Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Pakistan must remove players' insecurity - Razzaq
Shortly after playing the "greatest innings" of his career, Pakistan allrounder Abdul Razzaq has urged the team management and administration to work towards removing the uncertainty players feel over their place in the team because such an atmosphere is counterproductive to Pakistan's success. Razzaq, who blitzed 109 off 72 balls to wrench the second ODI from South Africa's grasp in Abu Dhabi, said he too felt insecure about his spot in the side and that Pakistan had failed to maximise his potential over the years.
"I always play the match as if it is my last," Razzaq said. "If players have this constant fear hanging over them that they will fail and then be dropped then they will never be able to perform properly.
Even I felt that if I didn't do anything in this game I would be dropped.
This threat has to be removed from the team because it is not productive.
"Those guys who don't perform for a couple of matches, they shouldn't be dropped so quickly.
They need to be encouraged and their morale needs to be boosted." Razzaq launched his breathtaking assault against South Africa from No.
7 in the line-up, a position at which he's batted 81 times in his 245-ODI career.
The remainder of his innings, however, has been spread over every position, from opener to No.
11.
He's also not been a regular member of the ODI side, despite his match-turning potential, and was exiled for two years for his association with the unofficial Indian Cricket League.
"I think my talent has not been properly utilised both in batting and bowling, especially, my batting spot has never been permanent," Razzaq said. "I don't think I have been utilised properly over the last five or six years as a batsman." Sunday's performance against South Africa was Razzaq's first fifty-plus score in over four years and his first century since September 2004.
It was the third time in 2010, however, that Razzaq pulled off victory for Pakistan.
In the previous two instances, he scored 46 off 18 balls in a Twenty20 international against England in Dubai, and 44 off 20 balls in an ODI at Lord's. Razzaq hoped his century against South Africa would lift Pakistan cricket, which is reeling from spot-fixing allegations and poor on-field performances.
"Every time there is a controversy or we lose one or two matches, people start to write us off, which is wrong," Razzaq said.
"I would request the fans to please keep faith in us so that we can lift ourselves." The ODI series between Pakistan and South Africa is level at 1-1 ahead of the third match on Tuesday in Dubai
PCB chief Butt says Test batsmen who need coaching don't deserve to be selected
Butt's comment comes after PCB's Governing Council met on Monday to decide if a batting coach was needed for the team or not.
"When a player (batsman) comes to Test cricket ... if he needs coaching he should not have been selected," the Daily Times quoted Butt, as saying.
A source however had claimed that PCB Chief Operating Officer Wasim Bari had already been given the task of negotiating with some prospective candidates, and he had spoken to some foreign and local candidates.
It is believed that the board is concerned with the lack of batting consistency in the national team with the 2011 World Cup also around the corner.
Butt further said that the suspended trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir would not be included in PCB's 30-man list of probable players for next year's World Cup.
The list would be sent to the International Cricket Council (ICC) by November 30.
"If they get exonerated then we can (ask) permission from the ICC to include them. Suspended players could not be included, that is very loud and clear," Butt said.
The trio was suspended in September after a British tabloid alleged that they were involved in 'spot-fixing' the Lord's Test against England in August.
The players had appealed against the suspensions, but an ICC's code of conduct commission, headed by Michael Beloff, rejected it after a two-day hearing in Dubai on Sunday.
The innocence or guilt of the players will now be judged at an independent tribunal, the date of which has yet to be set.
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Monday, November 1, 2010
The mad scientist
Fabtastic!Stupendiforous!
Supranormous!
There are not enough adjectives in the English language to describe Abdul Razzaq’s simply epic innings yesterday and, frankly, the ones available don’t do it any justice. So I just decided to make up my own. Why should we be bound to conventional rules and limitations when recalling an innings so unconventional in its construction and so limitless in its brilliance.
When Razzaq walked out onto the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, at least half the television sets tuned into the match must have been switched off. His entrance came at the cost of Shahid Afridi, who had seemed like the last hope of salvaging any semblance of pride in this game. Indeed, Afridi’s knock was spectacular within its own scale and you couldn’t help but believe that as long as he was alive the impossible was just about attainable.
But, as is always the case with Shahid, his brand of madness is more vulnerable to implosion than the calculated, introspective psychosis Razzaq brings to the table. Both dare to dream. Both are megalomaniacal in their ambitions. Both possess that unique spark of creativity reserved only for some, which make us – the viewer – believe that they are capable of the unimaginable. And yesterday Razzaq’s spark burned with the intensity of a nuclear furnace to incinerate the South African challenge, ball by ball, over by over.Until the 47th over, bowled by Charl Langeveldt, there had been no impatient dash to the finish line, as is more characteristic of an Afridi innings. Even during that key over, there seemed a kind of logic at work during the carnage. As if now Razzaq had decided that, with the asking rate hovering above 13 per over and with the cushion of three wickets in hand, this was the time to cash in to ensure the asking rate at the end would not reach overwhelming proportions. The challenge was so great, however, that despite a mammoth 47th over Razzaq still left himself with 14 to get in the final six with the last wicket. Hardly a manageable task. But the Razzler was up to it.
Up till the 47th over, it was an innings at odds with the script of the game, the expectations of all rational viewers and with history itself. As Osman Samiuddin rightly observed, only after Razzaq smoked his last six was it possible to come to terms with the likelihood of victory. Our history of chasing South African scores is insipid, with our best “effort” being the overtaking of 223 back in the mid-90s. This oppressive history seemed destined to persist as our innings unfolded predictably with the loss of top-order wickets and our middle order’s inability to provide any acceleration. Any hope or belief we had was used up by Afridi who inspired us to place our faith in him but dumped our expectations in that all too familiar graveyard at long-on. Even the first three quarters of Razzaq’s innings seemed gloriously futile as he was always facing a mounting run-rate and the steady disintegration of support. At times you felt the innings was more ornamental than definitive as the violence seemed too measured to truly amount to anything.But then we don’t have the benefit of being in Razzaq’s head when he orchestrates a masterpiece such as this. The greatest virtue of madness is that its “victims” can see infinite patterns and outcomes in scenarios where others simply see the finite and the orthodox. Where you and I would be unable to let our consciousness transcend worldly limitations, a Beethoven could compose a moonlight sonata or 5th Symphony and an Isaac Newton could formulate the laws of motion and theorize universal gravitation.
And an Abdul Razzaq could calmly see before him the route to victory whereas others could only conceive defeat.
Entire overs would go by without as much as a boundary. He would get beaten. Poke a single. Defend carefully. And then abruptly blitz a six or four with the comfort of one toying with children. There was a special kind of methodology behind it, one undecipherable to our limited consciousness. Was it confidence? That’s too simple an explanation. Razzaq was operating on a different plane of existence altogether. He surveyed the competing variables at work around him and it all made sense to him. He distilled the match into an elegant formula:
“If they allow me to free my arms, I’m going to kill it.”And so he did.
The last over was never a problem for Razzaq. By then he had supreme conviction in this formula. Once he got bat on ball he was assured of the desired result. You see, that’s why his face is so puzzlingly emotionless. It all seems so simple and logical to him. No edges. No mishits. No leg-byes or glances. Just outright, ludicrously effective power hitting wherever and whenever he wanted it.
We’ll never be able to understand it or predict its next occurrence. The best we can do is to remember it fondly.
It was insane. It was inspirational. It was sensational.It was “insational”!
Loving Abdul Razzaq
I can see why people love him, he hits a big six, and seems to play cricket with almost no effort. But for me, it’s the little details of Razzaq that I enjoy.
I love Pakistani cricketers because they way often play cricket with every emotion they have. It’s like an audition for the school play. Razzaq is different. Even after he hits a big six his pulse never seems to register an increase. Nothing seems to please him while the cricket is on. Although, nothing really displeases him either. It’s a steady emotion of almost nothingness.
For instance, batsmen have many different ways of looking at their own sixes. Eoin Morgan gives the ball an angry stare. Cameron White looks uncomfortable. Shane Watson can’t decide whether to hold the pose or smile. And Jesse Ryder smirks. Razzaq seems uninterested in them. Almost like someone else has hit them. He takes his gloves off, has a chat with the non-striker, and keeps the same face on. It’s a beautiful habit.
On a good day, he might give you a cheeky half-smile, or a touch of frown. On his normal days he just cements a perfect semi-grimace on his face. The difference between his smile and his frown is so small that sometimes getting a wicket doesn’t change it enough to be noticeable. It’s always a subtle performance from his face, and one I loved to watch for.
His posture should be mentioned as well – straighter than a Mississippi preacher. His bowling action can be performed with a book on his head. Possibly because of this stiff action he gets almost no pace. Well, that and the fact he is probably 50 by now. It’s almost camp, a stiff-backed prance with a high arm and relaxed pace. Almost beyond parody.
Yesterday he was at his brutal best. Where his grimace sort of becomes his cold-blooded assassin look. Just swiping the ball away, and never letting the emotion of the crowd or his team mates get him. In fact, the more the crowd got excited, the more he seemed worried with the strapping on his glove.
Razzaq would be the perfect assassin in some European film. Getting the job done, not letting the moment get to him, staying cool, and ensuring his weapons were ready for the next job. Graceful and suave, although not big on dialogue. A stunning performance. I gave it five stars.
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