England, Cricket & the Lost Identity

England, after a 5^thconsecutive World Cup debacle, find themselves in the spotlight which no one want’s to be in. This downfall may feel like a little too exaggerated, but this was due for a very long time. England is probably the only country left out of the top 8, whose whole parameter of success is only derived from the results in Test Cricket. It might have not looked that bad or that prominent about a decade ago, where they would have got away with it with good results in one format out of 2, but things have changed with the arrival of T20 Cricket and seems like England has yet to come to terms with it.

It is staggering to see that England, who actually introduce Cricket to the rest of the World, has fallen so far abaft than the rest of the World. It’s probably more because they have lost identity of their own style of Cricket. Prior to 2000’s, England seems to have a blueprint that they used to follow for ages, and their players, who used to make it through the county cricket, knew the method before arriving at the International level. But 2000 onwards, they couldn’t hold it all together. The game has changed immensely, and for their part, the new generation that came from the county circuit couldn’t connect themselves with the English Cricket Philosophy. On the other hand, England found player’s that were not really English, and were from different countries who were not ready to accept the English cricket methodology. Likes of Kevin Peterson, Matt Prior, Owais Shah, Jade Dernbach, Kieswetter and Morgan fit that column. Those players became role model for upcoming players, which in short make England a bit of a lost wolf in the jungle.

To be fair to the players who were not English by origin, they were a little too good for English Cricket and they brought in a fair amount of success to the English team, but not the way the England Cricket officials would have wanted to see. As far as I see it, English Cricket “Top Brass” would have liked to see a set batsman leaving the short ball around chest high outside the 4^th stump, when the team would require 6 of the last 2 balls and they would even be fine with the same men getting out on the last ball, than seeing the same player hit the 2^nd last ball for the six and won them the match. They seem to be too stubborn to alter anything they ever plan which makes little or no sense at all.

There is always a theory as to why any team lost, and you would find it with England too. Going into stats about England’s performance since their last success story at the World Cup, which was back in 92, when they reached the final and lost to Pakistan, England’s record is atrocious among all the top 8 playing nations. People talk about West Indies losing their “X” factor, or that Pakistan is facing a “Draught” when it comes to finding good bowlers, but its England who has bigger questions to answer with all the facilities and infrastructure that they have. England have won only 5 of their last 22 matches against the Top quality sides in the World Cup, which is even worse than West Indies.

Team	Matches	Win	Loss	Tie/ Draw/NR	Win %
Australia	33	26	6	1	78.7
Sri Lanka	35	20	13	2	57.1
India	28	16	11	1	57.1
South Africa	26	13	12	1	50
Pakistan	22	10	12	0	45.4
New Zealand	29	13	16	0	44.8
West Indies	23	6	17	0	26.08
England	22	5	16	1	22.72

Stats since 92 World Cup, Source: www.espncricinfo.com

Looking at the facts above will make all “Barmy Army” supporters wonder what have England done so wrong all those years, that they find themselves in this “dark tunnel”, once again. The problem for England cricket is back in their own managing office at ECB. It is a problem that they have faced for long and couldn’t cope with it. It is a problem with England cricket that their players, who perform brilliantly at the County level, couldn’t replicate when it comes down to performing at the International level. There can’t be that much flaw with their batting technique or temperament, because with poor technique or temperament, you can’t survive at that level for long. I am pretty sure it has more to do with over coaching or giving roles to player’s that they are not accustomed to.

Looking at their recent World Cup campaign till the Bangladesh match, which was a must win to stay in a tournament, people will find a lot of questions that English team management will fail to answer. Anyone who would have watched Alex Hales playing at the county level, couldn’t understand how such a destructive opener can be left out of the playing 11 for the first 4 games in the World Cup? One also can’t understand why Ian Bell, who plays at 2 down or 3 down in a Test match and plays there brilliantly for a very long time, will all of a sudden start opening with Moeen Ali? One must also question how England can drop Steven Finn, who picked up 8 wickets in his first 4 matches in only 29 overs that he bowled, and was the only bowler from England in top 20 wicket takers in this tournament till England were thrashed out of the World Cup.England’s team management should be asked that why they just won’t drop Anderson or Broad, who couldn’t pick 8 wickets together in 10 matches and 78.2 overs that they have bowled together in this tournament. If they were just kept in the team because they had a better “Economy” rate than Finn, then England earn the right to go back home and try to figure out what they need to do with this team all together. One must also question England’s theory of playing Moeen Ali as a front line spinner, when you have Tredwell in the ranks. With 59 wickets in 44 matches, he seems to be an option that will give you wickets, and wickets is all you need in this World Cup. England was fortuitous to have a top quality and experience spinner, unlike many other teams, but once again, they proved themselves to be the master of “Over Thinking”.

The likes of Michael Carberry, Kieswetter, Lumb and many of those Cricketers have gone the same root as Hales is going. Those cricketers have blossomed in County cricket, a place where they have been given freedom to express themselves, and forget about what might happen if they get out. Looking back at England high’s since 92, which are not many, but all of them had players with a brilliance and players that expressed themselves to impose on the opposition. Be it first Ashes win in more than a decade and a half or so, where it was the likes Kevin Peterson, Flintoff, Trescothick and Simon Jones, who came hard on an Australian side that was not used to receiving that sort of aggression, or be it the only Triumph at the International Level ICC T20 victory in 2011, where again it was Kevin Peterson and Kieswetter out footing the mighty Aussies in the final with asserting themselves with aggression, a bit of flair, or be it England’s 1^st test series victory on the Indian soil, where it was again Kevin Peterson who turned it around after going 1 – 0 down, and chasing 320 in the first innings on a real turner against quality spin attack of India and scored 186 of 233 at strike rate of nearly 80, with 20 4’s and 4 mighty sixes. It was down to this flamboyance that England produce results like the ones they couldn’t before. But in the end, English cricket couldn’t handle character’s like KP, and hate him too often and made him retire at the age of 32, where he could have easily played for at least another 5 years. Speaking on Peterson’s force “Exile” from the team, Former England Captain Michael Vaughn explain what England will miss in his Tweet that says, “Won’t play for England again. So I will remember @KP24 for what he was. A maverick who could play innings that no other England player could.!”, which explains what sort of talent England let go, just because he did not fit their criteria of “Gentleman’s Game”.

All of those things summed it up where England is where they are today.  England lack that bit of creativity or thinking on the “Toes” as they say, and they always found wondering in the end. Just like what they in the must win match against Bangladesh, when they could have opted to ball full when Bangladeshi batsmen started pulling and cutting them with ease on a slow Adelaide pitch, but they didn’t. Just like they could have done with their batting order by sending Hales with Ali, followed by Bell and Morgan and then by root, to give that much important balance and that right – left combination, but they didn’t. Make no mistake about it, but this England team, even without the likes of Kevin Peterson was good enough to make Semi’s under any coaching staff (Yes, I mean ANY) other than the one they had. This team had everything, from genuine tall fast bowler to genuine swing bowler, from bowling all – rounders to batting all – rounders, from a genuine spinner to top quality opening batsmen and to brilliant finisher’s in Buttler and Morgan. There can be no excuse for this performance, with all the coaching staff, facilities, Tour planning and everything that this team had. So it’s high time when heads must roll in English Cricket, because their system needs to be overhauled, if they are to compete with the rest of the World, any time soon.

The original post was posted here on 28th, March 2015.

Why Pakistan’s World Cup Stint Calls for Celebration, Instead Of Mourning

As Pakistan lost out their quarter-final tie against Australia, one of the tournament’s favorites, the same kind of exaggerated sentiments were seen on TV and social media, yet again. Scenes of frustrated individuals taking their anger out by breaking TV sets, emotional fools showcasing bangles (chooriyan) that they want our national heroes to wear, because apparently, they’ve ‘disappointed’ fans who wake up for them early morning (as if they’ve been forced to do so). Ex-cricketers gave loathing comments to analyze the team’s performance, it was mind wobbling to see. They went as far as asking the Prime Minister, who is the Patron in Chief of the PCB, to remove the top management in order to prevent the cricketing downfall of the country.

A question for those ‘patriotic’ fans, who’ve been pulling off such publicity stunts – what chances did Pakistan have to win the World Cup in the first place? Former greats, ex-cricketers, who showed over the top animosity towards the team’s performance – what odds would India have, had they played without Kohli, Raina, Ashwin and a few other regulars? Or for that reason any other team. I know most people will come up with answers that will just not make any sense, whatsoever.

To start off, this is not the Pakistan’s strongest team that we would’ve liked to field in a tournament as big as the Cricket World Cup. We lost Ajmal and Hafeez due to the ban, Junaid, Gul and Irfan in the end because of injury problems. In all practical terms, we lost half of the players that would be in the team, any time you would pick a best XI for Pakistan. I don’t think I have to remind people about the loss that we suffered due to the spot-fixing scandal, where we lost 2 of our premier bowlers + 1 batsman, who was in the form of his life.

That’s not all. We are the only team in the top 8 Test playing nations, who haven’t played a single One-day International or Test match on home soil for more than 6 years now. We play our home series in UAE, where pitches are home like, but no place is home except Pakistan itself, no matter how hard we try. Out of the 15 member squad, 10 players have never played a single International game at home, with the other 2 out of 5 having played less than 10 matches at home, while 1 played less than 30 matches at home.

Anyone who follows cricket knows that players are developed in home conditions, so they can go abroad and perform there. As we look to compare nearly everything with India, we will look at the India squad as well, where you will only see Rahane as the player who is being truly developed on foreign soil. The rests are home developed products. Even then, our ‘disappointing’ players go abroad and win a T20 World Cup, qualify in 4 consecutive World T20 semi-finals, beat South Africa in South Africa, India in India and go on to white wash the English and Australian team in our makeshift home ground, being the UAE.

Even with all these issues, Pakistan moved on and tried not to look back. We are a nation that is full of resilience, where we keep on fighting for success even with all the political and social disputes around. This calamities reflect in our team as well. When we won the Asia Cup, not many would have given us a chance. Even in this World Cup, all seemed lost when we failed to win in the first two games. There was a feeling that we were done for the World Cup, and nothing good would come out of it. But we did what we do best; we fought back like lions and reached the quarterfinal stage with four victories in a row.

We successfully defended the lowest total in the tournament when teams find it hard to defend even 300+. We beat South Africa for the first time ever in a World Cup event. We had one of the most inexperienced bowling attacks around, but we never looked like one. We fought it out, with the aggression we have always been known for. We even had the Aussies on tilt with our steaming and aggressive pace bowling. The Adelaide crowd could have never dreamt of a fast bowler from Pakistan, Wahab Riaz, tormenting their best hook/pull-shot player on a slow Adelaide pitch.That famous victory was just inches away from us, and all could have been different had Rahat held on to the catch that cost us the semi-final berth. For the first time in such a long time I am sure, the Australians would have tasted their own medicine, which no one likes to do. Wahab’s prolific performance even made former greats of the game come on Twitter and praise his ability.

At the back-end of the World Cup, I find it way too easy to criticize the team’s performance, and pin point the loop holes that we have in our cricket system, but that’s not what I am going to do. I am going to celebrate, and cheer all the amazing moments we had throughout the World Cup. I am going to celebrate whatever these cricketers manage to achieve,even with such little resources, all the moments of excitement and adrenaline rush they managed to give us in these difficult times.

I think we should celebrate Afridi and Misbah’s amazing career and the performances that they produced for Pakistan over the years. We should celebrate 5 fifties from our captain in 7 innings that he played in this tournament. We should celebrate what Misbah contributed to the team, when we were at our lowest point after the spot-fixing scandal, precisely, his captaincy throughout the tournament, which was of the highest class. We should celebrate Wahab’s spell from the quarter-final that made the likes of Watson and Clarke mere ordinary. We should celebrate the first ever hundred by a Pakistani Wicket Keeper in a World Cup. We should celebrate all the highs instead of the lows in Afridi’s career. We should not remember him for what he did in the past few weeks, we should remember him for what he did over the past 16 years, especially what he did for us in the 2009 T20 triumph and World Cup 2011. We should celebrate the emergence of our young fast bowling attack. Many thought it was the weakest attack possible, but even then, it proved potent enough to dismantle anyone, on any given day.

We, as a nation, have too much negativity, which we go through each and every single day. These cricketers come from the same society and have the same kind of stress and pressure to go through. We have had enough arguments about the flaws in our domestic structure, which won’t get better overnight. It’s a long process that will take a long time to fix, but we need to stay calm. There is no need to press the panic button. We lost to the host nation, who were playing with their full team, on their ground and were labelled as favorites by nearly everyone prior to the tournament’s start.

There is no need for negativity as Pakistan’s cricket is not dying, not now by any means. We have a decent enough roster of 30 or more players or so, who can represent this country at all levels in the near future. All we need to do is talk less, work more. We need to identify the areas that need attention and start working on it, focusing on the task at hand and try to achieve the target within a proper frame of time. But for now, we,as a nation, should celebrate what we achieved in the 2015 World Cup with a below par team, than to mourn the subtle defeat.

The original post was posted here on 25th March, 2015

Balance – The Key

Pakistan’s unfortunate demise in ODI Cricket, which was our ‘forte’ once, is quite intriguing when scrutinized. As an individual, who is in his mid-twenties and has seen Pakistan’s ODI dominance from the early 90s till the late 2000s, it is very hard to swallow this dismal performance of Pakistan team in ODIs in the last 2 years specially. I am of the generation of Cricket followers who had this believe that Pakistan always had an issue with playing in the ‘Whites’  but were awesome in the ‘Colors’. However, things change and I saw Pakistan going from one of the Top 3 in the World in ODI cricket to one of the Worst 3 in the World. I find only one reason for the downfall and that is the ‘lack of balance’ in this current Pakistani outfit.

Since I started watching cricket back in 92, when my elder brothers forced me to watch the World Cup live in the early morning, I always saw Pakistan had the formula to win matches. It was not a traditional formula of playing 5 bowlers, 5 batsmen and a wicket keeper. It was a formula that Pakistan created themselves, such as 3 bowlers, 3 all-rounders, 4 batsmen and a wicket keeper. I looked back at Pakistan’s top cricketing moment since 92 in colors that include the success of 92, final in 99, winning series against Australia in Australia in 2002, 2007 T20 Final, 2009 Champions Trophy semi-final, 2009 T20 Triumph, 2010 T20 semifinal, 2011 world cup semifinal, 2012 T20 semifinal and 1^st ever ODI series victory on the South African soil by an Asian team.

There was one thing that stood out and that was the importance of all-rounders in Pakistan’s own method of success. Be it 92, when we only had Aqib Javed and Mushtaq playing as genuine bowlers, with Wasim, Imran, Amir Sohail, Salim Malik and Aijaz playing as all-rounders, or be it 1999 where we had Shoaib and Saqlain who played as a genuine bowler, supported by Wasim, Razzaq, Azhar and Afridi who played as all-rounders. It was always that mix and match that won us matches, which made us one of the best teams in the ODI cricket at least for over a decade. Pakistan never had more than 3 genuine bowlers who were supported by 3 or more all-rounders. That was the formula that served well for such a long time, but somehow, our team management who themselves have played on teams that have had all-rounders, completely lost it when they had the chance to pick the best 15 for the World Cup.

Over the last 2 years or so, they went for so called ‘specialist’, which is taking its toll on Pakistan’s fragile batting line up to produce any results really. Since when did our batting become so amazing that we can only have 6 batting options? (Considering Afridi is as reliable as nothing), we are actually playing with just an inch over 6 batsmen (let’s call it 6.25 batsmen) that is putting further pressure on our bowling which in not as great, neither as talented as it was used to be. The argument for all of this logic is that we don’t have an all-rounder like the quality of Razzaq, Azher and so on. For an argument, Razzaq was mere average, or should I say below average till 1999 World cup, where the team management had realized that he was more of a batting all-rounder than a bowling all-rounder. He had a batting average of less than 11 in 14 matches and had a bowling average of 33. Wasim Akram and team management back then, found a solution to use Razzaq more as a batsman in the top order and then he flourished at the top, while Azhar Mehmood was more of a bowling all-rounder and did really well lower in the order. Excuses like Pakistan does not produce quality all-rounders like Razzaq or Mehmood might have some legitimacy, but isn’t this a problem for the rest of the world as well? How many teams have an all-rounder who you can compare with Razzaq, Kallis or Azhar? I believe none. Watson and Ryan McLaren come closest, but aren’t of the same level.

We have to move on with what we have and make full use of it. Firstly, we need to understand that not every all-rounder will give us 10 overs and 2-3 or 4 wickets and not everyone who is called an all-rounder will give us 70+ runs in every 2^nd innings. We need to understand the thin line between batting and bowling all-rounders just like every other team does. Like Australia, where they have Maxwell and Watson playing as batting all-rounders and would just be used for 3-4 overs in the middle of the innings, whereas Faulkner is being played as a genuine bowling all-rounder and has produced results with the ball as well.  If we start giving roles to people on what they are capable of, and find a mix like we had before, there is no point why we will not become a powerhouse in ODIs again. That’s what happened back in the 2013 series with South Africa, where it was only Junaid Khan and Saeed Ajmal, who were playing as specialist bowlers, but then we had Afridi and Bilawal Bhatti playing as a bowling all-rounders and Hafeez and Anwer Ali playing as a batting all-roundes and guess what? We became the first Team from this continent to win an ODI series in South Africa. We need to back players who will achieve heights like other countries do. We have batting all-rounders like Hammad Azam, Haris Sohail, Shoaib Malik, Hafeez, Umer Amin, who can score runs and get you a few wickets at the same time, and bowling all-rounders like Bilawal Bhatti, Sohail Tanveer, Yasir Shah and Wahab Riaz who will give us wickets with some useful runs down the order. This lot is enough to provide Pakistan team with the much needed balance that they lack right now and can lift this team up, producing results that we can still achieve, but for now, it seems a little too far away.

Phillip Hughes – “Not OUT” Forever

I have grown up watching cricketers where it was just unconventional, yet stylish, who fit the title “bold and the beautiful”, and who would also fit in the category of “ugly but useful”.

Cricket has many faces, from being a gentleman’s game to a professional sport, cricket has had many ups and downs to come across. Yet, cricket remains the 2^nd most popular team sports in the World, and that is mainly down to the layers and athletes, who give their all to entertain people.

Philip Hughes was a player with immense talent. He emerged onto the screen with hundreds in each innings against Proteas in their own backyard. His stance was unique, that was more than just side on. He used to have a little dig before playing, like Australia’s two times World Cup winning captain Ricky Ponting used to do, but it was just unique.

His square cut, his pull, his cover drive, his enthusiasm, his energy, it was his aura that included everything that made him the darling of the crowd.

He came across in the domestic arena as someone, who has the habit to score big hundreds.

He was the youngest player in the history of Australian cricket to score a Century in the Pura Cup match, at the age of 19.

He couldn’t stabilize his position in the national side, but yet he was never seem far.

He was always around the corner, always knocking the door, always asking questions to the selectors.

Whenever he was dropped, he went back to the domestic circuit and score tons of runs to make his way back in. Many have questioned his technique, but yet he somehow finds a way to answer them. He has been just not normal, he was extraordinary.

He was the youngest player to score a century, in each innings of a test match for Australia.

If that’s not enough, he did it against the best fast bowling duo of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel at the age of 21.

His smile was mesmerizing and his energy was a joyous feeling to come across with. He was not worried about not being selected in the playing XI after selecting in the squad. Instead, he was happy to be around the team mates and to help them get the glory for his country. He knew that his chance will come, and he will get the glory as he was bound to.

From the very start, till the very end, no one ever heard about Hughes in news for the wrong reasons.

He was unique, and so was his death, absolutely unheard off. He knew how to express while batting and was never afraid of hooking or pulling a genuine fast bowler.

However, it was on 25^th Nov 2014, when he tried it one time too many and he never got another chance, to dig it or to leave it.

He missed a short ball while pulling Sean Abbott, his close friend. That ball hit the exposed area around his neck, which caused his death.

Hughes has a number of not out records to his name. He had the highest ODI score of 138*, highest first class score of 243*, highest List A score of 202* and highest T20 score of 87*. His last innings was of 63*, which was again an effort to ensure the selectors and the captain, that he is ready to go for the first Test of the summer, but unfortunately, his time ran out and he remained “Not Out”, forever.

 

 

Richie Benaud reveals fight against Cancer

Former Australian skipper and a veteran commentator Richie Benaud revealed that he is suffering from skin cancer, and that the treatment is underway.

Benaud, who scored more than 2,000 runs for Australia in 63 test matches, announce at a public event in Sydney that he is going through radiation therapy.

“I’m coping with it very well – the doctors are pleased,” Benaud said in quotes on Channel Nine. “I’m going along slowly. The cancers need to be treated.”

The 84-year-old is going through treatment for skin cancer on his forehead and the top of his head.

Benaud, who played 63 tests for Australia and took 248 wickets at an average of 27.03, have urged kids and youngsters to wear cap to avoid chances of such disease.

“I recommend to everyone they wear protection on their heads. Eighty-four-year-olds don’t seem to mind as well as they used to,” he said. “When I was a kid, we never ever wore a cap. I wish I had. You live and learn as you go along.”

Benaud, who under his influential captaincy and all round performance, helped the baggy greens in reclaiming ashes back in 1958-9 , believes that things are going in the right direction about his health.

“Progress is slow,” he said. “I’ve been doing a lot of walking. We are out every morning, doing 40-minute walks every morning and it’s showing beneficial effects.”

Benaud, who started working as a journalist for BBC Radio in 1960, haven’t commentated since October last year.

Coulter-Nile stars as Australia see off Proteas

Australia won the first ODI in a series of five against the Proteas on Friday at WACA, Perth. Star of the show was a young pacemen from Perth, who delivered a special bowling performance on his home ground.

It was South Africa who won the toss and put Australia in to bat. Australia made a solid start and cruised past 50 under nine overs and looked all settled for a score of over 300.

However, South Africa managed to pick five for 50 that reduced the hosts from 94 for no loss in the 15th over to 144 for five in 30 overs. It was then the turn of George Bailey, who was dropped twice in two overs, first by David Miller and then by Imran Tahir on his own bowling, to overcome the crisis situation and he just did that.

Bailey took Australia to 300/8 after 50 overs with the help of well-crafted 70 of 75 balls that included three fours and three mighty sixes.

Chasing 301 to win, South Africa made a poor start and were restricted to 76 for four in 16 overs. It was then captain AB de Villiers and David Miller, who formed a partnership, that put the visitors on track again.

Needing less than 100 runs in 14 overs and with six wickets in hand, the visitors looked in total command before young Nathan Coulter-Nile produced a magic spell, where he took Miller and McLaren in the same over before picking up Steyn a few overs later, that virtually set up the victory for the Kangaroos.

South Africa were bowled out for 268 in the 49th over, giving the hosts 1 – 0 lead in the five match series. Coulter-Nile was selected Man of the Match for his impressive bowling performance.

The second ODI between the two teams will be played on Sunday, 16 Nov 2014 at the same venue.

Pakistan Need Shoaib Malik, the Player, Not the Ex – Skipper

Pakistan batting lineup recently proves itself as a house of cards, revolving around Misbah. If Misbah scored for Pakistan, the batting looked nearly decent, but if he flopped, everything looked miserable. Now his good time with the bat seems to all but over and things look more than just shaky for the team prior to the World Cup. Pakistan are less than 10 matches away from the World Cup, and are yet to find a batting lineup which is an automatic choice on the paper. There have been too many chops and changes in the batting order and things look more uncertain as they were 4 years back. As cricket’s biggest party is just few months away from beginning in full prime, I as a Pakistan Cricket supporter believes that Shoaib Malik might be the one who can give answers for a lot of questions for the Team Pakistan, come February 2015.

Pakistan have tried number of youngsters over the past 4 years from the last World cup, some of them even played in the last World Cup as the emerging players and sadly, they are still “Emerging” players.  Many of them are in their late 20’s, and their failures after failure are yet to give them a spot in the starting lineup. Pakistan after Amir Sohail and Saeed Anwar, always had issues at the top and it was their middle order who gave them the way out in difficult times. First it was Inzamam, Ejaz and Salim Malik, then it was Yousuf, Younis and Inzamam and later on it was Malik and Misbah along with Umer Akmal and Younis Khan who gave Pakistan the needed steel in the middle to take on the giants of International Cricket. That was one of the prime reasons why Pakistan were able to reach 4 consecutive Semi Final of World T20, 2 World T20 Finals, a World T20 Championship & one Semi – Final of the Champions Trophy and World Cup 2011 even after the World Cup debacle of 2007.

If one would look into all of this closely, you would find Malik in the middle of most of those achievements, and when Malik failed, Pakistan somehow failed as well. He was the 2^nd highest scorer for Pakistan and 4^th highest scorer in World T20 Championship in South Africa, where he led the team as a young Captain to the final against arch rival India. In 2009 World T20 Championship in England, he was involved in 2 crucial partnerships with Shahid Afridi in Semi Final and Final, which led Pakistan becoming the World T20 Champions. Later that year, in Champions trophy, Malik scored amazing century against arch rival India in the group match which made Pakistan qualify for the semi-finals, eventually losing to New Zealand. Pakistan toured South Africa in 2012, where they lost 3-0 in test matches. However, in the One – dayers, Pakistan were able to chase down twice which is not Pakistan’s strength, and both time Malik played a sensible hand in chasing down both targets.

Many would argue that Malik was given enough chances and that he should not include in the team again. However, I would like to argue in a different direction. YES! He was given a lot of chances since his comeback to the National team back in 2011. In fact, his average is mere 20 since his comeback in the national team after 2011 World Cup. But I believe, that was due to the fact that he has not played at the position where he was best played at. His average at the International and Domestic level is best at when he comes 2 down. He has an impressive average of 42.68 batting at No.4 in 22 innings while playing for Pakistan, which is definitely better than his overall average of 32.67. Batting at 4, Malik have 3 hundreds and 3 fifties under his belt in 22 innings which should at least be acceptable for Pakistan Cricket standard. Comparing Malik’s average while playing at no.4, it doesn’t surprise me that he performed a lot better than Younis Khan (average 36 at No.4), Umer Akmal (average 14 at No.4), Fawad Alam (average 19 at no.4), Sohaib Maqsood (average 28 at no.4) and Asad Shafiq (average 26 at No.4). Only Misbah have better average than Malik (average 46 at No.4), but to his credit, Misbah has better average playing at no.5 (average 48) than playing at no.4 (average 46). Yet, under the Captaincy of Misbah, he was mostly played at 6, and sometimes at 7, where his average comes down to 27 and 32.  He was never utilized as a part-time bowler, which he is more than just capable of and that he proves over and over again in Domestic cricket and in T20 Tournaments all over the world, which added more pressure on him to deliver from the bat a number on which he is not comfortable on.

Many would argue that he is a Professional and that he should play at the position where the team needs him, but I would ask them the same question in a different way “How would the likes of Mohammad Yousuf, Dravid, Virat Kohli or Damien Martyn, careers be like, if they were ask to play at no. 7 in the Batting Order”? The answer is known to most of the people who are out there and have watched Cricket regularly.

Malik is not the sort of player who you would want at the crease when the team needs 45 in last 4 overs. Instead, Malik is the sort of player who you would want to play the sheet anchors role, and make the team play around him. He is better than Misbah and better than Fawad Alam for sure in doing this. He has 7 centuries in ODI for goodness sake, and still have an average (32.67) even after poor performance in the last 3 years, than the likes of Younis Khan (31.75), Mohammad Hafeez(30.98), Kamran Akmal (26.18) and Shahid Afridi (23.27).

Looking at the replacements of Malik who have used so far, have yet to impress any one really. Umer Amin who plays purely as batsmen have an average of less than 20 in 15 matches, and Asad Shafiq who is nearing his 2^nd World Cup and also plays as a batsmen only, has an average of 26 in 49 ODI’s with a strike rate of less than 70. Compare that to a strike rate of Malik and anyone would want to have him in the side.

Looking at Malik’s recent performances in the T20 tournaments in the Caribean and in the Champions League T20, one wonder’s why he was not included in the Pakistan Team? Especially after exclusion of a senior pro like Hafeez. He was the 2^nd highest run getter (426) in the Caribean Premier League (CPL) and were the back bone of Barbados Tridents and helped them win the tournament. In the Champions League T20, he along with Blizzard made Hobart Hurricanes the only team outside the sub – continent to have reached the semi – final. He had the highest average in the tournament, with 86 and just got out twice in 5 matches.

In a major tournament like World Cup, teams need senior heads in the dressing room and especially in a team like Pakistan, who haven’t played a single match on the Home Soil since last 6 years, it becomes even more mandatory. With Pakistan loosing Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf in the middle order, it is evitable to have someone like Malik who has the ability to play a sheet anchor role in the team and let Misbah, Umer Akmal and Shahid Afridi to take advantage of in the last few overs. Misbah need to bat lower in the batting order because he has the ability to hit big shots and have cooler mind to make Umer Akmal and Shahid Afridi bat around him. With senior player like Malik in the team, it gives Misbah the luxury to be expressive as well and not feel overly burdened, plus it will give him an extra bowling option too. Pakistan only have few months to get their act straight and make sure we have the right balance on the field when the World Cup will begin in few months’ time. Malik also need to realize that he is a player representing Pakistan and his ex – skipper tag won’t help him stay in the team. He needs to lead by example on the field and make sure that Pakistan will get benefitted by his performance.

How India Vs Australia One Day Series is Damaging for Cricket

For every cricket lover who is passionate about the sport, will want it to be competitive.

As a constant follower of the game, the game itself has been as much of a inspiration for me as any thing else.

When i saw players giving their every thing for a run or a catch or show their commitment, it increases my hunger to achieve my goals.

When I started watching the sport more than two decades ago, there was that sense of calmness which one used to get.

With that, there was also that competitiveness as well, which made it so hard to predict what can happen.

The reason for such excitement was the fact that there was real balance between bat and ball, but sadly this India-Australia 2013 ODI series is seemingly playing the role for unbalancing the game in every aspect.

I assume that most cricket watching audience love to see see fours and sixes being hit, but I doubt that the same viewers will love the idea to see the batsman dominating the game from every aspect, and bowlers are being torn apart.

In four matches so far which have been played in the series, three times scores over 300 have been chased and 2 times scores of 350 plus have been chased in a 50-over match and that too with ease.

Someone who have been watching sports for such along time, it is absolutely mind boggling to say that there was no one incident over all-that time period revealed the importance of bringing back the balance of bat and ball in the game.

 

It’s sad and hard to see bowlers from both teams playing the role of bowling machine, so that once 50 overs are done, they can sit and watch the same thing happening with the opposition’s bowling attack.

Looking at such flat tracks, it seems like its the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) who are whole and sole responsible for it.

Such tracks make cricket similar to a football match with no goalkeepers at either end, and that’s now secret how much fun that would have been.

Any one who follows cricket day in day out cannot deny the brilliance of Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan or Australian captain George Bailey, but there brilliance will be overshadowed by the fact that this run fest strategy implemented by the BCCI, is not helping the game or the teams itself.

Demise of Australian Cricket

Why Australia is where they are today, is the question that every Australian cricket fan is asking right now.

Not many can answer as to what exactly happened to the “GREAT” Australian side, which ruled the cricketing world with complete dominance.

However, the real question is what have happen to a team that looked unbeatable for over a decade, but eventually fallen apart so easily in just 3 years?

It was all hunky dory till 2007, when Australia regains the World Cup title for the 2^nd time in a row.

Everything was looking perfect from the team to the captain, from the players to the management, & from the backup to the over all system.

People used to say that this regime will not fall apart that easily, and for good generation to come.

But in just 3 years, that’s all it takes to destroy the power house of the  cricketing world.

As far as I can understand, my perception is different from the rest, and I can briefly mention some very important points that I believe that led to the downfall of the mighty Aussies.

No 1 – Lack of respect for players

No 2 – “Favoritism”

No 3 – Lack of respect for backup as well

No 4 – Lack of patience for backup

Point Number 1: Lack of Respect for Players

Well a lot of people can disagree on this, or they would at least argue about it that this is not the case, but I will disagree with that mindset.

For every successful team, one would have to find a balance of things to begin with.

I mean, how can any team afford to kick out player with the likes of Michel Bevan, Andy Bichel who never ever caused any trouble in the team, and who was on the top of their game?

Michel Bevan and Andy Bichel were two of the main players because of whom Australia won the 2003 World Cup.

Michel Bevan to be precise, who was tagged as the “GOD” of finishing matches for turning a lost cause into a winning one, was pivotal to the successful defense of the World Cup.

Andy Bichel, on the other hand was in his prime form in 2003, when he along with Bevan and many other, played a crucial part in winning the 2003 World Cup.

Yet Cricket Australia (CA) did not renew their Central Contracts in 2004. There is every reason to believe that no matter how big you are as a cricketing nation, you cannot just let the players go like this when they have been a part of some great achievements.

It’s not right morally and this is not how people treat their Hero’s. The same mistake they did with Damien Martyn as well, where they pressurized him to the extent that even with a very decent record, he retired eventually before time.

Point Number 2: Too much favouritism

Well as we have heard about the word of “Favouritism” in South Asian cricket, apparently, they are not the only ones that have this problem, as it happens to be a problem in Australia as well.

May be not as much as in India, Pakistan or West Indies, but it is there for sure. The prime example of that was Brad Hodge and David Hussey.

They both were the prime performers in Australian domestic cricket for seasons after season, and as well as abroad, but they were given very little chance or let’s just say that no chance to show their metal at the highest level.

Brad Hodge was and is the best middle order player in Australia, and that too without a shadow of doubt, but yet they include Marcus North and then Steve Smith in their test line up to bat at No 6, and left Brad Hodge out of the equation who have an average of 58 Runs per inning in 6 tests.

Point Number 3: Lack of Respect for backups

Cricket Australia did not only shown disrespect to their great players, but to their backup as well.

The likes of Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clarke, Brad Hodge, Nathan Hauritz were all ignored way too quickly than one expected it to be.

Nathan Bracken was the No.1 bowler in ODI when he got injured, but he never came back to the side.

Stuart Clarke was called to be the nearest replacement in Test cricket at least for Glenn Macgrath, due to his immaculate line and length, but he got injured and never came back for unknown reasons.

Nathan Hauritz had a bad patch and he was ignored forever while Brad Hodge never had a bad patch but even then he was ignored.

Such things, which shows that you think way ahead than the actual future, can sometimes make you think as to where you are actually going.

Point Number 4: Lack of Patience for backup

Cricket Australia did not show patience with their backup as well.

They shuffled their players way too quickly and that’s not clearly the way to go about it.

Some time back, England used to do the same thing, which was shuffle, shuffle and more shuffle.

Now they have learned the art of keeping the basics straight. Not Every player can be Shane Warne, Wasim Akram, Glenn McGrath, Shoaib Akhtar, Murlitharan, Alan Donald, Sachin Tendulkar or Brain Lara, so everyone should never be treated equally.

Not everyone can produce the results like these legends of the game did, and one would have to acknowledge this fact and go on with their job.

But unfortunately, it was exactly opposite way around in Australian cricket arena. They expected the results of Warne, Gilchrist and McGrath from Hauritz, Brad Haddin and Stuart Clarke.

For all the logical reasons, those players were LEGENDS of the GAME and they will be easily fitted into any World XI of all time.

So there is no point in expecting their kind of results from any other player so easily.

Conclusion:

The solution to the Australian cricket problem is very easy and they can be back and become a force very soon.

What they need to do now is to realize first of all that they don’t have the services of great’s of the game, so they have to be realistic and patient about the results and the outcome of different events.

They have to be realistic that since they literally ruined their quite good backup themselves, they are now left with not a good team, nor a good backup.

This means that CA will have to become patient and realistic about their approach and stick with the players and give them time and space to perform.

They have to stop giving players the red signal that they will not play for Australia again at the age of 28-29, just like they did to Nathan Hauritz who is just 29 and as a spinner he still has at least 5-6 years left in him.

They also have to stop avoiding players who performed for them in the recent past just because they got injured just like they did with Nathan Bracken and Stuart Clarke. With these kinds of efforts, they have to build up a good team and a good bench strength sooner than later, and it will be absolutely no surprise that we will Australia, back on the top, and that too within no time.