Victorious Pakistan bridge squad gets mixed response upon arrival

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

It has become a kind of tradition in Pakistan where the sporting accomplishments, rather few in the recent times, have not been used for the promotion and further development of sports.

Everyone likes to be associated with the winners. Considerable hype is created whenever a sporting title is clinched. That’s the time when media runs after the athletes and their officials, who otherwise have to chase them to get their attention.

A couple of veteran bridge administrators of the country were taken by surprise when they caught the glimpse of so many television cameras and reporters at the Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, on June 2, who had assembled there to cover the arrival of the triumphant Pakistan squad having won the 16th Bridge Federation of Asia and Middle East (BFAME) Championship in Chennai, India, the other day.

While there was a heavy turnout of the media contingent to greet the national heroes and record their expressions, none of the officials of the Pakistan Bridge Federation (PBF) or the Karachi Bridge Association (KBA) were seen there to accord welcome to a team that brought home the title after 12 years.


Only a few associates of the Mind Sports Association of Pakistan (MSAP) were there to garland the victorious bridge outfit comprising of Rashid-ul-Ghazi, Tehsin Gheewala, Tahir Masood, Javed Ahmed, Syed Hassan Jawwad and Hasan Askari with Tariq Rasheed Khan. They also celebrated the occasion by distributing sweets at the airport.

It’s probably an indication of things to come. The PBF is quite unlikely to make any effort to cash in on the opportunity provided to them to popularize the sport.

Speaking to the media corps, Tariq Rasheed Khan, attributed the resounding success in Chennai to teamwork and consistency.

“Our team displayed tremendous self-belief and was not overawed by the occasion. We didn’t show any sign of nerves entering the final even though India had the better of us in the league matches on a couple of occasions,” Tariq Rasheed, whose team touched down at Karachi after nearly 12 hours of journey that included change of aircraft and five-hour stay at Mumbai, remarked.

“We were not much concerned even with the carryover of 12 points which the Indians had in the final. All we had to do was to keep playing well and avoid mistakes which we did and it made all the difference between winning and losing. The Indians of course were disappointed but that’s the beauty of the game,” he reminded.

He was particularly delighted at having brought to an end Indian’s winning streak in the BFAME Championship.

“Yes we have had close encounters with them in the finals over the years but somehow we were not winning the title. It’s very satisfying to have brought back the title after 12 long years. Hopefully we will be able to retain it for sometime,” he added.

When questioned about the most significant contributions to the success of his team, he singled out the pair of Rashid-ul-Ghazi and Tahseen Gheewala for having played superbly throughout the event.

Rashid-ul-Ghazi, during his brief chat with the media, disclosed that the team had received ‘timely’ tips from the legendary Zia Mahmood during the course of the championship.

“Zia was kind enough to advise us and pass on a few tricks during our discussions. It boosted our morale and we came up with the performance to win the title. Now we have to that momentum into the Bermuda Bowl World Championship in the Netherlands later this year,” Rashid-ul-Ghazi, acclaimed as Pakistan’s most accomplished bridge player for the past many years, hoped.

Tahseen Gheewala, nicknamed the baby of side, targeted Pakistan’s presence among the top eight nations in this year’s Bermuda Bowl.

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IPL threatens future of cricket

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Whatever the ‘engineered’ polls on the partner television networks might broadcast, the just concluded fourth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) seemed to have created serious doubts in the minds of the people many of whom preferred to tune in to other channels for recreational purposes.

The general feeling among the masses was that the matches were being played according the whims of a few individuals and the cricketers in the field were merely dancing to the tune of their masters.

In other words it was being suspected that every match was following a set pattern and cricket was played just as an excuse. Far too many one-sided matches possibly made the people believe that nobody cared for the entertainment in the field which was the basic purpose of staging the tournament.

There’re a few students of the game who seemed convinced that the outfits in the IPL 2011 arrived in every match with an agenda of their own which necessarily didn’t mean winning the day.

The organizers succeeded in roping in crowds at the strength of the big names present in each of the 10 participating team but it could be felt that the intensity was lacking and the arrangements looked cosmetic.

I don’t think it had much to do with the number of teams or the matches. It had something to relate with the awareness level that seemed to be improving. Obviously the cricket enthusiasts cannot be taken for a ride day in and day out.

The cricket-crazy community might overlook or ignore a mishap or a mismatch once in a while as they had so in the tournaments like the World Cup but to expect them to absorb it every single day is definitely asking for trouble.

As somebody very rightly pointed out there have been no high-measures in the IPL. So has been the case in the opinion of many people about the foul play involved during the course of almost every match.

The cricket lovers of India in particular have more reasons to feel dismayed and hard done by the policies of their Board whose prioritization to the IPL at the cost of the game remains a source of annoyance.

Isn’t it criminal to rest or sideline the world-class performers like Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag and Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the international matches in order to let them concentrate fully on the IPL?

Isn’t it an injustice with the cricket fans of the Caribbean to deprive them from the pleasure of watching these top guns in action on their grounds? The Indians don’t visit the West Indies often and sending a depleted team there amounts to compromising on national interests.

The only peace of mind for every cricket buff is that the IPL is finally over. Very little did people seem to care about who won or who lost out finally! Just like the Indian selectors who didn’t take the performances of the IPL in consideration while picking up second-string squads to the West Indies for they must have known it better than the most about what really was going on.

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Generous West Indies let Pakistan square Test series

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

I agree with Ian Bishop, a West Indian speedster of yesteryears, that the hosts let slip a Test series against Pakistan they could have won and they will be disappointed with the final result.

Yet again it was the generosity of the West Indians that allowed Pakistan's to level the two-Test series. The hosts were guilty of taking their rivals casually and not giving the kind of performance they were capable of.

As much as the West Indian cricketers, their administrators also played a definite role by providing Pakistan the red carpet. When even a kid knew that the Pakistan batsmen were vulnerable to swing and pace there was absolutely no sense in preparing tracks that suited spinners.

The West Indians proved very generous hosts indeed by letting Pakistan play both the Tests on slow pitches to surrender the home advantage. We came across the kind of pitches in the Caribbean that the Pakistani cricketers love at home.

Pakistan's slow bowlers picked up as many as 32 of the 40 available wickets and they themselves were surprised by the amount of turn on offer at the two venues. It certainly was a pleasant surprise for the spinning duo of Saeed Ajmal and Abdul Rahman who were also assisted by part-timer Mohammad Hafeez.

"We have been surprised by the bounce and the spin that we have gotten from the pitches. This is why we are very happy. Spinners are happy when they get pitches that turn, but to also get the bounce is good, and the West Indies have struggled against the spin and the bounce. It would not be a bad idea to dig up this pitch, and carry it around with me, so that I can get plenty of wickets," an ecstatic Abdul Rahman observed.

Equally happy were the Pakistani batsmen like Taufiq Umar and Misbah-ul-Haq, who notched up centuries on the docile pitch that blunted the West Indian fast bowlers.

The home side had to pay very heavy price for having let the Pakistan tail-enders wag in the first innings. The last wicket stand between Saeed Ajmal and Tanvir Ahmed turned the tide decisively and Pakistan won the match by 196 runs after being in doldrums on the opening day.

No matter what the West Indian skipper, Darren Sammy, had to say in the post-match media briefing not many people were inclined to agree with him when he spoke about his team having taken plenty of positives out of the series.

It became a forgettable series for them in the end. They squandered golden opportunity to win a Test series for the first time in more than two years. All they needed was to exert some more pressure on the visitors which they didn’t do.

The young West Indian brigade had the momentum coming into the second Test and they had Pakistan on the run in the first innings but the last-wicket stand turned it around.

The lady luck smiled on Misbah-ul-Haq and his boys who made the most of the opportunities offered to them. They were more than happy to have squared the Test series, after pocketing the ODI series, with all those issues regarding selection and management.

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Pace, not spin, rattles Pakistan batsmen once more

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

No matter how much purchase the pitch was offering to the debutant West Indian leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo in the fourth innings of the first Test against Pakistan at the Providence Stadium in Guyana it was the pace that had to make to difference and so it.

Bishoo could have been a potential match-winner against any other side in the given circumstances but it was extremely unlikely for him to spin Pakistan out even though the batting was brittle and lacked experience or class.

Probably the weakest of all the Pakistani teams to have embarked on a tour of the Caribbean, Misbah-ul-Haq and his teammates must have been hoping for some more overs from Bishoo to take the fight to the West Indian camp.

The target of 219 in the low-scoring game was always going to be a challenging proposition with the uneven bounce of the track. It may have surprised a few self-proclaimed experts but all the 10 wickets were shared by the fast bowlers and the much talked about Bishoo went wicket-less even after 21 overs.

In fact the complete failure of Bishoo in the second innings must have been a cause of concern for the skipper Darren Sammy, who himself took the centre stage when it mattered most. It was his spell that sealed the fate of the match.

The West Indians demonstrated the rare self-belief and attacked their opponents with purpose, unlike the first three One-day Internationals in which they were found guilty of having lost it mentally.

Sammy returned a five-wicket haul to bowl his side to first Test victory for more than a year. The West Indies had not tasted a Test win after that sensational spell from Jerone Taylor had blown England away early last year.

“We as a team needed this performance. Lately, things hadn't been going well but I had the belief, this team had the belief," Sammy observed after grabbing Man of the Match award, which he narrowly snatched from teammate Ravi Rampaul.

"Rampaul looks fit and has worked really hard with Ottis Gibson. It was a tough decision to pick between him and Fidel Edwards," Sammy added.

"It was a difficult pitch. We found ourselves not playing the spin too well. But I commend the guys for the effort. They batted out time and put in a total which in the end was enough to get the victory,” he acknowledged.

Pakistan’s captain Misbah, who led the fightback in the company of Asad Shafiq and Umar Akmal, was sporting enough to concede that the better team had won.

“To lose this Test is disappointing, they played better cricket and bowled disciplined lines," he stated.

“We dropped so many catches and gave away so many runs to the lower order. We were a little disappointing from the batting point of view also. We fought well on the third day to recover after losing early wickets but most of our guys got out to good balls," Misbah believed.

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Wasim Hashmi’s initiatives take Judo to rural Sindh

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Sukkur emerged triumphant in the first-ever SSB Rural Sindh Judo Championship will be organized by the Sindh Judo Association (SJA), with the collaboration of the Sindh Sports Board (SSB), at the Jinnah Hall Baldia Complex in Mirpurkhas.

Syed Wasim Hashmi, President SJA, and Vice President, Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF), played the lead role in taking the sport to the rural part of the province with the collaboration of the Sindh Sports Board (SSB).

Wasim Hashmi has remained passionate about spreading martial arts and he continues to spare time and resources for the promotion of judo in particular despite his preoccupations as a top income-tax lawyer of the country.

Judo has generally been organized in the urban centres of the province, notably Karachi and Hyderabad, and it was a novel idea to have an event exclusively for those living in the less privileged rural areas of Sindh.

Wasim Hashmi and other officials of the SJA were thrilled with the response to the inaugural edition of the SSB Rural Sindh Judo Championship and they remained confident about making it a regular feature.

According to the results announced by the organizers, Sukkur won the championship by accumulating 55 points while hosts Mirpurkhas ended runners-up with 45 points. Nawabshah stood third with 25 points while Badin and Larkana shared fourth position with 20 points each. Umerkot and Sanghar could muster only five points each.

Sukkur clinched a couple of gold medals besides two silver medals and a bronze medal while Mirpurkhas also secured two gold medals alongwith one silver medal and as many bronze medal. Nawabshah didn’t get any gold but they compensated by winning as many as 10 silver medals.

The below 50-kg contest was won by Abdul Moin Khan of Sukkur with Azam Ali of Nawabshah finishing second and Imran Ali of Larkana and Bahadur Ali of Badin sharing third position.

Nusrat Hussain of Mirpurkhas won the below 56-kg event with Aneeq Khan of Sukkur taking second position and Mohammad Imran of Badin and Tariq Ahmed of Nawabshah being joint third.

Ghazanfar Ali of Sukkur clinched the gold medal in below 60-kg competition with Nooruddin of Mirpurkhas securing silver medal and Dilshad Ahmed of Sanghar and Mohammad Rafiq of Nawabshah taking home bronze medals.

The gold medal in the below 66-kg category by claimed by Sajid Ali of Larkana while Mohammad Alamgir of Sukkur earned silver medal and Farid Ahmed of Mirpurphas and Asif Khan of Nawabshah got bronze medals.

Aurangzeb Khan of Mirpurkhas was the winner of the Open weight contest with Majid Ali of Badin) ending as the runner-up and Malang Sami of Umerkot and Ishaq Ansari of Sukkur finishing third.

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West Indian mismanagement gifts Pakistan ODI series

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The West Indians, unlike the past, proved to be very generous hosts. There was a time, not many decades ago, when the visiting teams used to be fearful of going to the Caribbean for a number of reasons. Not only the hosts used to be a dangerous side but the entire environment over there was intimidating enough to keep the visitors under pressure nearly all the time.

Pakistan have had successful tours of the West Indies even when playing in the Caribbean was the most challenging proposition. The teams led by Mushtaq Mohammad in 1976-77 and the one captained by Imran Khan in 1988-89 had overcome the pressures with true grit and resilience.

It’s quite amazing, however, how this inexperienced Pakistan outfit, with the enigmatic Shahid Afridi at the helm of the affairs, managed to win the series of five One-day Internationals in the West Indies.

In fact there must have been occasions when they must have even fancied their chances of whitewashing the hosts if they continued to take things so lightly. It was incredible how the West Indian Cricket Board was handling matters. They appeared oblivious of the fact that they had a duty to perform. I don’t think they have the license to do anything thing they like at the expense of the sport.

Cricket has been on the decline in the Caribbean for a long time but it will soon become a dead sport over there if their administrators continue having fun at the top. Whatever the reasons, wasn’t it a pity that the top West Indian stars were stealing the limelight in the Indian Premier League and the young ones with limited talents and experience were biting the dust back home.

Experimenting with youth at home is not a crime but discarding the seasoned campaigners for no rhyme or reason is criminal. You just cannot drop your experienced fellows on the basis an odd bad performance. Their reputation is not built overnight. They take years to mature. Throwing them out when they still have plenty to offer and their replacements are not there has to be branded as poor management.

Shahid Afridi and his boys must have been pleasantly surprised to find that the hosts would prove so soft. The West Indians, with meager resources at their disposal, were guilty of not applying themselves and the series was decided after the first three games.

The manner in which the West Indian batsmen handled the Pakistan spinners showed they were not prepared for international cricket yet. The home bowlers were short of confidence and experience as well which allowed the series to be settled so quickly.

As it turned out in the last two games, the West Indians could have kept the series alive much longer had they displayed some belief in the first three encounters in which they had batted very poorly indeed.

The West Indies salvaged some pride by winning the last two games to make it 2-3 which also made them realize that they could have pocketed the series quite comfortably if they showed little more discipline and firepower.

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Munaf Patel indeed was unsung hero of India's World Cup triumph

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Munaf Patel indeed was unsung hero of India's recent World Cup triumph as pointed out by their bowling coach Eric Simons. He was the bowler who stood tall in the pressure-cooker situations in the friendliest of batting conditions.

The Indian batters were flashed prominently on the front pages of the newspapers for making the runs but there was little mention of their bowlers who stuck to their task and delivered at the right times.

The Indian bowlers, in fact, were being targeted by the media for leaking far too many runs in the earlier part of the competition without realizing that the pitches were flat with no margin of error whatsoever.

India’s problems were compounded when their leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, drafted in the team as a secret weapon, was unable to perform beyond the warm-up games and Shantikumaran Sreesanth, the liveliest of their medium-pacers, was all over the place. The fitness of injury-prone Ashish Nehra remained an issue as ever.

There were not too many options up their sleeves and the pressure was on Patel to stop the flow of runs from his end to allow Zaheer Khan to attack with the new ball. Both these bowlers put in great effort to let the spinners play their part according to the plan.

While the success of Zaheer Khan was not unexpected for he has been the spearhead of the attack for a long time, the performance of Patel, who might not have even played the World Cup if Praveen Kumar was fit, exceeded expectations. With a tally of 11 scalps, he was India's third-highest wicket-taker in the World Cup.

Simons made the right observation that the high degree of technical skills that India's bowling attack possessed made up for its lack of express pace all through the tournament.

"We had singled out the bowlers for the last 3-4 series and Praveen's injury had been a setback for us as he was part of our plans,” the Indian bowling coach stated, adding that it was Patel who had given the bowling unit reassurance when he arrived, with both an awareness of his own skills and his ability to adapt.

"Munaf is one of the unsung heroes of the World Cup for us - he stepped in and played a vital part for us, after we lost Praveen and Ashish suffered from injuries during the tournament. Munaf has learnt to understand his bowling and stuck to his game plan taking some crucial wickets," he complimented.

"Munaf never once doubted himself or what he could offer the team. His work ethic is enormous; he has a very strong and steady head on his shoulders and calmness in any situation. He gave Zaheer the freedom to bowl very freely and aggressively." Simons acknowledged.

The terrific performance in the World Cup opens the floodgates for Patel, who was once rated as the fastest bowler in India. He used to generate tremendous pace at the start of his career but he lost his radar and momentum resulting in his disappearance from the scene far too quickly than anticipated.

He has staged a very forceful comeback in international cricket and he should now be deemed a certainty for India’s tours to the West Indies, England and Australia later this year.

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Ghias, Kashif come out trumps in Dilshad bridge tourney

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The youthful duo of Ghias Khan and Kashif Shah emerged triumphant in the inaugural Dilshad Open Pairs Bridge Championship, organized by the Mind Sports Association of Pakistan (MSAP), at the Aslam Bridge Hall, housed in the National Stadium, Karachi, on April 23.

Youth dominated over experience on a day that saw quite a few seasoned campaigners taking the backseat and the stage was dominated by the young guns. Ghias Khan and Kashif Shah had the satisfaction of going past some of the big names of the mind sport in the country.

According to the official results released by the MSAP, Ghias Khan-Kashif Shah won the trophy by securing 62% points while Azwerul Haq-Ishaq Subhani (59.74%) and Tanvir Mazahir-Anwar Kazilbash (58.91%) finished second and third respectively among the 49 participating pairs in the tournament dedicated to the late Masud Saleem, acclaimed as one of the legends of the game.

Shahab Serki-Anisur Rahman came fourth their aggregate of 58.27% while Farhat Abbas-Syed Anwar Kamal ended fifth with their tally of 56.68%.

The championship named after Dilshad Ahmed, one of the popular bridge figures, offered a purse Rs 50,000 in prize money whereas it was originally planned to disburse Rs 30,000 among the top performers.

The one-day event was dedicated to the legendary Masud Saleem, who used to partner the great Zia Mahmood in what was Pakistan’s golden era in international bridge arena.

The venue of the event was changed in view of the tremendous response it received from the moment it was announced by the organizers. Originally it was announced to hold it at the DHA Creek Club but it was moved to the centrally accessible Aslam Hall, the hub of bridge activities in the metropolis, having the capacity to host more than 60 pairs at a time.

Rehana Saigol and Tariq Rasheed Khan, two of the former Presidents of the Pakistan Bridge Federation (PBF), added grace to the event by having participated in the championship.

Dilshad Ahmed, a veteran bridge player, who sponsored the championship, used to captain Deuces, one of the famed teams of the yesteryears. Nicknamed ‘Dillo’ he has remained popular in the bridge circles for a long time.

He has had the honour of having spent long hours at bridge table with the likes of Zia Mahmood, Masud Saleem, Jane-Alam Fazli, Nisar Ahmed Khan and Munir Ataullah. He has fond memories of the Nazimabad Club where he spent innumerable nights playing with his friends Shamsuz Zaman, Waheed Bux Quadri, Ismail, Quadri, Asghar Naqvi, Shehenshah, Jamal Nizami, Hasan Akhtar Zaidi and Syed Ameer Hasan.

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