“Criticize me I wont mind but please don’t abuse my family.”

That was Wahab Riaz’s message on twitter after Pakistan lost against India in Asia Cup and Wahab gone for 50 runs in 4 overs without a wicket in that match. When abusing didn’t stop even after this tweet by him, he de-activated his twitter account to avoid such abusive behavior. Last year when Pakistan lost world cup semi final to India, a number of Pakistani fans were praising Wahab for his bowling performance of 5/46 in that semi final. A few weeks ago when Pakistan lost ODIs & T20s series against England hundreds of Pakistani fans were abusing captain Misbah. I myself received so many disgraceful texts about the Pak captain that I can’t repeat those here. When Pakistan whitewashed England in test series, most of such fans were showering praises on Misbah & team Pakistan, they were calling them their true heroes & lions. It has been the attitude of sub-continent cricket fans since long that one day they worship their cricket heroes and the other day they want to kill him. Even the legends like Wasim Akram & Sachin Tendulkar have faced such ‘SILLY CRITICISM’ by the angry fans. Cricket or any other sport is for fun and entertainment of the people and they should enjoy it instead of being aggressive by the result of the game. If we are true fans of the game then we should appreciate the good performer and encourage those who couldn’t perform well on a given day.

Such aggression isn’t shown only by fans but so many times cricketers behave in this way as well. Virat Kohli, one of the most talented batsmen of this era, is often found using foul gestures while playing. After the Asia Cup match between Pakistan & India a picture was posted by some newspapers/websites, showing the reaction of three century makers of that match on completion of their centuries, in which Hafeez & Nasir were bowing to Allah whereas Kohli was abusing. Prior to that during India’s visit to Australia, Kohli signaled ‘Middle Finger’ to the crowd while fielding in 2^nd test match in Sydney. It’s really hurting to see such attitude of a top-class player. India’s tour of Australia in 2007-08 was marred by the famous Monkey-Gate incident, which had even threatened the tour being cancelled. Andrew Symonds reported that he was called a monkey by Harbhajan Singh (all those who understand Hindi & Urdu know very well what Harbhajan actually said in Hindi). Players shouldn’t cut loose they should remain cool-headed and need to remember sports are not a war. You try your level best to win but appreciate your opponent if he performs better than you. 

The sixth day of the Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 Tournament wasn't filled with any surprises as Dolphins and Stallions straight-forwardly won their games. The first game saw Karachi Dolphins taking on Lahore Eagles. Dolphins have done pretty well in the tournament without the services of Shahid Afridi. Eagles batted first and made 148-8 in their required 20 overs. Imran Farhat top scored for the Eagles with a score of 41 runs off 31 balls which included 5 fours and a six. Apart from him the only batsman who contibuted enough to the total was Taufeeq Umar who score 30 runs off 24 balls with five boundaries to his name. All the bowlers from the Dolphins' side had disciplined bowling. Rumman Raees and Haris Ayaz grabbed 2 wickets each while Muhammad Sami, Tanvir Ahmed and Faraz Ahmed grabbed one each.

The Dolphins as expected got the required total in 18.1 overs. The top order had some jolts as the openers couldn't contirbute much. But The phenomenal partnership between Asad Shafiq and Sheheryar Ghani got the Dolphins home safely. Shafiq scored a brilliant and careful 58 off 47 deliveries with six fours and Ghani struck 44 off 27 deliveries with five fours and a six. Dolphins got themsleves a berth in the semi-finals where they would face a strong Lahore Lions' side.

The fifth day of the Faysal Bank super eight T20 saw Peshawar Panthers and Lahore Lions win in style. The Panthers recorded their first win in the absence of captain Umar Gul; but it was not enough to reach the final as Karachi Zebra's attained the second spot behind Kamran Akmal led Lahore Lions. 

In the opening game of the day stand-in skipper for the Peshawar Panthers, Akbar Badshah won the toss and decided to bat. His decision was duly appreciated by his batsman as Panthers got off to a quick start. Anwar Ali got the opening wicket in the third over but that was a blip and nothing more. Opening batsman, Iftikhar Ahmed's 77 in 56 balls was the catalyst for the Panthers as they racked in a very good 158-5 in their allotted 20 overs. 

The tough ask for the Karachi Zebra's was made near impossible as they were reduced 15-3; as former Pakistan bowler Riaz Afridi caused havoc. Fahad Iqbal, Faisal Iqbal and the impressive Anwar Ali tried to lay a fightback but the task was near impossible as the Zebra's fell short by 31 runs. 

The Faysal Bank T20 Super Eight is proving to be great spectacle for the viewers of T20 Cricket in Pakistan and the excitement of the citizens of Rawalpindi and Islamabad is clearly evident from their presence in huge numbers at the beautiful Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.

Today it was all about the Group B as the strongest teams of the group Sialkot Stallions and Karachi Dolphins locked horns with each other in the first game. Dolphins Captain Mohammad Sami won the toss and on a dry wicket, Sami opted to Bat first. Hero from the last game Khalid Latif managed just 15 runs today and was removed by Umaid Asif; Dolphins were 25/1 in the 4^th over. Asad Shafiq and Shahzeb Hassan had a steady partnership as they took the score to 60/1 in up until the 11^th over. However Sialkot skipper Shoaib Malik continued His good bowling form and removed Asad Shafiq and Shahzeb Hassan of consecutive deliveries, the Dolphins were in trouble at 67/3. Dolphins’ middle order was not able to handle the pressure created by the bowling side, and wickets fell on regular intervals.

The Faysal Bank T20 Super Eight is in its full flow and teams are getting into the groove. Day Three of the tournament promised exciting T20 Cricket between top teams of Pakistan.

Karachi Zebras were scheduled to play against Faisalabad Wolves in the first match of the double header whereas Lahore Lions faced off against Peshawar Panthers in the second game played under lights.

In the first game Naveed Latif, Captain of Faisalabad Wolves won the toss and in overcast weather conditions, He surprisingly elected to bat first. Latif’s decision backfired as the Wolves had a poor show with the bat as they managed a modest 120 runs. Ali Waqas the talented young Batsman top scored with 23. Anwar Ali the fast bowler from Karachi was the pick of the bowlers claiming 3 wickets and He was well supported by Danish Kaneria who grabbed 2 wickets. The Karachi Zebras had a golden chance to win and register their first win..

The Faysal Bank T20 Super Eight headed into its Second day and after a fitting start to the tournament, thanks to the Exciting T20 Cricket played at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, The Second day also promised to provide enthralling Cricket to the passionate spectators, as Sialkot Stallions were scheduled to play against Lahore Eagles in the First match, whereas the hosts and the Defending Champions Rawalpindi Rams were all set to begin their Title Defense in their first match against the tournament front runners the mercurial Karachi Dolphins.

In the first game Lahore Eagles batted first against Sialkot Stallions. The Stallions Captain Shoaib Malik won the toss and elected to field first. The start to the Eagle’s innings was more than disastrous as they lost three important Batsmen...

A few months ago when it was announced that Bangladesh had agreed to consider touring Pakistan in return for the PCB’s vote in the ICC presidential elections, I had a feeling then that as soon as the PCB had given their vote to Bangladesh’s candidate Mustafa Kamal, that Bangladesh would do anything they could to renege on the agreement and wriggle out of touring.

I initially thought it would be on grounds of their security team finding that security measures weren’t up to scratch after their inspection visit to Pakistan in January of this year. Yet it seems the PCB went all out, leaving no stone unturned when it came to the security measures being put into place. This left Bangladesh without any wriggle room or opportunity to find an excuse not to tour.

Rumours abound that the BCB were trying to get backing from other nations in regards to touring Pakistan, but that none of the other nations agreed. A PCB official was also quoted as saying that a third unnamed nation was in fact, rather than giving support, actually putting pressure on Bangladesh not to tour Pakistan. Further doubt was cast on Bangladesh’s intentions after Kamal himself was quoted as saying: "We won't go if everything doesn't happen within the standard practice, which is the allocation of match-referees, umpires and all things by the ICC". Kamal was referring here to the ICC’s power to refuse to send neutral match officials to any place they deem unsafe. Although the ICC have allowed non-neutral officials to participate in such cases, it seems Kamal would be keen on using any refusal from the ICC to send neutral officials as an excuse not to tour.

 
Now fast forward to the Asia Cup final and the row over the ‘collision’ between Aizaz Cheema and Mahmudullah. Bangladesh have appealed to the Asian Cricket Council about the incident, saying that they should have been awarded a 5-run penalty, something which is stipulated in cricket law if a batsman is deliberately obstructed during a run. This whole saga seems rather trivial to me. The cynic in me tells me that this could be the start of Bangladesh’s strategy to temporarily inflame the relationship with the PCB

The opening match of Faysal bank T20 cup contended between Peshawar Panthers and Faisalabad Wolves, unfolded in a slow motion victory for Faisalabad Wolves. Earlier, Panthers won the toss and posted 128 runs on the board owing to contributions made by Iftikhar Ahmad (20), Mohammad Fayyaz (23) and consolidating 22 runs by Zohaib Khan. Hasan Mehmood claimed three wickets with an acute economy rate of 2.75 to reduce Panthers to an unsubstantial score, considering the standards of T20 cricket.

In their chase, Wolves marched along rather aimlessly and riskily to claim victory with two wickets in hand. Apart from concrete innings by Waqas, Wolves had not much to cheer about. Much was expected of Umar Gul, who was not backed by apt ground fielding and his team ended up giving precious points to wolves in group A.

Bangladesh defeated by Pakistan in a nail-bitting final of Asia Cup by 2 runs. Although, Bangladesh could not succeeded to claim the trophy, but they claimed the hearts of millions of Bangladeshi cricket fans by providing unmatched performances in the whole tournament. Though, Bangladesh was defeated by Pakistan in the first match too, but they brought the match in a very close situation. Pakistan very hardly managed to win the match. Then in the next two matches against India and Sri Lanka, Bangladesh's performance level was at its peak. The tigers beated India and Sri Lanka by 5 wickets, which was a great achievement.

In my 25 years of following Pakistan I have seen it all; or so I thought. Apart from the action on the field, everything that can happen off it has happened but yesterday the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) stooped to the lowest if the lows by appealing the decision of the Final of the Asia Cup, to the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), citing a incident where they claimed all-rounder Mahmudullah Riyad was deliberately blocked from taking a second run by Pakistan Fast bowler Aizaz Cheema.

Before the game, and after I have never seen Pakistani fans actually supporting the opposition in a game. Dhaka on the 22nd March 2012 was a case in reason. Many Pakistani fans felt that a win for Bangladesh would be great for cricket. Even myself,for my sins, had openly stated that I wouldn't mind losing the game but as always wanted Pakistan to win.

Imran can be followed on Twitter.