Stani Army

The PCB has once again demonstrated it’s pointlessness in almost retracting every punishment they handed out to the seven players after the Australian tour. At the time, Ijaz Butt came out with some tough talk saying that he was going to hand out harsh punishments. Indeed, he kept his word at the time with life bans for Mohammed Yousuf and Younis Khan, one year bans for Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved, and heavy fines for the Akmal brothers and Shahid Afridi. With Rana Naved’s hearing still to be concluded, all punishments have been retracted except for the fines the Akmal brothers received which have been reduced by two thirds. It thus goes without saying that If Mohammed Yousuf should come out of retirement, his ban would also have to be lifted.

Untouchables of Pakistan cricket: Innocent when proven guilty

With all that has come out of the inquiry and various player statements, it is clear that Shoaib Malik was one of the worst culprits. Unfortunately, with Malik still around, I can’t see Yousuf changing his mind and returning to the side. I know who I’d rather have back if I had a choice between Malik and Yousuf.

In some ways, the return of the players is evidence of the dearth in Pakistan talent with hardly anyone from the domestic game being trusted to be able to step up into the international side and keep these criminals out.  Many would say that this is something the punished players know and have been taking advantage of for some time. It is why, for most of the seven, it was important that the punishments were upheld, if not entirely, at least to some worthwhile degree. Right now the players must be inwardly laughing at the administration which governs and disciplines them. Ijaz Butt has denied that this will make the PCB seem like a soft touch to the players, but if everyone else thinks that is how it is looking then I’m certain the players are thinking likewise.

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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.

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Chasing just 128, Pakistan allowed Australia to bowl three maidens in their 20 overs; played three stupid shots when in good positions themselves; and ended up falling short by three runs. I can’t help but think that had Australia been chasing that target, they would have got there cruising with the loss of just one or two wickets.

So what was the Pakistani mindset from the beginning? Well it was one ‘hero’ after the other. Each buffoon of a batsmen that followed the previous one thought that a few quick boundaries here and the game would be over. But boundaries come with high risks attached, risks Pakistan did absolutely not need to take with a target like that. Not just once, but on many occasions throughout that innings they could have held themselves back and have gotten home comfortably.

After smiling about the recent security breach, Pakistan continued with their niceties by gifting three maidens (two wrapped in wickets) to Australia and effectively turning a chase of 6.4 per over into 7.5 an over.

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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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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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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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Rana Naved was recently awarded a central contract by the PCB after he turned his back on the ICL. He was placed into category C of the contracts, which would see him earn 100,000 Rupees a month. Since most of the ICL players were wholly blamed for joining the unofficial league and criticised for it; here we’ll take a look at what the Pakistan players are earning and whether this is enough to stop their heads turning.

Below is a list of the value of the contract in each category and it makes for some interesting reading

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