Stani Army

Ijaz Butt: Needs to be harsh in his punishment of the Pakistan players

Pakistan cricket hasn’t exactly flourished under the stewardship of PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt. Described as “too old” and “physically unfit” by the senate’s standing committee on sports, many have felt that such an important role was beyond this 72 year old. On the team side, factionalism, internal bickering and a losing habit have plagued his time in charge.

Not being the most astute of operators, Butt is known to put his foot in where it does not belong. His insensitive and defensive approach in his response to the Lahore attacks was just one example. Rather than express condolences and outline the PCBs response, he went on the attack asking the ICC to ban match referee Chris Broad, for his comments on the lack of security. His most recent faux pas was the mixed messages he gave out in a press conference regarding the subject of match fixing.

Politicians are not the only people Butt has fallen out with. Javed Miandad, Abdul Qadir and Aamer Sohail, ex-Pakistani greats, have all come and gone from various posts during Butt’s tenure. Despite his unpopularity, Butt is still managing to hold on to his position of Chairman for the simple reason that he has the support of the most important man; Patron of the board and President of the country, Asif Ali Zardari.

The recent inquiry into the failings of the team on the New Zealand and Australian tour have given Butt an opportunity to do some good for his popularity. It is believed that the inquiry committee recommended heavy fines and bans for some top Pakistan players, including Shahid Afridi, Rana Naved, Shoaib Malik and the Akmal brothers, for various misdemeanours such as deliberately under-performing, provoking discord and undermining the captain.

Read the rest of this entry »

So the captaincy saga has reared its ugly head again but there doesn’t seem to be any new contenders stepping up since the last time we had this problem. It did seem a foregone conclusion until Afridi decided to take matters into his own hands…and mouth.

Since our last look at the captaincy issue, Misbah, a potential contender, has been out of favour in the team so therefore cannot be considered this time around. This leaves Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan; the words spoilt for choice don’t exactly spring to mind. Any left-field suggestions are welcome. It would be interesting to see who would win a captaincy vote amongst the players. Maybe that would be the way to go in order to mend the different factions and cliques that have emerged within the team.

Since Inzamam retired, no one has managed to hold the role for any significant period of time for one reason or the other. I think whoever is chosen now, as long as he is chosen carefully, they need to stick with him for a reasonable period of time so that even if he does start off badly, he has the chance to improve

Read the rest of this entry »

In his latest piece on cricinfo, titled ‘Why Modi is like Sehwag’, Ian Chappell continues his obsession with criticising Mohammad Yousuf. Yes, I know, the piece is titled  ‘Why Modi is like Sehwag’, but he does well to finish by bringing Mohammad Yousuf into it. The PCB has announced that there will be a new captain after the Australian tour so maybe Chappell should leave the guy alone now.

And whilst mentioning the run out between Salman Butt and Mohammad Yousuf in the 1st innings of the 3rd Test, he writes:

“This move has the potential to replicate either a brilliant attacking masterpiece by Sehwag or the chaos of Inzamam-ul-Haq and Salman Butt gesturing at each other after having failed to complete an easy single”

Inzamam Ian? You mean Yousuf right? Concentrate now, criticise one Pakistani at a time. This disease is similar to the one Tiny Greig was showing symptoms of during the ICL when he kept referring to the Lahore Badshahs as ‘Pakistan’. Very professional I must say. O the burden of ignorance!

Dr Kamran Abbasi has posted his latest article on cricinfo and it has provoked a lot of debate. The article is very critical of Mohammad Yousuf’s captaincy. His articles are usually very balanced yet this, which comes across as an emotional outburst, is a fair bit different from his usual posts. I don’t usually like posting long articles but I felt this was an important issue so do bear with me.

Result! My stock’s risen and I didn't even play!

As Pakistan supporters, we’re all frustrated and upset by the meek manner in which our team has surrendered to an Australian side that runs more on mental toughness than it does cricketing skill. Yet, to blame Mohammad Yousuf’s captaincy for the situation our team currently finds itself in is quite unfair. Dr Abbasi has been an outspoken supporter of Younis Khan as captain in the past and maybe his overly harsh criticism of Yousuf this time has something to do with this.

Yousuf has taken over at a difficult time with very little captaincy experience. We mustn’t forget that it was Younis who chickened out of the tours to New Zealand and Australia. Maybe he knew that staying in the background while Pakistan lose in Australia would make him look a better captain. Sadly, through the eyes of some it has.

It is extremely difficult to set fields or captain when your players cannot do the basics in the field or their job with the bat. A captain is only as good as his players. Until the last innings, Ponting hadn’t done much, he even made the mistake of batting first in the 2nd Test, but he’s soon going to find himself as the winning captain in a 3-0 series whitewash. Why? Because he could rely on his players. Yousuf, on the other hand, had nothing to fall back on. Nobody questioned Yousuf’s captaincy in New Zealand. Nobody questioned Yousuf’s captaincy in the 1st innings of the second Test. The difference was that the players were performing to some degree

Read the rest of this entry »

An old face but a young captain

Mohammad Yousuf came in for a lot of criticism from all corners for his field placements in the second Test against Australia when Peter Siddle and Michael Hussey were at the crease. How much was Yousuf to blame for this and was this the real cause of Pakistan’s defeat?

Many writers held Yousuf solely responsible, and had you been listening to the Australian commentary on that 4th day then it would have been easy to follow suit. Bill Lawry, Tony Greig, Richie Benaud, Mark Nicholas, Michael Slater, Mark Taylor, and last but definitely not the least, Ian Chapell, were all at it. Ian Chapell in particular, did not talk about anything else apart from Mohammad Yousuf in his 4th day commentary stints. I have an automatic dislike of people that are too sure of themselves and Ian Chapell is one.

If you are still firm in the belief that Yousuf got the field placing wrong, then you have to accept that it cannot have been his decision alone. After the close of play on day 3, strategies must have been discussed in the Pakistan camp and all the support staff, including the head coach, must have had an input. Also, the fact that Hussey and Siddle stayed in for so long showed that Yousuf did in fact read the track well, in that it was a relatively easy one to score on. So, would an immediately attacking field have been a good thing or a bad thing?

Had we started with an attacking field, this would have left more scoring opportunities for both Hussey and Siddle. Yes, it may have increased our chances of removing them but did our bowlers honestly look like getting anything on the 4th day? At one point, the camera followed Asif on his run up and he looked flat as a pancake. So if an attacking field didn’t yield us the wicket, the Australians would have got off to a flier and we would have then had to have resorted to a more defensive field but only after giving away easy runs.

Read the rest of this entry »

May be I’m being a little harsh here but what do we know about the leadership credentials of Mohammad Yousuf (captain) and Kamran Akmal (vice-captain)? Yousuf has captained Pakistan in three Tests in the past, losing two away against Australia and winning the one at home against South Africa. As for Akmal, I haven’t the slightest of his experience as a leader but I’m sure some of our readers can enlighten me.

Yousuf and Akmal take on the extra responsibility in their stride

It’s clear that the PCB did not have much to choose from as captain after Younis Khan decided to take a break. But, by choosing Yousuf and Akmal, it is quite obvious that the seniority=superiority

Read the rest of this entry »

It had been highlighted on many occasions that Younis’ volatility would only lead to team problems in the future. And as sure as night follows day, it has.

I don’t not want to be over critical of him, but nothing he has done in all his resignations has been honourable or worthy of a leader. It then begs the question why the PCB and many prominent writers and ex-cricketers still saw something in Younis as our captain. The PCB must feel like absolute mugs for being treated this way after cowing to Younis’ and his re-instatement demands.

I used to be indecisive, now I'm just not sure

Younis’ overall aim and intentions may have been correct, to unite the players and bring in much needed discipline. The problem Younis had is the way he has gone about it and his poor personal performance.

Read the rest of this entry »

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

Read the rest of this entry »