LEGSLIP

Khansaheb,

I am congratulate Shah Rukh for coming out as a proud Indian and define what his country should do rightfully and criticizing IPL organizers in how the issue was handled. Of course he knows there will be an angry response from the mob. This is fine, how India and Mumbaites respond to the empty threat to ban his movie will define the strength of fairness and democracy in India. I have no doubt Shiv Sena will come out poor in this incident.

An Amish boy and his father were in a Mall.

They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny, silver walls that couldmove apart and then slide back together again. The boy asked, “What is this Father?” The father (never having seen an elevator) responded, “Son, I have never seen anything like this in my life,I don’t know what it is.”

While the boy and his father were watching with amazement, a fat, old ladyin a wheelchair moved up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened and the lady rolled between them into a small room. The walls closed and the boy and his father watched the small circular numbers above the walls light up sequentially. They continued to watch until it reached the last number and then the numbers began to light in the reverse order. Finally the walls opened up again and a gorgeous 24-year-old blonde stepped out.

The father said quietly to his son…. “Go get your mother.”

Aus Under-19 middle order and late middle order salvaged some pride by batting with determination and brought the score to some respectability now it is 189/7 in 46.1 overs. Raza Hasan’s bowling figures are very impressive so far he has bowled 8 overs, 3 maidens, 1 wicket for only 13 runs.

Good thread khansahab,

you have hit the raw nerve of so many people and its may not be the last nail on the coffin of Shiv Sena because, the PCB has already announced that NO Pakistani to play for the IPL. I am pleased with this news. Our cricketers must know that money is important BUT it is not everything.

People like Wasim Akram have no self respect, no self esteem and no patriotism, they are loyal to those who throw money towards them. I will contribute my views more on the thread later.

i really doubt if the ipl thing has to do with shivsena,
shivsena is a dying force.i would assume something went wrong btn modi and pcb/bcci and he wanted to show off.

and about shahrukh khan, most of us don’t hate/like him for what he spoke. just another opportunist making use of the situation.

my first reaction was like any other fanatic indian , but few mins later i felt bad for the players

420

What makes you think that Shivsena is a dying force? They are still active, threatening not just cricketers but, all Pakistanis and they control the Bollywood actors not only when they are in India but, when they are abroad say for e.g., when in Dubai, they call them and direct them to obey their orders or else…….. the actors they know that they have to live in Mumbai which is his stronghold they have to listen to him. It is like creating enmity with the crocodile while you are in the waters could be extremely dangerous. What is that expression in Hindi, “Paani may reh ker magar-much say bair nahee lay saktay?”

Pakistan U-19 were batting well until the 29th over with 109 for 3 and there was a rush of blood for Ramiz who hit a six and then got out. After that Hammad Azam the star batsman of the team who remained not out in the entire tournament was man of the match for the semi-final with an unbeaten 92 got out on a duck. When it really mattered and at the very important juncture where he was badly needed to stabilize the innings he got out on a duck.

They are 130 for 6 in 35.2 overs only 78 runs needed to win, the captain is still there but the wicketkeeper has just departed, things look very difficult for Pakistan unless they pull out a magic card like, someone from the bowlers come and hit a few sixes and fours and ease the pressure, otherwise it seems like Australia will cruise easily as the wickets are falling at regular intervals.

Pakistan U-19 lost the match by 25 runs. They could have easily won the match, but like their seniors their batting collapsed and once again it is against Australia. Anyways, it was a good effort to reach the finals. Pakistan won the cup twice and twice they were runners up.

JAK
our bollywood “dancing to the tunes” of shivsena is a news to me. not that i am biased towards them, but i really doubt if they have such a muscle. so who do you think has more clout in bollywood, the D/CR gang or shivsena?

and the reason i say SRK is an opportunist, if he really was concerned and disturbed by the exclusion of pak crickters , he would have staged a walkout/abstained from the auction. if he has the guts to speak now, he should have had the same to select the player he wanted.

same shivsena gave “fatwa” against AUS cricketers, how come the franchisess/sharukh are not perturbed by the same? the home minister and lalit modi are at logger heads too. my guess is either the govt played spoilsport and now shedding croc tears or it was the handiwork of modi.

to be honest, many Indians would be happy if shivsena had that clout. and outside maharashtra they score a big 0. so to point finger at them is indirectly elevating them and pure escapism

to be honest, we are worried the T20 WC may turn out to be like the prev one hopefully we will regroup

Hahahahahahehehehehe )
Awesome job of insulting the Pakis by IPL, I absolutely loved it!
Well, Mr.Afridi_whose_terrorist_cousin_was_killed_by_Indian_forces_in_Kashmir, no need to show false sympathy by saying Indian fans will miss seeing Pakis like you in action. No, we won’t!! )
In case you still have missed the larger point being made, BEGGARS from TERRORISTAN are NOT WELCOME in INDIA!! )

Good thread khansahib thanks a lot . I think mr. Butthead had taken first right decision as chairman of pcb by not allowing pak players to participate in ipl now we have to see if he can stick with this decision because he is famous for his back tacking on statments. Another batting collapse and we lost the u/19 worldcup final. It shows that problem is deep rooted our bowling is ok even at junior levels but batting needs a lot of attention at grass root level but anyway welldone to our boys for reaching the final and for giving thier best

KHANSAHIB i do agree with u misbah and malik shouldnt allowed to even come near pakistan team. But they must open with umer akmal to give him chance to play ful 50 overs and build his innings pressure free. now problem with him is that when he comes to bat pakistan is always 50/4 or 70/5 and he is immidiatly under pressure which forces him to play false strokes. Fawad should come 2 down so he could have his calming effect but he needs to sort out his shuffle in crease or he have to play very straight otherwise he is big candidate for lbw.

Some food for thought for Omer Admani and khansahab

We all have been saying that Afridi should open the innings instead of playing at number 6 or 7 and finally Mohammad Yousuf said something today:

“Today I am thinking about sending [him] to No. 3 or 4. If he charges early on maybe we have a good chance. But we had a chat with the coach and he said NO , keep going with same batting line-up. I think maybe it can work.” Yousuf was planning to send Shahid Afridi higher up the order in the chase on Friday but the idea was vetoed by the coach Intikhab Alam.”

At least Yousuf has started realizing this his utility is up the order and not in the dying overs when there is too much pressure on him. He should have OPENED the innings in ALL the ODI’s because, now if he fails once, they will say: “See this is the reason we didn’t want him to play up.” A batsman can fail once but not in 5 ODI’s consecutively. Only Malik and Misbah can but, Yousuf and Younus are also joining the same bandwagon with Butt missing his farts in the gaps, ooops I mean missing his shots in the gaps……. thats what he says his favourite shots are!

Inti Alam should be kicked out ASAP he is an old fart good for nothing bloke, in fact he creates a negative impact on the team. But, that doesn’t mean people like Inzamam or Zaheer Abbass should replace him, no way!

Khansahab,

In a sense,if SRKs movies are banned, it is good publicity for the movie. There is a saying, ‘every book that was burned enlightened the world’.

But now it is obvious, why the players weren’t selected. If just one statement of SRKs draws this kind of reaction within some factions in India, it means it would be indeed very dangerous if the players were actually selected.

Shive Sena is disparate for a comeback in the state of Maharashtra, the only game they possibly could pull is to ride on a wave of hindutva and anti-Pakistan sentiment among some of the Indians. This is very similar to the strategy BJP adopted two decades back in gathering power to become a major force from a small fringe party. But it will not succeed again for Shiv Sena, they know they cannot play to be moderates and win elections, who wants Shiv Sena as a moderate? they have nothing to offer, other than just intolerance and hatred towards other beliefs. This is exactly similar to Taliban. I see them as opposite sides of two coins. If they go too far down this road though, they will end up being totally banned. So, their best interest is to lie low and issue empty threats, but don’t act on it. This is what they have been doing for so long, but it appears they are now becoming more violent, which is an act of desperation.

Javed Khan,

I think you didn’t notice the connection between Yousof and Inzamam. When Inzamam made the statement that Afridi should be made the one day captain, he was trying to save Yousof’s test captaincy. Yousof has been saying since a while that the team needs a batting coach, now Inzamam has made himself available. Now Yousof made that statement against Inthikab Alam to hint that Inzamam should be there, not him.

Yousof didn’t play Afridi in the final test and Inzamam made the statement that Malik is the best all rounder in the country (again not allowing Afridi to come in the test side and Afridi becoming the captain).

Yousof is obviously getting all his advice from Inzamam and both share the vision that, Inzamam becomes the coach and Yousof the captain. Then they can re-create the old team and do tableegh as well as play cricket. Why do you think we don’t see the back of Rana? And, Fawad Alam is just playing in one or two matches, so that they can show to the people that they played him, and they will sneak Malik back again.

Now again the PCB has hinted at changes to ‘break player power’ (which again is a statement trying to appease public anger) when what they will actually do is, change nothing. Because Iqbal Qasim has said that the players’ contracts will be demoted, as in A will become B, and B will become C….in other words, nothing drastic is going to happen, they will keep their Maliks and Ranas’ and by demoting the players, they will act as if they did something. The truth is they don’t want to break player power and would rather not give chance to youngsters in place of Malik, Rana, Kamran Akmal, and Faisal Iqbal. The public wants a reaction so they have to do something, but that something would be slight changes in the contract category.

The other thing they might do to appease the public is that, make Afridi the one day captain, but not even give him a place in the test side. Keep Yousof as the captain and make Inzamam the coach. And, we know how Inzamam has his personal favorites Malik, Rana, and Kamran Akmal destroying the game in Pakistan, but they will do it precisely to preserve those players. This is Pakistan cricket, it never moves forward, and always goes backward.

Omer Admani

Of course I have noted the Tableeghi connection via satellite and I have read that comment from Inzamam ul Hulk. A few days ago he was saying Afridi must captain the Pakistan side and now he is saying Yousuf must captain the side, because he knows if Yousuf stays and he joins in as the batting coach phir tou MullaOn ki paanchon Ungliyaan Ghee may aur sir Karhai may hoga. Other than tableegh during the free time both will be busy picking up lice from each others beard.

khansahab

That Sialkot and Karachi tussle is going on since ages and Malik has not given up, he is a pukka pukka meesna, although he is not in the playing XI but he will be in Australia for sure, he is not Fawad Alam to be sent back. You will see that he will definitely play the T20 match and may be they will make Fawad Alam sit out as usual. Unless, Fawad Alam plays a very good innings (70-80) today at a very good strike rate, then they will have to think about it otherwise Malik will play in T20. Inzamam already paved the way for him by saying he is the best all-rounder in the country! I don’t what are the basis of his assessment, could someone work out his averages in the last 10 matches he played? Please !

newguy

If you think Shivsena’s situation in India is exactly similar to Taliban – this is exactly what you wrote above – then why not condemn them in the same manner as the whole world is condemning the Taliban? What I don’t understand is, all you guys (420 included) say that Shivsena is a dying force, Shivsena is desperate to come back like BJP did, but they will not be effective and they give empty threats etc.

Actually, they are not giving empty threats, they are definitely acting on what they say. They dug out the pitches several times, they spilled oil, diesel on the pitch and prevented matches being played. They are behind so many attacks and right now I don’t want to go in to that detail because we have already discussed that many times to no avail, as neither party agrees with the other. So, lets leave it and focus on the match ahead today which may not be of any interest to you and many others because they have already lost the series 4-0 and it could be 5-0 as well, unless the batting order is changed and while bowling they place attacking field instead of defensive field.

Javed Khan,

You asked: “If you think Shivsena’s situation in India is exactly similar to Taliban – this is exactly what you wrote above – then why not condemn them in the same manner as the whole world is condemning the Taliban?”

They have not stoned anyone to death as punishment for immoral behavior while an entire football stadium full of people watched without being able to raise a finger against it.

For the record I did not say the situation is similar, I said ideology is similar, all extremist organizations stem from intolerance and hatred towards others.

You are right that we are better off discussing Cricket. Pakistan-Aus series didn’t have enough to discuss, except for this last match. I am still trying to find out what happened with Afridi in this ball-biting incident, it seems though he was able to charge up the team, it’s a shame he couldn’t keep his brains from imploding.

WTF Afridi was doing?

He is banned for 2 T20 matches now.

Mohammad Yousuf who lost the series of test and ODI still has no shame and saying that Pakistani team is better under him and he wants to lead this side. i was surprise to see Afridi as a captain and not Yousuf. Honestly he had no injury or stiff knee but the reason he didn’t to play because kamran akmal was dropped for the game. And the reason Afridi was tampering with the ball because he purposely didn’t want to lead the team in the 2020 because he knew the players are not performing and there was no way they can win the 2020 so to save himself from humiliation he tampered with the ball and got banned for 2 2020.

For 2020 team it should be the following.

Butt
Nazir
Farhat
Shazad Ahmed Keeper
Latif
U Akmal
Fawad Captain excellent fielder so we need someone like him.
Asif
Gul
Amer
Ajmal (VC)

Arshad Khan :
Mohammad Yousuf who lost the series of test and ODI still has no shame and saying that Pakistani team is better under him and he wants to lead this side. i was surprise to see Afridi as a captain and not Yousuf. Honestly he had no injury or stiff knee but the reason he didn’t to play because kamran akmal was dropped for the game. And the reason Afridi was tampering with the ball because he purposely didn’t want to lead the team in the 2020 because he knew the players are not performing and there was no way they can win the 2020 so to save himself from humiliation he tampered with the ball and got banned for 2 2020.
For 2020 team it should be the following.
Butt
Nazir
Farhat
Shazad Ahmed Keeper
Latif
U Akmal
Fawad Captain excellent fielder so we need someone like him.
Asif
Gul
Amer
Ajmal (VC)

the reason i have this team so all the main senior player can be out of the team.

can any1 tell me what afridi was try to achieve by biting the ball. If some piece of leather was coming out why he never took it to umpire? U cnt expect that from player of his experience cause he know the history of ball tempering and pakistan. And if he was trying to rough up one side with his teeth why he didnt use his brain that he cnt do it in front of all the camaras. Personely i dnt want to win matches through cheating and if he was trying to temper the ball its it is a very shameful chapter in pakistan cricket history remember when england last toured pakistan i think in faisalabad he tried to destroy the pitch with his shoe spikes c’mon afridi pakistan cricket is already in very bad state dnt make it worse.

for T20 they should select the following team NAZIR. KAMRAN,BUTT,UMER, LATIF, FAWAD, MALIK, AAMIR, GUL, ASIF, AJMAL If aamir is unfit then rana should take his place or he can take either butt or latif’s place. only including malik if he is going to ball cause in absent of afridi we need allrounder

Khansahab,

Asif can easily play in place of Rana. Even on his best day, when both teams made in te vicinity of 212 in 50 overs, Rana gave away 55 runs.

Afridi should still be made the captain, even though he tampered with the ball. The reason being that, it shows that if the team is losing, he will not take it easy with the players, since he isn’t, unlike Yousof, too fond of losing again and again.

Qasim has mentioned that the team needs a major surgery.

If I were the chairman, this is what I’d do:

1) Ask Rana to retire from all forms of the game, including domestic cricket.
2) Make Afridi the captain in all forms of the game
3) Axe Malik, Kamran Akmal, Misbah ul Haq, and Faisal Iqbal from all forms of the game
4) Ask Yousof and Younis Khan to retire from one day cricket. Yousof because he is not a good influence on the team and Younis because he is not as good a one day player, although Younis is the best test batsman in Pakistan right now.
5) Construct a totally new one day team: Imran Nazir should open along with some other aggressive opener or Butt.

Imran Nazir
Butt (another opener)
Afridi
Umar Akmal
Fawad Alam
The under-19 person who played well under pressure
Abdul Razzaq
Sarfaraz Ahmed
Aamer
Asif
Gul/Sohal Khan

Razzaq and Fawad Alam can share 10 overs between them. This is a team that can become good in time, but the one that is currently playing is stagnant, it ha tried and tested, 8-year running, 20-run making, mediocre players. 3 more youngsters are needed in the squad of 14, perhaps Rao Iftikar who is a very unlucky bowler, should retain his place.

In test matches:

Butt
Afridi
Youni Khan
Mohd Yousof
Umar Akmal
Fawad Alam
Sarfaraz Ahmed
Asif
Aamer
Kaneria
Sohail Khan/some other bowler

In the squad of 14: Umar Gul, Rao Iftikar, Khurram Manzoor

Khansahab,

Malik’s one match doesn’t change the 8-10 years old history. He played ok, but the bottomline is that, the team needs matchwinners, and Malik isn’t one. Now that his place was on the line, Yousof gave Malik his own place– Malik went with a nothing to lose attitude and made a 30…but it doesn’t change anything in terms of the future– he has an ODI average of 8 in England, 3 in NZ, and 20-odd in Australia. That is his 8-year career, I personally can’t judge a player based on this one match, and this is the apt time to make much-required changes. Hence, Yousof’s protest should be appreciated by the board, and Yousof should be asked to retire from one day cricket altogether.

Khansahab,

The ODI captain only?

Who is going to be the test captain in that case?

Khansahab,

Yousof is simply not captaincy material. I mean, did you notive, in almost every one day match that Australia made 270-280- odd, they were something like 100-110 or 3 or 4. So, how did they, from those positions end up making relatively big scores? When the powerplays ran their natural course after 15 overs, he had all the field back, so the batsmen could just take singles till the 40th over and then attack. By any stretch o imagination i Yousof captaincy material? I mean even in domestic cricket if he is representing some team, or even if he were to take the U19 team along with him, I would still say that he doesn’t deserve to be the captain by a long shot. With Afridi as captain, Pakistan were able to compete well with 212 runs, without Aamer and with Rana in the team.

The only option left is Afridi and Afridi is a better test player than a one day player. His averages speak for themselves, but the board might not be willing to break this mafia in Malik, Kamran Akmal, Misbah ul Haq developing in the team.

How daft can one be to bite off a piece of leather from the ball? The umpires were there and he should have taken it straight away to them instead of putting his mouth on it. He is a real Akhroat, a nut case and the reason he has been penalized is because of his history. His first ban was for scuffing the pitch with his heels in Pakistan, the second one was in SA when he waved his bat at a spectator on his way back to the dressing room and now this time it was easy for the match referee to charge him guilty and the funny thing is like the first time he accepted it.

I am not denying what Afridi did is right or it is justified to do what he did, it is not only wrong but it is a very stupid thing. However, just a month ago, in SA both England players Stuart Broad and Jimmy <Anderson were also caught on the camera tampering the ball, but because they do not have a history like Afridi, they came out clear. Broad used his spikes to rough out the ball and Jimmy Anderson lifted the seam with his hand and that too was very obvious and at that time Nasser Hussain said, had this been any Pakistani player they would have banned him. But, both Broad and Anderson got away without any fine or ban, they were not even admonished by the match referee.

Right when Afridi made a big impact on the team by leading the same bunch of so-called losers in a very aggressive manner and fought it till the end, he made the selectors job easy to appoint him captain for ODI as well, but now there will be a big question mark after this controversy. I have a very strong feeling that Malik will take over the role of captaincy from here despite his pathetic form and his negative tactics and trivial politics. Or, they might think of another idiot Salman Butt, who scored two back to back ducks at Perth. If he is not considered to lead they will look at another Charsi Asif, who once again is a good bowler but, not a captaincy material. So, there is a dilemma here and without the chief selector.

Reportedly Khalid Latif’s ribs are fractured because of the manhandling by a spectator, is it true?

There is also a very strong rumour that the PCB may not send Imran Nazir for the T20. Some sources in Pakistan were reportedly questioning whether is worth sending a player to Australia for just a 3 hour game? Spending thousands of dollars in airfare and hotel expenses. If this is real and if this is the mentality of the PCB then Ijaz Butt should stop traveling unnecessary.

Javed Khan,

I dont think this tampering issue is as serious as it may turn out to be. On Afridi’s part it seems like an act of rage and stupidity rather than any calculated attempt to cheat and win. And, others have done it before, too.

After the whitewash in tests and losing 4 consecutive ODIs, it is conceivable how a few players like Afridi might be feeling (I don’t say all players because of the statements emanating from Yousof and the money-chasing character of players like Rana and Kamran Akmal). To bite the ball in front of the camera doesn’t show any calculated attempt to conceal an initiation of an unfair advantage,, in fact it seems like the pathan got really angry and totally lost it in the moment. At least it is better than Yousof declaring that his captaincy was the best thing ever to happen to Pakistan– Afridi was angry and he didn’t like losing… so he might be the best person to transform the team. I mean if we look at the background of the whole issue, team management and Yousof not getting along and Yousof skipping the match in protest…and then the whole whitewash scenario, the Kamran Akmal issue earlier in the tour, groupings and gangs in the team fighting for places, then it is not inconceivable that Afridi lost himself completely. Any sane person would when the team is making gangs, the big daddy cool is driving divisions in the team from Pakistan by making statements to support Malik and probably guiding Yousof on the phone what to do…and all these factions and forces doing anything but concentrating on playing cricket.

This is why Inzamam should be asked to join some mosque to call azaans and stop participating in leagues for the sake of money where all the stripped girls are dancing, stop fixing matches in those leagues, and stop driving divisions within the team. All he should do is tableegh, but in the right domain and the right place, which is the mosque near where he lives. And, he should also take his best all rounder (Malik), his best bowler (Rana), and his best wicketkeeper (Kamran Akmal) along with him. The team simply can’t find a way to recover from the damage Inzamam has done to Pakistan cricket, all these players are his own creation.

Omer Admani

Yeah, I agree with what ALL you wrote above but, the fact is it is a very sorry thing to have happened, whether it was anger or stupidity he did that and even admitted guilty. So, nothing can be undone now. The point to ponder here is Afridi haters would be raising this point again and again whether to make such a person the captain of the national team or not? These are the same people who want to make Asif a captain or Actor and someone was saying make Aamer the captain. That guy is a good bowler and he is only 17 years old they will be ruining his career IF the appoint him or Umar Akmal as captain of any format T20, ODI or test. If Asif and Actor can come back into the team after such acts Afridi’s biting issue should be kept aside and he should be made captain of ODI and T20 asap.

Asif cannot go to Dubai. He is banned from entering the UAE so they will try their best through diplomatic channels to lift the ban. If they can do all that, then they should not consider this thing as a big issue. In fact the PCB must sue ACB for inadequate security in which Khalid Latif’s ribs have been fractured.

Javed Khan,

I just saw that video and I take what I have written above back.

Afridi deserves the ban he has got, but Marcus Tescothic had also admitted in his book that England tampered with the ball during the Ashes. It was not only 1 or two or three people, but it was a carefully designed plan including to include the whole team. Basically, this issue shouldn’t be a hinderance in appointing Afridi the captain, when England did it as part of conscious team policy and nothing happened. This is not about England versus Pakistan, but it was a taken lightly then and it could be taken by the PCB lightly now.

Omer Admani

I did not see both incidents Afridi’s and Khalid Latif manhandled by a spectator.

I was watching the match live, watched the entire Pakistan innings and when Australia were somewhere near 110/3 I thought the match will be over in Aus favour and it was past 4:00 a.m. so I slept. My friends who saw that incident said, Afridi was kinda blowing the ball with his mouth and was shown on TV twice. In any case it was very unusual. Besides, someone also told me that Afridi has admitted on one of the TV channels that he tried to tamper the ball. So, its all over he is a real Ch2So4.

Omer Admani;

See, I told you so. Malik has been appointed as captain for the T20 match to be played in Melbourne. According to the news, this is the only one match that he has been appointed as captain.

Also, the rumour about Khalid Latif’s ribs being fractured is not correct, reportedly he was in a total shock after the incident. Had this incident happened with anyone of the Australian players in Pakistan, Ricky Ponting would have walked out of the field or probably taken a flight to Melbourne. Apart from the freak accident on the streets in Lahore while the SL team was coming to the Gaddaffi stadium, there aren’t any streakers on the ground either in India or Pakistan. But, in England and Australia streaking was a parallel sport and there was a time when young girls high on drugs or alcohol used to run through the middle of the ground stark naked, even the cheer leaders of today would be ashamed to see them.

In 1980 during the fourth Test between Pakistan and the West Indies at the Multan Cricket Stadium, after being pelted with oranges, Sylvester Clarke threw a huge brick into the crowd, seriously injuring a spectator. The spectator Shafiq’s skull was broken and he was taken to the hospital for surgery. Nothing happened, no apologies from the West Indies team or the management.

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-01-07-vaughan-says-england-were-lucky-in-balltampering-row

Vaughan says England were lucky in ball-tampering row
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM Jan 07 2010 12:47

England were lucky to escape unpunished from a ball-tampering controversy in their third Test against South Africa, according to former captain Michael Vaughan.

“England should treat the whole ball-tampering incident as a warning,” he wrote in a column in the Daily Telegraph on Thursday.

“They were lucky to get away without an official reprimand, or even a ban, because there is no doubt in my mind that they were trying to change the condition of the ball.”

South Africa raised concerns about the ball during the third day of the third Test in Cape Town after television pictures showed England bowler Stuart Broad stopping the ball with his foot.

Footage also suggested seamer Jimmy Anderson may have been picking the seam with his thumbnail.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) decided no action would be taken, however, after South Africa made no official complaint.

Vaughan said Broad had been stopping the ball with his boot all the way through the series and recalled similar examples from his own England days.

“When I was captain, I would get my attack to bowl cross-seam bouncers at some point around the 15th over.

“You never knew which side of the ball was going to hit the pitch and become scuffed up, but after you had done it three or four times, you chose one side to shine and one to keep rough.

“Marcus Trescothick used to be our shiner: he would suck jelly babies to make one side of the ball sugary,” he added.

“I don’t really know whether it made any difference, but I do know that we had a good summer with reverse swing in 2005.”

Vaughan and Nasser Hussain, also a former England captain, said there would have been uproar had other nationalities been involved.

“I do not think the International Cricket Council have covered themselves in glory here,” he added. – Reuters

Javed Khan, I completely agree with your spot on views. Because Stuart Broad was quite clearly and conclusively caught on camera but gets away with it. I don’t know why he was let off the hook. Whether he his white or his dad being a match referee I don’t know? But whatever the case, the ICC has clearly shown that they are a nepotistic and slightly racist organisation. Had Pak been in that position much more fuss would have been created as a matter of fact.

Anyhow reverse swing is an art. It’s exciting and good for the game. Therefore, even if one has tampered with the ball it shouldn’t be seen as such a negative subject matter. I mean batters can pat down the pitch can’t they? After all batting has slightly overshadowed bowling in this current era so why shall one not let them utilise an art in order to add means of an equal balance for bowlers and excitement for spectators. Reverse swing is not such a height of difficulty that’s it’s unplayable and just adds challenge to batsmen when the game is getting a one-dimensional discipline. Its not as if its just a scientific invincibility. Plenty of skill is needed in order to accomplish it and utilise it effectively.

Everything we seem to be best at doesn’t appear fully legitimate such as bowling doosra with a clean action and utilising full reverse swing.

khansahab

There was no choice left for them in deciding who to lead the team for the only T20. That is why I wrote, I have a strong feeling that they will make Malik as captain of the team.

Yousuf is not in T20, he is not a T20 player, so forget about him
Younus announced his retirement from T20 after the WC and he has created enough dramas besides his form is zilch.
Butt, is not a T20 player – in fact a very negative player for that form of the game.
Kamran Akmal is going through a lean patch and he along with his younger brother Umar Akmal are already under investigation. So, both are out of contention here.
Farhat is a 3rd class player and a Zero captain material.
Asif has recently been allowed to play after a one year ban and he doesn’t know what captaincy is.
Aamer is too young and he is not fully fit.
Rana Nayee is Rana Nayee, single handedly he can lose the match for Pakistan.
Gul could have been considered to lead but, his test and ODI record in this NZ, AUS series is pathetic. Even if they let him play considering his record, it will be some reward for Gul to come back and prove his form.
Fawad Alam has so sparingly been used that they don’t even think about his existence in the squad. The way he played the last ODI was very, very impressive @ a very good strike rate.

Therefore, based on the facts and the situation there was no one but Malik left to be considered. Whatever you may say or think that he is fostering disunity among the team members, which is true but, the coach and manager may not see it like you, Admani and me. Even the PCB think tank who are on hot line with these guys must have told them the same what I wrote above.

I am not sure if Imran Nazir has arrived in Melbourne or not? Because, the rumour still has not been cleared that they may not send him just for one T20 game, in the words of one of the officials, is it worth spending thousands of dollars for one man to play a 3 hour game? In my opinion, if that one man has the ability to change the game and win it for Pakistan, why not? After all the T20 World Champions need to maintain some reputation in this format of the game.

instead of announcing an independent commission to evaluate the performance, formed a six-member committee comprising paid employees and close friends to assess the matter. READ MORE…..

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/sport/12-australia-tour-debacle-probe-pcb-chief-forms-body-of-friends%2Cemployees-220–bi-05

Afridi’s ball biting has turned into chewing the cud.

He apologized for his shameful act and vowed not to do it again, but he opened his mouth again not to bite the ball but this time it is like “chewing the cud” (Jugalee kerna) by saying ALL teams tamper with the ball is a loose statement and the ICC has taken note of it and he might be grilled over it. Why can’t he shut his mouth? From the top to the bottom i.e. from Ijaz Butt to everyone’s Butt there seems to be a virus called Verbal Diarrhea and all of them are suffering from this virus.

Pcb made biggest blunder of tour by apointing malik captain now if pakistan wins this match he is going to take all credet for leading team to only victory of tour and all his allies will back him to be captain of all three formats. Some people are saying that reason why afridi bit the ball was bookmakers who didnt wanted him to play the match so he got paid and covered of all his loses what he suffered cause of ipl otherwise there was no no reason that player of his experience who knws that atleast 26 camaras are on him should have done this. Now even if this is not true how can he justify his actions by saying that all teams are doing it.

Rashid Latif starting a new KCL (Karachi Champions League) with US$200,000 in cash prizes, the biggest ever prize money in Pakistan so far.

So much has been said on Afridi’s ball chewing incident and even cartoons have been published that Afridi is sitting in a restaurant with a plate full of cricket balls and the waiter is asking ‘salt and pepper sir?”

After all this hoopla some people are asking to legalize ball tampering, Bernard Julian former WI fast bowler says: “When all that (ball-tampering) first came out and the ball was reversing … People were saying hang on, we can’t have that. We can’t have the ball swinging around after fifty overs. Well, why not? Why can’t we do that?” With bats getting more powerful, grounds getting smaller and wickets getting flatter, Julian says bowlers need to be given more leeway.

Changing the condition of the ball gives bowlers an edge as it allows them to get reverse swing when the ball is old, he added. New Zealand legend Sir Richard Hadlee has long been an advocate for open slather on ball tampering, saying bowlers should be allowed to alter the ball as long as they don’t use a foreign object

Andrew Hughes wrote: “Time to legalise ball tampering?” http://betting.betfair.com/cricket/bat-and-ball/cricket-betting-time-to-legalise-ball-tampering-010210.html

SECURITY ASPECTS IN AUSTRALIA……….

The expression in Urdu, “Bad accha, badnaam bura,” cannot be translated in any other language as it will lose the real meaning in translation. However, for those who do not know it means, ‘the real baddies are not considered as bad but, those who carry the label of being bad are considered bad.’ That is exactly the situation with Pakistan and its players, they carry a tag or a label with them. The country is labeled unsafe and insecure because of the so-called terrorism. And, one incident against the SL players in Lahore, the label has become more permanent in nature like a tattoo on their forehead. Other than that one off incident – which is still not clear who is responsible and why that politically motivated act crept into the cricket arena? – there has been no single incident in Pakistan where the threats from extremists to stop Indian players coming into Pakistan or digging up of grounds and pitches or, grabbing and hurting the players in the cricket ground while the match is in progress, or any such things. All these countries get away with these things as minor incidents whereas, Pakistan carries the label for being bad.

It is time for Australia to admit that they have security issues and one of the reasons is, too much beer and alcohol in the stands and there are no fences or barricades preventing those who get high on alcohol or drugs and there is a sudden rush of blood and they run diagonally across the ground, men, women, young, middle-aged half naked, stark naked, somersaulting and displaying some acrobatics antics is considered as a part of the game or an amusement for the so-called broad minded and liberal society. The mean hunks can attack from behind and can seriously injure or even kill a player - is Cricket Australia waiting for one of the foreign players to be killed on the ground by one of the lunatics before they take any action?

Not so long ago, one such person attack Andrew Symonds while he was batting so he was able to see his attacker and defend himself, whereas Khalid Latif was taken by surprise and attacked from behind. The attacker definitely appears drugged or intoxicated and from his facial expressions he appears very uncouth and uncivilized – surely and definitely the built and even a glimpse of an ex-convict.

Peter Roebuck is former captain of Somerset team and a sports journalist has demanded the ban of alcohol at cricket stadiums and following is an excerpt from his article on cricinfo:

Australia must get its house in order — Cricket Australia ought to consider banning alcohol at matches. It has gone well beyond a joke

http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/446570.html

“Australia needs to start addressing the real issues. Indian students killed in Melbourne, Pakistanis assaulted on the field in Perth, blazing headlines around the world, a nation’s reputation dragged into the mud, and never mind that the PM is fluent in Cantonese and that many settlers from Africa and the Punjab and elsewhere are as happy as mankind can be. It cannot continue, in cricket or outside. ”

Further to my comment on WHY PAKISTANIS ARE CONSIDERED AS BAD? One of the reasons is the management – the PCB – is not capable of handling situations, they are not good ambassadors of the country, the do not have in-depth knowledge or even basic education in some cases – to tackle some very important and diplomatic issues. They create bad image and bad reputation about the people of Pakistan. The players too, do not have enough education or training neither in managing the team or in dealing with real basic moral and ethical issues. Everything is taken very lightly and casually the way they play a game without any plan or strategy shows how naive and ignorant they are that despite having such great talent, they end up losing a winning match. There are no tactical displays of any kinda skill, they do not have the ability to read a situation and act accordingly. Imran Khan has proved that his education played a pivotal role in leading the team as a captain. Javed Miandad had a wonderful technical cricketing brain he can read the game of cricket like a grandmaster in Chess but, his lack of education and the inability to express his thoughts was a hindrance in his career to succeed as a captain of the team. These are a few of the things that needed to be ingrained in the psyche of a player before he comes to the international level to represent his country. Otherwise, they will be chewing the ball like an apple.

Afridi should have thought that winning or losing is just a part of the game, if he had fought bravely till the end, which almost happened that way it doesn’t matter who won or who lose? But, by chewing the ball he looked like an idiot. No matter how many times he will ask for forgiveness it won’t change the fact that he tried to tamper the ball which at present is illegal, it may be legalized in the next 5-10 years may be, who knows? But Afridi you have not only embarrassed yourself and the team, but the whole nation who have supported you with BOOM BOOM slogans.

BREAKING NEWS

It is only a matter of days, Ijaz Butt will be kicked out. The President of Pakistan is going to announce the new Chairman, there will be wholesale changes from top to bottom in the PCB as well as in the team.

Javed Khan …

@ Comment no. 65 … All I have to say is:

Aap Kay Moun Main Ghee-Shaker

Munir

Aap ko bhee bahot bahot Mubarak ho! You know what I mean? Good to see you back. On the cricket front a lot things have happened so I am not sure if you have been able to follow it or not? The worst is the APPLE BITE.

As regards that rumour of I-Butt getting booted is very, very strong.

Btw, have you heard about this news? Take a look at the URL:

http://adamdeen.blogspot.com/2010/02/renowned-swiss-politician-daniel.html

Ijaz Butt slept twice during the meeting – IS IT NEW? –

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=222460

Darrel Hair says Afridi is a serial cheater

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=222461

Soop bolay tou bolay Chunni kya bolay? This MF Darrel Hair himself is the biggest cheat and a fraud, when he was cornered he demanded $500,000 in ransom, he was threatening the ICC and now he wants to spill venom against Shahid Afridi. Was he hiding his face under his own ass when Stuart The Broad and Jimmy Anderson were found tampering the ball? Nasir Hussain was quick to respond by writing in Daily Telegraph that Broad and Anderson got away with the ball tampering had this been a Pakistani player they would have banned him.

Ricky Ponting admitted that if any of his players were tackled on field by a spectator, he would have walked off the field.

Mike Atherton admitted that he had dirt in his pocket to scuff the ball and alter the shape of the ball – it is ball tampering.

Vaughn admitted that England used to tamper the ball.

Threscotic wrote in his book that England used to apply Jelly beans to smooth one side of the ball.

Bothom admitted of tampering the ball not once but many times.

Imran Khan admitted that he used to rough out one side of the ball with bottle openers and caps.

There are a hundred other players who have tampered the ball once or may be more.

Tampering a ball is illegal, tampering it with spikes, dirt, lifting the seam, using jelly beans, applying Vaseline, or by biting the ball is just the same. The only difference is this is a new Akhroat way of tampering.

Javed Khan,

On that point on education helping Imran Khan’s growth as a cricketer, numbers alone will show this: As captain he averaged 19 with the ball and 57 with the bat. Young Imran Khan was very wayward supposedly, so that period would have made his averages a lot worse (relatively, his numbers still stand out). But if his latter numbers were to be considered alone, and his earlier period were to be discounted, would anyone even argue the point that he was/wasn’t the greatest cricketest ever?

Think about it this way: A great batsman averages 55, so two great batsmen combined in one would average around 110, significantly higher than the don. If we were to think of a great bowler averaging around 22-24 region, then Imran Khan would be one of the greatest amongst the great bowlers alone, averaging 19 as a captain. In other words, a great batsman and a great bowler within himself and in that sense, far superior to the Don based on numbers alone (that is, IF the initial numbers were discounted). Add to that his captainship skills.

In fact not only Imran Khan was educated during that time, Pakistani cricketers generally tended to be a lot more educated. It is no co-incidence that the education standard within the country has apparently declined thru the past decade or two.

Now Aamer is a talent and he could become something like Imran Khan if can grow as a cricketer like him.

Javed Khan …

I have been away from most of the cricket action as I did not have any internet, Blackberry or TV (cricket news) and my only source of information was just a telephone call back home. Where, unfortunately, none of the cricket news was good. Luckily for me, I skipped our defeat in the third Test, the unexpected 5–0 white-wash, the IPL Saga and the way it unfolded, the Bite-Gate, etc. It seems PCB is once again going through the most difficult times and no news is good news.

Though, there are lots of problems and so many of corrupt and useless guys around, but I hope and pray that, for the sake of Pakistan Cricket, Ijaz Butt is removed ASAP, and others will follow. We also need wholesale changes in the team members.

Hairless Darrell is the biggest cheat himself who so openly demanded US$: 500,000/- from ICC for his resignation and his buddy Malcolm Speed, Ex-CEO of ICC, was almost on the verge of ‘donating’ him that amount. By blaming Afridi he was just trying to score a point against Pakistani players in general as PCB played a main part in exterminating him.

Afridi was on the threshold of being nominated captain for almost all three forms of cricket for Pakistan, but then came his stupid blunder and now peoples have other thoughts about him being made the captain. I agree what he did was wrong, but Afridi is neither the first nor will be a last to tamper with the ball. On the contrary, he was not even tempering the ball for himself or any personal motives as his quota of 10 overs was finished and he was only trying to help his fast-bowlers. But by doing this, Afridi is really putting his fans through a lot and it will be so unfortunate for us not to see him playing in one of UAE games.

Regarding this article on Extremism in Cricket, well now that Shiv-Sena and Lalit Modi have somehow succeeded in keeping Pakistani players out of their homegrown brand of IPL cricket, it is now the Australian players who are on their target. As we all know that some Asians, specially Indians, have been mistreated, racially abused and even killed in Australia recently, the Indian extremists (RSS, Shiv-Sena, BJP, Bal Thaa-Karay, etc.) have a good opportunity to settle their score with the Australian players who will be visiting India for the IPL. Although there are several issues with the player security and Ricky Ponting have openly admitted that if any of his players were tackled by on-field spectators he would have walked off the field, but it will be amusingly interesting to see Ponting and other Australian players coming back and playing in IPL in spite of open threats by the Indian extremists.

See what the Australian players are thinking about IPL:

http://www.cricinfo.com/ipl2010/content/story/446708.html
(See the related links)

And this is what Matthew Hayden has to say …

“I have been welcomed into the bosom of India as a brother”.
Matthew Hayden borrows a line out of a trashy Bollywood script to explain why he’ll come for the IPL despite a threat issued against Australians by a right-wing party.

It really proves the age old proverb that, “Money talks”, and bullshit walks.

PS: No I did not hear about the Adamdeen news before, but it made interesting reading.

JAVED darrell hair is a racist and cheater he simply cnt let it go when it comes to asian teams but why we gave him chance to open his mouth? Regarding broad and anderson south africa never lodged any complain to icc or match refree so they got away with it. But we cnt justfy afridi’s actions by all these examples and especialy when he want to become captain of all three formats lets imagine a scenario that pakistan is playing worldcup quarterfinal afridi is captain and our most performing player and in the heat of moment he chew the ball, scruff the wicket or raised his bat to spectator and if pakistan wins that match what we gona do in semis and final. The guy is too emotional. And about khalid latif incident ricky ponting is absolutely right he or even any other team else than pakistan had taken thier team out of the ground atleast for time being i dnt knw why our team and manegement are too friendly while others are not to us.we really need some strong characters in team manegment.

According to geo super pakistan has announced its playing eleven for t20 match against australia the team consists of SHOAIB MALIK(CAPTAIN) IMRAN FARHAT, KAMRAN AKMAL, IMRAN NAZIR, KHALID LATIF, FAWAD ALAM, UMER AKMAL, RANA NAVEED, MUHAMMAD ASIF, SAEED AJMAL AND UMER GUL.

LOL, just look at Shoaib Malik’s sarcasm: “We have to win this game. We are professionals and not [just] looking forward to us going back to our country after 100 days. We’re just concentrating on tomorrow’s match.”
Shoaib Malik, Pakistan’s stand-in captain”

amir & Munir

I am not defending Shahid Afridi or justifying his action he is a real paindoo to do that and I also am aware that he was being considered to be appointed as captain of the team for all 3 formats and even he knew that but, he used his Akhroat mind and couldn’t see beyond what he was doing. Now, all those who were slightly not in his favour would resist appointing him as captain. That is something he should have been thinking beyond the box of simply winning that ODI which he so desperately chewed it, screwed it and fckuded it up.

However, I would never let an opportunist bastard like Hairless Darrel to get away without getting some flak from our blog. Like the Pakistan team did not walk out in protest to Khalid Latif’s tackling by that son of a convict, our people tend to ignore unwanted racial slurs and nasty comments in trying to show our good side of forgetting and forgiving. I believe in eent ka javab patthar say.

Omer Admani

On the subject of players getting education, I have been writing this on so many blogs for the last so many years and I received a lot of criticism from some paindoos that it is not necessary. I agree with you that during that time the players were mostly educated and sober unlike today. Even in the early days, Kardar, Fazal, Imtiaz, Hanif Brothers etc. were more educated than this lot of paindoo cricketers we have today.

There is an emotional reaction going on in Pakistan right now and the blame is directly falling on the PCB and the management. As though it is no fault of the tigers and the PCB goes out there and plays cricket…typical reaction. My view is that the problems don’t lie without the team, but they lie within the team, and the board should be changed/criticized insofar as only supporting those players is concerned. If the fault were with the management, then why is it that, whoever is the coach (multiple coach changes in a short period), whoever is the captain, there are groupings in the team and it doesn’t perform?

The fault lies directly within the team.

We’ve seen everything change but we haven’t seen the real reason of the collapse in Pakistan cricket change: Malik, Kamran Akmal, Misbah, Rana, and an unabating support for such mediocrity.

There is such a fear (inneuendo sponsored by the players and the board, together) replacing these players with youngsters, but my question is, conceivably can anyone be worse than these players?
If we look at it, the people who have been performing are the U-19 players, Umar Akmal and Mohammad Aamer, and to some extent, Fawad Alam. These are the wholesale changes needed in the team, this point shouldn’t be lost in changing the whole set-up (if that is what happens) or there is no way no sort of management can save Pakistan cricket.
Selectors have changed, coaches have changed, management have changed, the PCB can also change completely now, but there is only one reason for the current state of Pakistan cricket: Player mafia– Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Misbah, Rana, Yousof’s captaincy, and Inzamam’s lingering influence on the team.

We can see if anything changes in terms of performances of the team if these players aren’t changed and just the management is changed…because the bottomline is these players don’t just form groups, but they are also a plethora of mediocrity.

Omer Admani

The most important thing that you are ignoring or it hasn’t crossed your mind is not just, selectors have changed, coaches have changed, management has changed……. THE IDEOLOGY AND THE MENTALITY HAS NOT CHANGED.

These very people belong to the same jingoistic group who preach and practice regionalism and jingoism. Bari is there since ages, Aamir Sohail was there since ages but he resigned recently only to be selected on his own terms. Saleem Altaf was there until he was kicked out. Zakir Khan is there since ages, so why are you laying the entire blame on the player mafia? The player mafia is there because they are being supported and groomed by these very people.

I would like to quote some of the most farcical and comical things that these selectors have done recently.

Malik was dropped after repeated failures and today he is the captain.
Misbah was left behind for poor form, but he was called because the captain (Younus Khan) decided not to join the team in NZ.
Yousuf was appointed captain based on seniority (age wise) and he had no clue about captaincy, were they blind? Couldn’t they see he cannot see beyond his beard?
Kamran Akmal was dropped in test but brought back in ODI’s and he will certainly be playing the T20 today.

Now, Afridi has been banned, if Pakistan wins this match Malik will be crowned as “The Captain” of Pakistan team in all forms. If the team loses due to Malik’s failure, they will think of another option, but not Afridi.

Asaf can get drunk, he can carry opium in his pocket, he gets arrested in Dubai, goes to Jail it, brings disgrace to the nation, it doesn’t matter, he is a celebrity. They go to Dubai like the US or Israeli rescue missions go to liberate their heroes and get Asaf out of the jail and brings him back to Pakastan. Asaf is still banned from entering into the UAE and efforts are being made at a very high level to get clearance so that he can play in Dubai. He doesn’t have the personality or the quality to lead the team otherwise they would have made him the captain.

It will be a miracle if they reappoint Afridi as captain of the team. There must be many failures and not just failures but something similar or even worst than what Yousuf did in Sydney. The irony is Yousuf still thinks that he is a good captain and the team is gelling well under his beard.

The point that I was trying to make in my previous post was that, the parliamentarians and the senators and the writers and any decision-makers within the context of Pakisstan cricket, must grill the chairman and ask him why the aforementioned players are being played despite 8-10 years of no consistent performances? Why is it that an old person like Rana, who is also a genuine matchloser, i preferred over some younger talent who would almost certainly be better than him? They should get to the root of the problem and it will definitely be ground-up nepotism.

I remember playing street cricket in Pakitan, and I can recall, there were players who would bowl in the streets at 85-88 mph. You could always find 2-3 such people within one area, so how is that, a bowler like Rana can even make it to the international team when he isn’t even a domestic standard player? There is something awfully wrong in the whole system top-to-bottom when a player like Rana can not only get thru to the international team but also be retained for such a long period? Same is the case with Shoaib Malik, and Kamran Akmal too is not a domestic-level wicket keeper. It sets a bad precedent to make him a wicketkeeper and sends all the youngsters a wrong message, that so long as you can throw your bat around, wear the gloves to get in the team?

And, with Shoaib Malik, its like telling someone good at carpentery or some other skill, that if he can pretend that he is a batsman half the time, and pretend that he is a bowler half the time, everyone would say, he is not a batsman, it is not his job to make runs, and he is not a bowler, it is not his job to bowl– whats his fault?

And, then this mediocrity combined together Younis Khan as captain, the board not backing a genuine test-standard player, but succumbing to mediocrity— selectors resigning because of thi mediocrity, managers and coaches, and now the chairman? What is in these players, whose backing do they have that they are still around the team squad?

These are the sort of questions I’d say the senators and parliamentarians and cricket writers should ask the chairman, that how do they came about in international level cricket in the first place, what is wrong with the system?

Omer Admani

You are talking about grilling an old fart, he is least bothered about anything he was called in that committee meeting and he slept there two times. He is no different from some of the senators and MNAs who sleep in the National Assembly while the session is on.

Butt knows that he will be there as long as Zardari wants him to be there. Recently someone was telling me after reading my comments on the blog where I mentioned that Butt has stopped all the work on Gaddafi Stadium Lahore, National Stadium Karachi and Rawalpindi stadium expansion instead he has signed contracts for two new stadiums one in Hyderabad (the other I am not sure where) but, two new stadiums at the cost of US$ 11 million each and the reason is, you don’t get any cuts and kickbacks from the existing projects (which were approved during DNA’s time) but, you can milk a lot of money from the new ones. So, that is the reason Butt has signed the new contracts and Mr. 10%’s share has now increased to 20% and Butt gets his share too. “Undhaa baantain raywree wo bhee apnay apnaon ko” wali baat hai or, “The blind distributes sweets to the blind…….. “

Javed Khan,

On Asif, my view is that he is a genuine matchwinner. I would prefer a broken, one-legged Asif over Rana. The question for me is not the board supporting a genuine matchwinner, but the board supporting mediocrity. Asif, Aamer, Afridi, Umar Akmal, Alam– all of these are either very talented or very determined players. They deserve to be in the team, the Ranas and Maliks don’t. These players win the team matches, they don’t. As far as I am concerned, so long as a player wins the match, he deserves to be there. Yes, there are two standards to judge players and punish them or reward them– why shouldn’t there be? Think about it this way: When you see a very attractive woman, you respond differently and perhaps with more adulation, whereas the lesser-blessed ones perhaps don’t get that much attention (now I don’t mean legally this should be the case, what I mean is that this is the natural reaction of people). In a team of 11 players, you have to get the best people out there, and whoever has the talent or the determination …he has it, I mean you can’t make a carpenter a cricketer.

And, players should be compensated according to their ability as well, this happens throughout the world, but not in Pakistan. The ideal as far as I am concerned is meritocracy. There is not enough motivation for good players to perform also– I read tat recently Afridi asked the board to compensate the players more and the board declined. But what the board could do is, perhaps, reward the matchwinners more to keep the motivation going.

Read this what Imran Khan said:

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/sport/afridis-act-unacceptable-ramiz-imran%2C-tait-say-all-teams-indulge-in-balltampering-520

Ramiz Raja nay tou dill ki baat keh dali, he doesn’t want Afridi to captain the side anymore! So, he is there to back his Jiyala Malak. Who has also cheated in the final of the ABN AMRO cup when he deliberately lost the match. Malik was captain then and he said, “You should have seen what they (opponents) did so we have every right to lose this match deliberatly ” i.e., to act like a Dog in the Manger. On top of that he said, “Saari Omer kon cricket khelta hai, agar mai apnay Allah ko razi ker loon tou yehi bahot hai meray liyeh. ” I didn’t get why wants to razi his Allah after throwing the match deliberately? On one hand he was guilty and on the other he wasn’t.

Like one man’s garbage is another man’s treasure, Afridi lost the opportunity because of his own stupidity and Malik gained because of Afridi’s stupidity.

Omer Admani

I am not supporting Rana or Malik per se. I understand your point but, the point that I was trying to highlight is they can go to any level in reinstating Asif but, they won’t do that to reinstate Afridi. Rameez Raja has openly said this now and like him there are others in that mafia. Although if you ask the AWAAM or the masses whether he should be given the captaincy or not? A majority of them will still say YES for his captaincy. But, the voice of the masses is not important in this society where only a few control the others.

As regards your point “you cannot make a carpenter, a cricketer”…… have you not read Dr. Edward De Bono’s Lateral Thinking for Management? If that is the case, i.e., according to your philosopy, Nathan Bracken being a DJ by profession may not have been a good cricketer. Saeed Anwar is an Engineer, VVS Laxman is a medical doctor, why do you have to look down upon a carpenter? He can be as skillful as the other (doctor, engineer, DJ)

Javed Khan,

Ramiz Raja has said it many times that Misbah, Malik, Kamran Akmal shouldn’t be in the team. And, what he has said there is, there would be question marks over his captaincy. I doubt Ramiz Raja would say that Afridi shouldn’t be the the captain, as this is a very crucial juncture in Pakistan cricket, we are right there along with Bangladesh and can perhaps compete with NZ if the players perform to their potential, but apart from that, going further down would mean that Pakistan would be stripped-off of its test status title. And, if the ICC does it, that is, say, in 3-4 years strips Pakistan of test-level status, I would personally fully support it so long as mediocre players are being pushed into the team because of nepotism. 3-4 years have gone by without winning a test series, 2-3 more, and there is a good chance that they will be stripped of their test status. And, if Maliks and Ranas and other mediocrity is still around the team, they deserve it. If they can’t compete with the best teams, they shouldn’t be playing against them– it makes for dull, boring cricket and cricket loses its appeal.

Javed Khan,

I am not looking down on a carpenter, I am saying you can’t convert the skill and make a player into something he is not, either he is good at cricket or not…wit Rana Naveed and the like– they are 10 years running in the team, it just means they aren’t good at it and maybe there is some other skill thhey are blessed with. In that case, they shouldn’t be in the team. Ok, I’d agree, say we take an U-19 player and put him in the team, it turns out he is mediocre…but if he is determined, he can perhaps improve, but someone who has been playing for 10 years, and now close to 30-35, it is like pushing the issue.

Javed Khan,

Saeed Anwar, Bracken, and the like…they are all cricketers first– and anybody who wants to be an engineer can be or anyone who wants to be a DJ probably can become so. But, now, suppose you had to select 5 engineers for NASA, or you had to select, say, a CEO or Goldman Sachs– wouldn’t you say, that in these instances people are simply born to be there, in terms of being among the best?

This is the way I think of the international cricket team, no-one is saying Malik shouldn’t play cricket, heck I’d be ready to play cricket with him on the street, I just love playing against an off-spinner who doesnt spin the ball, especially with tape-tennis ball

JAVED and OMER more than anything we need to change the mentality and attitude of the whole team and for that we have to put young blood and groom them to winning mentality and get rid of these so called seniors in team so they cnt influence them with thier mediocre performances and thoughts. Telant wise we are up thier with the best in the world even at junior levels we just need proper direction and tactical awareness and planning in the team to get good results. And for that we need changes from pcb management to team. We need to get rid of guys like moulana yousaf who still want to be captain and is satisfied with team performance even after 3-0 lose in tests and 5-0 in odis.

Javed Khan,

You raised the issue of a person being good at multiple things, and though off topic, it reminded me of this person I read about. I wonder if you are aware of it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avicenna

So, it is definitely possible, some people simply are blessed with that innovative gene and, anything they tend to concentrate on, they up with a breakthrough os sorts in their fields.

Here’s another one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz

Actually, this guy Leibniz and Newton fought over who invented calculus. Newton was also very good in many things.

So, basically, it is certainly possible, but Shoaib Malik hasn’t shown anything remarkable so far in his 8-10 years and Rana is touching about 38-40 and he has absolutely nothing more left to prove his calibre.

khansahab
with my limited knowledge about pak cricketers, all i remember is asim kamal among that list. i still remember the last time we toured there, that guy drew/won a match for PAK. if i am not wrong, kamran akmal also made his debut the same time. their combo was deadly in the lower middle order then. asim had this “attitude”, that would turn off an opposition team/fan abdul razzaq has similar attiude, if u know what i am talking about.

also, why was saqlain mustaq out of the team?is it loss of form?

about the carpenter vs engineer stuff, i remember how playing cricket was looked down by my parents and other elders then. they were of the opinion that playing cricket we would end up without good acads. my dad went to the extent of paying money and joining my bro in a tennis academy. my mom prayed god that my bro would not be selected in the district cricket selection. damn, last 10 years changed everything!

Yeah 420, I remember how our parents were when it came to academics. We were not allowed to play even on week-ends when exams were approaching. Every evening we were supposed to be home by sunset and things like that. I was so fond of typing as a kid that whenever I used to go to my dad’s office I used to sneak into the other section where they had a typewriter and wanted to type fast like the typist in his office. At the age of 11 -12, I started taking typing lessons and my dad found out that I was taking typing lessons. He was so upset, he asked me do you wanna choose your career as a typist? He stopped me from taking lessons but, by then I had already learned and even today I thank God that I have learned how to type like a pro. My typing speed is over 90 words per minute or 360 characters per minute. It helped me so much at my job using my PC and typing my own reports and spreadsheets, cash flow statements and many other things, whereas my colleagues used to depend on secretaries, typists and clerks to type for them and they proof read them and then it goes for retyping etc.

On one side my dad stopped me from taking typing lessons (the fees I was dishing out from my own pocket money) on the other side he was paying thousands of rupees for my brother’s pilot training. Like you’ve said, times have changed………. yeah indeed they have.

Omer Admani

I have copy pasted Shoaib Malik’s SARCASTIC comments which appeared in the preview of cricinfo. “We have to win this game. We are professionals and not [just] looking forward to us going back to our country after 100 days. We’re just concentrating on tomorrow’s match.”

Today, once again the Pakistan team lost a match which was in their pocket, they dished it out on a sliver platter to Australia and Shoaib Malik said, “I want to thank the Australian sponsors and the Cricket Australia for providing us opportunity to enjoy here. Whenever we come to Australia we enjoy it here.” Sala Ch2ya. He enjoyed at losing? Himself he batted like an idiot. The moment he came in to bat he slowed down the run rate, he scored 3 from 11 balls and then threw away his wicket just like that.

And Rana Nayee, once again tried to lose this match single handedly like always, he played like a novice, 17th over was a maiden? I don’t reckon it happened anywhere in any T20 game. The pressure was added more and he got out.

Fawad Alam took 2 great catches and a fantastic run out. The excellent fielding changed the tempo of the game and the momentum shifted in Pakistan’s favour. Kamran Akmal’s efforts were over shadowed when he smashed Johnson for 20 runs in one over, because of the defeat and Tait got MoM award for his 160.7 kmph ball plus the 3 wickets for 13 runs. But, what a spineless team Pakistan has become? They cannot win a single match against Australia. That idiot Akhroat, he he was there, they would have certainly won this match. Because, Khalid Latif would have been dropped he did not contribute much (although he was wrongly given out LBW, there was a big inside edge on to the pads and Watson was lucky and so were Australians) so, I guess he would have been able to score a few and taken a few wickets too.

And, Imran Nazir who flew 10600 k.m. only to get run out on a ZERO. How many times that fool got run out in crucial matches?

khansahab

Whatever this guy Shoaib has written, we have already discussed this on this blog before in fact we have been more precise and more blunt. And, what is he writing, a history lesson? That Bari was in Miandad came in and then Saleem Altaf left……. I am not impressed by all this claptrap.

420,

You have mentioned Razzaq there, and my question is, has there been a bigger matchwinner than Razzaq in the past 8-9 years for Pakistan in one days?

Razzaq was a reliable pressure player and look at what they did to him– isn’t it an irony that they play Rana and Malik and not Razzaq…and this happened just because, Razzaq wasn’t the sort of player who would bring water for Inzamam, put chairs in front of him to sit on them, keep a beard to be among the senior men, and the like. If you notice, in the ICL, he wasn’t even part of Inzamam’s team, he probably was uncomfortable with the way the Inzamam and Mushtaq had developed team culture.

When he was recalled he and Afridi won the 20/20 world cup. But he was typically ignored and after that, they still prefer Rana and Malik over him…its precisely because of that attitude, which I perhaps liked, that he is still ignored, since a good lot of people in Pakistan like Rana’s bubbly character better and they totally disregard the performances of the player when rendering judgment.

Javed Khan,

I am tired of watching Pakistan lose. The target could have been 60 and Pakistan 50-0 and they would have found a way to lose. I am not personally interested in watching a single match of the team anymore unless a major surgery is performed. This dramabazy that we have got a plan to develop U19 players, that the inquiry will run 30 days so that people calm down and they get away with doing nothing and make minor ostenible changes, and the like…it is getting pretty futile now, they won’t make any changes, you will see the same Ranas and Maliks and Kamran Akmals…and perhaps they might make Malik or Kamran Akmal or Umar Akmal captain now to keep player power in the hands of these players…

I am more interested in the IND/SA series as it may be the true battle for number 1 right now. Aus is good, but unlike what Yousof may claim and what Malik may claim, they don’t have the bowling to take 20 wickets inside India. In other words, so long as they can’t win inside India, and India can potentially win inside Australia, India iss the better team than Aus. Now SA has the potential to get India out twice in India, which is why this is the true battle for number 1…

khansahab

Also, add to the list that, eating green vegetables is barbaric and against Islam.

These stupid assholes have nothing else to do but find some stupid reasons to get a stupid message across and the uneducated and uncouth masses start believing them. That is why education and enlightenment is more important.

Omer Admani

Perhaps you are right about Pakistan losing if given a target of 60 runs.

As regards India/SA the early morning or the first 30 minutes belonged to the hosts and the rest of the day was Kallis and Amla’s day. Kallis has now equaled Gavaskar’s record of 34 hundreds and Amla is definitely a good number 3 player. I don’t know why Pakistan cannot identify the batting positions of a player given his potential Fawad Alam should play up the order and Umar Akmal too but, none of the captains think about it the way we think here. Yesterday Malik came before Umar Akmal and Fawad Alam and started blocking the balls and he was shaken against the speed of Tait and eventually got out on his bowling for a pathetic 3 runs in 11 balls. He simply cannot bat against speed and a swinging ball. There was no lateral movement but, speed knocked off Malak.

While Kamran Akmal hammered Mitchel Johnson for 20 runs in one over he went into his shell after being hit for a four on the first ball of his over and the last was a six. But, then came Rana Nayee to play a maiden over of Johnson in his second spell. Johnson gave 20 runs in his first over and only 4 in the next 3 overs and one of them was a maiden.

omer
the attitude i am talking about was similar to almost what u said. on the ground, razzaq had this face which says ” i dont give a shyt” to the opposition which is really sorta mindgame. do u remember the game where SL had 7 wickets in hand, chasing 23 runs off 10 overs against PAK? PAK went on to TIE the game , razzaq took a hatrick or some 5 wickets. miss those quality games now a days! as much as i pray pak lose to India, when pak plays someone else its a different story then.

india-SA match, the selection of saha is totally out of the blue. bhajji continues to enjoy a place rather than earn it. and yeah, SA are in the adv at the moment

What i don’t understand is why did Malik bowl i mean there was Saeed Ajmal who is good bowler in 20/20. it surprised me when malik came to bowl and he brought Saeed Ajmal in the end. Malik went for almost 7 runs per over and that is another reason why australia reached 127.

420,

Not only that time, but Razzaq has done it on many, many occassions. He was averaging 38-40 with the bat when he was dropped. Razzaq’s average of 38-40 is equal to 48-50 of Yousof or Malik, because he is a power player, a pressure player, and a matchwinner. Razzaq could not only win a match by hitting, but bide a lot of time in difficult situations to see the team thru. He always played under pressure and never played when it was unnecessary.

But his drawbacks were that, he didn’t keep a beard, he probably didn’t put chairs for Inzamam and Mushtaq to sit (Mushtaq had said this in an interview, that for seniors like Inzamam and himself, others are supposed to bring chairs for them to sit!), and now he can’t create drama like Rana can on the field, jumping around uneccesarily in the field.

The whole issue of Razzaq, Rana, Malik typifies everything wrong with Pakistan cricket.

In fact when Inzamam took his chosen ones for the world cup, Ranatunga said it was a big mistake not to take Razzaq. And, Pakistan lost to Ireland in that match, and Razzaq could have been the type of player required in that situation. When foreign commentators were seeing that under 19 player perform under pressure in the recent world cup, they kept on saying, ‘he could be another Razzaq for Pakistan’. Razzaq had the respect of the opposition teams as well like that.

Unfortunately, players who don’t deserve to be in domestic cricket are in the international team and players who are matchwinners aren’t even respected in domestic cricket. This is paindoo logic….

I can’t understand why Australians don’t play Tait in test matches. As far as I am concerned, if Australia has to get a team like India out twice inside India, they need a bowler like Tait. He is the one who can get 5 wickets on dead pitches, not Jhonson and Siddle. So what if he can go for runs, attritional play will never get wickets in India. There is a bit of Akhter in Tait and he has the potential to win a match in India, but if we were to go by the bowling in test matches against Pak, I doubt Australia can get India out twice inside India.

Javed Khan,

I was wondering about this one thing (its totally off what we discuss on legslip)– the last name ‘Khan’, whether it implies that you are Pathan, mongolian, or Persian?

Because it seems that it is used interchangeably. Besides that, amongst the pathans, there are are Persian-speaking pathans and Pashto-speaking pathans.

I was just doing some reasearch and wondering– since the Balochis I think are certainly an Iranian people, but what are pathans from, say, the Afridi tribe (I mean are they Persian or distinct as in, simply, pathans? And, then, there is this whole issue of the last name Khan, which could be mongolian, Pashtun, or Persian (central Asian)..?

I mean could it be that, pathans as we know them, are a semitic and Iranian mix, and Balochis are totally Iranian, whereas mongolians are the ones that originate in Mangolia (perhaps Turkik people)?

Omer Admani,

You wonder why Tait is not played in Test, it’s because he is not a good test quality bowler. He is very fragile and this is why they played him in T20 where he only have to bowl 4 overs. They are considering playing him back in ODIs now, but remains to be seen his effectiveness. In Test matches in India, he will come a cropper, with his pace the ball will travel to the boundary faster than he can bowl them. They played him in Perth against India last time they toured Australia and he could not get any wickets, and Perth is supposedly a fast pitch.

Anyhow, SA – Ind test is off to a good start. SA looks confident and the only team probably capable to beating India in India now. Their batsmen have the test match attitude and patience and they have the bowling to get 20 wickets. Let’s see how this match progress.

Omer Admani

Afridi is a Pashtun tribe and famous for being warriors, they are inhabited in the region of Safaid Koh or White Mountain terrain in the North of Afghanistan and reportedly they have been in this terrain even during pre-historic times and controlling the famous Khyber Pass as a result they have literally have been able to force every passing conqueror to pay toll Bhatta or Jagga tax for use or passage through the Khyber Pass, unlike our Punjabi Jiyalay who never offered any resistance to any conqueror when they were approaching from Lahore to Delhi. Au contraire unki baree “Aao Bhaggat Ki,” meaning they provided great hospitality in terms of food, milk and even gave them their “Gaye, Bhainsain” too kay rasta bhurr doodh peetay jao aur chaho tou gosh bhee khao.!

The word, Khan is originally from Kakhan means great king, it is a Turkish word for the monarch and the Mongols also used this name Khan or Qa’an for their rulers like the well known Khans, Halaku Khan, Kublai Khan, Genghis or Changez Khan, etc. Later in India, during the British Raj the word Khan or Khan Bahadur became a title for any act of bravery because, the Khans (Kings) were brave people, warriors, fighters and very tough people.

Hence all the Khans are not Pathans and all the Pashtu speaking people are also not Pathans. Like Afridi there are many tribes, Yousuf Zai, Achak Zai, Kakkhar Zai, Orak Zai etc., and they are all Pashtun tribes and Afridi’s are the most jung joo type and reportedly they have embraced Islam during the time of Mahmud Ghazni and Mohammad Ghauri.

Omer Admani

newguy has answered your question about Shaun Tait, he cannot bowl very fast for a very long time hence he is not in the longer format of the game. He was fast on this track because it was a fast and bouncy wicket, he may not be that fast in other countries except for SA (and of course Australia) hence he may not be that effective playing in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, England and West Indies. Taking 3 wickets for 13 runs against a depleted Pakistani batting side does not mean anything.

On a slightly slow track he will be taken to cleaners for sure. Sehwag and Gayle will murder him. He didn’t bowl straight wicket to wicket balls or deadly yorkers but simply outside the off stump fast balls and getting a wicket of Imran Farhat Ch2So4 is no big deal. In any case he is an edgy player and 57% of the time he got out in the slips edging the ball. So Tait or no Tait, Farhat is out in that manner. And, the other wicket Tait got was of Ch2ya Malik. He can never play against fast bowlers or against swing bowling. So what is there about Tait? Australians tend to make too much noise about their own players. Gayle has given them a good warning that we will win 4-1. He may or may not but, he will definitely go after Tait’s Balls if he plays in ODI.

Arshad Khan

The reason Malik bowled in the T20 was, they were a bowler short because of Afridi and he had to bowl, and as a captain if he had not bowled he would have been criticized a lot, so he had to bowl and the first over was expensive and he was nervous but, in the second he got a wicket of Brit he clean bowled him, that gave him a lot of confidence and from the other end too wickets were falling at regular intervals. And then in the third over he got Haddin stumped by Kamran (that was a good piece of keeping, I have to say that it was an excellent stumping by Akmal) But, his last over the was most expensive one and that is why he gave away 31 runs or 7.75 per over. Besides, Australia were all out in Gul’s over and Ajmal didn’t get a chance to bowl his last over.

Gul was lucky that Fawad Alam was fielding in the gully/point region and took 2 very good catches and a great run out of Cameron White, that was electric. I am saying Gul was lucky because, if there was Imran Farhat or Khalid Latif, they may not have taken those catches.

Javed Khan,

Interesting. They are doing genetic tests to check whether pathans are a semetic people and one of the lost Jewish tribes, as pathan folklore and oral history claims its roots to Jewish people.

However, no concrete evidence has so far confirmed that. Right now Israel has sponsored a large-scale genetic study to settle the issue.

However, just intuitively, it seems to me that, since there are pashto speaking pashtuns and persian-speaking pashtuns, it could be that, the pathans are a semetic and persian derivative. The people in Balochistan are definitely totally Iranian,and there could be various level of mixes between semetic or Iranian people in what are now known as pathans.

Anyway, if a semetic link is confirmed among pathans, then Pakistan would probably be the most mixed race of people in the world. Because not only would we have the Indic and persian roots, but also semetic. Then there are the Kalash which form the fifth genotype in the world and are a totally distinct race altogether (they only exist in Pakistan). Then the Turks, some Chinese mix and derivative in Gilgit I believe..then the indegenous people of Balochistan…its like racially the most mixed race in the world.

Newguy,

You can never discount Pakistan beating India in India as well. All the teams have various strengths and weaknesses, and like Aus can’t win from India, India finds it very difficult to win against Pakistan. To give you some idea, in the last 8-9 years, this weakest Pakistan team has an even record against India of 4-4. The reason is that, on flat Indian pitches, Pakistanis can bat, and Pakistani bowlers are much better suited to bowl in those conditions than Australian. Therefore, Pakistan traditionally does well in India. The reason why I think Tait can be good in India is that, he swings the ball at pace. I mean you can imagine Jhonson and Siddle banging the bowl in the pitch all day long in India and the ball lying to the boundary repeatedly. Tait was not bowled properly in that match in Perth and any bowler can have a bad day. I’d say Tait is, without doubt, the most destructive bowler in Aus right now (that is what I have always felt). But he is not an attritional bowler, so he can go for runs as well…but attrition doesn’t win you matches inside India, Pakistani bowlers who could swing the ball at pace have done well in India.

Omer Admani

I agree with your views on India / Pakistan and I was going to write that to newguy that it is wrong to assume that only South Africa is the only country which can beat India in tests…. that is a bit of an exaggeration or over expectation from Indian fans and supporters. Pakistan’s side under Inzamam lost in Australia but, when they came to India they drew the test series after the first test draw in Mohali, losing 2nd in Kolkata and beating India in Bangalore and then, they won 3-2 after being 2-0 down and won the three straight games in Ahmadabad, Kanpur and Delhi. I am sure, if they play again Pakistan will be a different team than what you have seen in Australia.

But, I am not in agreement with Omer Admani about Tait swinging the ball. I have watched that match and there is absolutely NO SWING at all, just speed. In fact Nannes was bowling similar to the way Aamer and Tanvir bowls, i.e., angular balls from a left hand bowler drifting away from the right hand batsmen. Mitchell Johnson also does that, but Mitchell Johnson can go into his shell if you attack him from the very first ball.

Also, in my opinion if Tait bowls in England where the ball swings, he will be more like Akhtar where his balls will swing after they have passed the batsman. As TV viewers we tend to say Aaaaah, Oooooh, when the ball swings a lot after it has passed the batsman and collected by the keeper who has to move a lot ……. but there is NO value for those deliveries, they are just a waste. You need to swing the ball before, so that the batsmen get confused and play that shot. Players like Imran Farhat and Butt, poke the bat to a ball which is way outside the off stumps and moving away, so obviously they get an edge.

Javed Khan,

The way I see it, there is a huge difference between Aamer and Jhonson. Aamer is the bowler for all pitches and Jhonson is the bowler for some pitches. Jhonson has a natural angle against the right handers, but in terms of the ball moving, there isn’t much. Apart from that, Jhonson bangs the ball in the pitch, whereas Aamer can also bang it in, but usually Aamer swings the ball big and is a bit fuller. Therefore, I’d say, Aamer is a more versatile bowler, who can swing it both ways, from both sides of the wicket. A bowler like Jhonson is good in Australia, but so far he hasn’t shown anything remarkable in England and India– precisely because of those reasons above. Now this is something that can’t be changed, a bowler has a natural style and angle suited to his way of bowling.

I haven’t seen Nannes bowl, but Tait has pace, and Tait can swing the ball with that angle. Tait is also a lot more fuller than Jhonson. So, I’d say, Tait would probably bowl better in India. But he could be bowled in shorter bursts and relied as a wickettaker rather than an attritional bowler. However, I could be wrong, perhaps he can’t swing it like Akhter, in which case he might not be as effective in India.

On Akhter, I’d say, he was the most destructive bowler in the past decade or so. I wouldn’t say the best, but in terms of taking a batting apart in a few overs, he was right up there. Perhaps him and Bond share the honors in this regard.

Omer Admani

As far as I know there are no Persian Pashtuns. Pashtuns are only Pushto speaking Pathans and Pushto is originally a slightly varied version of Persian. It started like dialect about 500 years ago and then in the 16th century they started writing it in Persian and Arabic script there are many Persian and Arabic words in it. The Pushto alphabet has more vowel sounds than Persian & Arabic and it represents the vowels more extensively than either the Persian or the Arabic alphabets. Apart from Pushto there is Dari Persian which is also now the national language of Afghanistan, although Pashto was since 1936 but, now they have adapted two national languages because the Northern and Southern Afghanis speak different dialects also, the more educated Pashtun people use more Arabic letters in Pushto and Pashto also contains a high number of borrowings from Arabic especially among educated speakers, the Arabic plurals of borrowed nouns are frequently maintained.

As regards the Kalash, they are reportedly the Greek descendants who came along with Alexander the Great and decided to stay and they never went back. In fact they have isolated themselves in that Kalash valley and if you see their women dresses which have beads sewn in it, shows how much they value their old dresses. There aren’t any beads or shells in the Kalash valley but, the beads and shells that are found in the dress is passed on from generations to generations, for them it is like gold, diamonds, rubies and emerald. Yeah, there is no doubt that racially its a very mixed race that is why you see so much difference among the faces, colours, complexions, height, customs, traditions etc., etc.

Javed Khan,

Genetic studies confirm no Greek links of the Kalash. They show that they are an indeigneous people of what is now Pakistan. It could be that Greeks came at some point and interacted with them in some way or the other though.

Well, what I said about pathans being an admixture of semetic and Iranian people is a pure guess. Because there should be no doubt that the Balochis are an Iranian people, but rigt now genetic studies are being confirmed to check whether pathans have semetic origins. It is also the case that pathan oral history claims Jewish origins. However, there language, of course, is Indo-Iranian, so basically it could be that the language was adopted or it could be that they are not semetic but Iranian people and that oral history is inaccurate, or it could be that they are a mix of both.

I wasn’t comparing Johnson with Aamer or vice versa, I have mentioned what I have seen that as left arm bowlers they were pitching the ball slightly outside the off stump and for the right hand batsmen it was swinging away. The ability to swing both ways is different and certainly Aamer being so young can learn a lot more and improve a lot more provided he stays on the right track and doesn’t get spoiled like others.

Did you read Ramiz Raja’s article on cricinfo in which he has asked to “spare Afridi”, at home he was saying that Afridi should not be made captain of ODI after this ball biting episode. Then Harsha Bhogle and a few others wrote that despit all that Afridi must be made the captain because he has the captaincy material in him. This ball tampering issue has not surfaced for the first time, even the greats as well as the mediocre players have done it. Afridi was bold enough or naive to say that “All teams do that” may change the perception of those who are reluctant to admit. The irony is most of these players who are saying they used to tamper the ball have now retired and they can talk, whereas Afridi is at the peak of his form and his cricketing career and him saying this openly and bluntly is a very big surprise for many. Those who hate him wants to see the back of him even before he took a bite at the ball.

I wasn’t comparing Johnson with Aamer or vice versa, I have mentioned what I have seen that as left arm bowlers they were pitching the ball slightly outside the off stump and for the right hand batsmen it was swinging away. The ability to swing both ways is different and certainly Aamer being so young can learn a lot more and improve a lot more provided he stays on the right track and doesn’t get spoiled like others.

Did you read Ramiz Raja’s article on cricinfo in which he has asked to “spare Afridi”, at home he was saying that Afridi should not be made captain of ODI after this ball biting episode. Then Harsha Bhogle and a few others wrote that despit all that Afridi must be made the captain because he has the captaincy material in him. This ball tampering issue has not surfaced for the first time, even the greats as well as the mediocre players have done it. Afridi was bold enough or naive to say that “All teams do that” may change the perception of those who are reluctant to admit. The irony is most of these players who are saying they used to tamper the ball have now retired and they can talk, whereas Afridi is at the peak of his form and his cricketing career and him saying this openly and bluntly is a very big surprise for many. Those who hate him wants to see the back of him even before he took a bite at the ball.

Omer Admani

Wikipedia always have something about everything but, I don’t trust its accuracy or authenticity because, it is updated and edited by people like you, me and others i.e., if we wish to contribute by registering ourselves at Wiki. Therefore, anyone can give their own citation and add or contribute unauthentic and non-verifiable information which could either be misleading, incomplete, twisted according to one’s own motive or it is totally wrong to create adverse propaganda against a certain person, tribe, culture, nation etc. Anyways here is a link it has some info which may be of some use for you as you are interested in this subject either from academics point of view or totally as a matter of personal interest. The Link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashtun_people

Javed Khan,

Afridi is the only person captaincy-material in the side. Dwelling on that one incident is blowing the matter out of proportions, journalists and media laughed at it and shrugged it off when they realized that England won the Ashes because of ball tampering.

EXACTLY this is the point what you have written just now, but Afridi haters do not wish to see him ever, you must read those comments followed by the article, and not just Ramiz wala but so many people have written since then (except us, we did not do a thread on it or wrote any article) and those people who are writing against Afridi are with Indian names and Anglo names are spitting venom. And, even a few with Muslim names are so obvious when they write Asaf and Pakastan, you know unka Tallak (Ta’aluq) kahan say hai?

Once again I am not defending Afridi’s action but, it is not something that he should be punished for life or stripped from Captaincy when they badly need him as a captain. I am sure if he was there in the T20 match they would have won.

Javed Khan,

I have read that article on wiki, but i also read an article on DAWN recently which had it that Israel is sponsoring a huge project, a genetic study, to verify pashtun origins. Anyway, there is a theory behind it and wiki has an article on it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Pashtun_descent_from_Israelites

But think about it, in Afghanistan pashtuns are there and then the Tajiks, an Iranian people I think, are there. So, even if suppose, there was a lost tribe as such, wouldn’t there be a lot of mixing with the Iranian peoples over the centuries?

Omer

The bottom line is sab Adam ki aolaad hain.

Javed Khan,

I know, but curiosity is a man’s first instinct

Anyway, the reason why I am interested in this is, it seems to me that Pakistan is probably the most mixed place in the world. Diversity is a good thing, after all…

Diversity is good and mixed marriages are also good because they bring about the best of the species from diversity otherwise you end up like a Royal Blood with Royal Diseases such as Hemophilia and what not. Thank God we don’t have to worry about those things.

If curiosity is man’s first instinct then, why did it kill the cat?

I meant it in the sense that, we are probably the most mixed people in the world and we don’t even have a concept of ‘race’. So, basically, it is a good thing, though ‘ethnic’ differences are there, but there are no racial differences. Or am I wrong, isn’t it a strength?

Omer/Javed,

You are right that Pakistan has the potential to win Test matches in India, they have done so before and they may do so again. That said, I seriously doubt the current team will be able to pull it off. It’s one thing to have potential but another to actually being able to do it. I think they are very much distracted with external events that they are not able to come together for the team cause. Anyhow, these are all ifs and butts, since Pakistan is not playing India anytime soon.

Do you think SA is playing too slow in this match? I am getting bored with the overly cautious approach from Kallis and Amala, both have strike rate around 50, pitch is flat, I think they should score more faster if they want to have enough time to bowl India out twice.