Tounge in Cheek.

It is very easy now to just say 'let's stop going to Pakistan'. "But we need the support of the international cricket community. We can still hold international matches. Terrorists have tried to hit cricket targets in other countries as well." – Wasim Bari.

Some checks and balances her Wasim Bari sir. World cricket is still with Pakistan cricket. Only thing they are saying is we won’t tour Pakistan. There are many other venues which could act as home venues for Pakistan series, but then PCB would need to drop their million dollar ego and opt for those venues. The natural venues like Sharjah, Abu Dhabi or even India if you want. Entire 2008, PCB didn’t opt for the alternate venue and as a result the team didn’t play a single test. Now it’s the time to go and hunt for home venue and host the games there. May be shift your domestic cricket to those venues too. That’s the only way Pakistan cricket can stay alive. Else the verdict is out. Forget the fact that any team would tour Pakistan for next few years. And unfortunately we in India would also face some unease before every series begins just cos of the mindless (too less a word) attacks yesterday. Being in HR, such kind of statement puts your tongue in cheek sir. Try and avoid making such statements.

Get well soon TS

Life and cricket are great levelers. In this case pretty unfortunate though lucky in a way. One day you hit a consecutive double hundred and the next day you lie in an ambulance being operated for a leg injury caused by shrapnel hit out of the terror attack. Thilan Samarweera is the man in contention here. Unfortunate becos he got hit by the shrapnel. Lucky in a way cos it was a minor injury. Nobody would like to have that kind of destiny. Wish you a speedy recovery Thilan.

MS speaks his mind

Was this attack meant to be on Team India when it would have toured Pakistan ? Something which nobody said, was said candidly by MS in NZ in post match confrence. No team wud ever like to go to Pakistan and he was happy to not go to Pakistan. At least he speaks his mind without bothering what romantics wud feel or what heck people would think.

Terror hits cricket.

Alright. I am a cricket fanatic. Its life for me. I breathe it, I live it. It healed me in my tormented times i encountered in 24 years of watching the game. But never before i felt so empty to witness something like this.

a cricket team was attacked. Bloody hell a team was conscipiciously attacked. A team that tours a country bereft with the terror which is home grown and bred in the bloody valleys of the country. And its attacked. The team that agrees to tour Pakistan when no other country is even ready to listen to the pleas of PCB is attacked. And attacked with grenades, rocket launchers and kalashnikov rifles. 6 poor policemen lost their lives.

Cricket has lost its relevance in Pakistan. No team would ever and should tour pakistan. Ok the rage might not be as same as it was during 11/26, but then its a direct attack on a team. as news reports suggest the terrorists had plans to hostage the cricketers. And 12 men for 15 people ? Doesnt it suggest a deep long planning ?

Pakistan should say good bye to cricket. Ask ICC to ban it from touring country. Ridiculous to see PCB and other cricketers pleading other teams to visit them ? For this ? For getting killed for game of cricket ? By terrorists nourished by ISI and Pakistan military. Alright this is not political blog, but I wont hold back. I am not politically correct person and i dont write to win friends. Other bloggers would not echo the obvious, but i wont hold back.

We had 11/26 emanating out of Pakistan. Now we have 3/3 happening in the breeding ground of terrorism. Terrorism in Pakistan is a threat to the world. Most to India. Do whatever guys in your own country. But bloody hell dont target others. Do whatever on jihaad or whatever religious extremism teaches you.

One day this bloody fucking terrorism is gonna engulf the pakistan in its grip and then there would be no Younis or Inzy or Afridi to say Pakistan is most beautiful country in world. Its most terrifying country in world. Unfortunately who breeds on hatred and terrorism. One who exports terrorism.

Did anybody know what happened to 12 terrorists ? All got away. Fuckin hell. Look at Times now. They showed how the investigating agencies tampered the evidence. There was a striking similarity between this 12 bhenchod terrorists and the one bhenchod left alive in Mumbai. They all hail from same country.

Stop exporting terror and attacking cricket. Feel sorry for Pakistan cricket. It was murdered today brutally in Lahore by 12 Pakistani terrorists. Not that it was healthy. It already was in death bed since last 14 months.

Stay Safe

I pray to GOD that all the SL players are safe and sound. My prayers for them and wish they return safe asap from Pakistan. Stay safe guys. Amongst the current news updates it seems that Sanga, Mendis, Samarweera and Jayawardhena are among who are injured. Not sure. Getting updates from ibnlive.com. Just get out of there guys. Just be safe.

Shocking

What else remains to be seen. Ban the country from cricket and from hosting any cricket. It was a planned attack it seems. Pray to GOD no player loses its life. Feel sorry for the slain policemen who lost their lives. That’s what happens when you nourish the terror in your own backyards.

I would bat long long long very long long long...

Whats the best way to win a test when you cant win on the basis of strength of bat or bowl ? When you have so called world class spinners looking club class whiskey pullers. Bat long and long and on and on and on and on and on and on. Never stop. Pile 600, 700, 952 and still not stop. Play a timeless test. Focus on positives and say the boys are building up in character. Hit a double and then say I quit. Kill the test cricket and win spirits of cricket award. Get thumped in ODIs and take out the frustration in Tests. Kill the viewer, kill the spectator with the torture. Bat on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. Win the toss, elect to field. Gift the initiative to the opposition camp when you have 5 debutants and a bowling attack with 2 bowlers and 2 pedestals. You don’t have to be top test team. Get batting records, get winning records, lie low at ranking table. Win at home, get thumped abroad. Else don’t play Test cricket for 14 months. Play BD and Zim. Win. Sack the coach. Play WI. Play SL, lose. Sack the captain. Get new one. Get a triple. What about team spirits when selfish motives rule the roost ? Heck with them J

Australia go 1-0 up

So Aussies go 1-0 up and I take one step to win my bet, which is quite popular now across blogsville. It was a perfect win. Excellent cricket by both teams. Rivetting test cricket. Much to the contrast in Pakistan and West Indies which are nothing but batting draws and big bores. Its amazing that SL still play the same brand of boring cricket. 606 runs in 2 days and then M&M thrashed.

Oh man gimme a break.

For Australia the debutants stood out esp North who hit his 1st hundred. Johnson got wickets, Hussey got ducks, Ponting got yorkers, Smith got jitters. Now his 2 big wins in Australia stand negated. It cud well have been 3-1 for Aussies rather than 2-2.

Today morning it seemed that Saffers would go for the kill. But then Kallis continued his selfish run with the bat and never assumed the threatening proportion to put Aussies on backfoot. Perth hero JPD didnt click and Boucher was all alone to put up a fight. Hilfenhaus played supporting role to perfection and Siddle assisted Johnson to wipe out the tail once Kallis was gone.

It was a game of 15 sessions where Aussies won handsomely 12-3. Perhaps that answers few distractors who questioned my logic to go behind Aussies. But even though Saffers lost, they played intensive cricket and that to me rates above the boring brand we get to endure with the Asian giants sans us and Carribean torture where England is fast falling the steep slope. Its pretty much clear that they aint going to win a series now in West Indies this time.

Another world record on ?

Is another world record chase on ? 122/1 in pursuit of 452. Graeme Smith standing tall again :). Test cricket at its best.

Australia has upper hand

Australia lost a bit of their intensity this morning with madness setting in their camp. Much of that credit to Kallis the bowler and the fielder. 75 runs in to the first session and 8 wkts lost. Thanks to Haddin and Hughes, they still sit 420 runs ahead than Saffers. Yet they won’t feel secure given the ease with which Saffers chased down 415 in Perth. Amazing is the history. It gives jitters not to the team but to the supporters. SA would bat in the 4^th innings and Graeme Smith is the undisputed king of 4^th innings 100s. So he would still like to back himself up for the heroic innings. Few more runs from the last pair on the wicket would be a bonus and would mean more pressure on the Saffers. They would have max 4.5 – 5 sessions to save / win / lose the game. Not long back India defeated them in Jo’burg by 278 runs, now its turn of Aussies to beat them and go 1-0 up.

Aussies were touted to be the underdogs and weaker links amidst the 2 teams. Though their batting worries haven’t been resolved, the bowling attack gives them a hope. Lee and Clark would be back by Ashes. And till then if Siddle and Hilfenhaus make steady progress, the Aussies would look good for another Ashes triumph. Mitch Johnson is touted to be the next Aussie great alrounder, though that’s a bit of far stretched imagination. Alright, he is having good times. But still he needs to do that consistently. This has been a riveting test match, much to the hype and hoopla created before. However I still don’t feel that SA are deservers to upstage Aussies from # 1 throne. Its still India who deserve more than the Saffers just cos they were able to beat Australia when the later had its strengths at peak and had the best of talent which is now retired. Saffers in that era failed to win a single test match home and away, let alone win a series. India in that duration won 2, lost 2 and drew 1. No other team came close to that record. I am a chauvinistic, but then there are facts to prove. I would always rant for the support of Indian test team which for now doesn’t have the young buggers in. I don’t know how it would be when the Raina would be # 3, Sharma (if) would be # 4 and some other dude would be # 5. Yuvraj has seen it all, so its very unlikely that he would like to lose the focus and so his test spot. The young buggers who have all seen is nothing but easy money and fame would falter away when they would be put under pressure of 5 days. I don’t think so the likes of Raina and Sharma are Test class.

Meanwhile the action resumes in Jo’burg. Go Aussies.