Kohli: The future of Indian batting
India has always produced exquisite batsmen from Viswanath to Vengsarkar, Azharuddin to Tendulkar; from this pedigree, another star has emerged that shines brighter than the other young guns around. Virat Kohli has set himself apart from his contemporaries with such dominant performances that India’s batting future seems to be secured. Actually, in the last few weeks we have had a glimpse of that future twice; once, when Kohli led India to a successful run chase in Australia, chasing 321 from 36 overs. And again yesterday, when India completed their highest, Kohli was at the ...
Read Full Post
What to learn from the series against England
The Pakistan vs England series has finally concluded in the UAE and as the records state, we managed to beat England 3-0 in the Test series. However, England were good enough to beat us 4-0 in the ODIs and also 2-1 in the T-20s. Sadly, the latest defeats have spoiled the show for us big time. The losses have undoubtedly exposed our batting line up. If we look at the stats, we owe the Test series win to our spin bowling and the England side’s inability to play our bowlers. But here is what we have been doing in the batting department ...
Read Full Post
Tendulkar: A retirement or a century?
Every cricket lover will agree that Sachin Tendulkar is indeed a legend. He has been one of the best batsmen, the most prolific run maker and arguably the biggest cricket icon the game has ever known. Let’s recap his achievements. Tendulkar is not only the man with the most runs under his belt (over 15,000 in Tests and over 18,000 in ODIs), he is also the first cricketer to score 200 runs in an ODI. With the increasing trend of T20 cricket, it seems that his record for the most runs in ODIs and Test matches will stay with him forever. But now there’s ...
Read Full Post
Team Pakistan: Back with a bang!
Can anything taste sweeter than victory? If you are a Pakistani fan who has gone through the spot-fixing case, the ensuing talks of banishing Pakistan from world cricket, the semi-final losses in the World T20 and World Cup 2011, clearly not. And what if that victory is against the number one side in the world? It just makes it all the more sweet. It might take a couple of days for this to settle in. Consider this- in 2010, the cricketing world was so irritated with a particular team and the board’s chairman that there were talks of throwing them ...
Read Full Post
Grooming batsmen for all conditions
Our think-tank in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) should analyse the needs of the different formats of the game. The Pakistan cricket team shouldn’t just be a side that can play a good T20 match or an ODI – they should be prepared to play all the different versions of cricket, and the PCB should prepare them accordingly. I am glad that under Misbahul Haq the team is finally learning the essentials of Test cricket. They are spending time in the middle and accumulating runs rather than treating it like a one-day match. The results are obvious; the team has started to perform consistently, and the ...
Read Full PostPakistan’s victory = Misbah’s victory
On a pitch that offered pace and bounce, especially if the bowler was willing to bend his back, Ravi Rampaul did well in reducing Pakistan to 12 for 3 as the top batting order of the greens disintegrated. Although they were not defending a big target, it looked as if West Indies could make a match of it at that point. But this was a short-lived dream, as Misbahul Haq’s calm presence at the crease not only assured Pakistan victory in the match but also an unassailable lead of 3-0 in the five match series. Recently, Misbah has faced heavy criticism ...
Read Full Post
Pakistan vs West Indies: Batting is Pakistan’s Achilles’ heel
So far so good. Pakistan have made it to the quarter-finals of the World Cup. And despite a few hiccups along the way, they have done it in style by not only topping their group but by beating world champions Australia in the process. Now they play the West Indies who are showing signs of life and have had some good games in the group stages. They have created opportunities to win, but so far have failed to convert those opportunities into victories. This was painfully obvious in their last two games, against India and earlier against England, where the top-order fired, ...
Read Full Post
Australia vs Pakistan: Finally, the Kangaroos retreat!
I am proud of you, team Pakistan! You have done what no other team has been able to do since you did it in 1999; you thrashed Australia in a World Cup match. The jubilation of Pakistanis across the world is apparent on social media websites like Twitter and Facebook. Even the defectors joined the chorus of euphoria; people who had disowned Team Green after we lost the match against New Zealand are now supporters again. Unplayable deliveries Before I go on to talk about the batting woes, in the words of many Pakistani captains I would like to say “First of all, ...
Read Full Post
Pakistan cricketers: Fitness key to batting form
The endless late nights comprising hours of pajama cricket have commenced, Black Eyed Peas is blaring out after every boundary scored and the countless commercials will play for the next six weeks. Perhaps what keeps most Pakistani cricket fanatics up at night is debating their side’s batsmen and their batting order. ‘Why don’t they move this person down and they should play this guy’ are just two of the comments thrown at me continuously over the past three years. My batting expertise comprises slogging a Shoaib Akhtar half-tracker that he lobbed at me when I first arrived at the NCA on ...
Read Full Post
Umar Akmal: Congratulations, the kid is back!
Pakistan’s inability to rotate the strike has worried millions. It remained a cause for concern in the team’s opening match against Kenya and discounting the total that sensible batting, and Umar Akmal’s heroics, enabled Pakistan to set, the safety net just isn’t permanent. The over-cautious strategy – to preserve and unleash towards the end – remains unconvincing but is implemented time and again, with varying results. Often, when the middle-order fails to click, the hitters arrive in the middle, needing to bat out more overs than they had been trained to – or had hoped to – resulting in the embarrassment of ...
Read Full Post
