It was Aldous Huxley that once said “The pleasures of ignorance are as great, in their way, as the pleasures of knowledge” and it is evident from the article that Chopra gained great pleasure in telling us what he ‘knows’ about Pakistan cricket. Certainly, from his photo on Cricinfo, it is clear he is someone quite fond of himself generally. Having taken exception to his piece, I decided to write the following as a comment: “A shameful article by someone who quite clearly has a chip on his shoulder. How long have you kept that pent up inside you?”. Who thinks my comment was allowed through? Wrong, it wasn’t, but can anyone tell me why?

Here’s a taste of his work:
“There is a way of describing Pakistani cricket, which used to be tiresome but which has now started to strike me as patently offensive. This is the insistence that Pakistani cricket is charmingly erratic, wonderfully unpredictable, beautifully inconsistent, sublimely indisciplined. Right, I’m making these up. But you see the pattern. Pair a couple of adjectives which span the spectrum from the sublime to the sordid and have a go at describing Pakistani cricket. And I suspect the world of Pakistani cricket revels in this description, because this sort of indulgent tolerance gives it a free pass.”

The basic theme of his article is that Pakistan is the troubled member of the cricketing family with it’s indiscipline and should not be helped all the time. “A common feature of the calls for a display of solidarity with the Pakistani cricket world in its “time of need” is the invocation of “family” and “fraternity”.” Utter garbage! Sri Lanka apart, when has the cricketing world shown us solidarity or come to our aid? Quite the opposite, the most powerful board in cricket, the one he supports, has done it’s very utmost to sideline Pakistan. How on earth could he describe solidarity with Pakistan as a common feature?

Whilst nitpicking, he even mentions Inzamam Ul-Haq’s clash with a spectator as proof of Pakistan crickets troubles. But he completely ignores the troubles of other teams; Harbhajan’s slapping of his own team mate and racial slur to Symonds (with threats of quitting the entire tour) come to mind. How about the problems the West Indies have had?

Whether he truly believes what he wrote, or whether it was a sad attempt at driving traffic to his other blog (which I won’t mention), it is very dangerous and careless to put out views like that. He should stay clear of things he does not know about. It is people like him and his holier-than-thou attitude that do Indo-Pak relations no good. The sad thing is that they are promoted by the site that calls itself the home of cricket. The interesting thing is that Cricinfo would give us all this rubbish about democracy and free-speech as the reason for allowing his views, but then they’d have to tell me why they didn’t publish my comment wouldn’t they? ESPN Cricinfo has lost it’s neutrality a very long time ago and you can let them know here.

‘MTJAG’, though it may sound like a luxury car that’s run out of petrol, it does in fact stand for ‘More Than Just A Game’. They occupy a pretty unique niche among sporting blogs covering both football and cricket, something many sports fan, including us at Stani Army, can identify with. Big shout out to all West Ham fans across the world, come on you Irons!

You can find their answers to my questions on Indian cricket below. You will find their questions and my answers on Pakistan cricket at More Than Just A Game any time soon so be sure to visit their great blog!

Q&A With Stani Army & MTJAG

Stani Army:
Do you think Virat Kohli was an over cautious replacement for Yuvraj Singh and will he even get a game even with injuries? I understand he scored well in an Emerging Players tournament in Australia but the Champions Trophy stage is a different level. Please also consider Yuvraj’s useful contribution with the ball taking 12 wickets at 30.91 this year.

MTJAG:
Yuvraj Singh is one of the ONLY irreplaceable players in the Indian team right now. In my opinion, he’s the only guy with the right combination of power,technique, experience, and might to really scare any opposition at any point of time in a game. A tremendous fielder and a sometimes useful bowler too , as you pointed out. Kohli is a curious choice.  He has played well at the youth level, but at the international level (T20s included) he has not done anything of note , except trying to look cool on camera. At first look he doesn’t look extra special against pace or spin.  He does have the confidence though. Look for him to do nothing of note (as validated in the Pak match just now) in this tournament. Nayar, Mishra or even Karthik might have been slightly better choices in the final XI.

Stani Army:
I think the Indian batsmen will have trouble coping with Mohammad Aamer who likes to utilise bounce. Do you think that bounce is one thing the Indian batsmen have trouble with the most and why?

MTJAG:
Aamer is definitely a talent to watch out for. He has got a good angle , especially against the right handers.  Not to mention the fact that we’ve got Ravi Shastri literally jerking off on the mic over his ability to generate bounce.  However (and believe me,  this opinion was BEFORE the game itself ) , I think he’s still very very young , and can get a little too rattled, or too enthusiastic and lose his way. He’ll be a pain in all the wrong places in a year and a half from now, but right now, he’ll be someone who can be watched and milked a bit for runs. The bounce is something the Indians have a weakness against (yes, even more than voluptuous women). However, without Yuvraj, the team is without an experienced threat in the middle order. The lack of a good start will do them in.

Stani Army:
Why does Dhoni try to be sexy? Is his mirror telling him lies?

MTJAG:
Dhoni is the alpha male. Women want him, men want to be like him. Amongst his many talents, he is also rumoured to gulp down 4 litres of milk in the morning. It is hence not a surprise that in his garage lies 2 hummers, a few high end motorcycles, a ferrari, and 8 full grown cows. What’s more, AgarkarDhoni looks “OK”. Now, with an endorsement like that, WHO can resist such a  man? is reported to have said that

Stani Army:
After the first edition of the IPL, it seemed as though India would take the cricketing world by storm with the likes of Suresh Raina, Siddharth Trivedi, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja etc showing their skills. Why have these youngsters not quite taken up the mantle and what could be the reason for their inconsistency?

MTJAG:
I think one of the big reasons is the format they succeeded in – the IPL. It goes to show that T20 is not everything, and that batting performances (more than bowling in fact) in T20 can be vastly overrated. T20 can also hide a few deficiencies that one has as a player. Sharma and Raina definitely do have the talent till they got sloppy with a little too much attention, and then, they also got exposed like cheap porn against short pitched deliveries in the T20 world cup gone by. Jadeja is too young and inexperienced.   A lot rests on the shoulders of Raina, Sharma, Nayar, Badrinath etc to stop playing around and take on the role. Such a situation also emphasises why Yuvraj is such an important cog in the Indian  team right now.

Stani Army:
India recently took the number one ranking spot. What would you guys prefer, consistent trophies or the number one ranking in Tests and ODIs?

MTJAG:
As flattering as it is, it’s nothing more than a back-door entry for the number 1 spot by default. I think neither the players nor the fans were celebrating (in any form ) of the recent ranking. Successes in a series, tournaments are the main indicators, the rankings will automatically come.

Stani Army:
Who do you find most irritating of the Indian players and why? For me it has to be Harbhajan Singh….especially after he slapped poor Sreesanth.

MTJAG:
As much as I personally dislike Harbhajan as a character (also an overrated bowler who has been making a career based on that 1 Eden garden performance), I also find Sreesanth quite irritating. The dude can’t help but make an ass of himself by simply existing. Can I pick both?

Stani Army:
Should the toss before the game be televised particularly after Gary Kirsten’s alleged sex dossier? Is Dhoni aware of what kind of ‘toss’ will be required and will he prevent himself from taking the opportunity of a performance enhancing light relief as recommended by the coach? My concern is born from the fact that Younis has a fractured finger and may follow suit….obviously.

MTJAG:
As funny as it might look, do you really want to see a bunch of sub-continental men pleasuring themselves on global television? Let’s not kid ourselves into thinking that we’ll actually get to watch hot chicks in action too.  It will be another time where a cricket game might be given a “R” rating (normally reserved for games involving Dilshan since he causes so much violence). Such a gruesome, horrific sight  might actually trigger off an alien invasion.

It’s been a pleasure Stani!

Pleasure eh? If it wasn’t for Kirsten’s dossier I wouldn’t have minded you using that word. Now I must pray you meant it in the right way.

So my fellow Stanis, go read my answers on Pakistan cricket and give the guys at MTJAG a hard time. Don’t tell them I sent you.

Pakistan’s victory was set up due to a brilliant partnership of 206 between Mohammad Yousuf (87) and man of the match, Shoaib Malik (128). The pacing of the partnership left MS Dhoni scratching his head but you have to feel for the guy as only Ashish Nehra and Yusuf Pathan did anything of note with the ball for them.

It is a well held belief that if Pakistan’s batsmen fired then they’d be a force to be reckoned with as the bowling usually takes care of itself. Unfortunately for India, their bowling was their weak link and many of their bowlers looked devoid of ideas and played into Pakistan’s hands. The most frustrating of them for Indian fans must be Ishant Sharma. After bursting onto the scene he has flattered to deceive even though he posses all the attributes you’d need to be a top quality fast bowler. India’s main selection conundrum is the bowling all rounder spot. It means that their bowlers have to do their job and their batsmen likewise. If either fails, then it becomes difficult for them to make it up.

Of Pakistan’s bowlers, the normally reliable Umar Gul had a surprisingly off day giving many extras and conceding 55 of his 6 overs. It must be said that Younis should have dragged him out of the attack earlier as it was quite clear he was having an off day and there plenty of bowlers to make up his overs. The captain himself had a relatively poor showing after all the build up about him playing with a fractured finger although he must be given credit for persevering with an unconventional slip for the dismissal of the dangerous Yusuf Pathan in the 39th over of the Indian innings. A special mention must go to Saeed Ajmal and Shahid Afridi who bowled superbly well in containing India at vital times and on a pitch where Harbhajan had a shocker.

But this day belonged to Mohammad Yusuf and mainly to Shoaib Malik with their match winning 4th wicket partnership which is the highest of the tournament thus far. Shoaib Malik has recently been criticised, some fair, mostly not, but I’ve always felt he has a mix of attributes that our other batsmen, current ones or those waiting in the wings, do not possess and therefore is a vital team member. The most obvious is his cricketing intelligence and ability to play according to the situation. The reassuring thing about Malik is that when he gets in he looks twice the player he looks early in his innings. If he could be more consistent then it may get some critics off his back but today he played the perfect ODI innings.

Congratulations to the Pakistan fans and commiserations to the Indian fans who are not yet out of it and still have lots to play for.

There’ll be lots of ifs, buts and maybes from the Indians; would India have did it had Yuvraj stopped the 5 byes in Harbajan’s last over? Yuvraj himself would say that he made up for that with a ridiculously good first ball 6. Then there’s Jadeja who faced 3 overs of dots. Many said that he played too slow yet he will argue that he got two important wickets including that of Pietersen’s and took an important catch.

It was clear what Pietersen and Collingwood felt fired the English up and that was the booing their team got at the beginning of the game. It was a strange thing to have occurred, especially at a cricket ground, yet supporters of other sides should take note of the possible real consequences of booing the opposition.

But the day India lost to the Windies, they also lost to England as the English watched and noted the Windies paceman trouble the Indian batsmen with bouncers, and licked their lips. If the English had thought at the time of employing the same strategy against India, the question must be asked if the India coaching staff told their batsmen to practice countering short pitched balls in the nets. It was an effective tactic to employ against the Indian batsmen as it’s not the type of shot they often use and also because many of them use heavier bats. Indeed, Nasser Hussain suggested on commentary that the short pitched ball was effective because the Indians love to drive. Unfortunately for the Champs, they won’t be driving but flying, all the way home.

To all Indian fans who still have tickets to the remaining games, we invite you to come and get behind Pakistan.