Sunday 21 February 2010

Cricketing Week Review

Razzaq's innings was the highlight of the week..............










India retained the World Test NO1 Spot after beating SA at the Even Gardens this week. The series was levelled 1 a piece but with India already at the top of the rankings prior to the series they retained the golden status.

The final day of the second test was gripping drama, test cricket at its best ! Well played to India and Bhaji. Singh is King as Sunil Gavaskar says ! But a spare of thought for the excellency of Hashim Amla. Outstanding effort and application but, really unfortunate for him that it was coming in a losing scenario. Nonetheless, nothing can be taken away.

In Dubai where England and Pakistan were playing 2 T20s, we saw a very entertaining 2 matches played in excellent sporting spirit. Eoin Morgan was just simply class in the first match. He had an answer for everything, his body positioning,shot identification and ability to find gaps consistently was literally outstanding and that too was all under pressure. His partnership with KP saw England over the line in a match which produced many twists and turns and changes in momentum. But to be honest we weren't really expecting a Pakistani victory after 39/4 so well done for at least managing to compete and getting ourselves back in the match. England were the better side with ball, bat and in the field and therefore were deserving winners .




The following encounter, Pakistan bounced back and finally won a match after a mammoth losing streak of 10 consecutive matches. Pakistan bowlers restricted England to a reasonable total of 148 in their 20 overs. KP once again was superb. Umar gul got hit for 4 sixes and overall conceded 43 runs in his four overs, similar run rate to the day before. Many people are now questioning his in-ability to repeat the past and his position in the team for different formats.




Pakistan made an awful start with the bat, losing 2 wickets in the first over, both openers gifting their wickets away with poor shots. Ajmal Shahzad was delighted and commenced his international career with an overwhelming first over. Umar Akmal and Shoaib Malik steadied the ship but following theirs and Afridi's departute all to the impressive Graeme Swann really put England in a commanding position to consolidate on Pakistan's much woeful season on and off the field. But as it stands that wasn't to be the case following the heroics of Abdul Razzaq. The booming Razzler Dazzler came to the party and produced a breathtaking matchwinning knock to guide Pakistan over the line, finally. This was a symbolic sigh of relief for every Pakistani.





I agree that the player of the series was Graeme Swann. But, it could have been given to KP for his two important impressive back to back innings. So it was a tight call but I guess they were slightly sympathising with the off spinner as T20 is a batters game primarily. The man of the match for the second game was a no brainer- Abdul Razzaq ! His 5 magnificent meaty maximums were great to watch. He had both the power and distance to perfect them. His 18 ball 46 was certainly a special performance.


A satisfying outcome.

The scoreline finished was 1-1 so the series is shared. I can only help to think that Mushtaq Ahmed aka Mushy was most satisfied as he was an illustrious former Pakistani cricketer who is currently being the ECB spin coach ! He said he was supporting England in his interview on Thursday with David Lloyd aka Bumble as he was working with England. But we know you deep down Mushy and that you were praying for Pakitan as well !!

Overall, I feel the outcome is a satisfying one especially when taking into account the rarity of a Pakistani victory in recent times. But, I can't help to stress how much more work there is to be done in order to defend the T20WC this year in the Caribbean this May. Who will be our captain ? Who will be the openers ? Is Gul going to be there ? The domestic RBST20 Cup commences on 27th February. This may have an influential affect on the national selection for the upcoming ICC tournament. A lot is left to be resolved. But hopefully this victory will boost the morale in the camp and PCB hierachy. Hopefully, this is the start of bigger and better things to come ! The future awaits......

















19 comments:

Stani Army said...

Maz,
Razzaq finally gave us something to smile about. Eng should not have got anywhere near that total though.

Morgan looked good and showed some un-English doggedness...probably because he is Irish! Had it not been for him in particular, that first game should have been ours too. We didn't bowl well at him though.

I still don't think that was our best t20 team though so we still have lots of tweaking to do before the WC.

Abdullah said...

Could we have Rana Naved instead of Gul ? Rana is ideal in T20. He is experienced and well established. But his main problem is economy, he gives away too many runs and struggles to bowl in pressure situations. His batting has really been lacklustre of late. Anyhow, lets see how he performs in the RBST20 Cup.

Do you think we should recall Shoaib Akhtar? He wants to play in the May competition and still has ambition of captaining Pakistan. It will be interesting to see if Afridi gets the T20 captaincy or not. Malik did a decent job.

Stani Army said...

Maz,
Gul is saved till the end anyway and Rana usually only gives runs with the newer ball so it could be a good swap to bring him in and only bowl him at the end.

I think Akhtar needs to prove a lot in the domestics before he even has a sniff.

About our bowling in general, we mustn't forget we were without Aamer.

Captaincy would probably go to Afridi.

Abdullah said...

Inbox check Stani

I agree on Akhtar and Aamer.

Barry said...

Please have a look at my blog.

http://greyblazerr.blogspot.com/

Abdullah said...

My Team for T20WC

Imran Nazir
Kamran Akmal
Malik
Afridi
Umar
Fawad
Muhammad Waqas
Razzaq
Arafat
Aamer
Raza Hassan

Reserves

Shahzaib
Tanvir
Hammad
Rana

Abdullah said...

Its too early to predict anything yet but right now from what I have seen, I would say Australia are favourites to win the 2010 T20WC.

They have several matchwinners and their fielding is the aspect which has struck me most. Also, a very potent bowling attack and many resources within it. They have won 3 consecutive T20s under Michael Clarke's captaincy.

Abdullah said...

WI may come good on home soil!

Darren Sammy, what a player !!

Abdullah said...

Squads for RBS Twenty20 Cup 2009-10
by Pakistan Cricket Board
DateLine: 23rd February 2010

Squads for RBS Twenty20 Cup 2009-10

Karachi Dolphins
1. Mohammad Sami (Captain)
2. Shahid Afridi
3. Khurram Manzoor
4. Khalid Latif
5. Shahzaib Hasan
6. Fawad Alam
7. Afsar Nawaz
8. Hasan Raza
9. Sarfraz Ahmed
10. Tanvir Ahmed
11. Anwar Ali
12. Azam Hussain
13. Fahadullah Khan
14. Haaris Ayaz
15. Tariq Haroon
16. Adnan Baig
17. Asif Zakir
18. Faraz Ahmed
19. Misbah Khan
20. Rumman Raees
Officials
21. Shafiq Kazmi (Manager)
22. Sadiq Muhammad (Coach)


Karachi Zebras
1. Danish Kaneria (Captain)
2. Daniyal Ahsan
3. Asad Shafiq
4. Faisal Iqbal
5. Sheharyar Ghani
6. Agha Sabir
7. Akbar-ur-Rehman
8. Saeed Bin Nasir
9. Ali Asad
10. Farhan Iqbal
11. Uzair-ul-Haq
12. Tabish Khan
13. Sohail Khan
14. Tahir Khan
15. Rameez Aziz
16. Babar Rehman
17. Nauman Alvi
18. Javed Mansoor
19. Malik Aftab
20. Mohammad Waqas
Officials
21. Syed Munir Ali Qadri (Manager)
22. Azam Khan (Coach)


Quetta Region
1. Shoaib Khan
2. Abdul Majeed
3. Taimur Ali (Captian)
4. Manzoor Ahmed
5. Sabir Hussain
6. Bismillah Khan
7. Arun Lal
8. Nasrullah Khan
9. Jalat Khan
10. Nazar Hussain
11. Arshad Khan
12. Taimur Khan
13. Khalil Ahmed
14. Naushad Irshad
15. Taimur Mengal
16. Munir Ahmed
17. Talib Hussain
18. Abdul Jabbar
19. Mohammad Asif
20. Abdur Rehman
Coach cum Manager
21. Abdul Rehman


Islamabad Leopards
1. Iftikhar Anjum
2. Shoaib Akhtar (Captain)
3. Raheel Majeed
4. Umair Khan
5. Naeem Anjum
6. Sarmad Bhatti
7. Azhar Mahmood
8. Imad Wasim
9. Zohaib Ahmed
10. Fayyaz Ahmed
11. Shehzad Azam
12. Kamran Hussain
13. Fakhar Hussain
14. Mohammad Yousuf
15. Umair Mir
16. Faizan Riaz
17. Ameer Khan
18. Junaid Nadir
19. Ali Sarfraz
20. Irfan Talib
Officials
21. Nasir Iqbal (Manager)
22. Taimur Azam (Coach)


Rawalpindi Rams
1. Babar Naeem
2. Naved Malik
3. Hammad Azam
4. Usman Saeed
5. Naved Ashraf (Captain)
6. Zahid Mansoor
7. Adnan Mufti
8. Umar Amin
9. Jamal Anwar
10. Yasim Murtaza
11. Asif Mumtaz
12. Mohammad Rameez
13. Sohail Tanvir
14. Mohammad Aamer
15. Yasir Arafat
16. Sadaf Hussain
17. Fawad Hussain
18. Rizwan Akbar
19. Mohammad Ayaz
20. Muzammil Nizam
Officials
21. Sheikh Abdul Sattar (Manager)
22. Sabih Azhar (Coach)


Multan Tigers
1. Abdur Rauf (Captain)
2. Waqas Sharif
3. Saeed Anwar jnr
4. Kamran Hussain
5. Mohammad Irfan
6. Zulfiqar Babar
7. Kashif Naved
8. Gulraiz Sadaf
9. Ansar Javed
10. Ahmed Raza
11. Shahid Abbasi
12. Mohammad Hafeez
13. Babar Ali
14. Mohammad Ali
15. Shahid Akram
16. Junaid Iqbal
17. Rizwan Haider
18. Taimur Ahmed
19. Shahid Iqbal
20. Ali Moazzam
Officials
21. Syed Altaf Hussain Shah (Manager)
22. Manzoor Elahi (Coach)

Abdullah said...

Abbottabad Rhinos
1. Younis Khan (Captain)
2. Yasir Hameed
3. Rafatullah Mohmand
4. Adnan Raees
5. Wajid Ali
6. Ghulam Mohammad
7. Fawad Khan
8. Riaz Kail
9. Junaid Khan
10. Khalid Usman
11. Mir Azam
12. Zeeshan Khan
13. Umair Khan
14. Farooq Ahmed
15. Yasir Shah
16. Mohammad Naeem
17. Asif Afridi
18. Mohammad Sami
19. Sajjad Ali
20. Inam Khan
Officials
21. Taimoor Khan Afridi (Manager)
22. Shaukat Mirza (Coach)


Hyderabad Hawks
1. Shahid Qambrani (Captain)
2. Mir Ali (V. Captain)
3. Zeeshan Gul (W-K)
4. Ghulam Shabbir
5. Mohammad Awais
6. Lal Kumar
7. Adnan Brohi
8. Sharjeel Khan
9. Rizwan Ahmed
10. Ghulam Yasin
11. Zahid Mahmood
12. Kashif Bhatti
13. Azeem Ghumman
14. Mohammad Urs
15. Ayaz Ali
16. Mashooq Bhutto
17. Aqeel Anjum
18. Rehan Nizamuddin
19. Ayaz Jamal
20. Nasrullah Memon
Officials
21. Pervaiz Ahmed Chandio (Manger)
22. Umer Rasheed (Coach)


Lahore Lions
1. Kamran Akmal
2. Salman Butt (Captain)
3. Abdul Razzaq
4. Nasir Jamshed
5. Umar Akmal
6. Taufeeq Umar
7. Aamer Sajjad
8. Sohail Ahmed
9. Junaid Zia
10. Wahab Riaz
11. Mohammad Irshad
12. Mohammad Naved
13. Ahmed Shehzad
14. Wasim Khan
15. Khaqan Arsal
16. Mohammad Zohaib
17. Sulaman Qadir
18. Hamza Haroon
19. Tanzeel Altaf
20. Fahad Masood
Officials
21. Chaudhry Naseem (Manager)
22. Naveed Anjum (Coach)


Lahore Eagles
1. Imran Farhat
2. Humayun Farhat (Captain)
3. Azhar Ali
4. Abid Ali
5. Kashif Siddiq
6. Shahnawaz Malik
7. Adnan Raza
8. Kamran Sajid
9. Asif Raza
10. Saad Nasim
11. Jamshed Ahmed
12. Mohammad Khalil
13. Aizaz Cheema
14. Waqas Ahmed
15. Usman Malik
16. Ali Raza
17. Shoaib Akram
18. Hamza Mubeen
19. Ahmed Butt
20. Imran Ali
Officials
21. Hafeez-ur-Rehman (Manager)
22. Sajjad Akbar (Coach)


Peshawar Panthers
1. Riaz Afridi (Captain)
2. Umar Gul
3. Jannisar Khan
4. Zohaib Khan
5. Aftab Alam
6. Shakeel-ur-Rehman
7. Zulfiqar Jan
8. Fawad Ali
9. Adil Amin
10. Sajjad Ahmed
11. Hamad-ul-Hasan
12. Israrullah
13. Azam Jan
14. Idrees Khan
15. Imran Khan
16. Mohammad Asif
17. Azam Khan
18. Kashif Hayat
19. Jamaluddin
20. Mahfooz Sabri
Officials
21. Mian Alamgir Shah (Manager)
22. Rehmat Gul (Coach)


Faisalabad Wolves
1. Misbha-ul-Haq (Captain)
2. Shahid Nazir (V. Captain)
3. Mohammad Hafeez
4. Naved Latif
5. Zeeshan Asif
6. Imran Ali
7. Khurram Shehzad
8. Hasan Mahmood
9. Ali Waqas
10. Mohammad Salman (WK)
11. Asif Hussain
12. Mohammad Asif
13. Ali Raza
14. Mohammad Talha
15. Samiullah Khan
16. Asad Ali
17. Saeed Ajmal
18. Imran Khalid
19. Saadat Munir
20. Abdul Rauf
Officials
21. Tariq Fareed (Manager)
22. Waseem Haider (Coach)


Sialkot Stalions
1. Shoaib Malik (Captain)
2. Imran Nazir
3. Mohammad Asif
4. Naved-ul-Hasan
5. Sarfraz Ahmed
6. Kamran Younis
7. Shakeel Ansar
8. Abdur Rehman
9. Shahid Yousuf
10. Mansoor Amjad
11. Qaiser Abbas
12. Adeel Malik
13. Majid Jahangir
14. Faisal Naved
15. Mohammad Saeed
16. Naved Arif
17. Waqas Ahmed
18. Mohammad Ashraf
19. Sarmad Anwar
20. Farhan Malik
Officials
21. Abdul Qadeer Chand (Manager)
22. Azmat Rana (Coach)

Abdullah said...

Sialkot Stallions are firm favourites for the domestic T20 cup edition 6, they have won it 4 times. All matches are to be played in Karachi, National Stadium.

I look forward to seeing the matches. Should be entertaining, interesting and eventful competition. I back Islamabad !

Abdullah said...

Sachin Tendulkar is a genius- 200no !! Wow....

As they say no one deserved to break it more than him !

Abdullah said...

Australia have finished their summer of cricket undefeated. They are an invincible outfit at home with a capital "I". Shane Watson had a golden summer.

They are still the best side in the world in ODIs and not so far behind the best India, in the tests.

Abdullah said...

Pakistan have announced their 30 man squad for the T20WC :

Squad: Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, Khalid Latif, Mohammad Hafeez, Salman Butt, Shahzaib Hassan, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Naveed Yasin, Hasan Raza, Kamran Younis, Misbah-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Fawad Alam, Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi, Yasir Arafat, Hammad Azam, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Umar Gul, Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Asif, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Sami, Saeed Ajmal, Raza Hasan, Abdul Rehman, Kamran Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed, Zulqarnain Haider

Analysis

No Tanvir ? No Akhtar ? No Mansoor Amjad. I am OK with no Akhtar btw.
Good to see 3 U19 names in there !
Zulqarnain Haider as reserve WK as well.

Abdullah said...

Raza Hassan and Yasir Shah shine as Pakistan A win the series 2-1 against England in UAE. Raza Hassan has taken 9 wickets in 3 matches, what a future prospect he is for Pakistan cricket. A gem of a spinner. 9-74 in the series overall for him.

Abdullah said...

RBST20 will last for 8 days in total.

The teams have been divided into 4 groups with group winners qualifying for the semi-finals.

Group A consists of Peshawar Panthers, Multan Tigers, Lahore Lions and Quetta Bears.

Group B has Sialkot Stallions, Rawalpindi Rams, and Karachi Zebras.

Group C is made up of Faisalabad Wolves, Islamabad Leopards, and Abbotabad Rhinos.

Group D has Karachi Dolphins, Lahore Eagles, and Hyderabad Hawks.

Abdullah said...

Semi Finals are on the 6th March with the final on the 7th.

Both on the weekend !!

Abdullah said...

GeoTV is televising the games in UK.

Good news for UK viewers and Pakistani cricket fans.

Abdullah said...

28th Feb
Lahore Lions vs Quetta Bears @ 1300
Peshawar Panthers vs Multan Tigers @ 1700
Karachi Zebras vs Sialkot Stallions @ 2100

1st March
Faisalabad Wolves vs Abbottabad Rhinos @ 1300
Multan Tigers vs Quetta Bears @ 1700
Karachi Dolphins vs Hyderabad Hawks @ 2100

2nd March
Lahore Eagles vs Hyderabad Hawks @ 1300
Karachi Zebras vs Rawalpindi Rams @ 1700
Lahore Lions vs Peshawar Panthers @ 2100

3rd March
Islamabad Leopards vs Abbottabad Rhinos @ 1700
Peshawar Panthers vs Quetta Bears @ 2100

4th March
Lahore Lions vs Multan Tigers @ 1700
Rawalpindi Rams vs Sialkot Stallions @ 2100

5th March
Faisalabad Wolves vs Islamabad Leopards @ 1700
Karachi Dolphins vs Lahore Eagles @ 2100

6th March
First Semi Final [Winner of Group (A) Vs Winner of Group (C) ] @ 1700
Second Semi Final [Winner of Group (B) Vs Winner of Group (D) ] @ 2100

7th March
FINAL

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