Aaj Kal Imran Khan kay charchay her zubaan pay …… 
Nawaz ko maloom hai aur Zardari ko khabar ho gayee …

Everyone in Pakistan and most countries in the world are focusing on Imran Khan’s growing popularity.  They are all talking about the rising of a “Son of the Soil” arising from the East, who is going to change the face of Pakistan? And we, on this blog are more concerned about Imran’s success as a new elected leader, hoping Imran will overhaul the cricket industry of Pakistan.  Obviously, there is no better person in Pakistan who understands cricket and as head of the State i.e., if Imran is elected he will certainly bring a revolution in the PCB its, management, selection process and in the grooming of the players and finding talent at the grass root level.  Therefore, we are very interested in Imran Khan winning the elections based on the facts that there is no other suitable candidate because of his educational background, his honesty, loyalty, dedication and straightforwardness.  He has the charisma and he is using it well so far, yet it is a very farfetched goal.

On this cricket blog we would like to analyze what Imran Khan can and, must do in order to succeed?  He definitely needs to plan rather than say, “we will cross the bridge when we will come to the bridge.” He should have planned long ago in making a team of young, dynamic, educated people who are honest and loyal and not just a few workers in his party. He need people with vision and he need people who already have some political background, by inviting Shah Mahmood Qureishi in his party is the first good move he has made so far in expanding the horizons of his political career.  Otherwise, so far people have been saying that his party is only a one man show.  Its a fact, there are no big names in his party.  As a leader he should not be at the top of the pyramid but, he should be at the center, in the core and in the hearts of people and his party.  People should be revolving around him rather than waiting for their turn to reach at the top to meet their leader.

Considering the political setup in Pakistan it is extremely difficult for Imran Khan to get a total majority or, even significant votes to form a coalition government. Seeing half a million people in his public rallies and gatherings in Urban areas means nothing to me. Because, All those who have attended his “Jalsa” may have come from different riding and different electoral sectors and, their votes will be scattered and get wasted.   And, most importantly what he should (I am sure he does) know that almost 80% of Pakistan’s population is in the rural areas and these are the hardcore votes and these voters are simply loyal to their masters i.e., the Chaudhries, Wadheras and Sardars.  And, these feudal lords are controlling them like their slaves. The masses are told by their masters that they have to vote for them and not anyone else and they obey their master’s orders.  And, most of the ignorant poor people in the rural areas have no knowledge of Imran Khan or his party and nothing about his party’s manifest or the “Manshoor.”  Some of them may not even know who Imran Khan is? And those who have heard his name may think he is “that” cricketer – Imran Khan?

In the big cities like Lahore, Islamabad and Multan he can win his seats but, in Karachi its very difficult that is because of MQM’s Fort Knox they have a total control over the city and no one can win against their candidates and same is the case in interior Sindh especially in Larkana, Sukkur, Khairpur etc. 

How can Imran Khan break this wall and penetrate into their territories and get the votes? He should go back and read QeA M. A. Jinnah’s strategy in winning the constituent assembly elections of 1946. The All India Muslim League won 425 out of 496 seats reserved for Muslims (and about 89.2% of Muslim votes). How did this happen? I don’t think it is mentioned in the history books but, people who are still alive from 1925 onwards remember that. Jinnah appealed ALL the Muslim educational institutions of India i.e., including Aligarh University to shut down their institutions for 2-3 months prior to the elections and asked them to send their educated young Muslims to the rural areas to create awareness about the elections and the need to create a Muslim state called Pakistan.  There was a famous pamphlet that was distributed among the Muslims was titled, “Now or Never.  Are We to Live or Perish Forever?”

So, Imran Khan should ask not only his party workers but, appeal the educated students to come forward and take the responsibility as the torch bearers of the New Pakistan that will emerge after the elections under Imran Khan’s leadership. They should not only be going to the rural areas to deliver a speech like all the leaders do, because they are not the leaders, they are the ambassadors of The Justice Party or the Tehrik-e-Insaaf and they should stay there for a good period of time and mingle with the people and explain to them what was going on in the past and where Pakistan stands or is lagging behind other small nations due to the lack of leadership and and growing corruption.  And, these young ambassadors have to create awareness and pave the way for their leader to address them, then Imran Khan should address the mass gatherings rather than rushing and hurrying a “Jalsa” at the 11th hour. With awareness comes the knowledge and the ability to distinguish between the right and wrong and it helps in decision making rather than acting like a herd and vote without any awareness of what they are going to get from their leaders?

Imran, you are no more the captain of Pakistan cricket team, you have grown up, you are more matured now and you have a vision and you need to accomplish your goals and no one alone can accomplish such goals, you have to rely on others who share the same vision as you and who are as honest, dedicated and committed as you. Your team is not of 11 players but, the whole country must be your team or at least a majority of the people must share your vision and that should be your aim.

So, remember the strategy of Jinnah and follow his footsteps because, never in the history of the sub-continent there was such a big turnout in elections as it was in 1946 and that is why his party won the elections with absolute majority. SEND YOUR TEAM TO THE RURAL AREAS  it is “Now or Never” situation for you.  People are sick of Zardari and Nawaz and they also dislike the Army. So, this is your golden chance to win this “Election Cup,” which is much, much bigger than the 1992 World Cup.  Win it or lose it forever.

On this cricket blog we are very blunt, straightforward and very selfish, the reason we are supporting you is because, we want a better PCB administration, we want NO corruption in the PCB and we want the players to be groomed, educated and aware of the the rules as well as their roles. A player who is uneducated, uncouth, ignorant cannot and shall not be a role model for the youngsters. Hoping that you will certainly do what is needed to be done in to the development and the improvement of cricket in Pakistan.  Our bloggers are going to share their views through brainstorming and may be able to suggest even better ideas. So, I am wishing you all the best in your future endeavors.

FOND MEMORIES BRINGS THE LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS AROUND ME - THE SMILES THE TEARS OF BOYHOOD YEARS - 10-DULLKAR OR 100KAR?

The century that Tendulkar will perhaps never make is creating more noise than the ones he made.  Why is this happening? Because he is a player who plays for records, a great player who plays for himself and not for the team or the country and what do you call such a person? “It is below his so-called DIGNITY to call him a selfish player”  his dignity, his vanity and his pride is much higher than the country’s pride and that is because he is considered as a deity in his country. When a man is worshiped like a deity then instead of him becoming strong, he becomes weak.  At a time or, at a level he gets scared that he is failing his followers and his fans and tries very hard to get or achieve the goal and keeps on failing every now and then. That makes everyone believe that he is afraid of reaching the milestone -  there are already many milestones in his life and yet he is afraid in achieving this.

Shoaib asks Tendulkar - why don't you admit you were afraid of me?

What was wrong in Shoaib Akhtar writing a line in his controversial book that Tendulkar was once afraid of him? It was like Akhtar throwing a stone in a beehive, the whole of India was after Akhtar and not only they attacked him, but they canceled the launching of his book in 5 major cities of India even, people like LataMangeshkar the squeaky singer tried to wrestle with her dead vocal cords and blabbed out that Akhtar has no right to pass such derogatory comments about their god? What was that derogatory comment? He only said, Sachin was once scared of him.  If a 5.7 ounces red cherry weighing about 160g. in weight zoom pasts your head at 100 miles per hour speed, one is likely to take evasive action, it is normal. Just because Tendulkar is considered as a god he is above all these trivialities? If he is such a great maestro then why is he struggling against so many teams since the last one year to accomplish his life time goal? His strike rate is pathetic, his scores are pathetic and yet he is getting a chance to play because he is 10 – DullKar and he is in the team because of his past glories.

He is Controversially Ours

I am not saying he will not make his hundredth hundred, eventually he will but at what expense? Is there any respect left in telling that this great little master-bater is struggling for runs and that is because he is afraid in his nineties.  Even his son told him, Dad why do you get stuck into 90′s? Are you scared? I will tell you something: don’t stay in the 90′s just hit a couple of fours and a six and you will be out of the 90′s.  These may not be the exact words but, he did say something on those lines and I wonder what Tendulkar must have told him? May be he said, my son I am not your uncle Sehwag or that Crazy Afridi and I don’t have those guts!

When Kapil Dev was close to breaking Sir Richard Hadlee’s world record, he was totally out of form in fact his bowling was “Disgustipatingly” Pathetic and in some matches he was not even getting a single wicket and yet they continued with him till he broke the record. There is something called grace, which is lacking here in case of Kapil Dev and Tendulkar both, one was and the other is still struggling and only God knows how much pressure they carry when there are so many and so much expectations from them?

Instead of scoring 76 at a strike rate of 51 if Tendulkar has scored that 76 in 51 balls, I would have said, at least he tried, he tried to play for the team and the country and did not bother about his records but, it was so obvious from the way he played in the first innings he was shaky and got out at 7 and to rebuild his image he went back into his shell ………… THIS IS NOT CRICKET…… this is MisBAket.  If Misbah plays like that I can say that is what he is but Tendulkar has once again disappointed.

People specially Indian fans may not like my criticism because, it is not coming from within but, from outside.  I am sure there are more Indians who are more disappointed then us and they follow him like a Ishwar and Parmeshwar and in the recent WC in India, one of his fans committed suicide by hanging himself only because Tendulkar did not score a century and the deceased has high hopes that his master will score a century and when he failed him, he was so ashamed that he took his own life.

In my opinion, neither the people nor the player himself should take this seriously, a game is a game is a game – its not everything, its not your life, it is not somebody’s else life that he kills himself for a trivial thing.   One thing is for sure, the BCCI and its selectors will keep on selecting him till he makes that 100th 100.   I hope Tendulkar is not suffering from primary or secondary hypertension but, he is suffering from the “white coat hypertension” which happens to patients when they see a doctor their BP goes up, in his case it is the umpires who wear white coats, when he sees them his BP goes up.

The more Tendulkar will delay in achieving this milestone, the more his ratings will go down among those who say Lara is better than Tendulkar or, Viv Richards is better than Tendulkar and even those who compare him with Sir Don Bradman would be compelled to believe that Don was Don and he cannot be compared with anyone because of his strike rate and his average.

It is time that our Indian fellow bloggers to come out and comment on this, defend him or curse him it is up to you but, silence is not the answer.

The Three Musketeers and d'Artagnan

The storm is over, the punishment and sentence is announced, now lets analyze the situation from a different perspective.

All of us (including myself) are vicariously involved in the game of cricket to the extent that we take it very emotionally and feel the experience and get the thrills out of it, and when we are disappointed we get extremely upset. In this case we strongly believe that Asif, Aamir and Butt have disgraced the nation. “Qaom ka naam mitti may mila diya.”  While saying this we were all emotional and “judge-baati” we didn’t even pause for a second to think that these “Three Musketeers” or any of the other lulloo, punjoo in the past is not capable of destroying the name of the nation or disgraced the nation by any of their stupid acts. In this case these three have accepted money from the bookies and agreed to fix the match, first most of us denied it and now a majority of us are ashamed and feel extremely disappointed.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that these three players or others in the past are insignificant in destroying or disgracing Pakistan, they are just a spec of dust that you will find in the vast ocean called – Pakistan.  The country is much above these trivial and petty people, (imo, the only person who can disgrace the nation is, Asif Zardari who is a corrupt President of the country and he is elected by the people) no one else can disgrace Pakistan. Why should we expect a modicum of decency from this uneducated, uncouth and uncivilized players whom we have considered as Heroes and Gods?

The high school dropouts and those who cannot go to the college or the university, they take up sports as their career and are paid in millions and adored by millions and in some cases worshiped by millions. It shows our own lack of values and lack of confidence that we have developed in the past 2 – 3 decades, it is our own inability and incompetence in accepting these trivial people as our heroes.  Think about it and think seriously, who do we place so much importance to these people? It is just a game and they are players and pawns used by others.

My biggest question is WHY BETTING IS LEGAL?  Why not ban the betting houses? Why are these filthy rich people who have acquired money through illegal means are allowed to gamble openly and run a business on the so-called high streets of London? These are the people who have taken over the sports arena by storm and they are playing with illegal money to make more money through these pawns i.e., our heroes and our so-called gods.

It is not just in cricket and not just in Pakistan, but the world over, in every sport be it hockey, soccer, rugby there is an underground world which operates like a mafia, they buy and sell the players, they use them, they fix the matches through them to make more money – Chor hum sab hain, pakray jain tab -  They walk away with money in their pockets and no one catches them, no one raises a finger at them, and then there is a small fry like Mazhar Majeed who falls like a prey in the hands of these culprits and the media wins the war.

The cheap Tabloid called, NOTW became the news of the whores because, they act like pimps and entrap players and use them the way they want.  I am not supporting or showing sympathies towards Aamir, Asif, Butt and Majeed but, I am pointing out at the bigger culprits who are not known to the masses, they needs to be punished and betting houses needs to be eradicated for good.

The worst of all the sports is Boxing.  Just imagine two guys frazzle out their brains and, they are mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted and drained out and in some cases even die or become mentally challenged (Ali is an example) and there are billions of fans across the world who are cheering and applauding at them.  And, for one boxer there is a manager, a coach, an agent, a financial adviser, a PR manager, a physio there is a whole shebang, a whole entourage of people who are also making money and then, there are bookies and gamblers making even more money.   At whose expense?  At the expense of those two lunatics who are frazzling their brains out and at our expense, we are paying them hundreds of millions of dollars through satellite TV in the name of entertainment.

I want our bloggers to write against the big gamblers, the real culprits, those who threat the players and the people, they should be punished and they must be condemned and the society must become free from such rogues, otherwise it will be a sad ending for some players.  Look at the picture of Salman Butt which tells the whole story without a word being spoken.

Sub Kuch luta kay hosh may aye to kya kiya