Pakistan Gearing Up for ICC World Twenty20
The Pakistanis are the only international cricketers* who are not engaged in any cricket at the moment.
While West Indies and England are battling out a test series, the rest of the international cricket world is gearing up for the ICC World Twenty20 by taking part in the IPL.
To be fair, one can say that the Australians are also not engaged in any cricket, with majority of their ICC World Twenty20 squad busy chilling at home.
Its the South Africans, Indians, Sri Lankans, and New Zealanders that are lighting up the IPL.
So will these 4 teams be at an advantage going into the ICC World Twenty20?
Or will the relatively fresher Pakistan and Australia hold the advantage?
Or maybe England and the West Indies since they would be more used to the conditions?
Different teams have different ways of preparing themselves for a major tournament.
Pakistan's way is to take the players up into the mountains for a 6-day conditioning camp.
Trust me, its nothing like the boot camp that John Buchanan took the Aussies to.
The purpose of the camp, that the PCB is conducting currently, is to make the players stronger - both physically and mentally.
The camp is being held in the mountain resort of Bhurban; the cooler climate of the place as compared to Karachi and Lahore at this time of the year is the reason for chosing the location.
The players are going through physical conditioning routines, which are being overseen by David Dwyer, Intikhab Alam, and Aqib Javed; and a mental conditioning program that is being conducted by renowned motivational psychologist, Dr. Maqbool Sabri.
Dr. Sabri, I hear, is with the team in Bhurban and will be holding one-on-one sessions with each member of Pakistan's Twenty20 World Cup squad, in order to motivate them and enhance their "teamwork, unity, and passion".
How much help this would be, I'm not too sure. The Pakistan players really do as they please. In our language we say, "marzi ke malik", hence how effective a psychologist would be one can't say.
Nevertheless, this is Pakistan's way of tuning up for the ICC World Twenty20.
Once the camp concludes on 20th May, the players will play a few practice matches in Lahore, and then get engaged in the Annual Domestic Twenty20 Competition, which will be held from May 24th-27th.
I believe this is damn good preparation for the ICC World Twenty20.
Maybe not as good as the IPL, but then Pakistan has done well to make good use of the free month they have before the Twenty20 World Cup kicks off.
(*besides Bangladesh and Zimbabwe)
While West Indies and England are battling out a test series, the rest of the international cricket world is gearing up for the ICC World Twenty20 by taking part in the IPL.
To be fair, one can say that the Australians are also not engaged in any cricket, with majority of their ICC World Twenty20 squad busy chilling at home.
Its the South Africans, Indians, Sri Lankans, and New Zealanders that are lighting up the IPL.
So will these 4 teams be at an advantage going into the ICC World Twenty20?
Or will the relatively fresher Pakistan and Australia hold the advantage?
Or maybe England and the West Indies since they would be more used to the conditions?
Different teams have different ways of preparing themselves for a major tournament.
Pakistan's way is to take the players up into the mountains for a 6-day conditioning camp.
Trust me, its nothing like the boot camp that John Buchanan took the Aussies to.
The purpose of the camp, that the PCB is conducting currently, is to make the players stronger - both physically and mentally.
The camp is being held in the mountain resort of Bhurban; the cooler climate of the place as compared to Karachi and Lahore at this time of the year is the reason for chosing the location.
The players are going through physical conditioning routines, which are being overseen by David Dwyer, Intikhab Alam, and Aqib Javed; and a mental conditioning program that is being conducted by renowned motivational psychologist, Dr. Maqbool Sabri.
Dr. Sabri, I hear, is with the team in Bhurban and will be holding one-on-one sessions with each member of Pakistan's Twenty20 World Cup squad, in order to motivate them and enhance their "teamwork, unity, and passion".
How much help this would be, I'm not too sure. The Pakistan players really do as they please. In our language we say, "marzi ke malik", hence how effective a psychologist would be one can't say.
Nevertheless, this is Pakistan's way of tuning up for the ICC World Twenty20.
Once the camp concludes on 20th May, the players will play a few practice matches in Lahore, and then get engaged in the Annual Domestic Twenty20 Competition, which will be held from May 24th-27th.
I believe this is damn good preparation for the ICC World Twenty20.
Maybe not as good as the IPL, but then Pakistan has done well to make good use of the free month they have before the Twenty20 World Cup kicks off.
(*besides Bangladesh and Zimbabwe)
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Dunno about Pakistan but I can tell you one thing: England will be rubbish, home conditions or not.
Pakistan and Australia could have an advantage honestly. I say that after looking at Dhoni - he just looks completely tired and jaded to me honestly. His form is gone as well. That tells me he might not be able to take another intense long tournament again so fast. The good thing about the other teams are that they have very few players playing in IPL and that too they get rest in between.
Come one come all, to the best sportsblog of 'em all.
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It would be great if Pakistan could make it to the semis given the lack of match practice.
Key would be Afridi, openers and of course Younis Khan.
I would look beyond Akhtar. He is passed force. Bowling looks good too. Only if they could deliver.
i believe like last cup pak's key man will be misbah. kamran is the other trump card. i dont expect much from akthar and afridi but gul has got all the abilities to become the match winning all rounder pak looking for.
srilanka,india ,westindies,newzealand are my cup favs.
Old Batsman: I can't argue against that.
Rayden: South Africa have their entire squad playing in the IPL, just like India. I'm still not sure whether that would be an advantage for them in the 20-20 WC or not..
Sam: when it comes to 20-20, Pak is one of the stronger teams. I dont think lack of match practice would do them harm. Remember they reached the final the last time and their showing in the 20-20 against Aus is an indication of their strength in this form of the game.
Chullanz: Why dont u expect much from Afridi? After Gul, he is paksitan's most dangerous bowler in this form of the game. Gul and Afridi are the highest wicket takers in 20-20 cricket, amongst all. Misbah, I dont have high hopes of, he has lost his touch.. but Kamran Akmal definitely holds the key to the batting..
Anonymous: that post on your blog makes no sense to me.
but english conditions i dont think Afridi is going to make much. misbah can be back in form at any point of time.he can do what gambhir did for india last time. but as a unit pak team is not at all impressive. thats why i prefer west indies ahead of them. infact west indies if their players are ready to repeat their ipl performance will atleast make in to semi's
Chullanz: watever the conditions, Afridi will be very dangerous as a bowler.. England has always been good for leg spinners - Warne, Mushy have always done well there.. no reason why afridi wont..
And man I think Pakistan play more as a unit than the Windies. I know Pak at times may not show a united front, but the Windies never do.