We dont go to India. World cup doesnt go on.

Our team can only play in India if our government allows it," Butt said. "And if we have a situation where our team is not able to travel to India then the World Cup could be affected or cancelled."

Ahoy Butt. My favorite Butt. Whenever he says something, its got to be gibberish. Crap and stupid. Laughable.

If Pakistan doesnt travel to India for its world cup game, simple award the game to the opposition. Why cancel the world cup ? On what premise ?

In 1996 SL won 3 games on forfeit, 2 league games against WI and Aus cos they refused to travel to SL and then the semi-final.

In 2003 Zim got through to the Super Six on account of England's forfeiture. Kenya got through to the semis cos NZ awarded them a game.

So given the history that there is no cancellation of World Cup when a country refuses to travel to other then why does Pakistan wants the world cup to be cancelled if its government who was in all terms behind 11/26 refuses its team to go to India. And its not for the security fears Pak team wont go to India..

There should be no discount to Pakistan for its blackmailing on not to go to India. If they dont go declare them the losers. Anyway they are known to take a step ahead and then take 3 steps behind. Sue ICC, fight a legal case only to withdraw it.

Ban drug addicts only to withdraw later.

Ban ICl players only to withdraw later.

Sacking, reappointing, match fixing allegations on every defeat, groupism, Miandads, Sarfarazs, Rashids and Butts. Wow man so much of soap opera in the Pakistan cricket. Who needs T20 ? Watch PCB and its headless chicken. Laughters guaranteed.

MoYo -- 2

I have a fight with my captain. Ok I m quitting cricket. I would go join ICL.

Few months later…..

Coach and captain are fired. New captain. Captain my friend. Younis. Mera bhai, mera dost. I would quit ICL and I would play for Pakistan as long as possible.

2 years earlier.

Oh they feel me I m not useful for T20 format. I would quit cricket and play for ICL. Would show them that T20 is my cup of tea too.

Joining ICL.

Mia Yousuf, you are our great batter after inzi bhai. We need you. Come back to our folds and we would get you a IPL contract.

Really ? Would you also give me captaincy ? I converted for the same. I was vice captain for Inzi bhai.

Joining IPL.

Are yaar yeh Yousuf to IPL jaa raha hai. Chandra se approval lo aur court case file karo iske against.

Court case goes in favor of Zee and Yousuf is barred from playing IPL.

What does this show ? Whenever the man doesn’t get his deal he jumps the gun. He jumped the boat to ICL in 2007 when he had a terrific 2006 when he broke all records for most calendar runs in Tests. And then when PCB persuaded him to go back, he played for 1 more year and then again jumped the gun. Imagine this happening to any other country. The player would be dumped no matter how important he is for the team. Symonds and Warne were dumped. Warne never played ODIs again. Australia lost the Test series to India and South Africa in absence of Symonds. And then again the World T20 early exit. They didn’t compromise even now. Symmo would have been more than handy in Ashes with his off spinners.

India dumped Siddhu in 1996 when they had no other opener in the squad to England. Its only in Pakistan that they keep going to players like Yousuf or Akhtar who feel themselves to be over the team, over their nation and are ready to make enough switches. All they care for is money. And they selectively decide their priorities depending on their convenience. Where the country comes ? Where does the loyalty to the team comes ? Nowhere. Who bothers. When you have a boss who would get you in at any cost in the team, then hell with the team priorities and stuff. All I know is my money and my comfort zone.

Cricket is in danger of overkill, and the IPL and its imitators in other countries are playing a major part. We require a formula that preserves the novelty of encounters. The familiarity of combatants will breed contempt among viewers.

I am a fan of T20 and to my surprise I enjoyed last year's IPL tournament. I have been unable to watch this year's tournament because my concern is that Pakistan and its cricketers are being systematically marginalised by certain elements of the international cricket community. The removal of Pakistan's champions from the planned T20 Champions League tournament is further evidence to support that view. I find it hard to watch tournaments from which Pakistan's players have been deliberately excluded.

Contradictions. Paradoxes.

Kamran, you enjoyed last year's IPl cos Pakistan players were part of it and likes of afridi were busy fighting with VVS. You liked then. This year your own PPP government banned your players crossing Wagah to play in India cos the ....................(obvious reasons). So now you dont like IPL.

Damn you man. Pakistan was removed from CT hostage, World cup hostage and now RBC(S) cup champs are kicked out of CL later this year. Rather than pointing this to India or BCCI, go find whats happening in your country. Bombs in Lahore, Peshawar, Islamabad and every where. What do you expect ? More attacks like SL on world cricket teams ?

You guys blame India for everything that goes wrong with your cricket, but when it comes to eating a cake of riches, you want to be part of CL or IPL. When your players aint a part of IPL or CL, you hate it. Your cricket players meet with Modi, ex-players call IPL a tamasha. Rameez Raja blames IPL first and then bares his soul in IPL with some ridiculous commentary (along side other commentators).

Your players wanted to be part of ICL. Another Indian thing. Fascination for India doesnt go. You think you can kick us in the back, call us money brokers or whatever, you feel and then you want us to come back and embrace you in IPL or CL.

Say more of this stuff and I am sure BCCI wont pay heed to any PCB requests to help itself out of its mess. Remember BCCI is all powerful with money in its kitty. PCB doesnt have sanity, logic, pratical sense and moreover the money. So if you want us to help you out, keep your damned mouth shut and pack off Butt, Miandad to Swat.

When mind goes numb and analysis goes for toss

http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/cricket/pakistan-needs-some-friends-to-restore-order/2009/05/04/1241289101681.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

ICL oriented, facts ignored, an invite to further trouble by asking world squad to play in Pakistan..ICL guys cant just get over the t20 fever n they aint even revolutionizing it like IPL. Dean Jones, there. Subhash Chandra is distributing goodies. Go get them!!

Yousuf Flip Flop

Yousuf Youhanna's flip flop on ICL or Pakistan has begun again. This is funny in fact. ICL says they have released him temporarily. Younis says he has resigned permanently. Another court battle beckons. I find it funny. In a moment he goes to ICL, then comes back, then goes again and then comes back. Bhaiya Pakistan ke liye itna hi prem hai, to why did you go in first place ? Not just once but 2 times? Selfish motives.. Differences with Malik first and now jab apna yaar Younis captain hai, to ghar wali baat ho gayi :)

Things cant get interesting than in Pakistan and Knight Riders :)

ICC vs ICL showdown

ICL vs ICC.

See you in the court.

Recognition plea failed. So ICL now takes ICC to the court...Outcome ? Will they get the recognition ? And what do they do if they get by muscle pulling ? They dont have a format defined for their set of the game plan. Besides T20s they dont have anything in their kitty. So on what basis are they going to benefit the fringe players?

Million dollar question. I need answer.

Pakistan breathes back to cricket...

On off on On Off and then on...

Yes No Yes No Yes no

In out in out in Out

Director no director director advisor

ICL no ICL IPL no IPL legal suit ICL ICL freezed...

ICL players in ICL players dropped....

Thats Pakistan cricket for you. Dynamic, interesting and maverick. The director point is for Javed Miandad who was captain and not captain 'n' times in his playing career. He retired many times, came back and retired. ICL no ICL analogy is for Youhana or Yousuf, whatever you like. ICL players taken in for T20 World cup, next day dropped. One day Ijaz Butt is asking teams to tour the country, next day a bomb goes off, he distracts.

Imran Khan retired, came back, retired. So did Razzaq, Afridi, Waqar and countless other desi cricketers. The only legend Pakistan cricket has had with some dignity was Wasim Akram though he too had his stints with match fixing, drugs and dissent within the team. He was iconic. He had performance to back him. Till he was playing, Pakistan team looked dangerous. Post him they have been a touch better than minnows.

Younis Khan is miffed on Ponting being dropped / rested from the Pak series. Fair enough. Its cricket by luck for Pakistan this days.

I think the sight of Akram from one end and ever running Waqar Younis would never be repeated in Pakistan cricket ever. What this generation saw in 90s and early 2000's was something of a delight. And yes now its time Pakistan gets rid of Shoaib Akhtar forever.

Series predictions for Aus - Pak:

3-2 Australia if Aussies play like the last 2 ODIs in SA including today.

5-0 if they are real self and Roy, Binga fire.

Sunday banter........

Every time he [Chanderpaul] gets runs he never fields," Pieterson told the Daily Mail. "There's always an injury or something. That has really got on my nerves here. It leads me to think he plays for himself.

That’s true partially. But no doubt today Shiv is one of the most valuable but underrated batsman for West Indies. He doesn’t have flair, but he is dogged and he is rock solid. In the end of the day runs matter in the scorebook. And not only he has scored in Tests, but also in ODIs. Ask India. They made him the star he is. Forgot 2002 series? 3 Hundreds in 5 test series, the last India played. Since then his conversion of 50s to 100s has remarkably turned around. The dude has now got 8200 odd runs in Tests and 8000 runs in ODIs.

KP forgot that when he had ego tussle with Peter Moores, he was having it for himself. It wasn’t healthy in the team cause. So may be what KP says for Shiv, the same holds true for KP too. Unfortunately they both are the best batsmen of their team. KP hasn’t been able to win matches for England, as he should have been. At least in ODIs it holds true.

Boy, Flintoff is playing today. I thought he has returned to England and is waiting to fly to South Africa for playing in IPL.. But he is patriotic Englishman. Wow. And boy Harmi boy is playing too and he has been hit for a six. I wonder why is he even playing now? That’s his record: “"In, in, out, out, in, in, out, in, out, out, in, out, out, in, in, out, in"”

Wonder what Poms would have done had they won the Test series in WI? Hey Bring the Aussies on. We are ready for the fight. And win the Ashes.

Meanwhile there is a criticism of IPL schedule released by Lalit Modi. Being a Modi in India is a sin. Be it Narendra Modi, Lalit Modi (IPL) or Himanshu Modi (ICL). Do whatever, you are gonna whipped. Now IPL schedule was released and I got to read one post on one of the blog where the schedule was criticized. More than that the timings were questioned. Is there any doubt that IPL is Indian event and players all over the world are dying to play in it and get their booty? So much so that the skipper and vice skipper of a team fight with the Board chief to play in the glitz event and cancel the TEST tour. And so the timings of the IPL would and should be suited per the Indian audience. Big fat Indian middle class. Deflating economy.

The post says “A key feature in the original IPL was that almost all matches drew huge attendance figures, largely through cheap tickets that were given away and the matches being at favorable times in the late evening just after work.“

Cheap tickets if that means the 1^st season of IPL? Cheap tickets? When from? I mean kab se? 5000 bucks for a ticket is not cheap in Indian currency for an average Indian middle class person. Watching IPL is even related to the ongoing economic downturn. I don’t know the intent of that post, but that seems biased and one viewed. I don’t know how IPL-2 would figure out, but for sure it wont be as pessimistic as its made out to be. And contrary to the popular opinion when ICL came in, the IPL is gaining prominence and seems to be making a decisive strike to the ICL. The slowdown has made ICL shut its shop, IPL has shifted its shop though.

And going forward I wont be as critical as I would have been here. And not more intense than this. Lets see how it goes.

Kudos to BCCI and ICL!!

As the first after-reactions of the terror attacks in Mumbai, the cricket in India has taken a hit. England have returned back home cancelling the 2 ODIs suffering a whitewash. ICL World Series is gone. IPL CL is postponed. Test leg of England might or might not happen. Cricket right now is last thing on our minds. We are yet to come out of the shocking terror attacks in Mumbai which is also the BCCI headquarters. Brabourne was supposed to host the final Test match and both teams were to be booked in Taj Colaba, which is under the fire from Pakistani terrorists. So were the 4 CL teams from India, Australia and England.

One thing that comes as a highlight here is BCCI didn’t supposedly exercise the so called muscle flexing in pestering the teams to stay on and play the series for monetary benefits. Perhaps they knew that nobody would be in a right frame of mind and with the upcoming elections in Delhi during the weekend and supposed threat from the ultras, the security cover for teams could haven’t been managed as well they might have to. BCCI assessed the situation well and let go of the cricket for the time being. And so did ICL. Kudos to them.

Who cares about Pakistan series....

After a high against Australia and supposed to be intense Test series against England next month, a Test series against Pakistan is going to be a sort of dampner. Who bothers to play a second string Pakistan side in a Test series dereft of best players who have either defected to ICL or have retired or have fallen to PCB s antics.....They dont have a pair of opening batsmen, except Younis Khan there is no other test class batsman in the side. Bowling lacks a good decent bowler.

Pakistan fans are wishing ICL gets official and their folklored stars are able to play the international cricket. Greedy bunch of cricketers who place money over country....And we dont need to travel down to a terror torn country on word of a supposed dictator of Pak cricket Imran Khan who feels Terrorists wont attack cricketers. Dude this is Indian team coming up and world knows our team has been on firing shot of this terrorists.

Even if Pakistan tours India as Alam saab and Miandad suggests, the scoreline would be 3-0....And I am sorry to say that India would then be called minnow hunters too...But then who cares. A victory over Pakistan even today sounds delicious for all those painful defeats inflicted on us in 80s and 90s in Sharjah owing to games against the spirits of cricket, maligned umpires and greedy cricketers who would sell soul for their money.....

Childish Miandad

“Security situation in Indian is also not very good. But despite this our players are playing in ICL and IPL. So it was imperative that Indians keep up the sporting exchanges with Pakistan.

While Pakistan is thinking positively for India, what message Indians are sending around the world by cancelling their hockey team's tour to Pakistan?

The participation of our players in ICL and IPL is not mandatory but they are honoring their commitments…..”

Javed Miandad quotes on possibility of cancellation of India ‘s Pakistan tour early next year. He has been a lose tounged man and has often puked out verbal diarrohea, but this one goes even beyond that. I am not bothered about political situation in India or Pakistan and neither this is biased or partial post as few people might feel. But equating Indian situation to Pakistan is rubbish and uncalled for when it comes to security. And whom is Miandad kidding ? Are Pakistan players playing in ICL or IPL representing their country ? ICL players are in here from Pakistan for their selfish vested interests and of course money is a huge factor in here. When the likes of Yousuf can ditch their national career for ICL, then what do we expect out of other lesser players of Pakistan.

Can you imagine any Indian player ditching his national side to play for ICL ? Forget the fringe players. Have the likes of VVS Laxman ditched Indian colors for ICL when he can also claim like Yousuf that he wasn’t treated well after missing out the ODI tourneys and T20s ? Some sense should prevail in the likes of Miandad when it comes to speak of other security situation in India. A balanced outlook is essential, but then was he ever famous for balanced outlook. A player which took cricket field with a war like attitude can never be expected to speak sense. I remember fiery statements of the likes of Miandad and Imran Khan during those one sided favored Friday finals in Sharjah when Pakistan took field with 13 players (umps)…When they said Kashmir should be decided on result of Sharjah. Come lets decide Kashmir now on basis of previous tour results and games ? Makes sense ? No, sounds rubbish isn’t it ?

And it doesn’t make any sense for India’s team to act brotherly and go to Pakistan when no other team is going to tour the troubled land. We don’t have to risk our players by sending them to Pakistan and aint Indians the natural targets of terror groups ? Aint they ? Cross me for this, but I don’t see any sense in going to Pakistan and scrapping tour would actually be helpful for Pakistan as they would avoid a whitewash in both ODIs (0-5) and Tests (0-3). With current buoyant Indian team and after trumping Aussies, its but natural that Pakistan would be a no-hopper for India…And for that matter Mendis’s SL too…..

Yousuf Banned!!

Its a pity that Pakistan have afforded to loose their best Test batsman to the clutches of ICL....The format PCB thought would not suit Yousuf finally took away him alongside....Shoddy handling of its best batsman in tough times....Pretty well indicates where the priorities of PCB lie....To add to the woes they have now made Salim Malik head coach of the cricket academy......

Good for us....We wont experience many difficulties now in whitewashing them in the next series.....Shame shame Yousuf, you left your country for money!!!

Malik facing the axe and ire from Inzamam

With Inzy bhai dismissing Shoaib Malik’s captaincy ishtyle and Yousuf gone, the Pakistan team looks in even more trouble. Security situation in Pakistan, inept Board, musical chair game with Coaches is further hurting Pakistan cricket. And no new maverick player seems on the horizon except the old flawed Shoaib Akhtar who always deceives and cheats back. No Tests until India series in Jan 09 and very few ODIs till then puts up a question mark before the team if it can stand the might of a resurgent India which wont have 2 of its greatest cricketers, yet would be good enough to beat them comfortably.

A 3-0 or 2-0 unless curators prepare a flat wkt like Faislabad and Lahore 2006 is the result on the wall. Meanwhile here is what Inzy bhai said about Malik :

“He may be an organised and intelligent cricketer but I can't say the same thing about his captaincy. He has not been fair with senior players and has let them down on several occasions. He has not been open and honest with them and they have conveyed their unhappiness to me. It is very unfortunate the way Malik has handled his responsibilities as a captain and relations with senior players who need to be treated with respect.”

Sahi he Inzy bhiya….Sau(100) chuhe khakar billi haj ko chali……You made Yousuf defect to ICL and now you talk high morale grounds….Kuch hajam nahi hua bhiya

Yousuf Bhai Chale ICL

http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/icl2008/content/current/story/376797.html

Cut the crap and take a side.....ICL or IPL or Pakistan national team....Dude you changed ur religion to be a captain and now you switch your loyalties to play T20.....Dood mia, you are Pakistan's only Test level batsman left after Inzy bhai retired.....Your exit means we are good for a 3-0 win next series against you without much of effort..............

Pakistan cricket never improves and never learns...........Lets see how Butsy reacts after this kick on his Butt.

ICL Sawant'ed

So thats the commitment of ICL to benefit the "young cricketers" of India !!!. Rakhi Sawant to be the lead or head cheerleader for the ICL crap beginning Oct 10, 2008. Thats the last straw in the ICL's coffin. Its gone. Promotions and out of the box thoughts have gone nude.

All I can say is have a huge laughter when you see ICL games by chance during the epic Australia series. Grow up Mr Chandra!! Get some good ideas to counter IPL. Who wants funny wamps or skinny lasses (or dimwits) in "cricket" ?

One end we have Kapil Dev and Tony Greig in the ICL board and then we have Rakhi Sawant. Utter crap and childish!! Whats Rakhi Sawant going to do when a four or six is hit ? Pull down her "clothes" and scream with willy eyes which would put Murali to shame :)). Or is she gonna run down to the batsman hittin six and smooch him ? And then there would be a headline "Rakhi Sawant Showzz"

Damn ICL

Frankly who bothers about ICL and ban on players from countries like Pakistan or Sri Lanka or even England to play domestic cricket. Forget retired players from non Indian countries. Talk about the current players from India who are playing in ICL. Even if the ban on them is lifted frankly speaking how many of them are good enough to play for India in near future ? And if there are not many then what difference does it make if the ban stays or ban goes off. T20 is not going to make the "young players" ready for longer version of the game.

Is ICL planning to do anything for first class cricket ? Teaching the young guns the nuisances of longer format ? Getting the benefits from players like Inzamam, Lara, Gillespie and Dev himself to the young players ? T20 isnt going to help the players in long run if ICL really wants to benefit this youngsters as it claims. Yes it can make them cash rich, but zero on experience.

I dont bother on knowing how many brownie points ICL or IPL scored over each other. To hell with that. Let me find out if ICL brings some value to the table to campaign for lifting the ban on rebel players. Till then let the ban remain. Frankly I dont care and dont give any hoots to what Attapattu got to say or any greed Tunga wants to have to get a pie out of IPL riches.

Ranatunga vs BCCI

The fat old man Arjuna Ranatunga has revoked the ban on SL players who defected to ICL. They are free to play in SL domestic cricket. Wow. But who are they ? Attapattu, Arnold, Chandana and Jayantha. Not good enough for international arena, as they are either aged old men or retired or inept. But anyways SLC has said they cannot represnet country. Agreed.

For sure this move has enraged BCCI. And now can Arjuna Ranatunga depend on BCCI to help SLC bailing out of the financial crunch it is in ? What would he do to get dollar notes ?

Suicidal move I guess. And now BCCI would have SLC as its deadmeeat. One more blame in BCCI's feather. Some bodies are always meant for being jinxed and doomed. BCCI is one of them. Unfortunately here BCCI would win hands up over willy old fox.

Interesting off the field battles ahead.

BCCI

Those who like to detest BCCI for every wrong happening in cricket world would be a bit shocked to see Modi offering olive branch to belaugered BCB in form of more lucrative IPL contracts to BD players, however thats a different issue whats the quality of those players and how much dollars they would be able to pull out of franchises' kitty ?

I mean its ridiculous to blame BCCI even if CA doesnt tour Pakistan. Ok BCCI markets the game well in India by hook and crook, its got IPL which shook the base of English cricket so much so that ECB had to hook onto the devil spirit of Stanford 20/20 to save its cricketers from fleeing to I(C/P)L. Wont Stanford prize money create a rift among so called united English team if it wins a game and manages to get the price money ? Playing XI get a million each and the 4 players on bench get 25% of a million. Wow.

Now if 13 Bangla players ditch their national colors to play for ICL, how come BCCI comes to picture and how do they cause it ? Didnt we speak of end of BCCI's monopoly in aftermath of WC 2007 when ICL was born and India lost in first round of 2007 WC ? And then didnt IPL happen and it took everybody by storm ? Television viewership went on max high, the auctions were innovative, they gave a market value to the players and tagged them with a dollar tag.

PCB cries foul over CA not touring them. Bloggers blame it on BCCI. How ? Despite being alleged to have shunned the Test cricket for T20 games, India play 11 Tests over next 5 month period home and away. Pakistan and SL play none. Only Australia play more than India with 12 Tests home and away. Have we seen any T20 international game being scheduled in India on cost of a Test ? There could be a huge temptation to play in a T20 quadrangular in Toronto in October as most of the players playing T20 for India would be free except the openers and skipper MSD who would be doing national duties against Australia.

The thing is the boards like BCB or PCB or ECB are not able to get their things right and set their house in order, so for every wrong thing happens to them, the authors, the bloggers and the media jumps the gun to blame BCCI. Take BCCI out of picture and then lets see how ICC manages finance to "globalise" the game and run the game worldwide !!

Though I am not supporter of BCCI and not pro Sharad Pawar. And yes the doping has struck WI cricket too with Xavier Marshal testing positive in the Stanford 20/20 for 20.

Aussie Tour, BD Defection to ICL and Munaf Patel to Baroda

With the unfortunate and condemnable (i guess thats too little a word) blasts in the capital city of the country, the Aussie tour might run in trouble and we could see the typical antics from the Oz and then their enemies Poms to follow. There are already reports emnating from Ozland about the security apprehensions in the country and it might happen that the tour could be scrapped.

Unfortunately the venues Aussies play in India are the cities which were hit by the terror blasts. Tour games happen in Hyderabad and Jaipur. The first Test happens in Bangalore and Delhi hosts 3rd Test.

Not the right forum to say but I strongly feel that the "government" (if any) headed by the Italian blonde babe and her puppets should come out strongly on the home grown breed of terrorists. Having said that if wishes were horses, then we would have been a better country than what we are now.

Meanwhile BD players are on line to sneak into ICL many of which are current players who played last in Australia in addition to the discards like Bashar and all. Frankly who bothers if BD play IPL or ICL or international cricket. If this defaction happens, its good for international cricket and a bit bad for Mahela Jaywardhena s men. They wont get free bunch of wkts for the cheat and Mendis. Ian Chappell writes a very good write up on place of BD in international cricket here.

Munaf Patel moves to Baroda from Maharashtra in Ranji trophy. I hope the lanky bowler makes up for his renewed vigor for international cricket in his new team and improves on his work ethic. If he maintains good form in international cricket, Baroda might miss him in Ranji games.

BCCI must do whatever to ensure that Oz tour is not scrapped. And the chief has a major say in the government affairs as he is also a minister in bunch of Union jokers :)