West Indies save Antigua Test with skin of their teeth

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The West Indians, under fire in the recent past for having succumbed to defeats from position of strength, have starting showing great resilience lately and a great batting performance earned them a draw in the third Test against England at the Antigua Recreation Ground in St John’s, Antigua.

If it was the sensational spell of fast bowling of Jerome Taylor that enlivened the proceedings on the fourth afternoon of the first Test at the Sabina Park, Kingston, as England crashed to 51 all out giving the West Indies an innings victory, it was the last pair of Fidel Edwards and Daren Powell who bravely resisted the England bowlers for over half an hour to secure a draw for the hosts.

Although it may still be premature to say with conviction if the present West Indian team will continue coming off consistently but their performance against England certainly augurs well for the future.

It’s not often that the West Indians have applied themselves and displayed the level of commitment that we have witnessed recently. Chris Gayle doesn’t have the resources Clive Lloyd or Vivian Richards had had at their disposal but the credit goes to the present team management for having got the best out of the boys.

By saving the game, the West Indies have inched closer to recording a rare Test series win. With two games still to be played, England are not out of it yet but they might find it very difficult to floor the home side whose fierce determination in the field must have gladdened the hearts of their supporters all over the Caribbean islands.

Andrew Strauss, having taken over the captaincy following the resignation of Kevin Pietersen in controversial circumstances, must be wondering where he went wrong in allowing the West Indies to escape with a draw in a Test match that looked in England’s grasp from the day one.

The decision of Strauss not to enforce the follow-on on the third evening looked debatable. He probably misjudged the state of the wicket or may be he was not fully satisfied with the fitness of his key bowlers. His counterpart was also guilty of misreading the pitch when he opted to field first after winning the toss. 

The odd ball was certainly keeping low from the first day but the pitch didn’t break up as much as was being anticipated on the following days. The pitch didn’t deteriorate that badly and even the West Indian tail-enders managed to hang on.

Strauss may also face criticism for having delayed the declaration on the fourth day but the fact remains that he didn’t desire giving the West Indies any chance whatsoever of getting to the target. After all it was at the same ground where the hosts had successfully chased down a world-record target of against Australia about six years ago.

But the England skipper also deserves accolades for having preferred off-spinner Graeme Swann over left-arm spinner Monty Panesar. Same was the case of Owais Shah who replaced the struggling Ian Bell. Both Swann and Shah rose to the occasion and they are likely to be part of the playing eleven in both the remaining Tests.

Strauss himself batted exceptionally well and his magnificent knock of 169 helped England post a commanding first innings total. 

Talking of batting, Ramnaresh Sarwan played a couple of fabulous knocks in the game. He narrowly missed the rare feat of scoring a century in each innings of the match. He batted fluently in both the outings.  

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Intikhab confident of giving Sri Lankans tough time in Tests

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam appeared very confident ahead of the two-Test series against Sri Lanka starting at the National Stadium, Karachi, on February 21.

In a brief chat, soon after having checked in at Hotel Pearl Continental, Karachi, on February 18, Intikhab expressed the hope that his boys would come up with improved performance in the Test series.

“Our team is in a very positive frame of mind right now and the sessions we have had at the Steel Township during the past few days have helped greatly in boosting their confidence for the upcoming battle,” Intikhab stated.

“Our boys are fully prepared mentally and physically to take on the Sri Lankans. They feel motivated and eager to play to their potential. They have realized that whatever had happened in the ODI series was history. They are looking forward to the Test series with renewed confidence and greater self-belief,” Intikhab reckoned. 

“We know the Sri Lankans are a world-class side but we are confident to give them a run for their money in the two Tests that we are going to play in the home series. Our team is very well balanced having a combination of youth of experience,” he added. 

Intikhab was particularly happy with the results of the recent stint at the Steel Township. “We had a wonderful short training camp at the Steel Township where boys had the opportunity of gelling together,” he noted.

He dispelled the impression that there were any negative thoughts involved behind having the camp at a distant location.

“It was just the desire of the newly appointed Pakistan captain, Younis Khan, to spend some time together with the boys without any external pressures,” Intikhab said.

Putting his weight behind Younis Khan, the Pakistan coach believed that the change of guard has helped and the team is appearing mentally tougher.

“Younis is a fighter to the core and whole team is right behind him. He has the quality of inspiring his colleagues to rise to the occasion,” Intikhab, who was also the coach of Pakistan’s World Cup winning squad in 1992, thought. 

The coach was satisfied with the squad chosen for the first Test stating that the selectors have picked the best available lot with several good options in batting and bowling department. 
Intikhab Alam did not mince words in stating his team was not in position to afford the luxury of entering a Test match with five specialist bowlers. 

“I don’t think that we can dare taking that kind of risk. Most probably we would be entering the first Test with three fast bowlers and a specialist leg-spinner in Danish Kaneria. The off-spin of Shoaib Malik will be a bonus,” he acknowledged.

“We have considerable depth in our batting with the experienced hands like Salman Butt, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq and Shoaib Malik in the ranks. Plus we have some very talented youngsters all of whom have the capacity to score heavily,” Intikhab remarked.

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KCCA President puts his weight behind Younis Khan

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The President of the Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA), Dr Mohammad Ali Shah, reckons that the newly installed skipper Younis Khan has the temperament and the skills to come good in the hot heat.

“Having known him closely for a number of years, I firmly believe that he has the potential to rise to the occasion. Captaining the Pakistan team presents a very big challenge to anyone but Younis is one man who has the capability to deliver,” Dr Shah stated in a recent conversation.

Dr Shah, who is also the Minister of Sports in the province of Sindh besides being the President of the Sindh Olympic Association (SOA), appeared convinced that Younis will handle the demanding situation pretty well.

“I don’t think that his batting will be affected or he will feel burdened by captaincy. He knows how to handle the pressure. A truly gifted batsman, having scored heavily for the past many years, he seems to be possessing the leadership qualities to motivate the national team whose morale is on the lower side after the defeat in the recent ODI series against Sri Lanka,” Dr Shah, who is himself an iconic figure in the field of medicine and surgery, observed.

“Younis has had very time little time at his disposal because the Sri Lankans have now returned for the two-Test series. He was appointed the national skipper soon after the debacle in the ODI series. Here is an opportunity for him to lead by example and turn it around,” he believed.

“Younis is basically an enterprising cricketer. He has batted well in all parts of the world, having scored consistently against the strongest of bowling attacks. He has been rated as one of the best number three batsmen in the business. He needs to continue scoring heavily because his team would be looking forward to him. He is the senior most batsman in the side and he will need to bring all his experience into play to lead from the front,” Dr Shah stated.

The words of encouragement from Dr Shah should be a source of inspiration for Younis, who was appointed as captain of Pakistan soon after Shoaib Malik had stepped down following 234-run defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka in the third ODI at the Qaddafi Stadium.

Younis was indeed the automatic choice to take over provided he was willing to accept the job. He had been offered the national captaincy in the past as well but he had made a mess of the opportunity that came his way.

It was described as a collective decision of the PCB to appoint Younis as the skipper once Shoaib Malik was out of the way. 

Younis was playing the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match for his employers Habib Bank Limited (HBL) at the Qaddafi Stadium when he was summoned for a meeting with the PCB chairman, Ijaz Butt. According to the reports the meeting didn’t last more than 15 minutes and the middle-order batsman consented to lead the national team without having a second thought.

Probably in order to make the new skipper a little more comfortable, the PCB Chairman, had ruled out the possibility of having separate captains for Tests and One-day Internationals as Younis was installed as captain for Tests as well as ODIs for an indefinite period. 

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Mushtaq Mohammad considers Younis Khan better captain than Shoaib Malik

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Mushtaq Mohammad, acclaimed as the greatest cricket captain produced by Pakistan, has no doubts in his mind that Younis Khan, having been recently appointed the skipper of the national team, is far more suited to the job than his predecessor Shoaib Malik.

“Younis does have the leadership qualities that are so essential in getting the best out of the team. When you are the captain of the side you to inspire the members of your team, lift their spirits and back them,” Mushtaq remarked in a one-to-one chat at the Customs Cricket Academy in Karachi on February 16.

Having arrived from England only the other day, Mushtaq reckoned that the appointment of Younis as captain could help Pakistan in becoming a major force in world cricket once more.

“To be honest, Shoaib Malik never impressed me as a captain. In my book he wasn’t the right candidate to be offered the job. May be the cricket board had no other choice at that moment but this didn’t help the cause of the team,” Mushtaq believed.

“But let me add here that Shoaib Malik is an exceptionally gifted batsman who is capable of playing big knocks. He has already scored a few centuries and there seems no reason why he should not be scoring many more in future,” he asserted.

He dispelled the impression that Pakistan would be at any disadvantage in the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka for not having played Test cricket for over a year.

“I don’t think this would matter when the two teams take the field. As professionals every cricketer is expected to deliver in all sorts of situation. It’s a new series and the Pakistan team should think positively,” Mushtaq remarked.

“I do sincerely hope that our team doesn’t use this as an excuse if they are unable to perform in the two-Test series. Our boys would be advised to forget about the layoff and concentrate on the job in their hands instead,” he advised.

Mushtaq, who is remembered for having galvanized a bunch of high-profile individuals into a world beating outfit in the 1970s, remains convinced that Pakistan could give the Sri Lankans a run for their money in the Test series if they played to their potential.

Having led the team to victories in Tests in Australia and the West Indies during the 1976-77 season he regretted that Pakistan were not playing enough international cricket for the past few years.

“One can understand that the conditions in Pakistan might not have been entirely to the satisfaction of the visiting teams in the last few years but why haven’t Pakistan toured other countries more regularly than before to make up for the cancelled home engagements,” he questioned.

“I think the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) needs to be more proactive in their approach and they should look for the ways and the means to meet the challenge. Everyone knows that the situation is not ideal but you know one has to work harder for creating opportunities,” Mushtaq observed.

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Spotlight on rival captains in Pakistan-Sri Lanka Test series

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, is a mentally tough man who mostly hides his feelings well be it in the field or in the media sessions. He is cool, calm and composed most of the time. He negotiates the trickiest of the questions as comfortably as he handles the quickest of bowlers.

The newly installed Pakistan captain, Younis Khan, should look to his counterpart and try to learn those traits that could come handy for him. The last Test series for Jayawardene as captain will be the first for Younis in the hot seat.

As Jayawadene will vouch, the national captaincy in the sub-continent presents tougher challenge than say in Australia, England or New Zealand. In this part of the world there are greater expectations from the team irrespective of its strength or the lack of it.

Jayawardene, who has been his country’s most successful skipper, had announced only recently the decision to quit the captaincy after the two-Test series against Pakistan starting on February 21.

Jayawardene is optimistic that his teammates will help him end his tenure on a winning note. He has faith in his team and there’s likelihood that the commander will be given a worthy sendoff by his troops.

The Sri Lankans certainly enjoy an edge over their rivals in every department of the game, going into the series with very high hopes of winning it handsomely. If they play to their potential the home side will be struggling for survival.

The one area where the difference between the two sides would be most obvious is captaincy. On one hand there will be an inspirational leader, having proved his mettle in every corner of the world while his counterpart will need to dispel the impression that he’s not been chosen only because there was no other candidate for the job.

Jayawardene has the potential to extract the best from the guiles of Murali Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis, the two outstanding spin bowlers in the Sri Lankan line-up but what about Younis. He has the tougher job up his sleeves of motivating a team that has not played Test cricket for a long time.

Jayawardene has more options and the bowling attack at his disposal is quite lethal on paper. The situation is not pleasing enough for Younis as Pakistan will once again be without its two most potent bowlers, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, for different reasons.

The Sri Lankans have more depth and experience in batting whereas Pakistan will be looking forward to their skipper to do the bulk of the scoring in the longer version of the game.
Younis will be missing Mohammad Yousuf, who had anchored the Pakistan batting for so long before joining the Indian Cricket League (ICL).

The only factor that is in favour of Younis is that it’s going to be a home series where the curators can bring some relief to them. Obviously he would like to have pitches prepared that don’t assist the spinners.

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India need to do away with old habits to rule cricket world

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The Indians have fielded stronger outfits in the cricket field and have had bigger names in their folds in the past but for some reason or the other they were unable to produce the desired results. 

The present Indian side, led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coached by Gary Kirsten, has come up trumps and it has demonstrated the kind of spirit and intent that has caught their opponents on the wrong foot more often than not.

Never before have they combined so well to accomplish their mutual objective of putting India among the top teams of the world. The present lot, a blend of youth and experience, has taken the world by storm in all forms of the game.

But there are still a few tendencies which the Indians need to overcome if they desire to become the number one team in the world. They will have to decide whether they are contented to be ranked as one of the best teams in the business or they are indeed interested in aiming for the top slot.

They will have to abandon some of their old habits if they are eager to be the top ranked cricketing nation. In the past as well some of the Indian outfits have had the capabilities of claiming the honours but for reasons better known to them and their concerned stake-holders they were guilty of dropping the intensity at the wrong time.

Sourav Ganguly was an inspirational leader and he had raised a team that succeeded in taming every opponent. It can’t be mere coincidence that the Indians kept qualifying for the final of almost every tournament they played and choked at the last hurdle. 

The present Indian line-up has fresh legs and it has set high standards in the field. The youngsters have brought energy that has helped them become even more competitive than their predecessors but they won’t be able to conquer the world if they modeled themselves on the same lines.

Dhoni will have to stand up and tell his boys that no half measurers are needed in any international game irrespective of the fact that the rubber is dead or it’s the final of a tournament. They need to perform consistently and there should never be doubts of anyone under-performing for any reason.

It was really a shame that the Indians didn’t complete a whitewash in the recent ODI series in Sri Lanka. The hosts were demoralized after having lost the first four games but the Indians let them in by picking their weakest possible side.

It’s always a good idea to try out the newcomers after the series has been decided but resting the top three bowlers from the same match didn’t make sense. The weakened Indian attack was taken for aplenty and then their own batters didn’t do justice while chasing a challenging target.

It looked as if the Indians didn’t mind losing the last game and they were more than satisfied having pocketed the series 4-1. What they had conveniently ignored was the fact that it’s not easy to stage a comeback after conceding the initiative. 

They very nearly had to pay the price for the adventure in the fifth and final ODI when they were pushed into a tight corner in the one-off Twenty20 International at the same venue. It was only the genius of the Pathan brothers, Irfan and Yousuf, allowing them to win the tie they seemed to have lost for all practical purposes five overs ago.

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Jayawardene’s abrupt resignation could ruin Sri Lankan cricket

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

I was really stunned to hear the news about the decision of Mahela Jayawardene to resign as the Sri Lankan captain. More shocking was the response from the Sri Lanka Cricket who announced that the resignation has been confirmed.

The timing and the manner in which Jayawardene has done this leave little doubt in one’s mind that all is not well in the Sri Lankan cricket affairs. 

There must have been a combination of factors that compelled Jayawardene, the most successful captain in the Sri Lankan history, to give up captaincy on the eve of the two-Test series against Pakistan. 

One doesn’t need to be an expert to determine the fact that Jayawardene’s resignation has been prompted by non-cricketing reasons.

On the field his record was awesome, both as a captain and a batsman .He led his country to 15 wins in 26 matches in which averaged 64.70. More remarkably he scored as many as 11 centuries in these games, highlighting the fact that he excelled in the challenging times unlike the ordinary mortals.

He led by example and helped his team perform better on the foreign soils than in the past. Under his captaincy Sri Lanka managed drew Test series in England, New Zealand and the West Indies. 

His record as the one-day skipper was not all that impressive, given the unpredictable nature of the game, but he had more victories in the game that defeats. He led Sri Lanka in 94 One-day Internationals, with his team winning 54 games and losing 35.

Jayawardene was chiefly responsible for guiding his team to the final of the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean where the other Asian giants, Pakistan and India, had made first round exit. He confirmed Sri Lanka’s supremacy at the continental level by annexing the Asia Cup in Pakistan last July.

The Sri Lankans were generally performing very well indeed in all forms of the game and Jayawardene was looking in total command of the situation in the field. There were odd mishaps as well like the unexpected defeat at the hands of Pakistan in the first ODI of the recent series at the National Stadium, Karachi, but such things do happen with every team once in a while.

There should be no complaints about the result of the just concluded ODI home series against India in which the tourists were streets ahead in all departments of the game. The Indians appeared to have done their homework against the spinners against whom they were most vulnerable when they toured the island earlier in the season. 

Jayawardene’s resignation as captain is most likely to hurt the Sri Lankan cricket because they needed his cool head during the phase in which they might be losing some of their key players. 

It looks absolutely clear now that Jayawardene ran out of steam in overcoming the pressures off the field and he deemed it proper to part ways gracefully rather than getting engaged in politics.

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A day of brothers in international cricket

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Quite remarkably it was the set of brothers who engineered victories for their respective countries the same day. The Hussey brothers did it for Australia in Brisbane and the Pathan brothers excelled for India in Colombo.

What a night it was at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo where Sri Lanka and India were engaged in the cracker of a match. The first-ever Twenty20 International on the Sri Lankan soil had nearly all the ingredients of a dream game that kept the audience on the toes until the very end.

The spectators could not have wished for a more dramatic encounter. They got full value for their money as 345 runs were scored off only 39.2 overs and they had the pleasure of watching 11 sixes and 32 fours.

The Indians, the reigning world champions in the shortest version of the game, were the overwhelming favourites to win the one-off tie but they were in all sorts of trouble in the middle overs while chasing a not too formidable target of 172.

The pendulum had swung Sri Lanka’s way when the Pathan brothers, Yousuf and Irfan, were joined at the crease. The ball was turning and the runs were hard to come by. The asking rate had gone into double digit and there were only fast bowlers Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma padded up in the hut.

With seven down at 115, the faces of the Indians in the dressing room and those sitting elsewhere in the crowd told the story. It were the Sri Lankan flags that were being waved and it was the turn of their supporters to sing and dance. Little did these cheering fellows know that the complexion of the game would be changed during the course of the next few overs.

It was Yousuf who took the initiative by going after leg-spinner Malinga Bandara who was threatening to look unplayable. The move paid dividends as the Sri Lankan skipper, Tillakaratne Dilshan, was forced to take measures that he probably had not anticipated. In the rush he made the fatal mistake of not pressing into service the known India-killer, Sanath Jayasuriya, who still had one over left.

Jayasuriya has had the tendency of delivering against all odds when the Indians are his opponents. Probably his new skipper was unaware of history. His decision to turn to fast bowlers allowed the Pathan brothers to use the pace of the ball in finding boundaries that had dried up during the spells of Bandara and Jayasuriya.

The Pathan brothers played with a cool head, not showing any signs of nerves and their 59-run partnership off 25 balls helped India to complete the win with four balls to spare. But the Indian think-thank should be worried about the manner in which Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja tackled the spinners.

The youthful Sri Lankan side gave a very fine account of themselves and their intensity remained high until the very end. They deserved the credit for having staged a forceful comeback after having put runs on the board.

Earlier in the day it were the Hussey brothers, Michael and David, who stole the limelight helping Australia level the ODI series against New Zealand in Brisbane. The hosts were struggling at 101 for three at the halfway stage of their innings with the asking rate touching nearly run a ball. It needed a career best effort from David Hussey to put them back on track and fittingly it was a hit for the maximum from his brother Michael that settled the issue in the penultimate over.

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