Australia Tour to West Indies 2012

DAY, DATE AND TIME	VENUES
Fri Mar 16 09:30 local : 13:30 GMT	1st ODI - West Indies vs Australia Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown
Sun Mar 18 09:30 local : 13:30 GMT	2nd ODI - West Indies vs Australia Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown
Tue Mar 20 09:30 local : 13:30 GMT	3rd ODI - West Indies vs Australia Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown
Fri Mar 23 09:30 local : 13:30 GMT	4th ODI - West Indies vs Australia Beausejour Stadium Gros Islet, St Lucia
Sun Mar 25 09:30 local : 13:30 GMT	5th ODI - West Indies vs Australia Beausejour Stadium Gros Islet, St Lucia
Tue Mar 27 10:00 local : 14:00 GMT	1st T20 - West Indies vs Australia Beausejour Stadium Gros Islet, St Lucia
Fri Mar 30 10:00 local : 14:00 GMT	2nd T20 - West Indies vs Australia Kensington Oval, Bridgetown
Sat Apr 7 - Wed Apr 11 10:00 local : 14:00 GMT	1st Test - West Indies vs Australia Kensington Oval, Bridgetown
Sun Apr 15 - Thu Apr 19 10:00 local : 14:00 GMT	2nd Test - West Indies vs Australia Queens Park Oval, Port of Spain
Mon Apr 23 - Fri Apr 27 10:00 local : 14:00 GMT	3rd Test - West Indies vs Australia Providence Stadium, Guyana

Surgery of Pakistan Cricket Team

Several weaknesses have been observed in Pakistan cricket team during the on going 2012 series between Pakistan and England.

The Captain

37 years old Misbah is the leader of Pakistan cricket team.  This is fact that he was appointed as captain in result of differences between Ex captain Shahid Afridi and controversial chairman of PCB Ijaz Butt.  Misbah is known for his cool mind and defensive approach. In his captaincy Pakistan won Test series against England convincingly but in ODIs series England whitewashed Pakistan easily. PCB has kept him captain of ODI team because of his Test Series successes which is not fair.  Unfortunately the approach of PCB is still of 90s. In the modern cricket, separate teams for Test, ODIs and T20s are the requirement of time. We saw batsmen like Ricky Ponting announcing retirement from ODIs because of his age.  Misbah is an average batsman and one cannot compare him with Ricky Ponting, so if Australia can scarify batsman like Ricky Ponting for better future then what is the importance of Misbah. PCB should also take bold step by appointing Shahid Afridi as captain who deserves this appointment on merit.

Opening

For consistent good performance of any team, ability of openers is essential. The openers must have classic bating technique. Classic technique is necessary for performing equally well on both slow and bouncy wickets. Indian opener Sehwag who is perfect in subcontinent is struggling in Australia on bouncy wickets in recent 2012 series. The only reason is that there are flaws in his technique. Most of the time he tries to play the bowl away from his body and you cannot play on fast and bouncy wickets with this technique.  The same problem is with Pakistani openers, although Hafiz is a talented player but experts have always indicated his weakness as opener from the beginning of his career.  His utility as all-rounder is there, and he can hit some big strokes in the middle of the inning. 2nd Opener is Imran Farhat, I don’t think that any other player has been given so much chances in past. When the international career of Imran Farhat was ended, his Father in Law was appointed as selector and he brought him back once again in the team. The only merit for his place in team is his father in law. For better future of the team, PCB should hand over young and enthusiastic openers like Ahmed Shezad to new expected coach Dav Whatmore for grooming. New openers should also have comparatively good technique.   If PCB continued the current policy of favoritism, I am afraid that Pakistan would be not able to utilize the expertise of excellent coach like Dav Whatmore.  

Middle Order

For ODIs and T20s, in middle order Pakistan need stroke players like Saeed Anwer and Inzam Ul Haq. Younis Khan and Misbah are not able to keep pace with the current fast environments of cricket due to their age factor.  Management should look for some young good stroke players in middle order as replacement to Misbah and Younis Khan.  Asad Shafiq and Umer Akmal have the ability to improve their game; therefore, management should give them chances continuously for gaining experience and perfection in technique.  Though Azher Ali is a good batsman but his technique is perfect only for Test Matches, therefore, he must only focus on test matches.  Playing in ODIs will affect his test technique and that would be not better for him.

All-rounder

Presently Shahid Afridi, Muhammad Hafiz, Shoaib Malik and young Hamad Azam are playing as all-rounders in the team. Shahid Afridi and Muhammad Hafiz are quality players. Shoaib Malik was also good all-rounder but unfortunately due to his focus on other aspects, his game is now over.  He has controversial attitude in past and some senior players of the current team openly talked about him. He must be dropped from the team for saving the unity.   Hamad Azam has shown his class in batting during 2^nd T20. Management should give him continue chances and should assign the task of grooming of this new tenant especially to the new coach.  

Fast Bowling

In Past, fast bowlers like Fazal Mehmood, Sarfaraz Nawaz, Imran Khan, Waseem Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhter were the identity of Pakistan cricket. Unfortunately Pakistan cricket fans saw their team playing with only one fast bowler in recent 2012 ODIs series against England. Pakistan has quality fast bowlers like Anwar Ali and Sohail Khan on domestic level but due to favoritism these bowlers are not able to make place in the team. This is tragedy with Pakistan cricket. If the current Chairman of PCB is sincere with Pakistan cricket, he must focus on the induction of new quality fast bowlers in Pakistan cricket team.  There are much better bowlers than Juaniad Khan and Aziz Cheema who are waiting for performing but favoritism is hurdle in their ways.

Wicket Keeping

Kamran Akmal was a good wicket keeper batsman, but his wicket keeping was not of international standards. He was given continuously chance to improve his wicket keeping but unfortunately he was not serious in doing so. Now at the present there is no good quality wicket keeper batsman available to Pakistan team. The best option on this time is Adnan Akmal, but steady observation is required on domestic level to find a good quality wicket keeper batsman.   

Attitude

After hard work on the field, bed attitude is common problem of every Pakistani star player.  The examples of Muhammad Aamir and Muhammad Asif are good enough for understanding the problem. Now in recent series Saeed  Ajmal was observed shouting on senior player like Shahid Afridi after a quick throw by Shahid Afridi. Without good attitude any player can not continue constant good career. The first step towards good attitude is respect for your seniors. So, PCB has to have watch on the negative altitude of any player for preventing differences in the team.  PCB should not compromise on discipline and should take strict actions against any star regardless his performance.

Whitewash Victory of Pakistan against England

Whitewash defeat to England is indeed a matter of pride for Pakistan. It is not easy to achieve whitewash victory against number one cricket team of cricket world.  This huge win will send positive message to the rest of cricket world after involvement of some Pakistani players in match fixing controversies in near past. Now-a-days no big name is member of Pakistan cricket team but still they defeated number one team of the cricket world.  The results of the series educated cricket experts that you can win without big names with a discipline team. Full credit to the current management and captain for forming the team in a wining combination.

The performance of Pakistani spinners was outstanding in this series.  Especially in first match Saeed Ajmal bothered English batsmen badly. While English batsmen were focused on handling Ajmal, Abdur Rehman took full advantage and destroyed English batting line in 2^nd and 3^rd matches by confusing English batsmen on his straight and spinning deliveries. A positive improvement in the department of Wicket Keeping was also noted. Young Adnan Akmal was good in wicket keeping, though he dropped some catches but as a whole his performance was satisfactory.  In past Pakistan has lost the matches because of bad wicket keeping. The performance of young Azher Ali is getting perfection day by day. Now he should focus on improving his test technique instead of looking to join ODIs and T20 teams.

Though Pakistan won the series but there are some areas that require the attention of PCB. We saw that Pakistan batting line was sent back on less than 100 runs in 3^rd test match in 1^st Inning. The reason was little bit swing and bounce on the wicket for fast bowlers. In that specific inning experts noted the weaknesses of Pakistan batting on fast and bouncy wickets. So this is the area to which Pakistan team management should address.

There is a discussion in media on the appointment of new coach for Pakistan team. Some experts are in favour of Mohsin because of his current good performance. Some analyst says that the series won by Pakistan in his coaching were all played on slow wickets. Therefore, for making the batting line perfect on slow and fast wickets both, qualified coach is required. Dav Whatmore is an Australian and has coached Sri Lanka. He has the experience of coaching both on slow and fast wickets. Therefore, one can expect good coaching from him. Management has to look forward and should not hesitate in appointing him as coach for better future.

Causes of Indian Defeat in Test Matches

After winning the recent world cup 2011, Indian cricket fans were expecting outstanding performance in Test series against England. But Indian team disappointed millions of fans.  In presence of record holder batsman like Sachine Tendulkar, historic captain for India MS Dhoni, Rahul Dravid named as “wall” and exciting off spinner Harbhajan Sing, present performance of Indian team is not acceptable to cricket fans. Besides these legends some very exciting players like Gotham Gambir and Suresh Raina are also part of Indian team. The question is what happened to Indian team suddenly?

Infact this is fact that the record of Indian team, outside the country is not good from the years. Most of Indian batsmen are masters of slow wickets. The example of Indian good performance at slow wickets is current performance of Indian batsmen at sub-continent in world cup. After this good performance even young team of West Indies trouble Indians at West Indies. Although India won the series but still West Indies gave them tough time at several occasions. But in England these stars batsmen failed completely and England won the first 2 test matches very easily. So, one can say that weak technique of playing on fast wicket is the prime cause of Indian failure in England.

The second cause of failure in England is fatigue. After performing with full capacity in World Cup 2011, Indian players were required rest badly. But BCCI did not consider win in world cup enough and instead of providing their players rest they use them as money earning machine in IPL. After so busy schedule of IPL definitely players were tired and they did not provide required results in England.

The third cause is adjustment of technique. After playing in short format of ODI in  World Cup and then T20s in IPL players are not able to adjust their technique to Test standard suddenly. ODI and T20 are completely different format from Test and it requires solid technique, temperament and patient to play in test matches. 

The final cause to me is lack of eagerness. In shape of wining the world cup and earning money through IPL, Indian players have got much more then they desired. They have won the world cup and therefore became heroes of nation. Then they played IPL and earned money, therefore, one can say that most of the player achieved their desires what they were looking for, so now there is lack of required eagerness for best performance in their attitude.  This is obvious standard for every game that after his all achievement players prefers to announce retirement.  So, according to this standard the retirement of some Indian players is due, but they are still their instead of providing chance to youngsters.

Is Harbhajan Concerns Acceptable on LBW Decision?

 

In 2^nd Test Match between India and England Stuart Broad completed his hat-trick. During this hat-tricks umpire misjudged Harbhajan Sing LBW decision. Infact the ball struck the bat before it hit the pads, therefore, Harbhajan sing was not out and he was victim of misjudged decision. 

After given out, he was upset and shown his unhappiness by shacking his head.  Now the question is, was the reaction of Harbhajan Sing was acceptable. To me, after opposing bowel tracking system in this series BCCI and  Indian players have no rights to show their concerns on misjudged LBW decisions. Because ICC and rest of cricket boards have taken all possible measures to avoid situation like this, but it is BCCI awful stance on “Ball tracking system” which prevent the use of latest technology for correction of misjudged decisions. So, the right place where Harbhajan Sing has to show his concern is the office BCCI.

Amendments in ICC Constitution

ICC is planning for an amendment in its constitution which will allow the governing body to have a close watch on cricket boards and suspend a member country in case of government interference in the matters of Cricket boards. This decision from ICC has both negative and positive aspects.

This proposal can bring very positive changes in Pakistan Cricket Board and Sri Lankan Cricket Board because the interference of government officials in the boards matters of the both countries is obvious. Adhocism is in vogue in both the boards.  This amendment can prevent a government from gifting chairmanship to a friend like in Pakistan.

The condition of Pakistan cricket boards is at the worst point, because of government interference in the board matters. The Chairman is just like a king who can do all worst with officials and players both without any restriction. Players has been tighten in its so called code of conduct, therefore, players have to sew their lapse on every bad decisions, otherwise they will be punished like Shahid Afridi by cancelling their NOC for all types of cricket.

So this constitution amendment can prevent worst situation like Pakistan Cricket board. But at the same moment we have to think regarding unpleasant influence of BCCI in ICC. The recent attitude of BCCI who is fully involved in isolating Pakistan from cricket world using IPL is an example. In future using this constitution amendment India or any other country can use it for political purpose also by suspending a member country.

Therefore, ICC should also take measures for prevention of negative use of this constitution amendment.

PCB – Dog's Tail

After the establishment of current government, unfortunately Pakistan is facing bad news from every field of life.  Suicide attacks on innocent people of Pakistan are a matter of routine. Drone attacks are addition to these suicide attacks. 20 hours so called load shading in 42+⁰ temperature is another disaster. Cricket is such an activity which Pakistani people can use to forget these problems for some time and can divert their attention towards normal life by watching good cricket matches.  But unfortunately this government destroyed the whole structure of Pakistan cricket also as it did with other organizations. President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari gifted the chairmanship of PCB to one of the relative of his Jailmate Ahmed Mukhtair.  This is fact that Ijaz Butt is enjoying this appointment because of his relationship with Ahmed Mukhtair, otherwise a wise man will not allowed him to enter in the premises of PCB office.

The tragedy of Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Aamir and attack on Sri Lankan players is on the credit of this management. This management destroyed Younis Khan by mentally torching and promoting grouping against him. Younis Khan is a player who is capable of leading Pakistan and is also capable to groom the upcoming batting talent of Pakistan. But this management has nothing to do with the success of Pakistan cricket. It has its own mysterious agenda.

After Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi gave some good hopes to Pakistan cricket. But again this management started conspiracies against him. Before the world cup it tried to remove Shahid Afridi from captaincy but because of immense pressure from Pakistan cricket fans this management avoid to do so at that time. But now as all the nation is focused on the dangerous situation of the country because of some differences with USA, this management shamelessly act upon its plan and appointed Misbah as captain. What is the justification for appointment of Misbah as captain? What agenda this board want to complete through the captaincy of Misbah? You can’t consider it future planning because he cannot play for long time because of his age factor.

The conclusion for the current PCB board is “Dog Tail will remain tilted for ever” 

Umar Akmal

Personal Profile

Name	Date of Birth	Team	Batting Style
Umar Akmal	26/05/1990	Pakistan	Right-hand bat

Batting Record

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100	50
Tests	13	25	2	822	129	35.73	69.01	1	5
ODIs	37	35	4	1118	102*	36.06	84.88	1	7
T20s	21	20	3	530	64	31.17	122.40	0	4