The Post Mortem

First up, huge and hearty congratulations to the Indian cricket team for their thoroughly well deserved victory over Pakistan – their first series victory on Pakistani soil. It is quite remarkable how the tables have turned in a short span of four years. It may have taken four or five decades too long, but this team has finally ‘matured’ and arrived on the international stage.

Traditionally India had always been a reasonably feared team, but only on Indian soil. Abroad they were a pushover. This phenomena was taken for granted for ions and continued until the turn of the millennium when there was an awakening of sorts – a sense of self belief as a cricket team (and as a nation) which slowly but surely began to translate into the results that have made the current captain the most successful in the country’s history. The batting line up just four years ago had pretty much the same key faces yet in those days once Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket had been prized out, the rest usually folded without too much of a whimper. Now there is a new, unprecedented resilience to the team and if Sachin fails, Sehwag won’t or if both of them somehow don’t get firing, then undoubtedly Dravid or then Laxman will if not Ganguly himself.

This current Indian batting line up is second to none at the moment though it ought to be remembered that when Pakistan last toured India in ’99 they had the services of a far more penetrative bowling attack spearheaded by the incomparable Wasim Akram. In that series in India Saqlain Mushtaq was at the very peak of his powers and was able to almost mesmerize the local batsmen time and again. In their support was the swerve and distinctly sharp bowling of Abdul Razzak who used to swing the ball prodigiously back then and had a couple of yards more pace. Not even required until the last Test of the series was a fit and robust looking Shoaib Akhtar, looking half the age he does presently. How on earth has he managed to age fifteen years in the last three!? He looks haggard and burned out and more than a little heavy around the mid-riff. Unless he is able to conjure thus far unfathomed reserves of discipline, it looks as though it’s all down hill for the Rawalpindi Express from now on.

A word about the beleaguered and hapless selectors, thrust into a no win situation where all they can ever do is wrong. They took a battering from a nation of arm-chair expert-cum-selectors during and after the ODI series and then a huge pasting after the debacle of the Multan Test and naturally the knives were out for a final crucifixion after the Test series was lost. Strange how not a single article in any of the national rags managed to point out that the selectors had indeed done rather well with their astute selection of the side that played in Lahore. No credit whatsoever received for bringing in Asim Kamal who performed admirably and more glaringly none at all for selecting Umar Gul in front of a battery of bowlers who had performed at least as well during the domestic season.

It is so easy to criticise the selection of Fazal e Akbar for the Pindi Test, it must be just as easy to dismiss his claims as being the premium pace bowler at the domestic level for the last three or four seasons in which he has bagged over 350 first class wickets at an average of 21 which is a staggering feat for a pace bowler plying his wares on the baked and lifeless wickets of the sub continent. None the less, there have been howls of protest upon his selection…….the authors of the criticism naturally waiting till after the match to launch their tirade just in case Fazal might have snagged a few scalps in which case of course they would have been writing that he should have been picked months ago! You can never win when the whole object of the exercise is to criticise and try to promote yourself as being the latest know-all in the trade. Let’s face it, the selection was largely spot on give or take a couple of errors of judgement such as the inclusion of the woeful Saqlain for the first Test based purely on his past reputation.

Again, like it or not, we are stuck with this lot of cricketers and there is no way that wholesale surgery will bring about better results. The biggest problem facing the Pakistan team is infighting, jealousy, prima donnas, and an archaic system of coaching and management based on getting ex cricketers to run all facets of the game based on their cricketing expertise rather than their administrative capabilities. It ought to be kept in mind that Malcolm Speed who is doing the most efficient job of arguably all previous ICC presidents is actually a lawyer by profession and never came close to playing Test cricket. To handle a corporation or run an office one requires administrative and management skills not cricketing brilliance and the sooner we recognize that the better it will be for us. Meanwhile there are players openly trying to blackmail the board but no single player is greater than the team and it should be made very clear that there is no room for Prima Donna’s on the team or for any body who feels as though the require extra attention. All pampering does is cause weakness and fuel jealousies and resentment and therefore it is good to see the team Dr. who had been appointed specifically to look after the teams prime Prima Donna leave the set up for good.

This team needs steel, mettle and tough resilient cricketers who are proud to wear their green cap and will fight like hell to honour it. This team needs guts not wishy washy stroke players who will hit a shot laden 35 and chuck their wicket away without a care in the world. We need gritty, determined characters that have the mental capacity to apply themselves to a cause with fierce determination and courage. This commitment, courage and honour is what is seriously lacking in the cricket team these days…….but then one comes back to the old theory that why judge the cricket team on a different pedestal then any other profession in the land? Why should we expect excellence from our cricketers when everyone else in the country is corrupt? Why the double standards?

Interestingly this mornings Rashid Latif column calls the current Chairman of the Cricket Board a “weak man”. I wonder what he means exactly………weak in that he doesn’t move around with an armed posse or bodyguards like Mr. Latif is known to do? Weak in that he doesn’t command ‘agencies’ and Student Federations as means of coercion. Weak in that he not drive around in a flash Pajero with the regulation armed guards as a show of the power that Mr. Latif is possibly referring to? Polite in this society equals weak, decency in this society equals weak, being soft spoken in this society equals weak……..clearly Rashid Latif’s ideas about what is weak and what is strong are based on the type of life he has had. Strange that the same Rashid had just sent the “weak” chairman a grovelling hand written letter about how sorry he was about being “misquoted” about the match fixing allegations he had made on TV recently when he had smugly declared that the “body language” of the Pakistani cricketers was a dead giveaway as to the matches being fixed! Latif ought to be snapped up by the FBI as he has the uncanny ability of recognizing people’s intentions simply by observing their body language – the man’s genius and inspiration is clearly in a class of its own.

That said, the PCB chairman has now been in office for five months now and though it is perfectly understandable that he chose not to rock the boat immediately upon assuming office due to the India series, now that the jamboree is over with, there are plenty of issues to be looked at cold heartedly and some tough decisions to be made. More than anything he and the nation should realize that there can be no magic wand or holy beads that will suddenly transform a truly ragged outfit to world-beaters in a few months. However, he needs to select his team of workers carefully and not let his focus shift from what he believes are the issues that need to be tackled. When it comes to the national team, immediately those team members whose attitude is questionable in any way should be made to clear the way for fresh blood. There is no room in a team for members unwilling to give anything less than 100% to the teams cause and it shouldn’t matter if they are the fastest bowlers in the world or people who have amassed 50 averages based on big innings accumulated in pressure free situations when the match was drifting to a certain draw or defeat. We need determined lads like Bilal Asad of Islamabad who is full of the courage, resilience and fierce never say die attitude that this team is crying out for. Bazid Khan ought to be given a go and Younis Khan must be brought back and groomed as the man to take over from Inzaman ul Haq.

The Indians have indeed come a long, long way in the last four years while Pakistan has regressed having lost the irreplaceable W’s and Saeed Anwer all in close proximity to one another. Yet, all is not lost as there is an abundance of talent in the country…what remains to be seen is how effectively this talent is recognized, tapped and nurtured. The worst aspect of Pakistan’s defeat was not so much the margins of defeat but the attitude that the team displayed in going down. This team was totally bereft of spirit and determination and seemed to be merely going through the motions, totally uncaring of the outcome. The fielding was at an all time low while the batting lacked the most basic application and concentration that it takes to survive at the crease. The bowlers who were supposedly among the most feared in the world turned up toothless and hopeless, embarrassed and totally shown up by their much younger, less experienced opponents who bowled intelligently and capably through most of the series. The Pakistani pace bowlers huffed, puffed grunted and glowered and snorted yet it just didn’t happen for them. Other than Umar Gul’s match winning spell in the second Test at Lahore it was a diet of garbage from the assortment of Pakistani bowlers on display.

Saqlain Mushtaq was horrendous in the first Test and will need major corrective surgery if he is ever to return as a potent force of any kind. It was shocking to see how his bowling has completely fallen away in the last two years or so – this deterioration is far more than just a lack of form or confidence. Shabbir Ahmed produced one remarkable spell on a very helpful track in one of the One Day matches but appeared no more than a trundler whenever else he was on display. Abdul Razzak’s bowling continues to deteriorate at an alarming rate – quite remarkable considering his is all of 24 years old. He has lost all his swing and is now playing as a batting all rounder rather than the bowling one that he gained his reputation as.

The press meanwhile has been full of the expected rabid hysteria that one has become rather accustomed to over the years. The only balanced, non-foaming-at-the-mouth analysis is found in Omer Kureshi’s excellent column in Dawn and elsewhere. Here is a man, who one may not agree with on every aspect, but at least whatever he points out, he does in a clear headed, sensible and non-hysterical manner. Sadly the same cannot be said for the majority of ‘experts’ who spout abject excrement each time they open their mouths or put pens to paper. The News is a paper that continues to slide into tabloid territory and its cricket correspondents and ‘experts’ continue to acquire a reputation to match. The likes of Mr. Shakil Shaikh underline their worth (worthlessness?) as serious journalists each time they attempt to bark a point - and he now enjoys about the same level of credibility as the infamous Sarfaraz Nawaz – renowned paragon of upright humanity and class.

One could go on and on singing the praises of Sarfaraz, Shakil Shaikh and their ilk but for the moment let’s stick to a post mortem of the current series and a man by man analysis of Pakistan side: Inzamam Ul Haq: felt the strain of leading a mediocre and less than 100% committed side and lost his deputy Moin Khan after the Multan Debacle. Inzamam may not have enhanced his credentials much as a skipper but his innings in Lahore showed his team-mates what grit and commitment is all about. Pakistan’s best batsman by a mile perhaps Inzi would benefit if he wasn’t burdened with the captaincy, yet there is little that can be done at present as Inzi has been appointed for a year at least.

Imran Farhat frustrates because though he is a player who seems to possess a fair amount of talent, the courage and guts are not particularly evident and he has a glaring fault that he plays entirely from the crease without really ever taking a full stride forward in his forward stroke nor fully back on his back footed shots. A fault that will land him in horrendous difficulty wherever the ball might move around even a shade. Also though he scored a fine hundred at Lahore it was disappointing yet totally predictable that he would throw his innings away the moment he reached his personal landmark. Not quite a Dravid or a Tendulkar for whom a mere century almost seems like a failure!

Taufeeq Umar was a disaster and surrendered meekly without a hint of a struggle or taking the fight to the opponents. He will be struggling to retain his place unless he shows a resilience thus far lacking.

Yousuf Youhanna plays gracefully and with ease when there is no pressure in the match however the moment he is required to perform when the chips are down you can bet your life on it that he will fail – a sort of Zaheer Abbas of modern Pakistani cricket who produces runs when they are worthless.

Abdul Razzak sadly continues to go backwards and his bowling is now devoid of its swing and its zip and pace rendering him a bit of a trundler really who won’t be causing any batsmen any sort of nightmares at all. Quite inexplicable that his bowling should have fallen away so alarmingly despite his young age. However he must be persisted with and somehow worked on so that he is able to recapture the form of a couple of years ago.

Younis Khan should never have been dispensed with – he scored useful runs in the middle order during the ODI’s and is an intelligent, thinking cricketer. The Pakistan team is far weaker due to his being overlooked – a bad blunder by the selectors.

Asim Kamal showed the type of courage and temperament that the Pakistani team must be built around and the selectors ought to start searching for more such gritty, gutsy characters.

Shahid Afridi’s limited intelligence renders him incapable of improving which is very sad indeed as he is a fearless, brave cricketer who fields excellently and was simply brilliant with the bat on the Indian tour of 1999. Nobody played Kumble better on that tour and his ton in Chennai was one of the exceptional innings in recent Pakistani history. His bowling too was underrated and very useful…but it seems his inability to work on his weaknesses may prove his undoing.

Yasir Hameed is another who needs to learn how to graft and struggle for runs. He swishes away merrily without a care in the world and was out ceaselessly to that horrendous poke outside the off stump that he seems to be mesmerized by. The way he played without a care in the world in the second innings of the final Test match suggests that he too was one of those not giving their best for their country. Frankly his innings and some of the others on display were a sickening display of gutlessness.

Misbah Ul Haq has a reputation of being a tough customer and thus must be given a chance to show his worth…after all it is the tough nuts that the team requires at this stage. People who value their caps.

Moin Khan has been a brilliant servant of Pakistani cricket but his time is clearly up as his reflexes have slowed down rendering him a shadow of the cricketer he was. No fault of his own, but time catches up with the best of us and Moin should hold his head up high for distinguished service for his country. Sami was one of the flops of the series, not that he didn’t try, but it just didn’t happen for him and he suffered from a loss of confidence and his action seems to be falling apart just a bit and his priceless outswinger seems to have deserted him.

Sami must be persisted with and nurtured carefully without receiving the Prima Donna treatment that has been reserved for Shoaib Akhtar who clearly reckons he is far more important than his team. The team might well be better off without this tantrum throwing star whose commitment is only to himself and his endless self projection.

Time to let Shoaib earn his millions as a star playing for the Lashings Club or whoever will grant him the importance he so desperately craves. His days are clearly numbered and his best is clearly well behind him. Young Kamran Akmal is bright eyed and sprightly which comes with youth but his keeping is far from tidy and his batting is a liability. That he is the best keeper in the country is a depressing fact and likewise that Danish Kaneria is the best spin bowler in the land is another deeply depressing fact. There is loads that needs fixing in Pakistani cricket and all this hysterical media reaction and vitriol hardly helps……….the only positive, constructive and healthy criticism comes from the lone column of Omar Kureshi – bless him for being the sole voice of sanity in a maelstrom of madness.

JUST ONE OF THOSE DAYS!

One cricketing legend stole the limelight from another legend on a day that will never be forgotten. Brian Lara showed truly remarkable drive and single minded determination when he siezed his Test cricket batting record back from Matt Hayden who had set his 380 just seven or so months ago. Not that one would wish to detract from Hayden's monumental achievement, clearly Zimbabwe and Bangladesh and to some extent the West Indies are easy pickings these days and mere fodder for all sorts of records being set against them. Zimbabwe has been a fairly wretched outfit over the last couple of years and with the exodus of the few reasonable players they had left...expect a host of world records to be set in Tests featuring their side in the near future. A huge shame as the records set against these sub-standard sides are clearly unworthy of the status they are accorded. Hayden's record never "felt" like a record and I reckon the whole cricketing fraternity, even the many Lara detractors are at least relieved that at least crickets most high profile record is a bone fide record as opposed to the soft record that many rightly or wrongly considered Matt Hayden's record to be.

If that wasn't enough monday the 12th of April also saw the official retirement of a bowler who was for two or three years from around 90 - 92 one of the most potent fast bowlers the game had ever seen. Those hugely swinging yorkers homing in on the stumps at blistering pace were one of the cricketing highlights of the early 90's. Though he claims he is only 32 and looks fairly fit, fact is he has been a mere trundler albeit a good one for the last couple of years and father time had clearly caught up with him. None the less, he will be remembered as one of the truly great fast bowlers of his time and together with Wasim Akram he formed arguably the most potent new (or especially old) ball attack the game has ever seen. Waqar's announcement was rather overshadowed by Lara's heroics in Antigua but he deserves acclaim for his achievements and for his service to Pakistan cricket.

The third Test match began in Rawalpindi with the buzz being that the toss would play a vital role and that the ball would dart around in the pre lunch session. Ganguly, back from his injury called correctly and gleefully elected to bowl but in the first 40 minutes or so his bowlers served up some true rubbish, threatening to utterly waste the new ball completely. Ashish Nehra started horribly with a wide but then settled down and then began to make some decisive inroads which led to a cave in by the home side. Balaji after a wretched first four or five overs settled down and explioted the conditions intelligently while Nehra chipped away at the other end with help from Pathan who had been swinging the ball all over the park. A late flurry by Sami and the most unlikely Fazal-e-Akbar saw Pakistan past 200 but on a pitch that should turn into a batting paradise they will have their backs to the wall from now on unless Shoaib, Sami and co can blast through the Indian top order in the first session of play. If not, Pakistan might have done to them what they managed to do to their opponents in Lahore.

THE FOURTH DAY PAKISTAN v INDIA 2nd Test at Lahore

The clouds that were hovering and even rumbling at 6am gradually evaporated into memory as the sun turned on the afterburners. An expectant crowd had showed up at the Stadium while most of the visitors from abroad turned up in the hope that Virender Sehwag might cause another minor miracle. For the first time in the series Shoaib Akhtar looked as though he wasn't carrying some sort of burden and steamed in delivering the searing pace of old. Sehwag, the potential destroyer of dreams was the first to succumb playing a mile away from his body, carving away in that characteristically buoyant manner. Irfan Pathan received three of Shoaib's most spiteful deliveries and couldn't handle a fourth. Patel played on, displaying resolve and ability while Agarkar, a century maker against Australia recently, leant good support as the tail wagged and took India took a slender lead. The introduction of Danish Kaneria hastened a tail end collapse and the home side was left with just 40 to win - even recent nightmares in Sharjah against Australia not so long ago when Pakistan was bowled for scores of 59 and 60 respectively.....surely there wouldn't be a repeat performance. Imran Farhat's was the only loss as the Pakistani's won by a 9 wicket margin. Deserving winners having displayed a resolve and a steel that has long been missing in a Pakistan outfit. Inzamam truly led by example with his tremendously focussed innings and the with Shoaib and Sami seemingly turning the corner with some pretty fearsome spells towards the end of the match, the visitors batting order will have a fearsome battle on their hands in Rawalpindi. Let's hope the crowds show up to support the series decider and that it is a fitting climax to a thrilling and utterly absorbing series.

There might be a change or two for the final Test with a question mark over Taufeeq Umar's form who might give way to Imran Nazir. Whether Shabbir plays in place of Kaneria is another query. The Indian side is likely to bring in Ashish Nehra for Ajit Agarkar who lacks match fitness and it is possible that Chopra might get the chop to accommodate the skipper now that Ganguly has publicly stated that Yuvraj Singh will play.

A mouthwatering prospect awaits in Rawalpindi.

THE THIRD DAY PAKISTAN v INDIA 2nd Test at Lahore

Another absorbing day full of twists and turns. The day started as if scripted by some Bollywood movie moguls with India making the now almost customary fightback with Irfan Pathan leading the way with an inspired burst of bowling with the still newish second (or was it third) new ball. Inzamam, rock solid the previous day got a delivery that is his achilles heel - the late inswinging deliver that thuds into his pads catching him having planted his leg in the path of the ball but with no avenue for getting it out of that path...plus an old Inzi weakness in that he tends to fall over to the offside a touch. He was palpably out and a few moments later the dangerous looking Youhanna followed having kissed a superbly bowled leg cutter by the every trying Laxmipathy Balaji. This bought in the recalled young lefthander Asim Kamal (Not pronounced Aseeem (Please not Sanjay Manjrekar) who appeared to be all dogged, strokeless defence in the initial part of his innings but as he gained confidence, the bad balls began being dispatched for boundaries and all of a sudden a the lead which was looking as though it would be easily contained, once again started to get out of hand for the visitors especially as Pathan and Balaji ran out of steam.

Yet again Pakistan benefitted from some very close umpiring decisions that seemed to go in their favour - but fortune favours the brave and it was an uncharacteristically brave and resiliant Pakistani effort during this match that has seen them to the stage where this morning they have to wrap up another five wickets before making their push for victory. Sehwag remains in the way, but surely another triple century is a little too much to ask from the Delhi Rapier at this point. Meanwhile, a touch of suspense has been created by the weather this morning as Lahore had woken up to an overcast sky with even some distant rumbling of thunder in the distance. However the clouds don't seem to be too threatening at this stage and the sun is slowly threatening to break through.

This has been quite a turnaround by the Pakistani team and even Javed Miandad seems to be putting in some honest graft rather than gesticulating like an imbecile from the balcony - though hopefully the Board will realize that the time for a far more professional approach to matters of coaching and fitness is required and ex greats despite how great they were in their glory day should not be allowed to land lucrative coaching spots unless they provide the necessarry degrees and certificates that prove that they are indeed QUALIFIED to hold a position as a sports coach. Scoring 10,000 runs or taking 400 wickets does not mean that you are automatically the best coach in town! That moribund mentality has to be dumped once and for all.

DAY 2, 2ND TEST MATCH. PAKISTAN v INDIA at Lahore

Events that unfolded today clearly indicate that the Pakistan side has truly been quite savagely stung by the horrendous crushing received last week in Multan. The batting wore an unrecognizably determined look and despite the odd blemish (Yasir Hameed's ungainly and injudicious swish as well as Imran Farhat's equally swishy shot) the batsmen grit their teeth and put their heads down like seldom seen in recent memory. Young Imran Farhat led the way in the early part of the day with a determined innings that seemed to sap him of his powers of concentration as he looked like throwing his wicket away at any stage after he reached 90 or so. That he threw his wicket away immediately upon reaching a highly commendable hundred suggests that though the lad is enormously talented, he needs to work on acquiring some steely determination and resolve. Batsmen who thrown their innings away upon reaching personal milestones are often thought of as playing primarily for their own personal glory and though Imran Farhat's effort couldn't be faulted as selfish it was unfortunate that he couldn't muster the powers of concentration and determination that separates a good player from a potentially great one. None the less, Imran Farhat has shown that he has time to play his shots and possesses a handsome array of strokes all around the wicket. If there is a glaring fault it is that he plays from the crease neither moving significantly forward nor taking a significant stride out to meet the ball when playing forward. This is something that Imran needs to work on and the Pakistan cricket management ought to make sure that Imran Farhat isn't wasted like another potentially brilliant batsman like Wajahatullah Wasti was.

Inzamam's innings was probably the most determined one has ever known him to be. He played with a singleminded determination and a resolve that one rarely witnesses from Pakistani batsmen these days. It was easily one of the finest knocks of his career and virtually a flawless one. Not once did his concentration wilt in the sapping heat - and despite all his tactical shortcomings as a leader, today he truly led from the front and was an inspiration to his forces. It was a fantastic knock and one that could have crucially swayed the match in favour of the home side, especially as the pitch is beginning to show some alarmingly low bounce on occasion.

Yousuf Youhana was missing the form that he displayed in Multan and scratched around looking very unsettled and insecure at the crease. He was forunate to survive some vociferous leg before shouts along the way but credit to him for hanging in there despite being in wretched form. The expected cave in didn't materialize as expected for the Pakistani batting order thanks to the efforts of young Imran and captain dependable Inzamam Ul Haq. Tomorrow, the third day is another crucial one if India are to claw their way back into contention. Quick wickets are needed by the visitors in the pre lunch session as they have to stop Pakistan from getting away with a substantial lead as the wicket continues to crumble.

The Indian bowlers toiled manfully under the scorching sun with Balaji especially putting in a couple of fine spells testing the batsmen to the maximum. Kumble lacked penetration and Agarkar looks as though he still needs a match or two under his belt before he rediscovers some rhythm. If India can mop up the Pakistan innings by around lunch time and Sehwag and company get firing then any score of around 250 to get in the last innings will prove a handful as the pitch should be a handful by the last day and a half. However if Pakistan can avoid collapsing and continue in similar vein and somehow Sami and Shoaib have their radars functioning a little bit more efficiently, things could yet get very interesting indeed.

Today, fortune favoured the brave and the Pakistani batsmen definitely enjoyed the rub of the green when it came to umpiring decisions....however funnily enough the two beneficiaries on this occasion were those who were especially hard done by in the previous match! Cricket, like life, tends to be quite an equalizer!!!

THOUGHTS ON DAY 1 of the 2ND TEST MATCH, PAKISTAN v INDIA at Lahore

A day that produced quite a bit of the unexpected. First up, the selection of Asim Kamal at the very last minute as a replacement for Abdul Razzak who apparently cried off claiming injury raised a few eyebrows. Razzak at the age of 24 or so is a primary example of how Pakistani cricketers of immense promise and ability fail to improve and subsequently achieve their potential. Three years ago Razzak was the envy of the cricketing community - a budding all rounder of immense potential who could turn matches with his incisive and lively swing bowling or his explosive batting. At the age of 21 he seemed to have a glittering career ahead of him yet three years later he seems to be a shadow of his former self. Razzak's bowling has lost its swing as well as the little pace that he possessed and now he is one of those bowlers a good batsman can play with his eyes shut. There is no sting or venom or aggression left in Razzak's bowling and though he may have cried off due to his skippers recent public blasting of his "star pace bowlers" the team may actually be stronger for his omission the way he is bowling at present. Razzak still possesses the talent to concentrate on his batting and if he had the determintation he could end up becoming a reliable and important member of the batting line up as Imran Khan was in the last three or four years of his career when his bowling was falling away. The sad contrast is that while Imran was 35 and still a potent bowling force, Razzak is yet to turn 25 and already looks like a "has been".

Danish Kaneria's selection was expected though he didn't look particularly penetrive or dangerous. Sami had a wretched day and his confidence is at a very low ebb at the moment and Shoaib Akhtar seemed to struggle and his lack of athleticism is really showing through at the moment. He needs to be in peak fitness and like most of the Pakistan team, his fitness levels are far from 100%.

Fitness is another area where the Pakistan team is living in the dinosauric age with the theory that "we are so talented that we dont need to practice or work on our physical fitness" and thus you have players breaking down with alarming regularity and this will continue to happen until we get our act together and the players (if ever) decide that they actually do wish to improve as professional sportsmen.

Kamran Akmal was exuberant behind the stumps and made a spectacular take or two but tellingly he spilled an important chance offered during the crucial Yuvraj - Pathan partnership and appeared as though he was more interested in making another spectacular looking take rathen than concentrating on catching the wretched thing. Akmal must concentrate on keeping rather than posing if he is to make the grade. Yet, there was a spring in his step which poor Moin Khan had lost about three years ago.

Moin has been a brilliant servent of Pakistani cricket over the years - a rare one who has worked on his game and improved over the years - however age catches up with everyone and Moin's day may well have come and gone. He should be feted as a shining example of the type of spirit and attitude that one wishes every Pakistani cricketer would play with. If only the rest of the team played with even half of his spirit and desire...Moin Khan was (is) definitely one of the good guys and one hopes that his services to Pakistan cricket are not forgotten.

For India, the batsmen looked a little bemused once the ball started moving off the seam just a bit. Laxman appeared all at sea and Sehwag always offers the bowler a chance outside the off stump the way he carves away with such abandon in that region. Umar Gul truly did show up his famous senior partners in the pace attack and Shabbir may have a tough time reclaiming his spot especially after his dismal effort in the field in addition to his totally toothless bowling in Multan. Yuvraj Singh played quite beautifully once he settled down and is coming of age in a very pleasing way for the Indian selectors. Here is a batsman who has truly turned the corner over the last six months with a successful tour of Australia where he scored a magnificent One Day 100 and carried on his form into the domestic season scoring a century each in the regional Finals. With his innings yesterday Yuvraj has undelined himself as one of the brightest upcoming stars in the game - and fortunately, a hugely attractive batsman to watch with a delightful array of fluent strokes. Speaking of rising stars, can anyone have caught the scene more than young Irfan Pathan who is simply a most naturally brilliant young cricketer bursting with talent. He has been the revelation of the tour so far displaying a remarkable talent and potential to become the finest all-rounder of the post Imran-Botham-Kapil era. What is also evident is that the young lad is striving to learn and to absorb from the experience around him and with such a work ethic as he is displaying, greatness looms. He bowled quite beautifully yesterday and his batting was beautifully correct and brimming with potential. India have unearthed a true gem of the highest calibre in Irfan Pathan despite Miandad's claim (and wishful thinking?) that such cricketers "can be found on every street in Pakistan". If only!

The match is interestingly poised...........Pakistan's highly brittle batting is to be put to the test by a probing and disciplined attack and though conditions should strongly favour batting, a batting bellyflop could certainly materialize. Imran Farhat didn't look all that secure last night and Yasir Hameed was very fortunate to survive.

A fascinating day in prospect today..........pity that the crowds have decided to stay away thus depriving the match of some much needed atmosphere.

SOME RAMBLINGS ON THE EVE OF THE SECOND TEST MATCH in LAHORE

Inzamam has blasted his bowlers for being overhyped superstars in an effort to sting them into action for the second Test beginning in Lahore in a couple of hours. Lets see if Mohammad Sami and especially Prima Donna number One Shoaib Akhtar respond in the way the captain hope. Shoaib is looking a little over bulky these days and his midriff and bum region have grown rather disproportionately to the rest of his body - in other words...he is getting fat and it shows. His spectacular delivery stride leap has all but vanished and his average pace has also dropped markedly. Yes he can still send down the occasional thunderbold, but the ability to sustain hostility and pace is definitely on the wane. Though he is not overtly that old but one ought to remember that most people in Pakistan are born at the age of -5 or so. Waqar Younis was supposedly 16 when he started his fast bowling heroics and Shahid Afridi merely 15 when he first played for Pakistan! Yeah right!

The selectors have understandably been unable to wave a magic wand and produce some new rabbits out of their hats. Imran Nazir a talented if rather brain dead batsman has been brought in on the strength of a string of decent performances during the domestic season as well as his reputation of being "fearless" though many would consider Nazir's brand of fearlessness to be more akin to suicidal insanity. However, Nazir gets yet another chance to ressurrect his career that has already seem more stops and starts than a milk delivery van on its morning run.

Danish Kaneria has also been understandably inducted - understandably because there are no other quality spinners to be found in the land now that Arshad Khan has been discarded and poor Saqlain Mushtaq appears to have totally lost it........in more ways than one! Saqlain's loss of form has been as alarming as it has been bewildering, perhaps the transformation in his personal life (that divine Beard that has recently sprouted) might have meant a wavering of attention to cricket in the overall reassessment of values. Whatever the reason may be, fact is Saqlain Mushtaq is now bowling atrociously and it does appear at this moment that his Test career may well be over.

Interestingly enough, speaking of sprouting beards and transformations and reassessment of values and going to pot cricketwise....I received a mysterious phone call at around 10.50pm on the night of the 30th of March. The voice said....."Main Saeed Anwer bol raha hoon....pehchana?" (This is Saeed Anwer speaking - dyou recognize me?). I said I did and he mentioned that he had had a chat with me at The Hot Spot a couple of years ago (The Pre-Beard days). Then he went on to mention that he dearly wanted to meet me and to share a cup of tea with me and that I should note down his cell phone number and MUST contact him in the next day or so. All this time I'm thinking.....................WHY is this man calling me??? Is it to show me that I am due to burn in hell and to salvage my soul? Saeed Anwer has become an avid recruiter for the Born Again types and clearly I was seen as one ripe for recruiting. Each to his own is what my policy is.........Saeed Anwer should do what pleases him, but he, nor anyone else has the right to stand in judgement. This business of avid recruitment is as loathsome as one of those incredibly persistent salesmen or one of those wretched flies that despite however much you shoo it away, keeps returning to sit on you and can never be swatted!

The fear is that there is going to be an empty stadium in Lahore this morning for the Test.......some of the blame (if that is the right word) can be attributed to the Indain Cricket Board who insisted an playing the One Day series before the Test Series. In this part of the world the public is obsessessed with One Day Cricket and shun the longer version of the game. There was so much interest in this series and so much hype that had the Tests been played earlier, even if Pakistan had not done well, crowds would have come. But now we have had the firework display before the closing ceremony as it were.........and the crowds are not interested any more. The Test series has come as a huge anti climax after the blitz of the One Day Internationals and suddenly interest levels are 5% of what they were a mere few weeks ago and the PCB desperately trying to entice ticket buyers with slashed rates.

Rumour has it that Pakistan's number one Prima Donna had a huge tantrum and terrified of failure and tarnishing his "image" wanted to cry off and not play in the 2nd Test. It seems now that he has been somehow persuaded to carry on..........but if success doesn't come early, expect him to go limping off the ground with yet another mysterious ailment. Time to show these Prima Donna's the door once and for all...........these and those with the slightest hint of match fixing connections. We need fresh blood and a fresh attitude, doesnt matter if losing a few series along the way is what it might cost.

Meanwhile the woeful Windies collapse to yet another humiliating thrashing...........interesting to watch Sir Viv Richards who was part of many a "Blackwash" against his English opponents now about to taste some of his own medicine, and that too with the horribly tuneless Barmy Army goading and taunting his team right under his nose in his own backyard! How the mighty have fallen...and continue to. If Pakistan cricket thought it was beset by problems.....just spare a thought for the once invincible West Indies - a team who put together one of the most astounding sporting success stories of the 80's that is now languishing as the laughing stock of the cricket community.

MORE MISGUIDED MOANING

More letters and articles moaning, groaning and chest thumping about the omission of ex-greats Waqar Younis and not so great Rashid Latif in the side. Fact is neither has played in the ongoing domestic season which is from where the Test team is to be selected. No one who hasn't participated in the domestic season can be eligible for selection. Geddit!?

WHAT IT TAKES TO BE COACH OF THE PAKISTAN CRICKET TEAM

Javed Miandad was undoubtedly one of the finest batsmen of his era. Tenacious, fiercely competitive with a tomcat like survival instinct he was, along with Sunil Gavaskar, the very finest Pre-Tendulkar batsmen the subcontinent had produced. However, when it comes to coaching cricket, he is a total fiasco and a laughing stock.

In years gone by it was taken for granted that the most successful cricketers would naturally make the most successful coaches. This long adhered to theory has recently been obliterated by a succession of world class, even revolutionary coaches whose cricketing careers had been mediocre at very best. No disrespect to Bob Woolmer of South Africa and England who was a “bread and butter” cricketer for years at Kent, performing admirably with the ball as a pedestrian medium pacer who wobbled the ball a bit and an increasingly dogged and determined batsman who slowly found himself being elevated up the order until he finally reached the very top of the order. Woolmer was a very useful “bits and pieces” cricketer who made the most of his abilities and ended up playing Test cricket for England and If I recall correctly he even scored (a painfully slow) 149 against the old Enemy when they boasted Lillie, Thomson and Walker.

Though he didn’t exactly set the world of Test Cricket on fire as a player he truly made his presence felt years later when he began his stint of coaching the South African cricket team that had been in international wilderness due to Apartheid. Woolmer brought a scientific, modern approach to coaching that literally revolutionized the way cricket was coached all over the world (except Pakistan).

Dav Whatmore was the next coach who had a rather less than memorable career as a player. He took Sri Lanka from being the typically talented yet temperamental and volatile side to becoming One Day World Champions even though they had very limited bowling resources. The Lankan team underwent a total transformation under Whatmore’s instruction – their fielding alone improved at least ten fold and they were unrecognisable from the talented yet utterly inconsistent outfit they had previously been.

Recently we have seen Australia become a cricketing superpower, setting standards at every aspect of the game leaving the rest playing catch up. Their side was not exactly a pushover when John Buchanan was selected as Coach. John who? was most people’s reaction as the man hadn’t even played Test cricket and was pretty much a mediocrity as a first class cricketer. Australia has flourished under Buchanan’s tutelage and clearly he is the man who has followed Bob Woolmer’s lead and refined those strategies and techniques to an art.

Meanwhile another first class mediocrity Duncan Fletcher has managed to turn the corner with his England team and despite the fact that England just doesn’t possess the natural talent (at the present time) that some other countries enjoy. Here is yet another example of a team beginning to perform admirably despite its inherent limitations. England hasn’t had a match winning spin bowler a la Shane Warne since the days of Laker and Lock and haven’t really produced the quicks at the rate they would like to either. Yet, with their limited resources they have managed to put together some pretty decent results of late.

Finally the Indian team has undergone quite a transformation in the last couple of years and much of the credit must go to John Wright who has instilled a discipline and a work ethic and a hunger to improve that has translated into brilliant results. The current Indian team is unrecognizable from the team that used to take defeat as a way of life under captains such as Mohammad Azharuddin. The combination of John Wright who has brought disciple and intelligence as well as a modern, scientific approach to coaching has merged perfectly with Saurav Ganguly’s attempts at firing the team with some aggression.

While all these teams have been taking huge and very tangible strides in improving their cricket, Pakistan has remained rigidly in a rut, still employing coaches on the basis of how many runs of wickets they took at the highest level with no regard to whether they are in any way QUALIFIED to be coaching sport of any nature. The sole criteria for being selected into a position in the PCB appear to be that a candidate must have served as a commentator on TV. In recent years Rameez Raja has been commentating on Star/ESPN and his fluent phrases and clever observations clearly made an impression on the powers that be at home because it wasn’t long before he was appointed to a very important post in the PCB. You will recall that last year during the World Cup in South Africa, the commentary team on Ten Sports was Javed Miandad and Haroon Rashid. Well guess what? The two of them obviously prattled on impressively enough to be immediately appointed as Coach and manager of the national cricket team. Oh, and the man who clearly made the biggest impression and was also a commentator was Aamir Sohail. His long winded phrases clearly made an impact as he was drafted in as Chief Selector! So, clearly it seems that in order to land an important post at the PCB all you need to have done is to spew some clever sounding mumbo jumbo commentating on TV. Even Geoff Boycott was drafted in as a ten day batting coach due to his admittedly sharp observations while commentating and there are rumours that the Board has been heeding the words of Dean Jones and Ian Healy (qualified coaches?) – Both of whom are currently commentating on the India – Pakistan series enhancing their “coaching credentials” with their commentary.

Meanwhile we stuck with having a total embarrassment as the coach of the national cricket team. A man who was a unquestionably a brilliant batsman but who sadly hasn’t a clue as a coach. Watching him gesticulating like a moron from the balcony after every single ball was the most memorable moment of the One Day series as it perfectly exemplified our demented approach to coaching. Zaheer Abbas might have been a great batsman and Imran Khan a brilliant bowler but unless they have got the qualifications (from a coaching institute) and the requisite degrees – they shouldn’t even be considered for the coaching job. Yes, they can be regularly asked to give tips and pointers but certainly not to occupy the main coaching position which has to be in totally specialized hands. There is no dearth of cricketing talent in this country but professionalism is the need of the hour and that means non professionals such as Javed Miandad cannot continue to perform jobs that must be held by QUALIFIED personnel.

The sooner the PCB divests themselves of the services of their current coach the better off they will be. Let him earn some more pots of gold teaching the Sultan of Brunei’s son’s how to hit a six over mid wicket on the penultimate ball of the match! This is no time to delve in past glories…….time to move with the times and adapt, or expect to fall by the wayside. No point counting on bows and arrows, supreme archery skills and the blessings of The Mighty One when the rest of the world has moved onto inch perfect guided missiles!

PAKISTAN - A DEN OF OSTRICHES AND CONSPIRACY THEORISTS AND SOME HORRIBLY MISPLACED PATRIOTISM!

Just about sick to the stomach of all these letters and reports pouring in from Pakistani's all over the globe about the current Pakistan - India cricket series being rigged. If ever more evidence was needed that we are indeed a nation of the worlds sorest losers....well, look no further.

Before the series started and having analysed India's magnificent performance on their tour of Australia most armchair pundits believed that our neighbours would start off as hot favourites for the One Day series while the home side with their brilliant if utterly temperamental fast bowlers might have the edge in the Test series. We also seemed to have forgotten India's superb showing in last years World Cup where they were irresistable until the very final hurdle. So why wasn't their a chorus of disapproval and howls of "fixing" when the improbable happened and Pakistan managed to win the second and third matches of the series?

It seems that for Pakistani's all matches that they win are not fixed but all matches that they lose are bound to be fixed because after all we being Pakistani's can only walk on water and the only way that anyone can perhaps perform any task or deed better than us is when there has been a conspiracy or a plot to foil us.

The more perfect we delude ourselves into believing we are - the weaker we will remain, not only as a cricket team but as a nation. By refusing to acknowledge that we have any failings we merely regress further into a delusional world in which we see ourselves as more holy, more pious, more righteous and more important than any other nation or people on earth.

One of the most excruciating aspects of watching the One Day internationals at the stadiums was the ghastly diet of embarassing fascist themed songs that blared out from the speakers sytems during the intervals. There is far more to "I Love You Pakistan" then pretending that we have no weaknesses and no problems of our own and that every thing that goes wrong in this land is the work of the Americans, Israel and the Zionist lobby and that much dreaded "Third Hand" that keeps meddling in our affairs and causing all sorts of mayhem.

Patriotism is so horribly misplaced when all you can do is wave flags and brandish huge ugly stickers on your cars claiming superiority over the rest of the world. Wouldn't it be more patriotic to acknowledge one's follies and weaknesses and to sincerely go about eliminating them rather than continuously crying "conspiracy theory". But then laying blame for one's own weaknesses is far easier than actually lifting a figer to do anything about them. Sadly, in a nuthsell, the latter applies to the Pakistani psyche to a T and this goes for cricket or any other aspect of life.

To love one's country surely does not mean that you refuse to recognize its failings and weaknesses? Sadly we choose to live like ostriches with our heads buried deep in the sand and our pride and vested interests refusing to allow us to evolve naturally with the passage of time.

02 APRIL 2004: MURALITHARAN MADNESS -

First up that chuck(l)ing assassin Mutthiah Muralitharan, Sri Lanka's ace record-busting superstar cricketer who may be the nicest guy on earth but should not be allowed to bowl in any official form of cricket simply because his bowling style goes against the established rules of the sport of cricket. At the moment it seems that the Cricket Authorities have allowed Murali to continue to obliterate the record books in sympathy that due to his deformity of the arm he ought to be allowed to bend the rules of the game. The real villains of the piece are those sports coaches and school teachers who didn't stop Murali from bowling way back when he was a student in school. He should have been stopped and been informed politely but firmly that if he persisted to deliver the cricket ball in the manner that he did (and still does) he would not be allowed to bowl according to the rules of the game. Therefor he should either just stick to playing with the family in the lawn or at the beach or then consider taking up another sport. We are in total agreement with Mr Bishen Bedi who, like us has been groaning each time Murali chuckles his was to yet another bagful of wickets in his relentless pursuit to go down in the history books as the greatest bowler the game has ever known. Muralitharan must be the nicest guy on earth - at least he seems to come accross as a totally charming man - almost impossible to dislike. That is not the issue...the issue is that here is a man who is clearly employing a bowling action contrary to the most basic laws of the sport of cricket. That is the issue in a nutshell despite what demented people like a former Sri Lankan captain might have to say claiming racial bias as in issue. Fact is we have all just got used to watching Muralitharan's action and come to accept it as being acceptable. If Murali has a legal bowling action then I must be the Queen of England.