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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Pakistan have dropped Misbah Ul-Haq from all three squads for the upcoming games against New Zealand. As a big fan of Misbah, I think this is a big mistake and one which will show come the end of the New Zealnd series’.

Compared to 2007-8, Misbah has not had a great time of it this year, visibly struggling to play his natural game. Even though, his ODI average has still been a useful 33.33, better than Shoab Malik, Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi and our captain at the time of writing, Younis Khan. In case you don’t believe me, click here.

The figures above show that it was a not only Misbah who struggled but for some reason he has been the one sacrificed. When looking at an individual’s performances, they must, as above, be put into context. Pakistan have played on some tough batting pitches of late in Sri Lanka and the UAE. In the 5 match ODI series against Australia in the UAE, the team batting first scored over 210 on only one occasion. Our batting performances in general have not been great of late.

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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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I for one am glad I didn’t get too carried away by Pakistan’s day 2 second innings recovery as they would have inevitably let me down having raised my hopes. And so it proved, as another batting collapse saw them go from 285 for 1 to 320 all out in their second innings. This left Sri Lanka needing 171, and with their tales up they ran through comfortable winners in the end, getting there in just 32 overs with 7 wickets in hand.

Pakistan’s 2nd innings recovery did nothing but raise even more questions as to why the 1st innings performance was so bad, and despite the 2nd innings collapse, it was this 1st innings total which cost in the end. Had they scored even a hundred more, they would have fancied bowling out Sri Lanka for less than 270 on a 4th innings pitch.

So, where did it all go wrong? Pakistan’s 2nd innings collapse all started when Sri Lanka took the new ball and the Pakistan batsmen just did not have an answer. The Sri Lankan’s did bowl well but questions will be asked of the Pakistan batsmen, particularly the early to middle order. Though Misbah was unlucky to be given out today

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Well the Twenty20 Champions couldn’t even manage that in the first innings of the 2nd Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo.

Having snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in the 1st Test, today’s batting performance must have left Pakistan’s coaching staff seething. I suppose this would have been mainly to save their own skins as what ever they would have told the players in between the last Test and this one, quite clearly has not worked. It is difficult for the coaching staff to have much effect whilst a match is on going yet in between matches is where they must have an influence. But with four ducks and just three double figure scores (the highest being 39), it seems as if the Pakistani players did not come into this match with a single thought of what had transpired in the last.

Another change to the opening pair saw Fawad Alam come in for Salman Butt. Many had asked for Fawad’s inclusion yet he could only manage 16 runs having being sent in to open which was something he had never done before in an international game. This decision seemed even more bizarre than when Alam was asked to bowl the very important 15th over of the T20 semi-final having not bowled at all in the tournament previously. Sure, Fawad would have been asked if he would like to open today but as a youngster desperate to play for your country, you just say yes, whether its opening or coming in last.

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…at their brilliant worst. Well who would have thought it? Those Pakistani fans around the world who stayed up to watch the climax of the 1st Test against Sri Lanka in Galle, will probably now be wondering why they bothered. Those who thought they’d hit the sack since the contest was over will still be asking themselves if they are yet to awake from their nightmare.

Having required just 97 runs over night, Pakistan managed to lose their remaining 8 wickets for just 46. Divide that 97 by 8 and all each batsmen had to make was a measly 13 runs and victory would have been achieved. Unbelievable when you look at it like that right?

So was it devil of a wicket, good Sri Lankan bowling or Pakistani complacency? Judging by reports, the wicket was not a 46 for 8 type of wicket and though the Sri Lankan bowlers did bowl well, their first innings bowling and the small target meant that this second reason wasn’t the main cause of Pakistan’s downfall either. This leaves the reason of complacency, for which I will now introduce Mr Younis Khan: “We never thought we’d lose this game”. Lovely.

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Well if anyone had forgotten about Mohammad Yousuf’s talents, then they would have been well and truly reminded about what he is about in his first Test innings since his return from the ICL.

Pakistan and Sri Lanka have just concluded day 2 of their first Test in Galle, a day on which Yousuf finished top scorer with 112 at a strike rate of 60.

Much had been made of Yousuf’s fling with the ICL, which all began after he had been unfairly excluded from the 2007 Twenty20 World Cup squad. Having then being brought back but rejoining the league, it was difficult to see when he would again grace the cricket field in a Test for his nation.

His comments about Shoaib Malik being chosen as captain at the time, were well off the mark but showed the mentality in Pakistan cricket and general life, where seniority is akin to superiority. But cricket has a great way of bringing people together

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Was I the only one who thought Umar Gul was darn unlucky not to get the player of the tournament award? It went to Tillakaratne Dilshan for scoring the most runs in the tournament. But in a batsmen’s game, surely a bowlers achievements should be recognised more? Shorter outfields and flatter wickets; certainly it was easier to bat well than bowl well no?

Of course, Gul’s was not just any achievement but a record, a first ever 5-wicket haul in International Twenty20s with his spell of 5 for 6 in three overs against New Zealand. Maybe the ICC didn’t want a Pakistani clean sweep so decided to spread the awards out. It’s either that or Daniel Vettori must have been on the ICC judges panel.

The other issue I had was the fact that the next Twenty20 World Cup is going to be held in April 2010, meaning that we will not even hold the title for a year. I will not go over it in detail as to why as Q has done a fine job of this over at Well Pitched, but it all stems from the cancellation of the Champions trophy in Pakistan in 2008. I suppose it does make sense but it’s just sad we will probably be the shortest holders of the World T20 title

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