Loud Thinking

Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category

Don’t be surprised, if the third ODI cricket match between Pakistan and Zimbabwe being played today, ends in a tie..!

Mr. PM kindly order inquiry that why PCB is paying Eid bonus to the most undeserving cricket players under most difficult and weak PCB financial situation.

This Eidi decision of PCB Chairman to dish out millions of Rupees to our most undeserving team members, may be a contempt of the IHC decision, wherein, chairman PCB is only allowed to function the day to day affairs of the PCB.

No justification after the debacle of champions trophy and ignominy of South African tour, where our team even got out for 49 runs in a Test match innings.

Beating West Indies was not such an achievement which was the second last team of the CT in UK and last team in WI, in the triangular tournament with India and Srilanka.

Even Indian team did not get any such cash award or bonus on winning CT in England and Triangular tournament in West indies.

Moreover, did we impose any penalty on our players when they abjectly surrendered in South Africa and in the Champion’s Trophy played in England, without even putting up a decent fight? Remember in the CT our team performed worst ever in the history of the CT tournament and was ranked at the last (8th) position.

PCB and the players must know that board is in a very difficult financial condition, wherein, it has been reported that PCB cash reserves have fallen down from Rs.8 billion to just Rs.2 billion.

PCB and players also must know that many international cricket boards are paying much less to their players, than what our board is paying to the Pakistani cricketers. Even in Pakistan no sports organisation is paying so lavishly to their players, compared to what PCB pays to its employees, officials and players.

In Zimbabwe, their cricket board refuses to pay for the players hotel breakfast and meals, but still their players are just playing for the sake of the nation.

As such, the PCB management is requested to immediately withdraw the Eidi cash gift notification to the players, which is absolutely a undeserving and wasteful expenditure and without any justification.

PCB has no right to play wastefully with the public money.

Moreover, as per the IHC decision, the chairman PCB can decide only the day to day affairs. Hence, this Eidi gift apparently looks a violation of the court orders and also may be construed as a contempt of the IHC court orders.

Game changer
Memories of Imran Khan’s bowling show in Sydney that revolutionised Pakistan cricket

By Ijaz Chaudhry

PTI chairman Imran Khan’s address at the Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore on October 30 is perceived by many as the harbinger of a revolution in the country. About 35 years ago, Imran’s show of an entirely different nature on an entirely different turf brought a great revolution in Pakistan cricket.

Pakistan won their first-ever Test in Australia in Sydney in 1976-77. With this victory, Pakistan managed to draw the three Test series 1-1. The main architect of Pakistan’s victory was their fast bowler, Imran Khan who took 12 wickets in the match.

But there is something more to Imran’s heroic bowling performance in that game.

Until then, the general impression was that Pakistan could not produce a genuine fast bowler. Pakistan’s new-ball bowlers were fast-medium or medium fast. Fazal Mahmood did produce match-winning performances in 1950s but apart from his 12 wickets against England in 1954 the rest were achieved on matting wickets. Then he was never a genuine fast bowler, medium-fast and occasionally fast-medium. His 12 wickets against England were taken in a very low scoring game in which the highest team total in the four innings was 164. All the main bowlers of England also had their moments at least in one innings so did the other Pakistani paceman — Mahmood Hussain.

On the other hand, Imran in 1976 overshadowed all the other bowlers including Australia’s legendary Dennis Lillee, who had taken ten wickets in the previous Test where Aussies pulverised Pakistan.

This Test victory helped Pakistan draw the series thus becoming the first country other than England and South Africa to draw a Test series in Australia.

Australia was the supreme Test nation at that time. They had demolished a formidable West Indian side 5-1 during the previous season. And the West Indian side included Andy Roberts and Michael Holding two of the greatest fast bowlers in the history of the game.

Apart from Fazal Mahmood, some other fast mediums like Khan Mohammad and Sarfraz Nawaz, a contemporary of Imran Khan, had served Pakistan well but neither of them was a genuine fast bowler nor had won a Test match single-handedly the way Imran did.

Imranís performance in Sydney in 1976-77 dispelled the impression that players from the sub-continent cannot be genuine fast bowlers. until then Pakistan had mostly flopped on foreign tours. Their only Test series victory away from home was a 1-0 victory in New Zealand in 1972-3. At home, they prepared slow wickets resulting in an astonishing number of drawn matches.

Imran’s Sydney show had a multi-dimensional effect on Pakistan cricket which has lasted till today. More and more youngsters started taking fast bowling seriously. The cautious approach of the administration also changed. They started preparing livelier pitches at home.

Two seasons later, Imran was the third fastest in a competition in Australia testing a number of well-known fast bowlers of the time for speed.

Within a few years, came Wasim Akram, arguably the most talented fast bowler in the history of the game. Then Pakistan started producing genuine and world-class fast bowlers most regularly including the phenomenal Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar, who served Pakistan cricket for a considerable time.

A few others such as Mohammad Zahid, Mohammad Akram, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir dazzled for brief periods for different reasons. Imran’s performance was the spark that lit the generations of Pakistani quicks. Pakistan started winning abroad and victories at home also started coming via pacemen.

It all changed after that Sydney Test of January 1977 which made millions of people all over Pakistan wake up early in small hours of cold mornings to listen to radio commentary.

ijaz62@hotmail.com

Albert Einstein defined insanity as “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.

PCB has again selected all those batsmen for the champions trophy, who are known failures against quality bowling viz., Misbah ul Haq, Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal. Mr. Kamran Akmal is also known for his below average wicket keeping, as well. Moreover, Misbah ul Haq has also proved to be the biggest ordinary mind, when it comes to the selection of final eleven and bowling changes.

This insane selection of dud players, makes the team highly unbalanced and even more prone to getting out on low scores.

As such, with the inclusion of the above named three players, now only a miracle can save Pakistani cricket team, from a humiliating early exit from the Champions trophy.

An excerpt (page 173-4) from the book “Sir Vivian The Definitive Autobiography” by VIV RICHARDS with Bob Harris.

“The gentleman (Imran Khan) who was to become a renowned name in the world of cricket and a serious politician did not like what he saw that day. Fortunately, like many of these incidents, it was soon forgotten and since then I have come to know him. I respect his views and I went to a party at his house while on tour in Pakistan. Whenever we are around we try to get together, as we did during the recent World Cup in England. We definitely didn’t like one another at first, but gradually as we matured and got to know each other better we realised the world is a lot bigger than anything we have to offer and we started to respect each other. He was one of the fiercest competitor and, no matter how well you were batting, he would always have a delivery which could come and destroy you. I respect him and his cricketing views; and if the Pakistan side had a leader they looked up to and respected like they did him, they would be a much better and more consistent team than they are now. He always managed to squeeze the best out of his team. He (Imran Khan) and Miandad are two of the most patriotic individuals I have met, and I can identify with that. I am quite certain you wouldn’t be hearing stories about match fixing and other bad things if they were at the helm. BOTH WOULD DIE FOR THEIR COUNTRY.”

It is absolutely the right time to fully appreciate PCB and Pakistani cricket team for basically two achievements. Firstly, for winning the ODI series against India 2-1 and secondly, for completing a very sensitive tour, absolutely incident free.

Now, this is also very appropriate time for the PCB, to finalise its short and long term future plans, with regard to the policy of categorising players for the teams for Test’s, ODI’s and T20’s. This is necessary, because Pakistan will be competing for Test Championship, Champion’s Trophy, T20 World Cup and the ODI World Cup, all within next 36 months.

So, with an eye on the future, the PCB planning should focus on such potential players, who have the capacity or who can be groomed to have the capacity, to deliver for Pakistan, in the days to come. We should not waste time, energy and money on such players, who are past their prime and per se wants to continue playing, just for selfish reasons; but they are practically blocking the future of up coming and young players, for an indefinite period.

In this connection, PCB recently, took a difficult, bold and wise decision of dropping Shahid Afridi from the ODI version of the game. While, not taking anything from the past contributions of Shahid Afridi, PCB’s decision was very progressive and forward looking, but in my opinion, was still a bit late. National interests must not be compromised for personal wishes.

Now, again the time has come to select the players for the different versions of the game, on the basis of talent and capacity of the players, with prime objective of INVESTING in future. PCB should adopt a policy of bearing with the failures of the fresh lot with patience, rather than pursuing with old horses, who have even lost the strength, to easily hit sixes or even boundaries to reasonably good bowlers, or take three or four runs without being exhausted, on a slightly bigger grounds.

According to my observations, PCB must think about the future of the following players in a very rational manner.

1. Misbah ul Haq. He is not at all capable to play till the 2015 ODI World Cup. Even now, he is over age and not capable of steering the team out of a crisis situations, in front of WORLD CLASS bowling, particularly against out of sub-continent teams. So, why not to groom a fresh batsman instead of MUH and on the other hand, give the captaincy to Muhammad Hafeez, for gaining the experience for the coming Champions Trophy and the ensuing ODI World Cup?

2. Younis Khan. Our selectors took a retrogressive action in recalling him from the ODI retirement. Even his presence in the team today in the 3rd ODI, couldn’t save Pakistan from a mere 10 runs defeat against India. His selection for the Indian tour has cost us heavily, in not giving experience to a youngster. He should be decently thanked for his services and let him not block the future of any budding batsman. PCB should not be so callous with the new generation of batsmen, that retired batsmen be made to come in their way. If PCB had recalled Muhammad Yousaf or even Inzamam ul Haq, may be, they would have scored runs more than the newcomers, but then we can’t and must not live in the past, under any circumstances. For that matter, if India lost the ODI series against Pakistan, no heavens have fallen. Similarly, if we had lost to India with fresh legs, it would have been a gain of experience, rather than winning with recall, of retired persons.

3. Kamran Akmal. Just like Shahid Afridi (who can still be selected for few more weeks and months for his bowling abilities) Kamran Akmal is a spent cartridge; and to continue with him is in fact, deceiving ourselves. He may still give some performances against mediocre bowling, but against world class bowlers, his batting is absolutely UN-DEPENDABALE. As far as his wicket keeping is concerned, it is OK. However, there is no shortage of young generation of agile wicket keepers and hence, further continuation with Kamran Akmal, is like living in a fools paradise.

4. Shoaib Malik. There is no doubt that he was past his prime many months ago. He has reached a stage, where its impossible for him to perform against quality bowling, particularly in ODI and T20 versions of the game. If we argue that he performed well in domestic level, then the selectors should be told that domestic level performances are for the new players. International players are judged on their performances against foreign teams. These are two separate criterions for the different levels of players. If the selectors still wants to retain some old horses, for Test matches for some time, then PCB management shall be the better judge. However, these old players must not be used in a way to stop the career of the budding players.

5. Umar Akmal. He was touted in the past to be a player with immense talent. However, he has proved wrong all his fans and well wishers. In fact, he is the most UN-DEPENDABLE batsman in the team. Not to play him is a risk. However, to play him is a bigger risk. While batting, he is a very risky person for the batsman at the other end. Moreover, mostly his shot selections are very poor. He never puts a price on his wicket. Also it looks that in his failures, there is a big hand of his head coach. Somehow, this man looks a fit case for sending him to a psychologist, for making him a person with some sense of responsibilities and strong mental power, who should be able to focus on teams goal achievement. Till such time he is transformed into a mature person, Umar Akmal seems to be an utterly misfit player in the national squad.

Come on BCB Tell the Truth

It’s very strange that BCB has declined to send its cricket team to Pakistan, despite its written commitment, noted in the minutes of the ICC and ICC is watching this TAMASHA from side lines.

BCB management must know that security concerns are everywhere in this world. Recently, West Indian cricket team’s bus was pelted with stones in BD, after the BD team lost the match against WI team, with a huge margin.

BCB management, should also know that many international events of different sports have been held peacefully in Pakistan, in the recent past.

Moreover, the BCB should also be in the notice that in the last few days, Pakistani and Indian Hockey Federations have signed an agreement of reciprocal hockey series, to be played for five years; wherein, the series will commence with the Indian Hockey team’s visit to Pakistan, in March 2013.

So, it will be better for the BCB to show its true colours; and tell the world the real reasons for not going to Pakistan; and not hide behind the pseudo mantra of security concern, which was personally checked by the BD security officials and openly declared, that Pakistani security plan for the BD cricketers, was absolutely perfect and satisfactory.

Here ICC must tell BCB that it has no right to play politics and unnecessarily malign Pakistan, on a non existent security issue.

India and BCCI must apologise over chemical attack on the captain of visiting Pakistani blind cricket team in India.

India has a history of terrorism with visiting Pakistani cricketers. Earlier, in the 60’s the finger of Pakistani legendary batsmen Hanif Muhammad, was cut during the teams tour of India and no one got punished.

Now India has resorted to chemical terrorism against the captain of blind Pakistani cricket team Zeeshan Abbasi, with a conspiracy to murder, by killing him with acid, in disguise of drinking water in a bottle, served at break fast, in a five star hotel.

Today it was acid, tomorrow it can be poison in the food. And then Indian media will say poison accidentally got mixed with food. Is this the way Indians treat their guests?

Indian responsibility of the security of the Pakistani players can’t be put under the carpet with the excuse of accident. Did they cut the finger of Hanif Muhammad by an accident. All such acts are 100% deliberate, else by now the Indian government and the BCCI would have unconditionally apologised.

However, more shameful is the reaction of Indian media, which is calling it as an accident. And more abhorrent is the silence of Indian government, BCCI (board of control of cash in India) and the ICC (Indian Cricket Conference). Under the circumstances, the England cricket team members, touring India, are advised to excercise extra caution during their stay in India, as they are touring a country heavenly infested with terrorists, who can go to any length to punish the visiting players, if they are giving a resounding drubbing in the matches to the Indians. It is a well known fact that Indians are the worst losers.

Government of Pakistan and PCB must demand an immediate apology from the Indian government and the BCCI, failing which, the impending tour of our cricket team must be cancelled (else our team must take along all its food and drink requirements from Pakistan) on the grounds of un-precedented life threatning and most probably, delibrate security breach.

The FICA (Federation of International Cricketers Association) must also take cognizance of this chemical attack on a Pakistani cricketer, before other foreign players are targeted with food poisoning etc.

Nation Calling PCB to Answer 7 Questions 

1.Chief Selector Iqbal Qasim, says that Abdul Razzaq, Imran Nazir & Kamran Akmal  were selected on the basis of experience, then why Raza Hassan selected  over EXPERIENCED Abdul Rehman?

2. The worthy genius chief selector further said, that Asad Shafiq was selected on the basis of his performances in Sri Lankan Test matches series. However, he should know that it is going to be a T20 world cup. And if there is no difference between the two games, why separate teams and  captains for the two formats? Moreover, if performances in the Test matches were the criteria, then who performed better than Junaid in Test matches? and who performed worse than Sami? So, why Junaid excluded from the team and Sami included?

3. And taking the overseas performances as  a basis of selection for Abdul Razzaq, who else performed better than Azhar Mahmood as an all rounder in BPL and IPL? Similarly, Shahzad was the best Pakistani fielder in ODI world cup held in 2011, in India, BD & SL. Plus, he was the most outstanding and destructive batsman in BPL, why he has been given a bad name for axing from the selection? 

4. Just give one reason for the selection of  spent cartridge Shoaib Malik, rated as the most pathetic performer in T20  INTERNATIONAL games, and also give one reason for non-selection of Wahab Riaz.

5. Similarly, every expert says that technically and in all other aspects, Adnan Akmal is a better wicket keeper than Kamran Akmal, who is too much over weight also; then why drop Adnan Akmal, who also batted exceptionally well, in SL Test series?

6. Why there is an emphasis on old spent cartridges rather than fresh legs and promising players.

7. Why the team has been selected in a great haste when there was time till 18, August 2012?

This chief selector previously resigned when Pakistani teams selected by  him consecutively lost 14 matches. The Team Pakistan is not the chief selectors personal or his fathers team. 

Since its a national matter, Pakistani public demands from the chairman PCB to personally answer the above questions, for the satisfaction of the Pakistani cricket lovers all over the world.