The above table has been doing the rounds of social media since Pakistan’s T20 series loss to New Zealand. It has been shared all over Facebook, Twitter, and Whatsapp with the statement “Shahid Afridi is Pakistan’s worst T20 captain ever”. Ofcourse stats don’t lie and I will be the first person to support any argument with Stats, however one also needs to assess them objectively.

In the above table, Inzamam, Younis, and Misbah can be taken out of the reckoning considering that they have not captained in enough games. Shoaib Malik’s record is largely skewed considering that 7 out of his 12 wins were in matches against Bangladesh (3), Zimbabwe (1), Scotland (1), Canada (1), and Kenya (1). Mohammad Hafeez was definitely a very good captain; arguably the best T20 captain Pakistan has had. He should have continued for longer. His resignation following Pakistan’s exit from the World T20 in 2014 was one of the most selfless acts we have witnessed in Pakistan cricket.

Sure Shahid Afridi has not been as good a captain. But his figures are also not as bad as they are being made out to be. Under his captaincy, Pakistan has won as much as they have lost; alright lost a bit more but just very slightly. When compared to international captains who have captained in at least 10 T20 Internationals, Afridi’s record is better than many including Ricky Ponting, Chris Gayle, and Stuart Broad. It is also not very different from the record of AB De Villiers, George Bailey, Brendon McCullum, and the one and only MS Dhoni!

Before jumping to conclusions like “Afridi is Pakistan’s worst T20 captain”, one must also realize that T20s are very different from ODIs and Tests. While an astute captain with a strong team will win ODIs and Tests frequently, the same is not the case with T20s. The game is so short that a few deliveries change the course of the entire match. That is why one witnesses so many upsets in T20s, as compared to ODIs and Tests. The format is extremely unpredictable and over the longer term majority of the teams have Win:Loss records close to 1:1.

The same is the case with captains who have led their teams in the shortest format for a long time. Because the format has not been around for too long, there are only 21 captains among the 10 test playing nations who have led in at least 15 T20 Internationals. Many of these captains, including MS Dhoni, Bailey, McCullum, Vettori, AB De Villiers, and Afridi have a win percentage in the 47% - 53% range. There are less than a handful of captains who have led in more than 25 T20s and have win percentages significantly higher than 50% - Graeme Smith, Paul Collingwood, Mohammad Hafeez, and Darren Sammy.

This clearly indicates that over the longer term, a team and a captain, will have a win:loss ratio in the vicinity of 1:1. One can take a look at betting sites offers also and they will show similar odds at the beginning of most T20 Internationals.

Then why are so many people eager to have Afridi removed as Pakistan’s T20 captain before the World T20?

He played an instrumental role in the only World T20 that Pakistan won. He was Man of the Match in the semifinal and the final of that tournament. He also played an instrumental role in the only other World T20 that Pakistan reached the final of. He was the Player of the Tournament then. Moreover, the only other time Pakistan were close to playing another World T20 final before Hussey happened, Afridi was the captain.

He has always been a major force in T20 cricket.

He is the leading wicket taker in the world in T20 Internationals. He has one of the best economy rates among the leading wicket takers in T20s. He has won the most man of the match awards in T20s in the history of the format.

Afridi is a T20 King.

Let us also not forget that it is never wise to change the captain so close to a World Cup. Pakistan did not sack Waqar Younis before the 2003 World Cup despite Pakistan going through a continuous rut in ODIs under him. They did not sack Misbah before the 2015 World Cup even though Pakistan went through their worst ever phase in their ODI history under him.

So yes. It will be Afridi who will captain Pakistan in the World T20.

He has already announced that the World T20 will be his last international outing; having already retired from ODIs, Afridi will wave goodbye to international cricket once and for all. He has had an illustrious career spanning two decades and the World T20 is his last chance to shine.

And it is our last chance to have faith in him for one final time.

Let us believe that Afridi can do it again, for one final time. Let the man who has ruled the nation’s heartbeat for 20 years, continue to do what he does best, for one final time. Let Boom Boom resonate throughout the stadiums in India, for one final time. Let us all witness the arms raised aloft wicket celebrations, for one final time.

So don’t let all those stats about his T20 captaincy bog you down. He has led Pakistan to many memorable victories and he still has it in him to lead them to many more. One final time! 

Sri Lanka Cricket’s (SLC) bowling coach, Anusha Samaranayake, was banned for 2 months on Monday 18^th January over allegations of attempted match fixing. These allegations centre on the first Test match against the West Indies last October, a match that was won by Sri Lanka for an innings and six runs.

Samaranayake has been accused of introducing the main suspect of the investigation, net bowler Gayan Vishwajith, to the team. Vishwajith, who used to participate in training sessions, approached team members to intentionally underperform in matches.

The country’s cricket board recently declared that "SLC has received several complaints regarding a close relationship between Anusha Samaranayake and Gayan Vishwajith, who approached several players for the alleged illegal activities”.

It is suspected that the wicketkeeper Kusal Perera, who was suspended provisionally from the New Zealand tour after testing positive for steroids, and bowler Rangana Herath were offered around 10 million Sri Lanka rupees (around £48,600) to throw the game. The players rejected the offer, alerted officials and went on to win the match against the West Indies.

Vishwajith has been banned for life from any Sri Lankan cricketing grounds and events. Additionally, Perera is facing a possible four-year ban after failing the anti-doping test last October.

However, this is not a reason to stop betting on you favourite cricket team, scandals of match fixing have become a common topic lately but nothing will beat the feeling of watching your team play and betting on them with this bonus code.

Angelo Matthews, captain of SLC, stated that the goal is to have a fair and clean game and that “whoever has done something wrong, we want to bring them before the courts and take certain measures; as captain I have to mention that the cricketers felt really uncomfortable the last few days because they are the ones who came forward and reported this to the International Cricket Council.”

England bowling South Africa out for 83 and going on to win the third test, and with that the series, was the final nail in South Africa’s coffin that had been building throughout 2015. South Africa’s capitulation comes as no surprise considering that the last time they won a test match was over a year ago during the first week of January 2015, when they beat West Indies. That was also the last time they won a test series.

South Africa played 8 tests matches in 2015, winning only that one. They could not register a win in Bangladesh where they drew both tests. They could not beat India despite significant verbal volleys before the start of the series. India beat them 3-0. And then England happened.

This England vs South Africa series was supposed to be closely fought. It was anything but. England’s wins have been easy – one by 241 runs and the other by 7 wickets, which could have very easily been by 10 wickets had some of the batsmen not tried to finish the game with big hits. England have dominated.

South Africa’s fall from number one also comes as no surprise as that is what usually happens when the number of world class batsmen in your line up reduces by half. There once used to be Smith, Amla, Kallis, and ABD – a lineup that used to send jitters to attacks all around the world. Only Amla and ABD are not enough. And they have not been enough. Not even for Bangladesh.

The same happened to Australia when Hayden, Lander, Hussey, Gilchrist left Ponting and Clarke alone in the middle. The Aussies however, thanks to their highly competitive club and state cricket are now finding their feet back towards dominance with Warner, Khwajah, Smith, and Voges right up there among the best batsmen in the business.

Anyhow, moving back to South Africa.

They are no longer number one in the test rankings. If they win the last test against England, they will be second; if they draw they will be third; if they lose they will be fourth. Surprisingly it will not be England, nor Australia, who take over as the newly ranked number one test team when the rankings are updated at the end of the England vs South Africa series.

It will be India!

Yes, India!

Sure they beat South Africa 3-0 and also registered series win in Sri Lanka (2-1), but the 5 series before those included a draw against Bangladesh and losses to Australia, New Zealand, England, and South Africa!

So 4 losses, 1 draw, and 2 wins in their last 7 test series and they are ranked number one!

How does that work?

Cricinfo have an “Understandingthe ICC Ranking System” article up on their home page. It is an article from May last year, which has probably been put up now again to explain the same question everyone has been asking since last night – How is India the number 1 test team?

Only 6 points separate India (110) at the top and England (104) at number 5. Australia (109) is a very close second and Pakistan (106) is also only a series win away from being number 1. South Africa will fit in between 109 and 106 points depending on the result of their last test against England.

There is no doubt that there is little gap between these five test teams; however it still does not explain how India is above them all, when it fact it should be below the rest.

Take a look at the series results for the past 3 years, i.e. results of all test series played since January 2013. I’m analyzing this period because Cricinfo explains that results of the past 36 months are the ones that matter.

So how can a team that has won the least number of test series and lost the highest number of test series during the past 36 months be ranked number one?

Any ranking system that provides that result has to be flawed.

Delving deeper into India’s results during this period and one can see that they do not really have impressive results. While they have won series against South Africa and Australia during this period, they have also lost to both them. They have also lost to England and New Zealand, whom they have not beaten at all. They have drawn against lowly ranked Bangladesh. So the only teams they have beaten, whom they have not lost against are Sri Lanka and West Indies.

And that makes them number 1?

What a joke!

On the other hand, a team like South Africa has lost to only India, Australia, and England during this period and suddenly they are no longer number 1 despite series wins against New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, Zimbabwe, and West Indies during this period.

Even Pakistan for that matter have done better than India has. They have lost only to South Africa and Sri Lanka during this period. They have lost the least number of series during the past 3 years and have beaten Australia, England, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh during this period.

Surely the ranking system needs some sort of reorganization. Not only because of the way it calculates rankings but also because of another factor. The fact that it does not take into account home and away wins!

According to the Cricinfo article, whether a team wins at home or in foreign conditions has no bearing on the number of points earned. That has to change. Surely India winning at home is not the same as India winning in England or Australia. The latter definitely deserves more points.

There is absolutely no reasoning that can convince me that India is the current number one ranked test team!

The bans are over and Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif, and Mohammad Aamer are back; the latter in international colors and the former two for their domestic team. Considering that they did not play any competitive cricket for 5 years and have now come out of the wilderness to get their first taste of cricket, it has been quite a remarkable comeback!

Let us take Aamer out of this equation given the support he was provided throughout his ban by the PCB, ICC, and current and former cricketers. Butt and Asif were condemned by all. They did not get the kind of sympathy Aamer did; not from the administrators, nor from the fans. The PCB did not provide them the same kind of support, nor did the board do them any favors by delaying the rehabilitation process till it was completely necessary.

So in a situation like this when one knows that the entire world is aware of the wrong they have done, how does one motivate themselves? Think about it. Butt and Asif went through jail terms. They served a ban for cheating their team, their sport, their country. They were not provided support by officials in the same manner that another player was. Everyone wrote and spoke about how it was the end of their careers. They were not allowed inside the academies nor did they have access to practice facilities. Butt was condemned by everyone for being the architect of the fix, while Asif had struck the final nail in his coffin full of offenses.

Everyone including me thought that their careers were over! We all knew that Aamer will be back, but none of us ever thought that Butt and Asif would be able to make a comeback. Age was not on their side. A 5-year layoff from any sort of profession is as good as an end of a career, let alone sport where mental strength and fitness play such a major role.

Ignoring what they did and only thinking purely about the mental strength and fitness required to compete at the highest level after a gap of 5 years, their comeback has been nothing short of remarkable. Butt’s 135 and 99* in his first two innings and Asif’s 2-22 and 0-29 are phenomenal achievements given how they spent their past five years.

There was always this remote possibility that they would perform at the domestic level, but now that they have (particularly Butt), what will the PCB do? They have allowed Aamer to come back and don the green; will they be as welcoming to Butt and Asif if both continue to perform in domestic games? It will be highly unfair if both are ignored despite building their cases considering that a fellow player who was accused and convicted for the same crime has been welcomed back.

In fact, the PCB has had to intervene and coerce a couple of players to accept Aamer’s presence in national colors. What will they do in Butt’s and Asif’s case?

I understand that everyone from the administrators to the players and fans believe that Butt and Asif are more guilty than Aamer was. Their respective jail terms also imply that. However, like Aamer, the other two also went through their terms and fulfilled all obligations that were required of them for the ban to be completed. Now that they have been allowed to compete domestically, how can anyone stop them from competing internationally?