Mohammad Yousuf: It is not easy to take it on the face!
Got you!! I was just kidding it not curious at all. It was a very simple and straightforward thing which was only made complicated due to management nonsense and team politics and it is Pakistan which can only produce such things.
There has been lot of heated debate around Yousuf’s inclusion to Pakistan team which turned little bit sweat yesterday after his assured fifty on comeback and its effect on Pakistan batting line up.
There are always two parts of that debate out of which one is astonishing and cricketing and other is equally disgraceful. But we should keep them separate and treat the debate as well as the Man Muhammad Yousuf accordingly to avoid any bullshit going around.
Here is my take on them:
- Yousuf batting class, skill, status and his importance for Pakistan current batting line up.
- No body will in his right mind disagree with this that he is a class and will ever be till his actual retirement, and team absolutely needs him to be around.
- Results are already abvios not only statistically but also logically and there has been a lot said about it already,
- Yousuf as a character in dressing room or around the team, there is too much mess which is around almost every Pakistan senior player who had played some matches for Pakistan in last two years. There is a very thin line between lies , blames, realities and bullshit and we can’t trust any of them so I think it useless to discuss it until some one in real sense of the word inquire it and brings out the real facts, which is very less likely to happen.
- Currently, It all depends on how current management, including clowns like Yawar Saeed and Ijaz Butt plus more importantly team, captain Butt and coach accepts him between them.
- As far as Yousuf is concerned I think he clearly know he doesn’t have a chance of another captaincy stint so he will not bother with it until a captain will deliberately tried to boot him from team as it happened couple of time in Younis era due to his pathetic rotation policy.
- There has been some positive signs as Salman Butt finally accepted Yousuf in team after initial reluctance and Waqar and co didn’t make much fuss about the consultancy issue with PCB of sending Yousuf or not
- Yousuf was looking at ease with most of the team and specially captain as I have seen him discussing plan in the ground between overs and guiding youngsters during batting, but these are all only signs you can never know whats going on beneath it.
Younis Khan - Mohammad Yousuf, Pakistan need forces combined!!
Now Yousuf need to realize his role, which is to steer Pakistan batting and guide those wobbling young batsmen around him so that when he will left there must be at least two or more ready products instead of hit and trial for Pakistan test team. Environment and base is all set up it is just that they need to persist with that and keep the politics away as much as possible.
As cricket fan, readers, writers and intruders we should decide which part of this debate we are going to discuss and what is in it? We should keep a line between above two and respect Yousuf accordingly, if you have problem with him in team politics keep it to that don’t disgrace him or in fact yourself, trying to deny his status and class in Pakistan batting line not only current but All Time. Be warned!!
A perfect platform is set for a cracking series decider at Lords. There are two or three more days between the start of fourth test and now and as a cricket fan and a Pakistani fan as well I hope no more drama folds out of the team otherwise I don’t see any possible change in 3rd test team for Pakistan. Let cricket win at the end!!
This is a bizarre act of nature or history or whatever you would like to say it according to your own cake and pie that:
Exactly four years ago after tea in Oval test between Pakistan and England at 20th August, 2006, Pakistan denied to take field after being accused of ball tamparing by on field umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove. They awarded 5 runs to Engalnd and changed the ball after Umar Gul dismissed Cook with a nasty reverse swing.
Hair - Inzamam, The Oval Test 2006
Now after four years, same day same venue same teams and little bit of same situation. England was in spot of bother that time and is once again are. Today Pakistan bowlers did that was feared and denied that day, they managed to steel the grip of the match from England looking in control just before tea. This time it was not Gul it was Mohammad Amir, who did swing it and swing it late and caused a spectacular England collapse. But this time around there was no Darrell Hair who can decide in minutes without any proof that there was some ball tampering happened, so there was no drama.
This is still insane people don’t accept the fact that reverse swing is also a skill which could be also be achieved naturally without doing anything wrong and there are lot of people doing it these days. But it is a very difficult skill and it very much dependent on lot of factors including bowler ability to environment plus state of the ball.
Anyways, once again thank God there was no Darrel Hair to destroy the face of cricket and give it jolt in trying times and I hope this match as well as this tour will go along as nicely as it has been so far.
Flood Relief work in Pakistan, image: boston.com
This is not a Cricket related post but this is a humanity related report. Pakistan is facing disastrous flood and millions of people have been displaced with no place to live, not enough food under open skies. There are more than 1500 deaths so far according to official sources (original figure might be devastating) strategic damage can’t even be counted as hundreds of villages are simply flooded away.
Those poor children and helpless victims of this flood need a little help. Anything from donating a penny to promoting the relief work and donation campaigns is a one step forwards and will become a great force when combined.
So here is your chance to do that:
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Devastating Flood, image: guardian.co.uk
If you are a blogger or have a website put a small message/banner some where on your blog / website like we did on CricketVibe.com containing important links and awareness messages.
- You can also write a post on flood relief so that it will spread across bigger audience.
- An image or graphical banner can also do the job, so if some one can make such a graphic image, share it with community.
- Status messages and updates at different social community sites containing links and messages will also help spreading this.
- If you don’t have a blog or website, simply spread the links to any site which contains such links for donation and awareness.
- It will not take more than sharing a funny image or writting a normal post but it might help someone who deserve it.
NOTE: This blog called SECULAR PAKISTAN http://secularpakistan.wordpress.com/flood-relief/ has a special section on flood relief with loads of information and links. You can spread it.
NOTE: I am willing to provide any help required to make banner like what I have here at CricketVibe.com. I will provide HTML code and assistance in putting it on blog who need any help.
Thanks.
1 - BlogAwards.pk Trophy/Shield/Monument?
You guys probably already know that, this my little tiny place won an award couple of months ago somehow. That was Pakistan first blog Awards managed by CIO Pakistan with help of Google and some other industry giant sponsors like Nokia, Dell, Canon etc. That was and is an amazing initiative and will truly not only help Pakistan blogosphere prosper, produce an awareness among the readers and inspires other to start blogging. This in turn will give a medium to our young generation to express themself, participate in healthy debates, get a load of information and current affairs, spend some quality time on Internet and will also act as an alternative for book reading a habit which constantly declining over the world but at double pace in Pakistan.
Anyways, that is one reason to thank the management of the BlogAwards.pk to initiate an amazing trend but there is another personal one. Yesterday I received the gift hamper form BlogAwards.pk for my blog award that I won. The award was given to ReversSwing.wordpress.com the old shape of this blog. Receiving such gifts is always very exciting specially for me as I never had a luck in these things. Throughout my academic career I was sitting tight on 4, 5 position while trophies were given to only top three in the class. Only few times I managed to find to reach the stage and get a prize etc which I kept at our shelf for many years. Than my luck is similar with other things which involve luck, I have never ever won a prize through lucky draw no matter how small, I never ever got small promotional bonuses companies hide in packing specially in kid’s food item like candies etc. I am also very bad at chance games etc.
2 - Coffee Mug
So all that make these small prizes or gifts very special and I felt like a kid once again yesterday when I woke up and found a courier waiting for me to open it. So I thought why not share this with you guys and show that beautiful gift hamper they managed to send every winner. Great job BlogAwards.pk
- Fist item is kinda shield or monument which is nice one and I guess best of the lot. It has Crystal like RSS icon on top of wooden base with a steel plate which my name engraved in it with other nice things
, amazing isn’t it. - Second is a special coffee mug with a lid and BlogAwards.pk and Naseeb printed on both site, a handy gadget.
- There is a CIO and BlogAwrads.pk specially printed writing pad and event calender. Plus a leather key chain with Google on it. Again good things to have.
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3 - Event Calender and Key Chain
Than there is a black T-Shirt with DELL logo on the back and “I 8ENDED THE 1ST ANUAL BLOGAWARDS.pk” printed on front. I really like the T-Shirt as its fitting was amazing usually people send large size at these occasions but they send me medium which is a perfect fit.
- Last but not least, they send an AJRAK which is a beautiful cultural part of SIND. It is a type of garment which is specially unique and known for its special printing. (More images here). Now that printing has become an art design and has started to appear on many things beside clothes. Interesting thing is some one so genius actually use to wrap the above mentioned Trophy in it to avoid any damage during the courier from Karachi to Lahore, and boy these courier guys handle things so roughly. So another nice thing done.
4 - BlogAwards.pk T-Shirt
All this might not be important for someone out there or they will not find it special or significant but I guess it is for me atleast. And this also showcase that if an idea is executed with dedication and isnpiration could do wonders. Keep up the good work BlogAwards.pk
Sorry to chaps looking for some cricket stuff, this post was clearly not about cricket. But for the change of taste:
- India is playing Sri Lanka in another one too many encounters and at home Sri Lankan batsmen are trashing Indian poor bowling attack on run producing belts. Interestingly in second test Sri Lanka also don’t have the best bowling attack they can possibly have, so Indian batsmen will not waste this chance as Sehwag is already on course of another punishing inning. So match is clearly heading towards a draw and that too a boring one.
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5 - Beautiful AJRAK
Thursday Pakistan is going to take on England in England, not a piece of cake at all. Leeds win was good to go ahead but there is no easy task ahead to go through motions instead it is very steep one.
Some more posts are in my pressure cooker above my head but I just hope I will find enough time to write them down you way, specially I feel a Murali post is must, what a player he is and than of course Pakistan v England test series if not more must be at least as exciting as Pakistan v Austrlia was. So some post on that etc.
For now have fun!
SCN - Street Cricketers
Street cricket is the root of Pakistan cricket system, not school or college cricket, it is the street cricket which provided Pakistan amazing raw talent over the years and decades. Cricket structure in schools is almost non-existent, except some schools in big cities no schools have enough facilities to provide the first basic platform to children to kick start their sports. Colleges are trying to do it but it is not enough, either it become a way of making money from grants provided or a pass time for the students who know they can’t do good in academics and have their best chances of passing grades via sports. Still there is some good cricket played here and there in school colleges, universities but that is far too less. Other platform is club level, the main problem they face is lack of proper infrastructure and investment to build any. 70% of the clubs in Pakistan don’t have proper cricket ground or cricket pitch to use. There are only few clubs and academies which are producing refined talent that too only in big cities like Lahore and Karachi.
Next Mohammad Asif?
In above circumstances Pakistan cricket has heavily relied on street cricket, young ones play their cricket on streets, parks or literally anywhere where they have enough space for a cricket pitch at least. They used tennis ball covered with adhesive tape on it and a fake seam and a bat mostly, that’s it. They learn their art and polish their skills according to the situation they play in. No body is there to guide them or correct their short comings, they just build their game according to situation. Now you must know why Pakistan mostly have players which are raw but full of talent but not much application specially in test cricket as street cricket match doesn’t last more than 20 overs at most.
Anyway that was a little introduction which is getting long, so coming to the point, Sprite and Coca Cola company came up with an amazing idea about Street Cricket. You already know cricket is now using a lot of latest technology to groom players and their game and coach them. But in Pakistan this is nearly non-existent only at few academies and clubs you will find them. But Sprite is bringing that high level technology right to street cricket. Anybody who had ever played street cricket in Pakistan will be very excited to know that now they can find out their bowling speed, distance of the hit, pitch map, wagon wheel and all that. 90% of our street cricketers play their cricket without knowing what they are doing. So this is an amazing thing to know what you are capable of. This will not only inspire many of the young players to play at higher levels knowing their strengths but also will help recognize talent and that too best of it with proven stats.
Cutting long story short here are few of the important points in this Campaign:
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Technology is making it better
Fusing Sport and Technology through Sprite Cricket Next:
- Just about anyone who plays sport loves to see statistics and receive performance feedback. Not only does it help identify key features of your game and how you might improve them, it adds a competitive edge to social play or to routine training.
- Television broadcasting in particular has made us all aware of what is possible in terms of the analysis of player performance and has given ‘sports technology’ a high profile.
- Yet despite the popularity and visibility of these systems virtually none of this technology is available to your local team, school or sports center, neighborhood, let alone the average player until now.
- Sprite has brought in Pitch Vision technology, which is professional academy level technology available to everyone. From club players, juniors, schools and sports centre’s to your budding cricketers, i.e. Gulli cricketers.
- Pitch Vision really is shaping the market for cricket training and analysis in the 21st Century and Sprite is bringing the technology to our Gulli’s (streets) nationwide.
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Live Action
How the Sprite Cricket Next technology works:
- Each player’s data can be displayed online or on their mobile phone.
- Every training session can be stored to build up a historical data base and compared against past performance, peers and professional players.
- Whether you are interested in detailed summaries of your line and length, or just want to know how fast you bowl Pitch Vision simply and unobtrusively enhance every training session, generating better data – feedback, knowledge and participation.
- Custom designed, the sensor range caters for every style of cricketing training and skill testing and Sprite has brought this exclusively for the general cricketing enthusiasts to experience, free of any cost.
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Warm Up Pitch
What the Sprite Cricket Next Technology will show:
- Pitch-Maps
- Footwork analysis
- Wagon Wheels
- Manhattans
- Colour Coded Charts
- Hawkeye View
- Which cricketing skills will be tested:
- Bowling speed
- Economy rate
- Distance hit
- Runs scored
- Average Speed/Over
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Compete with others and win
Sprite Cricket Next Rules:
- Two cricketers will be pitted against each other, one will bat and the other will bowl.
- After one over [6 legitimate deliveries] roles will be switched.
- Total of 36 data points are available for 1 competition.
- In case of level scores; the winner will be the player with the fastest legitimate ball.
- In the case of a no-ball the standard rules of cricket will apply and the ball is bowled again and the runs scored will be added to the total of the batsman.
- The player with the most wickets or most runs will proceed to the next level of Sprite Cricket Next.
- Players can participate in the following fun activities while waiting:
- Test your speed
- Crazy catcher
- Fastest taper
Check out their website here, http://www.spritecricketnext.com/ and rush to the Sprite Cricket Next camp near you as they are visting different cities.
Sprite Cricket Next is currently active at:
- Karachi
- Kohinoor Ground
- Lahore
- NFC Ground
- Nach Garh Ground
Thank You Coca Cola and PitchVision Academy!
Afridi didn’t last long now who is next for role of circus ring master in Pakistan Cricket team?
Hey Baby lets play Captain Captain
This is interesting now, it looks ridiculous that the person Pakistan appointed as captain is not even sure of if he wants to play test cricket or not. But I would say it is refreshing that at least Shahid Afridi realize it himself otherwise our history is that we have to either sack captains or kick them out somehow. His honesty in this regard is breath of fresh air but still I am not sure if he gave test matches enough time to test his skill or if he even tried his best before jumping to a conclusion. His captaincy stint looks like one of his typical inning.
It is strange and idiotic specially when Afridi decided in the middle of a very important tour. I think he is leading them well in the field except couple of things which will improve by time but batting is the culprit and given the depth of it , it was always going to be like this. Afridi’s own batting, well forget it.
Now this is going to create another chaos, I am not sure of Salman Butt abilities he is kind of lay off guy, never seen him charged up or involved in field, even his fielding is not up to standard that can create an example. He is a decent test batsman but he has some faults like running between the wicket and not willing to rotate the strike much. (well our whole batting lineup is like this, I think only Younis and may Malik are good strike rotators).
Man management in Pakistan team is always most tedious work for a captain than anythig else. Keeping them on song for five days need a lot of Red Bull from captain, so captain need a good supply of that Red Bull with him. Afridi seems to have that or may be he had more than enough which cause those two stupid test innings he played. Anyhow he kept them in good spirit in the field for more than 80% of Australian innings but everything went to drains during Pakistani innings.
Who else? Younis Khan can once again do the job but not sure if he can find the support in team and in PCB that is required to do it. Also not sure his own moods got any improvement or he still is a drama queen. His captaincy abilities are if not very good not bad either. He is an okish captain. He never had a peaceful run as a captain to sharp his skills, specially his test captaincy experience is very limited. His position in the team has no doubts even he is out of form.
Shoaib Malik, I think that will be going back some steps. He is just an average captain, average test batsman (better in ODIs) and a good fielder. His bowling is just part time, don’t fancy Marcus North his opponents will not be Pakistan which will present him 6 wickets in a plate with tomato ketchup.
Mohammad Yousuf is never going to get nor he is capable of. Kamran Akmal is living on the edge just because we don’t have a decent wicketkeeper who can bat a bit, otherwise he must not be in test team. Asif and Gul are not the candidate anyhow.
So now I have exhausted the list of possible captains. Only bright choice is Salman Butt as his name is echoing so far but his abilities are still under the dark but we will see it soon. Somehow I am afraid that he might become another Mohammad Yousuf as a captain, let the future prove it wrong!
One of the longest (in term of international matches may be, go check your history and let me know too) and significant tour of Pakistan cricket history to a single country is in progress with a good possible start as they have done reasonably well on each match either it is a tour match or T20I against Australia. Team is making some sense in the middle and looking like a team which means some business. Fan support was excellent in their supposed to be home series so far although test will tell if Pakistani fans have the temperament of watching a test day in day out or doesn’t, like their team which still doesn’t have the right temperament to play test at best possible level.
These are just some thoughts I am putting in after reading couple of posts put up by some other blogger like Stani Army and Wasim from Cricket files, Maaz Boom Boom Korner etc. Here I am going to talk about two things, teams preparation so far and men to watch out for.
Preparations:
Two T20Is against Australia are gone affair now with very encouraging results which were ideally the easiest affair of this tour.
Yasir Hameed
But now they are up against some real test which will lead to a more stiff test, yeah that’s right England in England is a much stiff task than Australia probably, although we had a better record in England than in Australia. So far preparations are nearly as usual.
Let me start with another PCB blunder, oh God I love to whip some of PCB Butts whenever I got chance. They sent the young test squad so late that they literally have to jump right into the ground from their flights, which doesn’t make sense at all as already some 15 men squad was there in England what difference it makes if you send those nearly four more guys with them. Yeah may be it might effect Mr. Ijaz Butt, family and friend’s free tour, you know budget management and all that. Still they could have at least sent them couple of days earlier. On top of all that they only got one 2 days game for practice? What? Where are four days tour games if not two at least one of them, even Australians are whining and wondering on this incredible scheduling. But I think we need to understand those days are gone, soon teams will land in play back to back test matches fly out to some other place and repeat it once again. So why not introduce some Japanese made robots of Sony brand to play cricket (I love this brand). They will have no injuries and no need to settle in and adjust to conditions, Artificial Intelligence will do it all.
Umar Amin, PakPassion.net
Than whatever little practice games they got: first 3 day game against Kent was played by our almost T20 squad yet they didn’t do bad. Umar Akmal, Umar Amin and Fawad Alam found some form. Aamer and Gul also found some rhythm which eventually helped them in T20Is.
Second one was a odd 2 day game with 100 over limit for each team. Pakistani bowlers found hard to get Leicester depleted side’s wickets regularly, Asif looked flat, Wahab is i-don’t-know-what-he-is-doing-with-the-team, Tanvir even though came a day before on a long flight looked good in his 13 over spell but due to fatigue he had to left field in the middle of his over. Next day batting looked good and sigh of relief but bowling attack wasn’t that threatening too.
Wahab Riaz, Cricinfo
Salman Butt is in form and is our main top order hope, he did well to his fifty, he really has need to work very hard to guide our very young or incapable (if Imran Farhat opens with him) top order. Azhar Ali the probable debut at Lord stayed in the center for long time but he was reported not looked easy against some fast bowlers. Yasir Hameed was fluent but is still a misery that if such a capable opener will make an impression on return or will fade away like last time, I hope not. Umar Amin seems like the best out of the bunch introduced in this series may be also because I only had a look at him in Asia Cup and his technique at least looked good even though he didn’t last long but on both tour matches he was solid and for me a sure starter. Shoaib Malik is little bit of worry, he has to play a very big role in this tour in middle order and I wonder if he is up to it or not?
So for me our batting order could be like this, Salman Butt, Yasir Hameed (openers), Umar Amin, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal. But they may choose Imran Farhat and Azhar at some place in the above lineup.
Bowling in not that complex, Aamer, Asif and Gul are sure Kaneria will be preffered over Ajmal as Saeed Ajmal still haven’t sorted out his longer format bowling I guess. Abdur Rehman is another spin option but I am not even sure about his test standard bowling.
Watch Out For:
Tanvir Ahmed, Cricinfo
This tour will shape some career and might finish some others as Stani Army already mentioned earlier. I would like to add some words into that context.
Mohammad Yousuf will come back if PCB give him a hint of protection for a while he is cry baby if you drop him even simply due to his own form. So he will turn in only if he is given some hope to stay at least for a year in team.
Younis is already willing to come in and he is no more issuing any statements and things as he clearly know due to his open mouth PCB is not allowing him in so it is just a matter of when PCB and captain Afridi feels its enough to teach him a thing or two.
Abdur Razaq is sure starter for ODI and T20 till World Cup i guess even Afridi is using him very differently. Mostly as a batsman, he is just a part time bowler so far, may be in ODI he will bowel more but his bowling is totally teeth less specially on non helping pitches, but he haven’t done anything with bat since Dubai T20 even he got some decent chances to do so. So he felt like a waste of space sometime but he has his own weight in a very young team you need some experience here and there.
Azhar Ali , Cricinfo
They will keep using Shoaib Akhter in ODI and T20 as far as he can atleast deliver 80% of his overs and World Cup may sum up his career too and wisely he should sum up himself after world cup.
In youngsters I like Umar Amin whatever I have seen so far, Tanvir Ahmed also looked good in QEA Trophy, Wahab Riaz seems like another safrashi to me if I am not wrong. Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq are yet to be seen. I am excited about these newbies and I hope at least couple of them show promise and reatin their places in team for the better.
Have a nice weekend guys!
Speed of Tait and Shoaib Akhter, Drama of T20 specially considering last match between these two which was the Semi Final of World T20 2010, Nerves of Pakistani team to do well and win a game against Aussies, Flair in the cricket of both of these teams in their unique ways and arrogance of some of the players in both team is in there to catch for cricket fans all over the world.
Usually such a dominance by one team over another results into dull and one sided series which doesn’t get much of fans imagination but this series has got something in it for the liking of the fans or I might just be excited about it, what you say?
But you will agree that Shaun Tait is firing the ball at 100 MPH lately which will probably inspire Shoaib Akhter to do the same which he will probably not able to do at this age and fitness level. Recently he is more of bowler with brain than power which is good but anyway his presence will raise some eye brows in Aussies camp. Pakistan handled Tait well in their last encounters but than they have to cope with0 Dirty Nannes and Johnson on the other end which can make life difficult and any one or all of them could get an advantage.
Only way for Pakistan to come around good is to attack Australia specially their key players Watson, Hussey brother etc and as said by a friend Wasim over at Cricket Files if these guys don’t score well Aussies find themselves in trouble and I will add that don’t forget White!
Fielding, catching and finishing the game will be the difference between both sides as they look like nearly a similar sides at least in T20. Any team who will do better in those departments will come through and Aussies mostly or always do it good so its Pakistan who have to lift their game.
Squad wise Australia has simple situation they will probably only include Tim Paine instead of Haddin from their last T20 squad. Pakistan has some interesting options specially in bowling department, Umar Gul is back, Aamer is sure starter, Shoaib must play T20s, than we have Saeed Ajmal and Razzaq and they will probably play Razzaq as more of a batsman than a bowler. Spare a thought for Ajmal v Hussey 
There is a lot that could be said but let leave ti to the live action to decide what is going to happen, just sit back relax and enjoy the evening. Have Fun!
Pakistan v Australia, 2 T20Is in England
Well that’s how Australian team look, except Michael Clarke their T20 Captain (what?) they have no weak link. Yea! I am also flowing with the criticism he has been receiving for his slow scoring over and over again, probably Australian selectors know better. But sometime he might be a liability in a team which have Watto, Warner, White (3 Ws ) with Hussey brothers on their back all furious scorer Clarkey is like a little brother who insist to play but get either some consolation balls to play with when things are going pretty well or sometime thrown in to face the music when elder brothers are getting some beating. But you would have to say that he is a very good kid, he tries his best to help his brothers out there in those situations. Interesting fact of this back garden scenario is that he is the boss of that bunch, he dictate terms and is officially the Captain of all of them. You can even tell by his face that he is the youngest brothers? ok! Steven Smith might look like a twin. And don’t forget those helpless moments in the field when looks clueless when opposition is taking a toll of his team you can just read it straight away on his face.
Clarkey the younger kid
Well Pakistan will be really blaming him if he didn’t played today and provide that much needed loop hole in Australian gigantic batting lineup as Pakistanis already know what this batting line can do as they experienced it so many times that it is never over when there is either a ball left or couple of players who can pick up a cricket bat in there when you are up against Australia.
What actually these two teams are up to after just months of that awful tour and that freakish World T20 match? You may blame FTP (Future Tour Program, which is a joke by the way) but there is some sense in there if you like to extract, other wise it is becoming another India v Sri Lanka affair (Too many but yet too less). That sense is, one of them is trying to tell the world that, what they did this summer was not because of some bloody blamed match fixing or some famous dressing room bullshit in their opponent team but they actually deserve it and can do it anytime with their abilities and believe me they are desperate to prove it, yeah that’s right. And yes they are capable of doing it and have everything to roll over any team, so they might also like to keep their dominance going against at least one of them as others are continuously challenging them these days even Englishmen to fancy that. Psssst!! don’t tell anybody but some one reminded me that there is some Aussies arrogance involved too which keep them on a hunting mood all the time specially against one of their bunny.
Dictating terms? To Who?
On the other hand, second team aka Pakistan is also desperate in their own way to prove the opposite that all that happening was due to some of those non-cricketing off the field crazy things and they still are capable bunch of guys who can win these games against anyone on a given day. They did came very very close to this is last some attempts but somehow they are like those kids who came all the way jumping and running over the things and tripped just at the last moment over something they didn’t saw either in excitement or nervousness. So this time around they would like to cross that line to not only overcome that short fall but also end a drastic run against the Aussies in last 12 international outings and which they will have also have to do it twice on consecutive evenings. And as I said while doing that a little help from Clarke might prove handy if he put off injury scare and come to lead the team. They just won first ODI in 2010 but that was against Cricket’s distance cousin Bangladesh.
So who will be able to prove his point that is yet to unleash over the next couple of evenings. Even after a dumb scheduling (Not a single T20 on a weekend?) I still hope you will have fun with these which is pretty possible for the audience of both countries as there will be 9 PM in Pakistan and midnight in Australia but not for me I will still be at work 
, arrrrrrrrgh.
Afridi Boys need to prove some points there
I don't know why I am putting this picture in, probably his face is doing this?
Paksitan v India clashes
Its been a long time since I last posted something on this poor blog (I am sorry for that from those who still somehow manages to visit this place) and in the meantime this thing also got an award which make this no posting more ironic. Anyway I can’t let this occasion go by with out any post even if I have to sit and write this post at 5:00 AM in the morning after whole night work which I am doing right now. After all it is Pakistan v India.
I still don’t know what to write or in cricketing words I am feeling very rusty after this long rest. I am not in a mood to do proper preview of the game and there isn’t anything special on my mind so I might probably be just bragging around which may or may not make any sense!
Together but faraway
ODI or T20 or Test, when these two teams come face to face it doesn’t matter, you are going to get a business hit plus a critics choice block buster. These clashes have jelled together millions of cricket fans around the world either Pakistani and Indians or not. There will always be a house full when they are in the middle and today will probably be no different. Rivalry has just taken a little bit dip in recent years due to multiple factors, like first they started to play too many with each other and than they went for a long break. Ice started to melt for some time between the two. Pakistan also started to do badly overall in cricket that its fans just got disappointed. But still they produce the best here and there. Bigger than Ashes or not these clashes definitely have their own importance in history of cricket.
History:
Here are some stats:
1 – Overall ODI stats of Pakistan against India
| Team | Span | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | NR | W/L | Ave | RPO | HS | LS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pakistan | 1978-2009 | 118 | 69 | 45 | 0 | 4 | 1.53 | 32.82 | 5.15 | 344 | 87 |
This put Pakistan on top but there some interesting facts about it. Pakistan dominance has dipped in recent years as India started to do better.
2 - Before 2000 against India
| Team | Span | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | NR | W/L | Ave | RPO | HS | LS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pakistan | 1978-1999 | 78 | 47 | 27 | 0 | 4 | 1.74 | 31.03 | 4.92 | 327 | 87 |
3 – After 2000 against India
| Team | Span | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | NR | W/L | Ave | RPO | HS | LS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pakistan | 2000-2009 | 40 | 22 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 1.22 | 35.97 | 5.54 | 344 | 146 |
Check out the win loss ratio of Pakistan dropped from 1.74 to 1.22
4 – Now finally in Aisa cup against India.
| Team | Span | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | NR | W/L | Ave | RPO | HS | LS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pakistan | 1984-2008 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1.33 | 31.69 | 5.27 | 309 | 134 |
Pakistan again has some edge.
But every day is a new day in these clashes and both teams are used to give their best performances in these clashes so quality of cricket is pretty high as even a Pakistani team mostly looked at their best in these clashes. So it will be interesting to see what kind of performance they turn around today.
Individual performances:
We are nut heads
I will not go into statistical details for this as statistics are not only some time very boring but at deceives common judgment. From India, Sachin Tendulkar used to get a good go against Pakistan or does he used to get a good go against every team? Anyway he is not with the squad other wise Mohammad Amer might be jumping with a possibility of getting him out again but I think he is wise will never say like that even he did get Sachin out cheaply in last clash. Gambhir is another man who had a good run against Pakistan in past and he is also look very intense actually to such extent that he looked angry so causing some troubles with Pakistani players (Afridi) in past but I think both are much mature and responsible now (I am afraid to say this though). Anyone else from India enjoys special ride against Pakistan? I am forgetting, please let me know if you know.
I am Malik and I love cut shot, RAVEENDRAN/AFP/Getty Images
From Pakistan, Captain Afridi has a better record against India than against others. Shoaib Malik is a special case with loads of runs against India and he is also a very special case this time around due to multiple factors like (Husband of Indian sports start Sania Mirza (Sania ka Pia), bad boy of Pakistan team coming back after his ban was lifted). Than we have Salman Butt who seems to enjoy these encounters as well and is reaching his 1000 runs against India. Shoaib Akhter also used to fire up against India but I doubt he had enough fire left in his belly now but he has been matured into bowling like an old hunk.
All in all this is going to be another interesting clash and finally I am also able to put a post up some how. Now I need to leave, get some food, than some sleep to wake up before match start rush to friends home for a group match viewing event.
See you there in the commercial Ads.
So Lets Catch this!
