Pakistan versus South Africa: Plenty to learn still
Despite promising much, the Pakistani cricket team could deliver little against the South African juggernaut. It was a sound thrashing and a reminder that despite their resurgence over the past couple of years, the tourists have still got plenty to learn. A number of things went wrong for Pakistan right from the beginning. Starting with team selection, Rahat Ali – who was only sent as reinforcement – was chosen ahead of the first-choice Mohammad Irfan and Ehsan Adil. Regardless of the fact that his bowling was mostly ineffective, it is the manner of his selection that should raise serious questions. Irfan and Ehsan Adil must ...
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UEFA Champions League returns: Here are the predictions!
February has started, which means the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League, the biggest club competition in the world, is less than a fortnight away. Out of 32, the remaining 16 teams will resume their quest for glory with all of them having only one target in their minds, that is to reach the final at Wembley on May 25 and then to be crowned as Champions of Europe. No disrespect to the group stages of the tournament, but the real thrill and excitement starts once the competition enters its knockout stages. And like always this year’s draw has put ...
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Pakistan versus South Africa: Are we prepared to handle the heat?
So it’s time, again. The South Africa versus Pakistan Test series starts on February 1, 2013. Exactly a year after Misbah’s boys conquered the world number one side, they face a similar challenge when it comes to statistics, only this mountain they have to climb is much steeper than before. England was the best side in the world then, and South Africa is at the moment. The two series cannot be compared because the differences are obvious; Pakistan faced the world number one last year in the UAE, “a home away from home” on the slow and low tacks. Now, however, the battle ...
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Royal Rumble 2013: A substandard event with few highlights
Every year in the wrestling world comes an event where rising stars and veterans get one more shot to fame. This year marks the 26th Royal Rumble event, which includes the ever popular and mandatory Royal Rumble match itself. This match is regarded as one of the three (arguably four) major Pay-Per-View (PPV) events of the year. If you’re a wrestling fan like me, you would know how eagerly viewers await the Royal Rumble. Since I cannot review the whole event for you (it was packed with one too many exciting moments) I’ve listed a few of the major highlights here. Included ...
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Pakistan vs South Africa: Which green team will come out stronger?
The morale-boosting One-Day International (ODI) series win in India earlier this month may have given much heart to the national team and its fans, considering the fact that the side had to overcome the immense pressure of playing the world champions in front of highly partisan home crowds, not to mention the prospect of facing a batting line-up, which on reputation, was considered one of the finest in the world in limited-overs cricket. While the fact that Pakistan were able to come out on top in the battle of nerves that comes into play every time they face India, there is little doubt that the ...
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Politicising sports needs to stop
The ICC Women’s World Cup does not usually attract the kind of attention and coverage that is given to the men’s version of the event. This time, however, there has been an upsurge in worldwide interest for the game, but not for positive reasons. As reported extensively, the recent skirmishes at the LoC had a direct impact on the gradually improving relations between Pakistan and India. Talks on bilateral trade and visa regulation lost momentum and the general feeling of goodwill was overshadowed by the resurgence of deep-rooted mistrust between both nations. The most tangible and symbolic outcome of the incident was India’s ...
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Formula 1: Is Red Bull the only contender?
The upcoming Formula 1 (F1) season is destined to be another challenging and intriguing one indeed. Red Bull, Mclaren and Ferrari remain serious contenders for the Championship. Mercedes is considered by some to be a dark horse in this year’s campaign. Mercedes had undergone a major transition at the end of last year when Michael Schumacher (the Greatest Driver of all time) bowed out of the F1, after a rather uneventful comeback with the German Team. His retirement has left a huge vacuum in the team as well as Formula 1. I seriously doubt we will ever get the chance to witness ...
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Spare us the embarrassment; Stop inviting international teams to Pakistan!
There was a time when Pakistan cricket was at its peak – a time when cricket teams and players from around the world wanted to visit Pakistan willingly, play cricket feverishly and intermingle with the locals openly. It was a time when Pakistan was able to successfully host World Cup matches on its soil. Those days, it seems, are long gone. The optimist in me tells me that those days will return and that good times are just around the corner, but the realist in me tells me that this is not to happen in the foreseeable future. It is not news ...
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Yes, we need Misbah!
Not surprisingly, Misbah’s bad form with the bat in past three ODIs against India has yet again given a chance to his critics to call for his head. For example, this blog, published in The Express Tribune, harshly criticises Misbahul Haq, and suggests dropping him from ODI team. The criticism in this the aforementioned blog, however, appears to be superficial, because the author has not presented any concrete facts, statistics and figures and merely takes into account the series against India to evaluate Misbah’s spot in the middle order. Surely, a player should not be dropped based on his performance in the last three matches ...
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Pressing questions: Should Misbah call it a day?
A series victory typically covers a team’s weaknesses as the focus then revolves around how the series was won, which players performed exceptionally, and then generally how good the leadership and management was. However, such is not the case in Pakistan’s 2-1 series victory over India. It is a great feat no doubt! Beating India in India and almost clean sweeping them is an achievement and a half; however the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) should not shy away from assessing the overall team performance during the series and fixing the ODI team. Pakistan’s Test and T20 teams are quite brilliant in my view. ...
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