250 for 4 ducks - Unique Cricket Record

Cricket has a way of coming up with new and interesting records all the time. In the first of the three match one day series against New Zealand being played today at Abu Dhabi, Pakistan lost its first two wickets even before the score card got ticking for them. Opener Salman Butt and skipper Younis Khan were both dismissed by Shane Bond, one wicket apiece in each one of his first two overs. Two more Pakistani batsmen fell for ducks, making it a total of 4 ducks for the innings. In spite of that, Pakistan went on to score 287 runs and in the process became the first team in the world to cross 250 runs in an ODI in spite of 4 ducks!!

Pakistan vs Sri Lanka | Schedule | One Days

1st ODI : 20th January, Karachi (Day Night Game)
2nd ODI: 21st January, Karachi (Day Night Game)
3rd ODI: 24th January, Lahore (Day Night Game)

Live Telecast of the Cricket Matches will start at 0700 hrs GMT for the Karachi matches and 0630 hrs for the Lahore Match. You can watch the cricket live on Ten Sports.

The Importance of Lalit Modi

" There are a whole nest of issues around this appointment, and you have to wonder how Lalit Modi will respond as well. "
- Sean Morris, Chief Executive of the Professional Cricketers' Action (PCA), reacting to the appointment of Mushtaq Ahmed as England's spin bowling coach.

Security disMay for Pakistan

Shouldn't the Indian cricket team be the most scared about travelling to and playing the ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan? Yet, we hardly hear of any concerns from the Indian players; instead it is the Australians who are getting all worked up. Now, the Australian Cricket Association (ACA) has even given its official recommendation to its players - "don't travel to Pakistan". And guess what is the BCCI stand - Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary says he sees "no harm" in Pakistan hosting the prestigious tournament.

Only recently Bangalore and Ahmedabad were targeted with multiple blasts in a single day; the next day, the news channels were busy reporting as the Surat police kept finding bomb after unexploded bombs across the city - so much so, the channels finally lost interest in the count. In almost all cases of terrorism in this country, the government points out to Pakistan's hand. Yet, we are least bothered or worried when our players are going right into the 'terrorist den'.

Are we a nation of the most courageous, or has the relentless exposure to terrorism at home made us indifferent to the prospect of another bombing? I think it is neither - the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is right when it says that the ACA stand is absolutely illlogical. The ACA has given more weightage to the report given by Reg Dickason, based on his short stay in Karachi. You can't blame the PCB for being unhappy as the ACA has largely ignored the more comprehensive report provided by Nicholls Steyn, the security experts hired by the ICC.

The BCCI's stand is not any show of bravado - it just shows a more intelligent understanding of the situation in Pakistan. Imran Khan does have a point when he points out that no cricket team or player has been the target of any terrorist activity ever. With the Australian players, it looks like their wives, girlfriends and the ACA have a bigger influence on their decision than an official ICC report. What remains to be seen now is how Cricket Australia reacts. Or will it be ICC that comes to its rescue?!

Pakistan goes to Assam, I come back, ULFA welcomes Pakistan

So here i am back from my annual trip back home to Dibrugarh in Assam, also the home of the dreaded United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). With the Pakistan cricket team slated to play the first ODI in Guwahati, Assam has once again been in the news for the wrong reasons: The PCB, much harassed by foreign cricket boards for security reasons on their own grounds got a suitable chance to raise their own security concerns this time round and there has been much talk on the venues for the two team's match preparations since the players would like to spend as little time as possible in the dangerous environment of Assam. And silly me, i had gone on a self-paid annual holiday to ULFA land !!

The Assam Cricket Association ( like every other cricket board in the world ) has a way of making mockery of itself time and again and this time they resorted to making a ridiculous request to the outlawed ULFA to "help in the smooth conduct of the game". The terrorist outfit didn't miss the opportunity and in a statement released by their chairman Arbind Rajkhowa has welcomed the Indian and Pakistan Cricket teams to Assam and has assured everyone that there would be no security concerns for the two teams. Ironcially the ULFA now appeals to "all sections of the society to ensure that the match passes off peacefully". Rajkhowa reassures everyone saying that there was no need for panic since the outfit respects all games and sports. That's a little believable as the self-styled Commander-in-chief of the ULFA, Paresh Baruah was the goalkeeper and captain of Dibrugarh's football team not too long back in history.

How i wish ULFA had the same respect for all human lives as it has for sports and games.

Pakistan vs South Africa: Changes in the air

The 1st Test between Pakistan and South Africa starts tomorrow at the National Stadium, Karachi. While at the helm of the Pakistan team are a new captain, vice-captain and coach, it is the one planned change in the South Africa side that have grabbed the headline. Ex-captain and fast bowler Shaun Pollock may yet play tomorrow, but definitely not as first choice. The official word from the South Africa camp is that Pollock is being saved for greener wickets, where the ageing hero's fading pace will still be a force to reckon with. If he still makes it to the XI tomorrow that will be via an injury to Morni Morkel, who will undergo a fitness test on the morning of the 1st Test.

Shoaib Malik will lead Pakistan for the first time in a Test match, along with a new vice-captain in Salman Butt. Left arm spinner Abdur Rehman is slated to make his debut, and Shahid Afridi who has opted out of the team as he is fasting in the holy month of Ramadan will be sorely missed on the dry Karachi wicket. While Afridi himself may not care much for his own batting now, Malik would know that even a quick fire 40 or 50 from Afridi can often make a crucial difference to the proceedings. ( Afridi averages 37.40 with the bat and has picked up 47 wickets in the 26 tests he has played)

Likely Pakistan Team:

1 Shoaib Malik (captain) Salman Butt (vice-captain) 2 Mohammad Hafeez 3 Younis Khan 4 Mohammad Yousuf 5 Mohammad Hafeez 6 Misbah-ul-Haq 7 Kamran Akmal (wk) 8 Abdur Rehman 9 Umar Gul 10 Danish Kaneria 11 Mohammad Asif

Likely South Africa Team:

1 Graeme Smith (captain 2 Herschelle Gibbs 3 Jacques Kallis 4 Hashim Amla 5 Ashwell Prince 6 AB de Villiers 7 Mark Boucher (wk) 8 Andre Nel 9 Makhaya Ntini 10 Shaun Pollock 11 Paul Harris
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You may also like to read Islamization of Pakistan Cricket"
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Islamization of Pakistan Cricket

It began a few years ago when Shaheed Anwar's flowing beard made its debut on a cricket ground. Very soon a Pakistani player wearing an unusually long beard stopped surprising the audience. So far, not bad.

Then we heard about the disappearance of one of the long-bearded Pakistani cricketers to the dismay of the ICC - Mohammad Yousuf, the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year was finally found preaching in the northern terrains of Pakistan. He missed the ICC Awards function in South Africa just before the start of the Twenty20 World Cup. So far, not too bad.

Then we heard Shoaib Malik speak at the post-match presentation ceremony after the final of the just concluded T20 Cup. "I want to thank all the Muslims, all over the world", uttered the Pakistani captain. Was Malik the captain of the Pakistan cricket team or a Islamic XI? Surely Irfan Pathan, the man of the match in the final and the son of an Indian muezzin would not have been too amused. What was Shoaib Malik trying to achieve?

And now, Shahid Afridi, who doesn't have too long a beard has made the shocking decision to skip the Test series against South Africa because he instead wants to fast during the holy month of Ramadan. "I asked the Pakistan board to allow me to skip the two Tests against South Africa because it would be difficult to fast and play in Ramadan," says the player of the tournament of the World Twenty20.

Where is Pakistan cricket headed to? Have they forgotten that a perfectly clean-shaven Imran Khan who didn't care to thank either God or the Muslims all over the world after every match had brought them the World Cup and not the oh so pious Inzamam-ul-Haq?

Cricket players pray so that they perform well for their country and their team succeeds... when their prayers start jeopardizing the fortunes of their own team, I don't think even God would approve very much.

Stories from the Cricket Blogosphere

The prayers of a blue billion and about half a green billion have been answered - an India vs Pakistan final is one of the ultimate fantasies of a cricket fan and it's been delivered, and how!! With Twenty20 having caught the imagination of the world, i thought of surfing the blogosphere and see what fellow cricket bloggers were writing. Here are some random gems

1.

"I will smash your face, you just wait" - The Yuvraj Singh-Flintoff controversy. And Yuvi's "Pay-Back Drama." Karthikeya digs into this story on his blog A Cricketing View - while this is not the best time to criticize Mr. Sixes, but i think Yuvraj had ready sound-bites for the media post his 666666. You must have already heard the "God, this is not justice" crap. I don't know why the press or the electronic media let go off of the 'tendonitis/tennis elbow' nonsense so easily even though Nasser Hussain and Harsh Bhogle had supplied the world with enough fodder for thought.

2.

India v South Africa by the Left Arm ChinaMan

Thus spake the Atheist: So frustrated by their ineptitude, that the Saffer wicket keeper, Mark Boucher, began to slap the faces of surrounding players with his glove, followed by some sound punching and then he tripped them up with a cricket bat which has recently grown from his mid-rift.

Go there, if not for the text, for the image accompanying this post.

3.

"Its l like watching an Angelina Jolie sex scene" - Uncle Rod similizes Yuvi's power hitting

4.

Homer's Eeerie parallels between the autumns of 2000 and 2007

5.

This ain't a pure cricket blog, but she writes the cutest posts on cricket: Dravid Resigns at Pri's World

"I title my post Dravid Resigns and yet every other word in my post ends with a kar, you know like Gavaskar, Vengsarkar etc. "

6.

Visit Brian Carpenter's Different Shades of Green for the best/most elegant header image amongst all the cricket blogs in the world. Like everyone else in England, he too seems to be mch troubled with Mr. Yuvraj Singh and is trying to find succour in county cricket!!

7.

"Brett Lee bowled with speed and aggression, knowing a good performance here could help him push another million Bollywood singles. "- JC's report on the India-Australia semi-final at his Cricket Blog. A tad staid by JC's standards, but the comments make-up for the lack of spice.

8.

Catch Bhajji's Bhangra (India vs Australia) at Six and Out . And if you are there, you may as well read this brief piece titled Yuvraj's Jab in Freddies Jaw

9.

I love cricket, but if it could be combined with a bit of art and a bit of action, it would be perfect. Check out Cricket=Action=Art for some stunning cricket artwork. Here's an example.

Plenty of visual delights on this blog, including an image of the victory huddle that India formed yesterday afternoon at the Kingsmead, Durban.

Twenty20 SemiFinal: What happens in case of rain?

Here are the 'ICC Twenty20 Playing Conditions' which give the rules in case a semi-final of the Twenty20 World Cup is abandoned due to rain.

In case of No result in the Semi Final – the team with the most wins in both the Group stage and Super Eight Series matches shall be placed in the higher position.
If still equal the team with the higher net run rate in all matches (in both Group stage and Super Eight Series matches) shall proceed to the Final.
If following the net run rate calculation above there are teams which are still equal, then the team with the higher number of wickets taken per balls bowled in all matches (in both Group and Super Eight Series matches) in which results are achieved, shall proceed to the Final.
If still equal, the finalist shall be determined by drawing lots.

So Pakistan will go through to the semi-final in case the semi-final is abandoned. (NZ has a total of 3 wins so far but Pakistan has 4)

World Twenty20: It's a India vs Pakistan final

It was the expected thing in the 1987 Reliance World Cup, but didn't happen as England and Australia spoiled the fun at the penultimate juncture. Twenty years later in the Twenty20 Cup, with both India and Pakistan fielding young teams and new captains at the helm, no one expected the sub-continent arch-rivals to reach this far. But then cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties, ain't it?

In the first semi-final of the inaugural World Twenty20 championship, New Zealand took on Pakistan at Capetown. Daniel Vettori won the toss and asked Pakistan to make first use of the wicket which promised some movement and early help for the faster bowlers. Shane Bond got into the act in the first over itself scalping opener Imran Nazir ever before the young man had opened his account. But from there on it was Pakistan all the way as they thrased the Kiwi attack all round the park. Even Vettori, who has had a most economical series so far was not spared. The hapless NewZealand captain was taken for 24 runs in his final over as Shahid Afridi just missed breaking Yuvraj Singh's record of T20's fastest fifty. Afridi was finally dismissed for 49 off just 10 balls. (for the video of Afridi's 8 consecutive sixes, click here :)) .

Chasing a mammoth target of 222, NZ got off to a blistering start reaching 75 in just 5.0 overs. It was the brilliant change of attack from the Pakistan captain that changed the tide of the game completely - in the 6th over, Malik brought on himself even though the fielding restrictions were still on and in the 7th over, a double change happened as spin was introduced from the other end as well, in the form of Afridi. Malik and Afridi bowled in tandem right from the 6th to the 13th over - and what a spell it was! Many many years from now, cricket fans would still remember this afternoon in Capetown when two Pakistani spinners mesmerized the Kiwis into abject surrender.

Not a single wicket fell in the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th overs but the Kiwis were in deep tangle as the scorecard read 80/0. Just five runs were scored off the last five overs and the asking rate had climbed to a steep 14.20. Under intense pressure to get going, one after the other NZ batsmen threw away their wickets and by the time the two spinners had finished their quota of overs, the match was for all purposes over. The scorecard read 92/7 at the end of over no.13 . Pakistan finally won the match by 92 runs to reach the final.

In the other semi-final at Durban, Australia who chose to bat first were dismissed for all of 43 runs. Ajit Agarkar who once again managed to find a place in the India XI wreaked havoc on the Aussies as he dismissed Gilchrist, Hayden, Symonds, Hussey, Hodge, Clarke and Watson. He finished with figures of 3.5-0-21-7 . India rattled off the required 44 runs without the loss of any wickets. Speaking at the post-match conference, Adam Gilchrist said, "It was the most humiliating day of my life." (Gilchrist was out hit-wicket as a squash ball fell onto his stumps :) )

India defeat Pakistan 3 - 0 !!!!!!

A wonderful game of cricket ended in a bit of a farce, though I didn't mind the extended fun one bit. In a see-saw battle between arch-rivals India and Pakistan, the plank finally came to a rest parallel with the cricket field as Misbah-ul-haq failed to get the final single that would have sealed the match for his team. But that was only after Misbah-ul-haq got Pakistan back into the game from a hopeless situation with some brilliant power hitting in the 48th and 49th overs.

The match would have ended with both teams tied at 141, but for the introduction of the new 'Bowl-Out' system to determine who gets the 2 points for the match. While the bowl-out did look a kind of a joke, Mahendra Singh Dhoni needs to be complimented for getting the choice of bowlers right. Two of the three bowlers who hit the stumps were not regular bowlers, in fact they hadn't bowled a single ball in the match earlier. No wonder both Sehwag and Uthappa were thrilled with their efforts.

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India vs Pakistan, Durban, September 14th 2007

Scores: India - 141/9 and Pakistan 141/7

Ashes and War

Two pairs of arch rivals will fight T20 battles tomorrow in the much drenched cricket-fields of Capetown and Durban. Tommorow's afternoon fight promises to be one exciting one with the most fiercesome of the four warriors back against the walls having suffered a gory loss to an unfancied outsider in the 1st Battle-of-Capetown. Will the giant be able to brush apart its bruises and scars and finish victorious in the do-or-die clash tomorrow? In yesterday's encounter Ponting's soldiers started off with the intetion of blitzkrieging the men from Zimbabwe. The strategy backfired with heavy early casualties, a position of weakness from which the Australians never could recover. What will be their game plan for the morrow? Afterall the English castle is only stronger than the Zimbabwean one, and unfocussed heavy shelling may not be a prudent idea. However a planned artillery attack to weaken the enemy before the final hand-combat might just do the trick.

Translated: Gilchrist and Hayden will need to avoid the tempation to go firing on all cylinders all the time. Give Freddie the respect if he bowls like the way he did today againt Zimb. It is possible to reach a 190-200 score even if one bowler ends up with figures of 4-1-29-2. T20 is slam-bang but not as slam-bang as Ponting thought/thinks it was/is!!

When the sun sets tomorrow in Durban, the stars will rise - to shine, and fight. A new general is in charge of the Hindoostan army and unlike the previous incumbent he is no Wall. To the contrary, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a 'Wall-Demolisher'. He dislikes minor skirmishes prefering instead to wage mounted battles or launching missiles. In an earlier avatar as an ordinary soldier, he had once brought the same enemy to its knees in a battle on the eastern coast of India. In that magnificient battle, Dhoni single-handedly shot down 148 men of the Pakistan navy - most remarkable were those four sensational shots when he drowned naval ships carrying 6 men with a single fire. 15 other times he shot down ships carrying 4 men apiece. But that clash is now history and tomorrow is a new day. The Pakistani army is also under a new dynamic and multi-talented leader - Shoaib Malik. For General Malik the primary task will be to marshall his own unruly troops. He knows that he has a bunch of great individual fighters, but can they stop the in-fighting to focus their energies on wiping out the opposition?

Will Dhoni's men be able to put it across Pakistan then? I suspect the key may lie in INS Sehwag, that old warship which has seen much battle but rusty now for lack of use. INS Pathan faces a similar predicament. If these two old war-horses can kick off that rust and manage to shimmer, the Blue stars can definitely outshine the Green ones tomorrow night.

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Twenty20 World Cup: 14 September 2007

Afternoon, 1200 GMT : Australia vs England, Capetown

Evening, 1600 GMT : India vs Pakistan, Durban

World Cup Losing Pace...

Brett Lee was already gone, and now the Pakistan Cricket Board has announced that Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif won't go either. Razzaq is gone too...

I am really and seriously worried about the past and future of Pakistan cricket now...they seem to be going further back and back, literally. First, they resurrected Azhar Mahmood out of nowhere and now they have also recalled Mohammad Sami..at this rate, i just hope we don't see Wasim Akram moving out from the commentary box onto the greens.

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Though I wonder what the real reasons behind the ouster of Akhtar and Asif is. Can you blame me for thinking it's more to do with some powdery substances rather than injuries?

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Matt Hayden & Andrew Symonds should be satisfied with PCB now. Describing Akhtar's inclusion as not fair, Hayden couldn't stop himself from remarking (they had been specifically asked by Cricket Australia to keep their big mouths shut over this) that " It's a laughable point among our players because we've worked very hard to be clean with athletes. It's ludicrous and it's not very fair."

doping scandal: akhtar & asif won't play the world cup

Just saw this new flash, Pakistan Cricket Board hands out punishments to the doping accused. Akhtar 2 yrs & Asif 1 yr.

So all of us who were thinking that PCB had acted smartly and would ensure that Akhtar would be around for the world cup have been belied. Bad news for Pak cricket fans and everyone else too...

A new trouble for Pakistan Cricket: Nandrolone

Somehow this ICC Champions Trophy is not a very auspicious tournament for Cricket. This is in addition to the fact that it is not the right tournament anyways. Where is the point in having a tournament like this six months before the World Cup? The format this year (of the main phase of the tournament) is exactly the format of the earlier World Cups( 1975 & 1979, 83 and 87 were different in only that there were two matches now between each team in the pools).

Well, lets not meander away from the point - and the point is a substance called Nandrolone, which is now rocking Pakistan Cricket. This latest trouble for Pakistan Cricket might also mark the arrival of the drug-menace in the world of cricket. No, I am not discounting Warne's popping of the pill his mummy gave him, but Warne being Warne, and the fact that it was an isolated case made it a little less dangerous. What's making me more than a little uneasy about Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif is 1) the fact that 2 guys have been caught together, both for the same banned anabolic steroid called nandrolone, and both are Pakistan's new ball bowlers, and 2) they are from Pakistan and the fact that the tests were carried out, not by a neutral body like WADA but by Pakistan internally, and that Pakistan has on its own recalled them from the Champions Trophy.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has acted in the most appreciable manner and its efforts needs to be lauded. The recall of Akhtar and Asif means that Pakistan will suddenly need 2 new guys to open their attack in their match against Lanka tomorrow.

Nandrolone, the substance consumption that Akhtar and Asif have been found guilty of is not new to the world of sports. Linford Christie, Merlene Ottey, Dougie Walker and many other illustrious sportsmen have been banned after having been caught for Nandrolone-abuse. And this makes it all the more dangerous for Cricket.

Pakistan: More politics than cricket

I am sure that i have a lot of company when i say that if Pakistan's cricketers, selectors and board put as much focus into their cricket as they do in their politics, they might just become Australia's biggest challenger on top of the cricket world. Pakistan probably produces the world's best fast bowlers consistently, even otherwise they have the biggest amount of talent-going-waste in the world of cricket. Only if stories like the recent "Younis Khan" and captaincy didn't appear all too regulary from Islamabad or Lahore or Rawalpindi. I don't know who is right or who is wrong, just that someone need to take charge of Pakistan cricket very earnestly. Maybe even Musharaff, he is after all a parton of the PCB. What say??

What's Round, What's Oval: Inzy, Hair or the Cricket Ball?

Ball-tampering: Pak at the Oval

Darrell's Hairy Episode: Not all black and white!

I am not a fan of Mr Darrell Hair, the umpire or the person. I loved it when Ranatunga won that infamous match in Australia, when another Hairy episode had taken place. I am not a racist either, but I do believe that browns and blacks have been victimised and not everything was hunky-dory with the early Australian umpiring when the countries from the sub-continent went visiting.

But, in the current imbroglio I am not Championing Asia's case at all - if Hair was wrong and Inzy right, then that would be a much better case for removing Darrell but this is plain arm-twisting by BCCI & PCB. The reason put forward by ICC for not taking the umpire on board is as ridiculous as it gets: "For safety and security reasons". This (BCCI) is the same board which is ready to guarantee the entire Pakistan team complete security. Is the threat perception here even a small portion of that?

I am sorry to say, but the ICC keeps sinking further and further...
( Am actually surprised how when Ganguly was captain and Dalmiya the king of the world, could a Ashoka D'Silva survive !! )

Click here to read the transcripts of Hair's correpsondence with ICC