Dear Mr. Shaharyar Khan and Mr. Moin Khan,

First of all let me take this opportunity to congratulate both of you on taking the responsibility of PCB Chairman and Chief Selector / Team Manager respectively. I am sure that you both will do justice to your roles and I wish you all the best for the future.

Secondly, and more importantly, I am writing this letter to you as a plea from myself, the Australian cricket team, and the Australia public.

We have always cherished playing against Pakistan. Over the years, our players have enjoyed he competition on the field and our cricket fans have enjoyed watching the likes of Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Inzamam Ul Haq, and Wasim Akram to name a few.

Pakistan have always fielded exciting players against us and we have always managed to beat Pakistan in test series after test series. Our Australian fans have loved the fact that for 20 years we have managed to beat Pakistan comprehensively.

Coming into this series in the UAE, we were very confident that we will once again thump Pakistan and go away with another test series win under our belt. After the T20 and ODIs, we were even more confident.

Additionally, our confidence was further boosted by our successful lobbying for the ban of Saeed Ajmal due to his unconventional action, which has given our batsmen nightmares. With no Saeed Ajmal, we were sure of a win in the tests against Pakistan.

Yet here we are, having lost the first test in Dubai, and staring at a massive first innings total by Pakistan, which will by all means bat us out of this test match.

We are at a loss as to how to explain this mediocre performance against a depleted Pakistan team. So much so that our coach Darren Lehmann could not come up with a better excuse than to say "our batsmen missed straight balls".

However, after today's play in Abu Dhabi, we as a team realized what went wrong.

What went wrong dear sirs, was that you dropped Younis Khan from the ODI squad and publicly stated that he would not be considered for the upcoming World Cup in Australia.

That is what went wrong sirs.

Younis was so pissed off at you and your management that he decided to take it all out on us!

He has been pummelling our bowling inning after inning and our bowlers have no idea on what to do against him.

In the previous test he became the first ever Pakistani batsman to hit two centuries against us in a test match. Not only that, but he became the first man to do that against us in 40 years!

And Younis did not finish with us there. He continued to pummel us today as well on the first day in Abu Dhabi and hit another hundred to make it three consecutive centuries against us!

The last time an Australia side had someone score three consecutive centuries against them was way back in 1925! That was 90 years ago sirs.

It has been almost a century where players like Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Viv Richards, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Inzamam Ul Haq, Kevin Peitersen, Kumar Sangakkara and so many others have come up against us Australians and yet haven't achieved anything like Younis Khan has against us.

Can you even begin to imagine what your decision to drop Younis from ODIs did to us Australians? What it did to our bowlers? What it did to our cricket fans? and more importantly what it did to our rich cricketing history?

You have destroyed it sirs.

In view of this, please consider my plea and include Younis Khan in the ODI squad for the World Cup. We, the Australia cricket team, and our public can no longer face this humiliation at the hands of Younis and we will be really grateful if you can do this for us.

We have seen enough of Younis Khan's wrath and we can't take it any more.

We promise you that Younis will be treated graciously in Australia in February and March, and we will make him feel like the King he is when he visits us for the World Cup.

Please sirs, please help us out.

Yours sincerely,

A hapless Australian captain,

Michael Clarke.

(on behalf of the Australian cricket team and Australian cricket fans)

*the idea for this letter was given by Ahmad Malik*

This second test against Australia being played in Abu Dhabi is Misbah's 31st test as captain of Pakistan, which puts him level with Inzamam as the third most capped test captain of Pakistan.

Only Javed Miandad (34) and Imran Khan (48) have captained Pakistan in more test matches than Misbah has.

Both, Miandad and Imran are also Pakistan's most successful test captains with 14 test wins apiece.

The last test win over Australia was Misbah's 13th test win as captain.

That is quite an achievement considering that Miandad and Imran are Pakistan's most successful test captains in Pakistan's history.

With the amount of criticism that Misbah receives, it will be quite a slap on the critics faces when he ranks alongside both Miandad and Imran as Pakistan's most successful test captain.

With the ongoing test match against Australia being played and another three to be played against New Zealand next month, Misbah could well become Pakistan's most successful test captain before the end of the year!


What is interesting to note is that Misbah has won a greater percentage of tests as captain than Miandad and Imran did. However, Wasim Akram is the more successful test captain in terms of % wins, winning 48% of his tests as captain of Pakistan.

Misbah has also lost a greater % of tests as compared to Miandad and Imran, however that could also have to do with the higher number of tests that used to end in draws during the 80s.

Miandad, Imran, and Akram also rank above Misbah in terms of W/L ratio in tests as Pakistan captain.

I won't be surprised, however, if Misbah improves on those aspects, i.e. % wins and W/L, considering the way Pakistan are playing and that they face New Zealand in the UAE next.

I have been completely against Misbah as Pakistan's ODI captain. However, I have always maintained that he is the right man to lead Pakistan in test matches, and achieving this record, which may happen as soon as in the next 4 days, will be one huge feather in Misbah's cap.

Pakistan's victory over Australia in the first test was not just another test victory. It was arguably one of the best test victories for Pakistan ever, achieved on the same day they registered their first ever victory in test cricket in 1952.

Pakistan's margin of victory, 221 runs, is their highest margin of victory in terms of runs over Australia. That is a massive win over the world's number 2 test team.

What makes this victory all the more special is that Pakistan fielded a relatively young and inexperienced team, particularly their bowling attack. Imran Khan and Yasir Shah were making their test debuts, while Rahat Ali and Zulfiqar Babar were playing their 7th and 3rd test match respectively.

8 test matches between Pakistan's first choice bowling attack prior to this one against Australia, and yet they bowled them out twice on a wicket that was criticized profusely for being a flat deck.

We have all seen and talked about how great Younis Khan was in this test. Yes he was, but at the same time there were various other notable performances, all of which deserve mention and praise.



Ahmed Shehzad

The boy is not even 23 years old yet and he has rapidly established himself as Pakistan's first choice opener across all formats. There is no denying that Shehzad will go on to a forge a career spanning another decade and a half and go on to become the most successful opening batsman ever produced by Pakistan.

He is Pakistan's only batsman, and one of 7 in the world, to have scored a century in all three formats of the game.

In just 5 years of international cricket, Shehzad is already level with Aamer Sohail on 5 centuries in ODIs as an opener for Pakistan. Only Salman Butt (8), Rameez Raja (8), and Saeed Anwar (20) have more centuries as openers for Pakistan.

Shehzad scored a brilliant ton, his second in tests, in the 2nd innings against Australia to ensure that Pakistan was able to accelerate and set up a declaration to have a go at the Aussies. He played a chanceless knock, piling on 131 runs, and was fierce towards the bowling as his innings progressed.

Sarfraz Ahmed

Pakistan has finally moved on from a decade of the Akmal mob behind the stumps and have unearthed a gem in the form of Sarfraz.

Sarfraz is having a phenomenal year with the bat, after having an indifferent start to his test career. Just after 4 tests, Sarfraz was written off as someone who cannot make it at the international level. His wicketkeeping was never the concern; it was the batting or rather the lack of it that was.

In his first 4 tests, Sarfraz managed a mere 89 runs in 8 innings at an average of 11.1. The turn of the year, however, saw a new Sarfraz. The world was his stage as he demonstrated his batting ability and made his bat tell all his critics that he was here to stay.

In 5 test matches this year, Sarfraz has amassed 523 runs in 10 innings at an average of 65.4! Mind you, he bats at number 7, and his runs tally includes four 50s and two centuries. During this period, he has also managed a sequence of 5 consecutive scores over 50, and centuries in two successive tests. His last 10 tests innings read 7,74,5,48,55,52*,103,55,109,15*.

In this test against Australia, he top scored in the first innings with a belligerent knock of 109 at better than run a ball. Sarfraz reached his second test century in only 80 deliveries, which is the 4th fastest century by a Pakistani in tests and the second fastest century ever by a wicketkeeper.

Among wicketkeepers, only Adam Gilchrist has scored a faster century than Sarfraz in the history of the game.

Sarfraz' knock ensured that Pakistan posted a total in excess of 450 in the first innings, which set them up for the entire match.

Yasir Shah

Yasir is only the third leg spinner to debut for Pakistan in the past two decades, with the other two being Shahid Afridi in 1998 and Danish Kaneria in 2000.

Yasir has been a top performer on the domestic circuit and has been impressing the selectors for a long time now. Finally he got his chance in test cricket and how he grabbed it with both his hands and shone like a true champion.

Yasir's haul of 7-116 in the first test against Australia gave him the best figures ever registered by a Pakistani leg spinner on his test debut. The previous best was Shahid Afridi's 5-101, also against Australia. The 7 wickets is the second most number of wickets taken on debut by a Pakistani spinner, level with Mohammad Nazir and Tauseef Ahmed, and 1 behind Abdur Rehman's 8.

Yasir's 7 wickets against Australia included wickets of Michael Clarke, David Warner, and Steve Smith (twice!). Those three are Australia's best players of spin, which speaks volumes of Yasir's achievement in this test match.

His bowling effort managed to impress Shane Warne as well, who had been singing Yasir's praises throughout this test match. What better for a young debutant to be praised by the best leg spinner to ever play the game.

Zulfiqar Babar

He doesn't really qualify as a member of the young brigade. Like Ajmal, Babar is a late bloomer and in only his 3rd test, he managed his first 5 wicket haul to ensure a massive Pakistan victory on the final day of the first test against Australia.

In the first innings, Babar snared the wickets of Clarke and Marsh, and then started Australia's slide in the second innings by effecting Warner's first ever stumped dismissal in 157 international innings.

Babar has been around the domestic scene forever and has looked on from the sidelines finding it difficult to break into the international side due to the presence of Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman. Now with Ajmal banned and Rehman out of favour, Babar has made the most of this opportunity and stood up to be counted as Pakistan's main spinner.

One can only be in awe of the talent available to Pakistan that despite their first choice bowlers either banned or injured, they managed to put together a bowling attack that bowled out the world's number two test side twice in 3 days.

Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq were the find of the season four years ago, and today both of them are key figures in Pakistan's test team. Over the past season and this one, Pakistan have found Shehzad, Sarfraz, Yasir, and Babar, who have started their test careers with a bang.

We can be quite sure (and hope) that they will go on to become major players for Pakistan in years to come.

While the young brigade has shone brightly for Pakistan, a test victory cannot go by without a worthy mention of the captain. Misbah, despite being out of form and under severe criticism, fought against the odds to find some form and managed the team tremendously well on the field.

This was Pakistan's 13th test win under Misbah, which makes him Pakistan's 3rd most successful test captain behind the two greats - Imran Khan and Javed Miandad - both of whom led Pakistan in 14 test wins.

This victory over Australia was sweet... a series win, which will be a first for them over Australia in 20 years, will be even sweeter if achieved.

With Pakistan's senior citizens and the young brigade in this kind of form, it will be difficult to stop them from achieving that. 

A Pakistan test series is never complete without a post on Younis Khan. Younis has been an instrumental figure in test matches for Pakistan and with every series he stamps his authority and grows in stature as one of the best batsman to ever play the game.

Like Michael Clarke, everyone is caught surprised when they hear that Younis Khan has played only 92 tests in his 14 year career thus far. There are so many batsmen all around the world who began their careers well after Younis and have gone past a 100 tests; Clarke himself, Alastair Cook, and Kevin Pietersen to name a few.

I have always wondered where Younis would have been had Pakistan played as much test cricket as Australia, England or India. His figures in test cricket are comparable to those of the modern day greats, and just because Pakistan does not play as much test cricket, his runs tally is far behind.

However, that alone cannot take anything away from the phenomenal batsman that Younis Khan is. He stands far above his Pakistani compatriots, as well as, his international peers.

Prior to this test series against Australia in the UAE, Younis Khan was a distraught man. Having been dropped from the ODI squad (and rightly so), Younis spoke out against the PCB, declared himself unavailable from all cricket, and challenged the board to build a team without him.

That could have very easily ended his career. Thank God for some sane heads in the PCB, sense prevailed, Younis was cajoled and talked to, and the man decided that he will play.

Not only will he play, but he will play with the aim to become the first Pakistani to score a century against all other 9 test playing nations, to overtake Inzamam Ul Haq as the leading centurion for Pakistan, to overtake Javed Miandad as the leading run scorer in tests for Pakistan, and to become the first Pakistani batsman to reach the 10,000 run landmark in test cricket.

He made his aims public prior to the test series against Australia and how he has appeared as a man on a mission.

In the first innings of the series he achieved the feat of becoming the first Pakistani to score a century against all other 9 test playing nations, and in the second, he surpassed Inzamam Ul Haq's Pakistan record of 25 centuries.

Not only did Younis Khan achieve those two feats, he also became the first Pakistani to score two centuries in a test against Australia and the first batsman in the world to achieve the feat of twin centuries against Australia in the past 40 years!

I don't think I have the words that will do justice to Younis Khan's greatness, so I will just let his numbers speak for themselves.

1. Pakistan's Leading Test Centurion
In the past decade, since January 2005, Younis Khan has the third highest average in tests, behind only Kumar Sangakkara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

During this decade, Younis has performed better than the Sachins, Pontings, and Kallises of the world.

5. King of the 4th Innings
Younis Khan converts 48% of all his fifties into centuries in test cricket. That is a better conversion rate than the likes of Kallis (44%), Sachin (42%), Ponting (40%), Lara (41.5%), Dravid (36%), and many other batsmen who have scored at least 20 test centuries.

It goes without saying that he has the best conversion rates among all Pakistani batsmen to ever play the game. Only 4 batsmen have a better conversion rate than Younis Khan in test cricket.

7. One of the most Frequent Centurions
Sachin, Ponting, Kallis, Dravid, and Sangakkara are the leading 5 run scorers in the history of test cricket. All of them have played over 160 tests in their career, besides Sangakkara who has played 128.

Comparing Younis Khan to these 5 batsmen at the stage that Younis is right now, i.e. 92 test matches, shows that Younis has the third highest runs tally, a bit behind Rahul Dravid and well behind King Sanga.

It is quite impossible to see Younis play as many tests as Ponting, Dravid, and Kallis did, however one can only imagine where Younis would have ranked among the leading test run scorers if only Pakistan played as much test cricket as some of the other nations.

9. A Batting Giant away from Home

The hallmark of any great test batsman is how well he does in matches played away from home, in alien conditions that require adjustments and mental toughness.

Younis Khan has the most runs by a Pakistani batsman and the 4th most runs by any batsman in the history of the game in test matches played away from home.

Only Sachin, Dravid, and Kallis have scored more runs and more centuries in away test matches than Younis has.

10. The Best Number 3 Produced by Pakistan

Younis Khan is by far the best number 3 batsman ever produced by Pakistan. He is well ahead in terms of runs, average, and centuries.

11. A King Match Winner away from Home

Inzamam Ul Haq's prowess as a test match winner for Pakistan is well documented. No one has scored more runs (4,690) or more centuries (17) than Inzamam has in test wins for Pakistan. Younis Khan is second on that list for Pakistan with 3,347 runs and 12 centuries in test wins.

It will take Younis some time to surpass this record of Inzamam, however there is another Inzamam record that Younis surpassed in this massive test win over Australia. Younis Khan's twin centuries in the test match took him past Inzamam as Pakistan's leading run scorer in test match wins away from home.

Not only is Younis the leading run scorer for Pakistan in test wins away from home, he is now only behind the Aussie pair of Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting as the leading run scorer in test wins away from home in the history of the game. Both those run tallies are within Younis' sights and he could well end his career as the leading run scorer in test wins away from home.

Younis Khan's average of 86.3 in test wins away from home is the highest average in the world among all batsmen who have scored at least 2,000 runs in test wins away from home. And among all batsmen with at least 1,000 runs in test wins away from home, Younis' 86.3 is only behind Alastair Cook (99.7), Sir Don Bradman (96.8), and Wally Hammond (95.6).

Younis is also third on the list of batsmen with most 100s in test wins away from home. His 11 centuries, including the two in the just concluded match, is only behind Ponting's 12 and Waugh's 14.

As I said, words cannot do justice to the stature of Younis Khan.

He is not only the best test batsman produced by Pakistan, he is also one of their biggest match winners, and arguably the best test match batsman ever produced.

All hail KING KHAN!

Shahid Afridi's career can easily be divided into two phases; the first phase was when the team tried to make the world believe that he is a batsman who can bowl a bit, and the second phase was when the world was made to believe that he is a bowler first and then a batsman.

You lost your first wicket in the 26th over with the score on 126. The openers had laid out an enviable position, a solid platform, which you needed to capitalize on. From 126-1 in 25.1 overs, 250 should be a given, while 275 reachable, yet you fold for 215.

Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic!

Can you tell me one player in the world who walks in to bat at 130-2 in 26 overs and then faces 30 balls for 15 runs!?

Most teams would use the position to send in their best batsmen and build on the platform. Most batsmen in the world will carry on the momentum created by the openers.

But not you sir. No sir, you will use tactics that will suck the life out of the innings and derail any progress that could have been possible.

You started the game once again without Sohaib Maqsood, a batsman who has had a brilliant start to his ODI career - an average of 36 and a strike rate of 84 in 17 innings. And instead of him you once again played Asad Shafiq who has taken 47 ODI innings to show what a rubbish ODI player he is with an average of 25 over those games.

Not only do you include Asad Shafiq in the XI, you send him to bat when the team is at at the top at 126-1 in 25.1.

You do that when you have in your dressing room an Umar Akmal, the top scorer in the previous ODI, and Fawad Alam, someone who grinds his way through the innings and has accumulated 325 runs at an average of 81 in his previous 6 ODI innings.

Alright maybe due to some brain damage you thought that Asad Shafiq was capable of continuing in the same momentum as Shehzad and Sarfraz, but once the second wicket fell, you still did not realize that Umar or Fawad should go out.

Instead you walked out yourself, probably hoping that you could regain some much needed form. At 130-2, the team's better batsmen should have walked out so that the team could have remained on top.

Yet, you sir, with 210 runs in your previous 9 ODI innings at an average of 23, decided that it was more important for you to get some batting practice than it was for the team to progress to a competitive total.

You sir put your needs ahead of the team's needs.

And you know what is sad?

You will probably blame Fawad Alam for scratching his way to 20 not out and make him the scapegoat and drop him for Sohaib for the 3rd ODI. When in fact you should have started with Sohaib in the XI instead of Asad.

How do you expect to continue like this sir?

The World Cup is 5 months away and you expect to lead your team at the global event?

How will your team compete against the top teams when you continue to falter game after game and refuse to learn from your mistakes?

How do you expect the team to perform when you bring them down every time they look to rise to the occasion?

After an opening stand of 126 in 25 overs, only you could have made it possible to end the innings at 215.

I don't know anyone else who would have killed his team's chances the way you did today.

Please resign gracefully and leave the limited overs game gracefully. Otherwise you may be left with egg all over your face when you are asked to step down.

Time to go sir. Time to go home and appear on some TV channel as an expert for the World Cup.

Yours truly,

Q & many other Pakistan cricket fans.

I don't have a solution for Pakistan's batting problems. I don't think anyone does.

The start of this Eid weekend is all about Bang Bang... the just released Bollywood action thriller. But by Sunday, all focus would have shifted to Boom Boom as Pakistan takes on Australia in the only T20 in Dubai.

The T20 game will be Shahid Afridi's first game back at the helm of the T20 team after over 3 years.

It is quite ironic that Afridi was removed as captain in 2011 due to his differences with the team coach,Waqar Younis. Soon after Waqar resigned, and Afridi returned to the team. For three years, Afridi continued to play, while Waqar Younis was not part of the management.

And now, just as Waqar Younis has returned as coach of the team, Afridi has also returned as the captain of the T20 team.

Afridi always belonged as the skipper. He should have never been removed and should have been the captain of the limited overs teams till now.

Petty politics I tell you.

Even though PCB  Chairman Shaharyar Khan has stated that Misbah Ul Haq will remain the ODI captain till the World Cup, nothing can be guaranteed in the world of Pakistan cricket.

Pakistan is coming off a very poor tour of Sri Lanka and Misbah has been having a very lean year with the bat. The pressure on him is immense.

Afridi's elevation to T20 captain till the World T20 in 2016 means that he is in line to take over the ODI team as well once Misbah finally calls time on his career. But another bad performance in the upcoming ODI series against Australia could set the ball rolling for Afridi to take over the ODI team just before the World Cup.

Pakistan's T20 and ODI teams have landed in the UAE. The squad looks quite an exciting one with a good mix of youth and experience.

For the T20s, with Afridi leading the side, the team sees the return of the exciting Awais Zia, who recently smashed a 60 ball century in Pakistan's domestic T20 competition, Raza Hasan, who played an instrumental role in Pakistan's World T20 2012 campaign only to be sidelined due to injury and disciplinary issues, and Umar Amin.

The T20 team also includes a newcomer in Saad Nasim, the Lahori boy who impressed in the Champions League T20, and played his part in ensuring the Lahore Lions qualify for the tournament. Nasim is an exciting middle order batsman who has all the shots in the game.

With the presence of Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Sohaib Maqsood, and Umar Akmal, Pakistan's T20 team has immense fire power in their batting line up.

Saeed Ajmal's absence will be felt, but Raza Hasan is a more than capable replacement, and along with Mohammad Irfan and Wahab Riaz will give Pakistan a potent bowling attack.

Potential T20 XI: Ahmed Shehzad, Awais Zia, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Akmal (WK), Sohaib Maqsood, Saad Nasim, Shahid Afridi (C), Anwar Ali, Wahab Riaz, Raza Hasan, Mohd. Irfan

For the ODIs, Misbah is at the helm again, but now the middle order looks like a well oiled unit with the likes of Fawad Alam, Sohaib Maqsood, and Umar Akmal. Asad Shafiq and Umar Amin return to the squad, however I do not have much confidence in their abilities in ODIs.

The inclusion of Sarfraz Ahmed in ODIs means that Pakistan might finally be looking to relieve Umar Akmal from the duties behind the stumps. Sarfraz' inclusion is perfectly timed as he has finally brought his domestic batting form into the international game. His performance in recent test matches has demonstrated his ability with the bat, and Pakistan will do good by including him in the team.

The bowling attack looks quite sharp as well with Raza Hasan filling in for Ajmal along with Irfan, Junaid, and Wahab.

Potential ODI XI: Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Akmal, Fawad Alam, Misbah Ul Haq, Sohaib Maqsood, Sarfraz Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Mohd. Irfan

Pakistan could also use Sarfraz at the top of the order, something he has frequently done for PIA, with Hafeez coming in at 3 and everyone else dropping one place down.

Needless to say that with the World Cup round the corner, the upcoming ODIs are going to be a good test for the team and it will be interesting to see how the team performs.

For now, it is time to Bang Bang, but from Sunday it will be time to Boom Boom! #PerfectEidWeekend.

On a side note, the players have been busy taking selfies in Dubai.