LEGSLIP

Hi Guys,

This was unbelievable. When I went to sleep Pakistan was 51/3 and with Yousuf/Akmal at the crease I thought Pakistan will still manage it. I watched in total surprise how the match unfolded until then.

It was a total blunder from Yousuf, what was he thinking? letting a team tottering at 80/8 virtually and just two tail end wickets to grab, what did he do, spread the field around, let them take ones and settle in. Siddle was under no pressure in the morning. If I were captain I would have put 4 or 5 fielders around the bat and have either Asif or Gul go from one end and have Kaneria come from other end. One of them would have got the wicket after 4 or 5 overs. They will be likely a few boundaries scored when you attack, but this is a good sign, typically when tail end batsmen start attacking they will end up losing wicket pretty soon.

Amazing Yousuf did not have the wisdom to think about this, or was he thinking of some other cunning plan. Whatever it is he let them get almost another 100 runs to overnight score. This was terrible, terrible, atrocious.

They lost the match in the first hour in the morning in my view.

They could have still won by chasing 176, but at that point Australia came back to game with a chance, where as at 80/8 they were out of the match.

There were many mistakes made in the chase, first Butt and Farhat were very dour in the 1st innings, and it paid off for them, why did they had to attack with a flurry of fours, at one point they were 45/0 and going at 6 an over. Did they want to finish the game quickly and show how they dominated Australia, it was a big mistake. Never underestimate Australians, even a side this weak, you give them an opening they will drive a big Mack truck through it.

They should have taken time to settle down and play slowly, with plenty of time left in the match they did not need to win the match at end of day 4. They could have been 120 for 2 or so on Day 4 and then come back and get the remaining runs on Day 5. Instead they wanted to finish the game yesterday itself and they got their wish, but not the result they wanted.

Rest of the batsmen had a horror show except Umar Akmal, but you cannot depend on him to take the match to finish, he plays a risky game.

Overall, it was unbelievable how they lost a game that could have been lost only by throwing away the match. I am sure Aussies could not believe their luck.

Well I didn’t see the match live but did watch the highlights. It was sad to see that Pakistan lost the match. After reading the comments from this blog I would blame the defeat to the batsman, their mental toughness and that son of a gun Khutmal. I won’t blame a captain, that his team cannot chase 176 runs, doesn’t matter how agressive you are as a captain or how defensive captain you are 176 was chasable it has nothing to do with the tactics of the captain. If people are blaming his tactics in the second innings then we should blame his tactics in the first innings too aussie were reeling on 62 for 7 and they manage 127.

Just as MOYO acknowledge that he didn’t perform well as a player he should also acknowledge that khutmal is worst wicket keeper in the world. Both Misbah and khutmal should have given the return ticket to Lahore and should be ban from entering the PCB acadamey.

Asim Kamal should be given a chance in place of Misbah and either Adnan Akmal or Sarfaraz Ahmed should be called in. Bring the moody khan to its one down position and fire the big belly Alam from the coaching position. That old man is good for nothing. Any club team can manage that. We have a day and half to play and over 100 overs to bowl all they need is one run per over and they can chase it down easily.

Javed Khan,

Yes, I remeber you saying that, and 176 was a tricky score given the Pakistan batsman’s tendency to lose focus of the situation. You have to wonder whether they really are focused or just going out there and playing their individual games. Anyhow, 176 was reached because Yousuf did not attack and watched doing nothing for all of morning session.

I did not say anything about Umar Akmal because he is the only one with a half decent score again, but he did play a T20/ODI shot to get out, trying to hit over the top of the fielders. But at that point, they had lost the game 75%.

I wonder if they realize how much of a rare opportunity they lost. They could have come back with 1-1 from NZ and 1-1 from Aus and it would have been a very good experience for this team.

As of now, they are a set of individuals without focused, very talented, but no leadership or focus.

Afridi may be able to unite the team, but only if he gets young blood in the team, and kick out some of the senior guys.

I think we should stop pointing out Punjabi or Sindhi or Pathan’s assortment in cricket. Yesterday I was watching news and our president sahib was saying the same stuff like ‘’I am sindhi president’’ although we all know he probably is a ‘’Swiss president’’ or ‘’Surrey President’’

I remember there is another loony who loves to use Sindh card, none other than Mr Altaf Hussain ‘’UK Waley’’ Perhaps he lived more in UK than Sindh but still he is a proud ‘’Sindhi’’ but undesirably not a proud Pakistani. These things happen; its life and we meet so many loonies along the road.

lol@ Khansahab comments……Khanshab’s new Avatar is a bit angry looking but I am almost certain that it cannot be Khansahib’s picture but anyway just mentioned it as ‘’Azrah-e-Teffennun’’

I hope some big fish’’es’’ in Pakistan team would be in nuisance after their recent defeat, Fish like Salmon Butt, Farhat e jaan Rooh Afza, Shark kay moo walaa Kamran khetmal, Misbah ul Haq hogsukcer, Faisal Iqbal the Jack Dempsey and last but not least Defensive Beard Fish
In the end aik shaer yaad aa gia merey hensney per:

Paerr ko Deemek leg jaye yaa Ademzaad ko Ghem
Dono ko hee hum ney Shoaib bachtey dekha Kem
Hens Per-rta hey buhat ziada ghum mey bhi insaan
Buhat khushi mey bhi to ankhey ho jaati hey Nem

I am regretful that I mentioned my name in second verse out of four, i know it’s from Amjad Islam Amjad but that reminds me one incident in my teen age. Once i merged my name in above mentioned verses and declared in front of my family that these are my first verses ever written by myself being a Poet well…. reaction wasa bit of a shock , no one liked this ‘’Shaer’’ and my father who was a big fan of poetry asked me if i could stop writing uneven verses otherwise he would be really annoyed

That reminds me of another story……well… after tragic statement from my father I still couldn’t stop saying Shaer. I wrote 300+ ghazels, i wanted to publish my effort and for that reason I called my school teacher for his help. May be someone can identify my teacher, not by his name though…. his famous Ghazal was sung by Pankaj-ud Daas ‘Deevaro sey milker batey kerna acha lagta hey….hum bhi pagal ho jaye gey aisaa lagta hey…..’’ He checked my few ghazals and decided that I could only be the worst Poet of the century which I discarded his claim. He told me that my ghazals are imbalanced. So i decided to test my teacher’s honesty, I gave him a verse of Saeed Rahi from India which was:

Mey ney yuu hee mazak mey us ko kaha thaa Chaand
Aaina baar baar koi dekhta raha

I asked him if he could check above mentioned verse, i told him that its written by me, he looked at 2 lines and told me that how disappointed he is from such unbalanced 2 verses after that I stopped writing and got married

1) Pakistan must change Akmal. Akmal is not good enough as a batsman to ruin the career and confidence of bowlers and he is not good enough as a batsman to compensate for the specialist batsmen (perhaps 3,4) of the other team

2) PCB needs to look at systematic changes in the way they think about making a team:
a) What are the qualities that they seek in a captain?
b) What should the team composition look like? How are they going to develop the batting order and choose between defensive and attacking style of players? How will they arrange it and why? Is a batsman who averages 40 while attacking is worth more or a batsman who averages 46 while defensive?
This is just for the sake of logical clarity and this is what counts in sound decision-making.
3) The PCB needs to urgently address one problem that plagues the whole system: A sense of degree or proportion. Every good player is not equal and every not-so-good player is not equal: A dropped catch by a wicket keeper is not equal to a dropped catch by an outfielder; a difficult chance is not equal to a dolly; there is a difference between a matchwinner, a good player, an average player, a bad player, and a genuine matchloser. As it is, it is cluttered thinking when they group players as ‘good’ and the ‘remaining’. Unfortunately, this is not the way to think. A sense of degree, or how much– something utterly lacking in the PCB mode of thought and generally Pakistani sensibility– is more important than the categorical label.

For instance, Rana Naved and Kamran Akmal are genuine matchlosers. Akmal so as a wicketkeeper, hence logically he can’t be a wicketkeeper. Then, can he just play as a batsman? And, the answer, should clearly be no. In that case, he should improve his wicketkeeping on domestic cricket. The same is the case with Rana? How good is he as a bowler? He is pathetic, a singlehanded matchloser. Therefore, his 20-run average justifies his place as a batsman? No. Again, domestic cricket.

Then there are players which are average-to-bad, like Misbah, Malik, and Faisal. They aren’t genuine matchlosers. A change of degree, a difference in the sense of proportion, but they should be chosen only if all other available atlernatives are exhausted. They also demand a lower degree of tolerance, 3-4 consecutive failures, should mean another player should be tried.

Then there are the average to good ones, such as, Butt and Farhat. The PCB can accept a higher degree of tolerance with them, though obviously if there are better alternatives, they should still have precedence.

After that, are the good ones, such as, Fawad Alam, Afridi, and Umar Gul. They should be in the team barring another great or great-material player is discovered to replace them. Is Afridi a genuine matchloser with the bowl? Of course not. Afridi is a pretty good bowler, who can also turn a match quickly because of his strike rate.

Lastly, are the greats or great-material: Yousof, Younis, Asif, Aamer, Kaneria, Umar Akmal. They should deserve the highest degree of tolerance and to ruin any one’s career will be a loss for Pakistan cricket.

This way, they can build a team which is good for now and good for future. Should a great-material player come, he can replace any average ones or good ones, provided the position of replacement (bowler, batsman) is suitable.

This will lead to logical and sound-decision making. Uncluttered thinking will, unfortunately, lead to nowhere. There needs to be some form of system in place, and Pakistani sensibility needs to imbue within it a sense of degree or proportion.

BREAKING NEWS

Moin Khan has told a private TV channel that players from Karachi are discriminated against.

He gave examples of Fawad Alam, and also said that Misbah should have played at no 3 instead of Faisal Iqbal.

Moin Khan, a Punjabi who grew up in Karachi, has surprised me by making this statement because he was always very friendly with Punjab based players and he also had this stiff rivalry with Rashid Latif. In fact, Mushtaq Ahmed in an interview commented that Inzamam, Waqar, Wasim and other Punjabi players became good friends with Moin after Moin had learned to speak fluent Punjabi which was difficult growing up in Karachi.

BREAKING NEWS

Rashid Latif has given 2 interviews in the aftermath of the defeat in Sydney:

1) He said that he had recommended to the PCB to rest Akmal for 6 months, but the PCB did not listen.

2) He said that Malik, Misbah and Akmal has creating politics and disunity in the team.

Yousuf shuts the door on Afridi Comeback

SYDNEY: Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf on Wednesday shut the door on an expected return of Shahid Afridi for the third Test against Australia in Hobart, saying that the all-rounder will find it tough to switch to the longest format of the game after playing extensive Twenty20 cricket.

There have been reports that Afridi is willing to make his Test return and that the country’s cricket authorities might consider him for the final Test which begins from January 14. However, Yousuf said that it was highly unlikely.

“First of all, I’m not sure whether he (Afridi) is really serious about playing Test cricket,” he said after Pakistan lost their second Test against Australia by 36 runs here at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday. “He seems to be confused. Sometimes he says I don’t want to play (Tests) and sometimes he says I want to play. I’m not too sure about him.”

Yousuf said that even if Afridi was considered for the final Test, there were no guarantees whether he will be able to click in the dead rubber.

“He (Afridi) has mostly been playing Twenty20 cricket and will find it very hard to switch to the Test mode,” he said.

A private TV channel has reported that Afridi, Razzaq and Rana have been recalled for the 3rd Test.

However at the same time the press is reporting Yousuf does not want Afridi to play in the 3rd Test.

On 5th January Afridi said once more that he is available to play in the 3rd Test. But on 6th January, Yousuf is saying that he does not know if Afridi wants to play or not?

‘Poor wicketkeeping main cause of Pakistan’s defeat’

ISLAMABAD—Former Captain Rashid Latif has suggested to replace wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal with Sarfarz Ahmad saying, “Kamran’s poor wicketkeeping is the main cause of Pakistan’s defeat against Australia in the second Test at Sydney.“Kamran dropped plenty of catches only in one innings which cost dearly to the team. If you keep on playing with a wicketkeeper like him, the chances to win will always be very little,” he said commenting upon Pakistan’s defeat against Aussies. He said that technically Kamran was not fit for keeping as he was overweight. “Weight of a keeper plays an important role in his activeness. Kamran at present is 78kg, while he should not be over 65kg,” he said.
Rashid Latif, who was a member of Pakistan outfit which defeated Australia last time in 1995 in a Test at Sydney, said that he had been backing Kamran for the last two years mainly because he was scoring runs for the team. “But his recent performance as a wicketkeeper has made it clear that he is not fit for the task,” he added. He said that he was unable to understand that why Sarfaraz and Fawad Alam were called back from Australia tour and demanded to hold an inquiry in this regard. Rashid was also critical of Shoaib Malik and Misba-ul-Haq and said that these two players should also not be part of the team. “Their exclusion will not only end politics in the team but will also enhance its performance,” he claimed.

Kaneria is first Pak spinner with 250 Test scalps

Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, who claimed five wickets in the second innings of the Sydney Test against Australia, has become the first Pakistan spinner to reach the milestone of 250 wickets in Test cricket.

Kaneria, who has continued the tradition of great Pakistani leg-spin bowlers and possesses a very well disguised googly, performed the feat of taking five wickets in an innings for the 15th time, while he has taken ten wickets in a match twice in his 57-Test career, The Daily Times reports.

The 30-year-old is now Pakistan’s highest wicket-taking spinner followed by former leg-spinner Abdul Qadir, who took 236 wickets in 67 Tests.

He had made his international debut in 2000 against England at Faisalabad, and is fourth on the list of most Test wickets over all, only behind the greats Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Imran Khan.

According to the latest, it is expected Malik will replace either Iqbal or Misbah in the 3rd Test.

PCB wants to keep at least 2 of Malik, Misbah and Akmal in the playing XI at one time.

Misbah and Faisal Iqbal must be sent back to Pakistan because they should never have played Test cricket in the first place. It is an insult to the pioneers of Test cricket and players like Ponting, Yousuf, Lara, Tendulkar, Dravid, Sehwag etc that this pathetic duo of Misbah and Faisal is playing Test cricket. These players are incapable of playing long innings, incapable of attacking, incapable of creating shots on good balls, they are incapable of doing anything what a good Test batsman is meant to do, so one must wonder why they are in the team? One can understand that Miandad is a respected figure and hence Faisal benefits from nepotism, but who the hell is Misbah to have survived for so long in the team? Or is it a different kind of “ism” i.e “regionalism”, that guarantees Misbah’s place in the team?

Yousuf’s defensive captaincy and reintroduction of Tableegh in the team is a curse on Pakistan cricket. 2 years ago, Afridi’s critics would have laughed at the thought of him becoming captain of the Test team. Now that seems like a possibility in the near future. Afridi can replace Iqbal, Misbah, Malik and any opener in the Test team, easily.

This captivity of negativity is destroying Pakistan cricket, but Pakistanis can be freed from this captivity by compromising on some cultural norms. Firstly, players like Yousuf who cannot place winning and aggression as their top priorities must never be promoted to captain in the first place. Secondly, emotional and biased decisions such as playing Iqbal (nepotism) and playing Akmal, Malik and Misbah (regionalism) only hurt the country and the team and must not be tolerated. Thirdly, if there is one lesson that Pakistanis should learn from this defeat, it is that a keeper must never be in the team for his batting ability, unless he can bat like Gilchrist, Sangakkara or Dhoni, which Akmal cannot.

What is the reason for this curse, that even when Pakistan show sparks of skill and aggression in Tests, they run out of steam on the 4th and 5th days? Why is there some kind of mental block that prevents them from being aggressive and positive on all 5 days? In Yousuf, Pakistan has found another sluggish and defensive captain like Inzamam, who would rely more on divine intervention than motivating players or setting aggressive field placements. Plus, the way Yousuf was defending Akmal after the defeat shows that he is not a proactive and sharp captain who would take action against non-performers.

A keeper should NEVER be in the team on the basis of his batting skills. I have been advocating for Sarfraz Ahmed’s inclusion in the team since 2007, citing that no matter how many good innings Akmal plays, he will still drop catches and lose Pakistan matches singlehandedly. This is not the only match Akmal has helped Pakistan lose. The fact that Akmal has survived in the team until 2010 shows that he is a benefactor of politics. The reason Akmal still drops easy catches is because he knows it would be very difficult for him to be removed from the team for a significant amount of time. However, now he must be anxious of his place because dropping so many catches in one Test is criminal and even some of his staunch fans are calling for some kind of penalty for Akmal.

Yousuf blames Twenty20 for Sydney debacle

Karachi, Jan 7 (PTI) Continuing his tirade against Twenty20, embattled Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf today blamed the proliferation of this format for his team’s bizarre defeat in the Sydney Test against Australia.

Chasing 176 for a win, Pakistan imploded in their second innings for just 139 and Yousuf had no doubt that some of the players are interested only in Twenty20 and lacked the Test match temperament.

“We had a golden chance to finally beat Australia in Australia and we let it go ourselves due to poor batting. I think the target of 176 runs was perfectly gettable on the Sydney pitch on the fourth day of the Test,” Yousuf told a television channel.

“I get a feeling that most of the players are more interested in playing Twenty20 cricket.

Omer

A very good analysis, but do you understand that the Senate Committee said that Ijaz Butt runs the PCB like a grocery shop?

Do you think this man who the Senate thinks never attended college, would be able to understand what you have written?

Javed A Khan

I don’t understand how a non-partisan, educated diplomat like Nasim Ashraf, who made decisions in the national interest and who has received so many medals for serving Pakistan, can be a worse Chairman than Ijaz Butt?

Shoaib

If you want Altaf to return to Pakastan, give him some kind of NRO amnesty that was given to Zardari & Co so that he cannot be tried for the cases against him.

Or if Karachi had 65% of the country’s population, Altaf would not have needed to flee to the UK in the first place. In fact there would have been no MQM, but PKM- Punjab Komi Move-Mant

Yousuf calls for Pakistan to appoint a batting coach

http://www.cricinfo.com/ausvpak09/content/current/story/442875.html

Is Yousuf hinting towards Inzimam here ??

Khansahab …

Not Move-Mant … but “Moo-Munt”

hi guys kamran misbah and faisal must go for good and afridi must replace moulvi maher bale baaz sahib i was there when afridi captained first time in odi at wanderers and the way he was setting fields and was controling the game was just very refreshing even yunis khan is not that active in field as afridi is and right now we need a captain who is agressive and bold in taking his decesiöns and only think about team rather then individuals.talking about moulana’s captaincy he was not even sure of winning when aussies were 80 for 8 effectively this is all about winning mantelity which our skipper dnt have because our record as test team is not great today i was trying to recal any major test series victory in last ten years and i didnt come up with many and also how can pcb can choose a captain who is more interested in tableegh and wanted to make other captains and players muslim then beating them on cricket field he must choose his priorities pcb selected him to play cricket not for tableegh. Kamran and misbah are i think very expert and talented in what they say choli chuck and tat… chuck and all the time they are just carrying them otherwise i dnt knw why they are in team they dnt even desereve to be in touring party u wil see now in last match all these players will suddenly come into form and will score runs to seccure thier places for odi’s

You mean to say that every unsuccessful poet is a husband…….

Javed, Nahi bhai mera matlab yeh tha kay aadmi shaadi kay baad poet nahi rehta

khansahab, Munir sahab tried to fix the Move-munt but couldnt dare to write much incase MQM ”Jaanbaaz Sippaahii” would attack on him or his family. I too am scared as i have got wife to feed well let me try to rectify it further… its Mutheda Qomi Moot-Ment. ”Poori Qom kay moo per Mootaro” anyway it was just a joke but Khansahab if you are from MQM then let me say that i am not against MQM or didnt mean to hurt your feelings but i am not in ”Altaf Bhai’s” favour

Have you seen the film ”Altaf bhai in India” against Pakistan, its worth to watch!
You cannot miss Altaf Bhai’s picture where he is holding british passport and showing to the camera with great delight, i guess not even a ghareeb Pakistani with 5 unmarried sisters and widow mother would be as happy as he was

Again people can disagree and i dont mind as every one has their own idea to perceive things, nowadays Pakistan is a democratic country and the best revenge is the democracy. and also Pakistan Kheppay……Allah behter janey kidher Kheppa rahey hey yeh Pakistan ko .

I am agree and kind regards to khansahab

what a match sa vs eng that is the quality u want to see in a test team england just managed to draw with last wicket pair on crease even sa never bowled badly just luck was not on thier side and dyrell cullinen summed it up very well that even it is a draw but cricket wins in end the way collingwood and ian bell batted it is a big lesson and shame for our pakistan players if they had any shame left in them.the wicket was not much different from melbourne and sydney and sa’s bowling was also much better then aussies but england batsman aplied themselves they had the mentle strength and best of all they were focused on cricket not ön politics ball was turning but england’s batsman never gifted thier wickets to paul harris like our so called best players of spin bowlling gifted to nathin hauritz moulana mahir bale baaz and co. need to learn a lot from these other teams he cnt just keep blaming 20twenty cause in last 4 months pakistan had played 8 test matches and only 3 twenty20 matches and most of batsman playing in the team were not even in those twenty20 teams and if these players wanted to play twenty20 or were influenced by that type of cricket why he never as captain of team send all the players back and asked pcb for players who got test cricket mentality. in my opinion best team for hobart is 1. imran farhat 2.salman butt i dont like both of them but after sohail and anwer this is the first pair which has done well in 4 tests consistantly there job was to take shine of new ball which they did but failed to play big innings 3 yunis khan/ shoaib malik if yunis arrives in time good otherwise i think malik will b a better option then faisal 4 muhammed yusef must forget about umer and tableegh and concentrate on his own batting 5 umer akmal just need better shot selection and patience 6 shahid afridi must take responsibility 7 sarfraz ahmed have to keep well 8 muhammed aamir hard luck sami 9 umer gul 10 muhammed asif 11 danish kaneria last 3 players performances speak for themselves 12 man kamran akmal to make him appriciate how lucky he was for being in playing 11

I have just seen a programme where Sarfraz Nawaz, Inzamam, Aamer Sohail and Mohsan Khan were sharing their views re Pakastan’s defeat. This is what they all said:

Sarfraz:

There was match fixing. Akmal deliberately missed the run out chance and Yousuf deliberately captained negatively.

The nepotism and politics can be seen by the sending back of Fawad Alam, and the selection of Abdur Rauf whose inclusion was decided by Mian Munir of PML Nawaz, who is a member of the PCB’s governing board.

Inzamam was fined under the Qayyum Report findings for match fixing. Then, an unnamed player from the ICL team Lahore Badshahs was fined by the ICL organisers for match fixing. On a TV channel a tape was played which contained a phone conversation between Saleem Altaf and Mohd Ilyas and they were talking about match fixing in the ICL, done by Lahore Badshahs. (Basically Sarfraz was trying to say that Inzamam is not an angel)

Mohsan Khan:

What Pakistan lacked was a solid gameplan- this is the responsibility of the captain and the team management.

We need to have back ups for senior batsmen.

Aamer Sohail:

Pakastan needs more rotation in selection- we need to see more youngsters playing.

Kamran Akmal was not dropped before because of his batting.

—————–

Inzamam spoke a load of Mullah nonsense, nothing interesting.

Razzaq has injured his finger in a domestic match and will not play the ODI series in Australia.

Mohsan Khan made this crucial point about having back ups in the team for senior batsmen.

The problem is, when are Malik, Misbah, Yousuf ever dropped for there to be back ups in the first place?

You need to give your youngsters more exposure to international cricket so that they can stand as back ups to senior batsmen. But, in Pakistan player power is so strong that all the major batsmen cannot be dropped. When chances are created, like in this series when Afridi and Younis are not playing, people like Faisal Iqbal are played because of sources.

So how the hell do you expect to create back ups?

When Fawad Alam was given a chance, it was always on the basis that if he would make one mistake, he would be dropped. And then after 2 or 3 mistakes he was dropped. This happened in those matches when most batsmen failed, too. But, the team management didn’t take these matters into consideration.

Due to player power and controversial selections of players like Malik and Misbah, Pakistan finds itself in this situation where there are no good back ups. Hence, unless some prodigious talent like Umer Akmal appears on the scene, Pakistan will well and truly only match teams like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

Omer

Do you agree this is the best Test team for Pakistan?

Butt/Farhat/Ahmed Shahzad/any opener
Fawad Alam
Mohammad Yousaf
Younas Khan
Umer Akmal
Shahid Afridi
Sarfraz Ahmed
Gul
Asif
Aamer
Kaneria

Reserves:
Razzaq, Ajmal, Sohail Khan, one opener, another fast bowler etc

Khansahab,

I am your agree. The only different thing that I’d do is, send Umar Akmal to open in place of Alam and send Alam after Younis Khan.

Afridi the captain, Asif the vice-captain.

On Inzamam and matchfixing in ICL (which was pretty apparent to those who watched as well), more moolah for the mullah.

Omer

I am quite sure that Umer AKmal will not be as brilliant when playing against the new ball. He is not Sehwag, that he will be able to rip the opposition apart. Even Viv Richards used to bat in the middle order?

I am not saying Umer will definitely fail, but Pakistan has always sacrificed players like Younis Khan and Fawad Alam to bat above their natural positions. Younis survived batting at no 3, in fact for most of his career he has batted like a makeshift opener.

Yousuf, Malik, Misbah- these guys don’t want to bat any position higher than no 4, because they don’t want to play the moving ball.

This is interesting situation, every one is announcing their own final 11 like selectors butttt end if the day butt will approve it and again we will see batting line up from salmon butt to shark faced na-kamran khetmel,Ive stopped watching cricket and now I only watch wwe

Javed Khan,

Why don’t we just put glue on gloves when Akmal is catching?

Btw for Akmal’s growth as a cricketer, there is nothing better than him working on his keeping skills in domestic cricket . This should have been done 3 years before, but unfortunately what the PCB did, is neither good for Akmal nor for the team. Reflection is a key part of the game and look at how Gul came back. However, Gul didn’t have any technical flaws– Gul’s mind simply was way off. It was a good move by the board to make Waqar the coach and they should keep Waqar as the coach now…

But, Akmal has glaring technical shortcomings and it will be good for him and the team if he took a break and worked for a year or two at his keeping.
I have heard the batting argument, and the question is, is the board also fearful like Mohd Yousof when it comes to decision-making, as though there will be a calamity if Akmal is not playing? I mean just look at his batting, it is hit or miss, even Afridi is a much better batsman than Akmal. I don’t understand what the fear is with decision-making and Pakistan cricket?

aussies want kamran akmal to play in hobart as well cause they want him to give more chances to thier batsman thats the reason ian healy is giving hope to pak manegement that problems of kamran can be sorted out but all these problems are with kamran from time he started playing his cricket and r matured with him now so its not easy to get rid of them rashid latif was 110% right that he is needed to be dropped. You guys had noticed how aussie comentators were praising faisal iqbal and were comparing his bating style with miandad as he is pakistan’s next big thing even umer and moulana didnt get that much praises they definately want him to play in all three matches

intikhab alam had said that keneria lacks what it take to be a great. Talking to THE NEWS he said that even he had taken 250 wickets he dnt knw where to bowl to a batsman and leaks too many runs he also said that kamran akmal needs rest and his bad performance was because of playing a lot of cricket. I think inti got a short term memory he is criticising a player who was highest wicket taker in second innings and on who’s bowling kamran dropped three vital catches even if had taken one of them aussies are never going to make even 80 runs lead kaneria leak runs out of frustration cause he tries to get wickets without the help of fielders and bowl too straight and thus leak runs

Amir

I am surprised by this pathetic statement from Inti. I have criticised Kaneria myself in the past, but at the moment Kaneria needs sympathy because of the effect Akmal’s keeping has had on his form and career.

In fact, Kaneria became a less potent bowler ever since Akmal became Pakistan’s full time keeper.

Inti is there to protect Akmal, Malik and Misbah and play politics so that is precisely what he is doing. Shame on you Inti Alam. A fat, senile and ineffective coach, only there because of politics.

Pakistan won the T20 World Cup because of Younis, Afridi and Gul and they won the 1992 World Cup because of Imran Khan’s leadership mainly and good individual efforts by Miandad and Wasim Akram. Inti is very lucky he was the coach on both occasions but now the PCB must sack him because he is no good.

You will not see this anywhere else in the world, that a coach is criticising the team’s premier strike bowler like this on a tour especially after the keeper dropped 4 catches off his bowling. Shame on you Inti.

Jamshed Dasti, the MNA who accused Younis Khan of match fixing and who has previously spoken out against Ijaz Butt, said yesterday that Ijaz Butt should go to jail and the entire PCB management should be sacked.

There were some doubts about Dasti’s sincerity when he criticised Younis Khan, as some people thought Dasti is a Pathan and is creating this drama to create sympathy for Younis. However, Dasti is not a Pathan, but a Punjabi and these rumours were therefore baseless.

Although Dasti might have been uncouth or biased, or whatever, I totally support his outbursts against Ijaz Butt. The only problem is that the Sports Ministry and the President’s office are not taking any notice of his concerns.

How come Pakistanis had zero patience with Nasim Ashraf, but don’t seem to mind Ijaz Butt?

Imran Tahir has been called up

still can’t seem to get over the daunting and devastating defeat. The fact that they dominated the scene for 3 days but yet ended up on the losing side says something about their capability to collapse like no other sporting unit. We are now strongly facing the possibility of another Australian whitewash just like we did 5 years back. What an embarrassment that will undoubtedly be. But with the series more or less over and the final match being a dead rubber the PCB should make some drastic alterations for the better. We can’t accept results of such depression and hurt and further. As Kamran Abbasi says on pakspin, Pak cric is going through the most crucial period in its unpredictable history of ups and downs currently. Following years of unpredictability and international isolation it is a time of literally “make” or “break” for the cricketing passionate but starved nation. Hence, key planning and wise decisions from the authorities are essential. Lets hope our corrupt nepotistic board can turn a corner and use some wisdom at long last.

This is what I would do had I been in the authorities position:

1) Drop tinny butter fingers Kami. His flaws have proved so costly.

2) Sack the MoYo and appoint Shahid Afridi or even Salman Butt. Trust me Salman strikes as “captaincy material” in test cricket at least.

3) Drop Faisal and Misbah Ul Huq . Bring in Imran Nazir. Such a gifted counter attack player who could and will be an asset in the middle order for test cricket. He is an opener by trade but I can identify a talent and personal strength.

4)Play an all rounder. The team balance has been affected without. Rana, Razzaq or Yasir Arafat who could bat at no8 and of course bowl. The batting has lacked depth for sure which has come as a part downfall in both 4th innings chases. Instead the tail batted as if they hadn’t lifted the piece of willow before.

What an inspirational article from Kamran Abbasi ! He is 100% right. Cricket hai Pakistan ki jaan…
Without the nation would be incomplete big time. It is more than just a game. It is a forefront economical and social activity which also influences the political front.

Therefore, we as citizens and passionate dedicated supporters must keep it alive. We must campaign and maintain supportiveness and passionate. After all we can’t let our country collapse. We care for the future.Especially at this crucial period of time.

President Zadari and PCB management get a grip !

That may sound unrealistic now people but that may well be an eventuality if we are not cautious or the authorities are not cautious shall I say. We all know how badly the nations image has been affected during the “noughties” decade. Cricket or other arts along with international help and hope can only rescue us and ensure this decade doesn’t bring much of the same. Therefore, we must raise awareness over the sports significance before it’s too late. Over emotional or not Kamran has shown his passion and patriotism towards Pakistan. What a wonderful individual he is. In my opinion his campaigning and raising of concerns for the games survival in his and our beloved nation is necessary for the foreseeable future.

Basit Ali has told GEO TV that the reason for the team’s recent bad performances are 3 players and once they’re removed, the performances will be fine. The three players are:

1) Shoaib Malik
2) Kamran Akmal
3) Misbah ul Haq

Rashid Latif also mentioned these 3 players recently and said that they are creating politics in the team.

Legslip has been campaigning against these 3 players for over a year.

south africa has called imran tahir who was a former pakistan A representative to play in final test at wanderers against england.imran tahir had also represented middlesex, yorkshire, and hampshire in the county championship.he has taken a lot of wickets for Easterns in the amateur competition this year hope he will play and will bowl well good luck imran

Javed Khan and Khansahab,

Inti Alam and Yousof are deflecting blame on Kaneria from Kamran Akmal. Not only are they blaming Kaneria but also 20/20.

Which player in the team is a 20/20 player? Misbah and Faisal both play with a strike-rate of 10 or 20. They were the worst thruought the tournament. Mohd Youso has some insecurity when Umar Akmal comes to bat, but Umar Akmal probably had the highest average in the team thru the two matches. How can they blame his attacking style of play when he made the most runs?

Mohd Yousof himself doesn’t even play 20/20, but in compettion with Umar Akmal, he was the one trying to hit each and every ball in the air.

Our bowling attack is complete for Test Match cricket. Yes, Gul’s bowling might have been affected by 20/20, but when Waqar became the coach, that was sorted out. Gul bowled quite well.

Then there were the 20/20 field placements. Again the culprit was Yousof himself.

If they should blame something/someone, at least they should see if the criticism stands to fact.

khansahib ..me and u can write for next five more years but still cant get rid of these ba….ds these guys at pcb are such dumb fuck a..ho..s they dont have any vision education or morality they dnt care about millions of pakistani supporters the only thing they think is money and ways of bringing thier relatives in the team it is because of them that whole nation is getting embaraced i had learned that jeff lawson former pakistan coach was there in sydney on forth day wearing a pakistan cricket blazer and anticipating a pak victory i dnt knw how mr.butthead had felt about it cause he is the one who kicked him out and how much embarced mr.lawsom had been in front of his own country man aparently he was only voice in aussie media which was sympathatic to pak team b4 and during the match

As long as we have politics in the team Pakistan team will never succeed. the only way Pakistan team can come back strong is 1st they need to end the politics and 2nd they need to have pride for their country and play for the respect of their country like South Africa, Australia, and India. They are strong team because they want to lighten up their country name and they work hard as a team to perform well. The thing i don’t i understand the most is ANY OF YOU NOTICE OUR OPENERS AVERAGE. Example Salman Butt whose average is only 29 and Imran Fahat is only 34 how should we expect anything from these opener when both batsmen average added up is lower than Australian 5th Batsmen. WE need stronger opener with strong Averages to score some runs in the beginning so the team spirit is lifted and the rest of the batsmen don’t feel to much pressure. But to really improve our team PCB needs to change the team from the roots and only leave Afridi and the bowlers in the team and bring fresh batsmen. Our biggest problem is our batsmen line up because you can’t complain from the bowler since Pakistan has the best of the best bowler and they are doing their job.

Javed Khan,

I think it would be a good idea to open with Umar Akmal. Peter Siddle has already mentioned the mental scars inflicted on the Pakistan team. It may be true, they may come out totally flat and lose without much effort. If Umar Akmal can open the match and play a fast 70,80 or 90 it will reverse the momentum. Already when Umar Akmal comes to bat, there is the fear factor amongst the Aussies. Besides that, Umar Akmal’s free-flowing and attacking nature is best utilized when there is no pressure of 4,5 batsman out. To best utilize his batting capability is to send him up the order and allow him to play his natural game, rather than sending him down the order and asking him to curb his instinct. Because that is how he has gotten to this stage, by playing attackingly, which means he is good enough to do it and he has done it whereever he has played, on domestic or Under19 or in Australia. If that is how he is played so far and it has worked for him, there is no point changing that– he might become a worse batsman because of that.

Omer Admani you are right Umar Akmal is aggressive player and needs to play in the beginning since he put pressure on the opposite team and he can score some runs. I don’t know how is ijaz but criticizing him when he has the highest average in the team. As a example look at Shane Watson how he plays. he plays like he is playing ODI not test match. He plays aggressive and that works for him so the Australian are fine with it.

Either Akbal Kassam, the Chief Selector, has gone senile like Antakhab Alam, or he is following someone else’s directions. Previously Kassam was saying that Younas needs to show form in domestic matches before he is sent to Australia, and recently he has changed his statement and said that Younas will definitely be sent to Australia notwithstanding his domestic form.

Meanwhile, a lot of people are speculating that Rashad Latif has made this anti-Malik/Misbah/Akmal statement on behalf of Younas Khan.

Comments from Salahuddin Sallu’s interview to Geo:

“Player indiscipline is the biggest problem in Pakistan cricket.

The selection policy is not fair.“

Khansahab,

Rashid Latif has a good cricket brain. He had also asked the board to replace Kamran Akmal before. To forsee things and logically connect ideas is not the forte of Pakistan cricket administrators or captains. As it is, they only learn by way of experience and after the fact. At times, especially in Yousof’s case, their is absolutely no learning at all.

For instance, we here on LS figured that Rana and Akmal were genuine matchlosers somewhere 3,4 years ago. Unfortunately, the PCB and selectors didn’t, nor did the various captains. Rana came back to haunt the team in the semi-final against NZ and now Kamran Akmal has done it again in Australia. Although learning now can still help in taking the team forward a long way in the future, being able to forsee this may have allowed Pakistan to win the Champions Trophy and be 1-1 here against Australia.

Another misfortune that the Board must pre-empt now and foresee is, Yousof’s captaincy. There is no way in the world that Yousof is captaincy material. He is very negative. In the first test match, when he was batting with the tail in the 4th innings, he kept on laughing, he had given up, he exposed the tail to the bowlers first thing in the over. He never tried to do anything and he was trying to show to the world, that all others in the team were idiots, and he was the only true “test match” batsman. He was trying to remain not-out till the end.

In the second match he assumed Hussey was playing in “his own” image, with a negative mind-set. He assumed on Hussey’s part his own negative character. And, it was wrong, because Ricky Ponting instills a lot of positivity in the team. In the first match (or was it the second match), when Ponting pulled and got out, Yousof pointed towards Ponting while saying something to Umar Akmal, as if to say that, “look he tried to hit the ball and he got out”. Unfortunately, Yousof’s negativitiy can’t comprehend why Ponting doesn’t defend those short balls. It is because, Ponting has been the best player of the short bowl throughout his cricketing career, and he wants to play his natural game, he doesn’t accept the possibility that his hand-eye co-ordination might have receded. But, whatever may it seem on the surface, Ponting’s attitude has a more profound depth in it than it seems. It is as if Ponting is expressing that he wants to play his natural game, in fact it is as if Ponting is telling his team to play its natural game and not to accept any limitations- it is the attitude of not backing off that he wants to translate in the team. Ponting wasn’t playing selfishly, he didn’t care if he got out, he wanted to send a positive message to the team to play their natural game and this attitude translates in the team.

Mohammad Yousuf: “I’m not saying don’t criticize us but maybe it should be more constructive and focus on the positives too ”

What kind of BS is that?

Why do you want constructive criticism and focus on the positives when your negative captaincy has lost Pakistan the match?

He is still not there to win. He has premeditated that his side will lose. And despite that he played Misbah and now he wants to play Malik. Despite that he refused to play Afridi, Fawad Alam.

What the F is wrong with these people that they go to a foreign tour thinking they will definitely be defeated and then they want credit for one or two good sessions? What kind of captain and team management goes to tour with this mindset that they will be beaten and criticism should be constructive?

If there is any positive criticism (if one can exist despite losing), it is that the Pakistan team is out of its rut (perhaps not mentally yet but soon) and Pakistan cricket has found many good players in the recent past. It shouldn’t go any more lower any further. There is a sort of malaise that still plagues the team (such as the selection of Ranas and Akmals), but the team has the ingredients to win from any team:

Mohd Yousof, Younis Khan, and Fawad Alam should make a very solid middle order.

Umar Akmal has the potential to be a Sehwag-like opener and a matchwinner.

Sarfaraz Ahmed will not drop as many catches as Akmal. He could be groomed as a batsman, which would be the right way. If he is good at one thing, he can learn the other. Unlike Akmal, who didn’t know much about either.

Umar Gul is improving under Waqar. Waqar should be made the bowling coach permanently, he is a very positive influence.

If Pakistan can add Afridi in place of Misbah, and groom Aamer into an all rounder, it can become a very solid team indeed.

The bowling attack beckons greatness.

What is needed is sound leadership and no more Ranas, Maliks, Akmals and the like…no more mediocrity which has been stalling Pakistan cricket since awhile.

Omer

What you are saying is right, but they need good leadership for all that to happen. For example, this senior player culture needs to end. Selection should be done on the basis of form and not seniority. Iqbal Qasim admitted in a recent TV interview that Shoaib Malik keeps getting selected because he is a “senior” player. What kind of senior player is Malik, when he can’t even play Test cricket?

You have spoken about the need to have Umer Akmals and Afridis in the team and how Sehwag is important to the Indian team. In my opinion players like Malik and Misbah have caused players like Afridi to be ignored in Test cricket. That is because, there is a risk factor with players like Afridi and for an Afridi, you need a player like Yousuf who can help stabilise proceedings. But in Pakistan, the nothing players Malik and Misbah created his greater risk, as in Test cricket they can never perform outstandingly, and due to their scores of 20 and 30 they are never bad enough to warrant the selectors ignoring them completely- although mediocre players must never play Test cricket, per se.

So, playing Afridi along with players like Malik and Misbah means a weak batting order, because if Afridi fails, Malik and Misbah are likely to fail or extremely unlikely to score more than 35.

I was reading on a different blog and I agree with this, that when Malik is “in form” in ODI’s he scores 35 odd and on that basis he is selected for a subsequent ODI series. When he is not in form, he finds it hard to score past 10. In the last 2 years this is what has happened with him in Tests too- being in the team on the basis of scoring 30, which is just not a good enough score for a specialist middle order batsman to make.

That is exactly why I have been more anti-Malik since he became captain and started batting in the middle order. If you are batting as opener or at no 3 and you make 30, that is more pardonable than if you are batting at no 5 or 6 and you make 30. Of course, one of the reasons for this is because it is difficult for a Pakistani batsman to score when the ball is moving. Hence I used to give Malik credit when he was batting at no 3 in ODI’s, or when he batted as opener for a while.

Omer

Do you remember when I said Faisal Iqbal is a better Test batsman than Shoaib Malik? This is what I was alluding to:

Both of them average 24 in Australia.

Iqbal averages 39 in NZ, Malik averages 12.

Malik averages more in Sri Lanka, where pitches are flatter. Iqbal averages more in Pakistan.

Apart from that there are no other valid comparables that I can use to compare the 2 as far as performance on different pitches are concerned. For example, Malik has not played a Test in England, but Faisal has.

But this is the biggest indicator- in the matches Pakistan has won, Iqbal averages 40 and averages 19 in the matches Pakistan has lost when he has been in the team. Now, Malik averages 30 in those matches Pakistan has won when Malik has been playing, and he averages 28 in those matches Pakistan has lost.

So there is a difference of only 2 there.

Plus, Iqbal’s average is 27 in Tests, but he averages a respectable 40 in those matches Pakistan has won, whereas Malik’s average is 36, but he averages only 30 (less than career average) in those matches Pakistan has won when he has been playing.

Hence I find it reasonable to say that Iqbal is a better Test batsman. At least Iqbal’s performances have helped Pakistan win more than Malik’s? There is not a lot of difference in fielding between the 2, and Malik is a useless bowler anyway.

Pak selectors to make major changes for ODI series Down Under

Lahore, Jan 9: Pakistan selection committee has reportedly made some major changes in the squad for the ODI series against Australia, starting from January 22.

According to reports, the selectors have also decided to give chance to youngsters after the teams pathetic performance in the Test series.

It is believed that six players including former captain Younis Khan are set to make the squad along with Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam, Rao Iftikhar, Khalid Latif and Naved Yasin, while Misbah-ul-Haq, Faisal Iqbal, Danish Kaneria, Mohammad Sami and Khurram Manzoor will return from Australia, The Dawn reports.

Earlier, Pakistan chief selector Iqbal Qasim had said that the selectors will consider Younis for the ODI series.

We believe that Younus has a definite role in Pakistan team and we would like to see him join the team for the five one-day internationals. We want him to regain his batting confidence, Qasim had said.

Skipper Mohammad Yousuf has also made desperate calls to send the experienced batsman to Australia to bolster the batting line-up, which has failed so far in the tour.

Khansahab,

The thing is, all these players came 8-9 years ago and they are still where they started. What my point is, when you make degree of players, the very goods, the greats, the average, the average-bad, and the matchlosers— Malik, Misbah, Faisal and the like are about the worst of the lot.

So, what I don’t understand is, rather than playing very mediocre old players, why not just play youngsters, who even if they are as worse as these players, might improve and get better at some point in time?

Besides this, I just can’t believe that there aren’t any other better players in the whole of Pakistan. Fawad Alam is certainly one. But there are definitely others as well, but the PCB or the selectors just don’t look at the averages of players: Malik can be really mediocre throughut his life, but the the way they see it is, if Malik goes to domestic cricket and makes a century within the next one year, the way they think is, our tiger is back in form, send him to the team (when even by domestic standards it was only a 100 and a fluke– but they begin with the assumption that he is an international level player who was out of form and is back in form now, when he actually was never in form, it was just that the selectors had been appointed since the past one year). But, that 100 in domestic is abridged to a 50 in international, and that is the best Malik can do, once in awhile. His batting has a long-term average of 3-4 in NZ, 8 in England, and 20-odd in Australia– any future aberration will be luck, and the overall averages for all the possible, combined matches would still converge to his past numbers or close to there.

However, if a player is young, he can get the exposure he needs and go back to domestic cricket and perhaps improve within a year or two. This can also help in building bench-strength. In fact Malik, Misbah, Kamran Akmal, and Rana– these are actually good players for domestic cricket, as they can compete equally with other players (whether coming from under 15, under 17, or schools or clubs) of equal calibre, so that the standard of domestic cricket is kept in check. But selecting such players at international level, despite being so old, simply defys logic.

Omer

Totally agree. My point was never that Iqbal should be in the team, it was just that I would not drop him to accommodate Malik.

Javed A Khan

Neither Shahzaib Hasan Khan, nor fellow Karachiite Asad Shafiq have been considered. Instead the Multan based Yasin is being sent.

Yasin is being sent on the pretext of being the 2nd highest scorer in some recent domestic tournament, however Shafiq scored more than him (so was the leading scorer).

Khalid Latif might do a better job than Farhat in ODI’s, let’s see.

I think the first choice team would definitely be:

Farhat
Butt
Younas
Yousaf
Umer Akmal
Afridi
K Akmal
Aamer
Asaf
Gul
Ajmal

I guess if Malik scores more than 30 in the Hobart Test, he will open with either Butt or Farhat.

I would use this team:

Latif
Sarfraz Ahmed
Younis
Yousuf
Umer Akmal
F Alam
Afridi
Aamer
Gul
Asif
Ajmal

http://www.cricinfo.com/u19wc2010/engine/match/440604.html

Top win for PakU19. Shahzad and Qadir stealing the headlines.

hey guys any1 read the story about kamran akmal in THE NEWS according to it he was baby sitting his child the whole night before third days play according to the news his wife went to sleep early and many people saw kamran walking whole night in the hotel loby trying to make the child calm. I dnt mind it at all cause i dnt think he can catch the ball any way whether he is sleeping or not but what a big embaracement and another shame for team manegement specialy inti and moulana they dnt even knw what thier players are doing during such an important test match. just having another thought that why mr.khatmal never gave this baby sitting job to this waile nakhattu inkhaab alam e panh he is not doing anything with the team and he cant coach so may be he can do baby sitting well for his best wicketkeeper batsman

Amir,

I agree with you, now they are all throwing around these ridiculous stories in the press to get sympathy for Kamran Akmal. He termed the Sydney test as a “scary dream”. Now he is coming on camera and acting like a kid to get sympathy, while for the last three years, every time he dropped a catch, he just laughed, and said “cmoooooon Daneesh”.

This is not his worst test match, it is just that every Pakistani, not just in Pakistan, but all around the world was watching the match and there was nowehere to hide for him. In fact some of the messages I received regarding Akmal were outright curses, such was the dissapointment at one player undermining the effort of the whole team.

He has missed more chances in a single test match in SA and England. In fact we can think of it this way, he got three chances from Kaneria and he spilled all of them. What in percentages is the likelihood that he might have taken any if he received more?

This is not about being ruthless– he is not in school, 11 players are selected for the team and the captain and the board have to make sure they are the best. And, even for Kamran Akmal, a break of a few years would not be a bad thing, because if he is dropped a year or two later and not now, there would be no chance of a comeback as he will be considered too old.

It would also be very unjustified on the part of the board to send Sarfaraz Ahmed all the way to Australia and not play him in the match. In fact the PCB should have called Kamran Akmal immediately back to Pakistan like they had done with Abdul Rauf.

It is the PCB which should make these decisions, as the bhaigiri culture in the team, with Mohd Yousof as the captain, isn’t going out anytime soon. Or so it seems from the drama they are creating in the press.

Omer/Amir

It seems like drama to me. They have contrived this to protect Akmal and show that it is an isolated incident because he was up all night.

Whatever the case, his wife should be aware enough to know that her husband needs his 8 hours of sleep, on an important foreign tour. If this news story is true, then the Akmal household is totally dumb. In fact if Akmal is so dumb he should not be playing international cricket anyway.

I will play the third Test: Kamran Akmal

His place in the team is uncertain after the dismay performance in Sydney, but Pakistan stumper Kamran Akmal claims he has the support of his team-mates and is confident of playing in the third Test against Australia in Hobart starting on Thursday.

Akmal said he is expecting to take part in the final Test as a specialist glovesman, despite the Pakistan Cricket Board rushing Sarfraz Ahmed as his replacement for the game.

“I was very successful with my batting and wicketkeeping on the New Zealand tour and before the New Zealand tour. So I was very happy. But I think the third day of the Sydney Test match was not good for me – this happens,” he was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press.

“I’m very keen. My confidence is very high. Inshallah, definitely, for this upcoming Test match … I will perform very well.

“The management is very confident for me. Coaches Intikhab Alam, Waqar Younis, Aqib Javed, and my teammates are all confident. I will play the third Test match and more matches for my country,” he said.

Akmal dropped as many as four catches and missed a run out chance during the third day of the second Test, which played a crucial part in Pakistan’s devastating 36-run loss at the hands of Australia in Sydney.

But the 27-year-old wicket-keeper batsman said it was just an off-day for him which any cricketer has to face in his or her career.

“I’ve been picked for the Pakistan team for the past ten years and for the last eight years I’ve been playing as wicketkeeper/batsman.

“I know the people are very disappointed for this performance in the Sydney Test match – definitely back home the situation is very crazy. My feeling is also very bad after the Sydney Test match because I think four dropped catches is enough,” Akmal said.

“I’m concentrating on calming down and performing well in the next Test match. It was a bad day, the third day of the Sydney Test, I think it was my worst day.

“But it is equal for any cricketer. Ricky Ponting is one of the best batsman but he’s not getting too many runs at the moment,” he added.

If Akmal plays in the 3rd Test then what more confirmation do we need that there is politics in the team based on regionalism?

Why are they destroying Sarfraz Ahmed’s career like this when Akmal made criminal errors in the Sydney Test?

Akmal should know that the margin of error for a wicketkeeper is very low. This is a stupid comment that Ponting is also going through a bad patch because Ponting is a captain, a world class batsman and the margin of error for him is greater. He can get back into form anytime but Akmal has been dropping catches like these for many years now.

I didn’t know that regionalism was so deep rooted in the Pakistani psyche that after so much has happened, Akmal’s career still has a chance to be salvaged.

BREAKING NEWS

The following are some statements from an interview given by a PCB source to a media agency:

PCB did not even consult the team management when they decided to send Sarfraz Ahmed to Australia.

The same group of players who are now supporting Akmal to remain in the team are the ones who formed a group against Younis Khan, which led Younis to resign.

khatmal says that he thinks four chances are enough but who gives a f what he thinks. he can also think in future that four chances are not enough like he thought through whole last 8 10 years he also thinks that he had a succesful career but its better for him that instead of thinking he should ask kaneria and sami that what the f they think of his successful career his coments about ponting are just as pathetic as pathetic player he is if he is going to play in hobart i m not gonna have any confidence left in pakistan cricket it is beyond imagination

As you all read the article on Kamran Akmal on cricinfo.com. He is talking like he owns Pakistan, PCB and the cricket team. They way his voice tone is like he is the boss and he gets to decide if stays in the team or take a brake and nobody else can tell him anything. What frustrates me the most is that after this Horrible performance he still comes out and talk and say that people needs to look at his past performance and judge him by that but the problem is, if you look at his career since he joined Pakistan team he always struggle behind the stump dropping catches. Another thing he is saying he is a good batsmen and Yousuf is backing him also saying he is a strong batsmen and we cannot let him go. I haven’t seen him in any game that he perform well the only place he got lucky was in NZ test game but that don’t make him a good batsmen. Yousuf and Akmal are talking like Akmal is the best batsmen in the World and we don’t have no talent in Pakistan that can replace him. The way akmal is talking he knows that he is not loosing his place because 5-6 senior players are backing him up including our Unprofessional Captain. Kamran Akmal needs to admit he is the worst wicket Keeper in the WORLD or in his case UNIVERSE. He needs to leave international Cricket and if you wants to play for Pakistan he should work hard and get in form then come back to the side and show he is worthy of his spot. I don’t care how bad or good pakistan teams gets they always produced BEST OF BEST Wicket Keeper that made HISTORY IN CRICKET, For example Rashid Latif and MOIN Khan. I don’t know where they picked up this CLOWN HE SHOULD BE IN CIRCUS PERFORMING WITH ANIMALS. NOW to the captain, Mohammad Yousuf Needs to admit he is the worst captain the History of Cricket has ever seen and he don’t have the SKILLS of a LEADER and he needs to Retire. PCB and our cricket Team needs to ADMIT that YOUNIS KHAN was an EXCELLENT CAPTAIN and that they made a MISTAKE letting him GO, At least he won the Country a World Cup.

moulana azeem kaptaan had said that people are only criticising the team they must see the positives also he said that team played wel for 3 days and only had 1 bad day he said that team is going to play wel in hobart he also said that I AM NOT SAYING THAT WE ARE GOING TO WIN IN HOBART BUT WE WILL TRY TO PLAY GOOD CRICKET what is good cricket if u r playing to win dnt knw from where pcb got this ch…a captain he needs to knw that he is not playing his mohala cricket he is representing pakistan nation even if zimbabwe wil b playing aussies thier captain wil never say that he is not sure of winning especialy in press can any one tel this f….ng as…le that he is destroying the winning mantality of young cricketers who are representing pakistan at junior level infect he is destroying the whole future of pakistan cricket by his negitive statments aussie cricket is strong cause u wil never hear like that from ponting whether pakistan wins in hobart which i realy doubt he needed to be sacked and forcefuly retiered for his negetivity

If Yousof is supporting Akmal, that is all the more reason to sack Yousof. In fact if the support is going out of the way, then the board, upon Yousof’s return, should ask him to retire or axe him.

It is about time this bhaigiri culture in the team is broken, as all the players behind this culture are really mediocre: Misbah, Malik, Akmal, and now possibly Yousof is also engaging in the same thing. The reason is not Pinjab versus non-Punjab as so many people can have a tendency to think, the reason is that a lot of our cricketers are from villages, and as such, need likeminded people around them, those who speak the same language, act the same — it is just convenient, there is nothing ethnocentric about it.

Therefore, the board must adopt a code of conduct and discipline the players. When they meet as a team, everyone should be required to speak in only one language. Subgroups within the team should be discouraged.

This is why cricket can’t improve in the team. Everyone blames the board, but why blame the board? The 11 players are the ones who play the match, not the board. And, if these 11 players make a group amongst themselves of supporting each other and all the mediocrity that comes along with it, and then the people support these same players, what can the board do?

Akmal should not be played in Hobart, he shoulld be immediately called back to Pakistan, his position in the team should not be more important than the chairman of the PCB.

THE PCB VERSUS KAMRAN AKMAL on cricinfo. What a joke, the board must stamp its authority, and call Akmal back with immediate effect.

Omer

Do you not think that the cricketers are so intelligent that they know that a few players don’t speak Punjabi and have different cultures?

You can say that when a raw player emerges onto the international scene he will know very little of the world around him, but guys like Malik, Akmal etc have visited so many cities, given so many media interviews, met so many non Punjabis- you pick things up and realise that this is not Punjab, but Pakistan you are dealing with here.

Plus, I bet someone like Umer Akmal can probably speak better Urdu than Punjabi. That is just how Pakistan is changing as there is more awareness amongst people and the young generation is more comfortable with Urdu than their own mother tongues, unless they are living in a village.

I know to a Karachiite, Lahore would kinda seem like a village no matter how many Model Towns are built in Lahore, but the fact is that 90% of these Punjabi cricketers live in Lahore, and Lahore is not a village per se. So, you will see people speaking in English, Urdu, and other languages.

For these reasons I disagree that these cricketers just feel more comfortable around others who speak Punjabi or behave the same way as them- there is something more than that, something sinister and political. If they want to play like a team and be like one, they need to abandon Punjabi and gel in with everyone. But this will never happen because it is contrary to the culture.

You are asking the impossible by suggesting they should speak Urdu. Even when Punjabi people know there is a non-Punjabi speaker sitting in their midst, they still speak Punjabi. Educated Punjabis do that, and you are expecting these cricketers to rise above that? In an ideal world they would, but as I said it is something very deep rooted in Punjabi culture and cannot be removed. The only way I see this happening is more urbanised, younger generation players like Umer Akmal coming into the picture.

Khansahab,

You must be kidding me, most of these players aren’t from Lahore, Islamabad, or other major cities. There is a humongous difference between someone from Lahore or Islamabad or otherwise. You are saying about big cities, I have seen here people from villages, and I ave got to say, there is a lot of politics involved among them, chotee chotee baaton par politics…and they make a small family so to speak…

What I mean is there is too much petty politics among people from villages and there is no individualism. There is nothing wrong in it per se, but the board has to adopt a code of conduct, so the family/bhaigiri culture doesn’t hamper the performance of the team. When players meet as 11, they need to be required to speak in one language. Apart from it the board needs to make sure that the team spirit is kept to groups of 11 on the basis of performance, as usually Pakistan doesn’t play as a team, and the former has something to do with that. PCB is a professional organization, and as such, it also needs to seek to imbue a sense of professionalism in the players.

Khansahab,

Are you aware of what Ramiz Raja said on Kamran Akmal?

He said, that the board should, preferably, sack him for good, something I agree with.

Abdul Qadir is another person who says in the way he see’s it.

Both of them are from Lahore and you can see the difference, in individuality versus the ‘family mind-set’ that people from villages generally seem to have?

Even Inthikab Alam, whom I have to say I have gained more respect for after he said it the way he saw it, is insisting that Akmal needs a break.

So, basically, we know that Yousof comes from the Inzamam bhaigiri and a team-unity philosophy (no matter what a player does, he can’t be axed, so long as he is up there with the higher echolons of the imam of the team), whereas Akmal, Malik, and Misbah– the trio of mediocrity– always had a group and survived on the basis of each other’s support.
Ramiz Raja has also been calling from some time to axe the whole trio.
I think it is about time to get rid of the whole trio, and bring in some youngsters, along with Afridi and Younis Khan.

Just look at it– in only the last year or so, Pakistan have found Umar Akmal, Mohammad Aamer, and Fawad Alam. It wasn’t as tough there is no talent around, it is just that mediocrity in Misbah, Malik, Akmal was inhibiting its progress.

Kamran Akmal’s statements are getting more and more ridiculous by the day– not only is he challenging the PCB’s decision by saying he will play, but now he has compared himself to Ricky Ponting, citing how Ponting is lacking form.

Kamran Akmal always dropped catches, what history is he reminding the people of?

He missed chances right, left, and center in South Africa, in England, in Abu Dhabi, and on and on. First it was Inzamam who supported him and then, it was Malik who came on camera to say that he was the best after Adam Ghilcrist. Whenever the pressure increases of him being dropped, the malaise present in the Pakistan team supports him. Why did Malik have to come and defend Akmal?

Because Akmal was missing many chances.

Why did Kamran Abbasi have to write a post after the South Africa series supporting Akmal, on the basis that he is Kamran’s namesake?

It was because he had also lost the matches in SA singlehandedly by missing many, many chances in the matches?

What history is Kamran Akmal trying to remind us of? And how can he remotely compare himself to Ricky Ponting?

Mohd Yousof and Akmal are getting a bit to carried away with comparisons and neither of them have a sense of Akmal’s hisotry of missing simple chances..

Javed khan,

In that match Akmal was hailed for his 50 after missing 6,7 chances, whereas Younis Khan also made close to a 50 in partnership along with Akmal, Yousof made an 80-odd in the first innings, and Inzamam played one of the best innings of his life with the tail.

Had Akmal not missed those chances of Kallis and company, Pakistan wouldn’t ave to chase 200-odd in the final innings. Akmal can’t simply drop catches of players like Kallis, Smith, Devilliers and make up for their batting alone himself. In that match there was a lot of effort by other players and that was the reason Pakistan won. Akmal kept on playing with the edge of the bat between third slip and gully or first slip and second slip. His flukes now, however, have ran dry, as we can jusdge a player’s batting by how he looks 90 percent of the time rather than what he scores. And, Akmal simply throws his bat around. His one or two knocks shouldn’t cover for his inability with the gloves. Truth be told Pakistan would ave won many more test matches without Kamran Akmal. For each 40, 50 he makes, he drops 2-3 catches of players of the calibre of Hussey and Kallis, and they end making a 150 for his 50.

Javed Khan,

Something to ponder over:

1) The board says Akmal is not playing
2) The captain and Akmal say that Akmal is playing
3) Divisions in the team management on the issue

So, the question arises, why is the team so openly clashing with the board, especially Mohd Yousof whose captaincy is likely to be questioned? And just for Kamran Akmal?

In essence, the team management is expecting that the chairman of the board will be replaced by the time they go back and Yousof and Akmal can escape scrutiny, and Yousof survive as the captain and Akmal survive as the wicketkeeper?

I mean there has to be some logic in their decision-making to clash directly with the board.

Here’s the solution: The board should not only ask Mohd Yousof to give up captaincy immediately (not wait till they come back but now), but the board should axe him from the team and the board should appoint Afridi as the captain. The board should also axe Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik, and Misbah-ul-Haq with immediate effect, and send Afridi, Younis Khan, and 1 or 2 youngsters to replace them. The board needs to toughen up with the players as tey have been getting too much leeway since too long (this formation of groups and supporting each other has gotten out of the way).

These players are either too old now or too mediocre. There is nothing left to lose and the bottomline is, they shouldn’t be challenging the board’s decision on tour, they can’t overide the selectors and make decisions themselves. If they realized what was in the best interest of the team, they would have done better in the second test match. They would have allowed Akmal to be dropped three years ago. But they didn’t and, unfortunately, the players aren’t equipped to make these decisions, the board is supposed to make these decisions.

omer i also think that a keeper should b in team for his wicket keeping only cause its a specialist job ok if he can score now and then some runs but that should not b the criteria to select a keeper batting should always b a plus rather then selection base for a wicket keeper problem with kamran is he is nor good batsman or keeper otherwise they can play him as batsman like they did with moin khan and rashid latif and on top of all his political agenda’s are realy hurting the team he is a fluker who’s flukes can come on only once in a while so he should go for good what we need is a player who can keep wel and dnt drop catches after that even if he makes 20 runs per innings its fine cause our bowling is that good that if we dnt drop catches ön them we dnt need keepers batting

Javed Khan,

I totally agree with you.

If Umar Akmal doesn’t want to play because of Kamran Akmal, he should be called immediately back to Pakistan as well. After awhile his parents will put some sense in him, but to hold the board hostage would be the worst outcome from here. This means that the players choose themselves and the board doesn’t?

The worst thing that the board has done so far is that it hasn’t called Kamran Akmal back to Pakistan yet. There would be no speculation, no unecesary ifs and buts, if it had been done already.

Personally, I would say, if a thread can be done on Kamran Akmal, it would be the best thing. Not only those two catches that just appeared in your mind, there are perhaps more than 120-150 catches if 20/20 and one days are combined. You are right, most of his dropped catches are forgotten, and I can still recall 7 chances missed in one match in SA (in the third test). That was on the back of 4-5 in the second one after which Kamran Abbasi wrote that thread in his defense and made him a hero in fact.

In SA in SA he was dropping so many catches, that one commentator on cricinfo wrote, the unluckiest way to get out in cricket is “caught Akmal”.

Omer, this is why Afridi is better than kaneria:

1) Kaneria was a mammoth failure in ODI. True good bowlers or matchwinners can perform in any format or should be able to.
2) Afridi has more variety. He can bowl the leg break, flipper, googly, off break and quicker one. Kaneria hasn’t mastered the full repertoire like Warne or Qadir. But moreover, he doesn’t use his variation effectively and wisely whereas Afridi does. That’s why his change up/ variation is much more lethal.
3) Afridi is a lot harder to get hold of and hit for boundaries whereas Kaneria is much easier. Top order players have encountered difficulty when facing Shahid and tail enders have been clueless but with Kaneria tail enders can hit him for boundaries and read him well too often. Kaneria hasn’t got the ability to be ruthless against the tail.
4)Afridi can capture astonishing set of figures like that 6-38 vs Aus in UAE 1st ODI last year. Also, he has produced many matchwinning spells in T20. I can’t imagine Kaneria getting anywhere near that level of brilliance with his marathon spells in test matches.

Nevertheless, in despite on that Kaneria SR and average in tests are up there with the best. He has been labelled as a threat. He has got ambition so he can aspire to climb. He has got the skills and has dismissed some top players. He is also a hard working country committed player. But, surely he has to actually win more matches in order to be labelled as only one of Pak’s finest in TESTS ONLY. No way was he better than Mushy or Qadir as they were dominating and genuine matchwinning bowlers who played an instrumental role in many Pakistani victories. Stats can be deceptive one has to remember as they don’t reveal the whole picture of one’s ability which is the case in Danish’s position. He is above average, nothing above that. As for my opinion, I feel he is overrated.

I agree on Umar’s pathetic injury fake to help out his elder sibling. The disgrace is of shocking magnitude. Brotherly love. Umar should stay away from this otherwise his reputation, as an individual will be damaged. Just stick to the playing Umar and refrain from the political events. If Kamran isn’t dropped for the Hobart test many will be infuriated and raising serious concerns over what’s been going on in this gloomy week of question for Pak cric.

We need to find out the culprits in this result of team dividing and give them a serious warning. What a foolish way to act when you have been chosen to be an ambassador of your nation. Neither of the other test playing nations has got this problem but Pak have got a history of it. I can’t stress how much of a disgrace this is especially at a time and age when the nation is in a state of ruins. Our concentration of problems are enough, we don’t need any more thank you. I feel the management is at the centre of responsibility for this outcome. They accept nuisance and don’t act responsively to a situation of such.

Javed Sahab……do u mean that Akmal had kept in his mind that those above mentioned bowlers are from Karachi, so his primary duty is to drop catches so bowlers from Sindh/Karachi will have no future. Are we not spicing it up a bit more?

Kamran Akmal is a disgraceful person and a wicketkeeper but is it necessary that we should bring regionalism to create distances among us? Just to remind people we lost Bangal, became BanglaDesh and we shouldnt poisoning people’s heart again. Kindly, NO to regionalism!

excellent javed pcb should make example of these two bara bhai aur chota bhai.most worring thing is that umer is only 19 and had played only 5 tests and he is trying to dictate his own terms what about when what about when he is going to b 29 and 90 test experience so its time now for the board to stop him even if they had to drop him cause there are so many youngsters who are very talented just what they need is proper opertuneties this politics in team is going to kill pakistan cricket

i dnt understand why it is so dificult to drop khatmal from pakistan team although he is performing badly. is he bigger than whole lagacy of pakistan cricket? and if they are not going to drop him that means he is.i dnt know how many times i promised myself to not support and watch pakistan cricket because of these political fuckers but cant do it. as of his dropping catches of kaneria lot of my southafrican friends also says that he does that often cause kaneria is a hindu and also that he is not as respected as others because of his religion otherwise with all these hickups still his stats speaks volumes of his ability