Rawalpindi Rams vs Karachi Dolphins T20 Final Highlights

Kaneria files petition in SHC for non clearance by PCB

pakistan test leg-spinner Danish Kaneria has filed a petition in the Sindh High Court here on Saturday against his non-clearance by Pakistan Cricket (PCB) Integrity Committee. Karachi-based Pakistan Highest wicket-taking spinner Kaneria with 261 wickets in 61 Test matches, has not been cleared for selection to Pakistan team since last October Lord’s spot-fixing scandal and his own entanglement in a

 corruption case in Essex. 

“I have been dealing with the PCB over my clearance since last October and I have failed to get justice from them,” Kaneria told reporters at SHC while filing petition through his Lawyer Barrister Farogh Naseem.      
“I have now come to the legal system and I hope to see justice will be done here.” The first hearing of the petition will be held on  July 4. 
Last month deposed Pakistan One-day Captain Shahid Afridi filed a petition in SHC after PCB revolved his Central Contract and canceled all his NOC’s for violating Code of Conduct for his outbursts against coach Waqar Younis and PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt.
Eventually Afridi managed to get NOC for playing Hampshire in  England’s T20 Competition. Fine of Rs.4.5 million was also imposed on him by the PCB.

IS PAKISTAN CRICKET LOSING ITS STRENGTH IN FAST BOWLING SPINNERS DOMINATING ATTACKTRONG

It wasn’t long ago when the fans in Pakistan saw their quick bowlers blowing away the opposition with their express pace and unplayable swing. The Pakistan cricket team had some tear away fast bowlers, who were a big threat to the batsmen. However, it seems that the era of the panthers has ended, as spin has taken over the attack in the recent past.

Pakistan have been relying on their spinners more than the pacers in the recent matches. They had four spinners in their ICC World Cup 2011 squad and usually one of them opened the attack with the new ball during the tournament.

The team did have some express bowlers like Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz, but spinners were given more importance.

The team then toured West Indies after the Mega Event and off-spinner, Mohammad Hafeez, opened the attack on the first day of a Test match, which clearly shows the dominance of spin bowlers in the Pakistan team.

Does this signal the end of fast bowling trend in Pakistan? The answer to that can only be found with the passage of time, but at the moment things look grim for the fast bowlers in Pakistan.

Youngsters in Pakistan follow cricketers like superstars of Hollywood. They want to be like their heroes in the future. This is how the fastest bowler in cricket history, Shoaib Akhtar grew up, watching former Pakistan captain, Waqar Younis, terrorising the opposition.

Shoaib was impressed to see Waqar taking a long run-up and bowling consistently above 90 miles per hour. The Rawalpindi express not only fulfilled his dream of becoming a tear away fast bowler, he also had the opportunity to play alongside his hero in the same team.

Waqar is also currently coaching the national side and the fans will look up to him for grooming young fast bowlers in the country. He has not only inspired youngsters in Pakistan, but from other countries as well.

Sri Lanka’s pace ace, Lasith Malinga, recently revealed in an interview during the World Cup, that he learned the art of bowling quick yorkers watching Wasim Akram and Waqar.

This was an honour for the two legendary pace bowlers, who had dominated most part of the nineties, but they would love to see some express bowlers making their way to the Pakistan team.

The Men in Green had found an extraordinary talent in Mohammad Amir, who impressed one and all with his brilliant pace bowling at a very young age. He was being compared to the legendary, Wasim, but his career came to a halt due to a shocking controversy.

The youngster was found guilty of spot-fixing in a match against England and was banned from all forms of cricket for five years. This was a big blow for the Pakistan team, especially with the incident taking place just ahead of the Mega Event.

Apart from that, Shoaib also announced his retirement from international cricket during the World Cup, which left Pakistan with limited choices in the fast bowling department.

At the moment, the Pakistan’s attack is led by spinners, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman and Mohammad Hafeez. If the trend continues, the youngsters will lose interest in fast bowling and the nation will not be able to produce lethal pacers.

Proper planning needs to be done to keep the young generation interested in fast bowling. Pakistan has been known for having an exceptional pool of talent in the fast bowling department, but a lot of work is required to be done at the basic level to continue the legendary trend.

Malik delighted at Indo-Pak prospects

 
Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik, dubbed India's son-in-law since marrying tennis starSania Mirza, said on Friday he was delighted the rivals might soon face each other on the cricket pitch again. 

The International Cricket Council's Future Tours Programme has pencilled in India as hosts of Pakistan for three Tests and five one-day internationals in March-April next year. 

The tour remains subject to clearance from both governments, but would mark a breakthrough for relations that went into free fall after Islamist gunmen killed 166 people in the 2008 Mumbaiattacks that India blamed on Pakistan. 

"The prospect of Pakistan touring India for a cricket series is delightful and I am hopeful it will happen," Malik, who led Pakistan on their last tour to India in 2007, said from his home town of Sialkot. 

"Cricket has astonishing power to bring people of both India and Pakistan closer. We saw that in 2004 when Indians were welcomed in our country and they returned with a different perception of Pakistan," said the 29-year-old. 

"It was the same when we toured India in 2005. People of both countries eat the same food, speak the same language and wear the same dress, and everyone wants to watch Pakistan play India." 

Malik said he gets enormous respect and love in India, all the more so since his high-profile marriage last year. 

"Obviously after my marriage to Sania I get more respect and love, and there are hundreds of such marriages in India and Pakistan." 

Malik said India, which has a population of more than one billion, playing Pakistan, home to 167 million people, is bigger than the Ashes, played between Australia and England. 

"It's huge, bigger than the Ashes because if you count the number of people watching, it's very very big, so world cricket also needs India and Pakistan," said Malik. 

An India team was due to tour Pakistan in early 2009 but the visit was cancelled as peace talks stalled between the nuclear rivals after the Mumbai attacks. 

The teams last met in this year's World Cup semifinal in India at a match watched in person by the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers, Manmohan Singh and Yousuf Raza Gilani. 

"That spirit should be cashed in on," Malik said, noting that he also wanted to regain his place on the team, having not been selected since last year's tour of England. 

Malik has so far played 32 Tests, 192 one-dayers and 32 Twenty20 matches.

Afridi-inspired Hants cruise to another t20 win

THERE are not enough superlatives to describe Shahid Afridi’s first ten days with the Hampshire Royals.

World-class, unplayable, irrepressible… the thesaurus does not do the man justice at the moment.

With 13 wickets from his first 19 overs in a Hampshire shirt, Afridi is bowling on a different level to anyone else in the competition.

Another masterful bowling display from Hampshire’s star man helped ensure a seven-wicket win against Middlesex, extending Hampshire’s lead at the top of the Friends Life t20’s South Group to four points. Afridi’s presence ensured a bumper Uxbridge crowd of more than 2,000.

He took three for 16 on a balmy summer’s evening as Hampshire, after winning the toss, limited Middlesex to 121-9.

Imran Tahir, Hampshire’s other leg-spinner, was also outstanding, conceding only 14 runs from his four overs while also claiming a wicket with an athletic return catch.

Middlesex began brightly, ending their powerplay on 51-1. But they knew as well as anyone that their total was well below par for Uxbridge, where the wicket is good and the boundaries short.

Gloucestershire amassed a competition record 254-3 there last Sunday and Middlesex’s 121-9 was the lowest first-innings score in the tenTwenty20 matches played at Uxbridge since the shortest format began (beating Hampshire’s 134-7 in Twenty20’s inaugural season eight years ago).

The Royals have had a happier time of it at Uxbridge in recent years and a third t20 win in as many games there was never in doubt after Afridi and Tahir combined to dismantle the opposition once again.

Middlesex hit 61 from their first 40 deliveries before Dimi Mascarenhas (2-28) claimed his second wicket, 18-year-old Adam Rossington bowled for a 17-ball 25.

Scott Newman contributed a run-a-ball 24 but he had no idea against Afridi, playing and missing against the first three deliveries from the Pakistani, who only conceded a single from his first over.

Newman holed out to long over in Afridi’s next over before Neil Dexter was beaten all ends up and trapped lbw.

Tahir reduced Middlesex to 68-5 two balls later and Ryan McLaren was brilliantly run out by James Vince from long on at the end of the next over.

Afridi’s figures read 2-0-3-2 when Cork decided to save his strike bowler’s last two overs. His absence from the attack allowed Sam Robson to restore some respectability to the Middlesex innings, dominating a seventh-wicket stand of 28 before Tom Smith had his leg stump knocked back trying to reverse-sweep Afridi.

Hampshire chased down their target with 18 balls to spare, giving them a little more time to get their togs ready for James Tomlinson’s wedding today but not enough to catch the end of Murray v Nadal, another annihilation. Jimmy Adams led Hampshire home with an unbeaten 38 (50 balls), while Sean Ervine raced to an unbeaten 22 from 14 balls to secure another two points.

But it was a scintillating 39 from Vince that ensured Hampshire reached the M25 earlier than scheduled.

Vince faced only 22 balls and hit Hampshire’s two sixes, sliced over point against England’s Steve Finn and over long-on against slow left-armer Smith.

He was eventually caught at mid-on, the first of two wickets for Steven Crook (2-17), who had Neil McKenzie brilliantly caught in the deep by Smith in his next over.

But those scalps were a negligible impediment to Hampshire’s inexorable progress to a home quarter-final.

For now, they can now enjoy a well deserved few days off before welcoming Essex to theRose Bowl on Wednesday, a repeat of last season’s semi-final.

INDIAN ARMY ORGANISES KASHMIR PREMIER LEAGUE T20 TO WIN HEARTS AND MINDS

The inaugural tournament of the newly established Kashmir Premier League (KPL) is going to start from July 4 in the valley of Kashmir. The one month long event will have 14 teams that hail from 10 districts of the valley. The opening T20 game will be played between Srinagar Sher Dil and Badgam Badshahs.

The tournament has been designed by the Indian army, which is occupying the valley, in order to pacify the public and reduce anti-India protests.

Kashmir has been fighting for freedom from Indian domination since 1947. The valley is a disputed territory between India and Pakistan.

An army statement reveals, “The first phase of the tournament was conducted in May and June with 193 teams from across the valley taking part. There were over 300 matches at the intra-district level. The best 14 district teams were selected for the final phase”.

It further tells, “The second phase of the summer slam promises to be the biggest extravaganza Kashmir has ever seen. The major districts of Srinagar, Baramulla, Anantnag, and, Badgam will be fielding two teams each while the districts of Kupwara, Bandipur, Kulgam, Pulwama, Shopian, and, Ganderbal will field a team each”.

The 14 teams in the tournament will compete for Chinar Cup. The winning side will get a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh, while the runner-up is to get Rs 3 lakhs. The top three players of the tournament will have a chance to get training in the top cricket academies of India.

The tournament will be a major breakthrough for the promotion and development of cricket in the war-hit valley. As is it going to be the first ever T20 event in Kashmir, a large number of viewers are expected to come watch.

After the thumping success of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which started in 2008, T20 leagues are rapidly mushrooming in the Subcontinent. Sri Lanka has formed a Sri Lankan Premier League (SLPL), so has Bangaldesh, while Pakistan is planning to formulate Pakistan Premier League (PPL).

Analysts believe that the credit of all these developments goes to the IPL, which is the pioneer in Asia.