Controversies surrounding Pakistan team

The Pakistan Cricket Board has been struck with a lot of controversies and the cricket in the region has been bruised. Whether it is the board or the players, everyone is under fire either by the media or the International Cricket Council.

Due to all the things happening to Pakistan cricket, the image of the team is badly hurt and there is no International Cricket being played in the country. The World Cup is nearing and there are players who have been under the scanner of the ICC for a long time. If the time runs out, these players will not be able to make it to the final squad for the World Cup 2011. There have been issues like spot fixing, threats to players, biased selection and many more.

The Pakistan national team was in need of a leader who could develop a team for the 2011 World cup and in 2009, the captaincy role was handed over to Younis Khan who was believed by many including Imran Khan to be the right man for this job. In his leadership, the team won the Twenty20 World cup surprising many critics and it seemed that Pakistan would head to the right direction from that point.

Things were not as simple as they appeared to be. Pakistan lost to New Zealand in the semi-final of the ICC Champions trophy and was all of a sudden attacked by the media. Younis Khan was alleged to be involved in match-fixing and the team also had a rebel over the captaincy issues with Younis Khan. However, Younis resigned from captaincy and asked for rest leaving the captaincy to Mohammad Yousaf.

Things went from bad to worse once Pakistan visited Australia and lost all the matches played there. This time the PCB decided to take some serious action against the players and banned Yousuf, Younis, Shoaib Malik and Rana Naveed from the team. Some other players were also handed heavy fines and the team was all set to make a fresh start in England against Australia and England.

The drama continued when Shahid Afridi, the captain for all three formats resigned from captaincy and left the team after the very first Test match against Australia. Salman Butt was the man given charge of a new side and he started off exceptionally with a surprise win against Australia in the second Test match. After that Pakistan had to play England and during the Test matches a few of the players were allegedly involved in spot-fixing. Some evidence was also provided against the players including Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir, Kamran Akmal and Wahab Riaz.

Recently, the reserve wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider who was a part of the team in the UAE series left the team during the one day series claiming that he had been receiving life threats. He is currently in England and his family has also confirmed the threats given to them by some strangers.

Pakistan Cricket Board has announced a squad for the final series they will play against New Zealand before the World cup and the team does not include the trio of Asif, Amir and Salman Butt who are most likely to miss the World Cup. The ICC has also not given clearance to Kamran Akmal and Danish Kaneria for selection due to their alleged involvement in match-fixing.

The PCB and the national team have been hit by many controversies in the last year and a half and the national team will have to do wonders to do well at the World Cup 2011.

Pakistan is known to be a country with exceptional talent and have produced world class cricketers throughout. If it can avoid any further controversies before the mega event, they will be in a better condition both mentally and physically to win the title.

A new twist in the world of Haiders- Haider who?

The Ashes are everywhere. The historic clash between cricketing rivals Australia and England is the word on everyone’s lips. Even people living far away from the game are finding themselves to be following the game one way or the other.

Just recently an American babysitter got a free ticket to Australia to watch the game by Qantas Airways and Vodafone, the official Ashes sponsor. The “I am not a freaking cricket match” fame woman, who knows nothing about the game is now getting bashed by people for her accidental fame and at the same time currently has 9,028 fans that are following her tweets as she learns about the game.

The English Barmy Army and the Aussie supporters are heading towards Adelaide for the second Test match and the world has also set their eyes on the most anticipated games ever-and this is exactly how the cricket world is enveloped by the Ashes.

But as the media take their time in bashing Ricky Ponting and hailing Alastair Cook or analyzing about the teams prospects for the series, the Pakistan cricket is relatively silent for a couple of days.

It’s been almost a month since the last controversy stirred the country’s cricket. Days have gone by yet the aspiring are devoid of any inspiration to write something on their blogs. The many local channels poking fun on the Pakistani players, hit a surging low in ratings due to the lack of stories that could have lead to hilarious spin offs. The WikiLeaks documents have rocked the foundation of diplomatic relations yet the cricket world does not have anything to talk about other than the flat pitches that can been seen all around resulting in stalemate Test matches.

So how can Zulqarnain Haider sit around somewhere in the United Kingdom ever so comfortably? Who Zulqarnain Haider, you might ask? See this is what the writer means, the lack of any controversy has now made people forgot about run-away Pakistani wicket keeper. Did it ring some bells now? Well maybe not.

Zulqarnain Haider was (he retired) the very infamous Pakistan’s wicket keeper who had the potential to achieve greater heights in the team managed to slip away from Dubai right under the nose of his team who were sleeping blissfully dreaming of Angelina Jolie and Megan Fox.

The ‘dreaded’ morning was the day when Pakistan and South Africa were vying to win the One Day series in Dubai. The very cunning Zulqarnain had no visa but safely landed at Heathrow Airport, went into the questioning routine with the immigration people and managed to enter the largest metropolitan city of the U.K.

In between everything he had the time to update his Facebook status to tell the world in the most random English ever that he and his family has been receiving death threats as he refused to “fix” the South African matches (he himself was not sure who the threatening people were and what matches they wanted to get fixed). He received a lot of attention by his run away antic including some sympathies from the international media whereas he was shunned by political powers and current/former players.

So well eventually the hue and cry about Zulqarnain ended without the ICC or the PCB doing anything about the potential whistleblower. Oh wait the PCB did something a day ago- they submitted a report on his dramatic escape. Maybe they submitted this to a Bollywood hot-shot director for a movie project.

One must ponder on the fact that what actually does he want? He has repeatedly denied for “asylum” while saying he decided to leave as his family was in danger and did not trust anyone in the Pakistani board or the management. So while he enjoys the cold breeze in London as he drinks hot coffee and updates his family and the world via Facebook-what would he ever do without Mark Zuckerberg- his other half took matter into her own hands.

Iqra Haider called on a local channel and said that she wants to join her husband in London as she received anonymous threatening calls. She said that her two young children are not safe in Pakistan as the callers threatened to kill them if her husband decided to name all those involved in the corrupted scam. She really does miss her husband, doesn’t she?

Pakistan's Akhtar should be a drawcard in NZ

Just what New Zealand Cricket didn't need.

Fresh names of Pakistan players allegedly involved in spot-fixing have been aired on Pakistani TV news channel Geo just a couple of weeks before world cricket's bad boys head to New Zealand.

Previously unseen video footage of Mazhar Majeed, the player agent allegedly at the centre of the spot-fixing scandal, was shown in Pakistan yesterday in which he takes the names of four more players who, he claims, work with him.

The footage takes place in Majeed's house, where he is talking to a reporter with a hidden camera who asks him about the players who work with him.

"I'll tell you who we've got then. We've got Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif, Salman Butt, Wahab Riaz ... that's six, yeah? Imran Farhat ... that's seven out of 11 players," Majeed says.

According to the Cricinfo report, Majeed goes on to explain how he targets younger players in particular.

"It's long-term thinking. These boys are going to be around for years and I've got the best boys."

Senior players such as Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq and Saeed Ajmal, he says, do not interest him because they only have a few years left. Ajmal, he says, is "too religious".

If Pakistan are still your cup of tea, there were a couple of lumps of sugar thrown in with the announcement of their team to tour New Zealand.

First is the inclusion of Shoaib Akhtar in their Twenty20 squad and second is the naming of another Akmal brother for both the Twenty20 and two test series.

Akhtar's involvement will be celebrated by New Zealand Cricket, as they now have a name to pin their promotion on.

But the country's top batsmen might not be so happy because the 35-year-old still has a quick delivery up his sleeve in between all the sideshows that occur when he has the ball in hand.

Akhtar still hit good speeds over the winter when playing for Pakistan in England even if the mantle of world's fastest bowler is now shared between South Africa's Dale Steyn and maybe Kemar Roach from the West Indies.

Two Akmals are coming to New Zealand, Umar and the middle brother Adnan, who keeps wickets and played two recent tests against South Africa.

Afridi will lead the Twenty20 team while Misbah-ul-Haq was retained as test captain.

Pakistan begins the international side of their tour with the first of three Twenty20 matches at Eden Park on Boxing Day. They play two tests – Hamilton and Wellington – and six one-day internationals. A separate one-day squad will be announced later.

Will Pakistan have a team for WC 2011?

Former Pakistan wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider, who fled to London midway through the recent series against South Africa, has promised to reveal more names involved in match-fixing, while bookie Mazhar Majeed, who was caught in a sting operation by The News of the World that led to the suspension of three players, has said that there were four more players guilty of spot-fixing. Another couple of names at this moment and Pakistan will be left without any of its first strength team players and there will be a serious question mark on whether it will even be able to field a team in the forthcoming 2011 Cricket World Cup.

Many have opined that if players are axed during a cleaning up process, younger players will take charge and deliver the goods for Pakistan. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case either

Pakistan's Geo TV, apart from reporting Majeed's disclosure of four more names involved in match-fixing, also put out a report on Tuesday where doubts have been expressed over the Pakistan vs Afghanistan match in the recently-conluded Asian Games.

Afghanistan beat Pakistan in the semi-final to set up a clash with Bangladesh in the final of the T20 event that made its Asian Games debut in China.

After the semi-final match, Pakistan wicketkeeper Naeem Anjum was dropped for the bronze medal match against Sri Lanka.

Geo TV reported that in a letter sent to the Pakistan Cricket Board, it has been alleged that captain Khalid Lateef deliberately did not bat as per the required run rate, while Azeem Ghumman missed many deliveries.

The Pakistan trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif have already been suspended by the PCB and the ICC for being involved in spot-fixing during the tour of England this summer.

On Tuesday, it was reported that Majeed had revealed that Kamran and Umar Akmal, Wahab Riaz and Imran Farhat were also involved.

If the charges are proved against these four players and the PCB and the ICC take the same action against them as they have against the trio, seven of Pakistan's first eleven will be unavailable for selection for the World Cup.

Majeed has categorically denied the involvement of only four Pakistani players who were on the tour of England - ODI skipper Shahid Afridi, former captain Younis Khan, all-rounder Abdul Razzaq and off-spinner Saeed Ajmal.

So while Pakistan may not have to look for a new skipper ahead of the World Cup, they're facing the ominous task of getting a team for their skipper to lead out in to the middle.

Farhat decides to sue bookie Majeed

Islamabad: Pakistani opener Imran Farhat has decided to serve a legal notice on Mazhar Majeed, the London-based Pakistani bookmaker, who has in another video named four more players as being involved in spot-fixing.

Farhat, one of the four named by Majeed in the video shown on Geo News channel on Tuesday, said he was appalled by the bookmaker's claims.

"I just don't know what to say; neither is he my agent nor have I ever been involved in such things," Farhat said.

The left-handed opener was named along with Umar Akmal, Wahab Riaz and Kamran Akmal by Majeed as the players who work for him.

The three others - Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamir and Mohammad Asif - have been already suspended by the International Cricket Council after Majeed in an earlier video in August claimed they had taken bribes to do spot-fixing in the fourth Test against England at Lords.

"His claims have really upset me because I have always played clean cricket. I am suing him for an apology and damages and also to clear my reputation," Farhat said.

Farhat said he had a reputation in international cricket being a Pakistan player and Majeed with his unsubstantiated claims had basically indulged in character assassination.

"I will not stand for this. I don't know about the others but I have decided to sue him and I am consulting my lawyers," Farhat said.

The Pakistan Cricket Board on Wednesday refused to comment on the new video footage of Mazhar Majeed while legal advisor Tafazzul Rizvi also declined to make any comment.

The national selectors on Tuesday dropped Farhat for the tour to New Zealand and the opener said that he was disappointed but would continue to perform in domestic cricket and try to win back his place in the side.

Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal also slammed Majeed for his claims.

"He was just our agent and I don't know why he is making these claims. If he is involved in bookmaking, I don't know anything about that," Akmal said

Kamran upset by his exclusion for NZ Tour

Karachi: Ignored by the selectors for the New Zealand Tour, Pakistan stumper-batsman Kamran Akmal has claimed that he had got clearance from the International Cricket Council (ICC) to play anywhere.

Selectors on Tuesday dropped senior batsman Mohammed Yousuf and ignored Kamran and Shoaib Malik for the initial Twenty20 and Test series against New Zealand

There are doubts if Kamran has links with bookmakers and the PCB's decision is linked to that, the sources had revealed.

Alleged bookmaker Mazar Majeed has also claimed that seven Pakistani players, including Kamran, were hand in golve with him in spot fixing.

Kamran is not pleased by the decision of the selectors but has not lost hope on making the World Cup squad.

"I am disheartened but certainly have not given up hope of coming back to the team," Kamran told PTI.

Referring to a statement by chief selector Mohsin Khan that he was not picked for the tour because the Pakistan cricket Board did not clear his name, Kamran said he was not unaware about that.

"All I know and can say in response to these media reports about my not getting clearance that I got a clearance letter from the ICC and I have handed it over to the PCB," he said.

Sources though said the clearance letter, however, pertained to inquiry held by the ICC anti-corruption unit into the T20 World Cup earlier this year in the West Indies .

He said he was still targeting a place in the 2011 World Cup.

"I have always given my best for Pakistan and even if I have to just play as a specialist batsman and not as a wicketkeeper I am ready for this challenge. If they don't want me as a keeper I think they should consider me as a specialist batsman and my records says a lot about this," he said.

Asked if he felt that claims by Mazhar Majeed, who acted as an agent for Pakistani players but is now suspected to be involved in spot-fixing, had influenced his selection, Kamran said that he knew Mazhar only as a agent.

"He and his brother were agents for not just me but other players as well and we know him just as an agent and there is nothing more to our ties with him. What he claims is his business but I want to make it clear that I have always given my 100 percent for Pakistan," he said.

The wicketkeeper whose two other brothers, Umar and Adnan have, however, been included in the squads for the New Zealand tour said he would welcome any investigation by the PCB.

"I am disheartened but not broken. I see this as a decision taken by the PCB and selectors in which right now I don't fit into scheme of things. But I know I can come back because I am working hard," Kamran said.

Lahore police arrest suspect in Sri Lankan cricket team attack

LAHORE --the Lahore police November 29 arrested Qari Abdul Wahab, a suspect in the March 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.

The suspect is also known as Umar alias Farhan, alias Behram, alias Umar Daraz, Express Tribune reported November 30, quoting police sources.

Police identified the suspect with the help of video of the attack.police told media the suspect is from Dara Ismail Khan and was a member of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Amjad Farooqi group. He also participated in planning attacks on Ahmadi worship places, police said.

Miandad not ready to work under Waqar

Pakistan Cricket Board's decision to appoint former Test captain Javed Miandad as batting and fielding consultant with the national team has run into trouble.

The reason is Miandad is not willing to accept the terms and conditions of his contract as batting consultant.

The PCB recently made an offer to Miandad to take over as batting and fielding consultant of the Pakistan cricket team on the upcoming tour to New Zealand. But in the offer letter, the board made it clear to Miandad, who is also the director general cricket in the PCB that he would work under the supervision of head coach, Waqar Younis.

Sources close to Miandad said that in the offer letter, the former great was told that he would have to work under Waqar and get his approval before working with any player.

"Miandad has been told that he would be answerable to Waqar and would have to share his ideas and concepts with him and get his approval. Miandad has also been told that he would have no role at all in the selection of teams," the source said.

He said that Miandad given his seniority (124 Tests) and position in the board was obviously not willing to accept the terms and conditions of the board.

"Waqar has played under Miandad when he was captain and coach and it was Miandad who groomed him in his early days in international cricket. Clearly it is illogical for the board to expect Miandad to accept such conditions," the source added.

The source also said that Miandad had sent a letter to the board today in which he had made it clear that he was only answerable to the Chairman of the PCB and not to anyone else.

When contacted, the former captain only said that he was not available to accompany the team to New Zealand because of his commitments.

"I can't do full time coaching but I am available to help the players when the training camp begins in Lahore next week," he said.

He declined to comment on the offer made to him by the board and its terms and conditions.

Sources had also confirmed that Pakistan manager, Intikhab Alam was also not very keen to have Miandad as part of the coaching staff on tour.