Pakistan dismantles Sri Lanka in Asia Cup ODI

Pakistan Won!!  

Jubilant Misbah and Azam as Pakistan dismantles Sri Lanka with 6 wickets in hand

Well that was a good news as many cricket fans were keeping their fingers crossed and speculated that Sri Lanka would strike back after their defeat at the hands of the Indians by 50 runs on 13 March, to make their presence felt in the tournament.

But today was another day. Sri Lanka batting first gave a target of 188 for Pakistan to chase. While the Sri Lanka openers did not do well, it was captain Sangakkara who played marvelously and scored 71 before being bowled by Aizaz Cheema. Next worthwhile contribution came from Tharanga who scored 57 when Saeed Ajmal struck and sent him back to the pavilion. At best the Sri Lanka made 188 in 45.4 overs. 

Aizaz Cheema was the most deadly bowler today who took four wickets for 43 in 9 overs. Saeed ajmal followed closely and took 3 for 27 in 8.4 overs including one maiden over. Umer Gul did not do less and took 2 for 20 with one maiden over.

When it came to Pakistan to bat, there was disaster in the begining. Openers crashed too soon and so did Younis Khan. Hafeez, Jamshed and Younis could only add 31 runs. Sri Lankan Lakmal was instrumental in sending Younis and Jamshed back to rest room. But then came Umar Akmal and captain Misbah - and to everyone's surprise, Misbah stood his ground. Both Akmal and Misbah added very valuable 149 runs. Umar was unlucky to play a high angle shot when at 77 and was caught by Tharanga on the ball of Maharoof. 

The joyous mustached replacement of Chacha Cricket as Pakistan wins

Misbah was joined in by Azam after Umer, who hit the winning 4, while Misbah was 77 and brought victory to Pakisan.

Aizaz Cheema - the bowling hero of Pakistan against Sri Lanka Thursday

Well played Sri Lanka, but credit does go to Aizaz Cheema for dismantiling Sri Lankan batting line and to Misbah and Umar Akmal for scoring tremendously that led to Pakistan's victory.

Aizaz rightly awarded the player of the match award.

Much satisfied Misbah walks back to pavilion after winning over Sri Lanka

Commenting on the day's play, Pakistan captain Misbah said:

"It was a really good partnership between me and Umar Akmal. I told him to play his normal game, the runs automatically came. Cheema was hit for a lot of fours in his first couple of overs. I told him your main weapon is aggression, so bowl with aggression, No point containing batsmen on these pitches, best to take wickets. It was important for me to get my confidence back, England series was not good for me, so this innings is a confidence booster. We have to be more consistent with the bat, the bowling is always keeping us in hunt."

Well now, Pakistan should be in high spirits and Misbah too, who was earlier being blamed for his slow paced batting. His wonderful performance is certainly a good omen for Pakistan who get ready now for their encounter with India on 18 March.


Shared from: Jaho Jalal

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An apathy of its own kind: Forgetting the Disables and Handicapped

Yesterday all eyes in Pakistan were focused on the 2nd ODI being played between Pakistan and England at Dubai. Having lost the first ODI against England, everyone was praying for Pakistan to win for an equalizer. But did any one any idea that in the same area, another cricket match of a different kind was being played - between Pakistan and England. Perhaps many did not know.

The match was part of a three series ODI being played in the UAE at International Cricket Council Global Cricket Academy Oval ground in Dubai, between the Disability Cricket teams of Pakistan and England. And what is more interesting is that while Pakistan national team lost the 2nd ODI to England, our disable players gave a tough time to England and won by a large margin of 79 runs.

Pakistan’s Matloob Quraishi (left) and Hasnain Alam during the match against the England in Dubai Wednesday [Image Credit: Pankaj Sharma/Gulf News]

Pakistan simply outplayed England and won the first of the three matches by a large margin of 79 runs. Hasnain and Matloob from Pakistan hit impressive centuries despite their disability. Hasnain, who lost his left foot in a mine blast, cracked 136 off just 105 balls with the help of 19 boundaries and a six, while Matloob whose right hand had to be amputated following a road accident, hit an unbeaten 110-ball 113, as Pakistan put up 285 for five in their allotted 40 overs.

England had a difficult target to chase and none of its batsmen could replicate the superb performance of Hsnaain and Matloob and lost by 79 runs.

And the sad part is I hardly found any mention of this win anywhere in today's newspapers. Do we know that such a series was going on in Dubai? Did PCB had it advertised the same way the national of 'normals' has been given coverage in the newspapers? Do we know when the team departed and who are the team members? Perhaps not many would say they do.

Even the website of Pakistan Disable Cricket Association has not been updated beyond 2010.

Now for the information of those who are reading this post, I may add that the team of Pakistan Disable players under Salim Karim is playing three three 40-over matches and two Twenty20s at the ICC Global Academy.  

It may be added that Pakistan skipper Karim right leg is withered by polio and his left leg was damaged in an accident. He has been a driving force of the Pakistan team which he assembled in 2006 by funding that team's activities out of his own pocket. While Farhan Saeed, the fast bowler who hais from Karachi is an amputee, but generates extraordinary pace jumping onto a crutch when coming to ball.

While Former Test captain Rashid Latif has been coaching and supervising the training of the team, Younus Khan may also be credited for having launched the Pakistan national team for physically disabled cricketers. Younus even supports their initiative. 

The Pakistan squad includes:

Saleem Karim (captain), Major Hasnain Alam (vice-captain), Matloob Qureshi, Arif Richard, Altaf Ahmed, Farooq Ahmed, Danish Ahmed (wicket-keeper), Rao Javed, Jahanzaib Tiwana, Nihaar Alam, Abdullah, Farhan Saeed, Mohammad Kalam, Mehdi Hasan, Fayyaz Ahmed, Ameer Ahmed.

With their first win, we should send our best wishes to the team and pray for their efforts to bear fruit and have winning spree throughout the on going series of three 40-overs matches and two T20 matches.


Sources: Jaho Jalal | Gulf News | Dawn News

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Watch Live Online from Abu Dhabi: First ODI Pakistan vs England - 13 February 2012

Pakistan takes on rather subdued England in the first ODI in Abu Dhabi today, 13 February 2012.

Pakistan has had a tremendous morale boosting ascendancy over England after an enormous 3-0 win the est series. Pakistan has a spinner heavy bowling side with the coming back of Shahid Afridi who will join Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman in today's ODI.

However, with Afridi back in the side, Rehman could miss out on selection as the former skipper, along with Hafeez and Ajmal are the favoured spinners. Umar Gul is one of the best ODI bowlers in world cricket - it remains to be seen who joins him for the attack from amongst Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan and Aizaz Cheema.

Alastair Cook takes over as captain of the British team from Andrew Strauss and leads a squad that welcomes Samit Patel, Tim Bresnan, Jade Dernbach, Craig Kieswetter, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler and Danny Briggs.

Cook, who had a 5-0 bashing from India, seems confident to make it over for the demoralized English squad and fans back home:

"It's been a tough five weeks as a Test tour but this is now a different, fresh side and hopefully we can bring that enthusiasm into the game tomorrow." 

The last 5- series ODI between Pakistan and England in 2010 favoured England who won the series 3-2. But those were different times and different team members. For now, Pakistan teams seems well settled, cohesive, highly motivated and in the most superb winning form. We look forward to an interesting 4-ODI series starting today, Monday.

Probable Squads

Pakistan: 
Misbah-ul-Haq*, Abdur Rehman, Adnan Akmal†, Aizaz Cheema, Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Hammad Azam, Imran Farhat, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Younis Khan

England: 
AN Cook*, JM Anderson, JM Bairstow, RS Bopara, TT Bresnan, DR Briggs, SCJ Broad, JC Buttler†, JW Dernbach, ST Finn, C Kieswetter†, EJG Morgan, SR Patel, KP Pietersen, GP Swann, IJL Trott

The match is scheduled to begin at 15:00 local time (11:00 GMT)


The free live streaming links for the first ODI between Pakistan and England are given as herein under:

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Watch Live Online: 2nd Day's Play between England and Pakistan [ First Test Match Dubai ]

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Team Pakistan's Doosra-Master Saeed Ajmal, leftthe English Batsmen Helpless in front of hisclassical Doosras and Teesras as he grabbed a career-best 7/55 in the first innings of the 1st Test.

Close of play- day 1 - Pakistan 1st innings 42/0 (Mohammad Hafeez 22*, Taufeeq Umar 18*, 15 ov) 


Match Team Line up for Pakistan:

Mohammad Hafeez, Taufeeq Umar, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Adnam Akmal, Abdur Rehman, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Aizaz Cheema


Match Team Line up for England:
Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Chris Tremlett  

Match Officials:
Umpires: BF Bowden and BNJ Oxenford
Tv Umpire: SJ Davis
Match Referee: J Srinath
Reserve Umpire: Ahsan Raza

Series: England tour of United Arab Emirates, Jazz Cup 2012
Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium
Match date/time: Tuesday, January 17th-21st , 2012 6:00 AM GMT

Live Streaming links for the match between Pakistan and England are given as follows:


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Watch Pakistan vs England Test Match Online [ Free Live Streaming ]

Probable Match Team Line up for Pakistan:

 Mohammad Hafeez, Taufeeq Umar, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Adnam Akmal, Abdur Rehman, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Wahab Riaz  


Probable Match Team Line up for England:
Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Chris Tremlett 

Last Five Matches:
Pakistan WWDWD
England WWWWW

Current ICC Ranking:
Pakistan # 5
England # 1

Series: England tour of United Arab Emirates, Jazz Cup 2012

Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium
Kick off date/time: Tuesday, January 17 , 2012 6:00 AM GMT

Live Streaming links for the match between Pakistan and England are given as follows:

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Three Cricketers Condemned by British Court

Full Story: The Express Tribune  November 3, 2011

Condemned: L to R: Salman Butt, Muhammad Asif, Muhammad Amir

London’s Southwark Crown Court today sentenced three cricketers and their agent fines and jails for spot / match fixing Wednesday. The three cricketers from Pakistan included Salman Butt, Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Amir. Their unofficial manager/agent and a London bookie Mazhar Majeed was also sentenced 2 years and 8 months in jail.

The Judge condemned the action of the trio and said:

"It’s the insidious effect of your actions on professional cricket and the followers of it which make the offences so serious. Cricket's “image and integrity” stands “damaged in the eyes of all, including the many youngsters who regarded three of you as heroes”.

Back home in Pakistan, a vast majority of cricket fans and ordinary people hailed court decison and condemned the cricketers for bringing disgrace to the country and sports of cricket. They also praised the judge for showing liniency towards hardly 19 years old bowler Muhammad Amir and awarding him six months into Young Offenders centre rather than sending him to jail. 

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India overpowers Sri Lanka to lift the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup Trophy

It was India's day when it embattled Sri Lanka in the final clash of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup finals in a jam packed Mumbai arena. Sri Lanka gave a tough target of 274 for India to match. But the Indian resolve to win was seen right from the outset, even after losing its stalwarts Sehwag and Tendulkar very early in the match.

The incoming Kohli, Gambhir, Dhoni and Yuvraj looked calm and confident with utter ease to chase the target. Almost every ball was a scoring ball and the target was achieved with much ease without any irresponsible shots or even gestures. Kohli's 97 and Dhoni's 91 were the match winners for India. The last six by Dhoni was hit with so much ease as if it was a normal hit. Dhoni went onto win the Man of the match award for his unbeaten match winning performance of 91 , whereas Yuvraj Singh won the Man of the Tournament for his exceptional all round performance.

The crowd roared to the tremendous victory and the team thanked the crowd for their support.

Watching the Indians playing with an exceptional resolve to win reminded me of the lacking resolve by the Pakistani players when they played against India in the semi final. The slow paced game and the in-attitude to win was clearly visible. The players like and Younis and Misbah played as if the winning or losing the game didn't matter at all. The wasting of dozens of balls by Misbah cost Pakistan dearly and allowed an un-ceremonial exit from the tournament. The team threw in the towel too easily.

The winning resolve shown by India should be a lesson for Pakistan in its future cricket to stand firm and win rather lose with their callous and casual attitude.

Well done Sri Lanka and well played India - you deserved to lift the trophy.

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Pakistan loses Cricket World Cup 2011 semi final to India

Pakistan lost the semi final of the Cricket World Cup 2011 to India by 29 runs. How the above newspaper headlines is attributed to Pakistan's defeat, read my hunch at:

A bad omen and dismal performance sends Pakistani team back home (Jaho Jalal) 

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Clash of the Cricket Titans at Mohali

The cricket teams of Pakistan and India are readying to meet in the semi finals of the ongoing ICC World Cup Cricket 2011 on 30^th March at Mohali, Chandigarh in India. The semi final between the cricket titans is being considered as the most crucial, and important match of the ongoing championship as the two favourites are also otherwise teams of the countries at loggerhead on issue of Kashmir since their independence from British India in 1947.

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The Indian team will have the jam packed stadium to its advantage as the crowd will be whistling, dancing and cheering when a Pakistan wicket falls or when an Indian player hits a six or a four. Although a few Pakistanis have been allowed to visit India to watch the match, even they will find them at odds amidst a rather hostile crowd. This will put Pakistan team under lot of pressure and strain and all alone, surrounded by cheering crowd supporting India.

The highlight of the match would be the presence of prime ministers of both India and Pakistan in the arena. The match is being dubbed, therefore, as a window of opportunity for both the leaders to take initiative and bring their countries closer than ever before.

In the meantime, Mohali in general and the area around the arena has been turned into a fortress for security reasons. A security force of 4,000 personnel assisted by 150 CCTV cameras has been deployed, while helicopters would hover from the third dimension to thwart any untoward incidence.

As for the players, Pakistan’s captain Shahid Afridi and Indian all rounder Yuvraj are being tipped as favourites as these two players can generate the charisma for their teams and the crowd. Afridi with his Boom Boom appearance makes the crowd to roar and cheer, while raising their hopes of victory. This is not going to be an ordinary day and the entire Pakistan-India subcontinent would come to a virtual standstill for the entire duration of the match.

Pakistan wishes the very best for its team and pray they put up a stiff resistance to an equally strong Indian squad and WIN, Inshallah. 

Originally posted at: Jaho Jalal

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Pakistan outclasses Australia

The match between Pakistan and Australia was a thriller. Pakistan, which had never defeated Australia in any World Cup cricket match since 1999, had its day when it tamed the Australians in the ICC World Cup 2011 played at the Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka on Sunday.

The Australians crumbled one after the other and could not stand against the power bowling of paceman Umar Gul who took 3-30 and Afridi and finally exit the stadium with mere 176.

The charged Pakistani batsmen found it easy to reach the target and won the match by four wickets. Although Misbah's duck and Afridi's mere two were a big setback, but it was due to superb batting of Kamran, Umar, Asad and Razzaq that carried the jubilant day for Pakistan.  

The win put Pakistan top of Group A, ahead of Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand, who will play South Africa in the quarter-finals.

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Pakistan overpowers Sri Lanka

In what can be described as a sensational and hair-raising duel between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the ongoing World Cup Cricket championship 2011, Pakistan finally overpowered Sri Lanka and won their second match of the championship.

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat, which was certainly a wise decision, leaving no chance till the end. The superb performance of Younas Khan (72), Misbah (83) and Kamran Akmal (39) set a challenging target of 278 for Sri Lanka. Although Sri Lankna could achieve the target, but their batsmen crumbled one after the other against the Pakistan bowling onslaught. Afridi, having taken 5-16 against Kenya, took another 4-34, while Shoaib Akhtar took two wickets and Umar Gul and Hafeez and Rehman one wicket each. Only Silva could cross 50 (57) while Dilshan and Sangakkara crossed 40s but could realize their half centuries. Sri Lanka was all out for 266 in the 50 overs.

For Pakistan Misbah and Younis played a vital role in setting a formidable target, while Afridi overpowered the Sri Lankan batsmen with his spins, assisted by Shoiab and others.

The proud and happy man of the match Afridi commented after the game, ”That was a big game. The way Misbah and Younis played - beautiful and very mature. The fielders relaxed a bit, but on a stage like this we can't do that. I am sure they will improve in the coming games. Good conditions for bowlers - spin and bounce. This is a strong message to other teams, we will come stronger, game after game!"

Congratulations Afridi and the rest of the team – well played Misbah, Younis, and Shoaib Akhtar and rest of the boys. We wish you best of luck and hope you all keep your wits about as you did today.

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Missing Pakistani Wicketkeeper

When the Pakistani cricket team was in England recently, there was uproar in the British media about the involvement of three Pakistani players in match fixing. Although despite many probes, even the Scotland Yard also jumped in, there was no concrete evidence found so far to affix blame on the Pakistani players. At that time, I wrote that we must protect our strategic assets against the underworld pressure tactics and save them from falling.

Perhaps like many other vows, that effort went waste, since today once again there headlines about Pakistani players – this time missing of the wicketkeeper from the hotel in Dubai. Zulqarnain Haider, - the hero hero of Pakistan's victory in the fourth ODI with South Africa, is said to have collected his passport last night and has been missing from his hotel room since six in the morning.

Now this is something unbearable. What was the security officer of the Pakistan doing? Sleeping in his room so that anyone could sneak out at liesure? Why was he handed over his passport last night? Didn’t warning bells sounded in the ears of the team manager and the security officer?

At the time of posting this write-up, there is news that Haider has aired him being threatened by someone to lose the last match. Haider is said to have told some friend of his that he was going to England instead of Pakistan. Even the team manager Intikhab Alam has been quoted as saying that he knows the whereabouts of the missing player – why doesn’t he tell where? While this jigsaw puzzle could have been a good input for Agatha Christie to write a new mystery book, but not for Pakistan in any case.

We have the habit of repeating our mistakes many times and make sure that these cause us maximum harm before there is no room is left for more harm to come. The missing of an ace players seems to be height our ignorance about matters related to our players’ security and leaving them at their own to succumb to the pressures which they bear all alone. For God sake get up and open your eyes – everyone….

Related Link: Protecting our strategic assets

PS: 8^th Novemebr (after the the 5^th ODI) Well the sudden leaving of Haider did make the difference in the fifth ODI between Pakistan and South Africa on 8^th November at Dubai as Pakistan lost by 57 runs, which made the South Africans won by 3:2. So now it is to be seen whether someone threatened him or promised him “some other mans” to skip the ODI so as to brighten the chances of South African squad to win or he left the team due to some fears. In both ways, his absence made the same desired effects for the South Africans. Time will tell

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Bravo!! Abdul Razzaq

Well the jubilation by everyone who watched the match was just great last night between Pakistan and South Africa in Abu Dhabi. Many viewing the match on TV closed their sets and went to sleep after Shahid Afridi succumbed to South African bowling. No one could imagine that Pakistani team would be able to close on to the given target and even outclass the South Africans in the very last over. Well they weren’t very wrong in their assessment as seeing the abysmal performance of Pakistani team in the first ODI and the T20 matches, one could not even dream of aggressive come back from the Pakistani players.

The surprise came from that calm and expressionless Abdul Razzaq. And what a marvelous performance he gave that astounded not only the South Africans, but Pakistani team and the crowd as well. His third ODI hundred of 109 off 74 balls brought Pakistan to a stunning victory over South Africans. His score of 109 included ten sixes which were hit with extreme ferocity and precision that cheered the crowd and made them dance with excitement. The last over was simply superb. With 6 balls and 14 runs to score, it was a tense moment for everyone. But Razzaq was out there to show to the world the very best of him last night. He bagged the 14 runs with two mighty sixes and two runs.

Despite his stupendous performance, he still looked calm and expressionless as always. This reminds me of my favourite tennis player Bjorn Borg who showed no emotion or expressions when he would win the Wimbledons one after the other.

Best of luck AR, you made the difference and you deserve all the applause and commendation from everyone of us. Thank you for bringing smiles on our morose faces after series of defeats in the ongoing tour and the floods that hit us so badly recently.

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Protecting our strategic assets

Recently there has been much uproar on the spot fixing allegations against some of our players. One of them includes an 18 years emerging bowler Muhammad Aamir. Within a short span of time, the bowler has made headlines in the cricket world for completing his bagful of 50 wickets. A great feat indeed.

And here come in forces that distract such youngsters, still in their infancy, through their heinous designs to sideline them by involving them in such ugly blackmailing as that of spot fixing. And an innocent Youngman would soon be coerced and lured in to bowl a no-ball for some good cash. And this is probably something that has happened. And the desired results have been achieved by the forces of the underworld that have succeeded in breaking an emerging bowler and stamping his future, at least for now. The decision by the inquiry commission would decide the fate of this young man – may be a life ban.

Now that the uproar on their conduct unbecoming has subsided considerably, there is a time to ponder over what has happened, what could happen next and was there any chance in the first place to have averted this disaster?

Well to start with, while I do not subscribe to the act of this young man, and fell rather embarrassed as his act has embarrassed the nation the world over, I pondered over the issue when the anger subsided (remember I earlier wrote “When enough is not enough” awhile ago, soon after the incident). Everyone knows in PCB and all those who matter that blackmailers and bookmakers are after these youngsters to spoil them. So did anyone protect them? Was anyone over watching these players and keeping a track over their activities? Did anyone see who comes to meet them, or where do they go late at night? Did anyone charge them for disobeying the rules of not staying out late at night?

Probably no one.

The tam is being managed by two oldest persons living in Pakistan; I mean Mr. Yawar and Mr. Shafqat Rana. Couldn’t we find some hawkish and rather younger people who could enforce discipline? The PCB top man is also a man of fragile health, though of a heavy stature otherwise. He is often found asleep when his duties require of him extra vigilant and active. Unlike many previous PCB top men, he has accompanied the team to almost every country, probably making the best of his remaining days. But is he delivering?

So when this is the state of the managers and the chairman, it has been very easy for the outsiders to have a rollicking time and finding easy ingress into the enclosed circles of the team and praying their victims with much ease.

I think we need to protect our strategic assets of our sports so that they do not succumb to blackmailing, coercion and underhand deals. We need to employ security men around these so that no one takes them for granted and spoil their careers. And also as a result the nation, the team and the sports is not let down.

It is just a loud thinking but I hope someone seriously considers it and takes measures to avert any such happenings in future.

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