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Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Yousuf may lead Pakistan in Dubai

Stylish middle order batsman Mohammad Yousuf is likely to captain Pakistan in the test matches once again in the upcoming series against South Africa.
 Veteran batsman called on Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ejaz Butt in Qaddafi Stadium on Monday and discussed the board’s plans of the upcoming series. The meeting lasted for about an hour.
 Sources told The Sports Encounter that Ejaz Butt believed that Mohammad Yousuf was the best available option to lead Pakistan cricket team in the test matches while Shahid Afridi is likely to remain first choice for captaincy in One Day Internationals and Twenty20s.
 Mohammad Yousuf has started training to improve his physical fitness with PCB trainer Saboor Ahmed. Yousuf had captained Pakistan team in the controversial tour of Australia last year where Pakistan failed to win even a single match in any format.
 Yousuf was widely criticised for his defensive approach and poor tactics during the tour of Australia and was banned by the PCB for indefinite period on the recommendations of inquiry committee.
 Yousuf announced his retirement from international cricket earlier this year but was recalled for third and fourth Npower test matches against England last month due to poor performance of Pakistan batting line up.

"I Should Have done Better in England" : Azhar Ali

25 year old Pakistan batsman Azhar Ali was ever-present during the Test series versus Australia and England during a difficult and at times controversial summer in England. Ali scored a total of 291 runs, at an average of 26.45, with a highest score of 92 not out, but he feels that he could have done a lot better during the summer in England.
"It would be wrong for me to say that I am entirely satisfied with my overall performance in the six tests in England. I could and should have done better. I tried my best, but some of the wickets and conditions were very difficult for batting", stated Azhar Ali in an exclusive conversation with PakPassion.net.
Ali's excellent 92 not out at the Oval laid the foundations for Pakistan's four wicket victory over the hosts. In an innings that lasted more than four hours and in which he faced 176 deliveries, Ali showed the kind of application and patience that have made him one of the most highly rated batsmen in Pakistani domestic cricket. Conditions at the Oval suited the Pakistani batting line-up, but in all other instances they found life difficult at the crease when facing accomplished bowling line-ups. As a result, most Pakistani batsmen struggled to master or even negotiate the bowling most of the time.
"Conditions were very tough, the overhead conditions and cloud cover made life hard for the batsmen. The pitches tended to be very bowler friendly and it was hard work for all of the batsmen out there in the middle" stated Ali.
The KRL right hander kept his place in the Test side throughout the tour and stated that he was delighted to have been given a chance to represent his country and that his senior colleagues in the squad made him very welcome and offered him useful advice as he made his debut at Lord's.
"It was great to be making my debut at Lord's and all of the experienced boys in the squad were there to guide me and offer me advice. The guys around me told me to treat it like it was a first class match, to try to play my natural game, not to get too uptight and nervous and not to try anything too extravagant and to look at it as if it's just another game of cricket".
Ali's 92 at the Oval was the joint highest score by a Pakistani during the tour of England and his partnerships at the South London stadium with Mohammad Yousuf and Umar Akmal of 69 and 57 respectively were amongst the batting high points for Pakistani fans, in a summer where the bowlers tended to dominate. Ali praised Yousuf for his guidance and advice in their partnership and he felt that Yousuf's words were the key to his solid innings.
"It wasn't just Yousuf's advice in the middle that helped me, but it was his praise off the pitch that also boosted my confidence. When he (Yousuf) met up with the squad, he said to me that I was batting well, that conditions were tough and that as a batsman in these conditions it was imperative that you battle hard and don't give the bowlers any easy wickets. Yousuf has an air of confidence and calmness about him that rubs off on all those in the middle with him".
Whilst Pakistan earned their solitary Test victory over England at the Oval, Azhar missed out on his first century by 8 runs when Pakistan had a middle order collapse losing 4 wickets for 34 runs, before Azhar and Asif shared in a crucial last wicket partnership of 38 runs.
"Yes there will always be a small degree of disappointment at not making a century, but I was more than happy with scoring 92 and especially given that Pakistan won the match. The way I look at it is that we built a lead of 75 runs in the first innings and then when we were all out, we managed to take the wicket of Strauss in the short time that was available on day 2. Who knows how things may have turned out if we hadn't picked up that important wicket towards the end of the second day."
In an extremely difficult tour for the Pakistani batsmen, Azhar showed some glimpses of promise. Both half centuries that he made were in the the course of Pakistan victories and he feels that the tour of England will do him no harm regarding his learning curve and development as a batsman.
"I have made some mistakes and it's up to me to learn from those mistakes, take notice of the errors that I made when batting and to ensure that those errors don't reoccur. Concentration and patience are two key lessons for me from both series. I've realised how important it is at this level to concentrate on every single moment out there, one lapse in concentration and your innings can be over. Patience is another aspect of my game that I can address after this summer, as I realise the importance of playing long innings in test cricket. The advantage for me is that I have debuted on tough wickets and hopefully going forward when I get the chance to bat on more batsmen friendly wickets, I can utilise my experience in England to ensure that I score heavily on the batting friendly tracks."
Highs and lows for the Pakistan team have been in abundance throughout the tour of England but from a personal perspective Ali felt that the two Test victories were a fantastic achievement for a young team and he was delighted to have contributed towards the wins.
"Both victories at Headingley and the Oval were fantastic. The results were superb and scoring half centuries in both matches was very satisfying. I was really pleased that I contributed in a way to both victories. The low point of the summer for me was the second test at Edgbaston against England. The second innings dismissal where I went to drive a delivery from Swann. It was a shot that I shouldn't have played and wasn't necessary at the time, especially given that I had laid the foundations for a big innings."
Ali whilst being a member of the squad, did not get the call-up for the one day internationals and Twenty20 matches against England; however he will have a keen eye on the upcoming series against South Africa in the UAE, where he will hope that the selectors continue to show faith in him.

Appoint Younus as Pakistan Test captain: Zaheer

 Former captain Zaheer Abbas has urged the Pakistan Cricket Board to immediately appoint senior batsman Younus Khan as the captain of the Test team for the forthcoming series against South Africa. MORE....

Afridi, Faisal to lead Karachi teams in T20 Cup

Karachi—Pakistan one-day captain Shahid Afridi and Test batsman Faisal Iqbal have been named to lead the two Karachi teams in Faysal Bank Twenty20 Cricket Championship being played at Lahore from October 10.
Teams were named after a meeting of KCCA Selection Committee held former Test paceman Jalaluddin with ex-Test batsman Basit Ali and first class cricketer Zafar Ahmed as members at KCCA Office on Monday.
Shahid Afridi will lead the star-studded Karachi Dolphins and Faisl Iqbal will be the Captain of Karachi Zebras.
Sadiq Muhammad(coach) Muhammad Ahmed Naqvi (manager) are officials of the team.—APP

Mohammed Asif hoping for luck

Suspended Pak bowler Mohammad Asif is hoping that his marriage with Sana Hilal on Thursday will change his life and bring him luck and success. asif, who is one of the three Pakistani cricketers suspended by the International Cricket Council for alleged spot fixing during the Lord's Test against England, will marry Sana, a girl chosen by his parents on Thursday.
The pacer and Sana had entered into Nikah few months back but the formal marriage ceremony (Rukhsati) could not take place due to Asif's commitments with the Pakistan team.
"I had postponed the marriage because of the busy schedule of the team but now I am formally going to bring my wife home and I a confident this new phase of my life will be for the best," Asif told Geo News channel.
Asif had entered into Nikah with Sana soon after ending a long affair with actress and model Veena Malik, who has now accused him of match-fixing and claimed he has links with an Indian bookmaker.
Asif said he had invited fellow cricketers, many former greats and leading personalities for his Valima on Friday in Lahore. The pace bowler has been dogged by controversies since the last four years.
In 2006 he was suspended for testing positive in a dope test before the Champions Trophy in India. In 2007 he got into a brawl with fellow pacer Shoaib Akhtar in South Africa and in 2008 he was banned for one year for again failing a dope test in the Indian Premier League.
In 2008, he also spent 19-days in detention in Dubai while returning from India for possession of small quantity of marijuana but was released without charge.
"He has had a hectic lifestyle and hopefully he will now settle down in life after his marriage," Zahid, his close friend, said. Zahid played a big role in mediating a settlement between Asif and Veena Malik last year after the latter filed a case for recovery of over 13 million rupees from the pace bowler

PCB chief Butt to return to London to consult lawyers

KARACHI (Reuters) - Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt will arrive in London on Tuesday to consult his legal advisers about replying to English demands that he apologise over allegations about match-fixing.

Butt would also meet Scotland Yard officials to discuss the spot-fixing accusations against three Pakistan players which overshadowed the team's recent tour, official sources in the PCB said on Monday.
Butt and PCB legal adviser Tafazzul Rizvi would attend meetings in London this week, the sources said.
"They will meet with the legal firm they have hired in London to finalise the reply to be sent to the English players and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)," one source said.
England's players, through the ECB, have demanded an apology from Butt after he told a television station he had heard from bookmakers that English players were involved in fixing matches.
The ECB threatened legal action unless Butt apologised.
Butt's comments came after the International Cricket Council (ICC) said it was launching an inquiry into Pakistan's scoring pattern in the third one-day international against England at the Oval.
Pakistan's test captain Salman Butt and his team mates Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif had already been suspended after an investigation into a newspaper report that they had arranged for no-balls to be deliberately delivered during the fourth test at Lord's in late August.
The PCB source said Butt and Rizvi would meet British police to find out what was happening.   Continued...

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