PCB chief optimistic about Asif’s clearance

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Ijaz Butt, has expressed the confidence that the mercurial fast bowler Mohammad Asif will be cleared by the doping authorities and he will be playing for Pakistan soon.

“Asif will be selected for the Pakistan team as soon as he is available to us. I have gone through the latest emails sent to the PCB by WADA and ICC and personally I feel that he will not be banned for a long time,” Ijaz Butt remarked while chatting with this scribe in Karachi on January 22.

“Other cricketers have been charged and found guilty of similar offence in the past. Even Shane Warne was involved in such a case on the eve of the World Cup in 2003 and if I remember correctly he was banned for a year,” he recalled.

“I don’t think Asif will be penalized with a life ban or anything that harsh. He could be barred for playing for only a while and then he will have the opportunity to resume his career,” the PCB Chairman reckoned.

”It’s all speculation and gossip that he would be banned for life. He seems to have committed an offence but it’s not all that serious and he could get away with token punishment,” Ijaz Butt said.

Asif, hailed as one of the deadliest fast bowlers on the scene, has been in the news mostly for the wrong reasons in the recent past. He has been involved in various controversies having prevented him from playing regularly for the country.

Having made his Test debut in January 2005 during the tour of Australia, he tested positive for a banned steroid in 2006 but the ban was eventually overturned and he returned to spearhead Pakistan’s bowling attack.

He showed improvement in leaps and bounds, becoming a most valuable player for the side in a very short span of time. The recognition of his growing stature came in the shape of his appointment as Pakistan’s vice-captain.

He was laid low by an elbow injury but just when he had regained fitness he was detained at the Dubai airport last June, allegedly for possessing a recreational drug. He was released after 19 days. There was further setback for him when he tested positive for a banned drug during the IPL.

The 26-year old Asif has been able to play only 11 Test matches and 31 One-day Internationals during a career spanning four years now. It’s a pity that a man of his talent has not been able to play more.

He made such a great impact in the limited opportunities having come his way. His nagging line and length reminded many of the great Australian Glenn McGrath. He was often compared to McGrath for his accuracy and consistency.

Pakistan has desperately missed Asif’s services at a time when speedster Shoaib Akhtar has also not been able to play for the country for one reason or the other. Asif can still prove an asset for Pakistan and he has many years of cricket left in him.

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Sri Lanka level series despite uncertain batting display

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Sri Lanka have managed to square the series by winning the second One-day International against Pakistan at the National Stadium, Karachi, on January 21. It was a comprehensive win on paper but it still reflected their inability to make use of the flying start.

For a moment it had looked that Sri Lanka would lose their way in exactly the same manner as they had done on the previous afternoon. They fared better than what they had done in the opening but their batting could not take the advantage in the final phase of the innings.

Sri Lanka were expected to post a total well past 300 when they were cruising at 165 for two in the 29th over. Generally the 30-over score is doubled during the last 20 overs in a 50-over game and with so many wickets in hand the visitors were ideally placed to do that in the friendliest of batting conditions.

To have finished at 290 in 50 overs meant their batting was still not firing on all cylinders. The nature of wickets in Bangladesh might have restrained their free-flowing batsmen but there was hardly any excuse for not having pushed for runs on the National Stadium strip full of runs.

The stroke played by Tillakaratne Dilshan in the 29th over didn’t make sense. He threw away his wicket when in complete command of the situation. It was a soft dismissal against the run of play and it cost his team quite a few runs in the end. 

Dilshan, basically a middle-order batsman, probably looked unaware of the fact that the task of an opening batsman is to play to for as long as possible instead of considering his job done after playing out 30 overs.

That Sri Lanka pulled off a comfortable 129-run victory despite having been restricted to 290 was owed much to their opening bowlers, Nuwan Kulasekara and Thilan Thushara, who broke the back of the hosts top-order batting.

The celebrate spin duo of Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan came into the picture much later. The platform was set for the two spinners to force the issue after the fast bowlers had shaken the top-order.

The match was still wide open when Salman Butt and Shoaib Malik negotiated the deadliest of spin bowlers with the minimum of hassle. The century partnership, in fact, had provided Pakistan an opportunity to seal the series.

The complexion of the game changed when the big stand was broken and it allowed the spinners to get on top and settle the issue. The deficiencies in the Pakistan batting were exposed and the contest became a one-sided affair in the end.

The Sri Lankan certainly comparatively played better cricket but Mahela Jayawardene must be aware of the fact that his guys need to raise the bar and be more consistent in future games. He has such a gifted side at his disposal but somehow they have not been coming as well as they should be. One reason could be playing far too many games but that has very much become a norm in international cricket these days.

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Pakistan overcome Sri Lanka’s friendly fire with remarkable ease

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Was there any element of surprise in the proceedings or the result of the first One-day International between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the National Stadium, Karachi, on January 20? My answer is no.

The unusually casual approach of the Sri Lankan cricketers might have caught some of the spectators or the viewers by surprise but to those having an insight into the game or well versed with the history of the game there was hardly anything unpredictable.

Historically the Sri Lankans have seldom taken the field in an aggressive frame of mind while encountering Pakistan. They have looked tigers and panthers against other opponents but that has hardly been the case when they are up against Pakistan.

Sri Lanka have indeed won matches against Pakistan but their intensity on the field has generally not been the same as the one they have had while combating fancied teams like Australia, South Africa and India.

Their performance or the lack of it in the first ODI also left one wondering if they would be using the ongoing three-match series as practice for the upcoming home series against India in which they would be expected to fire on all cylinders.

Sri Lanka have been taught some lessons in the first ODI. Their famed spin duo of Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis had a forgettable day against a not too formidable Pakistan batting line-up.

Muralitharan and Mendis had wreaked havoc among the most celebrated batting line-up of the world but they were treated like novices even by Pakistan’s new opener Khurram Manzoor.

Salman Butt, the more experienced of the home openers, made most of the friendly conditions to complete his unbeaten century that guided Pakistan to the most comfortable of victories. It was a cakewalk win for the hosts. They could not have asked for a better start to the series.

The Sri Lankans were outplayed in every department of the game in the opening one-dayer after a promising start. There was nothing wrong in the pitch and the conditions were ideal for batting. Mahela Jayawardene did his team a big favour by winning the toss.

Sanath Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne Dilshan got the visitors off to a flyer. They punished Pakistan’s new ball operators, Shoaib Akhtar and Sohail Tanvir. But they collapsed when the ball lost its shine and lesser mortals were pressed into service. Umar Gul and Rao Iftikhar Anjum turned the tide decisively and Sri Lanka, for who looked capable of getting well over 300, had to struggle in reaching 200. None of the Sri Lankan middle-order batsmen dared taking the fight to the opposition and even the home spinners were allowed to return decent figures.  

But it was a different ball game for the champion spinners Muralitharan and Mendis, who are otherwise the most lethal weapons in international cricket. With Sri Lanka not possessing threatening fast bowlers it seems unlikely that their slow bowlers are going to create pressures on the Pakistan batsmen.

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Sri Lanka payback Pakistan

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

It’s not common to find the head of the national cricket board sparing time to go down to the airport to receive any of the visiting teams. Ijaz Butt, Chairman, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), personally greeted the Sri Lankan cricket squad at Karachi’s Quaid-e-Azam International Airport when the tourists landed on January 18.

It was probably an unprecedented gesture but not entirely unexpected in the given scenario. With the foreign teams expressing their reluctance to play in Pakistan, the PCB has acknowledged the support of their Sri Lankan counterparts who have honoured their commitment of touring Pakistan.

It has been in the practice in the past in Pakistan that the visiting teams were received at the airport only by the officials of the local cricket associations. So it was quite an unfamiliar sight to find the head of the board in the reception party.
The top functionaries of the Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) were also present on the occasion to welcome the Sri Lankan cricketers. The KCCA President, Dr Mohammad Ali Shah, who is the also the Sindh Minister of Sports, was very much there with the long-serving Secretary of the Association, Prof Siraj-ul-Islam Bokhari.
This is a special tour not because it has been arranged hastily but primarily because it’s being undertaken by the Sri Lankans at a very critical time. They have proved bad time friends.
The PCB has had special relationship with their Sri Lankan counterparts over the years. They have had a history of helping each others in need.
How can one forget 1996. The Sri Lankans had taken the world by storm with their brilliant performance in the field. Their experiment of going hard at the bowlers from the first ball of the innings had worked wonders and they were being talked of as world-beaters.
At a time when their team had peaked and was being considered as one of the strongest contenders for the trophy for the first time in history there was a shock in store for their cricket board when Australia and the West Indies refused to play their World Cup games in Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan Board, being co-hosts, had found itself in a very embarrassing situation and it was the Pakistan Board that came to the rescue by agreeing to play a hastily arranged match in Colombo to offset the losses the home board suffered due to the cancellation of matches against Australia and the West Indies.
The then Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga was sporting enough to acknowledge Pakistan’s timely support by playing at Colombo when he held aloft the trophy at the Qaddafi Stadium, Lahore.
The present Sri Lankan skipper Mehela Jayawardene has also referred to the point upon arrival in Karachi that the current visit was a kind of returning friendly favour to Pakistan who had toured the island nation when some teams had refused to travel there for security reasons some years ago.
“It was an obligation for the Sri Lankans to come to Pakistan when invited and even players who discussed the tour were of the opinion that it was time for Sri Lanka to return a gesture that Pakistan had shown almost under similar circumstances,” he said.

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Sri Lanka could be jolted in ODI series

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Although the present bunch of talented and experienced Sri Lankan cricketers has the mental toughness to overcome the nightmarish situations it found itself in during the just concluded three-nation tournament in Bangladesh but its recent inconsistency does provide Pakistan a window of opportunity in the three-match ODI series starting at the National Stadium, Karachi, on January 20.

It’s the same venue where the Sri Lankans had annexed the Asia Cup last year with hints of conviction. They had proved too good for all their Asian rivals to become the deserved continental champions.

On paper the Sri Lankans are still the stronger side and they should be the considered the favourites to dominate the series of three ODIs against the home side far too short of international exposure during the recent times.

Pakistan, however, have had the reputation of taking the strongest of opponents to ride on their day. It’s the team that can never be written off even while fielding the most ordinary of outfits.
The Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene, upon his arrival in Karachi, has played down the defeat at the hands of Bangladesh in their league meeting and then the great escape in the final against the same opponents by reaffirming that his side knew how to perform in adversity.

Jayawardene, being a shrewd leader besides being an outstanding batsman, must be aware of the fact, however, that it’s not a healthy sign to collapse against the minnows more than once.

Jayawardene would also be mindful of the fact that their magician spin duo of Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis may be blunted by the Pakistan batsmen, who play the spinners better than the best.

In the past it have been the genuine fast bowlers who have threatened Pakistan even on the docile wickets rather than any spin great. No matter how skilled and penetrative the Sri Lankan spinners have been elsewhere there’s no guarantee that they would drive home the advantage in Pakistan.

Muralitharan and Mendis have had phenomenal success. The 36-year-old Muralitharan, already the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket with a tally of 769, is on the threshold of achieving the similar record in ODIs. He looks set to go past the great Pakistan all-rounder Wasim Akram who was the first to reach the milestone of 500 wickets in ODIs.

It would be a great honour for Muralitharan to become the highest wicket-taker in both forms of the game. He is nine wickets away from the landmark it seems a matter of time for him to have it in his bag.

Besides the wily off-spinner Muralitharan, the unorthodox spin of Mendis has also taken the world by storm. He may not a big turner of the ball but he has enormous variety to fox the batsmen and the 23-year-old has also already entered record books by claiming 50 wickets in the least number of ODIs.

The Sri Lankans have a powerful batting line-up with the likes of Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne Dilshan in their ranks. The youngsters like Upul Tharanga, Chamara Kapugedera and Jehan Mubarak have to rise to the occasion to complement the experienced campaigners. They have a decent pace bowling attack and the presence of utility men like Farveez Maharoof adds balance to their team.

The home team is a blend of youth and experience with Shoaib Malik leading the side for the first time after being granted the extension to his tenure. Misbah-ul-Haq, Salman Butt, and Younis Khan will hold the key in batting while all-rounders Shahid Afridi, Yasir Arafat and Sohail Tanvir are expected to make their presence felt in a big way.

Hopefully the fit-again Shoaib Akhtar will not break down again to spearhead the attack during the entire length of the series with the tried trusted medium-pacers in Umar Gul and Rao Iftikhar in the support cast.

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A tale of two thrillers

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

January 16, 2009 turned out to be one of the most exciting days for the cricket enthusiasts all over the world. It was not unusual to have more one contest taking place on the day but there was double treat for the followers of the game as both the matches produced thrilling stuff until the very end.

Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were engaged in a low-scoring cliff-hanger in Mirpur while Australia and South Africa thrilled the audience at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) with yet another memorable encounter between two of the strongest sides in the business today.
Sri Lanka were extremely lucky to get away with it against Bangladesh and it were the heroics of Muttiah Muralitharan with the bat that saved the day for the tourists. The Sri Lankans had appeared dead and buried when the top half of their batting was back in the hut with only six runs on the board.
Bangladesh had become the firm favourites to lift the trophy even while defending a modest total of 152 in the final of the three-nation series but their hopes were shattered by the belligerence of Muralitharan who surprised everyone with his match-winning cameo down the order.
Muralitharan is always expected to be a match-winner but that’s because of his outstanding qualities with the ball. His magical off-spin bowling has engineered innumerable conquests for his team in every form of the game but probably it was for the first time in his illustrious career that his batting exploits turned the tide so decisively.

Although the Man of the Match award was clinched by Kumar Sangakkara for his half-century that might not have mattered had Muralitharan not produced that sensational unbeaten knock of 33 from only 16 balls.
Sri Lanka would have fancied their chances of recoding a cakewalk win when they came out to chase a target of 153 in 50 overs. Indeed it should have been a straight forward proposition for their star-studded batting but the target was looking out of reach after the nightmarish start to their innings.

Bangladesh also had made a recovery in their innings after being 54 for 5 in the 19th over. They got themselves into a very good position when they progressed to 149 for 6 at the end of 47 overs. Ajantha Mendis mauled the lower-order as the hosts last their last four wickets for only three runs.
The quality of cricket at the MCG was obviously higher where Australia and South Africa locked horns. After a few twists and turns during the course of the high-scoring fixture South Africa managed to pull of their sixth successive ODI win over the hosts at the historic ground.
Albie Morkel’s blistering unbeaten knock of 40 from 18 balls settled the issue which was still in doubt when 50 runs were still needed from the last six overs. JP Duminy and Neil McKenzie had earlier played their role admirably in reviving the innings that had been off to a shaky start while chasing target of 272 in 50 overs.

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Plenty of table tennis events planned in Karachi

By Syed Khalid Mahmood


Besides being the financial capital of the country, Karachi is also the hub of sporting activities in Pakistan. Table tennis has been one of the most popular games in the metropolis but its controlling bodies in the past lacked the visionary approach to raise its standard.
The game also suffered enormously due to the politicking in the bodies whose premier objective was to prolong their stay in office by hook or crook. The Pakistan Table Tennis Federation (PTTF), for a number of years, remained chiefly responsible for the decline all over the country and Karachi was no exception.
The game of table tennis, however, has come alive in Karachi for the past couple of years with the induction of a few committed individuals who have been trying desperately to make things happen. It’s a very pleasant change and the results are coming.
The leadership of the Karachi Table Tennis Association (KTTA) is in the capable hands of Dr Farhan Essa and Javed Chhotani, both of whom have already made a difference by putting things in the right direction.

The KTTA held a media briefing at the National Sports Training and Coaching Centre (NSTCC) on January 14 in which they announced their plans to organize Inter-Schools, Inter-Firms and Inter-Towns Championships besides a couple of more events during the first quarter of the year.
Dr Farhan Essa, Chairman KTTA, revealed that a coaching camp for the students will be starting as early as on January 15 in order to let them prepare for the upcoming tournaments.
“The Inter-Schools tournament will be starting on February 1 and it will be followed by the Inter-Towns event due to commence on February 15. The Inter-Firms tournament will be getting underway in the last week of February,” Dr Farhan Essa revealed.
“We have planned to organize the 2nd Dr Essa Mohammad Ranking Tournament and the Inter-District Tournament during the month of March,” he added.
“Moving further we have the Amroha Ranking Championships and the Islamia Open Championships whose dates will be finalized later. We will be holding a few other events too before getting ready to host the National Championship late this year,” Dr Farhan Essa said.

The KTTA Chairman acknowledged the support of the sports departments of the provincial and city governments, hoping to get maximum cooperation from them to accomplish their mission of improving the standard of table tennis in the metropolis.
The President of the Sindh Olympic Association (SOA) and the Sindh Minister for Sports, Dr Mohammad Ali Shah, who was also present on the occasion, lauded the efforts of the KTTA while announcing a grant of Rupees half a million.
“The initiatives of the KTTA are heartening and they deserve the support of the government as well as the private sector. We are confident that our grant will help them in organizing their tournaments. I am particularly looking forward to the Inter-Towns event that is a new concept,” Dr Shah observed.
Dr Shah, one of the leading orthopedic surgeons of the country, noted that table tennis was one sport that was particularly refreshing for the eyes.
The PTTF President S M Sibtain, also commended Dr Farhan Essan and his team at the KTTA for their proactive approach and he hoped that the other associations in the country will derive inspiration from them.

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Sri Lanka benefit from cancellation of India’s tour to Pakistan

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Sri Lanka, rather unfortunate not to have dethroned Australia in the last World Cup, have got a lucky break with the cancellation of India’s tour to Pakistan. They are the real beneficiaries.

The cricket authorities in Pakistan as well as in India eyed a series with Sri Lanka to fill the vacuum. They were the only team supposed to have a breather during this period of time but as the luck would have it they have not one but two teams to handle.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was eager to play host to a longer series against Sri Lanka to offset the losses but their counterparts became double-minded when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) also started pushing for a series around the same time.

Now both the tours have been confirmed. Sri Lanka would indeed be touring Pakistan, albeit in phases and in between they will play a series of One-day Internationals at home against India.

In fact the itinerary of Sri Lanka’s tour has now been revised following the confirmation of their series against India. The Sri Lankans desired curtailing their stay in Pakistan and the PCB hardly had any other choice. They didn’t have the cushion to turn down the request and they have agreed to scrap Multan as one of the venues for the three-match ODI series.

There is not security issue or anything related to it but the PCB was left with no other option than to stage back to back ODIs at the National Stadium, Karachi, and the third and final game to be held at the Qaddafi Stadium, Lahore.

According to the revised schedule, Sri Lanka will now play two ODIs on January 20 and 21 at the National Stadium, Karachi, with the final match of the series at the Qaddafi Stadium, Lahore, on January 24.

Originally the first game of the ODI series was to be played at Karachi on January 21, the second one in Lahore on January 24 and the third and fine one in Multan on January 27.

Sri Lanka's tour of Pakistan will be split into two parts. In the first part they will play the ODI series before returning home for a five-match ODI series against India but they will be back in Pakistan for two Tests.

Meanwhile the Sri Lankan authorities have officially confirmed that they will play host to India for a five-match limited overs series during the month of February. India’s hurriedly arranged tour to Sri Lanka will also include a Twenty20 International.

The dates and venues of the Sri Lanka-India matches are yet to be finalized but it seems a matter of time for the itinerary of the tour to be released.

The BCCI, eager to make up for the recent losses in revenue, has also approached their counterparts in New Zealand to add an extra Test match during India’s upcoming tour and it’s extremely likely that they would be accommodated.

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