I believe Shahid Afridi made Saleem Jaffar's job easier after he stroked a 36 ball 59 in an effort to chase the target that Federal Areas set for Sindh on the final day of their Pentangular Cup match.

Federal Areas declared their 2nd innings on 411-3, setting Sindh an unlikely 367 to get in 50 overs.

Sindh's innings started off well with Khalid Latif and Khurram Manzoor giving them a fiery start but 2 quick wicket pegged them back.

Afridi, the Sindh captain, found the perfect time to come back into some form as he shared a 116 run partnership for the 4th wicket with Khalid as the two tried to up the tempo.

However, once Afridi left after smashing 6 boundaries and 2 sixes, the target seemed out of reach and Sindh ended the day on 247-4.

Jaffar would have been pleased with Afridi's performance as well as that of the other players on his Watch Monitor.

He should be thinking on these lines:

Umar Gul [21(15), 6-39 & 1-32]: He seems fit enough. We need to put him on a training program with the proper diets and excercises. Mental Note: take a leaf out of Shane Watson's book.

Sohail Tanvir [45(74), 5-100 & 1-23]: Why did I put him on a watch again? He has no fitness issues. His form has always been good. He needs to be disciplined thought. Mental note: Keep away from Shoaib Akhtar and Shane Warne.

Shoaib Akhtar [18(26), 2-43 & 1-51]: He seems fit but he got hit around by 20 year olds. He is past his prime. We should not burden ourselves with him anymore. Mental Note: No future.

Shahid Afridi [17(21) & 59(36), 1-55 & 0-96]: I should tell him that I was wrong asking for him to improve his batting form. He should continue concentrating on his bowling. Mental Note: Improve batting but not at the expense of bowling.

Faisal Iqbal [32(75) & 19(47)]: I wonder when he'll achieve his potential. Mental Note: Watching him only for Javed bhai.

This is what I think he should be thinking but he very well could be thinking that Gul and Tanvir need to improve their form and fitness because they are always under par in international matches and that Shoaib is their biggest fast bowling hope and that Afridi should have won that match instead of throwing his wicket away for 59 and that Faisal is Pakistan's middle order future!!

Think again Jaffar sahab!

The RBS Pentangular Cup started 2 days ago with the defending champions Sindh taking on Federal Areas and NWFP taking on Baluchistan.

Saleem Jaffar, the chief selector, has stated that he and his selectors are going to closely monitor the performance and fitness of some players during the Pentangular.

Based on their assessment they will then select a squad for next month's ODI series against the West Indies in Abu Dhabi.

Out of the players being closely watched, one is Faisal Iqbal.

Why exactly?

Another is Shoaib Akhtar.

Understandably so.

Shoaib bowled 9 overs during day yesterday. He took 4 spells to bowl those 9 overs. Sohail Tanvir bowled 20 during the same time, and Rao 19!

Saleem Jaffar who was present at the ground said "He is just lacking in stamina".

You gotta be kidding me man!!

Shoaib has been lacking in stamina for the past decade! Thats been his only problem.

Thats our chief selector and thats what he concludes after "CLOSELY MONITORING" a performance?

The Pentangular Cup match between the 2 table toppers, Sindh and Federal Areas (FA), ended in dramatic fashion with FA scraping home with only a solitary wicket in hand, after Sindh skipper Shahid Afridi had sportingly declared the 2nd innings to give FA a target of 322 of 85 overs.

Taking 9 points from their win, FA displaced Sindh from the top of the standings.

Sohail Khan, who has wrecked havoc with the ball this season, picked up yet another 5 wicket haul, while Danish Kaneria and Afridi picked up 2 each to restricts FA to 295 in the first innings. Earlier Sindh had been dismissed for 222.

In response, the Pakistan prospects who had thus far failed to impress during the Pentangular, took the responsibility to guide Sindh to a high total in the 2nd innings. Openers Khurram Manzoor (73) and Khalid Latif (74) shared 119 run partnership, and then Faisal Iqbal knocked a fine century remaining unbeaten on 105 when Afridi declared the innings on 394-4 to give FA a target of 322.

FA were cruising at 174-2 when Afridi struck for the first time with his leg breaks. Afridi struck 4 more times in quick succession and FA were looking down the barrel at 262-7, but FA's tail wagged and an 8th wicket partnership of 37 and an unbroken last wicket parntership of 13 led them to an unlikely victory over the favorites.

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.