Jadeja, Spot fixing verdict and the Butts

Ravinder Jadeja has scored a triple century in the Ranji opener against Orrisa at a Sehwagasque strike rate of 83. And that has thrown rumor mills rife at the fact that he would be taken along to  Australia as # 6 batsman and also a part time spinner.  I doubt the wisdom and brains of cricketing selectors in India that they might be tempted to think that Jadeja has now turned completely into an allrounder mode and can contribute in Tests too. Times Of India shamelessly rooted for this chap to be included in tests. The only opening for now in the tests slot seems to be for # 6 with 3 contenders in the team for it and 4th one actually getting fitter.  Jadeja, in selectors' view can become the 5th one.

 

He also took 10 wickets in the recently concluded England ODi series and now has 15 wickets in 8 games since his return. I wonder if he would be still considered to play when the likes of Yuvraj, Sehwag return to the ODI team. 

 

The 3 tainted jailed stani cricketers are now asking for mercy or even considering to file for an appeal against the guilt and sentence. Its been reported in English media that they were even left to tears on hearing the sentences handed out to them. Strange. For 15 months on, from executing the no-balls, they dint show any remorse or accept the guilt. They continued to claim they are framed and are innocent, but now when they are in jail, suddenly they are now religious and their families are talking about GOD n all. Its weird to see that in Pakistan, the evil doers dont hesitate to commit the crime, but when it comes to receive the punishment for it, they suddenly start talking GOD. 

 

The conviction of 3 cricketers has just been a start and this process must go on to find all the crooks and eradicate them. Across all countries including safe havens like middle east which are now home grounds to the Pakistanis.

 

Thats just the tip of the iceberg and whats concerning is the statement from Mazhar Mazeed "65000 pounds paid to Asif to keep him loyal and prevent him from wanderring to the "rival fixing factions in the Pakistan team" ". What does it mean? Are there more cheats and crooks involved from Pakistan?  There are rumors about involvement of Akamals, Riaz and Farhat. Are they true? None of this players are now playing for Pakistan, so are they dropped cos PCB knows in positive about their involvement and have been proactive to drop them or is it just a coincidence that now Wahab Riaz is not even part of touring team to middle east for Lanka ODIs?

 

Who is gonna bring the clown farts sitting in PCB and ICC to justice?  What was ACSU, the "toothless paper tiger" doing all this while since its inception to eradicate the corruption from the game ?

 

What happens to Sir Shri Ijaz Butt? Would he be a party to the crime of spot fixing ? Would he be let off?

 

And with this note, there is to say that Arm Ball is back.

Removal of Butt, DRS flip flop and Spot Fixing

There have been some interesting happenings in world cricket in past few days visibly:

1. Ijaz Butt being replaced as a PCB chief by some banker.

2. Spot fixing trial being on in England and as it happens during any trial, some random names are being taken up and this time its been Indian and Australian players being named.

3. ICC goes flip flop in usage of DRS in a bilateral series.

Ijaz Butt has been one attrocious chief for PCB and his shenangians as PCB chief have been very well documented. Double digit captaincy changes, rollbacks on bans, punishments, multiple retirements, rollback, selection chiefs resigning, changes in coaches and stuff like that plus loose canon statements in 3 years, Lahore attack in 2009 and world cup drama have been the highlights of his tenure. Not to mention the spot fixing saga, fleeing of a wicketkeeper on the pre-text of threats from bookies, disastrous English and Australian tours, handling of players like Yusuf, Younis Khan, Afridi, Kaneria and Malik, relations with BCCI over IPL and bilateral series, tussle with ICC which led to an ultimatum to fix its internal governance or run the risk of expulsion from ICC. All of this issues have been mishandled by the great chief in general of PCB.

There is a distressing thought that he might have agreed to step down from the post in lieu of assurance that PCB and BCB would put him as ICC vice presidency candidate. If true, then it would take more than necessary efforts for the other boards than what were done to block John Howard from Australia, to block out Ijaz Butt from stepping into world cricket governance. One can only hope that Pakistan cricket shall progress in terms of every aspect under new chief and the ridicule it has invited over the years would yield to some respect in coming months and years.

Spot fixing trial has commenced in England and the 3 players in addition to the player agent in question have been cross examined and what has come out of it is a wide detail account of how the spot fixing was setup in England last year and what else was in the offing, but was prevented from execution owing to the bust up from the now defunct NOTW. Some Indian and Australian players were named as the ones whom that agent had an easy access to. No wonder, those allegations were promptly denied by CA and BCCI and the players themselves.

As the hearing is going on, more details are tumbling out of the closet of the spot fixing and thats just making the lives of those 3 tainted players more difficult and their return to international cricket being more unlikely even after serving the amount of sentence handed over by ICC. What was also distressing out of the details that emerged was the ease with which Pakistan players agree to lose / throw a match to disown their captain or bring the captain under the hood for some egoistical / weird reason. It's been the age old story of their country and their cricket ever since their inception since 1947.

ICC also has gone back on the mandatory usage of DRS (Dravid Removal System) in bilateral series. BCCI had been vocal in the criticism of DRS and though it diluted its stand in England tour, the happenings in England were good enough to indicate BCCI that DRS in current form has no future unless those acrimonious issues over Hot Spot usage and ball tracking technology have been addressed. India has suffered out of the DRS usage in whatever series it has accepted, be it SL 2008, or world cup 2011 or England tour of 2011. The BCCI has been adamant in its opposition to the DRS, thought they havent taken the pain to go ahead and explain the reasons for their opposition. That has never been BCCI's strong forte to offer detailed explanation for its views and stand over issues.

What is further baffling is the time ICC took to understand that DRS in current form is not good enough to be imposed as mandatory in all bilateral series. Instead of resolving the open issues that are meeting eyeballs, the ICC has chosen to keep the issue under the carpet and sit over it. Take a stance, revert back. Thats been ICC theme for 2011. Be it usage of DRS or the World cup 2015 format banning out the associate nations and then rolling back. What is Sharad Pawar doing ?

ICC has also been harping on the primacy of Test cricket and when its coming to the implementation of plans of test championship, it is developing cold feet. Its now saying that the proposed Test championship might be delayed until 2017 cos the broadcaster wants to lay stress on profit earning ventures like a T20 WC every 2 years and an increasingly obsolete 50 overs Champions Trophy, not to forget the T20 tamasha of Champions League T20.

This is also a start of the time period in world cricket when all 10 teams are going to be busy in cricket.

Move over, Sreesanth incarnates himself as Indie commando

Updated : If Sreesanth had his way he would have a sword or a gun in his hand instead of a white ball and he would have hit the opposition players with the sword or gun if he would have got hit for runs or ran behind umpire with gun in hand if he did not react positively to his appeal. That he would have actually hit the umpire with the bullet from the gun or his hands would really have caught the real sword instead of a wooden sword, something which is available in North India after every Dusshera Ravan dahan celebration, is another thing!!!

And if Sreesanth had more power as an Indie Commando, he would have asked for a horse and he would have demanded he would bowl sitting on horse or a mule (complementing himself since he is also an ass) and with sword / gun in left hand and a ball in one. And after delivering the ball, he would turn the horse to umpire or the batsman and run behind them if a) ump did not react positively to his appeal b) batsmen hit him for a 6 and a 4, showing them the gun (plastic) and sword(wooden).....

Thank God, Ijaz Butt would now feel relieved he has got a brother (or son) across the border who is equal to him in terms of mental wisdom, cricketing knowledge and behavior in the public.

Mahela Jayawardhena would be the lead Indie commando in the IPL-4.  And guys like Ravinder Jadeja, Sreesanth (lunatic and clinically insane endorsed by MS) would also be part of it. Indie commandos. As in "Independent Indian cricket team" with "elite fighting squad".  

Couldnt get funnier than this. Imagine Sreesanth making a fool of himself while doing his traditional antics and foolishness as an Indie commando or Mahela Jayawardhena shouting something to his team mates as a Sri Lankan Indie commando.

Kochi owners are just making further fun of themselves and also attaching ridicule on the legends like Laxman, Murali, Sir Ravinder Jadeja and of course "Aiblee filim" Sreesanth. Just imagine Ravinder Jadeja and Sreesanth dressed up as Indie commandos. Laughing stock!!!

Team Preview : Pakistan

This time its turn of Pakistan to be previewed. Pakistan, the most controversial, most unpredictable team of the top 8 teams in the world cup. They are just jolted from the lengthy bans handed out to the 3 idiots of England tour, but then that was anticipated and the team seems to have moved on from that.

Trivia:

• Pakistan have not reached beyond 1st round in last 2 world cups : 2003 and 2007.
• After they won in 1992, they reached QF in 1996 and ended 2nd best in 1999. Since then its been a downhill for them.
• After 1999 they have not played with a same captain in 2 consecutive world cups. Wasim Akram in 1996 and 1999 was last one after Imran Khan in 1987 and 1992.
• Waqar Younis, the current coach was a flop in the world cups. He missed 1992 edition to injury, was off color in 1996, injured in 1999 and had a disastrous outing as captain in 2003.  Lets c how does he fare as coach in 2011.
• 2007 was most tragic world cup for Pakistan, they lost to Ireland and West Indies and then they lost Bob Woolmer forever and Inzamam retired from ODIs after world cup and from tests later in 2007.
• They have not yet beaten India in 4 world cup appearences to date. They lost out in 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2003. 1999 was most anticipated game as it was played during Kargil war backdrop and 2003 game was first one after the asia cup game in 2000.  If they play in this world cup, it would be first in a year and just 3rd in 3 years.
• They have never lost to SL in the world cup and we'd expect them to do the same this time too.

Team composition:

Afridi, Younis, Hafeez, Misbah, Razzaq, Rehman, Gul, Junaid, Kamran, Umar Akamal, Ajmal, Wahab, Akhtar, Shafiq, Shehzad

Opening Pair

They had good opening partnerships in their last series before the world cup. Shehzad and Hafeez might not have flair, but they are solid and if one of them sticks around and plays over, they could go long distance. Kamran Akamal is other option to go with the opening as he has had decent success with bat in that position. Many times he has had batted at no 3 as well and many times lower down the order.

Middle Order

Younis Khan at 4 and Misbah at 5 provide the stability and cool head when needed. Umar Akamal at 6 and maverick Afridi at 7 followed by Razzaq at 8. Batting seems long and dangerous untill they dont self implode or explode on their own.

If anybody out of Razzaq and Afridi gets going in the final 10 overs then the team could be expected to notch high scores. But the main problem is consistency. You never know which Pakistan side would turn up on a given day, which player would be a hero one day, villian the other day and flown the other day and banned the other some day. Shafiq has been replacing Umar off late though.

Bowling:

They dont have Asif and Amir, but they have Gul and Akhtar. Gul is one of the best bowlers today with the old ball and he has had good success in ODIs off late (England tour he took consecutive 4-fors). Akhtar, if fit can deliver 140 + balls consistently, can go for runs and also implode with wickets.  Junaid Khan is unknown commodity. Wahab Riaz has had decent success with the ball too.

Abdur Rehman, Ajmal and Afridi along with Hafeez form the spin department. Ajmal is the trump card of Pakistan and if he is conquered then it wont be long to demoralise the others in the pack.

Expectations

Controversies apart and given that Ijaz Butt keeps his butt away from the team and there is no other controversy, the team should find easy way to go through to the quarters. Hopefully they would beat Sri Lanka big time.

Game Changers :

Already covered in other post.

Negative Influence:

1. Kamran Akamal

2.  Shoaib Akhtar

3. Younis Khan

and

Ijaz Butt

Hopeless Afridi;s men

At current form Pakistan would be happy avoiding last place standing in their group in the upcoming World Cup. Their batsmen do not have patience to last long in the crease. Be it Tests, ODIs and T20s. Their only saving grace bowlers do not have time off bowling no balls after authorized by spot fixers. 

And then there are buffoons like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxGPZ0rw4wM

They have lost all 3 games in their own backyard in Abu Dhabi -- the land of Sheikhs and blood suckers. I cant forget the horrendous experience in Dubai Airport last year en route to Washington. The fuckin sheikh cop almost detained me when  I asked why was he asking me to go around the metal detector many times. 

That apart, the Pakistanis have not been able to find a XI that can win the games from hopeless situations. Something they did when previous generation of fixers played. At least they fought off the field, they united on the field to win. And thats what made them exciting. 

Today's Pakistanis are hopeless bunch of losers. For one Younis Khan you have Maliks, Akamals, Amirs, Afridis, Wahabs, Butts, Asifs and of course Ijazie's.

And then there are few blogs which are yet hopefuls they can win the world cup. Yes they can if they find miracle and get some batsmen who are honest and willing to stay on crease and make runs. Not gift their wickets on the platter to the opposite team. 

Today even a Bangladeshi team can beat Pakistan by 10 wickets or 200+ runs in ODIs if there is a series.

How Colors Big Boss can help getting rid of Ijaz Butt

I am going to be nasty here.

Veena Malik is creating some flutters on crappy Big Boss 4 and it seems she has been nominated for ouster.

What should be done is to prevent Malik from being ousted and have Asif invited on wild card entry just like Khali and then the chemistry and physics of the house would be awesome. Flies would fly and the entertainment would be unparalleled.

More bites for media channels, tabloids and more yearns for Bravery awards. More expose on drug peddlers and possibly an expose on who in Pak team is a drug addict and who deals with it. And if that happens soon a lot more would be barred from entering UAE.

Colors should help world cricket fraternity by bringing in Mohd Asif in the show and have a solid ground created for sacking of Ijaz Butt as he cannot afford another controversy/scandal in next 30 days. Good riddance from Ijaz Butt.

Rocking idea.

Randomness in Fixistan continues

Madness continues.

Randomness continues.

A day before the selectors name squad for ODIs. They chose Afridi and Misbah. And 14 others. None of them are ending in Asif, Amir or Butt. They dont name anybody as captain. So Ukkumal expects he could be the captain. And yes Mr Dhadhi (beard) MoYo is selected too.

A day later Afridi is named captain for ODIs and Misbah is named for Tests.

Phew. Reasons behind not naming Afridi captain on day 1 is "not so good reviews on captaincy by management in England" and "public comments" which did not go down well with board. Who in the board? The face of the board. Mr Butt.

On day 2 everything goes well and Afridi's sins are washed away. He is back as captain.

More drama.

Test squad is named. No Younis, no Kakkumal, no 3 fixers.

Misbah is captain. A man who has not played a test in almost 11 months is  captain now.  Here is the list of captains:

1. SL : Younis Khan

2. NZ : Dhadhi Man

3. Aus : Dhadhi Man

4. Aus : Afridi

5. Aus : Butt

6. Eng: Butt

7. SA : Misbah

8. NZ : ?

No one knows who would be next captain next series. Who knows Butt Ijazie would declare himself fit to play and take over the captaincy against NZ.

All the talks and calls for culling of Ijazie have gone down and he continues to operate in his own way.  Thats in our favor. We get more laughters and more fun.

Ijaz Butt likes Gunda

Ijaz Buttela mera naam, hu mai shaitan ka chela...

Naam he mera Ijaz Buttiya, khadi karata hu me ICC, ECB, Cricket ki khatiya

I truly feel Ijaz Butt watches Gunda every time he goes out to speak in public and peeks out some very ludicrous bullcrap in every interview and statement he makes. 

I believe he is inspired by character of Bulla who always keeps khullaaaaaaaaaa........

Gunda is a classic cult movie in Bollywood which has got some awesome dialogues.  Looking at the trend of Ijaz Butt's statements the comparison of Butt-speak with Bulla and Chutiya of Gunda fame is just about apt.

Spot Fixing Sol

The best way to deal with the ongoing spot fixing saga in Pakistan would be to ban Pakistan of any cricket activities till the Prez in that country replaces Ijaz Butt as PCB head.  Till Butt is PCB head, the cricket in that country would continue to see more dark days like Sunday and more idiotic statements would coming out of their closet. Every tour Pak would make would focus on their off the field activities  than their on field activities.

It would also be futile to expect that the real ringleaders in the spot fixing saga would ever come out. The bans, fines and all such cleansing activities would continue despite all high talk from ICC and ECB.

ECB has been equal measure culprit as PCB. They have unrelenting greed for money as do Pak cricketers caught up in the spot fixing controversy. As soon as the controversy broke out, the tour should have been cancelled, but ECB continued playing the ball game on the name of cricket and its integrity. Its the same ECB who had allowed US fraudster Alan Stanford to land on so called home of cricket with shameless treasues of money and have English players wives sit on his lap in that farce called Stanford T20. It also hoped it would be a befitting reply to IPL.

ECB bungled step after step and continued to make huge statements. That its own team could not get past a team caught up in massive controversy shows how good it is for Ashes or the world cup to follow.  Their record in India over last 2 ODI series says it all how good they would be to pose up a challenge to the contenders -- Australia and South Africa.

Pakistan cricketers, lest they dont do a soul searching and overcome their pitfalls, such controversies would continue to happen. And no Ijaz or Giles or Zarda would be able to clean it, lest they themselves make them strong in character to not fall for the crooks and suspicious characters on and off the tour. If they are able to do so in coming years the game would take a huge step to get itself clean of the so called danger of omittence.

 

Politics behind Butt's visit....

Ijaz Butt is in India to meet hsi good friend Sharad Pawar. And he also gave an interview to Barkha Dutt of NDTV. Nothing new did he say except that he hoped that India and Pakistan should resume playing cricket. Sharad Pawar, as ICC chief hoped it would happen, but as UPA minister he would know that wont happen till Madam G and MMS provide their approvals. And approval would happen when Mr 10 %, patron of Ijaz's Butt would take some steps on....

Alright thats a different thread. Coming back to Butt in India, he said the same thing "Players innocent until proven guilty".

Thats been the favorite punchline of Indian politicians caught in scams all this years. And there is a sparking similarity -- none of the politicians here have been ever convicted by law and their cricketers havent been too. The politicians have lost the elections after the corruption charges were slapped on them, but never proved. Ditto for their cricketers. Madam G's hubby and former PM is a great example. Charged of Bofors corruption, he was never convicted, but he lost 1989 elections and his life in 1991.

There is very much political significance to the meeting between Pawar and Butt.  As ICC chief Pawar would want ties to resume between 2 countries, but as a cabinet minister in the govt he wont have much power to execute the will to a ruling and resume the cricketing ties. Butt would also have requested Pawar to start the cricketing ties cos his board is bankrupt and now he wants to go SL way to have series with India.

Wont be a bad idea to have India - Pak series now as India would royally thump them and make favorable amends in the ODI and Test records :)

That can even make Ravinder Jaddukha look a great allrounder as even he can nab hapless mindless hopeless toothless brainless pennyless Pak batsmen.

In short, do not expect anything to happen on the 3 tainted Pak cricketers in near future. Money business all round is too strong to have pCB/ICC/ECB to take any action on this 3 cricketers. It should not be a surprise to see three back in action soon as did the previous 6 players (banned in March, playing in JUne). Even Butt would replace his mind to change his opinion on the 3 players then :D

Mr and Mrs ten percent

ICC has sent notice to Kamran Akamal indicating he is under scanner for his suspicious activities all this year for Australian tour, England tour and Asia Cup activities.  TOI reports that he had been notified before the Lord's test too and he had replied to the notice. But the notice reply were found to be ridiculous and so he was charged once again.

This time the PCB was ignored. The notice was sent directly to the rogue keeper.

PCB chief returned to his homeland and received jeers. Still unfazed he declared he wont have any investigation as ICC and Scotland Yard investigation are already on. Actually he meant this

We are incompetent, impotent and idiots. If we launch any investigations then all we are going to do is say "Where is the proof" ? If proofs are unearthed we would ban and fine the players. And then have them submit the appeals and finally revoke the bans and fines. We would turn a blind eye to what the players do while on the tour, whom they meet, how much cash they make, whether they play cricket or do anything beyond that. We are incompetent, impotent."

So in the end its back to the square one. Laughing stock. Amazingly, still nothing would happen. Butt, the bil of Pak defence minister shall continue to be  the pCB chief and continue to say "Where is the proof" and "Innocent until proved guilty". He would be "impotent until proved potent".

If Akamal is charged then why is he playing ?

A search for Ijaz Butt on twitter yields some hillarious tweets even from his own countrymen like "trading off Ijaz Butt" and stuff like that.

Irony is that who is going to kick him out ? The patron ? Mr 10 % :D. Who knows he might be getting some slice of the spot fixing payment from the bookies !! And Ijaz Butt would be getting his share too. Probably that explains the reason why this two buffoons are still in place.

ICC suspends Pakistan captain, premier fast bowler and Veena Malik's ex bf

Start of the day : PCB withdraws  the 3 players on grounds of mental torture from media, bloggers, ex-cricketers and fans. Pakistan envoy to Britain confirms this proving that he is cousin of Ijaz Butt in terms of mental health and wisdom.

Later in the day : ICC suspends 3 players on grounds of corruption under ACSU.

Welcome step.  Some action had to be taken and ICC was the only one who could have taken this action given how impotent and inept PCB is.

What happens to Kamran  Akamal ? He was implicated too right ? Did Shahid Afridi save his ass as Akamal constantly rants Shahid Bhai Shahid Bhai ?

By the way collage below (courtesy : ndtv.com and mid-day.com) should be good enough to nail Salman Butt and Kamran Akamal.  A fitting reply to those who are asking for proofs. Nothing can get bigger than this pictures and the video footage shown by NOTW.

Spot Fixing Stake Holders

Trying to draw a picture who's on what side of the spot fixing scandal. We've had truckload of tweets on the spot fixing stuff, lot of media articles across cricketing nations and conspiracy theories. A lot of turning blind eye stuff, demanding of proofs when they are damning present in the video, linkage to RAW, linkage to India, linkage to corruption within that country, conspiracy from ICC chief and what not.

Backers and Movers

*

Geoff Lawson

*

Rameez Raza

*

Michael Atherton

*

Ijaz Butt

*

Shahid Afridi

*

Mohd Ijaz

*

Salman Butt

*

Yawar Saeed

*

Few Pakistani bloggers

*

Daily Mail

Against

* Indian bloggers

* Indian tweeters

* Indian media

* England team

* English media

* Imran Khan

* Sarfaraz Nawaz

* Javed Miandad

* Few Pak bloggers

* Australian team like Ricky Ponting, Shane Watson, N Hauritz

* Micahel Vaughan

There have been few crazy mongers who have gone onto blame Indian establishment for the spot fixing stuff :

* Daily mail linking RAW, ICC, Indian commision (in UK) and BCCI to ruin Aamer's career. I was typing character, thanks to Sangakara overdose.

* Veena Malik, their Rakhi Sawant who's blamed entire Pak cricketing fraternity involvement in match fixing.

* Ijaz Butt who still asks "Whers the proof. Show me the proof."

* Mr 10 % who's asked for interim report from Ijaz Butt.

* Gilani who feels Pak head is down in shame

* Zakhrani and Malik who change their views every single day.

* Haroon Lorgat who feels ACSU is doing good job but it is a powerless and toothless body.

* ICC chief Sharad Pawar who himself is in a mess pledges no action.

The win-win situation to deal with this spot fixing stuff could have been

"Temporarily suspend the named 3/4 players till investigations of Scotland yard are done and some premises either way are established. The tour could have gone ahead."

This also would have set some credibility on PCB's part showing that they were keen to get this mess out of their system. Albeit it was never to happen and there has been same predictable reaction to this entire episode. Those 3 players would still go on to play the ODIs and as Pak would lose 0-5 it would be very difficult to tell which ones were a genuine losses and which ones were spot fixed.

PCB wont take any action on Cheaters

ECB has said its players are reluctant to take on a team which has spot fixer tainted players in the ODIs and T20s.

Mr Sharad Pawar has said ICC wont step in till the investigations are done. That is, the 4 players would continue playing T20s and ODIs leading to more fixing.

The Buffoon at PCB has said

"This is only an allegation. There is still no charge or proof on that account. So at this stage there will be no action taken"

As expected Buffoon turns his eye off on the erring players. There are reports in ToI which suggest that the PCB has a nexus with the bookies responsible for the spot fixing. So its obvious the head of PCB wont act on the beneficiaries of the booking gate.

ICC now signalling that it may suspend 4 players (CNN-IBN).

As of now the fact is the 4 suspended players would continue playing and none of ICC, PCB would act on the players.

Another indication that the spot fixing stuff would be rubbed under carpet.

What would Pakistan chose to do today ?

I am in a dilemma over what score would Pakistan finally end up today scoring another world record target. of the last 2 tests, they have won 1 and lost 1 chasing targets as good as 180 and 440 odd. Today's target is 435, so whats that score going to be when the Pakistan batsmen would think they have enough of meddling in the middle and its time to go infighting against Butt and inviting I Butt with his staple diet of bans, u-turns, cancelled fine pay cheques and of course some comic verbal volleys for all of us to laugh and have fun at.

Pakistan win

Pakistan won. Great stuff from Aamer. 


They won but not without a minor collapse. 


Butts would be happy bunch tonight.

Ijaz Butt's Collapsistanis!!

Afridi is gone. YoYos are gone. Being a butt today in Pakistan pays. One of the Butt is captain today and the other is Butt of all jokes.

Only if SM Quraishi was SM Butt, India would not have taken this man seriously in the foren minister talks in Pakistan.

Or if Mr 10 % was a Butt. Asif Butt. Or Benajir Bhutto Butt. They would have been on the top in respective zones.

When you give 14 of the 20 wickets in a Test to part timers or non regular bowlers, you gotta be taken lightly.  When you collapse like pack of cards every other game, you got to be laughed and made fun of. 

They deserve this. They are worthy of all the jokes and fun being poked at. 

After all they are Ijaz Butt's Collapsistan!!!

Butt does another Buffongiri

http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/current/story/466320.html

Another Buffongiri from biggest Buffoon of World Cricket.

What about Butt ? Who bans this dickheaded oldie ? What about his inappropriate statements and actions ? No accountability ? Mr 10 % defends this buffoon and thats why he stays on.

Power and Howards

Sharad Pawar is now ICC president after accumulating experience of 3 years as BCCI chief and 2 years as ICC vice president. And that qualifies him to be the ICC president. If that means an able candidate is not a sure shot conclusion.

That’s the grounds on which BCCI shot down John Howard’s candidature for ICC vice president post.  Addition to India, 5 other boards shot down Howard’s candidature. SL had its own reasons (just cos Howard had termed Murali a chuck, which is true) to block him and so did Zimbabwe (he refused to send Aussie team to Zim and as a result no Aussie team has travelled to Zim for a test series since 1999 and Zim team to Aus since 2003).

Sharad Pawar’s credibility is well known to everybody in India.  Failing crops, farmers suicide in his native state, mismanaged food economy and higher inflation rates for food items besides alleged stakes in failed Pune IPL bid and other IPL entities are some of the blots on his CV.

So Sharad Pawar being an ICC president is not a very enthusiastic piece of news for India, albeit a shameful one.

Malcolm Speed has following insights to offer on how Pawar attended ICC meetings:

“The man who is to be the next ICC president, Sharad Pawar, is the Minister for Agriculture in the Indian government - a serious full-time job, feeding 1.2 billion people. He is a good and fair man but he will be working part-time as ICC president and, take it from me, he knows little about cricket administration. I was present at several ICC board meetings he attended. ICC meetings generally last two days. Pawar attended for one hour and was then replaced by one of the Board of Control for Cricket in India apparatchiks. They were concerned that he was too busy and would be too reasonable.”

Not sure if that’s true or out of malice. But the flip flop of Pawar  clan over the IPL stake issues have put him in a very bad light.  He is confused so as which job to approach full time and part time. Whether serving as federal minister or going as ICC president or serving his own and his family’s vested interests in ventures like IPL.  He is a man chosen to do the job just out of vote bank politics and John Howard was rejected just cos BCCI did not want to upset Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka for its future vote bank politics.  Nobody cares about Pakistan and if the man is quizzed why he opposed Howard, the man would make up a lame issue and then do a u-turn over it.

So if Howard was rejected for ICC post for some reasons, then same reasons and additional ones apply for rejecting Sharad Pawar as ICC president, but that wont happen. For next 2 years the ICC members would need to engage translators and language therapists to understand what Pawar is mumbling in the meetings.

Who knows even his daughter Supriya Sule could attend ICC meetings as his proxy!!!

Motivation for Australia

Even if Australia are seeming out of spirits and loose on character they would be joyed to see that their Test opponents are Pakistan, who have won just 1 Test in last 3 and half years. And who are led by certain Shahid Afridi who last played in the forfeited test series 4 years back, somebody who does not have penchant for patience. 

And a team which has consigned its 3 best batsmen into retirement -- Inzamam retired, Younis banned and Yusuf withdrawn.

Australia once they take field on test series would forget ODI drubbing they've got from England who are surprisingly on a high.

2-0 to Australia. No doubt. 

Shahid Afridi meanwhile is reluctant to carry on playing Tests after this England tour.  Before he retires, Ijaz Butt would have banned him for few months for losing all the Tests and ODIs.