I don’t know much about him, except that he made a double century against Australia and that his exclusion thereafter from the team was questionable.

There isn’t much going on in Pakistan and Indian cricket, except ICL and IPL which we have already covered. I will consult the co managers as to what the next thread should cover, but if anyone has any suggestions, the CJ Management is all ears.

In the only test series going on at the moment, it looks like England is on the brink of victory in the second test against Kiwis. After the defeat in the first test, this is a real good come back for England especially with the new inexperienced bowlers.

With this complete change of fortunes within a space of two tests shows most test playing nations are at par with each other. Even Australia once invincible is looking vulnerable at the moment. For the first time in their history India is looking like a formidable cricket nation. This is good for Asia. They would however have some problems when suddenly Tendulkar & Co call it a day.

Afridi as a bowler proved that he is better than Danish Kaneria. Its a pity that a player is not judged on his over all performance or in totality but he is judged in bits and pieces.

If I am the Captain and given a chance to choose between Afridi and Kaneria, I won’t hesitate for a moment in choosing the former.

As a batsman, as a bowler and as a fielder he is better than Kaneria. And Afridi’s presence in the team motivates and inspires his team mates, if he will lead the national team, it will be a whole different scenario. When Kaneria goes into his wicket less marathon bowling sessions he not only carries a depressed look on his face but makes others feel depressed and dejected. Because, when Afridi is not in the test team there is no bowler except for Kaneria who can bowl long spells.

This happened in South Africa and this happened in India where all the fast bowlers were exhausted and only Kaneria was bowling and getting thrashed. Recently in this Pentagular tournament against the Federal team he gave away 157 runs and took 2 wickets in a total of 323, whereas, in the same match Afridi took 5 for 55.

Btw, that Ichara ka Choora must be fuming after reading this and he needs some Burnol in his extremities.

i am agree

with all what you say except for

‘afridi’s place in test is questionable’

this is incorrect, check his test averages, he is in fact a better test player than most and the way he played this 4 day pentagular tournament is more like a test match – you definitely cannot call it a one day or a twenty 20 right? So in a 4 day match his team has benefited most from his talent.

about tasleem arif, he was a very humble person and may God bless him.

I dont know if you saw Anwar Maqsood’s program on ARY when he went to Afridi’s house for an interview. He said that Afridi is the only one to lead Pakistan because of his charisma and leadership. He also said with reference to Malik, “Shahid aap ki ek soch hai aur aap kissi key saamney nahi jhukna chahtey. aap STRAIGHTFORWARD hain aur ek leader ki yehi pehchaan hoti hai ke woh apni soch rakhta hai aur team morale ko buland rakhta hai.”

I agree Afridi is not a perfect player and his performance in Test cricket is questionable. but so is Malik. we are already in an imperfect state- why not try and different formula and change captaincy? But PCB is already preparing Misbah or Salman Butt for future captaincy.

About Taslim Arif, i dont know Javed if you saw ABN AMRO Cup in Canada, in pakistan it was shown on GEO SUPER. Taslim Arif was one of the commentators. A commentator said, “Taslim aap key saath bari nainsaafi hui thi kyun key aap ki double century (vs australia) key baad aap ko team sey nikaal diya tha”. so taslim arif said, “nahi meray baad wasim bari aaye they jo mujh se behtar keeper they”. but the commentator said again, “nahi taslim, woh waja nahi thi, waja koi aur thi jo hum TV par nahi keh saktay”. in response to this Taslim remained quiet and didnt say anything, but he changed the topic. he could have said, “haan meray saath nainsaafi hui thi” and he would have got away with it. but he remained silent, which tells us of his refined and decent nature.

Really good posts by both, I particularly like Javed’s justifications. I give 100% support to Afridi because his leadership & unbiased mind is what Pakistan needs. His leadership has been winning Sindh the tournaments because in terms of talent most Sindh batsman and bowlers still dont compete with Punjab. afridi has been captaining karachi for a long time, before his appointment as captain sindh always lost against punjab. malik and afridi are 2 opposite personalities, completely different mindsets. afridi gave 100% support to malik in the first few months, but now he has seen that malik is not the right man because of his regionalism-specific psyche and lack of professionalism in captaincy.

TASLIM ARIF was a true champion for Pakistan cricket. It is a national loss he has died. I have seen his presentations on GEO Super and he was always very passionate about the betterment of Pakistan cricket and encouragement of youngsters in the team. In fact I heard he recommended Sohail Tanvir to Salauddin Sallu for selection into national team. Taslim was a very decent and highly respected individual. Pakistan cricket will miss him.

This is too much to say:

I guess the establishment has it’s reasons too persist with Malik since he accepted the crown of thorns when every one else threw their hands up causing embarrassment to them and in a way now wants to teach the others a lesson in sticking with Malik….”

Do you think Younus Khan is “everyone else?” Oh, come on, Mohammad Yousuf was also ready but they didn’t talk to him Afridi was not considered at all because they thought he is too childish and immature to lead.

And to correct the earlier wrong doings would be childish? I think they are being not only childish but stubborn like a thoroughly spoiled brat. Malik doesn’t deserve to be the captain.

Some of the Sindh players have confirmed that they are better than many and one of the all rounders is Rizwan Ahmad. We all know that Fawad Alam was kept on the sidelines for whatever reasons and now Rizwan will never get a chance and so will Saeed Bin Nasir of Baluchistan.

Bin Nasir is anytime better than Nasir Jamshed. If you look at that bloke playing he doesn’t rush or jump out to hit every ball like Nasir Jamshed who perhaps emulates Afridi and Imran Nazir.

Saeed Bin Nasir scored century in each innings against NWFP and he hit a total of 8 sixes and 40 fours in his 2 innings and none of them could be called a slog. It goes to prove that he has a balanced head on his shoulders and he treats the ball according to merit. Besides he is not 18 or 19 but 28 so there is enough maturity that he possesses.

I agree with you that this Pentagular Tournament has cleared the air and the doubts about Sindh players who were being neglected over Punjab players and a majority of them are from the national team.

The deliberate ploy of Shoaib Malik to stay out of the final will give him and those who support him some leverage to argue that Punjab’s star the baby of Pakistan was not in the team so you cannot justify this win.

Remember last year in one of the domestic tournaments similar to this one, Afridi’s side was winning through out and for the final he had to go for Hajj and his team lost the final and when one of the sports writer wrote after the WC cup that Afridi’s absence cost his team lost the domestic tournament and also his absence from the WC owing to the ban cost Pakistan the WC.

Those who bash Afridi for no reason, said Afridi’s presence or absence in the team doesn’t make any difference he comes and goes and once in blue moon he scores. Or he scores once and fails ten times.

But, it is a fact that his presence against teams like Zimbabwe and Ireland or even India creates a lot of fear in the minds of the opposition and his wicket is celebrated like a festival. Anyways, there is no point in supporting him as the bunch of jokers will choose IF’, BUTTS, mutes and mules.

Never before in the history of Pakistan, the national team that lost test series in India is so weak as it was and it is under the leadership of Shoaib Malik.

Finally a tribute to Taslim Arif:

A couple of months ago I had written something about his achievements on cricinfo blog. And just last week we talked about Taslim Arif here on this blog and it is indeed very sad to hear that just 2 days ago he passed away. In a couple of months from now he would have been 54, too young to die. Like life, death is also a reality and we all have to face it. May God bless him and give courage to his family to bear this irreparable loss. Amen.

Let the captain of the SIND side leader of the successful campaign be at the helm of national unit,
And I stress on UNIT,
Come on, how much worse can it get? we are going nowhere in the present scenario as it is.
As I see it the only way now is up, unless they find a newer and better way of sinking further which I hope not, but for anything else to happen, a change is required at the helm.
I guess the establishment has it’s reasons too persist with Malik since he accepted the crown of thorns when every one else threw their hands up causing embarrassment to them and in a way now wants to teach the others a lesson in sticking with Malik, come what may,
That’s a childish way to deal with the situation; it’s killing the goose that lays the golden egg.

Pakistan cricket is in turmoil and it needs all the help it can from its friends, we have to ensure that the forthcoming ASIA CUP happens there, paving the way for the champions trophy,

India needs to take the lead in that and show the way and back Pakistan cricket as it has done so in the past as well, case in point the Oval fiasco.

Pakistan also needs to put the money where the mouth is, in terms of getting the infrastructure right, laying new turfs in the outfield especially near the ropes up to international standards and dive able, sprucing up the pitches , practice pitches and facilities et all
It’s sad but a fact that the cricketing world is split into two lobbies.

Remember a strong and stable Pakistan cricket, both financially and competitively is the need of the hour for our block to challenge and keep the white hegemony in constant stupor.

Pakistan hope to play five ODIs v Sri Lanka

Friday, March 14, 2008
By Khalid Hussain

KARACHI: Pakistan are hoping to add five more One-day Internationals (ODIs) to their home season that was left in tatters following Australia’s decision to avoid the violence-hit country earlier this week.

A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official told ‘The News’ on Thursday that efforts are on to convince World Cup finalists Sri Lanka to visit Pakistan in April to play a five-match ODI series.

This of course is separate from Bangladesh visiting Pakistan to fill in the gap created by Aussey’s sissy-ism ………. read the whole article in today’s THE NEWS at Jang News.com

The losers got some consolation, Butt for scoring highest number of runs in the tournament and Akmal for dropping highest number of catches……….oooops for taking 15 catches and scoring ducks BOTH got Rs.50,000 each – a reward for best batsman and best wicket-keeper. What a farce. In my opinion they should have given this award to Baluchistan’s Saeed Bin Nasir for scoring centuries against better bowling attacks.

However in the bowling department Sohail Khan from Sindh stands heads and shoulders above the rest.

The winning captain of the tournament is undisputed the best but, only thing is he is the uncrowned captain of Pakistan team.

Shouldn’t the PCB realize this now and make necessary changes for the benefit of Pakistan team in general? They are hypocrites, they won’t do anything. The weak-meak miskeen captain will be back again with his baby looks in parayshaan haal. What a shame!