much from Pakistan but still Pakistan was able to fight back and ended the series on a draw. Currently Pakistan is playing in New Zealand, currently lost the T20 series 2-1, Test and ODI series to continue in new years. Again I am not expecting very much from current Pakistan side doing much in 2011 and CWC. TEST RECORD FOR PAKISTAN THIS YEAR  Team Matches Won Lost Tied Draw W/L Avg RPO HS LS Pakistan 10 2 6 0 2 0.33 24.24 2.99 434 72 ODI RECORD FOR PAKISTAN THIS YEAR Team Matches Won Lost Tied Draw W/L Avg RPO HS LS Pakistan 18 5 13 0 0 0.38 25.69 5.14 385 127 T20 RECORD FOR PAKISTAN THIS YEAR Team Matches Won Lost Tied Draw W/L Avg RPO HS LS Pakistan 18 6 12 0 0 0.50 18.74 7.28 191 89