Posts Tagged ‘Mohammad Yousuf’

The ail of Pakistan cricket was there for all to see again

Another week passes, another seven days which drill home what ails Pakistan cricket. The fickleness and the ability, not only to shoot from the lips, but also possess a thinking-process which is quite similar to lip-shooting, has continued to hurt the side.

I suspect that most Pakistan fans wanted this to happen quite an eon earlier, but it is never too late I guess. Shahid Afridi’s appointment as the captain of the Pakistan side in all the three formats of the game comes out like a fresh breath of oxygen to an asphyxiated man. Despite all his wrongdoings in the recent times, if there is that one person who can get the side to exhibit a semblance of unity, then, it does look like it will be Afridi. Mind you, the task will be arduous, but Afridi comes across as a person who loves these challenges and will not shy away from this one as well.

Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Yousuf: Will we see them together again in the Pakistan Cricket Team?

That, was the good part. What surprised me was Afridi’s attempts to get Mohammad Yousuf back into the fold after the man had already announced his retirement, in a typical, ad-hoc fashion. Much like the manner in which he had quit Pakistan cricket in 2007 after being rightfully shown the door from the format which needed someone without the fielding and running-between-the-wickets record that Yousuf possessed.

Then, much like now, the PCB had dropped him, he had quit, joined ICL, and then tried to quit ICL when the big brother league, IPL, came about, but wasn’t allowed to, before continuing to feature in the ICL till the league disbanded itself.

But the reasons for my quizzical looks on the Afridi attempts go beyond this. This time around, Yousuf had not only retired. He had been ‘indefinitely’ banned. The PCB had later enhanced our cricketing vocabulary by clarifying that ‘indefinitely’ was quite a different term from ‘life-ban’ in that the ban was applicable till the PCB wanted it to. Yet, the PCB had also mentioned of a date till which the players could appeal against the PCB sanctions and based on the findings, the ban may or may not stay.

Yousuf chose not to appeal the ban. The date elapsed. That was the end of that. Or rather, should have been the end of that.

Doesn’t trying to get Yousuf back to playing international cricket, imply a travesty of the rules set by the PCB themselves? Did Afridi have the backing of the PCB when he tried to get him out of the retirement? If yes, do these disciplinary probes offer any meaning or are the eyewashes of the biggest order. If no, isn’t Afridi breaching a code of conduct set by PCB, by going against them?

Oh, but whether the PCB bother is another issue. They are busy dishing out their own set of statements and then denying them as was the case with the PCB chairman’s ‘I never not want Pakistan to participate in the Champions League-I will complain to ICC about this’ line.

Despite the gravity of what Intikhab Alam said about the Pakistani players, why is it that I find it so difficult to disbelieve him?

The Jokers of International Cricket are at it again

A reader on this blog called Lalit Modi the biggest joker around in the world of cricket only yesterday. It took the Pakistan Cricket Board less than 24 hours to prove him wrong. The PCB displaced the IPL Commissioner from the top perch on the jokers list today – this is a brief list of what all the PCB announced today:

1. Mohammad Yousuf: Banned for Life, cannot play cricket for Pakistan in any format
2. Younis Khan: ditto (as above)
3. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan: 1 year ban
4. Shoaib Malik: 1 year ban
5. Shahid Afridi: To pay a fine of Rs.30 Lakhs + He has been put on probation for a period of 6 months during which he will be strictly monitored ( )
6. Umar Akmal: Similar fine
7. Kamran Akmal: Similar fine

Funnily, the PCB has gone on to insist that they have stopped short of handing out a ‘life ban’ to Yousuf and Khan – what that means is that the two veterans cannot play for Pakistan but they are free to play country cricket and T20 tournaments like IPL – so effectively, their personal careers and financial futures have not been threatened; instead it is the Pakistan national cricket team which will suffer immediately with these multiple simultaneous expulsions.

That the Pakistani cricketers are the rowdiest lot in the game is a well known fact, but a cricket board doesn’t peril the future of its own team like this. Chances are you will see some roll-back on these decisions pretty soon – the T20 World Cup is round the corner, and Pakistan happen to be the World Champions.

Can Pakistan pull off a surprise? | Need another 252 runs to win

Mohammad Yousuf and Umar Akmal - holding strong at MCG

Match: Pakistan vs Australia 1st Test Match | Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) | 26th to 30th December 2009 | Current Match Score: Australia 454/5 declared and 225/8 declared, Pakistan: 258 and 170/3

As things stand at stumps on Day 4, Australia are in firm control of the Boxing day Test. Chasing a world record target chase of 422 runs, Pakistan have already lost 3 of their top batsmen and they still need aother 252 runs. But there is hope yet.

Skipper Mohammad Yousuf and the brightest of the new talents from the Pakistani stable, Umar Akmal are at the crease having already collected 54 runs for the 4th wicket partnership. There is Umar’s brother to follow, who has six test hundreds to his name and preceding him will be Misbah-ul-haq who averages 38 in tests but is definetely cut-out for better. Following these two will be Mohammed Aamer who has just become the youngest bowler in the history of test cricket to take 5 wickets in an innings – Aamer hasn’t sparkled with the bat yet in tests but he has shown his batting prowess in one-day cricket and is capable of providing great support.

If Pakistan need some inspiration, they need not loook too long back. Only in the last test involving Australia, West Indies took Australia very close chasing a huge 4th innings chase in spite of losing early wickets. There is another anomaly in their records that Pakistan can correct with a win tomorrow; scores of over 400 have been made 18 times in the 4th innnings of a test – all Test playing nations barring Pakistan have done it atleast once. Yes, even Bangladesh has done it once. The important question is – can Pakistan do it tomorrow?