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!

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

Pakistan Cricket Team: Crisis Or Bad Luck!

Now, I feel sorry for Pakistan Cricket team. Yes, they lack consistency, but their recent record in Cricket does not realistically highlight the quality cricket they have been playing.

It all started from the ICC Champions Trophy in 2009. Pakistan, the-then T20 World Champions, played against New Zealand in the Semi-finals. Pakistan Cricket Team played well, the game was very close, but New Zealand managed to hold their nerves and won the match.

Then Pakistani Cricket team toured New Zealand in the end of 2009. Pakistani team was winning the first test but eventually lost to the Kiwis by 32 runs on the last day. Pakistan Cricket team comprehensively won the 2^nd Cricket Test by 141 runs but the final match was without result. The series was drawn 1-1.

Just before the end of New Zealand tour, Pakistani

Asia Cup-2010: India Vs Pakistan Cricket History

Cricket claims to be the world’s 2^nd most popular sport in the world after Soccer. Although debatable, but when it comes to South Asia, Cricket is by far the most popular sport here.

South Asia is the power house of Cricket. And the most powerful cricket board, BCCI, the Indian Cricket Board, is also a part of South Asia. Over the years, South Asia has contributed a lot towards the game of Cricket. First, India and Pakistan produced legendary cricket stars like Sunil Gavaskar, Zaheer Abbas, Sarfaraz Nawaz, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Majid Khan…and the list goes on and on.

Then, Cricket spread its roots to the neighboring countries of these two arch-rivals. Sri Lanka started showing some great talent. And now Bangladesh is emerging as the 4^th strongest team of Asia.

But the Cricket in South Asia is mainly dominated by India and Pakistan. And when these 2 teams (India vs Pakistan) are up against each other, you are bound to get excited. No matter what the event is, no matter what the Cricket Ranking of each of these teams, no matter which era it is, when there is match featuring India vs Pakistan, the whole Cricket world expects a fascinating clash.

The history of India vs Pakistan Cricket is very volatile. More often than not, the two teams avoided playing Cricket against each other due to the several political tensions.

India Vs Pakistan History

Since 1978, there have been a total 118 ODI Cricket matches featuring India vs Pakistan. Out of which

Asia Cup-2010: History & Future!

Asia, not only the largest Continent on Earth but it’s the biggest region when it comes to the craze for Cricket.  Asia is really the power house of Cricket. Nations like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and now Bangladesh have contributed a plenty to the Cricket world.

Asia Cup is a tournament that features all these 4 teams in ODIs. The tournament was first played in 1984 in Sharjah, UAE organized by ACCA, the Asian Cricket Council. However, this tournament has not been held regularly due to the unfavorable political and Cricket affairs between different Asian nations, especially between India and Pakistan.

A total of 8 editions of Asia Cup Cricket Tournament have been held. India and Sri Lanka have been victorious 4 times each. The first Asia Cup was won by India in 1984. However, in 1986, Sri Lanka managed to become the Asian Champions. In 1988, team India regained the title.

Indian cricket team managed to defend the title in 1990-91. Then in 1993, the Asia Cup was scheduled to be held in Pakistan but due to political tensions, it was not held. In 1995, once again India cricket team managed to successfully defend the title. In 1997, Sri Lankan team came up as victorious.

Pakistan Cricket team could only win the Asia Cup Cricket Tournament in year 2000, held in Bangladesh. There was again a gap of 4 years when the Asian rivals locked horns again in 2004. This time, Sri Lanka reclaimed the title.

The last time Asia Cup was held in 2008, when Pakistan was hosting the event for the first time. Sri Lanka cricket team again managed to win the title when they beat India in the Final.

Now, the 9^th edition of the Asia Cup Cricket tournament is going to be held from June 15, in Dambulla, Sri Lanka.

It’s not easy to figure out the favorites for the Asia Cup-2010. Not because all teams are evenly good, but because the performance of these teams have not been impressive in the recent times. Let’s have a look at each team:

Team India:

Indian cricket team is struggling with

Pakistan Team for Asia Cup, England: Something Missing?

I am astonished by the way Pakistan Cricket Board is running the Cricket affairs. PCB has taken back a number of decisions which they made haphazardly. Recently, PCB has announced a 35-member probable Pakistan Cricket squad for Asia Cup and the England Tour.

Shahdi Afridi has been given the charge of Captaincy in all the 3 formats of the game. Many people question his captaincy in the Tests when he has not played the longest form of the game for the last 4 years. However, I think with the limited options PCB has, Afridi may the ideal candidate for the job.

And if you appoint Afridi as Captain in ODIs and T20, then who will lead the side in Test?

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: 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

Can Pakistan Play T20 World Cup Semi Final?

Sluggish - The least one can say about the performance of Pakistan Cricket Team in the match against England.  And after losing a close match to New Zealand, people can only hope Pakistan qualifies for the Semi-finals of the T20 World Cup-2010.

Pakistan were playing the first match of their Super-8 round in the ICC T20 World Cup-2010, being played in West Indies. Pakistan batted first and could only score 147 despite a start. As usual, the poor batting forms of all the batsmen stopped Pakistan from getting a higher score.

In response, Pakistan Fielding was just good enough to help England achieve the target. Not only the batting failed for Pakistan, the bowling was also terrible. And fielding… well don’t ask me.

Saeed Ajmal was truly the hero for England. This man

ICC T20 World Cup-2010: An India-Pakistan Comparison

In Twenty20 Cricket you will find two strongest teams: Pakistan and India. India was the champion of the first T20 World Cup in 2008, while Pakistan was the champion in the 2^nd T20 World Cup in 2009. And this is the third edition of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup-2010. All eyes are again on these two teams, who will win, who will lose in T20 World Cup-2010? India and Pakistan have played both group matches in the ICC T20 World Cup-2010. I thought it’s a good time to compare the performance of both these teams in T20 World Cup-2010 so far.

India and Pakistan are archrivals and when these two play, it’s not easy to sit calmly in front of the TV set, especially, if you are an Indian or a Pakistani. India, Pakistan Cricket rivalry has been adding beauty to the game ever since they played each other for the first time. Especially, their record in Twenty20 World Cup has been outstanding against each other.

India and Pakistan, both have started T20 World Cup-2010 as favorites. However, India has

ICC T20 World Cup: Who is Favorite?

Twenty20 (T20) Cricket seems to have overshadowed the International Cricket. After 42-day extravaganza of IPL, Twenty20 World Cup (T20 World Cup-2010) is going to start from April 30.

This year will see the third edition of T20 World Cup. The inaugural T20 World Cup was won by India in 2008 when they beat archrival Pakistan in the Final. The second Twenty20 World Cup was won by Pakistan, beating Sri Lanka in the Final. This year T20 World Cup will be played in West Indies.

The question everyone is asking now is who will win the Twenty20 World Cup-2010. The answer, of course, is not easy!

Pakistan has the best record in Twenty20 World Cup, they are the only team to reach the final of the first two T20 World Cup tournaments, could only won the last T20 World Cup in 2009. Pakistan also has the best winning ratio in Twenty20 World Cup with 22 wins, 7 losses and 1 no-result.  However, Pakistan team for Twenty20 World Cup-2010 misses key senior players due to injuries/bans. Shahid Afridi, the skipper, is sure to make his team fight hard to win Twenty20 World Cup-2010.

Another favorite of T20 World Cup-2010 is India. India also has the privilege

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