Kamran Abbasi
Bakwas is bakwas in Urdu or English
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
Now here's a strange thing. Pakistan's cricketers are banned from speaking in English at press conferences. The reason we are told is that their wonderful use of Urdu will promote tourism in Pakistan. I'm not sure how that works, particularly since their words will be revealed to the world by the warbling English of PJ Mir, Pakistan's media manager?
Consider too that Urdu doesn't readily lend itself to describing a cricket match. A beautiful verse of poetry, yes, but try saying great cover drive without using any English words and you begin to sound like a dimwit--and Pakistan's players are no linguistic cousins of Mirza Ghalib.
Full postAbandon hope? Not yet
While some of you may be tempted to suggest I eat my words, I suggest you hold your fire
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
While some of you may be tempted to suggest I eat my words, I suggest you hold your fire. There is a long way to go in this World Cup. West Indies put in an admirable team performance that exposed the holes in Pakistan's strategy, and they should go a long way in this tournament. But I'll say again--at the risk of getting lynched--there is only team that Pakistan don't have the skill to beat and that's Australia. Whether or not they can achieve what they are capable of is a different matter.
Much depends on how quickly Pakistan can learn from this defeat. In short, the bowling was good and the batting was bad. Here are some issues for Pakistan's brains trust, if I can call it that, to ponder:
1 Many of us expected a new opening strategy. That didn't happen, in which case why was there chopping and changing in the warm ups? Why persist with a strategy that keeps failing again and again?
2 Whoever opens, surely Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam have to push up to number three and four? The batsmen managed to excuse their dismal performances in South Africa by blaming the bouncy tracks (when the tracks weren't as troublesome as they might have been). What's the excuse now?
Full postOnly Australia block the road to victory
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
Pakistan's preparation for the World Cup has been a rollercoaster of hope and despair, a journey that has driven supporters to the edge of madness. Many of you already consider me to be a raving lunatic and to those people I offer further evidence. Pakistan have nobody to fear in this tournament and might just have the mix of experience and hunger to lift the trophy.
Experience resides in the right place, the mighty middle order. Michael Slater questioned their ability to win matches but he is sadly mistaken. This is a double mistake if the pitches continue to play anything like they did in the warm ups. What this trio have lacked is the support of the openers but Caribbean conditions will offer Pakistan a genuine opportunity to establish an opening partnership of substance. Indeed, both Imran Nazir and Mohammad Hafeez will be hungry for success.
Full postLeadership: road to nowhere?
Inzamam needs to captain for his life from the first ball of the match to the last, not in flashes of desperation
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
When Inzamam-ul-Haq led out Pakistan in yesterday's opening ceremony he took me by surprise, smiling and waving enthusiastically at the crowd. Inzamam's mood is a vital influence on his team. When it is dark and brooding it can crush the enthusiasm of his charges. Only today, Imran Khan has accused Inzamam of leading from the rear.
Inzamam has a low-key style of leadership, undemonstrative to the point of invisibility. When the game is going Pakistan's way this doesn't matter too much, indeed a captain's real skill is revealed in adversity. Unfortunately, Inzamam too often tends to let the game drift when he should be trying to seize the initiative. Now, nobody wants Inzamam to become the team cheerleader - he's got Younis Khan for that - but he must stamp his desire and will on proceedings. If the captain is lethargic in his approach so will the rest of his team.
Full postRoad to Jamaica 5: New strategy, new hope?
Despite Bob Woolmer's stonewalling of my piercing questions earlier this week we now have a good idea of what Pakistan's new strategy will be
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
Despite Bob Woolmer's stonewalling of my piercing questions earlier this week - I know you all thought the interview was tremendous really - we now have a good idea of what Pakistan's new strategy will be.
Younis Khan will try and enforce some stability at the top of the innings while young Mr Nazir attempts to unleash hell. Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam will move up one position to number three and four, the premier batting slots, and Shoaib Malik will be left to marshall the lower order or then again Mohammad Hafeez might.
Full postRoad to Jamaica 3: Any bowlers?
Has the farce ended
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
Has the farce ended? Injuries, we are told, have ruled Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif out of the World Cup. The truth, though, is believed to be something else. The decisions of the Pakistan Cricket Board, such as sending the players to England, while the rest of the squad was preparing for the tournament, have turned the players and the board into an international laughing stock. Whoever dreams up these glorious strategies might benefit from a brain transplant.
One day, of course, the truth will get out, and if their withdrawal is because of remnants of nandrolone in their bodies then it will bring a further disgrace upon Pakistan cricket.
On the face of it, Pakistan's chances of winning the World Cup are seriously damaged. Certainly with Shoaib and Asif available, Pakistan would have been genuine contenders. You might even ask if there are any remaining bowlers that are worth mentioning. Well, call me an eternal optimist but there's still plenty of potential in this squad.
Full postRoad to Jamaica 2: The all-rounders
All-rounders were meant to be a topic for discussion later but Abdul Razzaq's injury has thrust them to the heart of the debate
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
All-rounders were meant to be a topic for discussion later but Abdul Razzaq's injury has thrust them to the heart of the debate. Pakistan's strategy is built around their all-rounders, and they have plenty of them. Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, and now Azhar Mahmood, can all blow hot or cold. One day they are true all-rounders, the next they are dismissed as mere bits-and-pieces players.
Afridi and Razzaq have the added element of being super-explosive hitters, and my view is that Razzaq can be a vital ingredient in the last ten overs, when Pakistan often aim to score over 100 runs. Pakistan will miss him. Could he have been sent to the Caribbean and withdrawn in a couple of weeks if he had not improved?
In any case, Razzaq's loss is Azhar's gain. The Surrey all-rounder has been mistreated by the PCB, ever since, in fact, he gave me a commendably frank interview for Cricinfo. Azhar's bowling is a stronger suit than Razzaq's. He can also be an explosive hitter, but Razzaq is extra-special in that regard.
Full postRoad to Jamaica 1: The openers
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
It must be quite frustrating for Imran Khan, for a decade almost everything he said was implemented. He was the first and last word in Pakistan cricket, with a few thousand thrown in between by Javed Miandad. The rule of Khan culminated in Pakistan winning the World Cup, enough said. Now Imran struggles to get his way--and let's be clear that the PCB's strategy of pep talks by great players is more of an intrusion than a benefit at this late stage.
But one area that Imran has complained so much about that perhaps everyone has stopped hearing him is the dilemma of openers. Inzamam believes he has the best pair available. Bob Woolmer, I suspect, is less sure but will do his best with the materials given him. Imran is more definite: the choice should have been Salman Butt and Yasir Hameed.
Full postWhat will Shoaib's drug test prove?
The fact that neither Shoaib nor Asif have yet taken the test seems incredible, and conspiracy theories were fuelled by Shoaib's outrageous behaviour last week
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
Is it so hard to get a urine sample from Shoaib Akhtar? And when he finally deigns to offer up some bodily fluids what will the test prove? The same applies, of course, to Mohammad Asif.
Nandrolone is broken down reasonably quickly in the body but its metabolites can hang around for months. It is possible that metabolites might still be present in Shoaib's and Asif's urine samples. Provided those levels have dropped to near the threshold set by WADA--which is where you guess they might be if they had decreased in line with the decay curve of nandrolone metabolites--the conclusion is that Shoaib and Asif have been clean since their last test. Under those circumstances talk of life bans seems ridiculous.
Full post