Thanks for your response and words of praise. I am delighted you have opened up. This is a platform which allows you to open up without any fear of censorship.

I am not anti Punjab and I do not believe Punjabis are “bad people”. If I have ever indicated that through my comments then I have been an ass because that is a stupid thing to say. We know many Urdu Speakers who are pathetic human beings and we know many Punjabis who are great people. I have been the one saying that all types of people exist everywhere. Awas is a Punjabi but he is one of the most decent and humble people I have ever met. I trust him with my life and I have a kinda blind faith in him, such is my respect for him.

The reason why criticism of Punjabis by non Punjabis appears “amplified” is because in Pakistan Punjabis/Kashmiris account for 60% of the population. So if there are more people there will be more criticism. This is a natural reaction which I think Punjabis should understand. Having said that, Muhajirs who make maybe only 1-2% of the population seem to get much more than their fair share of criticism from non Muhajirs!

There is absolutely no doubt that Punjab has produced Pakistan’s best players. Also, when you say, “they may not be the best human beings around”, what is there to say for instance, that Miandad is a better human being than Wasim Akram? I don’t think the question is of who is a better human being. Let us leave that for the “divine powers” to decide.

Also, Munir sahab you are very knowledgeable and wise and you need not feel less able than the other LS regulars. I personally don’t have a wealth of experience playing cricket but I learned about cricket through reading and observing. So if you can read and observe well and have a decent education, I don’t think you need more to write about sport in order to write in some sort of “academic capacity”.

Finally about Afridi, yes I understand your frustration as to why Afridi having been around for over a decade still has not sorted his batting out. The answer is, he will never be able to bat any differently. He is a unique case that he should be in the team and he must be facilitated according to his demands and the team management should keep tweaking with his batting position until he strikes form. If his bowling was not so good I would not be saying all this. I must quote Theossa here (albeit indirectly), that Afridi is not a good batsman but he is a good bowler and he is definitely captaincy material.

Theossa,

Good to have you back here and I like what you said in your comment.

welcome back – straight into Natalie’s lap.

There is nothing to write home about except that you missed my shortest ever comment on the blog.

Like you, we are all very anxious to see India / Pakistan encounter tomorrow and the way the Indians played today it was raining sixes and fours as opposed to Pakistan’s poor show – I won’t call it pathetic but, it was definitely a poor show against the minnows.

The point that I would like to remind you about Afridi’s bowling is, despite the fact that in the year 2008 he is the leading wicket taker in the ODI, not only for Pakistan but in the whole world — 26 wickets in 13 matches — some of our Pakistani blokes who are biased against him wants to see him out of the team – I am not referring to Munir here – but a few other jokers on other blogs. This is the height of not only nepotism, favouritism but, also of regionalism and jingoism. Its like the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Whereas, you, khansahab, Awas, Munir, I and a host of other fans want Pakistan to win, like you have said: “Having said that in cricket I want Pak to win regardless who plays, hell if a donkey scores centuries and win us matches I’m for it.”

Your prediction is also like that of Sakhti and Amit.P they both use reverse psychology to jinx the result. Not only that India and Pakistan, whenever they play against each other, they play for pride and vanity, but this time they are playing to retain the number one spot in their group so that they can play against Bangladesh and walk through the semis into the final.

If Sehwag and Gambhir are out cheaply then they can grab the bull by its horns. Dhoni and Raina may not score a century within 24 hours, that would be asking or expecting too much from them. But, Gambhir could be more dangerous than Sehwag because he has always played well against Pakistan and so is Yuvraj.

Malik should not open. PERIOD.

Yes we are minnows, but we are not Bangoos

I think today, Bangoos have been reminded their actual position in the ‘Circle of Life’, by the Sri Lankans.

Well, let me confess that I feel more comfortable with Pathans than any other race or sect. I have friends in a variety of races and religions but I’m naturally biased towards Pathans. Having said that in cricket I want Pak to win regardless who plays, hell if a donkey scores centuries and win us matches I’m for it.

Let me write my “famous” and “successful” usual prediction for the tomorrow’s game (unlike Awas’s). India wins. Pak have a chance only if the get rid of the bowler rapists Sehwag and Gambhir in the first 10 overs. Chow.

I’m gonna visit my sweat heart Natalie now.

Thats what I thought, but Yousuf Pathan is not a better fielder than Rohit Sharma I won’t agree on that. It doesn’t mean YP is a bad fielder but Rohit is a little sharper and smarter in the field.

With Bangladesh and Hong Kong batting right now, there is no interest in the game, it will be a one sided affair in any case so I would be going off to work.

you have dropped Rohit Sharma from your team? What are the basis? Is it based on my comments that he is not the same Rohit Sharma we know? Or, you too think he is not in form? The point is who would you drop if you include Rohit? Yousuf Pathan may ride on his luck in batting but he is also a bowler, then so is Rohit. But, Dhoni has not used Rohit as a bowler like Gilchrist never bothered to try him in the IPL. I think Rohit may not fail if he plays again tomorrow. May be Sehwag or Raina might but not Rohit. Anyways, these are my views but they decide on whatever they deem fit and necessary.

I think that 400 target wasn’t that far had Raina not gotten out immediately after scoring his 100. That total was well within their reach, Uthappa slowed down the proceedings and the momentum except for hitting a six on the last ball he was very defensive and was aiming not to get out to cement his place in the playing XI. He is out of sorts these days because of losing his focus from cricket to personal attention. He was focusing more on his image like, jazzy hairstyle, designer sunglasses and trying to get crowd attention by bowing towards them after taking a catch. He paid a price for that and its too late, he got an opportunity to play today, but didn’t get enough time to prove his worth. Yuvraj will definitely snatch his place back from him for tomorrow’s match.

Playing Goni in place of RP Singh? I think it will be more clear after seeing him bowl today whether that would be the right choice to play him in a crucial against Pakistan tomorrow which will decide who will play against Bangladesh.

And yes Sri Lanka couldn’t score more than India they have settled for 357/9 in 50 overs. Hence India’s total remains the highest in the Asia Cup. So, far it was Pakistan in the previous Asia Cup and now it is India followed by Sri Lanka and Pakistan’s 343 is the third highest. Now, all the big scoring games are almost over, perhaps Sri Lanka has another chance against Munir’s team and may be they can belt them, if only they win the toss and elect to bat first.

Shakti your team looks good but the only problem is India will not be getting enough time to settle down before playing Pakistan tomorrow so that could be the drawback as Dhoni was seen getting a twitch in his back in the last over when he played and missed twice. Also we dont know how bad Irfan’s side strain is and how fit ishant sharma is. Indian bowling is weaker than their batting.

Dhoni has made a good decision to bat higher up the order and he will be more effective at this spot, but Malik should not try to ape him by opening the innings. Last time he did that at Gwalior in Nov. 2007 and Butt got out on a zero and yesterday also the same thing happened. I don’t understand why he needs to protect Butt? He should let Afridi open the innings, never mind if he gets out cheaply. In any case there is no stability in the opening stand of Pakistan. If Shahid Afridi can regain his confidence and gets back into his batting form thats it, 50% of the match is already won.

About Dhoni, I would suggest he should take some lessons in playing Golf. He should just go to the shooting range and ask someone to coach him how to swing the golf club. There is no doubt that he is a good player but the way he plays his shots he always gets dis balanced and there is no grace, no poise, no elegance in his shots, in fact they are exactly the opposite. If you compare Dhoni’s style avec Lara, you will know what I mean. Even Rohit Sharma is very stylish. If Dhoni can afford an image manager to teach him how to talk, behave and act, he should also tell him to play his shots more gracefully and elegantly.

1. Gambhir
2. Shewag
3. Yuvraj
4. Dhoni
5. Raina
6. Yusuf Pathan
7. Irfan Pathan
8. Ghoni
9. Kumar
10. Sharma
11. Chawla

The above line-up gives a good balance between batting and bowling. What do you guys think?