Shahid Afridi has got to be the most entertaining player in world cricket, and it doesn’t always have to do with his cricketing talent.

      His recent antics included confusing the cricket ball with the forbidden fruit and gnawing on it as if it were made of Swiss chocolate. The move had me stumped. After wracking my brains for hours, I keep coming back to just one question: What was he thinking?

      The options are:

a) He wanted to check if Kookaburra tastes better than a Duke ball?

b) He figured the 2 dozen cameras on the field were switched off or were only focusing on the babes in the audience.

c) He was so hungry, he could eat a horse… er ball …er …never mind.

d) He was only removing the taste of grass for his teammates.

e) None of the above.

      And the answer is: E: None of the above. Why? ’Cause he says he was “only smelling the ball”. No, I am not kidding. He really was smelling the ball… apparently, with his teeth. Some people have a nose for trouble, our Pathan friend has 32 shiny teeth for the ‘dirty work’.

      Pakistan’s coach hit the nail on the head when he said: "It just happened, like he was eating an apple. I have no idea (what he was trying to achieve)." Moral of the story: An apple a day keeps ball tampering at bay.

      Later, Afridi pleaded temporary insanity. "I don't know what happened to me that made me do such a mad thing,” he said. Translated, it means ‘I was in a hurry and I forgot about the cameras’.

      Afridi, who was ‘19 years old for at least two years or more’, has been the bad boy of Pakistani cricket. He has been involved in a number of dressing room clashes –physical, not just verbal. Making him captain is like making Attilla the Hun the UN secretary general. Anyway, his bowling has improved. Let’s hope he doesn’t send Pak cricket deeper into the swamp Read more...

Manas Gupta Pakistan Blogs.CMDN.com, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Kookaburra, Shahid Afridi

The reported decision by the Deccan Chargers to get Pakistan’s Abdul Razzaq as replacement for an injured player in the third installment of the Indian Premier League would be widely hailed. Commentators, who were distraught when the redoubtable Pakistani players were not picked during the bidding process, would be happy that sanity has prevailed.

However, given the immediate reactions that followed the bidding process about ten days ago, if his selection reports are correct, Razzaq may have to face bouncers far more difficult to dodge than the ones he faces on the playing field. Most of Pakistan saw the move then as an insult to Pakistan, with their government too joining in. It seemed this act was a bigger provocation for stumping relationship between the two nations than anything else over the past several years.

  Scores of commentators on TV and Print in Pakistan, accused India of deliberately humiliating Pakistan (they uniformly dubbed it as a snub to Pakistan and not players from Pakistan) and whipped up emotions among the general public, which, though had its own take. The common man felt it was wrong on their players part, who they worship, to be available as a commodity for Indian money. For them, this aspect was even more humiliating than the fact that they were not picked. They were hurt that money power was more important for them than their nation’s pride.

  My advice to all Pakistani fans would be to be fair to their players. Whether it is Razzaq or Shahid Afridi or Sohail Tanvir, all of who were hoping to be the first choice of franchisees, if they agree to play still, it would be for the love of the game and never for money. Just like the Indian players, Pakistani players know that they have become famous due to the game, and it is only their love for the game that makes them desperate to play, not money.

  In fact, in this regard, players are no different from politicians who want to become ministers of important ministries, not to make money or to enjoy the trappings of power that comes with it, but because they really want to serve the nation .As I had argued in a piece in May last (Only the selfless lobby for ministership), why else would they lobby to head a department or a ministry when in every area the ministries look after, the situation is grave. Any weakling would shy away from such arduous responsibilities, but not these bravehearts, possessed by the desire Read more...

Rajesh Kalra IPL, Pakistan abdul razzaq, Blogs.CMDN.com, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Deccan Chargers, IPL, Shahid Afridi

The media has been relentless in panning the IPL franchisees for ignoring Pakistan players for the third instalment of Indian Premier League. Commentators and intellectual columnists have uniformly cried foul over this shameful omission.

  My take on this, however, is different. Whether there was an understanding between the franchisees before the bid began, or the government nudged the franchisees to ignore Pak players is irrelevant, really. Given the mood in the nation, I think having players from across the border makes little sense, at least not for the franchisees.

  I am not for a moment saying the Pakistani players are bad or do not have a fan following here. On the contrary, they regularly produce some of the most talented, and watchable, players in the world, so what if they play irresponsibly at times, and then surprise everyone with sterling performances that border genius. But the ground reality is different.

  We all know the fan following in the current scenario is fickle. Fans may adore someone, but one brutal attack in Kashmir or elsewhere will change the situation diametrically in a jiffy. Now, if I am a franchisee who has invested in a Pakistani player, why would I risk it? And it is not just risking the franchisee’s reputation, it is even risking the safety of players from all over the world, on the ground, in the hotel where they stay and while they travel. Why would a franchisee invest heavily in a great player if the wrongdoings by his country somewhere works against his interest? The franchisee, after all is investing in these teams for brand building, not negative publicity.

  Even from the organisers and government’s point of view, not having players from Pakistan helps. Sporting events are organised so that there is great competition and everyone enjoys a good contest. But if that contest has even a small chance of endangering spectators and players safety, it is not a risk worth taking.

  Now back to Pakistani players, I once again reiterate that they are among the best in the game, and to be fair to them, the way the auctions were held was unsavoury. Here, assuming that the IPL or the government was instrumental in nudging franchisees not to bid for Shahid Afridi and others, as a respect to the sportspersons at least, it should have been handled differently. Instead of including them among the players available and then ‘humiliating’ them, they should have simply said, sorry, given the current scenario, we are unable to welcome you Read more...

Rajesh Kalra IPL Blogs.CMDN.com, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Kashmir, Pakistan, Shahid Afridi

Pakistan are the current T20 world champions. Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Mohammed Aamer, Saeed Ajmal and company played some enthralling cricket to claim the trophy last year. Since then, Pakistan have seen another exciting batsman emerge on the horizon: Umar Akmal. Therefore, it defies logic that nobody wanted to buy the 11 Pakistani players in the IPL 3 auction on Tuesday.
 
What's the reason? Let us go through what has been proffered by the men and women involved with IPL. Some team owners have said that the Pakistani players had a problem of availability during the period. That's nonsense. Unlike the top Aussie players, they are available for the entire duration. In fact, West Indian Kemar Roach, a Deccan Chargers buy, will miss the first two games. That's because the Zimbabwe tour of West Indies gets over on March 14 while IPL 3 begins on March 12.  The second Deccan Chargers game will be held on March 14.
 
Another gentleman was heard mouthing that the Pakistanis were not chosen because this was a short auction. There were too few players to be bought, he said. This logic doesn't hold either. The truth is that the owners spent sums as high as $720,000 and $610,000 for the likes of Parnell and Roach, while ignoring Aamer and Gul. Are we saying that the former two are better bowlers than Aamer (who is also emerging as a handy bat) and Gul? Or that the Pakistanis are not even worth $100,000? And have we forgotten that Afridi was the man of the series in the T20 World Cup 2009.
 
One logic being offered is that franchisees were not keen to have Pakistani players because there is an element of uncertainty involving them. Simply put, the relationship between the two countries is already edgy and could always get worse. In that case, the Pakistani players might go back. So why take the trouble?
 
Even this argument is specious. Sure, nobody would want to invest a huge amount in a 'risky' player. But then isn't investing over $750,000 in Keiron Pollard any less risky? What's the guarantee he will succeed? What about investing $750,000-plus in Bond, once a great bowler, now extremely injury prone. Let us not forget he's currently injured too. Besides, he Read more...

Avijit Ghosh IPL, Pakistan Blogs.CMDN.com, Bond, Cricket Blogs, Deccan Chargers, IPL, Keiron Pollard, Kemar Roach, Mohammed Aamer, Pakistan, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, T20, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul

AUSTRALIAN cricket is facing its most deflating summer for decades. Following hard upon the feckless nomination of Chris Gayle as leader of the West Indies, the news that Younus Khan had stepped down as Pakistan captain is a hammer blow.

Pakistan and the West Indies are the summer’s main attractions but both will arrive as fractured outfits. Whether the Younus decision or Gayle’s reappointment is the bigger calamity is a matter of opinion. It’s a close-run thing. All the evidence suggests that it’s going to be a long summer and a hard sell.

Nowadays, the West Indies and Pakistan seem to spend an inordinate amount of time backstabbing and striking. And so cricket stumbles from crisis to crisis. The miracle is not that cricket frays at the edges but that it does not disintegrate. All the more reason to recognise the importance of strong and statesmanlike captains. Other sports can talk about coaches and managers. In cricket, the captain sets the tone. Put a turkey in charge and before long all and sundry will be squawking. Put a lion at the helm and soon the pride will be playing with pride. Younus was an impressive leader.

Honourable and intelligent, he tried to hold together a team unable to play matches at home and undermined to no small degree by defections to the Indian Cricket League and by rampant egos. Through it all, his reputation has remained intact. Despite the handicaps, the team continued to play its inimitable version of the game. Along the way, Shoaib Akhtar was dumped and Shahid Afridi turned into a frontline bowler.

And then the gripes began as older hands sought a leader more to their taste. All too soon Younus faced all sorts of allegations. There were suggestions Pakistan threw away the Champions League match against Australia because defeat meant eliminating India. Younus dropped a sitter and stuttered at the crease. Cricketers are not machines. His form has been poor. Not for the first time Pakistan’s batting lacked logic. It was an oddly subdued performance. But Younus’ team fought to the last and was only denied by tailenders. No one else Read more…

Administrator Pakistan Australia, Blogs.CMDN.com, Champions League, Chris Gayle, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, icl, Javed Miandad, Kiwis, Mohammed Yousuf, Pakistan, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, West Indies, Younus Khan

GOOD

Geoff Boycott’s commentary: The man with one of the best nicknames going around - GLY - was on fire during the second one-dayer in Abu Dhabi. Tony Greig reported back to Boycs that he had been doing some research into the one-day career of Son of Rodney, and Redmond’s average and strike rate were commensurate with that of Boycott. A slight pause then an outraged Boycott retorted: “I’m a better blinking player than ‘im.” Greig took that on the chin and replied: “That’s what I wanted you to say.” To which Boycott ended the conversation: “Well you’re dead right too.” Wonderful stuff from the obstinate barnacle known as the Greatest Living Yorkshireman.

The Pakistani fans’ penchant for dressing up: They don’t have many fancy dress shops in Abu Dhabi (unlike Headingley and Wellington, for example) so the fans are like the Macgyvers of dress-up: they just make do with whatever they can find. Cardboard, scissors, coloured pens, sheets, office paper, stuffed toys and they are away.

Half-time entertainment: Both the at-game entertainment, and the Sky coverage were spot on. At the game, punters were treated to a kids’ cricket match. Perfect - all the marketing bollocks in the world can’t hide the fact that people at a cricket game like seeing cricket played. Little kids running each other out, dropping catches, bursting into tears, and smashing the ball to all parts of the oval is a sure-fire recipe for success. Meanwhile, back in the lounge, it was The Crowd Goes Wild or as we call it The Mull Show. Sometimes, Sky does some weird things here and puts on drag racing, plane flying, waterskiing or some other non-sport drivel that doesn’t even have a ball involved. TCGW is a much more appropriate and less sleep-inducing option.

Brendon McCullum: His mighty 131 from 129 balls was a brilliant innings, reminiscent of the Nathan Astle method of compiling a one-day hundred. Ends a sequence of scores of 1, 18, 26, 41, 0, 43, 36, 33, 2, 0, 71, 77, 2, 14, 3, 44, 46, 48, 17, 0 and 21 so far this year. I don’t subscribe to the view of Craig Cumming that eight failures is OK if he wins us one or two games out Read more…

Administrator PAK vs NZ, UAE abdul razzaq, Abu Dhabi, Blogs.CMDN.com, Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle, Craig Cumming, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Geoff Boycott, Neil Broom, New Zealand, Pakistan, Shahid Afridi, Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Sky, Tony Greig, UAE

As fate would have it, on the day Ireland announced they would formally apply to the ICC for full-member status, New Zealand gave them every reason to feel confident. They couldn’t do any worse, could they?

You can almost see the Irish delegation compiling a DVD nasty of New Zealand’s 138-run rout at the hands of Pakistan in the Abu Dhabi desert as evidence for inclusion.

It was Ireland, after all, who sent the Pakistanis packing from the 2007 World Cup.

New Zealand’s loss yesterday has little relevance in the grand scheme of things - just another one-day international in a crowded calendar - but it has rubbed out much of the goodwill accrued from their run to the final of the Champions Trophy in South Africa last month.

Fingers have predictably pointed in the direction of the coach, or lack thereof. New Zealand comfortably accounted for the same opposition one month ago with Andy Moles at the helm, although that argument conveniently ignores the fact that Vettori was effectively running the cutter at that point, Moles having lost the confidence of the dressing room.

In fact, the whole dressing room strife as a hurdle to success argument was kneecapped by Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan allrounder who put the shake into Sheikh Zayed Stadium.

This is the same Afridi who had recently dominated headlines in Pakistan because of his supposed rift with captain Younis Khan over (if you believe the desert telegraph) his desire to be one-day captain.

Yesterday he smote 70 from 50 deliveries, then came within an inch of a hat-trick when befuddling New Zealand’s lower middle order. All that controversy must have really played havoc with his “head space”.

No, the coaching debacle is too convenient a scapegoat. The real reason for the calamitous performance was that when the blowtorch was applied NZ’s batsmen again melted Read more…

Administrator PAK vs NZ Aaron Redmond, Abu Dhabi, Andy Moles, Brendon McCullum, Champions Trophy, ICC, Jesse Ryder, Mohammad Aamer, New Zealand, Pakistan, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Sheikh Zayed Stadium, South Africa, Twenty20, Umar Gul, Younis Khan

When you bowl as inconsistently as the Indians did at Centurion on Saturday, it is bound to cost you. To go down by as many as 54 runs against an inspired Pakistan also makes advancing in the tournament that much more difficult, especially given that it is the Australians who are up next. Being the No 1 team in the world, the pressure was on the Indians and as a consequence they seemed more than a bit nervous.

The worst part was that the inconsistency in the bowling pervaded right through the innings. Ashish Nehra was the stand out bowler but he had no support, not even with the new ball. Both RP Singh and Ishant Sharma seemed to lack in confidence and in a crucial game, the last thing you want to be worrying about is your rhythm when running in.

It didn’t help the Indian cause that Harbhajan Singh had a total off day. He didn’t seem to have hit the right pace to bowl at. Whenever he was slow through the air, he drifted down leg and as and when he tried the quicker trajectory he was wide of off stump and even short. Perhaps, the 25-over wait before he was brought on had an effect.

The spinners bowled too short unlike their Pakistani counterparts. Both Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal got the ball well up and thus got purchase from the surface. What also helped them were a couple of bold decisions that went against Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina. When Simon Taufel is around, you do expect these decisions. Let me put it this way, on such occasions, the bowler is not unhappy if the benefit is given to the batsmen and his appeal is turned down.

The Indian chase was jolted straightway when young Mohd Aamer got rid of Sachin Tendulkar. Also, when you are chasing so many, run outs are the last thing you need. Gautam Gambhir was batting like a dream but his effort to get back to the crease was poor. It showed Read more…

Administrator Champions Trophy, India Blogs.CMDN.com, Centurion, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, India, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Mohammad Yousuf, Mohd Aamer, Pakistan, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Simon Taufel, Suresh Raina

Congratulations, Pakistan! Younis Khan's men deserved to win as much as MS Dhoni's boys deserved to lose in the Champion's Trophy game on Saturday. Pakistan weren't just the better team on paper; they were superior on the pitch too. They outdid India in every aspect of the game, including delivering no-balls.
 
We lost because we played mediocre cricket. And that's because without Zaheer, Sehwag and Yuvraj, we ARE a mediocre team. None of our bowlers is good enough to play for Pakistan. Most of their bowlers can walk into our side. The real problem is that we seem to be satisfied with mediocrity. It requires very little for players like Ishant Sharma or RP Singh to find a place in the playing XI.
 
Sharma seems more interested in restricting runs than taking wickets. Just recall how frequently he gets wickets in his first spell. It has been long since he effectively moved the ball. And he seems to lack the fire to bowl fast. His figures 8-2-39-2 will never reflect how ineffective he was.
 
It is the same story with RP Singh. Without pace and movement, he looks like a lamb to the slaughter. Relatively speaking, Praveen Kumar offers a better package: he is a better batsman, a better fielder and certainly has more craft and variation. But, for some reason, Singh seems to be regularly preferred.
 
And one shouldn't dismiss Harbhajan's 1 for 71 (the wicket came of his last ball) as 'one of those bad days'. Like Sharma, he too prefers to restrict a batsman than attack him. I am aware that he has over 200 ODI wickets and that he grabbed 5 wickets in the Colombo final earlier this month. But how consistently does he make effective bowling contributions? Just look at his bowling record in the last 10 games. Apart from the final, he has seven wickets in the other 9 games. One slow bowler who has really impressed in recent times - with his art as well as Read more...

Avijit Ghosh Champions Trophy, India, Pakistan Blogs.CMDN.com, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Gambhir, Harbhajan, India, Mohammad Yousuf, Mohammed Amer, MS Dhoni, Pakistan, Praveen Kumar, Raina, Sehwag, Shahid Afridi, Shoiab Malik, South Africa, Umar Akmal, Younis Khan, Yuvraj, Zaheer

The ultimate achievement for any international cricketer is to be ranked number one in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings. Not many have managed it but the upcoming Champions Trophy in South Africa will give viewers the opportunity to watch some of the all-time greats of the game who have dominated over the past decade or more. So here we present the ‘number ones to watch’ – in other words – the players who will be featuring in South Africa who at some stage have topped the ODI batting, bowling or all-rounders table, ranked by the length of time they spent at the number one spot in terms of days:

Batsmen

Ricky Ponting (547 days). He first hit the top spot after his unbeaten 57 against the West Indies at Kingston in May 2003 and fell from the number one place for the last time in March 2008 after three consecutive scores of one in the space of five days against Sri Lanka and India.

MS Dhoni (379 days). He had a one-match stay on top sandwiching Ponting and Adam Gilchrist from 19-22 April 2006 after scoring 59 against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, but returned to the number one spot in August 2008 with a vengeance and has hardly been bettered since.

Sachin Tendulkar (338 days). He became the youngest player to top the ODI Batting Ratings as a 22-year-old in February 1996, and after a four-year gap managed to return to the top of the tree for five days in March 2008 after scoring 91 against Australia at the Gabba.

Michael Hussey (177 days). Mr Cricket first reached number one in September 2006 when his batting average stood at 81.75! But after a six-month stay on top his form started to dip and he fell behind team-mate Ponting and England’s Kevin Pietersen.

Graeme Smith (168 days). An unbeaten century against Bangladesh in Chittagong in early March 2008 sent the South African powerhouse to number one, and he held the position Read more…

Administrator Views Blogs.CMDN.com, Brett Lee, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Daniel Vettori, Graeme Smith, Jacob Oram, Jacques Kallis, Michael Hussey, Mohammad Yousuf, MS Dhoni, Muttiah Muralitharan, Nathan Bracken, Nuwan Kulasekara, Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik