Stani Army

If Faisal Iqbal is “heartbroken” for missing out on a place in the T20 practice matches then I’m heartbroken to be missing out too. And yes, so should you be. I mean, what were the PCB thinking?

His justification for being included in the two teams made up to play in the 3 warm up matches before the team flies to England, was that he was included in the initial T20 30 provisional squad (though not in the final 15). The thing is that the initial 30 man squad was not chosen with the intention of making two teams out of it i.e. the right number of bowlers, batsmen, spinners etc to make up two balanced teams. Faisal can’t understand this.

The attack on Sri Lanka’s cricketers has left the world in shock, Pakistan cricket in exile, and cricket across South Asia in jeopardy. The single most edifying feature has been the dignity of Sri Lanka’s cricketers in response to an incident that could have cost them their lives, and caused several of them injuries. But the single most upsetting fact is the role of Pakistan’s security arrangements in enabling this calamity.

Yesterday’s events and the ease with which the attackers rained bullets and then escaped did not equate with “presidential level” security. How could the assailants take on security forces in this manner for many minutes and then flee unharmed? The conclusion that is emerging is that the security arrangements and performance were criminal in their negligence. A view supported today by Chris Broad, a man known for speaking his mind without fear of causing offence.

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