Naeem Islam was the 50th victim for Umar Gul in T20. A serious achievement in batsmen’s game. He is not the first man to reach this landmark. Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi has already completed 50 wickets in T20 format & leading the list. The tale isn’t complete here. Another Pakistani & World’s No.1 ODI bowler Saeed Ajmal is at 3 in the list. A lot has been conferred on Spin twins Ajmal – Afridi. So I am going to accolade a Peshawar born Pathan who made us feel proud on many occasions.

Gull has taken 50 wickets so hurriedly in T20, which isn't an easy task when you get only 4 overs to spell your magic...Quick and conditional cause fast bowlers can't bowl bouncers or too wide outside stumps. No overstepping the popping crease and field restricted!

This class act made it simple for him. He has ways to dismantle the opposition and get them OUT. Gul knows the art of bowling yorkers really well. He is nippy and his accuracy adds danger to his work. His ability to swing the new ball and reverse the old makes him a complete bowler in any format of the game.

1^st ODI – Pakistan vs. Bangladesh – Dhaka – Dec 1, Thursday – 12:30 PM PST

Live on PTV HOME

After their dreary performance in the only T20 against Pakistan on Monday, on a pitch that was ill suited for international cricket, Bangladesh has a point to prove. For long many a cricket pundits have expressed their reservations on the Tigers joining the elite cricket club of test playing nations. Let there be no mistake, the pool of cricketers they possess are talented enough to compete against top sides  day-in and day-out, but what the lack in abundance is the will to fight it out till the end. Can Bangladesh find their Imran Khan in this series, who can transform their abundance of gift into successful results?

Pakistan on the other hand is a team on the rise. They have yet to lose a bilateral series this year, having just come off a whitewash of a strong Sri Lankan team in all three formats – Pakistan will hope to keep the momentum going against the minnows, before the all important series against England in the UAE. The term mercurial has been often used to describe Pakistani cricketers, but they have been anything but mercurial during the last year. Unyielding is a more apt term, one can use to describe the current players. Contributions from all 11 players is what makes this team so successful, Bangladesh will be looking to learn some lessons in team building from Misbah.

As the men in green grabbed wickets against Zimbabwe, in the September 2011 tour, in the first ODI, as the boys celebrated each wicket, something was missing. Energy, aggression and romance had been absent. The trademark arms-aloft celebration was Missing. YES, I am talking about the ONLY AND ONLY! Boom Boom AFRIDI! , the nickname given to him by none other than Ravi Shastri, while he was commentating on an India-Pakistan ODI. He is a six addict. The urge to hit out is so instinctive that he just cannot resist, even though he knows how much trouble it will bring him. The Wild Energy and aggression was brought back into the team on 18th October when Shahid Khan Afridi Withdrew his Conditional Retirement.  Afridi’s presence on the team adds much needed aggression and also provides the cushion of an extra bowling option. Actually, he is a frontline bowler and a wicket-taker – if he bats this sensibly all the time, Pakistan could benefit greatly. But, then he would not be the mercurial, crowd pleasing cricketer he is.

Shahid Afridi made his first impact on international cricket with the willow instead. Smashing a century off only 37 deliveries in his very first innings not only made him enter the record books but also elevated him to the status of a super star – overnight. While his mighty hitting has sent chills down the spines of bowlers around the world, and his controversies have been the talk of the town, Afridi has rather quietly established himself as the most prolific leg-spinner. His ability to economically get through the middle overs has been integral to our success over the years, and his knack of breaking partnerships and getting wickets at critical junctures has led Pakistan to glory at various instances.

A fighting 72 from Rohit Sharma helped India register their 1^st victory in the 5 match ODI series .

Chasing 212 on a flat track at Barabati Stadium , Cuttack , the hosts found themselves reduced to 59-5 and 159-7 , not being able to tackle  the pace and swing of Roach ( 3-46) and Russel ( 2-29) . before Sharma rose upto the occasion and stitched useful partnerships with the lower order batsmen - a crucial 83-run partnership with Ravindra Jadeja (38) and then a partnership of 42 with R Vinay Kumar who scored 18. Darren Sammy, Kieron Pollard and Anthony Martin were the other wicket-takers for the visitors.

With just 11 runs required and 2 wickets in their hand , India looked comfortable in the driver’s seat,  but then came a U-turn as Sharma and Vinay Kumar both fell and it was left to Varun Aaron (6) and Umesh Yadav (6) to take India home.

India's run chase took of on an aggressive note before Parthiv Patel (12) fell in the fifth over with the score on 37 as he failed to keep a cut-shot along the ground to a wide Roach delivery and chopped it  straight to Martin at point.

Start of the second over in the Pakistan innings and Abdur Razzak gives the ball some rip to Imran Farhat. The ball pitches around middle and turn sharpely in, beats batsman and keeper for five wides. That particular ball turned a yard or so, and many more deliverys followed suit. Spinners put pressure on and batsman could not cope with the turn in the surface.

All teams prepare pitches to suit their team; and why not? It is home advantage afterall. Even though the game did not pan out the way the Bengal Tigers would have liked (seems they forgot the Pakistani spin trio) there is something that made me think. Where is the home advantage when Pakistan play 'home'?

For one Pakistan don't play in Pakistan which is a big disadvantage, and they use the UAE for home games. The pitches in UAE are batting friendly, they hardly have any seam movement. For the spinners there is turn, but very slow turn. The batsman have ample time to get into position and negotiate any movement the ball may have. Pakistani batsman, like fellow Asian teams India and Sri Lanka, are the best players of spin bowling in the world. Though Pakistan have one advantage over any team and thats the spinners that they possess. In Test matches Saeed Ajmal, Abdur-Rehman and Mohammad Hafeez are as classy as any spin trio ever produced. Variations at plenty, you have Ajmal's doosra's and off-spinners, Abdur-Rehman's left armers and Hafeez's cunning accuracy. Replace Abdur-Rehman with Shahid Afridi in limited overs and the trio still looks as strong as before.

Pakistan, winning the toss and elected to bat in the only Twenty20 game of the tour, Started Brightly!
Imran Farhat, who looked dangerous, Started off with a couple of thrashing shots before Razzaq hit back, slipping in a quicker delivery to induce an edge to the keeper in the 4th over.
The Track surprised everyone and turned out to be a Spin track that held the Pakistan Batsmen from Scoring.The in-form Hafeez went on the attack and he and Shafiq were fast and furious in taking singles and Doubles. The ninth over was significant for Bangladesh as Shakib ul hassan was on fire.The Slow left-arm orthodox Bowler, Striking again, Took Hafeez's Wicket Who completely missed the Line and Lost his wicket on the last ball of the over. Bangladesh didn't look back after that wicket-maiden over.
The Exciting Umar Akmal Walked in the middle and Pakistan Only Managed to Make 67 runs in the first 10 overs, losing both the Openers. Pakistan rocked the first five overs while Bangladesh came back well in the last five.
7 bowling changes were made in the first ten overs By Bangladesh, The possible Reason being not let the batsmen Settle against any of the bowler.

This time we bring you an interview with Abdullah. KheloPakistan's founder member and top writer; one of the best in the business. Abdullah is a man of pure stats. I will say no more. Read this yourself to find more about him.

In any competitive enviornment its always about Survival Of The Fittest, And the cricketing world is no exception. With Cricket becoming a huge phenomena and the commercial value attached with, The players are on thier toes all the time to prove thier potential both on and off the park. Team Pakistan has always been "Controversy's" favorite prey. From Match Fixing to Spot Fixing, Ball Tampering to Player Power not to forget Terrorism and many other unpleasantries, our cricket has been hurt badly by all. But every time Our nation has backed the players and that has resulted in a desperate yet committed efforts by the team. Why go far if we rewind the time back to 2009 (March), when a touring Srilankan team captained by Mahela Jayawardena was attacked by Terrorists just in the premisies of thw Gaddafi Stadium Lahore. several Lankan players were injured and the horrifying attack lead to the cancellation of the tour. This was a shocking event, for the first time in the country's history any Sporting team was attacked. It brought heavy consequences for Pakistani cricket and from that day onwards Pakistani people and grounds are deprived of international cricket. But it did not affect the Mental Stability of the players, despite knowing that they will not play international matches on thier home ground, the players united themselves and gave a tough time to the then World Champions Australia in a 5 match ODI Series. Soon they found themselves in England where they had to play the ICC Twenty20 World Cup for 2009 a format of Cricket that has been suitable to Pakistani style of Cricket. The team lost its warmup games to South Africa and Arch Rivals India, Pundits predicted an early exit for Younis Khan's team Pakistan. Start to the tournament was unideal lost the host country, were on the verge of an early knock but showed their guts and class defeated Netherland, qualified for the Super eights and again lost to Srilanka in the first super eight game. But this was the end of the miseries, Khan's 11 stormed their way into the semi final crushing Newzealnd and Ireland by record margins, green shirts had a mountain to climb as they faced South Africa in the semi final, but the chokers choked and Pakistan qualified for the finals and had no problems in overcoming Srilanka in the final at the Historic Lord's London. What can one expect from a team that had recently been deprived of Inernational Home Cricket and were under stern media pressure.

India’s Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi have ended their successful tennis doubles partnership, which was hailed as a symbol of friendship between the rival nations.

And it's all over. The last day of the ATP World Tour Finals ended as a three-set-thriller but it  was the Swiss who prevailed yet again. Meanwhile, Mirnyi and Nestor completed an undefeated streak defeating the "Polish Power" to book the year-end title to their name.