Kamran Abbasi
New bowlers' game is made for Pakistan
A motorised parade of great heroes of India's past, including Wasim Akram, failed to inspire heroes of India's present and future to overcome Pakistan's competitive, albeit faltering, total of 250 runs
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
India's Eden Gardens is becoming a Pakistani paradise. A motorised parade of great heroes of India's past, including Wasim Akram, failed to inspire heroes of India's present and future to overcome Pakistan's competitive, albeit faltering, total of 250 runs. As much as Pakistan backed themselves in the one-day series, the ease of victory, culminating in MS Dhoni's futile rehearsal of a Test innings, was a surprise. The new regulations have wrenched one-day cricket from the grip of batsmen, and Pakistan's bowlers seized the moment in Calcutta.
Junaid Khan and Mohammad Irfan sparkled in Pakistan's opening overs in a manner unseen since the dread days of 2010. Junaid did little more in this series than perform to the standard expected; a routine top-class performance that leaves you baffled how easily he has been overlooked by Pakistan's selectors. Irfan, by contrast, was a revelation compared with his uncertain debut. He remains ungainly, the roughest of diamonds, but added pace and control produced frightening bounce even on these Indian wickets.
India's strength is in batting, their players some of the best in the world and rajas in home conditions, but even such genuine talents struggled to find a composed response to Irfan's mighty deliveries. His figures were nothing extraordinary but the psychology of putting India's batsmen on the back foot was worth every wide, full toss, and four overthrows. Meanwhile, Nasir Jamshed was faced with the tamer challenge of India's opening bowlers, establishing himself as the rarest of commodities, a Pakistani batsman with a temperament to match his skill.
Full postWe need a longer season of cricket goodwill
It is the season of goodwill. Pakistan's cricketers are in India to restart the healing process for fractured political relationships.
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
It is the season of goodwill. A charity single is at number one on the music charts, showing that the fiercest foes, the management, players, and supporters of Everton and Liverpool football clubs in this case, can unite like brothers for a worthy cause. Now Pakistan's cricketers are in India to restart the healing process for fractured political relationships.
Let's face it, cricket between India and Pakistan is simply a tactical move in the great game of political power in South Asia, a game that players and spectators are helpless to influence. When will the politics end and the cricket run for freedom? When will goodwill no longer be confined to a season or two?
Not much has changed really. India's complaints against Pakistan over the Mumbai attacks linger on. Pakistanis are still excluded from the Indian Premier League. A tour of Pakistan by a major cricket nation seems impossible. The cricket boards blow hot and cold in their relationship. Players remain friends. Spectators want the contest. Not much changes but the cricket comes and goes.
Full postWhy Sachin and Shahid should let the curtain fall
What do you do when the magic dies? When eyes, slower in reaching focus, and hands and body, sluggish in finding shapes and arcs, betray you?
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
What do you do when the magic dies? When eyes, slower in reaching focus, and hands and body, sluggish in finding shapes and arcs, betray you? What do you do about your pride and honour, once spurs to glory, now flotsam battered by a surging wave of public criticism? A lucky few are able to define their success, whereas all of us are defined by our response to failure. Failure is the new success, says the wisdom of our age, making any victory sweeter and better. But when you've passed your peak each failure is a step closer to mediocrity.
We might salute Sachin Tendulkar's tenacity, his determination to defy age and grind out a performance in Calcutta. We might equally lament the passing of genius. When Ricky Ponting's cut has lost its thrust, when his mind commands dominate and his body replies abdicate, our thoughts prefer to linger on the swashbuckler once admired by enemies. For a great player, it is much harder to leave a sport than it is to enter it.
Always leave them wanting more, said Walt Disney or PT Barnum, and it is essential advice for any performer, even programmed into the genetic code of Australians. The three great Australian cricketers of the modern era, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Ponting, certainly obeyed the instruction of their DNA. When you look for reasons why Australian cricket has been consistently successful, your search begins and ends here. Ruthless self-appraisal is rare in humans but Australian cricketers consider it common. On their frequent media and cricketing visits to India, they might consider adding ruthless self-appraisal to the South Asian gene pool.
Full postIndia and Pakistan: A system failure
We're a funny bunch. Some of us can't bat; the rest of us can't bowl. We're separated by a line drawn in deserts, fields and mountains; a line that doesn't separate race, caste or religion, which many innocents presume to be its purpose
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
We're a funny bunch. Some of us can't bat; the rest of us can't bowl. We're separated by a line drawn in deserts, fields and mountains; a line that doesn't separate race, caste or religion, which many innocents presume to be its purpose. No, the fateful line drawn by an Englishman born in India is something far more fundamental. It is the eternal partition between a horde of batsmen and a tribe of bowlers.
We stare enviously across the border, not at the grass--it is never greener--but at the mastery of cricketing skills that for decades have eluded us. It was once a joke that India doesn't produce quality fast bowlers and Pakistan struggles for high class batsmen. It is a joke no longer. Nor is it a mere hypothesis or theory. It is fact.
Take the respective campaigns of these estranged siblings in Sri Lanka's World T20. Forget the stats about India only losing one match and L Balaji's wicket taking. India's bowling attack carried the solitary threat of R Ashwin--a hapless formula to win any tournament. Meanwhile, Pakistan's batsmen floundered on cue in the Super Eights stage of the competition. When the pressure intensified, batting techniques and temperaments melted away. These are ancient laments with no sign of end. Issues both nations and their cricket boards have failed to remedy.
Full postPakistan lose bottle for Kohli's vintage
The heat was high in Colombo but Pakistan froze. In a game in which they had too less to lose, and India started poorly, Pakistan were never relaxed
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
The heat was high in Colombo but Pakistan froze. In a game in which they had too less to lose, and India started poorly, Pakistan were never relaxed. India, as has become the way in these encounters, played with self-belief that once belonged to Pakistan when facing their neighbours. The psychological balance shifted many years ago--it might have been Sachin Tendulkar's six off Shoaib Akhtar in the 2003 World Cup that was the trigger--and India look unlikely to give it up.
Why should they? Such booty has to be seized, it is rarely surrendered. In this game, where the strength of India's bowling seemed innocuous and the bounty of psychological advantage was for looting, Pakistan were positive on paper but inhibited in execution. Supporters rarely forgive defeat to India. They resent it more when a white flag is raised upon first sight of the enemy.
Pakistan's plan was a brave one. Win the toss and bat first, put India's bowlers to the sword. Promote Shahid Afridi to number 3, where he can cause maximum damage early in an innings and reacquaint himself with Irfan Pathan. Back your spinners, even young Raza Hasan, to outfox India's superior batsmen. But these were empty gestures, orders carried out with a reluctant heart. Captain Mohammad Hafeez, a professor with a weighty assignment, was a victim of the moment. When a leader should lead, Hafeez was dragged to oblivion by the gravity of the situation.
Full postUmars come of age
South Africa succumbed to spin but they also succumbed to two Umars who came of age
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
South Africa succumbed to spin but they also succumbed to two Umars who came of age. When Pakistan's batsmen fritter away their opportunity, Umar Gul sometimes smites a few long balls as a release valve on everybody's frustration.
It was only a matter of time before those Pathan smacks would make the difference in a match. From now on, when Pakistan's top order is in brainless mode, it will offer some solace to remember: never fear, Gullay is near.
At 76 for 7 Pakistan were all but done, a meagre target made monumental. South Africa's spinners had matched, even surpassed, their celebrated counterparts from Pakistan. But it was typical of Pakistan to choose the least plausible route to victory, and a strong position in this difficult group.
Full postParadoxical Pakistan are an emerging threat
If it is a rare pleasure for Pakistan to thank their batsmen for a victory, twice in a row is a luxury. Bowlers win matches for Pakistan, batsmen sometimes save them
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
If it is a rare pleasure for Pakistan to thank their batsmen for a victory, twice in a row is a luxury. Bowlers win matches for Pakistan, batsmen sometimes save them. Hence several tremors of trepidation pulsed through their supporters' hearts when Mohammad Hafeez and Imran Nazir began a chase of 176 for a win and another chase of 140 for qualification to the Super-Eights stage of this World T20. Pakistan's batsmen, in paradoxical fashion, atoned for the sins of their bowlers.
First, erratic Nazir confirmed the true nature of the pitch with a match winning knock in international cricket. Nasir Jamshed then confirmed the true nature of his talent with another notable international performance. Meanwhile, Hafeez rode an early scare to guide and occasionally smite his team to the target. On such wickets, and on such form, Pakistan's batsmen may finally come to a party.
Earlier Hafeez's bowlers had been equally surprising; a worried coach was bewildered by the short length that his pace attack persisted with. Shakib Al Hasan took candy from each baby, leading Bangladesh's brave bid for qualification. Umar Gul, once known for laser-guided accuracy, sprayed his missiles by random vectors. Yasir Arafat stole three wickets without threatening even to take one. Sohail Tanvir saved his spell with a peach in a rotten bowl of fruit. The acclaimed spin trio were tidy, nothing more. Pakistan were poor with the ball, albeit on a batsman's wicket, but worse in the field. A timid effort that invited questions about the endeavours of Julien Fountain and Mohammad Akram, specialist fielding coach and specialist bowling coach respectively.
Full postAn instinct for T20
The world is not enough for some cricketers who crave the riches of mercenary T20 tournaments. But the World T20 about to unfold in Sri Lanka is the competition to win
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
The world is not enough for some cricketers who crave the riches of mercenary T20 tournaments. But the World T20 about to unfold in Sri Lanka is the competition to win. It might not make you rich, although it will put you in the shop window. You might even enjoy making your nation proud of you. Romantics like to think that there are higher instincts than a hunger for cash.
For Pakistan players, absence from the Indian Premier League now matters less since T20 thrashes in Australia, England, South Africa and Sri Lanka began to offer an outlet for talent and an influx of foreign exchange. Yet the World T20 remains important to Pakistan in the midst of its current political and cricketing plight. Indeed, the format plays to Pakistan's strengths. A recent T20 series triumph over Australia is further evidence of Pakistan's aptitude for a quick joust.
Historically, Pakistan perform well in World T20 tournaments. Two exhilarating finals and a dramatic semi-final defeat speak of the highest pedigree. But T20 cricket is as much about luck as it is about talent. It is also about instinct--and the longer a game of cricket the more tactical and less instinctive it becomes. Pakistani cricketers thrive on their instinct to smite or beguile. Perhaps those instincts create their own luck?
Full postAjmal, master of a loser's game
Australia won a skirmish in the desert but one player dominated despatches. He was the leading wicket taker in the ODI series, with an average typical of school cricket
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
The mystery of Ajmal's exclusion from the ICC's shortlist for the Cricketer of the Year award is a big one. The Pakistan Cricket Board has submitted a formal complaint, hoping that Ajmal, like Graeme Swann before him in 2010, will be included on appeal. Supporters have turned to social media to berate the ICC for overlooking Ajmal - a firm favourite among Pakistan fans and acclaimed more broadly as the world's leading spin bowler.
Ajmal's absence from the shortlist is truly bizarre. South Africa's rise to number one in the Test rankings was heavily influenced by Ajmal's demolition of England in the UAE; a performance that helped Pakistan's beguiling spinner become leading Test wicket taker in the year covered by the ICC awards. Consider all international cricket and Ajmal took 120 wickets; his nearest rival was a distant second with 84.
Full postPakistan's unexpected fourth
South Africa's deserved rise to No.1 in Test cricket offered the world a lingering view of the new Test rankings. The top three were as expected, vanquished England sitting above Australia
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
South Africa's deserved rise to No.1 in Test cricket offered the world a lingering view of the new Test rankings. The top three were as expected, vanquished England sitting above Australia. But fourth place, let's admit, was a distraction. Only two summers ago, a Pakistan team that had lost the art of competitiveness in Test cricket also lost the heart and soul of its bowling attack. Yet today it sits a comfortable fourth in the Test rankings, an immense and unexpected achievement.
Pakistan cricket is a difficult subject. Witness the reluctance of any commentator to draw Pakistan's position into the discussion about the world rankings. How is it possible that an impoverished, disgraced and exiled cricket nation sits above, for example, the world's richest and strongest cricket power? How do you explain a phenomenon that, albeit aided by the complex statistical contortions of the Kendrix ranking system, appears to defy all expectation? How is it possible to even discuss the merits of Pakistan cricket without dredging up the murky depths of corruption that defiled the home of cricket as thoroughly as England's last stand honoured it?
What the next chapter of this remarkable story offers is anybody's guess? But for the moment Pakistan cricket has risen from the flames, like the phoenix that ended the closing ceremony of the London Olympics. Pakistan cricket has these cycles of rise and fall, of wounding and healing, of glory and ruin, although without periodicity or logic. Despite this fluctuation, the overall trend has been downwards, until the upward flick of the last two years.
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