As I had mentioned a few days ago, there were no surprises in the Pakistan squad announced for the first 2 ODIs against Bangladesh.

The only difference between my squad and the PCBs was the inclusion of Rao Iftikhar instead of Yasir Arafat and the return of Bazid Khan to the squad. Khurram Manzoor, whom I had kept as a 3rd opener was let out after scoring a 50 in his only ODI against Zimbabwe 2 months back.

I know that Bazid did well in the recently held Pentangular Cup and was the 2nd highest run scorer of the competiton, but Khurram deserved some more matches after his lone appearance.

Bazid Khan, son of former Pakistan International Majid Khan, played 3 ODIs for Pakistan back in 2004-05. He played 2 ODIs against the touring Zimbabwe side near the end of 2004 scoring 12 and 0. His next ODI was mid of 2005 when he scored 66 against the West Indies in St. Lucia.

He hasn't played for Pakistan since.

Anyone notice the pattern of dropping batsmen for no reason at all?

Bazid dropped for over 2 years after scoring 66 in an ODI and now Khurram after a debut 50. I hope Khurram doesn't have to wait for another 2 years for his next ODI.

In more positive news, Umar Gul returns to the team after a long lay off with a back injury. He has played a few one-dayers in the ongoing ABN Amro Cup and seems to be fit enough. We can only hope that he doesn't break down again.


In the pace deprtment, Gul is joined by Sohail Tanvir, Rao Iftikhar, and this domestic season's leading wicket takers - Wahab Riaz and the latest pace sensation Sohail Khan.

Salman Butt and Nasir Jamshed will open the batting and the rest of the cast and crew comprises of the same usual suspects.

Both Mohd. Yousuf and Shahid Afridi are part of the 16 despite reports of Geoff Lawson demanding their exclusion.

Mohammad Asif is expected to be fit for the last 3 ODIs. I've heard that Asif is desperate to play so that he can convince the PCB that he is fit enough so that they clear him to play in the IPL.

There was no place for Shoaib Akhtar who is still facing disciplinary charges.

The Squad: Shoaib Malik (capt), Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Bazid Khan, Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam, Kamran Akmal (wk), Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz.

What is the relevance of 319?

Its quite high if you are the only triple century scorer of your country and hold the record for the highest test score by a test batsman from your country.

The relevance is even higher if its your second triple century that places you in the same league as Sir Donald Bradman and Brian Lara.

And finally, it puts you at an entirely different pedestal if with that score you hold an Indian batting record and you don't have the surname Gavaskar, Tendulkar, or Dravid.

Thus 319 is of great relevance to Indian cricket as well as Virender Sehwag who smashed those runs in a mere 304 balls. Fastest ever triple century, 10th consecutive century above 150, and all mentioned above is what was special about Sehwag's innings. Definitely a treat to watch.

Uncle J has even mentioned all that he could have left to watch that innings LIVE. It was THAT good.

But how good is Sehwag really?

Apart from his first 4 test centuries, all the rest (10 of them) are 150+ scores, a fact that has been well documented over the last few days. These 10 centuries have come in a span of a bit over 4 years between December 2003 (195 vs Australia) and March 2008 (319 vs South Africa).

Less than 3 test centuries per year - does that place him among the greats?

Sehwag scored 151 against Australia in his previous test. But there was a gap of 7 tests and 13 innings between the 151 and the century before that - 180 against the Windies at St. Lucia. He had only 2 fifty plus scores in those 13 innings with a best of 65.

Between the 180 against the Windies and his previous century - 254 against Pakistan - there were 6 tests and 11 innings during which he scored only 1 fifty, an unbeaten 76. Plus, between the 254 and his previous century, also a double (201) against Pakistan, he played 9 innings in 6 tests scoring only 1 fifty.

Sehwag definitely scores big when he gets to a 100 but his centuries are few and far in between. They are quite dispersed and the scores are inconsistent in between the 100s. Compared to his 14 centuries, he has only 13 fifties, which highlights the inconsistency of scores between the 100s, but at the same time shows his ability to score big, really BIG when he does.

Despite being inconsistent can he be considered as a great?

Moving on, I think that there is one fact that goes entirely against Sehwag. Sachin has been criticized in the past for not playing enough match winning innings for India. I'm afraid that the same can be said about Sehwag.

India have won only 1 out of the 10 tests in which Sehwag scored over 150. While India drew 6 of those 10 tests, they lost 2 of them - to Pakistan in Bangalore when he scored 201 and to Australia in Melboune when he scored 195. The current one will in all probability end in a draw.

Have Sehwag's innings been of importance to the team? Not exactly.

They haven't secured wins for India apart from in Multan when he scored 309 against Pakistan. Nor have they been 2nd innings match-saving type knocks - all of them have come in the first innings.

Definitely an entertaining batsman with the ability to keep on scoring once he gets set, but is he one of the greats as Sanjay Manjrekar has described?

Special he is, no doubt about that. But great? Not really. What's your call?

Australia's withdrawal from touring Pakistan have left them with a series against the lowest ranked team rather than the highest ranked team. Maybe thats a good thing - this way Pakistan can start from the bottom and work their way up. They conquered Zimbabwe this January and now its only apt that they go on and do the same with their Bengali brothers.

I reckon the PCB should organize a series against the Windies next followed by one with England and New Zealand. They can play the top 4 after that.

As it happens in Pakistan, every series is preceded by selectorial problems. This time is no different.

Triple Threat (Wrestlemania Potential) - Lawson vs Afridi vs Yousuf
Last week there were some news reports regarding Geoff Lawson not wanting Mohammad Yousuf and Shahid Afridi in the ODI team. The reasons apparently given by Lawson were lack of fitness / poor fielding and inconsistent performer respectively for the 2 senior players.

How true is that? Partly. Lawson has argued for Afridi's and Yousuf's exclusion from the team but the reasons given are very different from the actual ones.

It is no secret in Pakistan that Afridi has been lobbying for the captaincy of the ODI team. Thus his dominating presence in the dressing room and the field has made Shoaib Malik very insecure and uncomfortable.

While Yousuf is still sour over his exclusion from the 20-20 squad, and since Inzamam's retirement, has become a reclusive figure in the dressing room distancing himself from the rest of the team. Again it is a commonly known fact in Pakistan that these days Yousuf plays for himself rather than the team.

So is Lawson / Malik justified in requesting the selectors and the board to exclude these 2 cricketers from the ODI team? Lets have a look.

This season, starting from the series against South Africa in October under Shoaib Malik and Geoff Lawson, Yousuf has played 14 ODIs, scored 792 runs, and averaged 88.00. This includes 2 100s and 6 50s including an unbeaten 99. His string of scores reads 53, 117, 58*, 5, 53, 82*, 12, 16, 99*, 74, 72, 38*, 5, 108*.

More than anything else, Inzamam's absence seems to have had a positive effect on Yousuf's ODI performance probably due to addedd responsibilities. On the back of the above performances I really don't think Lawson or Malik are justified. Nor is the Paki public, which feels that Yousuf has batted selfishly in recent times.

During the same period, Afridi has played 13 ODIs, scored 297 runs, while averaging 33.00. At the same time he has picked up 13 wickets. My views about Afridi are known to whoever reads my posts regularly. A Pakistan team without him is incomplete.


Triple Threat (Survivor Series) - Akhtar vs Asif vs Gul
Its inriguing that this combination has never played an international match together. The reasons for that are known to all so I am not going to dwell on those.

Sallu, the Chief Selector, said a few days back that he was waiting to hear about them before finalizing the squad. While Mohammad Asif an Umar Gul were waiting fo fitness assessments, Shoaib Akhtar is waiting for the verdict on his disciplinary issues.

Gul has been passed fit. Asif declared himself fit yesterday only for the PCB to come out today and say that Asif is not ready for the series against Bangladesh. Did Asif announce his return to fitness so that he doesn't miss out on the IPL? Maybe. Reports today also mentioned that the PCB will not allow him to play the IPL so that he can get some rest. They have already stopped him from appearing for a county side.

Whether Akhtar will face disciplinary charges or not will not be known for some time as the committee is yet to give its verdict and it will not do so anytime soon. Akhtar might as well consider his international career over. Whats he got to lose when he's got the King Shahrukh Khan backing him in cricket as well as bollywood. Akhtar should just play for the Kolkata Knigt Riders, do some movies, party hard, and live life King size! After all one should do what he's best at.

Such stories are the norm in Pakistan. I wouldn't expect any surprises in the Pakistan squad. Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed, and Khurram Manzoor will be announced as openers. Malik, Yousuf, Younis, and Misbah will make up the middle order. Afridi and Fawad Alam will be the allrounders along with keeper Kamran Akmal. And the bowling will be comprised of Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz, and Yasir Arafat. Plus Sarfraz Ahmed, Yasir Hameed, Khalid Latif, Anwar Ali will get a look in during the course of the 5 ODIs.

I'm not sure what kind of boost would a series against the Bengalis will provide Pakistan cricket. Apart from a few passionate followers of the game like me, the majority would be watching Kolkata Knight Riders taking on the Bangalore Royal Challenders rather than a Pakistan vs Bangladesh ODI.

Even I would be flipping between the 2!

The current poll on Well Pitched asks you "who was the smartest IPL bidder?".

The current voting count is at 70 and that is by far the highest number of votes we have receivd for any of our polls. Usually the number used to range from 15-25.

Why the increase? It could either be because of the large interest that the IPL has generated or cause of the general increase in traffic on Well Pitched, which is owed to Uncle J, Soulberry, and Ottayan for guiding readers here. And also to some googlers searching items like "how tall asif tanvir", "Shahrukh Khan Ganguly Akhtar knight rider national anthem", and "sohail khan fastest ball".

Out of the 70 votes casted, the Kolkata Knight Riders are considered the smartest by a vast majority - 31 or 44.3% of the votes went to Shahrukh Khan's team. I did think he bid very smartly but some of the votes could also have been due to the cricketing Knight Riders being everyone's favorite team. Almost everyone's.

Hyderabad was voted 2nd with 17 votes - 24.3% followed by Chennai who got 6 votes. The rest got 5 votes or less.

Each team got at least 1 vote, which is why I say that the voting was probably done according to the team one is supporting rather than according to who you think was the smartest bidder.

Which franchise do you think has been the smartest thus far? In terms of their bidding for cricketers as well as their marketing. At the same time also let us know who you're supporting.

And now for the second and final installment account of the tape ball tournament held on the Microsoft campus. In the spirit of full disclosure I’d like to tell you that this was a nameless tournament – I have christened it the “Microsoft Cup” for a very unique reason which you will find out at the end

From the outset I observed a couple of essential rules that added some definition to the chaos:

Rule 1: Hit every ball for a six, even if it means losing your middle stump in the most ignominious way

Rule2: A Yorker is the best first ball and the best last ball. Anything more or anything less goes for a six (especially with the 20 yd side boundaries).

An unusual but entertaining event was when a batsman on an adjacent field hit a huge six. These balls would land in the middle of our match – stopping the game. Some hits from a neighboring game would even land beyond the cover boundary of our field drawing ooh’s and aah’s of respect and admiration.

Our team, the “Superstars” was an all-Pakistani outfit. I’d like to believe we played sensible cricket, but that is definitely an oxymoron in the context of tape ball cricket. We cruised through the early round games with a couple of interesting episodes. In one of the games our opener was facing one of your typical tape cricket bowlers. He had a small 2-3 step run-up but he was as close to being a spin bowler as Warne is to being a fast bowler. He was basically hurling fast off cutters from a standing start, varying his line and length very deviously. Our guy decided to upset his rhythm by walking down the pitch. The bowler was quite furious, maybe too furious - his action changed into a hearty chuck in mid stride. The situation was absurdly unexpected and his action was so unlike his natural action that everybody on the field was flabbergasted. All of us on the sidelines burst out into laughter and the batsman was perplexed. The leg umpire called a no-ball and the game continued. Later on the same individual (captain of the team) was keeping wickets when one of his fielders missed a catch at the long on boundary and scooped the ball over his head for a six. The captain was again very angry and chucked his keeping glove at the fielder – his arm impressed us all because the glove flew beyond the umpire, narrowly missing him and the off-strike batsman.

Another interesting character was a club cricketer from India who had apparently played at the state level. Rumor had it that he used to play a game in one state and then travel then next day to another state for another game. His remarkable control while bowling fast-medium pace was impressive because he was bowling yorkers directed at any stump at will.

And finally to the story behind the “Microsoft Cup”. The rest of our league and knockout games went well and we found our selves in the finals. Since our semi ended before the other one, our entire team went over to watch the other semi final in progress. The side batting first consisted of friends and were another group of Pakistanis. They had posted a huge score of 96 in 6 overs and the side batting second now needed 21 runs in the last over. Our excited chatter behind the keeper was a bit distracting to the batsman on strike who asked us to keep it low. We duly obliged, but when 15 were needed of 3 balls and the 4th ball had just been bowled, we heard a loud crunching sound. One of our star players had been heading back and had unknowingly stepped on one of the standard Styrofoam cups found all over the Microsoft campus.

A fracas ensued, with the batsman on strike accusing us of colluding with the bowling team and deliberately distracting him. Needless to say, the game descended in a farce. He accused the umpire of being incompetent and demanded that the ball be bowled again. Since the ball had been a dot ball, we felt the distraction was just being used as an excuse. This was one of the most absurd moments in my cricketing experience.

We faced our friends in the final and got comprehensively thrashed. Regardless of the final outcome, the fate of the “Microsoft Cup” had already been sealed at the end of the second semi final. Poor sportsmanship at any level is in bad taste.

Pakistan won the ODI World Cup on this day. 25th March 1992.

Not many Pakistan cricket fans will forget that date.

Maybe if we as a country had more to be proud of or had we won the world cup 4 times like the Aussies, 25th March wouldn't hold much significance. But the fact that that is the only time that Pakistan won the world cup and that too of a sport that is close to religion and life for some, 25th March is significant. It is very significant.

That period of the early 90s was also a good overall period for sports in Pakistan. Apart from the cricket world cup, Pakistan won the hockey world cup in 1994, Jansher Khan was the number 1 ranked squash player at that time, and Mohammad Yousuf (not the artist formerly known as Yohanna) was the world snooker champion. Sadly such is no more the case.

Moving back to happy times.

I was all of 12 when the 1992 world cup took place, and I was just starting to get the grasp of the nitty gritties of cricket as a player and a watcher.

The '92 world cup collided with the boom of the sattellite dish in the Middle East and watchingm LIVE cricket on TV apart from the tournaments held in Sharjah, was a new phenomenon in the UAE.

The dish in our house was installed on the day Pakistan was to start its campaign against the Windies. By the time the decoder caught the signal, Rameez Raja was approaching his 100 and Pakistan's innings was coming to a close.

Pakistan lost that match and also those against India and South Africa. A miracle gave them 1 point in the washed out match against England in which they had been bowled out for a mere 73. After the first 5 games out of 8 in the group stage, Pakistan had only managed to beat Zimbabwe and they had all of 3 points.

With 3 matches to go, the competition seemed over for Pakistan and the newspapers were full of criticism and some journalists had even gone to the extent of reporting the details of the flight that the Pakistani cricketers would be returning on.

The build up to the world cup was hardly any good for Pakistan. Skipper Imran Khan had a shoulder injury, which prevented him from bowling. Their pace spearhead Waqar Younis had broken down with a stress fracture of the back and was ruled out of the world cup. Javed Miandad had been initially dropped from the squad due to indifferent form and Saleem Malik was named the official Vice Captain. Miandad only made it to the squad when Imran Khan informed the management that he won't be able to play in the initial matches.

The squad comprised of a number of inexperienced young cricketers with minimal international experience - Inzamam-ul-Haq, Aamir Sohail, Aaqib Javed, Mushtaq Ahmed were only a year old in international cricket.

Moreover, with Miandad captaining the side ahead of official Vice Captain Saleem Malik when Imran Khan sat out the first few matches, Malik led a mini revolt inside the dressing room disturbing the young inexperienced team.

Many books and documentaries on Pakistan's '92 world cup victory have done the rounds and I'm not sure if this story has been told before. I am sharing it cause it is my favorite and it will probably go down as the moment that turned the tide for Imran Khan's cornered tigers.

The night before the match against Australia, Imran Khan had summoned his troops at the team hotel. Pakistan had just arrived at Perth from Brisbane where they had lost their match to South Africa. The team dressed in their green coats and khaki trousers waited for the skipper and in some time Imran Khan turned up wearing a T-shirt with a tiger printed on its front.

It was then that he spoke to the team about his dream of winning the world cup. About how he wanted everyone to pick themselves up. About how Saleem Malik should think whether he wants to play for Pakistan ever again or not. About how the Pakistanis were cornered like tigers and they had to win all their matches from here and also hope that other results are in their favor for having any chance to make it to the semis. Imran Khan spoke to each member personally in that meeting. He even held a press conference after that requesting the Pakistani public that he believed his team can do it and they all should pray for them.

Pakistan beat Australia the next day. They had never beaten Australia at Perth before that and I doubt they did ever again, but if anyone gets the chance to watch that match again, do so to see what Pakistan can do on a day they believe in themselves.

They went on to beat Sri Lanka in the next game and New Zealand as well who had not lost a single game the whole tournament. Australia managed to beat West Indies in their final league match, which gave Pakistan a ticket to the semi finals. 1 extra point from a rained off game had pushed Pakistan through. It was truly a miracle.

The rest, as everyone says, is history.

Pakistan had won 5 matches on the trot, new heroes were born, Imran Khan's dream had come true, and the Pakistani tigers had won the cricket World Cup!

These memories will hardly ever go.

Not only for the Asia Cup in June but also for the Champions Trophy in September.

Both the tournaments are being held in the "safety concerned" Pakistan and Sri Lanka has been named as the alternative venue for both. For the sake of Pakistan Cricket, I hope that Pakistan is declared safe enough for the Asia Cup and the Champions Trophy.

With PPP announcing their candidate for PM and rumours of Pervez Musharraf shifting base to hideout in Turkey, probably a "safe" Pakistan is not too distant in the future.

The more interesting part though is that in both the competitions, India and Pakistan have been pooled in the same group. A garanteed Pakistan-India clash will definitely boost ticket sales and will provide the domestic season the energy it needs.

Is this a casting coup by the adminstracrats or did the seeds actually play a role in this?

For the Asia Cup its Pakistan, India, and Hong Kong in the same pool. With the top 2 going through to a "Super 4" stage the Asian teams shouldn't have a problem here unless HK pulls an Ireland.

For the Champions Trophy its Pakistan, India, Australia and the West Indies. This pits the Asian sides against the defending champions (the Aussies), and the winners and runners up of 2004 and 2006 (the Windies). Only 2 teams will go through to the semis - tough one there for the Asian sides.

Scheduled or June and September, its high time top internatonal cricket returns to Pakistan.

The ABN Amro Cup, the domestic one-day competition in Pakistan, kicked off on the 20th of March with as many as 10 matches played all round the country.

This is the first time that both the regions and the departments are playing a domestic one-day competition together. I'm not sure if this is a good thing. 22 teams taking part in a tournament focuses too much on quantity rather than quality, but then at the same time a larger number of players are given an opportunity to play.

I prefer domestic competitions on the lines of the recently held Pentangular Cup. It pits the best against the best and the quality of cricket is at a higher level.

With the amount of cricket being played at the ABN Amro Cup, it will be impossible for me to cover every match, but I will keep posting about the more noticeable performances during the competition.


Shahid Afridi, who is captaining his department Habib Bank rather than his usual team Karachi Dolphins, smashed a 27 ball 84 leading his team to a comfortable victory over Quetta. Chasing 214, Afridi's whirlwind knock helped Habib Bank achieve the target in only 28.2 overs as Habib Bank won by 5 wickets.



Afridi walked in at the fall of the 3rd wicket with the score on 76 to join Younis Khan at the crease. Younis got out on the same score to leave Habib Bank at 176-4. Afridi then smashed 7 sixes and 8 fours in a mere 27 balls setting up his team's march to victory.



Thats Afridi at his best. 74 runs while standing at the crease. 15 of the 27 deliveres he faced were sent to the fence or over it. Must have been a treat to watch.

Had he not holed out, it could have been a faster effort than a 37 ball 100!

The timeline:

No its not about batsmen who have been out of the first ball they have faced in both innings of a test match.

Nazhar recently did a post on Alan Davidson describing Wasim Akram as the best swing bowler - in the comments section Straight Point mentioned that Wasim & Waqar have more than a 1,000 wickets collectively. Thats when the idea for this post crossed my mind.


Walsh & Ambrose sure played a lot together. Had Wasim and Waqar played as many games, they would have picked up over a 100 more wickets than the 2 West Indians. The 2 Ws averaged more collective wickets per match than the Windies stars and also had a slightly better collective average.

There was no point looking at England or New Zealand. For the kiwis, the highest wicket taker, Richard Hadlee was before the era I am looking at and their next best fast bowler is Chris Cairns with 230 odd wickets. While for England, their leading pace bowlers of this era - Hoggard and Caddick have less than 500 collective wickets. I didn' bother checking their wickets in matches played together.

For India, 6 out of the top 10 wicket takers are spinners. The 4 pacers are from different eras. However, it will be interesting to see where the pairs out of Zaheer, Ishant, RP, Pathan, and Sreesanth are 10 years down the line.

Sri Lanka is absolutely intriguing. Apart from Murali and Vaas, there is no other bowler who has reached even a 100 test wickets. Jayasuriya has 98 and is 3rd on the list behind a 700+ and a 300+ wicket taker.

If we look at Murali & Vaas as a pair then they go beyond Walsh & Ambrose. In 87 matches that they have played together they have taken a total of 825 wickets at an average of 23.75 with 52 5WI and 18 10WM! That also gives them 9.5 wickets per match.

But there is a pair that betters them as well.


Glenn McGrath & Shane Warne. In 104 matches that these 2 played together, they picked up 1,001 wickets at 23.17 apiece. Thats a remarkable 9.6 wickets per match. Plus they took 51 5WI and 9 10WM.

They are definitely the King Pair for me. No one even comes close to their tally of over a 1,000 wickets.

However, if we're looking at fast bowlers only, I will go for Wasim & Waqar rather than Ambrose & Walsh. Had Waqar not missed a few years due to injury and strained relations with Wasim or had Wasim played more tests near the end of his career, the 2 Ws could have eached even greater heights. Yet, they remain the best exponents of swing ever.

Who is your king pair? Have I missed anyone out? Where do you think Murali and Vaas will finish? How about Ishant & RP Singh, how many will they get? Will anyone go beyond the 1000?

Its Matthew Hayden, and its look like he's missing his daily fix of weed. After 2 and a half months of making love with Harbhajan Singh, Matthew Hayden wants more of him. Watsup Matty? Missing your Indian love?

Shahid Afridi held aloft the Pentangular Trophy after Sindh beat Punjab by an innings to become the Pentangular Cup 2007-08 Champions.

When I reported at the end of play on day 2 of the match, I predicted an innings win. I've done it before on Soulberry's blog and I've done it here now. I think I should quit blogging and open a up a cricket betting business or something like that. Any takers?

(Uncle J - I took this tip from your part 2 of a 'guide to writing a cricket blog'. Bold prediction, but I didn't edit)

Resuming their innings 119 runs ahead at 303/6, Sarfraz Ahmed (82*) and Anwar Ali (33*) - the captain and star of the 2006 U19 world cup win respectively, led Sindh to a match winning total of 417 with an unbroken 8th wicket partnership of 88 runs before Afridi declared the innings 233 runs ahead.

Punjab's star-studded batting line up, for the 2nd time in the match, folded in front of the pace of Sohail Khan and Anwar Ali and the spin of skipper Afridi. Punjab were bowled out for 202 as Afridi picked up 3 top order wickets and Anwar Ali wiped out the tail with the last 4 wickets in quick succession.

Brief Scores:
Sindh beat Punjab by an innings & 31 runs.
Punjab 1st innings 184 (Sohail Khan 4-58, Shahid Afridi 2-25)
Sindh 1st innings 417-7 declared (Sarfraz Ahmed 82*, Faisal Iqbal 65, Wahab Riaz 4-99)
Punjab 2nd innings 202 (Misbah 51, Anwar Ali 4-45, Shahid Afridi 3-60, Sohail Khan 2-41)

From the wet wintry overcast weather, lush alpine greenery and snow capped mountains in the background, you could mistakenly think Redmond, WA is simply part of the American rural backwater – just another stop on the way to some of the best ski slopes and hiking trails in the Pacific Northwest. But then if you navigate around “1 Microsoft Way” you come across a un-remarkable corporate sprawl, with wide expanses of black asphalt parking lots and cookie cutter office buildings with reflective glass.

To most of the world, this is the den of the evil empire; the scheming software giant that is Microsoft, seeking to dominate the world of technology by any means possible. To any cricket lover new to the area, things would be equally dark and unpromising. It rains here continuously from Fall to Spring – if its not raining, its pretty dark and depressing. The ground stays wet till the summer, so there really cant be any hope of playing serious cricket. Cricket does pick up in the summer, as this article by Reuters mentions. There is a serious and well-structured 50 over a side hardball, cricket league that involves “home” and “away” games. Star performers are selected for state-wide “all-star” outfits and even get to travel to California. But as this article mentions, this type of cricket is played mostly by local Indians. The Pakistanis as I will go on to explain turn to other forms of cricket.

However, all is not lost in the winter months. To keep its employees happy, Microsoft does have world class soccer fields that have great drainage and in fact the surface is an artificial grass called FieldTurf. The same surface is used in many professional stadiums in the US, including Qwest field, home of the Seattle Seahawks. In the company’s own words:

FieldTurf’s grass fibers are surrounded and stabilized by a special blend of “synthetic earth” - FieldTurf’s patented mixture of smooth, rounded silica sand and rubber granules.

What this surface means for cricket is that there is never any standing water and the small pieces of rubber that come with the surface add to the playing conditions. After an overnight rain, the surface becomes slick with moisture, the pieces of rubber add unpredictable bounce and an intelligent bowler can really take advantage of the conditions. And, as I will go on to explain, the surface is also conducive to some serious swing bowling. Add Pakistani’s and some willing Indians to the equation and you have the makings of some serious battles.

Any true Pakistani cricket worth his salt is brought up playing “tape ball” cricket. These days everybody talks about the IPLs and ICLs and the wham bam action of 20/20 cricket. But if you know anything about the Pakistani psyche, you will know that we want big action and we want it fast. That’s where tape ball cricket comes in. You will find a game going on in the streets of Pakistan with people of every age playing no hold barred with a tennis ball that has electrical tape tightly wound around it. The Indians Ive seen playing cricket here prefer to use a heavier rubbery ball which they refer to as “MRI”. The Pakistani’s unsurprisingly use taped tennis balls.

Now, on to explaining the finer details of this setup. The games are usually played in a street with houses on the sides. Any hits into people’s houses can at the worst result in broken windows, the banning of cricket on the street and at best result in you being declared out. The best of shots are straight hits for six. For the bowlers it means trying to bowl at express pace with plenty of yorkers and slower ones thrown in. It also means trying to swing the ball from the get go with potentially devastating consequences. If the tape is wound tight in an uneven way, the ball is not a perfect sphere and tends to swing from the start. Once it hits the rough road surface a few times, the tape breaks apart from a few places and reverse swing can be unleashed in even the very first over! Yes, Ive said it – Pakistani reverse swing bowling owes a lot to tape bowling. Have you ever seen a Pakistani bowler getting worked up about the umpire changing the ball (ok, routine changes only)? Batsmen of the street always examine the ball if it swings prodigiously and inevitably ask the opposing captain to supply a freshly taped one. I myself have played endless “test matches” on the streets with a half tape ball (only one half taped). What Wikipedia has to say about the physics of reverse swing , only reinforces my belief that any Pakistani bowler has an acquired ability to reverse swing the real ball because of his tape ball experience. Maybe Sami didnt play tape ball cricket?

Wikipedia says that when a conventional cricket ball "becomes very old—around 40 or more overs old, it can begin to swing towards the polished side rather than the rough side."

This is exactly what happens with a non-pristine tape ball. For ideal inswing, hold the side with the biggest tear away from the desired direction of swing, and then hand it to a tear-away fast bowler. Forget about the 40th over, a tape ball swing from the first over… what was that I said about being Pakistani ☺

Now, lets rewind to Redmond. The FieldTurf surface has prickly artificial grass which is wet. The dew makes the tape wet, lose grip on the ball. Tears that open up can be fully exploited for swing. And if there are 2 simultaneous games along the breadth of the soccer field, the batsmen can exploit a 20 yard off and legside boundary and all things become even. Imagine having the goal line as the point boundary and the kickoff line as the legside one.

Now that I have hopefully set up the stage for tape ball cricket in Redmond, WA, I will talk about a 6 a side, 6 over per side tape ball tournament that occurred over the last 3 weekends. Even though I was called in as a replacement, I managed to deliver one match winning performance, one Misbah-like damning performance and witnessed some never-seen-before type occurrences that are made for blogging.

Opinions and personal experiences on the joy/curse of tape ball cricket arewelcome.

On a more serious note, I hope and pray that things improve in Pakistan and that our street cricketers can once again return to their cricketing habitat without having to fear for their lives.

Smith displaced Tendulkar for the top spot in the ICC ODI Batsman rankings. Ponting, M Yousuf and Hayden round up the top 5. The age old saying of nothing beats experience is demonstrated in the ODI batsman rankings.

Vettori is on top of the ODI rankings for bowlers with Bracken, Bond, Vaas and Mills completing the top 5. 3 of the top 5 ODI ranked bowlers are Kiwis.

Australia and New Zealand are definitely dominating the ICC ODI rankings. The rankings are definitely a good way of determining current form - though I would like to see some revisions to the rankings. This will have to be a later post when I have constructed exactly what I would like to see changed :-)

I will leave by saying that ICC should also publish their ICC ODI Umpire Rankings! :-)

Somebody told me that during the lunch break of the England versus New Zealand, Alan Davidson said that Wasim Akram was the best swing bowler he has ever seen by a long way! I could not agree with that statement any more.

Akram could do things with the cricket ball that nobody could before and nobody has been able to since. He made the ball talk! Mark Waugh once said that if he was born again, he would like to be Wasim Akram because he can win matches in so many different ways by himself.

One of Akram's greatest strengths was his uncanny ability to know his limitations and his strengths and bowl accordingly. He never tried to lengthen his run up or bowl faster. He was always focused on bowling the best!

The art of reverse swing was really revolutionized by the 2 W's - Wasim and Waqar. I would say that the two of them are the best swing bowlers the game has ever seen. Boy, do I miss not having them in the Pakistan side!

For as long as Pakistan chased down totals over the last 15 years, they relied on one man - Inzamam ul Haq.

Announcing his arrival at the world stage in grand fashion as a 19 year old during the 1992 World Cup he first showed his chasing abilities in the semi final of the tournament against the Kiwis. Following that Inzamam masterminded many a chase for Pakistan, with the most recent in memory being the last ball 4 he hit of Sachin to chase down a 300+ total in India a couple of years ago.

Nearing 40 now, Inzamam's abilities haven't gone away and he displayed his mettle again yesterday as he lead his Lahore Badshah's to a 5 wicket win over the Chennai Superstars in the ongoing ICL's Edelweiss 20s Challenge.

Chasing 158 in 20 overs, Inzamam walked out when the Badshah's were precariously placed at 32-3 of 5 overs, which soon became 47-4 in 7. Needing another 111 runs in 13 overs, Inzamam partnered with Naved Latif to hammer the Chennai bowling as the two added 77 runs in the next 9 overs. Once Naved departed, Inzamam was joined by Azhar Mahmood and the two then knocked off the remaining 34 runs in only 3 overs.

Inzamam remained unbeaten on 50 off 43 deliveries that contained 5 boundaries and a six and was also awarded the man of the match for his effort.

The Chennai team included Micheal Bevan (56 off 53), Ian Harvey (5 off 13 and 1-37), Russel Arnold (3 off 4), Adam Parore (3*), Shabbir Ahmed (0-41), and the 2 Kumarans.

The Lahore Badshahs looks like the strongest outfit in the tournament largely because the team includes all former Pakistan internationals, which is an added advantage over other teams that include players from all round the globe.

Knowing this team and the players in it, I can easily put a wager on them going unbeaten to the final and then losing it!

In other results thus far:

Ahmedabad Rockets beat Chandigarh Lions by 19 runs.
Points of interest:
Wavell Hinds smashed 59 off 43 for the Rockets.
Skipper Chris Cairns picked up 2 wickets for the Lions.
Matthew Elliot top scored for the Lions with 39.
Chris Cairns threatened to take the game away before he was undone by Jason Gillespie.

Delhi Giants beat Mumbai Champs by 6 wickets
Points of interest:
Champs' skipper Brian Lara ruled out of tournament with injury.
Stand in skipper Nathan Astle top scored with 32.
Shane Bond gave away only 18 runs in 4 overs to restrict the Champs.
Abbas Ali smashed an unbeaten 64 off 49 deliveries to lead the Giants' reply.

Watch this space for more updates on the Lahore Badshahs and the ICL.

I used to love the show in the 80s. Micheal Knight and Kit were heroes in their own right and I used to follow their adventures week in week out. Micheal Knight then moved on from chasing bad men to chasing bikini clad women and Knight Rider died.

I heard recently that Knight Rider was relaunched and a pilot has been aired with Micheal Knight's son and a new Kit.

But a different kind of Knight Rider was launched in India today.

It was the launch of Shahrukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders!

Finally we have an interesting name from one of the IPL franchises. After Super Kings, Royal Challengers, Royals, and Indians; Knight Riders is a refreshing change. And who else than King Khan to come up with something like that.

Team owner Shahrukh Khan, Team captain Saurav Ganguly, and Team Coach John Buchanan launched the name, logo, jersey, mascot, and anthem of the Kolkata team today.

• The logo is a golden helmet.
  
• The jersey is in black and gold.
  
• The mascot is a tiger called 'Hoog Lee', which King SRK announced as "not Bruce Lee, not Brett Lee, but better than all the Lees".
  
• And the anthem is in bengali with the lyrics "Karbo, Larbo, Jeetbo Re". Translated that means "we will do it, fight it, and win it".

Trust the king of entertainment to make his team the most interesting one out of the lot!

A video of the anthem has also been shot and SRK joked about John Buchanan learning some Bollywood steps for it. I can't wait to get my hands on that video - apparently Shoaib Akhtar, Ganguly, and King Khan all make an appearance in it.

Watch out IPL teams, the Kolkata Knight Riders mean business and they are ready to Rock n Roll!!

Part II of the IPL Player Auction was held today. I reported yesterday that Misbah and James Hopes were likely to recieve the highest bids in todays Auction and they in fact did. Well kind of.

Hopes was the most expensive player auctioned today as he went to Preity Zinta's Mohali for $300,000.

Misbah was picked up by Vijay Mallya's Bangalore for $125,000. I thought he would have gone for much more but I guess not many were interested in him, which is surprising. Misbah joins Darvid, Kallis, and Chanderpaul in the Royal Challenger's middle order.

A number of other international players, who were not listed in the 18 initially announced to be auctioned, were sold today as well. This had something to do with a list of names provided by the franchises to the BCCI.

The first English player was signed up with the IPL today - Dmitri Mascarenhas was picked up by Jaipur for $100,000 after an agreement was signed between Jaipur and Hampshire, who have released Mascarenhas for the initial part of the county season. Hampshire will reportedly be compensated for the time Mascarenhas is not available to them.

This just goes to show how the counties and boards are willing to oblige to the BCCI for the IPL, actions that are totally opposite to the ones bing shown for the ICL. Its quite obvious that Shane Warne, captain of Jaipur and Hampshire, would have played a role in the negotiations.

The other players auctioned today include:

Jaipur: Shane Watson ($125,000), Sohail Tanvir ($100,000), Morne Morkel ($60,000), and U19 players Taruwar Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja.

Kolkata: Salman Butt ($100,000), Mohammad Hafeez ($100,000) and U19 players Iqbal Abdullah and Siddarth Kaul.

Mohali: Luke Pomersbach ($50,000), Kyle Mills ($150,000), and U19 players Ajitesh Argal and Tanmay Srivastava.

Delhi: Brett Greeves ($50,000) and U19 Pradeep Sangwan (Soulberry, your wish of Sangwan in the same team as Asif and Mcgrath has been granted).

(Know anything about Greeves Uncle J?)

Bangalore: Ross Taylor ($100,000), Abdur Razzak ($50,000), and U19 Shreevats Goswami.

Mumbai: Ashwell Prince ($175,000), and U19 players Manish Pandey and Saurabh Tiwary.

Chennai: U19 players Napoleon Einstein, Abhinav Mukund, Viraj Kadbe.

Why did Mumbai pay $175,000 for Ashwell Prince when no one was interested in him the first time round?

Many players still remain unsold, but reports indicate that they will be paid their base prices despite not playing for any team.

Earning money for no work? I am definitely in the wrong job.

We all know that Team India currently boasts of one of the strongest batting line ups in world cricket. Thus naturally they all have a good eye, making them brilliant stroke players.

The picture below clearly shows what a good eye the Indian batsmen - Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik, and Yuvraj Singh have. Lets not talk about their strokes.

Sachin Tendulkar is seen shying away from the bouncer and trying hard not to smile, while Yuvraj Singh seems to be looking away from what Uthappa and Karthik find amusing and concentrating on Sachin's new watch. He sure doesn't want to get into Deep(ika) trouble.

I wonder who captured this outstanding moment! He has out done the Indian batsmen with his immaculate timing.

The main event of the Pentangular Trophy begins this morning at the National Stadium in Karachi where Punjab takes on Sindh.

18 International players and 16 Indian U19 players are set to be allocated to IPL franchises tomorrow in what will be a 2nd auction for the international players and draft picks for the U19 players.

Jaipur aka Rajhasthan Royals spent only $2.9 million at the 1st auction, effectively leaving them $2.1 million for tomorrow, and thus are the best placed team to pick up more stars as the IPL Player Auction Part 2 gets underway.

The other teams are left with very little money totaling to a few 100 thousand dollars thus they may not be able to pick up more than 1 international player each at the most.

Misbah Ul Haq, who was arguably one of the best batsmen in last year's T20 World Cup, looks to me as the biggest draw at tomorrow's auction. I reckon if he was there in the first one, he would have been the highest priced Pakistani player but strangely he was missing.

Considering that Bangalore have $374,000 left in their kitty, which is the highest balance after Jaipur's, I see Shane Warne's Royal team picking Misbah up. If they do at a relatively low $400,000 or so, he might end up being the bargain of the tournament -a tag currently associated with Ricky Ponting.

The other players up for grabs include Mohd. Yousuf and Ashwell Prince who no one was interested in the last time round in addition to new entries:

Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez
Australia: Shane Watson, Brad Hodge, James Hopes, Luke Pomersbach
SriLanka: Prassanna Jayawardene
New Zealand: Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Jamie How, Jeetan Patel, Chris Martin, Kyle Mills, James Franklin
Bangladesh: Mohammad Ashraful, Mashrafe Murtaza

I wonder if anyone will buy Shane Watson - he'll probaby turn up to play and get a stomach bug or something. I don't see how any of the franchises could be interested in any of these names. They have spent millions on big names in the first auction that all these names look like minions.

Misbah and James Hopes will most likely generate the most interest tomorrow. Lets wait and see how much the franchises dish out for these players. Pomersbach, whose big in the Aussie domestic T20 scene, could also be a big draw.

For the U19 players the BCCI have restricted their salary at $30,000 and 2 players each will be alotted to the 8 teams through draft picks. Since there are no seedings for the teams yet, they will be numbered 1-8 randomly, and select the players in order. Team number 8 will get the 8th and 9th pick, while team number 1 will get the first and last pick, and so on.

Someone is going pick up the hammer again tomorrow and some more cricketers are going to be dollar rich.

How much do u think Misbah will go for?

The 2nd edition of the ICL gets underway today and the tournament is bigger and better than the pervious one. Smartly scheduled with the start a month before the IPL and the end over a week before the IPL kicks off, the 'Edelweiss 20s Challenge' starts today with a match between the Ahmedabad Rockets and the Chandigarh Lions.

The ICL has managed to rope in the financial services firm 'Edelweiss' as its sponsor and a deal has also been brokered with Ten Sports to telecast the matches along with the owner's channel Zee Sports. Reportedly the TV rights have been sold for $5 million, half of what the IPL is getting from Sony per annum.

I reported on the composition of the all Pakistan outfit, Lahore Badshahs, previously. All the Pakistani players will be representing one team apart from Shabbir Ahmed and Abdul Razzak who will play for the same teams as last year. Here is a look at the other teams in the competition.

Ahmedabad Rockets
Captain: Damien Martyn
International Stars: Jason Gillespie, Wavell Hinds, Murray Goodwin, Heath Streak
Indian Stars: Reetinder Sodhi, Sridharan Sriram
Coach: John Emburey

Mumbai Champs
Captain: Brian Lara
International Stars: Nathan Astle, Tino Best, Micheal Kasprowicz, Johan Van Der Wath
Indian Star: Robin Morris
Coach: Sandip Patel

Chandigarh Lions
Captain: Chris Cairns
International Stars: Matthew Elliot, Andrew Hall, Lou Vincent, Daryl Tuffey
Indian Stars: Dinesh Mongia, Manish Sharma
Coach: Balwinder Sandhu

Kolkata Tigers
Captain: Craig McMillan
International Stars: Lance Klusener, Andre Adams, Upul Chandana, Nantie Hayward
Indian Stars: Rohan Gavaskar, Deep Dasgupta, Abhishek Jhunjunwala
Coach: Daryll Cullinan

Chennai Superstars
Captain: Stuart Law
International Stars: Micheal Bevan, Russel Arnold, Ian Havey, Adam Parore, Shabbir Ahmed
Indian Stars: Thiru Kumaran, Hemang Badani
Coach: Micheal Bevan (Player / Coach)

Hyderabad Heroes
Captain: Chris Harris
International Stars: Abdul Razzak, Nicky Boje, Justin Kemp, Jimmy Maher
Indian Stars: Ambati Rayudu, Shashank Nag
Coach: Steve Rixon

Delhi Giants
Captain: Marvan Atapattu
International Stars: Shane Bond, Dale Benkenstien, Avishka Gunuwardene, Nic Pothas
Indian Stars: JP Yadav, Abbas Ali, Ali Murtaza
Coach: Madan Lal

Round 1 that kicks off today will comprise of 28 matches with each team playing the other once and the top 4 qualifying for he semis. The finals will be a best of 3 series.

All the Pakistanis will be rooting for the Lahore Badshahs, who are you rooting for?

I can't wait to watch Inzamam Ul Haq!!!

Over at Cricket with Balls I read an open letter to the PCB written by Uncle J. Since Uncle J is playing the CA administracrat, I decided to play the one from PCB. Here is my response.

Dear Cricket Australia Administracrat,

It is very unfortunate to hear about Australia cancelling their tour to Pakistan. We were looking forward to a sound thrashing by the Aussies, especially after the kind our beloved neighbours gave your team.

We were thinking that Ponting, Symonds, and Hayden who were below par in the CB Series would have looked forward to a tour of Pakistan to get back into form. I am sure you are aware that we have the knack of providing out of form batsmen with many opportunities to score big.

I understand that a tour of India for ODIs would generate more money for you but the Pakistan cricket team is also sponsored by Pepsi, so you should definitey consider our proposal to reconsider the cancellation.

Here is what we are willing to provide:

1. Top presidential level security including a bodyguard for each player. 2 for symonds.
2. Assurance that the tour will end before April 16th thus ensurng that all the Pakistani and Australian IPL signatories recieve their fill price from the Indian franchises.
3. Matches held only in areas where bombs do not blow up every week.
4. Dead tracks to ensure that all your batsman will be batted back into form.
5. Private parties at Shoaib Akhtar's farm house to ensure that Symonds & Co. are entertained during the nights. In order to understand what goes on during these parties, please contact your A team and the U19 team that toured last year.

I hope that these points will make your team consider touring Pakistan.

Last but not least, I can also assure you that all the bombers and terrorists living in Pakistan have cabe television and will be watching the matches keenly. Thus they will have no time to plan any sort of bombings while the Australians are here. There is nothing to worry about.

If you still have apprehensions please contact our coach Geoff Lawson, who is also an Australian and has been living in Lahore for the last 6 months without any problems. He is well taken care of and so will be the Australians that tour.

The show must go on.

Cheers.

PCB Administracrat.

The Pentangular Cup match between the 2 table toppers, Sindh and Federal Areas (FA), ended in dramatic fashion with FA scraping home with only a solitary wicket in hand, after Sindh skipper Shahid Afridi had sportingly declared the 2nd innings to give FA a target of 322 of 85 overs.

Taking 9 points from their win, FA displaced Sindh from the top of the standings.

Sohail Khan, who has wrecked havoc with the ball this season, picked up yet another 5 wicket haul, while Danish Kaneria and Afridi picked up 2 each to restricts FA to 295 in the first innings. Earlier Sindh had been dismissed for 222.

In response, the Pakistan prospects who had thus far failed to impress during the Pentangular, took the responsibility to guide Sindh to a high total in the 2nd innings. Openers Khurram Manzoor (73) and Khalid Latif (74) shared 119 run partnership, and then Faisal Iqbal knocked a fine century remaining unbeaten on 105 when Afridi declared the innings on 394-4 to give FA a target of 322.

FA were cruising at 174-2 when Afridi struck for the first time with his leg breaks. Afridi struck 4 more times in quick succession and FA were looking down the barrel at 262-7, but FA's tail wagged and an 8th wicket partnership of 37 and an unbroken last wicket parntership of 13 led them to an unlikely victory over the favorites.

My fellow Australian bloggers have reflected on the lost CB Series and moved on to commenting on the England vs New Zealand matches. On the other hand, the Indian bloggers are still basking under the glory of their first ever victory in the annual Australian tri-series. In the meantime, I have been away on conferences and have been wondering what went wrong for Australia?

I'd be a fool to call this the end of the Australia supremacy - when I did that last year after their consecutive losses to England and New Zealand, they went on to win the World Cup without losing a match.

But doing some scrutiny never does any harm.

The Australian bowling has been beautifully led by Lee and was outstanding. Bracken, Johnson, and Clark were all good with the ball and Hopes looked better with every game.

The batting was the obvious downfall for the Aussies:

• None of their batsmen averaged over 50 compared to 4 of them who did against India in the September series.
  
• Ponting and Symonds averaged below 20 in their 10 innings.
  
• Apart from Gilchrist no batsmen played more than 3 significant innings in the 10 matches.
  
• Even Gilchrist managed only 4.

Was Ishant Sharma the only difference? Or has Dhoni grown as a captain since his first ODI series as captain in September? Or did Sachin time his return to form to perfection? Were Australia bogged down by the IPL hype and their stand-off with CA? Or were they too sucked into a prolonged Gilchrist farewell? Or did Dhoni, Bhajji, and the rest really get under their skin like no one before?

It was in the end a combination of all of the above I think.

Or maybe the bookies had a hand in this. Nah I doubt it.

Ponting's form is definitely a worry. Sure he scored that 100 but apart from that there was nothing from his bat. The last time an out of form Australian captain lost a home tri-series, he was sacked from the ODI captaincy. That too a year and a half after leading them to a World Cup victory!

Will Ponting go Waugh's way? Will CA tow BCCI's line, the way they have been in all other issues, in following a youth policy? Some people have been calling for it, but is Micheal Clarke ready? Moreso is Australia ready to deal with an ODI team without Gilly and Ponting?

A shift to youth also means leaving out an ageing Hayden. Both his test and ODI partners have hung up their boots and it shouldn't be long before Hayden does as well. Next Australian summer? probably. Next World Cup? Definitely not.

Even Ponting is unlikely to be around the ODI team come World Cup 2011. So maybe the CA should in fact tow the BCCI and build a team that they view as the one to defend their title in 2011.

I did say I'd be a fool to call an end to their supremacy but I do feel that Australia have a lot of questions to answer, particularly regarding their batting.

Where do they go from here? Hopefully Pakistan!

Before I close, a word on Adam Gilchrist. A glowing career has come to an end and the man who defined the role of wicketkeepers as it is known today has hung up his gloves. He will definitely be missed - both by Australia and the fans. Shane Warne ended his career after a 5-0 thumping Ashes victory. Glen McGrath did so after a 3rd World Cup triumph. Gilchrist probably deserved better than both, but then not everything in life is perfect. Thanks to the IPL, we haven't seen the last of him.

Australia have become weaker but I'm still not questioning their supremacy, just wondering what the future holds for them.

The 4th round of matches of the Pentangular Cup started yesterday with the 2 table toppers, Sindh and Federal Areas going head-to-head in Islamabad, and Punjab and Baluchistan clashing at skipper Shoaib Malik's home ground in Silakot.

Its good to see that the matches have moved to the smaller areas around Pakistan after the first 3 rounds of matches were held in Lahore and Karachi. Maybe some of the earlier matches should also have been conducted in other territories but I guess the authorities thought that Karachi and Lahore would attract more crowds - wrong they were. The cricket deprived smaller centres always attract larger crowds than the metros for domestic games.


On to the matches then. Sohail Tanvir has been in outstanding form during the Pentangular, both with the ball and the bat - he continued his run knocking over 5 Sindh wickets for 58 in his 20 over spell for the Federal Areas. Tanvir's efforts restricted Sindh to 222, which would have been far lower if it wasn't for skipper Shahid Afridi's blitzing knock of 70.

Afridi was in typical mood as he smashed 8 boundaries and 3 sixes in his 49-ball knock to lift Sindh to a respectable total. Apart from Naumanullah (53), the other batsmen failed to make any impression and Pakistan prospects Khurram Manzoor, Khalid Latif, and Faisal Iqbal disappointed yet again.

Naumanullah has had an amazing run this season and is the leading run scorer in all domestic first-class competitions for 2007-08. He has been around the domestic scene for over 10 years now and has played over a 100 first-class matches for Karachi and National Bank of Pakistan. His case has been similar to Misah's - breaking into a strong Pakistani middle order during the 90s and 2000s has been a tough task. Maybe Nauman could do a Misbah soon, but I don't see a place among the ones currently occupied by Younis, Yousuf, Misbah, and Malik.

Federal Areas ended Day 1 on 119-3. Sohail Khan, who destroyed Baluchistan last week, picked up 2 wickets and Afridi picked up 1.

In the other match Baluchistan batted well to notch up 298 for the loss of 7 wickets. Baluchistan are virtually out of the competition but they could come into contention if they manage to open their points account in this match and do the same in the next.

Amongst all this there was one man who has been synonymous with Indian cricket for the last 18 years and he stood tall today, over and above everyone else. None other than Sachin Tendulkar!

The little master blaster has added another achievement in his list of never ending list of accomplishments. Sachin Tendulkar scored his first century in Australia as he led India to a six-wicket victory in the first game of the three-match CB Series finals.

Tendulkar has been in wonderful form in the 2007 - 2008 season. It is not just the runs that he is scoring, but the style and class with which he is playing is reminiscent of the Tendulkar of old. This innings was no different as Tendulkar effortlessly hit boundaries on both sides of the wicket. With Tendulkar in such ominous form, the Indian team looks like a completely different outfit.

Tendulkar opened the innings and scored an unbeaten 117 off just 120 deliveries. He hit ten majestic boundaries in his innings. Tendulkar being in such prime form is a treat for cricket fans all over the world!

Team: Lahore Badshahs (Translation: Lahore Kings)
Coach: Moin Khan
Captain: Inzamam Ul Haq

The Squad
Openers: Imran Farhat, Imran Nazir, Taufiq Umar
Middle Order: Inzamam, Naveed Latif, Hasan Raza
Allrounders: Azhar Mahmood, Abdul Razzak
Wicketkeeper: Humayun Farhat
Fast Bowlers: Mohammad Sami, Rana Naveed Ul Hasan, Shabbir Ahmed, Riaz Afridi, Shahid Nazir
Spinners: Mushtaq Ahmed, Saqlain Mushtaq, Arshad Khan

Reading those names as part of a Pakistani squad would seem that a Pakistan A side is touring for a series of matches. This is not Pakistan A, its the Lahore Badshahs team taking part in the 2nd edition of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) that gets underway in a weeks time.

Apart from the 6 teams that participated in the 1st edition of the ICL, the 2nd edition, "ICL 20s Grand Championship" will feature another 2 teams: Lahore Baadshahs and Ahmedabad Rockets.
In the last 2 days Osman Samiuddin, Ian Chappell, and Asif Iqbal have raised their concerns regarding the bans placed on the cricketers joining the ICL. I did the same a few weeks back demanding the rule of the free economy in cricket - Read here and here.

There is a clear distinction between the IPL and the ICL - the former boasts of current international stars, while the other of retired or ignored ones. Then why are these national boards depriving these cricketers of their livelihood?

Moreover, the ICL 20s Grand Championship will run from 9th March to 7th April, thus concluding over a week before the IPL gets underway. ICL has smartly scheduled its competition so it doesn't clash with the IPL and even then the BCCI seems to have a problem with it. They have left no stone unturned in trying to block it with barriers of all forms -including support from the ICC and other national boards.

As has been mentioned in the articles I linked above, the key question here is what are the ICC and the national cricket boards getting out of this? The IPL benefits only the BCCI, the franchisees, and the auctioned cricketers - the other cricket boards get nothing out of it and neither does the ICC.

This just makes the BCCI the big bully monopoly earning billions and the ICC, PCB, CA, ECB, etc its partners in crime who get what?

Intriguing I think.