Pak Cricket Team’s Performance against Zimbabwe
By Arshad Shami
Phoenix, AZ
Pakistan's cricket team has just completed its tour of Zimbabwe, one of the weakest test playing countries. Its team is in the process of rebuilding and will soon emerge as one of the leading teams of the cricketing world.
During the short tour Pakistan played one test which it won hands down, three one-dayers in which it had a clean sweep and two t-20s, winning both comfortably. The chief selector Mohsin Hasan Khan deserves accolades for taking a bold decision in selecting a team which was composed of young and talented cricketers. Some of them proved equal to the task and showed lot of promise.
The performance of new pace bowlers like Sohail Khan, Aizaz Cheema and Yasir Shah has been commendable. They are promising youngsters who with little luck and reasonable chance can prove they deserve a place in the team. As far as wicket keeping in concerned, the younger brother of Kamran Akmal, has proved a worthy successor of his elder brother who was not selected for the tour. He gave a fine performance in the test both behind the wickets and with the bat. However, the brunt of the batting was borne by Younis Khan, Misbah ul Haq and Mohammad Hafeez.
It is a happy augury that at long last Mohammad Hafeez has transformed himself into a match winning player both as a batsman as well as an off break bowler. With him in the side we have solved the chronic problem of a reliable opening batsman. It was surprising to see Taufiq Umar getting a place in the team and, as expected, proving a total failure. Imran Farhat has also staged a comeback and showed some improvement. Yet we still lack a formidable and reliable opening pair. With Hafeez we need yet another opener who can help build good scores, thus giving sufficient chance to the players following the openers to provide Pakistan a strong and solid base in future matches.
While it was good to give chance to some new comers, it was painful to seethe treatment meted out to Faisal Iqbal who is leading contender for a place in the national team. In the past we have ignored promising players like Asim Kamal, a left handed batsman of great promise. I fail to understand why a dashing batman like Imran Nazir has been discarded for all types of cricket by the selectors. It is players like Imran Nazir who can tear apart any bowling attack in the world yet he has been poorly treated.
There are several other players knocking at the doors of big cricket yet only the future would unfold their fate. We are a heartless people and do not give proper credence and recognition to deserving players. Many o talented cricketers, nay sportsmen, go unsung and the nation is deprived of this talent which could come handy.
Skipper Misbah ul Haq's handling of the team was commendable and he proved he is a deserving leader who can utilize the talent at hand with great success. He is cool, calculated and above all has the nerves required in a leader. Not only he led the team admirably well but also gave a sterling performance with his batting when it was needed the most. Younif Khan still remains our most outstanding performer though we still need a player of the caliber and stature of Mohammad Yousuf. The return of Shoaib Malik in the team after a long time has not provided the expected results. He failed and perhaps his long absence from international cricket has done great damage to his prowess.
Pakistan has to tour Sri Lanka and India. While three tests, one dayers and T20 will be played in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Pakistan will undertake a tour of India if the Indian government sanctions it. It is indeed a dilemma which is not understandable. Pakistan's own cricket grounds are deserted as almost all teams have refused to play in Pakistan due to security concerns; it is surprising that such teams have not refused to play in India, England or Sri Lanka where conditions are as bad as in Pakistan.
Pakistan's board has failed to convince the ICC to persuade the foreign teams to undertake tour of Pakistan and instead has put several conditions and it looks as if ICC does not want to promote the game in our country where cricket is first love with the people. One still wonders why leg spinner Danish Kenaria has not been pardoned when he has also produced documents absolving him of all the charges of match fixing. However the startling news of fast bowler Mohammad Aamir's confessional statement in a British court has proved that the spot-fixing charges were correct. With him Majeed has also pleaded guilty.
In the backdrop of these confessions it is now certain that the other two players, namely, Butt and Asif, have to accept the charges. It has once again become expedient that ICC should devise some mechanism to rid the game of match fixing or spot fixing, as the case may be. (The writer can be reached at arshadshami@yahoo.com)
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