Can Pakistan Cricket Team beat Australia at Lords?

Pakistan cricket team is set to play their first Cricket Test against Australian Cricket team at the Lords from 13^th July. This is the first ‘Away’ Test series of Pakistan Cricket team. Pakistani team will play 2 Tests in this series against the Aussies.

Pakistan Cricket is in a recovery phase. The trauma that started from their Australian tour earlier this year in which Pakistani cricket team lost literally every match of series. And the controversies that hit Pakistan Cricket were destructive.

However, Pakistan team has a new captain, Shahid Afridi, the boom boom. Afridi has shown that team spirit and unity can change the whole scenario. The Pakistani team that looked like minnows, has now turned into a cornered tiger. They have already beating Australia in the 2 T20 matches. Yes, the T20 is a lot more different than the Test cricket but victory is a victory at the end of the day.

So, can Pakistan Cricket team win the Test Series? Well, it’s a very tricky question. Let’s analyze the two teams.

ICC: India Rules Cricket Australia Out?

Australian Cricket is continuously under pressure. First the Australian cricket team has lost its consistency. And now, the Cricket Australia, Australian cricket board, seems to have started losing its influence on World Cricket affairs.

John Howard, the former Prime Minister of Australia, has been rejected for the post of Vice President of ICC, in the Executive meeting of the Cricket’s governing body held in Singapore on Tuesday. John was the candidate nominated by Australia & New Zealand, but only England (apart from the nominators) voted in favor of his run for the Vice Presidency. A vast majority, featuring the Cricket boards of Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, South Africa and West Indies voted against John Howard. Cricket analysts fear that this development has raised the concerns of division of World Cricket in 2 parts: “White” & “Non-White nations”!

John Howard is not a new name in Cricket World. As Australian Premiere, he has raised voice against different issues related to Cricket. Especially, Howard has severely criticized Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe. He has also invited anger from Sri Lanka for supporting ban on Muttiah Muralitharan for his ‘illegal’ arm action. 

In the same meeting of ICC board members, India’s Sharad Pawar has taken up the responsibility as the President of ICC. Pawar was former chairman of BCCI, the Indian Cricket Board. 

Now ICC has asked Australia & New Zealand Cricket boards to nominate someone else for this post.  

To me, John Howard’s rejection is not a big issue. But what is more significant is that the ICC Executive Board has divided into 2 blocs. If you look at the past

Cricket Regime: Who Will Replace Australia?

Australia Cricket team has long ruled the Cricket World. In almost every Cricket World Cup, Australian Cricket team has played as favorites. They still hold the Cricket World Champions title. But, will they be able to continue their regime on Cricket World? Let’s look into it in some details!

Australia has been known as the “Unbeatable” team in world of Cricket for the most of 2000-2010 decade. They have been on No.1 spot of the ICC Team Rankings in both Tests & ODIs. Aussies team has been termed as the synonymous to “Consistency”. They got habitual of winning in every game, every tournament, and every country and under all sorts of conditions! 

But for the last year or so, Australian Cricket team seems to have been losing the grip on this Consistency. They lost their Top spot in Test Rankings to India. Australia is not even ranked No.2 in ICC Test Rankings. They have 3^rd Spot after South Africa in Tests. On the other hands, although they are on No.1 in ICC ODI rankings but they are not far away from South Africa & India at No.2 and No.3 respectively. 

England lost the T20 World Cup-2010 final earlier this year to England. And now they are touring England for ODIs and the Ashes. Aussies have already lost their first 3 ODIs to England out. This means the 5-match ODI series is already won by the hosts, England.

Australia is also scheduled to play 2 Tests and 2 T20 matches against Pakistan in England. It will be great test for both Aussies and Pakistani Cricket team.

So, which Cricket team do you think has the potential to take the place of Australian Cricket Team?

Worst Ever Pakistan Cricket Team For England?

Well, Pakistan Cricket Board has done it again! Pakistani Cricket team is due to tour England from the next week where Pakistan Cricket Team is going to play against the hosts, England, and the World Champions Australia.

What Pakistan Cricket Board has done this time is not new though. The one-man show continues to run in PCB. Mr. Ejazz Butt, the king of Pakistan Cricket, is absolutely free to make decisions. It only happens in Pakistan Cricket, that the Chairman of Cricket Board announces the team in the Press Conference with the Chief Selector sitting beside him during Asia Cup-2010!

As expected, the Pakistani Cricket Team announced for England tour has raised many eye-brows. The Pakistani Cricket team includes names like Shoaib Malik, Imran Farhat, and Kamran Akmal and excluding Younis Khan, Asim Kamal, Abdul Rahman and Sarfaraz Ahmed.

The most unfortunate news is that Pakistani Cricket team’s

Pak V Aus: Was Sydney Test Fixed? ICC Investigates!

Well again the Pandora Box of Match-Fixing in Pakistan Cricket has been opened. I feel very sorry to see Pakistani cricketers been accused of match-fixing. This is not new though. We have already talked about Match-Fixing phenomenon right after the Australian tour of Pakistan Cricket team in the previous post.

So what’s new then? Actually a video is being shown on different news channels and on the web in which Pakistani Cricketers are shown expressing their views in front of the Probing Committee of Pakistan Cricket Board, which was formed to investigate the worst ever tour of Pakistan team to Australia. In this video, team management raised their concerns about the possible involvement of some players in Match-Fixing during the Austrlia-New Zealand tour of the Pakistan team.

In the same video, players like Shahid Afridi and Mohammed Yousaf, who captained the side during the tour have criticized Shoaib Malik for his back-biting, negative behavior, indiscipline and politics. Now these are some serious allegations. But I am surprised that such a player has only got a ban of 1 year and a 20 million rupee fine. And players like Mohammed Yousaf and Younis Khan have been banned for indefinite period, although they were not charge with such severe allegations.

I always wonder, why these ‘great’ heroes of Pakistan Cricket, sell their

T20 World Cup-2010: A Cricket Failure?

The World T20 Cup-2010 has come to end with a historical win of England. Yes, England the land where Cricket was born. But it is shocking for most of the people that this is the first ever ICC title for England in the history of Cricket.

I personally believe England truly deserved to win this title. They have been far much superior than any other team in this tournament. Even Australia had seen some ups and downs. Especially the Semi-final against Pakistan has been termed as the Match of the Tournament. Where Michael Hussy took simply demolished the Pakistan bowling to take his team into the finals.

Many people asked whether Pakistan deserved a place in the Semi-finals. But the way Pakistan played in the Semi-final against Australia all these mouths are shut now. Pakistan was the first team in the World T20 Cup-2010 that troubled Australia. And Pakistan always won the match, had Hussy not showed his powerful display of batting.

The most disappointing efforts came from

T20 World Cup-2010: Miracle in Cricket?

Miracles do happen. This can be proved by what happened to Pakistan Cricket team in ICC T20 World Cup-2010 when they eventually booked their seat for the Semi-Final of T20 World Cup-2010.

Pakistan had lost their first 2 matches of Super-8 round. They were almost out of the Semi-Final race. And then we saw that miracle. Pakistan won their last Super-8 match and then on the same day, England beat New Zealand to take Pakistan to the Semi-Finals of T20 World Cup-2010.

Pakistan team is highly fortunate and the other two teams left out of mega tournament were a lot unlucky, especially South Africa who have been labeled ‘Chokers’ due to their habit of losing the important matches.

South Africa were looking very impressive except their defeat to India in the first round. However, they lost important match against England in the Super-8 round and then they were beaten by Pakistan in the final match.

New Zealand, on the other hand also lacks

Will IPL Survive?

Well it’s a difficult question to answer, isn’t it? The Indian Premiere League (IPL) has come up with a bang. Everyone in the Cricket World, especially in India, is talking about IPL, the Indian Premiere League. How long IPL Indian Premiere League (IPL) will survive?

Let’s have a look at the top pros and cons of the Indian Premiere League (IPL) on Indian Cricket, Asian Cricket, and International Cricket:

 IPL Pros:

IPL generates money: The Indian Premiere League is a unique platform where every cricket player, international or local Indian cricket players, can earn billions of dollars for a single season. No other cricket league provides such huge revenues for cricketers like the Indian Premiere League (IPL) does.

IPL as platform for Young Indian Cricketers: The Indian Premiere League (IPL) is providing a great platform for the local, upcoming Indian Cricket players. These youngsters have the wonderful opportunity to play with stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Adam Gilchrist, Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Kumar Sangakara, Shane Warne, Brett Lee… and the list goes on and on. Indian Premiere League (IPL) also provides a huge opportunity for the youngsters to get exposure, get experience to play under pressure and of course, earn a lot of money.

IPL Has Glamour: The Indian Premiere League not only provides money, but it has all the glamour from the Indian Film Industry the Bollywood. Hot Indian Actress

IPL Expands… But Why?

The Indian Premiere League (IPL) is expanding. Two more teams, Kochi and Pune have been added for the next season of the most lucrative Cricket league, the Indian Premiere League (IPL). This means that the Indian Premiere League 4 will feature 10 teams and the number of matches will be increased from 60 to 94.

IPL or the Indian Premiere League has been phenomenal in terms of its Impacts on Cricket . However, the IPL has created enough doubts over the future of Test, ODIs cricket. Money, obviously, has been the biggest motive behind the success of Indian Premiere League (IPL). And the new bids for Pune and Kochi have shown the financial power of IPL.

The Sahara Group won the bid and bought the Pune team for a huge amount of US$ 370m (Indian Rs. 168,275,82923), to buy the most