by Owais Ehsan on February 3, 2010
With Pakistan Cricket going through endless humiliations, starting from the Poor form of the team, Ipl Snub, Afridi’s antics at Perth - there is at least some positive News coming out. Rashid Latif & Karachi City Government have join hands to launch the most lucrative club tournament in Pakistan’s History. Latif has long been thinking of launching a city-based Twenty20 league but finally decided it was time to act when Pakistan’s leading cricketers were snubbed at an Indian Premier League (IPL) player auction in Mumbai last month.
The Karachi Champions League, a Twenty20 league, for the leading clubs of the city will begin next week with Rs 10 million (around USD 117,200) as the top prize for the winners. The tournament, a brainchild of Latif and the Rashid Latif Cricket Academy (RLCA) will feature a number of Karachi-based international players, as well as a host of domestic cricketers. Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Khalid Latif, Fawad Alam, Khurram Manzoor and Sarfraz Ahmed, among others, will be playing.
“It was an old idea of mine, one that I had been working on. I am a big follower of English football and I love the history of clubs over there, like Chelsea and Fulham. We have so many old clubs in Karachi and we need to revive that club culture once again here.” [click to continue...]
by Mansoor Ehsan on January 23, 2010
[CRICKET] Australia is 1 up in a five match series against Pakistan. First match was all about Cameron whose century ensured it is all success at the end. Pakistan did well but the killer punch is still missing. Yousuf, Younus and Malik all need to be tidy and agile so middle order does not crumble in remaining matches. Mind you it was Afridi’s effort which took them past 250. Rana can be dropped in favor of Umar Gul as Rana was expensive in last game.
Boom Boom was all reverse in the previous match. He was super with the bat but poor with the ball - that is usually not a usual business in a typical day. Here is what cricinfo says about him in a preview article for 2nd ODI: [click to continue...]
by Mansoor Ehsan on January 21, 2010
[CRICKET] After a 3-0 defeat in test matches, team Pakistan is expecting ’some thing’ in upcoming ODIs after they received reinforcement in the form of Boom Boom Afridi and Younis Khan. It is a common feel here (in Pakistan) that we will give them tough time in ODIs. But i think it is pre-mature to say any thing about the ‘bubbly’ team. In recent past engagements, Pakistan fought well in UAE though they lost the series with 3-2. Pakistan also put a big heart at Champions Trophy when they almost grabbed victory. We all have been putting up these statements time and again that …yeah, we came close and gave tough time but the question is, is it enough that we came closer?? Why don’t we WIN altogether! Let’s hope for the best for ODIs. [click to continue...]
by Usman Zahid on January 20, 2010
On 19th January, 2010; Indian Premier League ridiculed the Pakistanis over the players bidding. In the most astonishing way the players of the Pakistani cricket team and also the reigning champions of T20 world cup were put down by the franchisees of the IPL.
The Pakistani players put forth for the bidding of Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal and Muhammad Amir mainly; but the shocking part of the bidding is that none of the franchisees even made an offer for the Pakistani players. Remember that during the Cricket Awards of the Year 2008′09 not a single Pakistani was awarded. [click to continue...]
by Mansoor Ehsan on January 6, 2010
I can remember at least couple of instances about test matches where Pakistan lost their first 6 wickets at around 50-60 odd runs in the first innings but still came hard and won the test match. One of such memorable match was between Pakistan and India at Karachi in Jan-Feb 2006. Irfan Pathan did a hat-trick in first over while Pakistan were 0 for the loss of three wickets. First 10 overs proved as a nightmare for Pakistan in which they lost 6 wickets for mere 39 runs. Ultimately Pakistan fought back hard and won the match with splendid 341 runs. Star performers were Kamran Akmal (113 in 1st innings) and Asif who took 7 wickets in the match. This was an emphatic repeat of history when Pakistan while playing against India at Kolkata in 1999, lost their initial 6 wickets for just 26 runs but ultimately won the match by 12 runs!
While watching the test match between Pakistan and Australia at SCG I could sense such a drama when Aussies were 6 down for 51 in their first innings and at the end they pulled out a stunning 36-run victory leaving Pakistani spectators back in home grueling in anger. What Pakistan had been achieving in the past is opposite now. I will not go into details on what went wrong but I can only say that such matches are always a fresh breather for the BORING test cricket. Obviously being Pakistani, one feels low and sad at the performance put up by national team and PCB should do something serious about it…
As the match finished Facebook and Twitter statuses were updated from Pakistani spectators showing anger. How do you take on this defeat of Pakistan…we’re listening through comments :)
by Crackerpotato on December 25, 2009
Merry Christmas to everyone, and Happy Birthday to Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah as well. Its the boxing day (26 December) test match between Pakistan and Australia at Melbourne. Stakes are high as Pakistan is getting used to playing Test cricket now , while Australia is getting used to having tough times after the retirement of Hayden, Gilchrist, McGrath and Warne.
Pakistan (probable) 1 Salman Butt, 2 Imran Farhat, 3 Faisal Iqbal, 4 Mohammad Yousuf (capt), 5 Misbah-ul-Haq, 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Kamran Akmal (wk), 8 Mohammad Aamer, 9 Umar Gul/Saeed Ajmal, 10 Mohammad Asif, 11 Danish Kaneria
Australia (probable) 1 Shane Watson, 2 Simon Katich, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Marcus North, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Nathan Hauritz/Steve Smith, 10 Peter Siddle, 11 Doug Bollinger.
Australia v Pakistan (10:30 local, 23:30 GMT, 4:30 Pakistan ST) - Live From Melbourne. [click to continue...]
by Crackerpotato on December 10, 2009
Its been a great series in my opinion with bowlers dominating and batsmen from both sides totally at sea barring Taylor and the Akmal brothers. The 3rd test match however is going to be a little different, as the Napier pitch in the past is a true batting wicket. Expect all the underperforming players to suddenly score good cheap runs. In such a situation I would rate the Pakistani team to be in a better position to win the test match because they have a better bowling attack and their batting is well suited for batting wickets , plus the middle order is more experienced than Kiwis. Bond will be dearly missed in this test match.
Here are the teams for the match;
Pakistan: 1 Imran Farhat, 2 Salman Butt, 3 Faisal Iqbal, 4 Mohammad Yousuf (capt), 5 Misbah-ul-Haq, 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Kamran Akmal (wk), 8 Mohammad Aamer, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Danish Kaneria, 11 Mohammad Asif.
New Zealand: 1 Tim McIntosh, 2 BJ Watling, 3 Martin Guptill, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Daniel Flynn, 6 Daniel Vettori (capt), 7 Brendon McCullum (wk), 8 Tim Southee/ Jeetan Patel, 9 Daryl Tuffey, 10 Ian O’Brien, 11 Chris Martin.
We will show the match live here , when it starts -
3rd Test: New Zealand v Pakistan at Napier
Dec 11-15 (12:00 local, 23:00 GMT, 04:00 am PST) [click to continue...]
by Crackerpotato on December 10, 2009
As Pakistan vs Newzealand series draws closer to the last test match, cricket lovers are keeping one eye on the anticipated tour of Australia. Pakistan Cricket Board also announced the 16 member team for the Test matches. Lets have a closer look at the squad first;
Squad:
Mohammad Yousuf (capt), Salman Butt, Khurrum Manzoor, Imran Farhat, Shoaib Malik, Fawad Alam, Faisal Iqbal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Kamran Akmal (wk), Danish Kaneria, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Aamer, Abdur Rauf, Umar Akmal.
Dont think PCB will make whole lot of changes to this team for ODIs and T20 - apart from bringing in Shahid Afridi in place of Danish Kaneria. Also not sure if T20 specialists Imran Nazir/Sohail Tanvir would be called in the team for a single match.
Fixtures:
Pakistan will play 3 test matches, 5 ODIs and 1 T20 during the tour; below is the full list of matches:
by Crackerpotato on November 18, 2009
The 2010 ICC World Twenty20 is an international cricket tournament which will be held in the West Indies between 30 April to 16 May 2010. The last Twenty20 was held in England, which Pakistan won in an overall outrageous tournament. This ICC World Twenty20 will be taking place only 10 months after the last one. As before, the tournament will feature 12 all-male teams - the Test-playing nations and two qualifiers. Matches will be played at four grounds - Barbados ,Guyana, St.Lucia and St.Kitts & Nevis. The tournament will be organised in parallel with the women’s tournament, with the men’s semi-finals and final being preceded by the semi-finals and final from the women’s event.
[click to continue...]
