Amir ought to have come clean sooner: Afridi

Former Pakistan cricket captain, Shahid Khan Afridi says that Mohammad Amir ought to have come clean sooner about his involvement in a spot-fixing scandal which has embroiled the young fast bowler along with two other Pakistani cricketers for over a year.

Mohammad Amir, a young and upcoming prospect for Pakistani cricket had found himself in the midst of a spot-fixing scandal last year when he was on tour with the Pakistan national team. A sting by the now defunct News of the World news papers showed a bookie taking money from an undercover reporter for having certain bowlers in the Pakistan ranks deliberately bowling no-balls on pre-specified deliveries. Amir, along with other accuses, Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt had for long pleaded innocence. However, Amir came clean during a court hearing on Wednesday, submitting a written statement confessing to the charges labelled against him.

Afridi, who himself has faced controversy in cricket after being found guilty of biting down on a ball in February 2010 with a swift two T20 match ban. Afridi had already been in strife for ball tampering, suspended for one Test and two one-dayers in 2005.

Afridi further said that it remains to be seen who had entrapped Amir into committing this act and who all were his accomplices.

Afridi went on to talk about his own career, saying that he could not continue playing under the coach (Waqar Younis) who had been giving the former skipper problems. Though, Afridi maintained that conditions had since (his departure from the team) improved and he wished to continue playing cricket.

He also congratulated the Pakistan cricket team on their success in Zimbabwe.

Razzaq agrees with Afridi

Pakistan cricket all-rounder Abdul Razzaq echoed the sentiments of Afridi saying that Amir ought to have confessed his involvement much earlier.

Razzaq said that it is now up to the ICC and the Pakistan Cricket Board to decide what punishment Amir would have to face for his actions.

Shahid Afridi: just a breed or a need?

Opinion: Shahid Afridi may announce his comeback very soon, but does he really deserve to be given a chance?

Shahid Khan Afridi, aka Afridi, is probably at the peak of his career. He was very recently toppled down by his team-mate Muhammad Hafeez, who grabbed the third spot in ICC all-rounder rankings, pulling Afridi on to the fifth spot. However, this might have not been as easy for Muhammad Hafeez as it was, had Afridi been playing international cricket.

The frisky all-rounder sidelined himself from the team after announcing his conditional retirement over the disagreements with the management. Now that the management is about to go through major changes (once again), Afridi intensely wants to play for his country, that too once again. Sources whisper that he will soon have a meeting with the patron of the board and chances are that he may announce his return to international cricket after the meeting but does he really deserve to be in the team?

A cricket fanatic, Afridi lover would impulsively shout out loud “hell yeah!”, on the other hand, a rational person would find himself stuck between the see-saw of right and wrong along with the web of pros and cons. But does he really deserve to be in the team?

The answer is yes, if only, considering his contribution to the Pakistan cricket. The energetic fellow played a key role in the victory of T20 World Cup 2009, got the team into the semi-finals of World Cup 2011, performed consistently well with his bowling, and yielded more than just satisfactory results through his leadership qualities. The mere numbers and figures associated with the player may not reveal all that Afridi has to offer but anyone would agree that Afridi is of a breed that is anything but common. People and experts would also agree that Afridi is the only man born with tailor-made qualities to be the T20 superstar who was born 27 years before the format achieved an official status.

A player with 315 ODI wickets and 53 T20i wickets is someone who has already earned his right to be given chances and take liberties. And if that player is Shahid Afridi, someone who is at his peak of his career, does need to be taken in and exploit for the good of a country that has not had the taste of happiness with abundance.

However, a rational mind will never be impulsive. A logical approach would take one asking questions like, we just won in Zimbabwe do we still need him? He may not play the next World Cup, shan’t we find a replacement and get over with him? What about his erratic behavior? Sudden retirement from the tests and then conditional retirement from cricket, should not he be told that his inclusion in the team is not implied? Shahid Afridi may have turned out to be an exceptional all-rounder (finally, after 15 years) but does that make him above the ethics and code of conduct? Was it fair to his fans and country to retire from the sport because of his personal disagreements with the coach?

The answers of such questions would lead one to oppose his return to the team at least if not sentencing him a death penalty. But one always knows that appropriate conduct, abiding rules and coherent thinking hasn’t really been virtues of the all-rounder. For all the mistakes that he made, he should be punished but an opportunity to swing his arms and bowl his bowls is due for a player that has delivered numerous times for his country and gained a lot of affection and love from all over the world, if not respect.

We can plan better for SL series after Zimbabwe tour: Mohsin

Chief selector Mohsin Hasan Khan has praised the performance of the Pakistan team against Zimbabwe and has expressed hope that it will help in developing a solid combination against Sri Lanka in the upcoming series starting in the United Arab Emirates next month.

“As a whole, the team performance is very satisfactory and even though Zimbabwe was not a weak opposition our boys played well to win every game,” Mohsin told Dawn on Thursday. Pakistan not only won the one-off Test but also scored a clean sweep in the ODI series against Zimbabwe. They are now getting ready to face the hosts in the two T20 matches series starting Friday.

“This tour of Zimbabwe will help us a lot in putting together a solid combination for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka, which is one of the best teams in the world,” said Mohsin. “Since the Sri Lankan series will be played in the UAE where the conditions are different, we will make the combination accordingly,” he added.

Mohsin further said that 80 per cent target set for the series against Zimbabwe had been achieved and the combination of the senior and new players earned the convincing success. “It was great to see captain Misbah-ul-Haq leading from the front throughout the series with his performance and the way the seniors and new players responded which is a good sign for Pakistan cricket,” he said.

He also lauded the role of team management on the tour.

The former opener has special praise for fast bowler Aizaz Cheema and said the bowler had given an outstanding performance on the tour. In the batting department, he was all praise for seasoned campaigner Younis Khan, Mohammad Hafeez besides Misbah and added they had played a tremendous role to set a guideline for the new players and for the whole team. About Shoaib Malik, who was included in the team after almost a year but failed to deliver, Mohsin said the all-rounder could not utilize the opportunity but still he had a lot of cricket left in him.

He said wicket-keeper Adnan Akmal had again proved himself as a fine performer behind the stumps. He expressed the hope the team management would give a chance to Ramiz Raja Junior in the upcoming two T20 series against Zimbabwe.

PCB top brass to meet over T20 event

Pressure is mounting on the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to delay or shift the forthcoming domestic Twenty20 championship from Lahore because of a major dengue threat.

For that purpose, a meeting is scheduled to take place between PCB chairman Ijaz Butt and other senior board officials, it was learnt by ‘The News’ here on Friday.

There is a growing concern among some PCB officials and they feel that there is a need to sit down and re-think over staging of the event in Lahore, a city that has been badly affected by the dengue virus.

“According to reports the dengue outbreak will only get worse which is why we have decided to hold a meeting to discuss our options,” a source said.

The Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) had earlier requested the board to either postpone or shift the event to Karachi for security reasons.

However, the official said that there is hardly any chance that the tournament will be moved to Karachi since dengue cases have also been reported here.

But he revealed that there is a chance that the event can be moved to Multan if the PCB decides to shift it.

“Multan remains in pole position to host the event if the board decides to move the tournament,” he revealed.

“It’s the board’s policy is to take cricket to smaller cities. We originally planned to stage the event in Rawalpindi but renovation work forced us to bring it to Lahore.”

Meanwhile, KCCA warned on Friday that the PCB will be responsible if any player or official is hit by dengue outbreak during the Faysal Bank T20 tournament in Lahore.

KCCA sent an email to ‘The News’ stating: “In view of the assurance by Punjab Government and insistence of PCB to have this tournament in Lahore we have agreed to go to Lahore. However if anything happens to our players or officials it will be the responsibility of PCB.”

A team from Afghanistan is scheduled to take part in the event but they too remain concerned about the prospects of playing in Lahore.

Wisal Durrani, president of Peshawar District Cricket Association (PDCA) said: “It would be good if the board postpones the event. But I am aware of the problem PCB faces as it will get in problem with sponsors and broadcasters.

“In addition, the domestic calendar is very tight and if the tournament is delayed then the top international players, who are the biggest attraction for the public, won’t be able to take part in the tournament.”

Atique Ahmed, secretary Hyderabad region, said that they have no reservations and are ready to play in Lahore.

Khalid Mehmood, secretary Sialkot region, said that they too have no problem in playing in Lahore but the board and the local administration should take all possible measures to ensure a safe and secure tournament. He also said that the biggest cause for concern would be from public point of view, as thousands of people would turn up to witness the event, which makes the risk of people getting attacked by dengue even higher.

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Islamabad: Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has said that had he been the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief, he would have tried to have one leader for the national cricket team for at least an year, and would also consult the players before selecting the head coach.

When asked during an interview about the first couple of things he would implement straight away, if he were given the role of the PCB Chairman, Akram said: “First of all I would just try to have one leader [of the cricket team] and at least announce him for a year, and then get a coach and obviously get a guy who the boys will get along with.”

“Either it`s a foreign coach, or it`s a Pakistani coach, whoever, you should ask the boys first because they are going to be working with him. Bring stability into the system and I think everything will eventually work,” he told PakPassion.net.

After implementing the above-mentioned steps, Akram said, he would concentrate on stuff like looking for the right talent and getting it to the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

“The PCB have such wonderful facilities in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, everywhere, have people getting their youngsters, especially in summer where nobody does anything for a couple of months, to come. Also, try to get the Pakistan "A "and emerging sides on tours to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, wherever it can be arranged – the more tours, the more the players will improve and learn,” he added.

Akram also said that while he was not against the hiring of a foreigner to succeed outgoing coach Waqar Younis, he would suggest finding someone from Pakistan.