Stani Army

If you go by the ‘logic’ that has prevented the IPL franchises from signing Pakistan players, then Pakistan would have to be excluded from the 2011 World Cup too, due to be held in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. The 2011 fixtures were drawn up in such a way that Pakistan would play their group games in Sri Lanka, and would only have to play in India if

Lalit and his girls: The 'best' thing to happen to cricket since....football

they reach the final. But what if they do reach the final? Some would say that this is a big ‘what if’ but they’d be ignoring the recent big ‘what if’ which prevented Pakistan’s players from playing in IPLIII.

The reason given was that the franchises could not be certain of the availability of the Pakistani players. So what do they exactly mean by that? Well, the Pakistani players would have been free from international duty in that period so this cannot have been what was meant. May be the reason is the fear that half way through the tournament, something happens in one of the two countries which would strain diplomatic relationships and heighten civil tension, causing Pakistan to call back its players for fear of attack in India. A big ‘what if’ in my opinion.

The most tasteless part of this IPL snub was that the Pakistani players were given false hope and led along until the very last minute, literally. Why did the eight franchises request the eleven Pakistani players up for selection if their policy was not to pick players that were not certain of availability? Well it is clear that something happened inbetween the period that these players were requested by the franchises and the time of the auction, and this is the sinister side to this whole situation.

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Something is going on with Pakistan’s catching. Having dropped seven in one Test against New Zealand, here against the Australians, they’ve started where they left off. The first dropped catch, which flew to Umar Akmal, was travelling at pace but should have been grasped at this level. The second, a superb, mesmerizing doosra from Saeed Ajmal to Shane Watson was even easier, dropped by Misbah at slip after taking a touch off the keeper’s gloves.

Catching's not easy when you can't see properly

It is a serious issue and Pakistan are beginning to pay the price for not taking these chances. Though they do have their new fielding and bowling coach Waqar Younis with them, it may have been better to have asked an optician to have accompanied the team to Australia. I think an eyesight test now has to be a must for each player, seriously.

You have to feel for the bowlers. Not only do dropped catches give the batsmen extra chances but they demoralise the bowlers and put the rest of the field under pressure. What a start to 17 year old Aamer’s first Test in Australia it would have been had Akmal held onto that catch? The last team in the world you should be giving opportunities to are the Australians. Katich was on 8* when he was drooped, Watson on 43*, they went on to make 98 and 93 respectively. It would not be too early to suggest that those two drops look to already have cost Pakistan the Test with Australia now in such a commanding position.

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Asked to suggest an extra fast bowler to accompany the squad for the Test series against Australia, Mohammad Sami would not have been the first name I would have thought of. Though a perennial underachiever, Sami has many of the attributes to be successful at what he does. With a decent build, raw pace, repeatable, uncomplicated action, and fire in the belly, he really should have had more Test wickets to his name.

Last chance for a talent unfulfilled

So why Sami and not anyone from our contracted players? We have Rana Naved, though not an out and out pace bowler, he has many strings to his bow. Rana is quite expensive though and this is probably the reason why he has never been favoured in Tests. Then there’s Sohail Tanvir and Yasir Arafat, both of whom can bat a bit and would have added strength to an already fragile batting line up.

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There are some youngsters like Umar Akmal and Mohammad Aamer who burst onto the scene, and then you have the likes of Fawad Alam who show glimpses of their talent, stumble, and then try to get back up. There are many admirers of Fawad who have long since called for him to be a regular in the Pakistan team. It was clear Geoff Lawson liked him as he was always in and around the squad during Lawson’s stint. I for one have questioned in the past where Fawad would fit in and whether he was a better spinner or a better batsmen than what we already had in his position.

The contrasting fortunes of Fawad Alam (top) & Umar Akmal

The recent tribulations of our top/middle order, the dropping of Misbah and the resting of Younis, has given Fawad a chance to stake his claim. His opportunity came in the first Test against New Zealand, coming into bat in the important position of number three. Fawad scored 29 in the first innings and just 5 in the second. The fact that Pakistan lost the first Test by only 35 runs, or to look at it another way, a decent knock by a single batsmen, then the three that failed at the top, Manzoor, Farhat and Fawad, had to have been scrutinized much more closely.

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So what was wrong with the Pakistan team that reached the Semi-finals of the Champions Trophy? For some reason, when the squads were named for the New Zealand games, there were some surprising names in there. But it didn’t stop there. Changes were made to the team also and the team taking the field in each of the three ODIs against New Zealand was a different one.

There was no Shoaib Malik or Rana Naved in the first ODI (not to mention Imran Nazir who wasn’t even in the squad). In the second ODI, Umar Akmal was dropped and Shoaib Malik was brought in. For today’s game, Mohammad Yousuf made way and back came Umar Akmal. Ask most Pakistan fans and very few would say we went in with our best side in any of these three ODIs.

Consistency in selection usually results in consistency in performance so why the need to make changes? These changes have basically all come about because of the conundrum that Pakistan are having with their openers. Khalid Latif, one of the openers brought in, has done very well averaging 43. His partner on the other hand, Salman Butt

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Well that doesn’t quite do this absorbing encounter justice. Even at the half way point Pakistan looked the likely losers after scraping to a total of 205 for 6. With the Australian innings starting off well, Indian fans all over the world who were watching the Pakistan match must have started to turn their TV sets off as Australia cruised to 140 for 2. News must have got through to MS Dhoni in the Indian game who in a strange move, whipped off his wicket keeping gloves and brought himself onto to bowl. Though he did take a wicket, he cost his side boundaries which at the time seemed insignificant. But then came the superb Pakistan fight back and Australia found themselves in trouble at 187 for 8. All of a sudden there was hope for India.

The chief protagonists in the fight back for Pakistan were Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Asif and Rana Naved who bowled maidens in both the 45th and 47th overs of the Australian innings. This meant that not only had the Aussies have to worry about wickets but also the number of balls remaining.

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Stani Army was recently approached by the guys at MTJAG, who are avid Indian fans, to take part in a question and answer exchange. They asked if I would ask them questions on Indian cricket for which they would provide answers for, and they would in turn do the same on the subject of Pakistan cricket for which I would provide the answers. We had hoped to have it done and posted on the respective sites before the India v Pakistan game but …errm, just like the governments of the two countries we had a few communication problems but obviously not of the same nature, thankfully.

‘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!

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So, Pakistan stumble over the line against a second string West Indies eleven but maybe this was a good thing. A completely resounding victory may have seen them going into the remaining games with a sense of over confidence which can’t have been a good thing.

When the match began and the West Indian batsmen capitulated, I was beginning to question what the West Indians were doing there and whether it would have been more worthwhile, for a top 8 tournament, for Bangladesh to have been included instead. Yet the West Indian fight back with the ball was encouraging even if the Bangladeshi players may feel they probably deserve to be at the Champions Trophy. Maybe the ICC could have told the West Indies board that if their contract dispute was not resolved in time, the Bangladesh team would go to South Africa instead. Let’s just hope the Windies carry on holding their own in the next two games at least.

As for Pakistan, the two stars of the show were teenagers, Mohammed Aamer and Umar Akmal. Aamer continues to impress after a successful T20 World Cup and Umar has just burst on the international scene and looks at home already. His innings today prevented a possible embarrassment. Being a usually attacking batsman, with a ODI strike rate above 100, he assessed the situation and played an intelligent innings along with Afridi to carry Pakistan over the finishing line. When Afridi was asked what he liked about him he said, “I love brave heart people and he is brave”. Watch out for him and Mohammed Aamer, 19 and 17 years old respectively, in the rest of the tournament, the latest fresh off the unmatched Pakistan cricket production line.

For Pakistan to win the tournament the batsmen need to perform but with arguably the best bowling attack in the world, we’re always in with a chance.  India are up next yet have been dealt a major blow with Yuvraj out of the tournament with a broken finger. This I think will have a major effect on what was deemed to be India’s strongest part of the game, their batting. The three others in the group, Pakistan, West Indies and Australia, will see this as a boost.