Pakistan Cricket: Why Shahid Afridi Retired?

Pakistan Cricket has got another bad blow…They lost their first test against Australia at Lord’s by 152 runs. But the real blow was that their newly appointed captain Shahid Afridi has announced retirement from Test Cricket, allowing Salman Butt to lead Pakistan Cricket team in the rest of test matches Pakistan team is set to play against Aussies and England

Well, this is unfortunate for Pakistan Cricket. Whenever it seems that Pakistan team is showing some signs of improvement, another blow controversy them. Pakistan won the 2-match T20 cricket series against Australia. Their supporters and critics have started to call it a new beginning for Pakistani Cricket team. They started off well in the Lord’s test; especially their bowling has been excellent. But their weak point was inexperienced and inconsistent batting line-up. And that’s what cost them the match. They were bowled out for a mere 148 in the first innings.

Although they started off well in 2^nd innings chasing 420, Pakistan got a good start, thanks to Salman Butt. They looked focused until Salman Butt was stumped off the bowling of North. And after that, the Pakistan batsmen looked like they were playing a practice match. Coming in, slogging, and getting out cheaply. No one looked like playing a test match.

And just after this defeat, Shahid Afridi came out and announced his retirement from Test cricket.

All this was very sad. I think Afridi led the side quite well. Pakistani Cricket team played reasonably good cricket except their poor batting performance, which was very much expected. But, I think, the abrupt announcement of Shahid Afridi’s retirement was the biggest drawback. 

Yes, Afridi was never a test cricketer. But he has accepted the test captaincy. He should not have accepted the responsibility if he was not sure about his place in the Test XI. All this has sent a message of chaos and uncertainty, which the Pakistani team wanted to get rid of.

All this shows how Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is handling the cricket affairs of Pakistan. I must say, PCB chairman Mr. Ejaz Butt is the most incompetent chairman in the history of PCB, or even in the cricket world. This man has only brought crises after crises in Pakistan cricket. From the attack on Sri Lankan team to the pathetic series in Australia, Pakistan cricket had to pay (and is still paying) the price of the hasty, short-sighted and dishonest decisions from Ejaz Butt. He is such a mis-fit in PCB that without his exit from PCB, I don’t see any improvement in Pakistan Cricket team.

Anyways, I wish a good luck to Salman Butt and his men and hope that his team performs well against Aussies and England.

Your Turn Now: Do you think Shahid Afridi has done the right thing by taking Retirement from Test? Is Salman Butt a good choice as Captain? Will the Pakistan team perform well now? Or Anything Else…Tell in Your COMMENTS!

Does Pakistan Need Shoaib Malik?

Well it’s disappointing. The Pakistan Cricket Board has once again taken a U-turn on their decisions. After banning and fining almost all the top players of the Pakistan team, PCB has now decided to take some steps back on the issue. PCB has lifted the ban from Shoaib Malik and halved the fine of Rs.3 Million. The fines on Umer Akmal and Kamran Akmal have also been relaxed.

However, the PCB has not taken any decisions on

Match-Fixing: Which Pakistan Cricket Players Are Involved & Why?

This has not happened for the first time with Pakistan Cricket supporters. Yes I am talking about Match-Fixing in Pakistan Cricket. When everyone in Pakistan, support the Pakistan Cricket Team, they pray for their national Cricket team’s success, they talk about Pakistan Cricket Team and Pakistan Cricket players with great passion, love and respect. Why these ‘great’ heroes of Pakistan Cricket, sell their national pride for a small sum of money. The Match-Fixing is a monster which has swallowed the pride of Pakistan Cricket; it has brought shame, disrespect and humiliation to the Pakistan Cricket and disappointment for the Die-hard lovers of Pakistan Cricket.

Why am I writing about Match-Fixing today? Because I just read news about a Senate’s Committee of Sports, who has held a meeting with top brass of Pakistan Cricket Board, including Mr. Ejaz Butt, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board. After the session, the senators told the media that “We have witnessed some solid evidence suggesting that more than one player of the current Pakistan Cricket team was involved in match-fixing”. The senators also said that the “evidences were circumstantial but convincing”.

In one of my earlier posts, I had strongly supported the bans, fines on Pakistan Cricket (you can read this post to know the reasons why I supported the decision).  But at that time, it was not clear that one of the reasons behind these penalties were Match-Fixing. I can’t understand why the hell in this world only Pakistan Cricket players are accused of Match-Fixing. Why Pakistan Cricket heroes sell their identity, their pride, the love of their fans for earning a few dollars? Are they morally dead?

It has been confirmed that Ex-captains of Pakistan Cricket team, Younis Khan, Mohammed Yousaf, and Shahid Afridi were not involved in Match-Fixing. And I firmly believe (somehow) that none of these players can be involved in such a criminal activity as Match-Fixing. However, the reports suggest that the players of Pakistan Cricket Team who are involved in Match Fixing

Indefinite Ban on Younis, Yousaf: Pakistan Cricket in Shambles?

I was shocked (just like all of you) when I heard this news. Pakistan Cricket got a bad day. There were media reports about one year ban on Pakistan Cricket players, Shoaib Malik and Rana Naveed-ul-Hassan and fines on Shahid Afridi (the Boom Boom of Pakistan Cricket), Kamran Akmal, and Umer Akmal, but no one was expecting a lifetime ban on players like Younis Khan and Mohammed Yousaf who are the backbone of Pakistan Cricket Team.

In the last post I had discussed about the Pakistan Cricket Board Committee’s Recommendation on Bans, Fines of Pakistan Cricket Players. In that post I had supported the committee’s recommendations for the ban and fine on Pakistan Cricket Players citing the different reasons. However, when I read the news about the lifetime ban on Mohammed Yousaf and Younis Khan, I was totally surprised. Both them are the most senior, experienced and skillful batsmen in the Pakistan Cricket Team.

So, what’s my take on this decision from Pakistan Cricket Board? Well, I totally support the Bans and Fines on Pakistan Cricket Players. I know some of the bans (especially the ones imposed on Mohammed Yousaf & Younis Khan) seem to be a bit harsh, but let me tell you

PCB Committee Recommends Ban, Fines on Pakistan Players: Right Or Wrong?

At last there is some ‘good’ news from PCB: The board’s committee designed to probe the Pakistan’s pathetic tour of Australia earlier this year, has come up with some solid decisions. The committee led by Waseem Bari, has recommended the PCB to do the following actions:

>Ban on Rana Naveed-ul-Hassan & Shoaib Malik for 12 months; 

>Fines of Rs.3 Million each on Shahid Afridi, Umer Akmal, and Kamran Akmal.

Why I call this as good news: Well, I just posted the last story about The Dilemma of Pakistan Cricket! in which I  talked about the underlying reasons behind the pathetic performance of Pakistan Cricket team. Among other problems I pointed out that the lack of accountability is the core problem facing Pakistan Cricket. And today, at least the PCB has taken actions against some of the culprits in the team.

The recommendations of the committee are not surprising at all. I personally feel, and I believe most of the cricket fans feel the same way, that there are groupings in the team; players are not playing for the team; players are rather playing for

The dilemma of Pakistan Cricket!

Have you ever thought why there are so many problems with Pakistan Cricket or any other sport for that matter, like Hockey?

Believe you me, like all of you, I am also disappointed with the performance of Pakistan Cricket team in the recent times. Except from the T20 World Cup, Pakistan’s performance has been rather humiliating. But what is more important is the reason behind such a ‘consistent’ poor show. Well, of course there are many reasons behind the Pakistan cricket disaster. But I believe the root cause is Politics!

To me, the major reason is the way the institutions are run in Pakistan; like other institutions, the chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board or the Pakistan Hockey Federation (for that matter) are appointed by the President of Pakistan. There is no criteria whatsoever that can be followed in this process. Since nothing in Pakistan is free of politics, the appointment of the head of PCB is mainly undertaken on

Pakistan’s New Chief Selector For Seperate T20 Team

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has appointed the former classic opener Mohsin Hassan Khan, as the new Chief Selector of the Pakistan Cricket Team. Mohsin, while addressing to his first press conference in this new capacity, said that he would suggest the board to set up a separate national team for Twenty20 cricket. He pointed out that the Twenty20 Cricket has spoiled the performance of Pakistani team in the other forms of the game, that is, One Days and Tests. He also maintained that apart from players like Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Saeed Ajmal, Fawad Alam and Umer Gul; no other player is capable of playing all forms of Cricket equally well.

I personally admire Mohsin Khan for his honest career and passion for Cricket. I also agree to whatever he said in his press conference. Pakistan truly needs a specialized T20 side. In the past there were the same teams for both the Tests and ODIs.

However, the T20 has completely changed the scenario. It’s about hitting sixes, playing fast, slogging, and entertainment. Players in a T20 match hardly think about staying on the wicket, building partnership, taking singles, keeping wickets intact etc. All they want in a T20 match is big hits and rightly so. But all this has affected the performance of the players in ODIs and Test matches. We have seen that in the last few years,

Waqar Younis: Pakistan's New Coach

At last the news has come for which everyone was waiting. Waqar Younis, the former Pakistani Speedster has been appointed as the Head Coach of Pakistan Cricket Team.  One of his team-mates, Ijaz Ahmed will assist him in the coaching of the National Team.  Ijaz is also the coach of the country’s Under-19 Cricket Team which has recently played the final of the ICC U-19 World Cup.  In addition to that, a foreign consultant will also accompany the team for the forthcoming tour of England.

Well. I am not very hopeful about Waqar’s appointment as the national team’s head coach. First of all, this is not the first time he is given this responsibility. He has been with the team in the latest tour of Australia, which has turned out to be the worst ever tour of a Pakistani team to Australia. Not only that the Pakistani players performed poorly in the field, but the controversies surrounded them throughout the tour.  Lack of discipline, Match fixing, Ball tampering, Groupings, all sorts of issues were coming out from the dressing room.

I am unable to understand why PCB has