With the start delayed by bad light due to heavy fog at Mirpur for the second Test involving Bangladesh and Pakistan, it seemed the gloom was a sign of what was to come for the hosts. Bangladesh made two changes from the first Test, with Robiul Islam and Nazmul Hossain replacing Ashraful and Rubel. Pakistan went in with an unchanged side.
With the toss eventually taking place over an hour late, Bangladesh were put into bat after Misbah won the toss. The signs were ominous as the hosts lost their first wicket without a run on the board, with Mohammed Nazimuddin the man to fall to a poor LBW decision by umpire Tarapore off the bowling of Aizaz Cheema. With the ball doing just enough for the Pakistan pace duo of Gul and Cheema, coupled with Bangladesh's weakness of poor shot selection, another wicket wasn't too far off. It arrived in the 7th over with Bangladesh's best batsman Tamim Iqbal choosing to needlessly hook off Umar Gul, top edging to Cheema.
Since his return from injury, Tamim has managed a highest score of just 15 in three ODI innings and three Test innings so far. What's certainly obvious, and evident on the hook shot at his dismissal, is that he is carrying a lot of excess weight. We saw the 'Sri Lankan stomach' on exhibition in Pakistan's last series against Sri Lanka, and here Tamim decided what the Sri Lankans could do, he could do just as well, with his proud display of the 'Bangla belly'. He is someone that certainly needs to realise his importance to his team and address his physical condition and quickly. The performances will no doubt follow.
Barcelona, who were favorites in this match dominated their opponents throughout the match. Exerting pressure resulting in goals from Adriano, Maxwell and Kieta. Although, celebrations were muted by a serious injury sustained by David Villa who could be out for a long period.
Barcelona now face the Brazilian side Santos to win the Club World Cup second time. First Club World Cup victory came in Abu Dhabi in 2009.
The new captains have been closely watched, hailed, criticized and questioned, which got me wondering, which captain has performed the best so far?
According to the test match stats, the best individual performance award goes to Australia's Michael Clarke who has made 541 runs in 7 matches with 3 centuries. The second-best performer here is Tilakaratne Dilshan with 526 runs in 8 tests with one century. But looking at their batting averages, it’s a whole different story; Brendon Taylor has the best average of 71.60 in 3 matches. Graeme Smith comes next with an average of 61.66 in just 2 matches, whereas Misbah-ul-Haq has an impressive average of 57.25 in 7 matches. Looking at the team performance, Michael Clarke leads the way again with 5 wins and 2 draws, next comes Misbah-ul-Haq with 4 wins, 1 loss and 2 draws. The worse performers in this list are the Windies with 2 wins, 4 losses and 4 draws. The former #1 test side has also been scratchy with 3 wins, 4 losses and 4 draws.
The pitch at Sher-e-Bangla is flat and slow, which gets supportive for spinners as the games moves on, it means that Pakistani spin trio of Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Hafeez and Abdul Rehman will come into thier own and create trouble for the home Batters.
Key Players:
Bangladesh: Ex Skipper Shakib Al Hassan will be holding a key position with both bat and bowl as He has the capability to do well against quality sides and has also impressed in the past.
Pakistan: For Pakistan, Saeed Ajmal will be a key operator, as He has been unplayable for the Bengalis so far. And Mohammad Hafeez will be important again with both bat and bowl.
When watching a cricket match, apart from looking out for all the action on the field, one can’t help but pay attention to the constant blabber of the commentators. At times it’s quite entertaining and at times it’s imprudent. Because when there’s less action on the field, we ponder on everything the commentators talk about. A good commentator make this time worth our while but a commentator who’s sort of a charlatan spoils all the fun for us. This article is about all those commentators who think they’re pretty good but actually they’re ruining the profession of commentary.
I think a good commentator is the one who is unbiased, neutral, intelligent, knowledgeable and entertaining in a sober yet staunch way. Occasionally, in a test match on dead rubbers when there’s nothing going on except the batsmen trying to block their way out of a match, most of us would just boringly wait for something to happen, but this is where a good commentator can make their charm work by keeping the viewers occupied and interested with their commentary. Almost not every commentator has this quality but the ones who possess this quality are the few brilliant ones. But here I’m going to right about those who’ve been making commentating a nuisance for most of us. I would like to mention that like every individual, I’m just sharing my own opinion and that I don’t want to offend anyone at all.
Scoring 168 on test debut, away from home, from an unfamiliar position - where the rest of the team crumbled around you, is a significant feat. Such is the misfortune of Pakistan cricket that the precious talent found him out of the test team after just 2 more tests. He was presented to New Zealand as a sacrificial goat, due to the cowardly attitude of the senior players (read: Shoaib Malik) in the team, who refused to bat at #3 on a green top in New Zealand.
Fawad has represented Pakistan in 54 international matches in all three formats of the game; almost half of those have been T20I – a format of the game which is not suited to his approach of batting when sent at #6 or 7. Out of the 17 innings he has played in T20’s only 4 of them have been at his natural position of #4, 5. His two most noteworthy contributions in T20I cricket were his; 8-ball-23 against Sri Lanka in Canada, and his run out of Albie Morkel in the semi-final of the T20 WC 09.
What's the best thing about playing Cricket in Australia? Abdul Razzaq: I think you can call it the home of Cricket with a hectic atmosphere. If you want to prove your Cricket you should prove it in Australia, Luckily we had 3 or 4 tours in Australia.
What do you think of Shahid Afridi? Abdul Razzaq: I think Shahid Afridi who everyone knows as Boom Boom is a very exciting cricketer and very dangerous, Whenever we play everybody favors him. He's a good bowler a good fielder and an excellent cricketer.
What do you think of Abdul Razzaq? Shahid Afridi: I think Razzaq's one of the best, He's always enjoying his Cricket and I've enjoyed my career with him for Pakistan. We both hope we do well for the T20's here in Australia. The Renegades play there first game against Adelaide strikers on the 18th December.
He made his comeback for the side under Misbah-ul-Haq's leadership in 2010 under extreme pressure. One problem was his age, at thirty years old, this was his last chance; perform or be gone forever. The other issue was Pakistan had lost their opening bowlers to spot-fixing and the bowling lineup looked weak. The entire pressure was on Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal, the duo needed support and Manna had to stand up and be counted.
Let’s assess United’s midfield options one by one. First up it’s Michael Carrick. The man who everybody loves to hate. Signed from Tottenham for 16.7 Million pounds as a midfield enforcer, Carrick started off brilliantly to his Old Trafford career and everybody loved his laser guided passes and good positioning. However, Year 2009 wasn’t made for him as he consistently struggled to gain a place in the playing Xi with Sir Alex preferring other midfielders in place of him. The sad fact is, Manchester United supporters don’t seem to give a second chance to anyone who does not score goals or excites them in some way. Yes the game Carrick plays now is not much exciting, but if midfielders were signed to be exciting then Sir Alex would have performed thousands of Hairdryer sessions in his reign. Any midfielder Sir Alex has signed has been a proper Central Midfielder. A midfielder who can tackle and pass at the same time. Roy Keane, Bobby Robson and I can name many others. Manchester United don’t like to play with an attacking midfielder like Mario Gotze and other names being brandied around in the press. |
Another splendid performance by the Spanish Giants, thrashing Qatari Club Al-Sadd’s run in the Club World Cup. Adriano showed his class by scoring two goals in the contest well supported by goals of young Maxwell and Kieta. Barca will now face Brazilian side Santos in the Club World Cup final on Sunday. This would be Barcelona’s Fourth Club World Cup final.
After the ICC World Cup 2011, most of the test-playing nations have appointed new captains to prepare new teams for the next world cup and give the youth talent a chance at the international level. And we have seen very exciting cricket in the last 8 months, from the famous Cardiff test to the Galle pitch nightmare.
Almost two months into their sentences, there’s been much debate about whether Mr Justice Cooke got the sentences right for Salman Butt, Mohammed Asif and Mohammed Amir. Yet certainly in Amir’s case, this isn’t about the length of sentence or the punishment itself, even.
Pakistan take on Bangladesh in the Second and Final Test Match of the series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium Dhaka. After Pakistan hammered the Home side in the First match at Chittagong, it is likey that they will over come Bangladesh easily in the second game as well.
Commentators are essential in the game of Cricket. But not all commentators are bright enough to keep us occupied and interested in the game and some rather become nuisance for us. This is my list of those five commentators, who think they're pretty good at what they do but actually make me mute the TV when they're commentating.
He has scored 840 runs in 16 innings so far in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy at an average of exact 70. He has scored 3 hundred and a fifty, at an impressive strike rate of 71. He has had another stellar season on the domestic season, but Fawad Alam still finds himself out of the national team. The lean run-making machine is despised by fans of pajama cricket, on the bogus postulation of his un-ability to hit boundaries. Fawad has played some very valuable innings for Pakistan, in spite of the constant mistreatment of his abilities by the team management – he has it in him to be a solid all-round cricketer in Test and ODI cricket. Yet, he gets dropped for his shortcomings in a format ill-suited to the brand of cricket he plays.
Pakistan's Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq who we're signed up by the Melbourne Renegades to play for them in the Big Bash league arrived in Melbourne today. Both of the finest All rounders the countries ever produced we're picked as both of the Renegades overseas players. On there arrival both we're frequently asked questions and below you may find:
Back in 2007, a twenty-seven year old Abdur-Rehman made his Test debut for Pakistan in a game against South Africa in Karachi. Abdur-Rehman, or Manna as he is called by his fans, picked up 4 wickets, including Mark Boucher in the first innings of the game, cleaning up the tail. In the second innings he also picked up 4 wickets, but this time of Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, AB de Vielliers and Andre Nel for the second time. He finished the game with 8 wickets for 210 runs, playing second spinner behind Danish Kaneria, who managed 5 wickets in the game.
Injuries are a part of the game. But so many injuries in such a short amount of time? Unthinkable. Every team suffers different kinds of problems. What sets Manchester United apart from them is they seem to overcome any obstacle put in front of them. A player retires? New one is ready. Player injured? Another crops up dying to prove his worth to the cause of Manchester United. The quality of this club is that they never lay down or accept defeat in whatever quest they roll on to. News of Fletcher taking a break from Football. Supporters saying that the likes of Carrick and other’s are not up to Manchester United standard.
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