Stani Army

Mohammad Asif’s inclusion in the Champions Trophy squad has divided opinion amongst Pakistani fans. Many feel that he will be undercooked and I get the feeling that the remainder just don’t want to see him back because of the issues he’s had with drugs, which is fair enough.

If you keep in mind Pakistan’s tour to Australia which follows the Champions Trophy, then bringing Asif back now would be the right thing to do in my opinion, but whether the selectors thought of this is another matter. This will be a vital series for us and we’ll need our best bowling attack and Asif would certainly fit into that category as he’s arguably the most talented seam bowler in world cricket.  The Australian tour comprises of 3 Tests, 5 ODIs and a Twenty20. If Asif was not picked for the Champions Trophy then it would be very difficult to justify his inclusion in a team to play Australia, especially with the 3 Test matches coming up first.

The fact that the Champions Trophy is a short tournament in which he’ll come up against quality but where the result won’t matter as much as it would in a WC tournament, makes it a good place to return. If he does fail, then at least he’ll fail here and not on a long and important tour.

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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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With the emergence of Mohammad Aamer, would a fit Shoaib have a place in the Pakistan first team?

In the past, we’ve had to keep on going back to Shoaib because there was no one else fast or good enough to partner Umar Gul as the other of the two Pakistan pace spearheads. Maybe part of the reason for his bad behaviour was that he felt he brought something unique to the Pakistan attack so was thus indispensable and could do pretty much what he liked. His recent comment, “I am the fastest bowler in history and it’s not possible for everyone to bowl at 150 (kph)”, does give some indication of such a mindset. Yet now that we have Aamer, and due the reasons which we will now examine, I think Shoaib would find it very difficult to get a place in any of our sides.

His reverse swing and slower ball skills will not be missed as Gul has demonstrated that he is one of the very best exploiters of these qualities. His pace will not also be a miss as both Gul and Aamer are adequately fast enough. In most of our sides, barring injury, we will probably go with three main fast bowlers due to the strength of our all rounders and spinners. With Gul and Aamer a certainty, this leaves one place

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The PCB has released Shoaib Akhtar from the 15 man World Twenty20 squad and replaced him with Rao Iftikhar Anjum. In a revealing statement, the PCB has disclosed that Shoaib’s skin infection was of the sexually transmitted kind. No other board in world cricket would have released such details had it been one of their players but not the Pakistanis. I guess Shoaib is not exactly in the PCBs good books so they’d do pretty much do anything to stain his character. So much for patient confidentiality though.

To be honest, they’ve probably caused themselves as much embarrassment with their unprofessionalism as they have Shoaib.

Why Rao Iftikhar though? Decent bowler yes but not suited to Twenty20. Stani Army had suggested that Rana Naved should be called up having cancelled his ICL contract but it seems that the PCB still fear the reaction of the ICC and BCCI.

Shoaib Akhtar has failed to recover from his skin infection in time for the practice matches before the T20 World Cup. With his history of injury problems, would it be really worth taking him to the World Cup even if it is the short form of the game.

With the ICL releasing some players so they could resume their international careers, the PCB would be best advised to drop Akhtar with Rana Naved slotting straight in. Let’s not forget, Rana is also more than capable with the bat.

Many of us love sport for its unpredictable twists and turns. Let’s take the final one-day match of England’s tour, for example. Or the captivating fluctuations in fortune of the English Premier League. On-field events are the focus of our fascination, a blessing that Pakistan cricket has not received for almost two years.

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The ICCs deadline for submitting a provisional 30 man squad for the Twenty20 World Cup has arrived and the PCB has gone ahead and included some players involved with the ICL. The three players are Abdul Razzaq, Naved-ul-Hasan and Imran Nazir. With the tournament set to go ahead in June, this leaves about a couple of months for the ICC and the other world boards to come to an agreement in regards to the legitimacy of the Indian Cricket League. If this should not happen, Pakistan may end up carrying players they are not able to use.

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I’m sure it’s not just me but has anyone else felt slightly embarrassed about being a Pakistan cricket supporter recently? Shoaib Akhtar’s five year ban by the PCB for comments he made about his contract demotion have divided Pakistan supporters, commentators and ex-players in regards to the rights and wrongs of it.

Those in support of the ban may say that he’s had enough chances but the question is what did Akhtar do this time around that was so bad to deserve a 5 year ban? If we have a closer look at his comments then we may realise that here was just a cricketer speaking of his disappointment of not getting a contract that he felt he deserved. The PCB argued that it is in the contracts of players that they are not permitted to speak against the board yet the problem here is that Akhtar did not have a contract with the PCB when he made his remarks.

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