Who is Naumanullah?

He's the man who made his debut for Pakistan in the 5th ODI against Bangladesh.

He's the 32 year old who looks younger than the 28 year old Afridi and the 30 year old Younis Khan.

He's the one who was awarded the best batsman of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2007-08 for his 949 runs in 10 matches at an average of 63.26 with 4 centuries and 3 fifties.

He's the batsman who was the 3rd highest leading scorer in first class matches this season (2007-08) - 15 matches, 1,235 runs, average 53.69, 4 100s, 5 50s.

He's the right hander who justifiably made the squad for the 5th ODI against Zimbabwe earlier this year but unjustifiably didn't get to play.

He's the number 3 batsman who walked out at the fall of the 6th wicket in the 5th ODI against Bangladesh, when 2 overs of Pakistan's innings were left.

He's the debutant who did not get a knock when Pakistan lost its 2nd wicket at 207 in the 35th over.

He's the Karachi-ite who will not play for Pakistan again.

Afridi & Tanvir Shine

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.