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Who is responsible?

by Bored Member

by Raja Baradwaj


After a tumultuous last couple* of months during which we saw the departure of people ranging from a patron of the board to many peons, Pakistan cricket seems to be back on track. They have won 2 consecutive ODIs against a competitive West Indian team, convincingly.

Suddenly they seem to be playing as a unit, you see a Sohail Tanveer and Umar Gul bowling in tandem complementing each other. With a greenhorn in Saeed Ajmal testing the WI batsmen with his doosras and Rao Iftikhar finding a good rhythm, the Pakistan attack suddenly seem to be regaining their lost glory. The batsmen too are not left far behind. In the last couple of matches, we have seen at least 4 guys chipping in with the runs.

Even the wicket keeping atrocities of Kamran Akmal seem not be bothering the Pakistanis. Before Rahul Dravid crosses Mark Waugh’s 181 catches in test cricket, I am sure Kamran would cross 250 in all forms of cricket. Well the 250 are catches again, but the dropped ones. But he seems to be more than making-up for his wicket keeping when he comes out to bat, we saw a blinder of an innings followed by a very responsible one from him.

Looking at the way the Pakistani team is playing now, I thought its time we found who is responsible for this? Who is responsible for their suddenly playing well?

Is it because of the shake-up in their board?

Is it because Geoff Lawson was sacked?

Is it because Shoaib Malik is still the captain of the team?

Is it because of Intikab Alam coming in as coach / manager?

Is it because Misbha has not played that Dougie Marillier shot for a while now?

Is it because of Shoaib Aktar being in the team but not in the 11?

Is it because of Mr Zardari, the new patron of the board?

Is it because Salim Malik has been cleared in the match fixing case?

Is it because Imran Khan is not getting enough column centimeters in the Pakistani press?

Is it because Javed Miandad has been keeping quite for a while?

Is this because Younis Khan has forgotten his captaincy dreams?

Is it because Gen Musharraf, the one time patron of PCB concentrates on his golf these days?

What is the reason?

This Q needs A (rather A’s)

What do you think?

* A couple of months is a deliberate mathematical blunder, as part of your A’s you can also try since when !!

7 comments:

Soulberry said...

I think it was simply the joy of being able to play again. Sportsmen rave the stimulus of competition, especially when fresh from a layoff. Everyone likes going back to work after a layoff.

Also some relief I guess, that their careers will not be spent in waiting.

straight point said...

its none of above :)

as sb put is succinctly...its the joy of playing again is reflecting right now...

they seem hungry to perform and enjoying some luck in playing suicidal west indies...coz any other team they would be 2-0 down and we wont be having this discussion...or rather just the opposite of 'who is responsible' :)

not that we are complaining...its always good to see them playing and cricket need stronger pak team in the era of declining and fading teams...

Gaurav Sethi said...

raja, in the past two ODI tournaments prior to this one, Pak played some good cricket vs Lanka, India, more balanced teams than the Windies. And that was with the old guard still in charge.

With Pak cricket, your guess is as good as mine - what works, what doesn't?

Still, I like the look of this team - without Shoaib, MoYo, Lawson.

Q said...

What this Q needs is a Q, not As!

I was tempted to say Intikhab Alam, but rather I would like to ask another question - Pakistan's problem has been the lack of cricket, they as a team haven't really been that bad.

Take a look at this year - they are 2-2 against India and 1-1 against the Lankans. On top they haven't lost to any minnows having beaten the Bengalis in 7 ODIs, Zimababwe in 5, and HK in 1.

Last year they lost ODI series' to South Africa (3-2) and India (3-2). Those series could have gone either way and they didn't face a 5-0 or 4-1 loss to be considered thrashed.

They reached the final of the T20 WC before those 2 series, and prior to that they beat SL in Abu Dhabi 2-1.

Now I ask, why this question? There has been no change in any fortune.

On the field, Pakistan's results have been like they have always been - hot and cold.. unpredictable. One day they will shine, the next they will fuse. Its always been like that - even the world cup we won, we looked like the worst team on show.

I think it is the off field happenings that has created a negative impression in people's minds about Pakistan as a cricket team.

For one, the country is in turmoil, no foreign team wants to tour there, they hardly play cricket. Secondly issues such as doping, hitting team mates with bats, controversies at the board level, murmurs abt captaincy aspirations, etc etc make people feel that the team is shit.

I agree that Pakistan doesn't have the star players it used to but the team overall hasn't done that badly.

We lost 1-0 to India in the test series.. The Aussies lost 2-0!!

I can go on but I think I've made my point..

And another point on Intikhab Alam - A man who could keep Imran Khan and Javed Miandad united can make the worst of enemies feel united for the same cause.

straight point said...

you have ans the Q only they way you Q can...!!

...and in liked your point on IA...specially on imran and jm bit...now if only they manage the same zest in following series...

Anonymous said...

These are all garbage questions and what is there relevance with Pakistan winning in this series.

Anonymous said...

Trust q to come up with an A.