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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The way forward for Pakistan cricket
All the rumours of sacking Misbah as captain have been laid to rest after Pakistan’s victory in the Asia Cup. The fear of Pakistan going downhill after the ODI series lost against England is no more there. Pakistan cricket has been stable, and for once the cricket season ended on a high note with not much to worry about. But what’s next for Pakistan? There are still many unanswered questions like: Who will be the next captain for Pakistan? Which new bowlers will have a future in the team? For how long can we persist with spinners as our main weapon? Who is the right ...
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IPL without Pakistan: Who is the real loser?
Since its inception mid-way through the last decade, Twenty20 cricket has added a new dimension to the gentlemen’s sport. This relatively new brand of cricket not only marked a certain form of revival for the sport, it also managed to expand its fan base by exploring regions of the globe that had previously shunned it because of the length of its duration. The inaugural T20 World Cup soon followed and brought the most significant twist in its otherwise steady growth. The crowning of India as the World T20 Champions marked wild celebrations back home and took Mahendra Singh Dhoni and many of his unknown men ...
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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 PostKohli: 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 ...
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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 ...
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David Warner: A true cricketing metamorphosis
David Warner’s scintillating debut against South Africa in a T20 fixture, where he scored 89 off 43 balls, told cricketing fans that maybe they were not going to miss the mighty Mathew Hayden that much after all. The stark contrast in the frames of the two left-handers is more than compensated by their consubstantial batting styles – belligerent and disheartening for the bowler. Many players phase out after such breathtaking debuts and are unable to carry on the high of their initial promise. Warner, however, proved to the world that he was ...
Read Full PostT20 fever and the Big Bash
The first time that T20 cricket burst onto the scene was in 2003 in England, and some eight years down the line there is no arguing that it is the most popular form of cricket. Millions of dollars have been put into competitions like the IPL and Stanford 20/20 tournament which have enjoyed enormous success. A testament of its wide appeal is the number of World T20s already held. In Australia, the format was launched in 2005 and an excited crowd attended the domestic fixture at the WACA, which had seen poor attendance for Australia-Pakistan Test match some time earlier. This ...
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