I can say though, tonight, I was ‘balls out’ going for it, and I felt great. I’ll be going ‘balls out’ tomorrow too. I want this one; I really want to pull us back into the game. I love this ground, I love playing here, I want to do something special and I don’t want this one to get away from us.

I had got Butt in the first innings with a bouncer, which was going to be the base of the plan in the second innings. It worked. I got one just about perfect and Butt’s gloved it to Ross for the catch. I also picked up the other opener. It was last ball of the over; Farhat was on strike, Yousuf, the new batter, at the non-strikers end. Quite often, in this situation, you’ll bowl a bouncer to keep the new batter down the non-strikers end so that the next over is started at them. I went to Dan, who was bowling at the other end, and asked him if he wanted Yousuf, meaning do you want me to make sure it’s a ‘dot’ ball with a bouncer. He replied “I want you to give yourself the best opportunity to get him out; nick him out.” So I did. I nicked him out. I was happy making sure Dan could bowl to the new batter, I was even happier to have a wicket and Dan would still be bowling to the new batter.

If we can keep Pakistan to around 250, again, and leave us a chase of about 400 we’ll at least have the best batting conditions of the match. That’s the positive and we have to believe in every positive we can find.

The Pakistan bowlers bowled really well, and we nicked and missed the balls we should have missed and nicked. I couldn’t believe how many times we, as a bowling group, went past the Pakistani’s edge without nicks in the first innings. It got pretty unbelievable at one stage. But we hung tough and caught some great catches; I was a little surprised that the one I took stuck. I was very happy that I got to it, and even happier that it fell nicely into my hands.

We obviously need quick wickets, and yesterday’s hopes, in my blog, couldn’t have been further from what happened. Here’s hoping for a great day in Wellington and a better day of Read more...

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You can always bet that Pakistan cricket will never be short of controversies. The rumpus created by Younis Khan’s decision to abdicate the reins of leadership for the sake of ‘taking time off from the sport’ is simply too hard to digest at a juncture when the national team is embarking upon an assignment which is going to be a tough test of its character in the coming months.

It’s unfortunate that Younis, who otherwise is one of the most decent sportsmen with no malice towards anyone, has to give in to the player-power politics that has been one of the reasons why Pakistan cricket is notorious for its inconsistency and unpredictability.

Critics, of course for the time being, are going to have a field day until the dust settles over the latest controversy.

Ijaz Butt, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, in an abrupt statement on Wednesday announced Mohammad Yousuf as the successor to Younis for the New Zealand Tests.

He also remarked that the cricket board had no objection to Younis asking to be rested from the New Zealand tour.

But the PCB chief was unwilling to admit that Pakistan cricket, not for the first time, is facing serious crisis.

The revolt against captaincy has happened on several occasions in the past and the current scenario appears to be no different as like in the past there appears to be no strict team management to curb this disruptiveness.

Javed Miandad had to relinquish the job shortly after the Australian tour in 1981-82 when almost the entire squad, instigated by Majid Khan and vice-captain Zaheer Abbas, went Read more…

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Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said after losing to Pakistan that India were three bowlers short. This was true, after a fashion. Harbhajan Singh had an off day, and so did the rest with the exception of Ashish Nehra. But what the skipper didn’t say was that India had eliminated one of the modes of dismissal. Except when they batted. The run out was not a part of the Indian planning when Pakistan were batting, but played a major role in dismissing the top two Indian batsmen, Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid.

Most international teams take the field knowing there is nothing like an early run out to scatter the enemy. It peps up the fielding side, and causes corrosive introspection in the batting side. The batsman at fault, if he lives on, carries with him the guilt of survival. It is not an accident that the word associated with a run out most often is ‘suicidal’. A run out implies waste, pointlessness, futility. Top fielding sides know they have an extra wicket-taker in their armoury when they have an outstanding fielder at cover point or within the 30-yard circle who can cut short an innings in its prime.

No Indian fielder is guaranteed to hit the stumps even when he deigns to attempt to do so. Fielding coach Robin Singh was a superb all-round fielder in his playing days, taking blinders close-in or athletically chasing down everything and throwing in flat from the deep. But, Suresh Raina and possibly Virat Kohli apart, and they too not consistently, the Indian fielders neither attack the ball nor threaten any time.

To add to this lethargy is the attitude of the wicketkeeper or the fielder receiving the throw when there is a chance of a run out. Dhoni usually receives standing between the fielder and the stumps, which means he needs to have eyes at the back of his head and take an extra swing of the arm. What happened to the classic method of standing behind the stumps so no time is wasted? The difference between a wicket and a safe run is just a split second, and Dhoni’s reluctance to follow the basics is appalling. If a schoolboy wicketkeeper received Read more…

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