Pakistan team manager Intikhab Indian!

Intikhab Alam was in for a rude shock when the voice recorder of his mobile phone in New Zealand attributed him to be an Indian.

The Pakistani media and others were stunned when they called Intikhab in New Zealand after the voice recorder of his phone kept on saying that the manager of the Indian team was not available at the moment and will try to return the call later.

Irked by the mistake, the Pakistan team management had to remind the host board -- New Zealand Cricket -- that Intikhab was not an Indian after the former Test captain had to bear the brunt of jokes because of the goof up.

"The telephone numbers are provided by the host country's board, which in this case is New Zealand Cricket and they are also responsible for providing all other details of the squad to relevant departments from which the touring side require services," a source in the Pakistan Cricket Board said.

"In Intihkab's case the telephone company was mistakenly informed that he is manager of the Indian team," he added.

Pakistan is presently touring New Zealand for three Twenty20 Internationals, two Tests and six ODIs.

Pakistan will bounce back in T20 series: Intikhab

Team manager Intikhab Alam on Monday conceded that Pakistan is facing difficulty in adjusting to the conditions in New Zealand but said the side will bounce back in the remaining two matches of the Twenty20 international series.

Pakistan were beaten by five wickets in the first match by New Zealand yesterday and also suffered the humiliation of being bowled out for just 91 runs in a T20 side match against Auckland last Friday.

"This team has the ability to bounce back in the series.

Although there is no doubt the players are facing problems adjusting to the different conditions in New Zealand," the former test captain told Geo Super channel.

Intikhab also said that for players who toured New Zealand for the first time it took time for them to adjust to the different weather and pitch conditions.

"But the coach has told the batsmen to show more application and patience while batting in the remaining matches," he said.

Intikhab said the players also realized how important it was for the team to have a successful tour of New Zealand as it was their final international outing before the 2011 World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The Pakistan manager also noted that on the smaller boundaries in New Zealand touring teams had to score atleast 175 runs in the T20 format of the game to nullify the advantage of the hosts.

"We are confident that the team will comeback strongly in the series because despite all the problems Pakistan cricket has faced in recent months the players have been told to just focus on their cricket," he said.

Intikhab said that there were no disciplinary issues in the team as the management had made it clear to everyone that their would be no compromise on discipline.

"The senior players who have been to New Zealand before also realise that they need to show the way to the younger players and help them adjust to the conditions," he added.

Intikhab was coach of the Pakistan team that toured New Zealand last year for a "home series" and drew the Test series.

PCB clears Tanvir for New Zealand tour

The Pakistan Cricket Board cleared Sohail Tanvir's inclusion for the national T20 and Test squad for the New Zealand.

The PCB said on Monday that after getting clearance from the medical panel of the Board, the selectors and team management has decided that Tanvir should join the team as soon as possible in New Zealand.

"The medical panel carried out a revaluation of his knee problem and also spoke to the Australian doctor who did the knee surgery on him last year in Australia. And it is now decided he is fit to play international cricket," a PCB official said.

Tanvir will leave later tonight with the three other players -- Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq, opener Taufiq Umar and left-arm spinner Abdul Rehman -- who are part of the Test squad.

Interestingly, two days after the Board and selectors had decided to ignore Tanvir for the tour, saying his fitness was under doubt; Tanvir had taken six wickets in an innings in an Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match to raise questions over the real reasons for not sending him to New Zealand.

The left-armer has taken 33 wickets in five Quaid Trophy matches this season to underline his good form and also scored runs.

"The PCB team consulted the Australian doctor who performed surgery on Tanvir. In his view it takes approximately 18 months to two years for a graft to settle down.

"After evaluating Sohail Tanvir, the PCB team is of the view that the more he plays, the graft will settle and bending of the knee will improve with the passage of time.

Therefore Sohail should carry on normally in cricket and try to avoid fielding positions in circle especially that require sharp bending as his bowling and batting ability can be fully utilized without further deterioration or pain in his left knee," the official said.

Tanvir, who was bowler of the tournament in the first Indian Premier League season while playing for champions Rajasthan Royals, resumed playing cricket this domestic season after remaining out of action for nearly 11 months due to the knee surgery.

The official said that according to Tanvir, he had no pain, discomfort anywhere in the body.

However, he was having stiffness in the lower back and legs during the last camp for which he was treated appropriately.

'IPL yet to respond on Pakistan participation' - PCB

The PCB has said it contacted the IPL to seek clarity regarding the participation of their players in cricket's most lucrative league, but the lack of response led once again to the exclusion of Pakistan's players from this year's event.

The IPL recently announced a list of players who will be put into the auction to be held in January. But the416-strong list didn't contain any players from Pakistan. Effectively that means there will be no Pakistan players participating for the third year running in the IPL.

The PCB insists that they want their players to be a part of a league in which players from all full members are taking part. "The PCB stance is simple: we want our players to participate in the IPL," the board's chief operating officer, Subhan Ahmed, told reporters in Karachi. "We have on our own tried to contact the IPL to find the actual status. This was last week but we have yet to hear from them."

"From our end all the documentation that is needed, we undertake to provide them, whether that is permissions or No Objection Certificates (NOC). But their playing or not in this event is not in our hands.

"No player or franchise has approached us," Ahmed said. "They've actually revised the process of inducting players, so any player who wants to participate will have to get permission and NOC from their board. No player has approached us."

The IPL has made no official comment so far on why Pakistan's players are not involved in the auction. Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI's chief administrative officer, had told AFP that the PCB had not forwarded any names for the auction. "The rules stipulate that a player must apply through his home board if he wanted to be put up for the auction. No names were received from Pakistan."

A number of Pakistan's leading players participated in the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008, but they weren't given permission by the PCB in 2009 on security grounds after relations between the Indian and Pakistani governments deteriorated.

They were included in the auction for the 2010 event but the franchises refused to bid for them ultimately; investing in Pakistani players with ties between the two countries so unstable was said to be not economically feasible. That situation appears to have remained unchanged.

Since then only Mohammad Irfan, the near 7-foot left-arm paceman who debuted for Pakistan this summer, has been linked with a franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders, earlier in the year. But that has since fallen through.

Doubts about Eden Park cricket layout

Great for Twenty20, but not as good for one-day internationals is Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi's asssessment of the new layout for cricket at the redeveloped Eden Park.

The pitch at the Auckland ground has been rotated 45 degrees clockwise, so that it runs parallel to where the halfway line of the rugby field would be.

The result is longish boundaries square of the wicket, but short ones down the ground.

The new configuration was used for the first time in the T20 match between New Zealand and Pakistan yesterday, when fans were treated the sight of snicks flying over the rope behind third man.

"I must say it's small," Afridi said.

"But the people who are coming for Twenty20 cricket, they want to see some big shots, so for Twenty20 I think it's a perfect ground."

But while Afridi didn't think the new layout made the arena of adequate standard for one-dayers, New Zealand skipper Ross Taylor had a different view.

Taylor believed bowlers would still get reward in ODIs if they bowled well and to a plan.

"Those boundaries square are some of the bigger ones in the world."

He also said the previous alignment made Eden Park a ground that favoured left-handed batsmen, whereas now things had probably been evened up.

'Ex-cricketers like Rameez have ruined Pakistan cricket', says Amir Sohail

Former Pakistan batsman and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Game Development Director, Aamer Sohail, has slammed former team-mate Rameez Raja for saying that domestic cricket in the country is based on quantity over quality.

"I don't know how Rameez Raja has the audacity to come on television and state that Pakistan cricket doesn't have quality, but it has quantity," PakPassion.net quoted Sohail, as saying.

"Ex cricketers like Rameez have ruined Pakistan cricket, because when the likes of Rameez were introducing the current format of domestic cricket, they should have thought about introducing teams like Quetta to the first class structure and why they gave Quetta first class status and why they didn't give other more deserving regional teams first class status, if they were keen on increasing the number of first class teams."

"Rameez and others should think about what they have done in the past and what they have contributed, before making such statements on television," he added. (ANI)