The Change PCT Needed:

    Although, Misbah ul Haq did well as skipper, he is almost 38 now. His career is just to end. Pakistan Cricket Team  gelled together under the captaincy of Misbah, especially it was at its best when Pakistan defeated England - the #1 test team on the charts - at neutral venues. Misbah's individual performance was satisfactory too in test cricket, but in the shortest format, he doesn't look good. Pakistan Cricket Board finally took the right decision to replace Misbah by Hafeez as captain in t20's. While in the other two formats, Hafeez will assist the cool headed captain - Misbah - as vice captain. This is really a nice way to go PCB!  

The Thinking Hafeez & The Cool Misbah 

       People say, Afridi should be the captain of t20 side, but I think, Hafeez is the best option at this time, as Afridi has enjoyed his tenure as captain, Younis Khan's career is in its last stages. Now, it is needed that the seniors and the juniors  as well, buck up and helf Hafeez in his new job and groom him for the serious cricket of longer formats of gentlemen's game.
   Induction of youngsters in all the three formats' squad for the tour to humid Sri Lanka is a good initiative. It will boost the morale of youth working hard in domestic cricket. Pakistan announced three different wicket-keepers for three different formats. It'll help the team to increase the bench strength.
   Hope, Pakistan Team will do good in the up coming assignment - the series against Sri Lanka.

The UNPREDICTABLE Pakistan or The EXPOSED England!

     Pakistan Cricket Team - the unpredictable  - win an other thriller against World's #1 (in ranking charts) by 72 runs. What an awesome win of PCT! I believe, it's one of the best test wins of  Pakistan's cricket history. The decision of captain Misbah proved right as in 4th innings of the match, Pakistan bowled out England for the tiny total of 72 runs courtesy match winning performance of Rehman, Ajmal & Hafeez. England's world class batting line looked paralyse in the answer of excellent bowling of PCT's spin trio. Rehman - the unsung hero - named MOTM for his 6 wickets in the second innings.
    PCT is a side, famous for its unpredictability. They lost the matches in recent past, which were in their hands, e.g; lose against Australia in Sydney, CWC 2011's semifinal etc.. People started unloving them 'cause of their this loosening up attitude. But, now, PCT is on the other extreme of this phenomenon. They have started winning from NOWHERE. When people start to lose hope, they start to write new records. Pakistan's win over SA in Abu Dhabi courtesy Abdul-Razzaq's rapid, timely ton, snatching the win from the mouth of SL last year in UAE, when Shahid Afridi took 5 wickets, and made PCT to win handsomely, etc.. Now, Pakistanis are showing their positive unpredictability - the killer instinct - in the premium version of  THE GENTLEMEN's GAME. Pakistan's captain - Misbah ul Haq - won the toss and took a strange decision to put his troops in for batting when the past record was not good for the team batting 1st. However, the game started, and Pakistan lost their top 4 batters for just 104 runs. Then, captain and the youngster - Asad Shafiq - gathered 100 runs for 5th wicket partnership. After Asad's departure, none of the batsmen could do reasonably good, and Pakistan were all out for 257 courtesy of Broad's 4 & Swann's 3 wickets. Misbah was the leading scorer of the innings with 84 off 227 balls.

Asad - after getting dismissed on  58.

      England made 327 with the help of Cook's 94 and Broad's 58, and took a handsome lead of 70 runs over Pakistan's 1st innings score. From here, it was obvious that the visitors were in the driving seat. They did well with the ball in 2nd innings too, and managed to bowl out Pakistan for 214. In this innings, again top order's performance was nil, but thee courageous youth of PCT showed their mettle as Azhar Ali scored crucial 68, and Asad supported him with his 43 runs. From the visiting side, this time, Panesar was the pick of the bowlers, as he registered his 6-wicket haul. Now, England had to chase the total of merely 145 runs to level the series.

Broad surviving a run out chance to complete his 50.

      The English openers came on the crease with the full confidence that they would win easily. The innings started and PCT introduced Hafeez with the new ball. It was surprising for both openers, as they both don't have a good reputation against spin. England took their score to 21 with no loss in the 15th over. Hafeez took Cook's valuable wicket in the form of caught & bowled. Then, the collapse started, and Pakistan put the TURBO on, and applied full pressure on struggling English batsmen. Bell & KP also got out soon and the scoreboard showed a beautiful 33/3 (England's score). Pakistan kept on bowling with Rehman and Ajaml, and bowled out World's #1 for 72 runs. The loud sounds were coming from every corner of lucky stadium for Pakistan. PCT enjoyed the win like Excited Eagles. Excellent figures from Pakistan: Rehman got 6 wicket haul, Ajmal picked 3 & Hafeez 1 wicket. The Trio showed  the world that the matches can be won by spin bowling. English batsmen just failed to handle the pressure of fabulous spin bowling, and their weakness against spin bowling EXPOSED once again. This shows that they are also the lions of their own backyards only, like India.

PCT - enjoying the great victory.

      Pakistan should keep their tail up, and go for the kill. They should perform at their best in the 3rd and final test match too of this nail-biting series to register a historic 3-0 win. There is also a question mark on England's #1 position. There are too many problems in their batting. They are continuously collapsing against quality spin. World's #1 teams don't do like this.
     Hope, we will get some quality cricket in the 3rd test match too.

Pictures & Stats: Courtesy ESPNCricinfo.com

Pakistan's 10 wickets win over World #1:


        The first match of England Vs Pakistan Test Series started on January 17. Pakistan were expected to perform good against the giants, as Pakistan had a good last year in test cricket. But all those performances were against comparatively weaker teams. On that morning, English captain - Andrew Strauss won the toss and elected to bat first. His decision proved wrong when his team's top 5 batsmen had gone back to dressing-room  for just the total of 43 runs in 21st over. Saeed Ajmal had picked up 3 big guns - Strauss, KP, and Bell till then. He picked these three wicket just in his first 10 deliveries. Saeed Ajmal picked total 7 wickets in the 1st innings as he later got the wickets of Morgan, Broad, Tremlett, and Anderson. Ajmal's figures were 7/55 in 24 & half overs, of which 7 overs were maiden. With the outstanding performance of Ajmal - The DOOSRA Man - Pakistan managed to bowled out #1's for just the small total of 192 runs. 
       

Saeed Ajmal - appealing excitedly

        Pakistan started their 1st innings on the end of Day-1, and the start was impressive by the both consistent openers. They scored 42/0 in 15 overs. Pakistan started the 2nd day nicely. Both the openers scored their fifties.England were playing with their best lot - Broad, Anderson, Swann, & Tremlett - but they could not break the opening partnership till  35th over. Toufeeq got out on 58, when Pakistan's total was 114 in 35.5 overs. Azhar Ali couldn't stand in there for some time and was caught behind on a bit wide delivery of Broad. Hafeez continued his good form and made 88. He got out on an appeal of Swann for LBW. He really threw his wicket. Pakistan's skipper played a slow knock of 52. Younus was bowled by a part-time bowler - Trott. Asad Shafiq also failed in scoring big runs. At the end of  the 2nd day of match, Pakistan were 288/7. The lead of Pakistan was just of 96 runs - which was not looking good enough to disturb England. Adnan Akmal scored crucial 61 to take Pakistan's lead to 146 and total to 338. Swann managed to get 4 wickets.

     England once again failed in showing their batting skills against Pakistan's quality bowling attack, and bowled out for just 160 runs - adding merely 14 runs above Pakistan's lead. None of their batsmen could make reasonable score, except Trott, who showed some resistance and made 49 runs. Their top order batsmen performed dreadfully bad shots. Both the openers - Strauss & Cook - just threw their wickets. KP also failed on No. 4 position. Bell couldn't pick Ajmal's variation. Umer Gul was the pick of bowlers this time, as he bagged 4 crucial wickets of Cook, Strauss, Trott, and KP. Ajmal disturbed the English again by his variety - Doosra & "Teesra" - and took three wickets, and completed his 10 Wicket Haul in a test match. Abdur-Rehman got 3 wickets with a chance of Hat-Trick. 

PCT - enjoying on the dismissal of Bell         

       Pakistan had the target of 15 runs, which Hafeez scored lonely. Pakistan won the match handsomely by ten wickets. The DOOSRA Man - Saeed Ajaml was named Man of the Match for his extra-ordinary figures in both innings. Misbah's captaincy was at its climax. Timely bowling changes and field placings made the test match one of his best matches as skipper. He is really doing well in his this role. PCB should back him to get the good results in future too. England were totally flopped in batting. Their bowling was also not so impressive as it was in England or Australia. They were playing with their best lot - Broad, Anderson, Swann, & Tremlett - but they could not break the opening partnership till  35th over. At the end, I have to say that Pakistan out-classed England in every department of game. But one can't forget that they are the #1 side in the world, and have the ability to comeback strongly. So Pakistan must not relax even for a moment, and should come with more homework in next match starting from January 25.


[Pictures & Stats: courtesy ESPNCricinfo]

TM Dilshan; "A Flop Captain"...


      TM Dilshan, 35, started his ODI career in Dec '99, now leading his national team. He was given the responsibility when Kumar Sangakkara resigned from captaincy after defeat in the final of 2011's ICC Cricket WC against India. When he was given the opportunity to captain his side, he was in good nick. The years 2009 and 2010 were the purple patch of his career. He scored 1000(av. 55.55) and 921(av. 51.16) runs respectively in the mentioned years. As he started in captain's role, his own performance as well as his team's performance graph curve went down. His average during the year 2011 was just 31.53 run per ODI innings.  Sri Lanka, when Dilshan captained them, won only 40% of their ODIs.

Dilshan, smashing the ball.

      Dilshan should step down from captaincy in the interest of his team and his own performance as well. He couldn't handle the pressure of leadership and failed as an individual batsman. No doubt, he is a world-class batsman, but unfortunately, he couldn't be the good skipper. Hope, we'll see some changes in SL team after the ODI series of Lankans against big boys of SA.


Stats: Courtesy ESPNcricinfo.com