Stani Army

It seems that the continuation of Younis Khan’s international cricket career is entirely dependent on him apologising to the PCB. Of the six punished players to have filed their appeals, it is believed that Younis is the only one who did not apologise for his behaviour, whereas the others did, so have been welcomed back in to the international fold.

It was obvious that something wasn’t right as despite Younis’ appeal, his name was not included in the squad for the Asia Cup unlike that of Shoaib Malik, who had also appealed his ban and was included in the squad. It was believed at the time that Younis’ appeal had been put back because he wanted a personal hearing to clear things up rather than, in effect, admit to a guilty plea like the others in return for having his place back.

Sorry? But I didn't do anything!

Certainly with the weak looking batting line-up chosen for England, Pakistan could have done with Younis’ services. Just to get a taste of how fragile our batting has been and how dependent it has been on Younis Khan and Mohammed Yousuf; I read statistics the other day that the pair have score 30% of Pakistan’s Test runs since October 2004. Not only that, they’re responsible for almost half of our Test centuries also.

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…and that’s just in One Day Internationals. The saying goes that the only completely consistent people are the dead, so going by that, Pakistan cricket seems well and truly dead and buried. The old criminals were back from the dead – the likes of Akhtar and Malik – in a desperate attempt to breathe life back into the team, but to no avail as Pakistan exited the Asia Cup at the first opportunity.

It had been the view of many that a complete clear-out and introduction of new young talent to the international fold would have been worthwhile even if they did nothing but lose for the first few months, because as the evidence shows, the superstars that currently occupy these places have done nothing but that.

Pakistan have won only three international matches since December of last year, a period which included 3 Tests, 7 ODIs and 9 Twenty20 Internationals. Most disturbingly of all, the three matches they won were all Twenty20 games, two of which were against Bangladesh and a poor South African side. And if you think that at least they are good at Twenty20s, well that period included two warm-up Twenty20 losses, one to Pakistan A, and the other to Zimbabwe. Having won just 3 of the last 19 internationals, the up and coming home series in England will bring with it a lot of pressure to put things right and bring some cheer to us long suffering fans.

With Shahid Afridi announcing his return to the Test scene, is he nailed on to become captain in all three formats? If the recent Twenty20 World Cup was anything to go by, he certainly still has a lot to learn as captain, but this was probably to be expected.

The good thing is that Test game is much slower paced than Twenty20 and will give Afridi time to think over any decisions and confer with other players. He would also be able to get the input of the coaching staff during drinks breaks, at the end of sessions and at the close of play.

Apart from Afridi, who else is there as possible Test captain? The only other likely candidate, Younis Khan, is still serving his indefinite ban and is waiting on his appeal to be heard. This hearing will definitely not come in time for for him to be considered for the ODI captaincy as his appeal has been adjourned until the 29th of this month with the Asia Cup captain to be named on the 25th. Chances are that the Asia cup captain will probably be Afridi, and this, along with Younis’ ban and Afridi’s desire to return to the Test side, may have made the decision to keep him as Test captain merely a formality. With Afridi’s request in the media of a quick resolution to the damaging allegations surrounding the Pakistan team, he is beginning to sound the part of captain at least.

As a player, I think his return to the Test scene will give us a much more potent and balanced side. The argument is that his batting is not up to Test standard

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One day…..and I’m afraid that’s where the story ends; at least for the foreseeable future anyway. With the “postponement” of Australia’s tour to Pakistan, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has filled the gap with a one-day international (ODI) series and a twent20 game against Bangladesh. But where have all the test matches gone?

After the above series, Pakistan will be involved in the Asia cup at home which precedes the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Champions Trophy which is also to be held in Pakistan provided there are no security issues. In December, India will (hopefully) arrive for a 3-test 5-ODI series. This would mean that this is the only test series Pakistan would have played since December 2007 which was also against India. This equates to a whole year without test cricket. Is test cricket not the most important and highly regarded form of the game? It doesn’t seem that way to the ICC and the PCB.

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It has been announced that Australia has not cancelled but postponed its tour of Pakistan. What’s the difference I hear you ask? well my guess is as good as yours. In my previous post I raised the issue how the boards and players had done the situation no favours by bringing it out in the open but it did at the very least give us a view of just how the two boards operate.

Cricket should be something totally separated from politics yet in Pakistan this is hardly ever the case and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) can take most of the blame for this. How do you separate the game from politics when the Patron of your board is the current President? This has led to the current situation in which Pakistan cricket continues to be linked with terror and the current security situation all over the world. Now when the PCB’s Chairman Dr Ashraf insists that the postponement of this tour will have no affect on future cricket in Pakistan he is just kidding himself. The Asia Cup takes place at the end of June and I’m sure that the nations involved would seriously ask themselves that if it’s not safe enough for the leading test nation then is it safe enough for us.

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