Loud Thinking

Posts Tagged ‘imran’

Great news for Imran Khan for being rated as world No. 1 & 3.

Without prejudice to the former President of Pakistan Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf or incumbent President Asif Ali Zardari or for that matter Nawaz Sharif, as per Global Post, none but Imran Khan, has been ranked amongst nine most powerful leaders of the world.

Where none of the three mentioned earlier have any place proves who is who.

Incidentally, it must be mentioned that all other persons except Imran Khan, are either rulers in their countries or holding international position. Whereas, Imran does not fall under such category which as such elevates him a bit higher than those.

Link:-http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/letters/12-Apr-2013/number-three-in-world

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

This is a wrong perception that ONLY youth of Pakistan, wants change and is with Imran Khan.

The fact and ground reality is, that Pakistanis in all age group are fed up with the status quo and wants a change; and for that matter, they are whole heartedly supporting PTI candidates, to win the elections, in a landslide victory.

We may not be against PPP, PMLN, MQM, ANP, JUI and JI etc., but we are in favour of PTI and PTI only.

The entire nation also thanks the PPP for accepting this reality; and for announcing PPP’s support for Imran Khan as future PM Pakistan.

Thank you the wise leadership of PPP, for reading and feeling the pulse of the nation, at the right time. In politics, timing is every thing.

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.”

Mr. Mohsin Hasan Khan, must remember that once Mr. Imran Khan said that the best recipe for defeat, is to play for a draw.

At least Pakistan should have given it a try to go for runs, on the last day of the first Test at Abu Dhabi against Srilanka. Moreover, Mr. Mohsin Hassan Khan’s statement that it was decided during the innings break, that Pakistan will decide about the run chase as per the fielding deployment of the opponent team, confirms that firstly, our team management handed over the initiative to the Srilankan team and secondly, Pakistani team fell into the trap of Srilankan fielding plan. Although, Srilankan team could not have bowled out Pakistani team in 21 overs, yet, surely Pakistan had all the chances and cards in their hands, to force a win.

A timid person can be a good player or chief selector, but he can never be a good captain or coach.

Cricket is all played in the mind mate (read Mohsin Hassan Khan). And negative thoughts will never snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat or draw.