Making sense of Pakistan’s new squads
The Pakistan Cricket Board press conference to announce the squad for the tour of Sri Lanka started well. Misbahul Haq stepped down as T20 captain, and Zaka Ashraf announced Mohammad Hafeez as the new T20 captain – well-played by the PCB in ensuring that Misbah ‘stepped down’ and was not pushed out. It is up to Hafeez now to demonstrate his leadership potential, which we all have heard of, and make that role of captain his very own. After this revelation came the announcement of the new squad. No wait – the new squads. The dream that PCB was contemplating regarding three different ...
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New skipper, new squad: Let’s beat Sri Lanka!
The Pakistan Cricket Board announced the squads for the tour to Sri Lanka yesterday. The three formats got their own tailored squads with the T20 squad coming up with the biggest surprise. Hafeez has been made the captain for the format and vice-captain to Misbahul Haq in the other two formats as Misbah stood down from international T20 cricket. No formal retirement announcement has been made as yet. Hafeez is affectionately called ‘The Professor’ amongst the team members and is known to think deeply about the game, its strategies and plans, making him the most logical successor to Misbah. He will ...
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My priority list for PCB
Undoubtedly, the new Pakistan Cricket Board management has been proactive in solving problems. Unexpectedly, it has been our new PCB Chairman who has come to the rescue. Zaka Ashraf seems to be more serious about his priorities than the previous management, but there remain issues that need immediate attention. So here’s my list of what should be top on the priority list: 1. International tours For more than a year, the Pakistani cricket team has not played at any venue outside of the Asian continent. Other than hosting a series in the UAE, we have had no practice on international pitches like Australia, England, South Africa and ...
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Why should Afridi steer the ship?
On March 30, 2011, when the team lost to our arch rivals and eventual champions, India in the semi-finals of the coveted 2011 World Cup, this is what our team captain at the time, Shahid Afridi had to say: “I want to say sorry to my nation. We tried our level best but couldn’t make it. I am pleased with the way my team played throughout the competition.” He apologised for leading a fragmented, jaded, and weak team to the top four; something which he envisaged on February 9, 2011. The talismanic all-rounder was ...
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Why Imran Nazir should be on the T20 team
Imran Nazir, a talented right-handed batsman and consistent performer in the T20 format, is desperate to get selected for the Pakistan T20 squad. While there are plenty of reasons which prove that he deserves to be part of the team, the PCB cannot give one as to why he should be dropped. If the PCB is of the opinion that Imran Nazir was given chances but he failed to prove himself, I would like to ask them if he has ever failed in the T20 internationals. It just doesn’t make sense to drop him from the T20s when it was the ODI ...
Read Full PostGood riddance to Imran Farhat!
When Mohammad Ilyas announced his resignation following the series between Pakistan and England, I was a content man. Not because Mohammad Ilyas wasn’t going to be part of the PCB selection committee going forward, but because his resignation signaled the end of Imran Farhat’s career. It has been cause for suspicion that Farhat’s inclusion in Pakistan’s squads has been due to dear daddy-in-law, and with him no longer selecting the team now, Farhat was likely to be dropped. This was made official when Pakistan’s new chief selector, Iqbal Qasim, announced Pakistan’s squad for the upcoming Asia Cup. I was doubly satisfied when not only Farhat, ...
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Keep Mohsin Khan as coach
The basic ingredients required from an ideal cricket coach are: mentoring the team, maintaining discipline, building for the future and forging a good relationship with the captain besides. Unfortunately, the wish-list of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) seems to be different. The coach should be ‘qualified’ and must be from outside Pakistan. The board appears to have almost finalised a deal with former Australia cricketer Dav Whatmore to fill the vacancy of permanent coach of the Pakistan team. Whatmore, undoubtedly, has solid credentials but like many other well-wishers of the country’s cricket, I think the former Sri Lanka and Bangladesh coach ...
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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 ...
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Mohammad Hafeez: The sweetly timed turnaround
About 18 months ago, Mohammad Hafeez was wondering where he had gone wrong — he probably hadn’t seen himself play cricket. His comeback series after almost three years in the wilderness – the 2010 World Twenty20 – lasted six matches, 39 runs and two wickets. So when he was selected for the limited-overs squad to take on England that summer, shock prevailed. He hadn’t scored a half-century since December 2006 and despite an all-rounder’s tag, failed to get more than three wickets since October 2003. He averaged 18.6 with the bat after 48 ODIs. There was a huge uproar following his selection ...
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Maybe they forgot it wasn’t Pakistan…
The conviction of Pakistani cricket players in a UK court is truly embarrassing for the nation in general and for cricket followers in particular. So what should we do next? Should we close the chapter and move on? I think we should stop, step back a little and view the entire episode in the larger context. I see it as a symptom of a disease that has spread far and deep across the length and breadth of the country. When you keep on brushing filth under the carpet for too long, it sometimes finds its way out. The spot-fixing trio ...
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