While a number of bloggers, mostly Indian, complain of too much cricket much like their ODI captain MS Dhoni, I can't get enough of it.

Since the IPL all the series' played have had something to watch out for.

There was the New Zealand fightback in the ODIs against England including the last ball win, KP's switch hits, Collingwood' mood swings, emergence of McCullum as a top order test batsman, England's excitement over Bopara, Strauss proving he is here to stay, Southee showing why he's the best thing to happen to NZ cricket for a long time.

There was the West Indies trying to compete against the Aussies in the tests, a younger Australian ODI side showing why they will remain one of the best sides for some time to come, another ODI that went to the last ball, a stunning 92 from Gayle, the exciting IPL opening combination of Shane Watson and Shaun Marsh, Johnson with the white ball, David Hussey finally making it to the ODI side and hinting at why he should have been there long before.

There was the short and sweet tri-series in Bangladesh where Pakistan against all odds defied India the trophy, Younis Khan's "silencing the critics" 100 in the final, India's largest victory over Pakistan ever.

There was the battle for the Asian supremacy, where Sri Lanka emerged champions on the back off yet another spinning freak, India failing in their 2nd successive final within weeks, Misbah's emergence as potential captain, Younis Khan's continued run of form, Sehwag and Gambhir's opening salvos, King Sanga at his best, Sanath Jayasuriya breaking down all age barriers, Amjad Ali showing the talent present in the UAE, Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rauf letting the selectors know how ignorant they have been, and Suresh Raina coming of age.

So why exactly have the cricket fans been bored?

I fail to understand.

And there's more to look forward to as the South Africans gear up to take on England and the Indian Seniors try to do to Sri Lanka what the juniors could not.

Pakistan were the last of the 6 teams participating in the Asia Cup to announce their 15-man squad.

They did so a few days back after a 3-day training camp involving the 20 probables the selectors had announced last week.

Considering that Pakistan were coming off a victorious tri-series in Bangladesh that also involved India, it would have been common sense had Pakistan chosen their 15 from the 16 that travelled to Dhaka.

That may have been the case had it not been for an email sent by Dr. Nasim Ashraf to the team management following Pakistan's heaviest defeat to India in ODI history.

I even responded to that email by DNA, while the PCB selectors / team management decided to respon by fulfilling DNA's demands for a 2nd spinner and a new wicketkeeper.

Those demands resulted in the inclusion of two spinners - Saeed Ajmal and Mansoor Amjad, and a new wicketkeeper in Sarfraz Ahmed.

The victims of these selections were Naumanullah, Bazid Khan, and Kamran Akmal. While Sohail Khan didn't make the 15 due to malaria.

What worries me here is the inconsistency shown by the selectors and the hook they have around their necks which is tied to a rod held by DNA himself.

Firstly the selectors dropped 2 batsmen in Naumanullah and Bazid Khan and secondly they replaced them with 2 uncapped spinners - an offie Saeed Ajmal and a Leggie Mansoor Ahmad.

Remember when I said this about Naumanullah. And this about Mansoor Ajmad.

Mansoor Amjad is a talented cricketer but with Afridi in the team it would defy logic to include another leg spinner in the XI.

Saeed Ajmal, as Shoaib Malik pointed out, was chosen based on his good performance in domestic cricket and with the view that Pakistan needed a bowler to support Afridi in the middle overs.

I'm not too sure how good an idea it is to put an uncapped spinner at the deep end at home against the likes of India and Sri Lanka.

Actually I am quite sure. Bad idea.

Sure Saeed Ajmal has a good List A record - 91 matches, 130 wickets at an ave of 26.64. He also had a decent domestic season with 12 wickets in 9 one day matches at 25.58.

He had a better first class season, though that doesn't matter as this is an ODI competition.

So did Saeed Ajmal deserve the selector's nod?

Considering that there were spinners who did better than him on the domestic circuit, probably not.

Abdur Rehman, who has played ODIs and a few tests for Pakistan over the last 2 years, was the 3rd highest wicket taker in List A games this season - 25 wickets in 14 matches at 24.20.

Mohammad Aslam, Peshawar and Habib Bank's left arm spinner, picked up 17 wickets in 10 matches at 19.17.

Raheel Majeed, the leg spinner from Islamabad, picked up 12 wickets in only 5 matches at 17.41.

Nauman Alvi, PIA and Karachi's left arm spinner, picked up 12 wickets in only 6 matches at 20.25.

So then what led to Saeed Ajmal's inclusion over these players?

It wasn't his age, because at 30, he is the eldest of the lot mentioned above.

It wasn't his economy rate, because at 4.75, he is at par, with the lot mentioned above.

To be honest, I am baffled.

But as always, if he plays, I hope he proves me wrong and shows me that his selection was a mastermind and that he deserves to be there.

Kamran Akmal had been under pressure for quite some time and the selectors waited for the Chairman himself to run out of pateince before they dropped him.

U19 World Cup winning captain Sarfraz Ahmed will get his first full series. He is a better keeper than Akmal though doesn't bring the same depth in batting.

Akmal's exclusion also adds to Pakistan's opening problems as he had been doing the job along with Salman Butt, and his presence at the top allowed Malik and Lawson to field a 6th bowler.

With Akmal out, Pakistan will either have to go with Nasir Jamshed, the only specialist opener in the squad, or a make-shift option that allows that extra bowler in the XI.

Going with Nasir will be risky as banking on Malik to bowl his full quota of 10 overs will be disastrous. Thus a make-shift option will most probably be deployed.

There have been reports that have mentioned that Malik will open the batting himself, while others have also mentioned Afridi.

The latter is a strict no-no. Pakistan has tinkered with Afridi up the order way too much in the past and it almost resulted in finishing his career. Afridi is a bowler, and its high time he is treated as one.

Malik is Pakistan's best option. Not only has he done well at that position in the past, but it also provides him with the opportunity to lead from the front, something he is yet to do.

All of Malik's ODI centuries have come while opening or batting at number 3. Why he was pushed down the order is still a mystery.

I would still drop Younis Khan, open with Nasir, and bat Malik at 3, but Younis' 100 in the final of the Kitply Cup has given him another year's lease of life at the least.

Pakistan kicks off their Asia Cup campaign against Hong Kong today in Karachi. Their bigger test will be against India on Thurday.

Pakistan's likely XI: 1. Shoaib Malik, 2. Salman Butt, 3. Younis Khan, 4. Mohammad Yousuf, 5. Misbah Ul Haq, 6. Shahid Afridi, 7. Fawad Alam / Saeed Ajmal, 8. Sohail Tanvir, 9. Sarfraz Ahmed, 10. Umar Gul, 11. Rao Iftikhar.

Is Salman Butt Pakistan' new Mr. Reliable?

After almost a decade of shuffling between openers, Pakistan has finally decided to settle on Salman Butt.

No one since Saeed Anwar and Aamir Sohail has been able to call the opening slot their own.

Imran Nazir, Taufeeq Umar, Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Saleem Elahi, Ali Naqvi, Naved Latif and many others couldn't do it.

No Pakistani opener since Saeed Anwar has averaged over 40 for Pakistan in ODIs.

Salman Butt though has done both - made an opening slot his own and pushed his average above 40.

He got the player of the tournament award in the just concluded Kitply Cup and pushed his average to 40.54 following his match winning unbeaten innings of 129 in the final against India last night.

This was Salman's 5th 100 against India and 7th overall. His other 2 have come against Bangladesh.

Apart from 1 of those 100s, all of them have come in matches that Pakistan has won.

Out of the 52 ODIs that Salman has played, Pakistan has won 33 and he averages a remarkable 50.35 in those victories.

Critics may argue that he's done well only against India and the minnows, but I argue that he hasn't played enough against other opposition.

Salman has played 18 of his 52 ODIs against India as compared to only 4 against Australia, 5 against England, 6 against the Windies, 8 against Sri Lanka, and none against South Africa.

Time will tell if he can manage the same success against other stronger opposition, but in the meantime I believe Pakisan has atleast found 1 half of the solution to their opening problem.

He's only 23 and has a long way to go.

Pakistan though, need to stick with him. He has shown more than once that he has the ability to fight it out under pressure.

That he showed very early in his career in his 6th ODI and also in his 4th test match.

As for being Pakistan's Mr. Reliable - in recent times, more often than not, he has given Pakistan a good start.

When he scores, Pakistan usually gets a good total, and Pakistan usually wins.

So yes, I would say that he's well on his way to become one of the mainstays of Pakistan's batting line up.

Strangely I did not find myself that excited after Pakistan's victory over India in the final of the Kitply Cup.

Normally I would have been jumping for joy and calling the world to tell them "I told you so", but even when I did message a few people saying just that, I still felt something was missing.

What, I still haven't been able to lay my finger on.

Maybe it was Nasim Ashraf's presence alongside the players on the boundary line. What is a board chairman's job anyway?

He should be responsible for running a board, running a company, not to be present in the dressing room along with the players jumping and cheering like a 20 year old.

He wasn't alone though. Shafqat Naghmi, the Chief Operating Officer was present with him, hand in hand. I have never seen any other administrators behave like that.

Maybe it was Younis Khan's century.

I don't want to take anything away from him cause he played a wonderful knock that laid the foundation for Pakistan's huge total, but I have never wanted him in the ODI side and with this knock what he has done is that he's booked his place for another year.

Younis' innings was out of character as he scored at faster than a run a ball and looked more aggressive than Salman Butt at the crease.

He completely deserved the man of the match award for the way he played and guided Salman in a 200 run plus partnership.

However, for a man who has played 170 ODIs and bats at 3, Younis averages only 32 and this was only his 4th ODI century - this is exactly why I don't want him in the ODI side.

He did well though, but what I am worried about is that he won't do well in an ODI again for some time to come.

Maybe it was the way Pakistan's innings ended.

Misbah played a brilliant knock pishing up th tempo at the end after a solid base had been laid by Salman and Younis.

But once Misbah departed, Afridi and Malik could only manage 22 runs of the last 15 deliveries.

A score over 330 was on the cards but neither Afridi nor Malik could get the big ones out of the bag and Pakistan ended with 315, which at the end looked lower than what they should have got, and maybe even sligtly lower than what would have been a safe target against India's batting line up.

In another era, 315 would have been a winning score, but against India in these times with Gambhir, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Dhoni et all doing the chasing, it never seemed enough.

It was at the end but India still got to 290.

Which goes to prove that to beat this Indian side you need atleast 300 on the board. That shows the strength of India today.

But what does it mean for Pakistan?

It means that for their bowlers to defend a target, the Pakistan batsmen always need to score in excess of 300.

That is the major worry I believe.

A 150 run victory, the kind Lawson had wanted in the group game against India, would have probably been more pleasing. It would have shown that the Pakistan bowling had the ability to put pressure on the opposition.

That though was not the case.

I know that it highlights India's strength, but it also highlights Pakistan's problems.

The Pakistan bowlers still gave away a high number of extras - 11 wides and 2 no balls.

Sohail Tanvir hasn't been able to transform his IPL form into ODIs.

Iftikhar Anjum looks as pedestrian as ever.

Shoaib Malik is suffering from under confidence - That last over in the IPL is probably still haunting him.

Umar Gul and Afridi have been very good but they need more support in the other 30 overs.

Nonetheless, Pakistan won an ODI trophy, and that too after beating India in a final. Thats sweet but more work is needed.

Definitely needed.

A repeat in the Asia Cup will be sweeter.

Dr. Nasim Ashraf (DNA), the man repsonsible for running Pakistan cricket, has written a strong worded letter to the Pakistan team management and asked them a number of questions regarding Pakistan's pathetic display in the field against India on Tuesday.

Directed to Talat Ali and CCed to Geoff Lawson and Shoaib Malik, the letter appeared in today's edition of DAWN, Pakistan's daily newspaper.

In the letter, DNA requests a response to all his questions within 24 hours.

I don't know when or how Talat, Lawson, and Malik are going to repsond to the letter but I thought I would also take a shot at answering some of the questions DNA raised.

I will answer them with my answers as well as what I think the Team Management (TM) will say.

However, before that, I would like to ask one question of my own.

Why or how is a letter, that should be stamped "Private & Confidential", get into the hands of DAWN?

On to DNA's questions.

DNA: "...... you clearly told me that Malik was 100 per cent fit and therefore was the second spinner in the side. What happened to that? Why did Malik not bowl?"

TM: Doc Saahab, Malik was 100% fit going into the match and he had planned on bowling but during India's innings, Malik felt pain in his shoulder which prevented him from bowling. His shoulder is 100% now and he will take the field on Saturday if we reach the final.

Q: Malik was the 2nd spinner in the team but he was not confident of bowling. The Indian batsmen were in very good form and everyone was being hit around so Malik did not want to bowl on such a situation. He is 100% fit and the shoulder was just an excuse. His lack of coinfidence is very visible, please replace him as captain as Pakistan requires a more aggressive and confident captain.

DNA: "After the Indian opening pair started to hit us all over the park.....it was fairly obvious that something needed to be done to break their momentum. .... Nobody suggested to the captain that he must have a mini conference ..... Even the commentators (about) bringing in Shahid Afridi at an early stage"

TM: We had planned to bowl only the fast bowlers in the first 20 overs and we stuck to that plan which paid off when Wahab Riaz got the wickets of Sehwag and Gambhir. With the way they were batting Afridi would not have been a good option as he also would have gone for runs.

Q: Sir with all due respect, at first I would like to point out that if we started listening to commentators, you would not be Chairman, Malik would not be captain, and half of Pakistan's squad would be sitting at home watching the match on TV. Secondly, I do agree with you though, Malik should have been more proactive and should have brought on Afridi earlier. He failed to budge from what was discussed in the team meeting. He has shown a lack of creativity, thus I request you to think about a new captain.

DNA: "Even if that was not the strategy, at least the fast bowlers should have been advised not to over extend themselves (more than 22 wides and a total of 38 extras) ....It seemed as if we were just continuing with tactics that were clearly not working! We need to be more proactive on the field!"

TM: We had asked the fast bowlers to stick to a line and length but their plans did not come off. They had an off day. We are confident that they will come good soon.

Q: Exactly what I said in my previous answer sir. Let me also correct you that they are not fast bowlers but medium pacers. The extras has been a problem since you sacked Waqar Younis as bowling coach. I request you to re-hire him.

DNA: "Wicketkeeping was pathetic, especially after Kamran Akmal dropped the catch and pretended that he had held on to it. This is unsporting behaviour..... I do not want such behaviour from any Pakistani player.....We ought to be looking at playing another ‘keeper."

TM: Kamran did not realise that he had dropped the ball. He is working hard in the nets and we hope that he will come good.

Q: Sir, the players behavious is similar to your board. They say one thing, do another thing, act as if they have done something else, and then talk about what they haven't done. As for Kamran Akmal, please read this.

DNA: "If you look at Sehwag run map, he almost had 50 runs on the leg side which is something that he has never done in the past."

TM: The fast bowlers could not stick to one line as the left-right combination was disturbing them. They are working hard in the nets and will come good soon.

Q: I am truly impressed with your analysis of Sehwag's innings. I did not know that you analyze innings to such an extent. That said, the bowlers should take this into account when they take the field next time against him. Even if Sehwag is strong on the off stump, he has fallen on numerous occasions while edging to the keeper and the slip cordon. The pacers will be informed about this.

DNA: "The positives were that Afridi bowled very well and Malik got his 50 but then Afridi threw his wicket away in a most irresponsible manner."

TM: Afridi has done a very good job with the ball and we are pleased that Malik is back into form. Had Afridi stayed longer at the crease, Paksitan could have got closer to the target.

Q: Afridi is out best bowler sir and he showed that in the match, however we cannot expect a lot of runs from him. Those expectations are wrong. Malik did get a 50 but it was in a losing cause and his innings did not mean much. He should be batting higher up and scoring more runs that will have an impact on the match. Please replace him as skipper so that he can be used as a batsman like before.

DNA: "At least our strategy after losing early wickets should have been to bat out the 50 overs."

TM: We had to go for the runs and thus lost wickets in our effort to chase.

Q: It was a pathetic batting display but the batsmen couldn't do much after the bowlers had given away 330. The batsmen had no hope of getting there.

DNA: "I intend to reach Dhaka on Saturday, Inshallah, at noon time and would like to have a meeting first with you, the captain, the coach and the vice-captain immediately, and then later in the evening a meeting with the full team."

TM: We are waiting for your arrival Doc Saahab. The team needs you.

Q: Sir, with all due respect, I do not think it is a good idea for you to come down on Saturday. It will put undue pressure on the team, which is already very high following the largest defeat at the hands of the Indians. The team would like to concentrate on the cricket and the upcoming final, thus it would be a better idea if the team is given time to prepare and think among themselves of how to best approach Saturday's final.

Thank you for your support.

Best regards,

Talat Ali, Geoff Lawson, Shoaib Malik.

And Q.

Pakistan's 140 run loss to the Indians last night was their largest defeat at the hands of India ever.

Pakistan and India have played ODI cricket for 30 years now. In fact this is the 30th year with the 1st ODI dating back to October 1978.

That first ever ODI between them was played in Quetta, where a Bishen Singh Bedi led India beat Pakistan by 4 runs.

4 runs? Thats it. 4 runs. These days Pakistan loses by 130 runs more than that.

In the past, Pakistan have usually had the better of the Indians which is highlighted by the overall record between the teams.

118 ODIs in 30 years, Pakistan won 66, India won 44, 8 were washed out - Pakistan Win/Loss Ratio: 1.5.

But gone are the days when Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis used to send shivers down the spine of the Indian batsmen.

Gone are the days when Mushtaq Ahmed and Saqlain Mushtaq used to have the Indian batsmen in a tangle.

Gone are the days when the sight of Saeed Anwar and Aamir Sohail used to make the Indian bowlers sweat.

Gone are the days when Salim Malik, Ijaz Ahmed and Inzamam Ul Haq used to belt the Indian bowlers around.
Gone are the days when a Moin Khan or a Rashid Latif would dive across the slips and catch blinders off Sachin, Azharuddin, Manjerekar, and Jadeja.

Gone are the days when an Imran Khan and a Javed Miandad used to hold psychological advantage over the Indians.

These days it is the Pakistani bowlers who tremble at the sight of Sehwag and Gambhir.

It is the Pakistani spinners and medium pacers who suffer at the hands of Yuvraj and Dhoni.

It is the Pakistani openers who get shivers down their spines at the sight of a Praveen Kumar or an Irfan Pathan.

And they feel relieved to hear that a Sreesanth or an RP Singh is not playing.

It is the Pakistani batsmen who seem to be clueless in front of Piyush Chawla and Harbajhan Singh.

It is the Pakistani keeper who can't hold on to straight forward chances.

These days is the likes of Sehwag, Dhoni, Yuvraj, and Pathan that hold the psychological advantage.

How the times have changed. The tide has turned. The tables have been toppled. India has surely closed the gap on Pakistan over the years.

Taking a look at the 3 ten-year periods between the 2 sides shows a clearer picture of how India has closed the gap.

Period I: 1978-1987: 25 ODIs, Pakistan won 15, India won 9 - Pakistan W/L Ratio: 1.67.

Period II: 1988-1997: 37 ODIs, Pakistan won 22, India won 12 - Pakistan W/L Ratio: 1.83.

Period III: 1998-2007: 51 ODIs, Pakistan won 29, India won 22 - Pakistan W/L Ratio: 1.32.

The last decade has definitely been India's best.

If the last 5 year period is looked at then the closing of the gap is further highlighted.

Period III.5: 2003-2007: 28 ODIs, Pakistan won 14, India won 14 - Pakistan W/L Ratio: 1.00.

Narrow that down to the last 2 years and it shows that India has not only closed the gap but turned it around completely.

Period III.75: 2006 & 2007: 12 ODIs, Pakistan won 4, India won 8 - Pakistan W/L Ratio: 0.5.

With India handing Pakistan their largest defeat ever in ODI history between the 2 teams, Pakistan has surely hit rock bottom against India.

The only way from here is up. Or can it get worse?

Will India continue to widen the gap their way or will Pakistan now work on closing the gap?

With the way things look, India is on its way to become the best ODI side in the world. It will take Pakistan some time to match them.

Hopefully, it won't take them 3 decades.

The day before the match, Geoff Lawson stated that he wants Pakistan to beat India by 150 runs.

What was the point of that statement?

Did Lawson not know that Pakistan may not win the toss and field first instead?

Who does Lawson think he is, Shoaib Akhtar? Only he has the ability to say things he would do and then end up not doing them.

Was Lawson underestimating India or was he only being over confident of Pakistan's chances?

Lawson was right about the victory margin though - a 140 run victory. Albeit, for the other team. India!

Lawson's statement was nothing but pointless.

There were a lot of other pointless things.

Going into the match, Pakistan boasted of a 12 match winning streak. Pointless.

Lawson actually talked about equalling Australia's 21 match winning streak. Pointless.

Pakistan's fielding and catching was worse than a domestic side playing in Cambodia. Pointless.

Sohail Khan sat on the bench as Rao Iftikhar bowled to Sehwag & Co. Pointless.

39 extras. Pointless.

Younis Khan bowled the 50th over and gave away only 2 runs. Pointless.

Kamran Akmal hit a full toss straight to mid on. Pointless.

Younis Khan faced 1 ball more than he did against Bangladesh. Pointless.

Mohammad Yousuf was caught plumb in front and then looked at the umpire as if he had no idea how that was out. Pointless.

Shoaib Malik scored 53. Pointless.

A day before the match I did a the "Real Role Play" write up where I talked about what each Pakistan player would need to do to challenge India. Go back and read that again and you'll see that none of them did anything remotely close to that.

Somebody said to me that it wasn't that Pakistan played badly, but India played well.

I disagree.

There is no doubt that India is the stronger team and Pakistan was never going to challenge them after giving away 330 runs.

Sure Sehwag and Gambhir batted really well and Yuvraj was good in the middle, while Raina finished the innings with some big hits, but it was really the opening partnership that laid the platform for such a big total.

The opening partnership was 152 runs more than it should have been and it lasted 21 overs more than it should have.

The culprit was Younis Khan who dropped Gambhir in the very 1st over of the match.

Younis dropped Gambhir again in the 9th over when the score was 64.

Then Akmal joined in the fun and dropped Sehwag in the 13th over when the score was 91. Sehwag scored 45 more runs.

The way India's middle to lower order batted, Pakistan could have restricted them to a lower total, only if they had held onto their catches.

I say drop the dropper please as Younis Khan's position in the ODI team is truly pointless.

This is not a LIVE blog as I'm not sure how often I'll be updating it, but I will try and do so every hour at least.

The Toss

India has won the toss and is batting first.

Dhoni says pitch will spin later and keep low.

Malik says he would have batted as well.

Rains are expected later in the day according to the forecast. Lets hope we get a 50 over game here.

The Teams

Pakistan have gone in with a 4-man pace attack, though it is not the one I wanted and spoke of yesterday - Iftikhar Anjum comes into the side in place of Fawad Alam.

I wonder why the continue to bench Sohail Khan.

The rest of the team is unchanged from the match against Bangladesh.

India has gone in with a very strong XI with the top 6 reading: Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Raina.

And they are to be followed by Dhoni and Pathan.

Add to that Chawla, Kumar, and Sharma and that is one solid team.

The IPL has definitely influenced the Indian XI here as Robin Uthappa, a regular in the ODI side, finds himself on the bench, while Yusuf Pathan is granted an ODI debut and Raina is also given a game.

Both Yusuf and Raina had succesful IPL campaigns as compared to an indifferent one for Uthappa.

Play

Delhi Daredevils' openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir are taking strike and the Kolkata Knight Riders' Umar Gul has the new ball in his hand.

Its a shame that the Daredevils' Mohammad Asif is still stuck in Dubai with drugs, otherwise it would have been a good battle seeing him bowl to his IPL captain and team mate.

Over Number 1

Drama has already unfolded in the first 6 deliveries. A Gambhir 4, Younis dropping a catch, 4 byes, Gul jagging the ball of the pitch, Sehwag playing and missing, Gambhir jumping around, its all happening out there.

And that was only over number 1.

Team Thoughts

Apart from the Mumbai Indians, all the IPL teams have representation in today's ODI.

A total of 19 players involved in this ODI took part on the recently concluded Indian Premier League.

The IPL champions, Rajasthan Royals, have the largest representation with 4 players on the field today - Y. Pathan, Tanvir, Akmal, and Younis.

3 members each from the Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab, and the Kolkata Knight Riders are out there, along with 2 each from the Deccan Chargers, Chennai Super Kings, and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Each one of the 8 Pakistanis who took part in the IPL has an IPL team mate on the opposing Indian team. However, the 3 Kings XI players and the 2 Super Kings players on the Indian side didn't play alongside any Pakistani.

Does that give India an advantage?

Over Numbers 1-8: India off to a flier!

Sehwag and Gambhir have taken it to the Pakistan bowlers and are off to a flier with the 50 coming up half way into the 7th over.

Umar Gul was bowling well with the ball seaming off the wicket but his figures won't tell you that as Sehwag seems to be in punishing mood. He has countered Gul extremely well.

The Daredevils' opening pair is continuing here from where they left off in the IPL.

Gambhir is on 26 with 4 boundaries and Sehwag on 18 with 3.

Sohail Tanvir has looked good and has managed to keep Sehwag quiet. He needs to pick up a wicket soon though otherwise India will get to an unreachable total.

Wahab Riaz came on instead of Gul to bowl the 7th over and was doing a great job in keeping Gambhir quiet who came down the wicket and missed before he slashed him for 4 over point of the final delivery of the over.

Tanvir bowled another good over not giving any boundaries, which seems like a rarity thus far.

Score: 59-0 in 8 overs.

Over Numbers 9 - 11: Drop the Dropper!

Younis Khan has dropped Gambhir twice now. And that too in the same position. Gambhir's on 33 currently and looks like he's on his way to a big one thanks to Younis Khan.

Younis you dropper, you need to be dropped. He never scores in ODIs but atleast he used to take catches in the slips. Now even that is slipping away.

Go away Younis Khan. Stick to test cricket.

There were 3 boundaries in these 3 overs, all by Sehwag.

Rao Iftikhar came on to bowl instead of Wahab, which was strange cause the young boy was doing alright. Maybe Wahab will come on instead of Tanvir, changing ends.

No wicket yet, India 82-0 after 11.

Comment on Email

This came into my inbox from a friend:

Younis khan ki banda b%£d maarey bh3$%!0d ke bachey ki…Da11a.. kuni… maa y@£$.. B$%"ri ne 2 catch chor diye gambhir ke…Kuttey ka bacha hai yaar yeh ….

Apologies for the censoring, families and children visit this blog. Translation is a big difficult thus apologies to our non-Pakistani and non-Indian readers.

Over Numbers 12-17: India March On.

Sehwag reached his 50 with a guided 4 down to thirdman. He seems to be in ominous form, though he was also dropped in the 13th over. By Akmal this time.

Fielding today has been very bad by Pakistan, and this after Lawson said that he was looking to beat Indian by a huge margin.

Catching has been abysmal and there have been several misfields.

No surpise then that India's 100 came up in the 14th over and they're currently scoring at 7.5 an over with Sehwag and Gambhir both scoring at over run a ball.

Shahid Afridi needs to come on soon and provide that breakthrough.

Score: 126-0 in 17 overs.

Over Numbers 18-22: Finally the Breakthrough

A rare 2 overs went by without a boundary. But in the next one Sehwag sent one over long on for 6!

Afridi came on but didn't get the breakthough in his 1st over, but Wahab did in the next - Akmal held on to one and Gambhir went for 62 of as many balls - 56 more than he should have got.

Yuvraj has joined Sehwag in the middle.

India meanwhile have raced to 160 in only 22 overs and Sehwag looks good for century. He's batting on 80 right now.

Recently on Well Pitched I did a post on when we may see the first double hundred in ODI cricket. Some commenters mentioned Sehwag as the someone who potentially could be the first to get there.

If he continues to bat the way he has today, he very well may be the first one there.

India look good to get to 400!

Score: 160-1 in 22 overs.

Over Numbers 23-24: Double Hundred

Here is the post: http://www.wellpitched.com/2008/06/double-hundreds-in-odi.html

It was Straight Point who mentioned Veeru and Naked Cricket did so too.

Sehwag hasn't scored a 100 in ODIs since March 2007 last year when he hit one against Bermuda in the World Cup. Strangely this is also Sehwag's 1st 50 in ODIs for over a year. His last one was 52 against an Africa XI in June 2007 - that was an official ODI.

And as I write that he's gone. Akmal holds on again and Wahab Riaz has his 2nd wicket. It was a very good ball that jagged back off the pitch and had Sehwag in trouble who was trying to guide it down to 3rd man.

Sehwag scored 89 of only 79 balls with 13 fours and a six.

That brings the debutant Yusuf Pathan to the crease. You can expect even more fireworks here.

Score: 177-2 in 24 overs.

Over Numbers 25-27.

The players are taking the 2nd drinks break in just the 27th over. India have surely turned the heat on out there.

Wahab Riaz is getting his first taste of real international cricket after turning out impressive performances against the minnows. He's picked up Sehwag and Gambhir but he's gone for 55 of only 7 overs.

Afridi has also been toyed with and he doesn't look like half the bowler he did the other night. But the Indians are the best players of spin and they even made Shane Watne look ordinary.

Yuvraj has just blasted his 1st 6 and Yusuf is getting his eye in. 400 is definitely on the cards.

Score: 196-2 in 27 overs

Over Numbers 28-30: The IPL Face Off

Finally IPL team mates came face to face for the first time in the game in the 28th over when Malik handed the ball to Sohail Tanvir with his Rajasthan team mate Yusuf Pathan at the crease.

Pathan pushed one into the covers for a single, defended one, and met the other 2 on his legs for huge LBW shouts which the umpire wasn't interested in.

Afridi got the debutant's wicket in the next over as Pathan holed out to long off.

Rohit Sharma, who played along side Afridi for the chargers, then saw off 3 deliveries from his team mate.

India has reached 200 in only 30 overs for the loss of 3 wickets. Many believe that a team should get double of what they are at the end of 30, so anything short of 400 would be disappointing.

Score: 200-3 in 30 overs.

Overs Number 31-38: Pakistan Crawl Back

The first instance of a player getting the wicket of an IPL team mate occurred in the 37th over when Afridi cleaned up Rohit Sharma. Sharma chopped the wrong one on to his stumps and walked back after scoring 9 of as many as 27 deliveries. That was test material. Nothing like his IPL hey days.

Pakistan have fought back well in the last 8 overs restricting India to only 37 runs in that period.

Rohit Sharma just couldn't get going and though Yuvraj smashed a 6 and a 4, for most of the period he was stranded on the non striker's end watching Sharma prod and drod.

Dhoni came to the crease at the fall of Sharma's wicket and he's now there with Yuvraj Singh.

400 looks out of reach now, but India still look good for 330+, which will be extremely difficult for Pakistan's fragile batting line up.

Score: 237-4 in 38 overs.

Over Number 39-42.5: Pakistan & Rains stop India

Pakistan continued the good work pegging Indian back further by picking up Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh in these 5 overs.

Dhoni was unlucky given out to Tanvir's full toss which was clearly going down the leg side. Pakistan got a lucky break there.

Yuvraj's stumps were disturbed by Umar Gul by a ball that came into Yuvraj at the last moment.

With the rains coming down India are currently halted at 270-6 in 42.5 overs, which is atleast 50 less than what they should have been with the way they were going earlier.

Overs Number 44-50

Pakistanis bowled way too many full tosses.

All of them went for either a 6 or a 4, while 1 of them even resulted in the bowler being pulled out of the attack.

The 300 came up in the 46th over, and Raina was looking extremely good as he carryied forward his impressive IPL display.

Tanvir bowled 3 meaningless deliveries when Wahab was hauled up by the umpires. Did you notice Malik point to his shoulder when Younis asked why he doesn't bowl?

Its ok if you're unfit to bowl but its definitely not ok if your team mates don't know about it.

I think this is it for me and my patience with Shoaib Malik the captain.

Umar Gul picked up Pathan and Raina in the penultimate over to finish with figures of 3-61 off 10 overs.

India ended on an exact 330-8 in 50 overs as Younis Khan bowled the best over of the innings giving away only 2 runs and a bye.

I've never seen Younis bowl medium pace before. I wonder why he doesn't do it more often. On a wicket where all bowlers went for 5-6 runs an over, Younis conceded only 2 and that too in the final over of the innings.

Maybe Ganguly type medium pace bowling can save Younis Khan's ODI career.

Afridi was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan with figures of 2-52 in 10.

Rao Iftikhar went wicketless in 10 overs conceding 63. Sohail Khan should have played instead.

Tanvir disappointed with a solitary non-wicket in 9.4 overs that went for 57.

Wahab Riaz was on the receiving end of some stick giving away a record 86 runs in 9.2 overs. Those are the most expensive figures by a Pakistani against an Indian break Ata Ur Rehmans 85 in 10 overs back in 1996.

Sehwag and Gambhir took the game away from Pakistan in the 1st half of the innings before Pakistan fought back in the latter half. India ended well though to reach a significant 330.

It seems to be way out of reach for Pakistan but this is cricket and stranger things have happened.

Bad fielding, indisciplined bowling, and dropped catches cost Pakistan. They have only themselves to blame - there is no excuse for giving away 39 extras, absolutely no excuse particularly when 29 of those are from wides and no balls.

India did well but it was really Pakistan doing really badly.

Up to the batting now and good-bye from me though.

I will do a post match round up tomorrow.

Pakistan comprehensively beat Bangladesh last night.

Nothing big about that. They did the same the last 5 times the 2 teams met in Pakistan a few months ago.

Last night was also Pakistan's 12th consecutive ODI victory, equalling South Africa's run of 2005. Australia sits on top of the list with 21 consecutive victories.

Considering that 11 of Pakistan's 12 victories have come against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, the unbeaten run doesn't mean much really.

The 1st one of those victories came against India though, the same team that Pakistan will face tomorrow in the 2nd match of the Kitply Cup.

It will be Pakistan's first real test in ODIs since boasting about this winning run against the minnows.

India recently won the CB Series Title in Australia and each one of India's 15-man squad is coming of a successful IPL campaign.

The Pakis are going to find it tough against a team in form.

They would need to be at their best and all the players that have performed against the minnows will have to show that they can do the same against the best.

Salman Butt and Mohammad Yousuf have been in tremendous form against the Zimbos and the Bongs.

Both showed the same touch last night scoring 70 and 59 respectively in quick time, and they will have to be at their best tomorrow if Pakistan is to challenge the Indians.

Shahid Afridi has been super with the ball. Against the Zimbos and the Bongs in Pakistan he picked up wickets in all the games he played in and that too at very economical terms.

Last night he was unplayable while spinning the ball sharply, bowling his googlies and flippers, and puzzling the Bengali batsmen.

He will have to be just as good with the ball if not better against Yuvraj, Dhoni, and company. If he fires with the bat, it will be a bonus.

I found it really funny when Aamir Sohail continued to praise Afridi's bowling and then went on to interview him after the match and showered all sorts of praise on him.

Its funny how he never thought about Afridi the bowler before. During his days as Chief Selector, Aamir Sohail used to talk about how Afridi should never play for Pakistan again.

The best name ever in cricket, Dollar Mahmud debuted for Bangladesh against Pakistan last night.

I recently posted on the kind of headlines he could make in coming months.

Here are the headlines of Dollar's performances from last night.

Dollar gets a duck.

The first post-IPL ODI is all set to get underway today when Pakistan takes on Bangladesh in Dhaka in the first of 4 matches in the KItPLy Cup.

Pakistan will take on India on Tuesday, followed by India vs Bangladesh on Thursday.

The top 2 teams will contest the final on Saturday.

The Kitply Cup is not much more than a warm up for the Asia Cup, which will be played in Pakistan later this month where these 3 teams will be joined by Sri Lanka, UAE, and Hong Kong.

Despite criticizing ODIs and calling for 20-20 cricket to replace the format in the future, I strangely find myself looking forward to the upcoming 50 over games this month.

Probably 45 days of 20-20 cricket followed by 2 weeks of test cricket has resulted in this rediscovering of love for the ODI game.

Maybe the 3 formats can actually co-exist.

It will be interesting to watch the likes of Gambhir, Sehwag, the Pathan brothers, Sohail Tanvir, Afridi, and Misbah after their IPL stints.

The match ups between players representing the same IPL franchises will also be intriguing.

• Afridi, Rohit Sharma and RP Singh played for the Chargers, as did Ojha.
• Misbah and Praveen Kumar played for RCB.
• Umar Gul and Ishant Sharma shared the new ball for the Riders. Butt played for them as well.
• Sohail Tanvir, Yusuf Pathan, Younis Khan, and Kamran Akmal were part of the Royal's successful IPL campaign.
• Virender Sehwag captained Pakistani skipper Malik in the Daredevils side which also included Gambhir.

Over the next month these guys will fight it out in 2 different tournaments, however this time representing their countries and playing against each other.

Jayasuriya, Muralitharan, Maharoof, Jayawardene, Sangakkara, Vaas, Dilshan - the Lankans who took part in the IPL will be added to the mix in 2 weeks time, and that will dish out more interesting battles.

• Yuvraj relied on Jayawardene and Sangakkara for marshalling the Kings XI. Irfan Pathan was there too as was Chawla and Sreesanth.
• Sehwag initially preferred Malik over Dilshan for the Daredevils and later dropped Malik for Dilshan.
• Vaas and RP Singh opened the bowling in a few matches for the Chargers.
• Murali was one of Dhoni's key bowling option for the Super Kings. In fact Dhoni used the Lankan spinner to dismiss both Jayawardene and Sangakkara during the IPL.
• Maharoof was the go-to man on more than one occasion for Sehwag's Daredevils.

Thats it isn't it. That's why I'm looking forward to the ODIs.

Just like it was exciting to see cricketers from different countries play together for the Daredevils, Chargers, Royals, and the Riders, it will now be interesting to watch them go against each other.

Does this then mean that the IPL has given a boost to the ODI game? Or am I the only one keenly awaiting these contests?

The following month will certainly prove or disprove my point, however I do feel that knowingly or unknowingly, the IPL has in fact provided that extra bit of interest in international matches.

Just the way it does in football when Manchester United's Ronaldo and Rooney fight it out during the Euro Cup or the World Cup. Pity that we won't be seeing that in Euro 2008 with England merely there as spectators!

Will the IPL actually save the ODI format or will it bury it the way majority of the cricket fraternity feels?

Lets hope the Dhaka rains stay away this week and we get some cricket.