Stani Army

Strangely, there was a chance that Pakistan, the World Champions, could have been out of the tournament just 24 hours into their defence. But a relatively comfortable win against Bangladesh has erased that fear. Barring an unexpected win for Bangladesh over Australia, Pakistan can now look forward to the super-eight stages of the competition but with a lot of improvements to make.

Though the openers did very well against Bangladesh, they became unstuck against Australia, who look like a force to be reckoned with having got their selection right this time around. Salman Butt played a nice knock in the first game but, and there’s always a but with Salman, he let himself down when it really mattered. It’s fine to do well against Bangladesh but his poor innings against Australia, a game in which Butt-er fingers also dropped catch, has made his Bangladesh innings pretty much insignificant in my eyes. The question mark is still there; will Butt deliver with the bat when it’s really needed? I’ve certainly given up on him ever improving his fielding. I just feel Imran Nazir should be here in his place, as Mohammad Hafeez could quite easily have played the consolidatory role Butt is probably in the line-up for. Added to his batting, Nazir is also one of our best fielders.

Captain Shahid Afridi also needs to step up his game. Not only has his batting and bowling been poor, but so has his captaincy. Clapping the Salman Butt dropped catch is just not good enough. Imran khan would have stared at Butt until he disintegrated into the ground beneath him. These are grown men; there is no place for these niceties. Watch an Australia drop a catch and watch the reaction of the captain and bowler, and you could bet they won’t be clapping their hands.

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The Indian Cricket League has released 50 players who had wanted to participate in official cricket again. The complete list has not been made available as yet but is believed to include Rana Naved and Imran Nazir. No word on Yusuf as yet.

The ICL could have quite easily have refused the requests of the players who were under contract but have shown a gentle touch befitting this gentlemen’s game that the ICC, BCCI and other boards have lacked.

The PCB may now regret withdrawing the 3 ICL players it had included in its original World Twenty20 squad.

In another demonstration of their lack of professionalism, the PCB has withdrawn and backed down in its selection of the three ICL players included in its preliminary Twenty20 World Cup squad of 30, causing more embarrassment for itself. We had hoped, in a previous post, that the board would show some fight and stand up to this ridiculous ICL ban but they have once again shown their lack of spine.

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