"We were very absolutely outraged by ecb's demand for butt's apology" Afridi said. "We refute them completely and we were very disturbed that someone would come out and demand apology for our president's "innocent remarks" without any proof to back their innocence. When this news broke there was a lot of raw emotion around and we needed to let that subside. But we didn't have a lot of time to do that. Once the emotion did subside, we as a group of players realised that the best option available to us was to play the game."
this is what afridi said after losing yet another series against a team that was already very disturbed and lost lord's odi earlier coz of that...
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by deciding to amputate the arm the tumor of which was infecting the pakistan cricket and their team... how better it would have been had they raised their hands and own some responsibility in failing to cure it...
the wound that could have been cured by timely intervention, medication and care... they waited for that wound (indiscipline) to develop into a tumor (player power) and in doing so they have send a clear message that they and their system is totally incapable of curing the 'player power' tumor and only way out, they know, is... amputate the arm... to save their skins...
hence they have decided to bar mohammad yousuf and younis khan from playing international games... handed over one year ban to shoaib malik and rana naved and chose to fine shahid afridi, kamran akmal and his younger brother umar akmal... apparantly on disciplinary grounds...
if for a moment we believe what pcb trying hard to feed on to us... even then their case looks very weak... coz if indiscipline was the factor... they should have banned...
kamran akmal... for a year... who openly flaunted team's stance by continuously giving contradictory interviews to oz media about him playing the next game and forcing himself on and above team cause...
umar akmal... for a year... who suddenly developed the back pain after he learned that his elder brother is going to be dropped from the team for the next game... and once he was told in no uncertain terms that he will have to accompany kamran to the flight back home... miraculously his back pain evaporated in thin air...
shahid afridi... for life time... for audaciously biting the ball... thereby disgracing reputation of a captain and the whole pakistan team... and compulsively engaging in team infighting in the past...
and should have fined yousuf, younis, malik and rana... but we all know that's not the case...
that is why they call pcb... the permanently confused board for nothing...
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sorry for being late on the issue...
those who are wondering that even after playing so many years at international level... knowing that eyes of 26 cameras are following and dissecting your every move on cricket field... still shahid afridi had the audacity to do what he did... ?
they are missing this simple point... idiocy knows no reasoning...
but one more thing which seems to have escaped many minds and certainly icc's recruited match referee... why only shahid afridi was punished for ball tampering...?
as far as the video of the incident goes... it's clearly visible that first asif and later rana knew exactly what was going on and still there was nothing to suggest that they even tried to stop afridi from doing what he did... in fact rana was even seen smiling wickedly when he saw afridi biting the ball... which means both asif and rana were willing and consenting party to the crime... and they deserved to be punished like afridi... if not equally...
to me... icc missed the opportunity to not only stamp its authority but sending clear message in no uncertain terms that there will be zero tolerance towards such offenses and they will come down heavily not only on the player who is directly involved but even on those who are willingly party...
update: 4th feb, 2010...
i have found out that there has been a precedent of team mates getting punished for ball tampering...
in year 2000 waqar younis when he became the first player to be suspended for ball tampering... his team mates also got punished...
Television replays clearly caught the Pakistani fast bowler playing with the ball. While the commentators dismissed the incident when it happened, Match Referee John Reid took it very seriously and, after a long meeting, he passed out the sentence. Also fined 30 per cent of his fees was Azhar Mahmmod, who abetted the act. Pakistani skipper Moin Khan was "severely reprimanded" for allowing it to happen.
so what i was suggesting has a precedent and wonder why this could not have been implemented in this case...
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kieron pollard never won a t20 world cup... did not even win Trinidad and Tobago the inaugural t20 champions league... but still got auctioned for staggering 8 crore plus ($750k plus) figure... the highest by far by a long distance in short ipl history...
what pollard promised to the ipl franchisees that eleven t20 world champion pakistan players could not...?
the answer lies in probing this simple question... but instead of searching for the simple and honest answer... we hear bullshit like...
"The way I see it, the IPL and India have made fun of us and our country by treating us this way," Afridi said.
must say shahid afridi is far more media savvy than he allows us to believe... he comes across as the one who really knows the 'pulse'... no wonder many seems to buy his theory...
so if you believe powerful franchisees like ambanis, mallayas can be forced to act like puppets by lalit modi... compelled to buy a player, nobody knew before recently concluded champions league, for an astonishing sum but not a single pakistani player even for a base price...
if you sincerely believe that an organisation running merely into its third year of existence... has the power and capacity to 'insult' whole pakistan then i must say you are rightly feeling insulted...
...and i dare say inshallah when afridi gets auctioned for 8 crore plus figure in next ipl auction... he should then walk away protesting the insult he and his country received in this year ipl auction...
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any coach in the world who can make player like shahid afridi say...
not every ball in t20 can be hit to boundary...you have to play calculated game...
deserves a standing ovation...
its just goes to show that to get the job done you don't need glamorous name...an earnest and approachable man like alam...with whom players are not in awe of...can go to him with their problems without any apprehension...is always a best bet...no wonder afridi rose to the ranks and was deserving man of match in semi final as well as finals...armed with this refreshing approach...
from now on every team should...as one of the banner said during the match...
be afridi...very afridi...
congrats pakistan....see you at the next world cup...
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today Q of well pitched the famous founder of Allen Stanford University for Cricket Bloggers (aey modi bhai dhyan dene ka, kya...) have posted that afridi is not happy with the presence of cheerleaders in the ground sighting disturbance as the reason...
so guys let me present a joke how it started...sorry english folks...if i translate it (in english) it will spoil the fun of the joke...
Afridi: yaar mujhe woh cheerleader pasand nahi hai...
organiser: kaun see sir!
Afridi: khonche jissne peelee top pehni hai...
O: sir woh to sabne pehni hai...
A: abe yaar jissne neelee skirt pehni hai...
O: sorry sir woh bhi sabne pehni hai...
A: (gusse mein) yaar woh jissne haath me chamkeela as kuch liya hua hai...
O: (ghabratey hue) sir who bhi sabke haath mein hai...
{Afridi bahut gusse mein cheerleaders pe pistol se fire karta hai)
DHAI DHAI DHAI...
ab kewel ek cheerleeder bachee hai...
Afridi: ye waali jo bach gayi hai...YE MUJHE PASAND NAHI HAI...
so now you know how it all started...
Enjoy!!
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some batsmen look forward to i.e.
after another fighting innings from misbah and especially Kamran...i wondered how, we have a history of resurrecting so many careers that otherwise would not have enjoyed that much longer run than they did...
how there are some batsmen, when not in good form and career in shatters...they pray to god to please arrange a tour with india...
so many players come to my mind (mainly from pakistan though)....
Shivnaraine Chandrapaul (barring good outing lately in england tour, he would get the top cake amongst all other players for being the kind of batsman i am talking about)
Andy flower (the sight of him coming in mid of collapse and you know that now its going to be long before we get him out)
Izaz Ahmed (i am yet to recall him playing innings of substance elsewhere, of course india were exception)
Shahid Afridi (he has hurt india than any other country he has played against...had 'india' not happened to him, wonder where he would have been...)
Kamran Akmal (would have been a goner had this series not happened in time for him...)
Misbah? (q mark is bcoz, although its early days, but after SA series bad outings here would have been enough to put doubts in selectors mind that whether he is good 'test' match material)
Saeed Anwar (very fond of our bowling...if you wake him up midnight to play match against us would almost sleep walk through his innings)
Since i am not statistician type (to search for data) i leave it to you...how many batsmen you can add?
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