PCB will announce shahid afridi as captain in a week time

The hottest issue of the new captain of Pakistan cricket team for the upcoming world cup seems to be over as Ijaz Butt is now ready to retain Shahid Afridi as captain.

 When everybody is favouring Misbah-ul-Haq as new skipper and even Pakistan Cricket Board officials also tipping Misbah as Pakistan skipper in the world cup, source in the PCB told The Sports Encounter scribe here that despite of all the negativity, Ijaz Butt is not ready to change the skipper for the huge tournament like world cup.

PCB chairman Ijaz Butt is in New Zealand these days with Pakistan cricket team and during the course he has held meetings with team officials, management and players and discussed the issue of captaincy.

Former skipper Younus Khan also cast his vote in favour of Misbah-ul-Haq for captaincy but other senior players like Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul and Shoaib Akhtar put their faith in Afridi to continue as skipper of Pakistan.

Ijaz Butt is not happy with performance and attitude of Shahid Afridi for his repeated violation of the board’s instructions but the PCB chairman is not willing to take any chances for the world cup and will announce the name of the captain this week.PCB also facing stiff pressure from the sponsors who already invested heavy amount on the Pakistani team as they took Afridi in their ad campaigns for the world cup and late announcement of the skipper may cost those companies millions of rupees.

World cup: Vaughan puts money on India, Pakistan

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan says his money is on India or Pakistan to win the upcoming cricket World Cup.

The former captain said he was sure that one of the four teams from the subcontinent would win the World Cup. He says that Bangladesh was not good enough yet, and the current crop of Sri Lankan players are not up to the mark. He termed India as the clear favourite, however he said that Pakistan was another team to watch out for.

In an online ODI preview, Vaughan praised India’s Virender Sehwag as a match winner:

People talk about him as one of the great entertainers but that only tells half the story. Those big sixes at the top of the order are great to watch but dispatching the opening bowlers to every part of the ground also puts the opposition under huge pressure from very early on. He scores plenty of runs and he scores them very quickly and is probably the player in world cricket who is most capable of winning a match on his own.

On Pakistan, Vaughan said that the team may be missing three crucial players but even without them there is enough talent to make a win possible. According to him, Pakistan will go with Misbahul Haq as their captain.

Salman Butt flouts ICC directive: reports

After Mohammad Amir, another suspended Pakistan cricketer - Salman Butt - has allegedly flouted International Cricket Council (ICC) directives by featuring in a club match in Lahore.

According to reports, the former Pakistan captain featured in a club game played at his home ground in Model Town, Lahore, even though the ICC has in clear terms told the suspended players and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that they cannot take part in any cricket activity that come under the umbrella of the PCB or its affiliated units.

Mainstream Urdu daily Jang reported on Friday that Lahore's cricket association officials were present when Butt, a Test opener, took part in the match.

However, a PCB spokesman has denied the report and claimed that Butt never appeared in any club game.

Last week, The News reported that Mohammad Amir featured in a club match in Rawalpindi. The ICC demanded answers from the PCB on the issue.

Butt, Amir and fellow Pakistan player Mohammad Asif were provisionally suspended by the ICC last September over allegations of spot-fixing during Pakistan's tour of England.

An ICC anti-corruption tribunal heard the case relating to the three suspended players in Doha, Qatar, Jan 6-11 and is due to announce its verdict Feb 5 in the Qatari capital.

The tainted trio were suspended by the ICC with the world governing body's code of conduct carrying a minimum five-year ban if corruption charges are proved. The maximum punishment is a life ban.

Their suspension came after reports in the British tabloid News of the World which claimed several Pakistani players - including the trio - were involved in spor fixing during the Lord's Test in August.

BCCI asks ICC to reconsider decision on Eden

NEW DELHI: The Indian cricket board on Friday asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to reconsider its decision of taking away the India-England World Cup match from the Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata.

"We have written a letter to the ICC to reconsider its decision. Now it is up to the ICC to decide, but we are confident that the stadium can host the crucial India-England match," Ratnakar Shetty, tournament director and chief administrative officer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI), said.

This comes after Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Jagmohan Dalmiya, also a former ICC president, on Thursday appealed to the BCCI to advise the international body to reconsider its decision.

Referring to the 14-day extension given by the ICC to four other venues, including Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium to complete the finishing work, Dalmiya, a former BCCI president and secretary, asked for an extension of 10 days from Thursday up to Feb 7 to hand over a complete Eden Gardens to the game's apex body.

Dalmiya's appeal came hours after the ICC ruled out Eden Gardens as a venue for the match, saying it was unprepared.

The ICC took the decision following an adverse report from its venue inspection team that visited Kolkata and four other venues earlier this week to review their readiness for the big event being hosted jointly by India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka from February 19 to April 2.

Dalmiya argued that the ICC decision to take away the Feb 27 match came exactly 30 days before it was scheduled to be held.

Apart from the India-England encounter, Eden Gardens is supposed to host three other games -- South Africa vs Ireland (March 15), the Netherlands vs Ireland (March 18), and Zimbabwe vs Kenya (March 20)
.

PCB’s flair for controversies

How disgusting it is that Pakistan cricket has not advanced an inch since Ijaz Butt took over the reigns of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). A cursory glance over the cricket affairs will reveal that the reasons are not other than the PCB’s flair for conflicts and controversies. Rather than devising the ways and means to promote the game and raise its standards high enough to browbeat opponents in international contests the PCB chairman has turned himself into ‘Hitler’ of Pakistan cricket and rules the game un-challenged. In the process, he has formed a lobby by patronising cronyism, likes and dislikes, sacking officials who disapproves his acts and deeds and forming a regime that functions in accordance with his whims and fancies.

Although his policies have come under a storm of criticism both from the media as well as the cricket fraternity, he continues to maintain his ruling style under the protection of the country’s top brass. All this has brought unprecedented damage and disgrace to Pakistan’s cricket. Had the PCB enforced strict discipline in the board, worked on character building of the players and taught them the vital norms and ethics of the game, the embarrassment caused by the trio of Salman Butt, Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Aamir could perhaps be averted. The sordid episode was projected to such proportions that the International Cricket Council (ICC) got the golden opportunity of rendering the PCB subservient to the extent of even selecting the national teams with its approval.

After a short span of relative peace and tranquility Ijaz’s inherent instinct of ‘creating controversies’ has propped up again. It is the undesirable issue of captaincy for the World Cup 2011. Out of all the countries participating in the mega event Pakistan is the only one having announced the team without naming a captain. It is not too far back that the PCB appointed Misbahul Haq as Test captain and Shahid Afridi as ODI and T20 captain. Now when Pakistan are in the midst of New Zealand’s tour and the World Cup staring in the face, Ijaz has suddenly lost faith in Afridi and created the captaincy crisis for the World Cup. As chairman of the PCB he did not realise that the issue would not only generate a big controversy but also put two senior players Afridi and Misbah against each other in an awfully bad taste.

Ijaz should have realized that the performances of Pakistan – ‘an odd victory in each series’ – during the recent past were absolutely commensurate with their present standard of the game. It was almost even in the Test matches and the limited over games. Apart from captaincy there are numerous other factors, mainly the contribution of each player, which affect the outcome of a match. Comparing one captain with the other is absolutely unwise. Ijaz must realize that the confusion that he has created by raising such an issue can cause disunity in the team as well as can be instrumental in lowering the players’ morale and fighting spirit. The issue caused a stir even among the team officials. Coach Waqar Younis was the most prominent among the lot of people to express his surprise over the PCB’s decision. Obviously to save his appointment Waqar regretted his comments on the issue.

Under the present circumstances Afridi’s captaincy depends on the result of the 6-ODI series in which the team are engaged. I think a captain is helpless when every batsman throws away his wicket. Since accusing the skipper for every defeat has become a tradition, the luminaries like Abdul Qadir and Aamir Sohail have criticised Afridi for the same providing strength to Ijaz’s scheme of replacing Afridi with Misbah as captain of the World Cup squad.

The self created controversy gave a golden chance to Ijaz for undertaking a secret visit to New Zealand. He has left for Wellington ‘ to sort out the captaincy issue that is threatening to hamper the team’s World Cup hopes’. He wanted to have a meeting with the key players and the team officials before taking the final decision, a job that could have been easily performed by telephone. 

i can't wait to show skill in WC says misbah

Pakistan test team skipper and middle order batsman Misbah-ul-Haq has termed playing in World Cup as his dream coming true and said he can’t wait for the start of the World Cup.

Veteran middle order batsman Misbah has never represented Pakistan in the mega event and believed that it is the dream of every player to represent his country in the mega event like World Cup.“It is a dream of every cricketer to represent his country in this prestigious tournament and I am eager to play my role in my team’s victories in the World Cup,” Misbah said.

Misbah is the most likely candidate to become captain of Pakistan one day team as Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is not satisfied with the performance of current skipper Shahid Afridi Misbah was dropped from the one day team in October last year at UAE in series against South Africa due to poor form but he came back strongly since becoming the captain of Pakistan test team and scored six consecutive fifties for Pakistan.

On the other hand, Boom Boom Afridi’s recent form is pathetic as he failed to perform in the last eleven one day internationals. Afridi’s relations with PCB Chief Ijaz Butt are also not healthy as despite of number of warnings issued to him, he continuously spoke to media and always put blame on either bowlers or batsman after losing the match.Misbah also got the backing of many former players for his captaincy bid and it is widely believed that he will captain the Pakistan cricket team in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

Moin appeals to ICL officials to clear dues

Former captain Moin Khan, who was in the forefront of signing on Pakistani cricketers for the Indian Cricket League (ICL), has appealed to the owners of the now-defunct league to clear outstanding payments of the players.

Moin launched an appeal to the owner of the league, Subash Chandra and said he had also been in touch with the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA) to resolve the issue of outstanding dues to the Pakistani players.

The league, which was launched in 2007 and held for two seasons, faded away after the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008 and since then has not been held with the owners saying they were facing losses and problems as the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the BCCI refusing to recognise the ICL.

Pakistani Test pacer Shabbir Ahmed, who took part in the ICL, told the media in Lahore that he was disappointed with the attitude of the league organisers who had not cleared his dues despite promises.

Insisting he had no regrets over joining the league, Ahmed said he is still waiting for the organisers to fulfill their commitments.

"I don't regret my decision," he said. "But it's been two years and they still haven't cleared our dues."

The ICL had signed over two dozen Pakistan cricketers, and five of them including Mohammad Yousuf, Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar and Abdul Razzaq have already cut off their ties with the league and obtained NOCs to play for the national team again.

Recently, Hasan Raza and Mohammad Sami threatened to go to the court if their outstanding payments were not cleared soon. Pakistan openers Taufeeq Umar, Imran Farhat and his brother Humayun are also included in the list of players awaiting their dues.

"We have also sent them the legal notice through our agent [former Pakistan captain] Moin Khan but there has been no response," Ahmed said.

He claimed the ICL owned him around 10 million rupees.

Moin who was also coach of the Lahore Badshah team and signed on Pakistani players for the ICL as an authorised agent of the league said the ICL dues were around two million dollars for all players.

"The players have not received their third installment as yet although sometime back I had met with the chief organisers and they had promised the dues would be cleared soon."

Moin said that he had also spoken to the FICA chief executive Tim May on this issue but the Pakistani players could do nothing but wait for the ICL organisers to fulfill their promises at some stage.