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Rahat Ali: I want to earn my place in the national team

Danish Nawab — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 05:39:05 -0500

KheloPakistan.com recently met young Pakistan Fast bowling prospect Rahat Ali and had a exclusive conversation. Rahat, from Multan in Punjab, has been a consistent performer in the Domestic circuit recently and has caught the eye of many pundits. At the time of doing the interview Rahat was hoping to get the recognition that his performances deserved; he has since been invited to the Fast bowlers camp at the NCA in Lahore, under the watchful eye of Pakistan National team coach Dav Whatmore.

[quote]

KheloPakistan.com: You have a great domestic record, with a handful of Five fors recently, which one is your favorite?
Rahat Ali: Few weeks ago I claimed 5 wicket haul in just around 4-5 overs in a Pentangular cup game against Federal area XI, they had star batsmen like Umer Amin, Hammad Azam and Awais Zia; I guess that spell has got to be my favorite.

KheloPakistan.com: In modern day cricket, a bowler must have variety. A yorker, slower ball, bouncer and swinging the ball both ways, any that you lack in?
Rahat Ali: I have got good Yorker as well as the slower ball, but we don’t usually bowl bouncers here on the flat tracks. Although I have got good pace and can also bowl accurate shorter ones, hopefully I will make use of that skill once I get an opportunity to represent Pakistan on some lively tracks.

KheloPakistan.com: Pakistan have many left armers, Wahab, Junaid and Sadaf to name a few; do you think you can break into the Pakistan reckoning?
Rahat Ali: Yes why not? I believe I am good as any you have named, they all are good bowlers within their own right. From the others around, my teammate Rizwan Haider also bowls left arm medium, he is more of an all-rounder though; good clean hitter and controlled bowling are his forte.

Kemal Alam: PCB deserve the credit for inviting us to play here in Pakistan

Danish Nawab — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:14:30 -0500

We at KheloPakistan, recently conducted an interview with the captain of British University Charity XI: Kemal Alam - the British university team which toured Pakistan earlier this month to play a one day as well as a T20 game against Pakistan under 19 team.
British university team lost both those games, but Kemal thinks of it as an opportunity to excel at (almost) the top level. Find out what else he had to say:

KheloPakistan.com> How the idea of touring Pakistan came about and what was the reaction?
Kemal Alam> Each year we tour around England playing the top schools and universities to raise funds for the Afghan Appeal Fund, a British Charity that raises money for education in Afghanistan. General Sir David Richards is the Patron whilst his wife Lady Richards is the President. I wanted to bring this team to Pakistan to show Pakistan's contribution to Afghan cricket, and raise money for the charity and also show Pakistan is safe for international cricket.

KheloPakistan.com> How was the tour funded? Flight, accommodation and general expenses are not easy, especially for students. So how did the boys cope?
Kemal Alam> We had sponsors, Cogent Insurance, Durham University and the Forum for International Relations, and most importantly the Pakistan Cricket Board hosted us which meant all our accommodation,food and transport was sorted. It was a great gesture on the PCB's part specially their international office and Usman Wahla.

Asia Cup: Bangladesh to play the final, India knocked out

Danish Nawab — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 12:05:12 -0500

Cricket is a cruel game, or is it not? Sri Lanka, who at the beginning were rated as the favorites for the Asia Cup couldn’t even manage a single victory by the end of it.

Earlier in the morning, Mushfiqur Rahim decided to bowl first after winning the all-important toss. Mahela and Dilshan walked out to open the innings, on the other hands Mashrafe and Nazamul began the proceeding with the ball.

Didn’t take too long before Sri Lanka’s big three were back in the dressing room already. Lankan batting pillars (Mahela, Sangakkara, Dilshan) batted really casually and got out to some pretty ordinary deliveries.

Three quick wickets earlier on in the innings dented Sri Lankan hopes to get off to a flying start. As expected, a relatively inexperienced middle order couldn’t have propelled right away. Both Thrimanne and Kapugedra took their time to steady the things. After putting on a 88 runs stand of 136 balls, the pair uncoupled when Thrimanne was finally dismissed in an unfortunate fashion.

Eagerly awaiting a national call up: Sadaf Hussain

Danish Nawab — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 05:39:52 -0600

KheloPakistan.com are proud to present an exclusive interview with young left arm fast bowler; Sadaf Hussain. Sadaf is a 22 year old from Chakwal. He has been a top performer in first class circuit since last 2 years. Amazing thing about Sadaf is his height and seam presentation. Sadaf is 6'3" tall. Sadaf has been close to a Pakistani call-up for sometime, and managed it in 2011's tour to the Caribbean. He didn't manage to get a game, but here talks about his upbringing, that call-up and his career thus far.

KheloPakistan: Before we begin, please tell us about yourself and how you got into cricket?
Sadaf Hussain: I come from a village near Chakwal, Punjab. As most of the kids around, I started playing tape ball cricket when I was 8 years old. I continued playing tape ball cricket in Chakwal for next few years. Then I alongside the family moved to Rawalpindi, that is where I joined a proper cricket club and started playing hard ball cricket. I excelled at club level and hence was selected to represent Pakistan U-19 team. Played in regional U-19 teams for 2 years, then I 2010, I was lucky enough to get a first class game. But played only 3 games in my first season, next year I performed well and played throughout the season, till then I have been a prominent part of various first class teams.

KP: Was your family co-operative? Did they promote your passion, your talent or like most Pakistani parents they wanted you to focus on your studies alone?
SH: Thankfully my parents have always encouraged my talent; in fact my father is the one who pushed me into playing hard ball cricket at club level. Dad used to tell me that hard ball cricket is the real cricket.

Pietersen 'Finn'ishes series with a whitewash

Danish Nawab — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:03:51 -0600

A superb 130 by Kevin Pietersen ensured England won the series 4-0. Pietersen was back at his ominous best as he carried on from where he left off in the third game. A wonderful partnership with firstly Craig Kieswetter (43) and then with Samit Patel made light work of the Pakistan bowling.

Skipper Alistair Cook, got out early as a LBW appeal was overturned and he made his way back for a mere 4 runs. That brought Jonathan Trott (15) to the crease and he looked at ease against the spin of Pakistan. He played early on a bowl of Ajmal and looped a catch to Hafeez. Next man in was Jos Buttler on debut but he got a inside edge and was caught for a second ball duck. With the score at 68-4 Pakistan were well on top, but Pietersen and Kieswetter had different ideas.

Earlier in the day Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first on the same surface as the third ODI. Jade Dernbach got Mohammad Hafeez early in the piece as Pakistan were reduced to 1-1 in 1.1 overs. That brought Asad Shafiq to the crease to join Azhar Ali and both players started to take the attack to England. Batting a good rate, they soon enough pushed England on the defensive. With a partnership of 111, Shafiq (65) departed in the 23rd over after chopping on a reverse swinging ball of Tim Bresnan.

'BCCI is a bully' | A KheloPakistan exclusive with Kamran Abbasi

Danish Nawab — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:14:35 -0600

Last Sunday, KheloPakistan had the privilege of interviewing a very fine Pakistani cricket analyst and writer. Mr. Kamran Abbasi is a British Pakistani, a Doctor by profession. He writes at cricinfo and specifically covers Pakistan cricket. You can find his articles on the state of Pakistan cricket, at his blog (Pak Spin).

KheloPakistan.com) When did you start following Cricket?

Kamran Abbasi) As far back as I can remember. I have a vivid memory of the 1975 World Cup and Pakistan coming agonisingly close to knocking out West Indies. I was in England by then and following cricket was about the only positive association we had with Pakistan. We still had hope in those times, about the future of Pakistan as a country and as a cricket team.

KP) As a youngster, who was your inspiration?

Kamran Abbasi) Imran Khan.

KP) Did you play competitive cricket yourself? If yes, then at what level?

Kamran Abbasi) I played league cricket in Yorkshire and London, and trialled for Yorkshire at various age groups up to Under 19s. I always felt hard done by at trials, but perhaps that's just me? I was born in Lahore anyway so it was a pointless exercise with Yorkshire's homegrown rule at the time. I captained my school first XI and medical school teams. My school team were Yorkshire champions, no mean feat for a state school. We lost narrowly in the nationals to Manchester Grammar School, who had several future Lancashire players in my year including Michael Atherton. Our medical school team were university champions, beating a team that included two opening bowlers for Yorkshire Second XI that had hammered everybody else they played. I won us the final scoring 72 off 26 balls and losing three balls. I was pleased with that! I improved rapidly in my late teens but as I got going, medical school and on call commitments made cricket impossible.

An exclusive interview with Sajid Mahmood

Danish Nawab — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 01:24:24 -0600

As promised KheloPakistan.com brings you an exclusive interview with Sajid Mahmood. Sajid Mahmood an English cricketer of Pakstani descent has served England national cricket team in all three formats of the game. Sajid has played 8 Test matches, 26 ODIs and 4 T20Is. These days Sajid is playing for Lancashire, he is training hard to earn his place back in England cricket team. Let's see what he had to say when Team KheloPakistan conducted a conversation with him:

KheloPakistan.com: Growing up as a kid, did you always want to become a cricketer?
Sajid Mahmood: Yes, pretty much. When I was 8 or 9 years old my dad used to play cricket up in Bolton and I used to go and watch and play with the other kids there. Then I got into club cricket myself and my dad took me everywhere. It was just for fun at the start, I suppose, but when you start enjoying it and people think you’ve got talent and some potential, you start taking it a bit more serious. From 16-17, that’s when I realised I want to do something in cricket, but it was a lot of hard work. I had to go training with the older guys, older men, but I enjoyed it. And obviously being from an Asian background cricket is a massive sport and things like that inspired me and I thought I’d love to be a cricketer one day.

Pakistan to go for the sweep as Bangladesh look to battle for pride

Danish Nawab — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 06:59:01 -0600

Pakistan will face Bangladesh at Chittagong Stadium for third and the final ODI of the series. Pakistan mesmerized Bangladesh in both previous ODIs as well as the one off T20 game. Though this is a dead rubber now, but Pakistan (who are looking for an improved ranking) will try their best to win the last game too. Considering the fact that Bangladesh have failed to cause any headaches for Pakistan, it’s likely that Pakistan will provide an opportunity to those, sitting out on the bench.

Key Players:

Mohammad Hafeez:
Pakistan’s highest runs scorer this year, Mohammad Hafeez has been a revelation ever since his comeback. He exhibited fair bit of form in last 2 ODIs but failed to convert them into biggies. He’ll be desperate to go out in the middle, latch onto his form and transform that good form onto the scoring sheet. Talking about his bowling: Bangladesh have got 6 left-handers in their bating line-up, ‘nuff said.

Pakistan vs Bangladesh going into the 2nd ODI: Lot to improve and to prove

Danish Nawab — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 07:04:42 -0600

Second ODI between Pakistan and Bangladesh to be played tomorrow at the same venue as first two LOIs; that is the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium Dhaka. Pakistan came on top in both previous games, though not as convincingly as they would have wanted them to be.

Pakistan will be looking forward to put up an improved batting show in tomorrow’s game. On the other hand Bangladesh would want to keep it neat and simple, stick to their basics and keep Pakistani bowlers out.

Shahid Afridi:

Shahid Afridi is in top form ever since his comeback. We all know how dangerous this charismatic Pathan can be. He can influence a match victory single handedly, as he did in the last ODI. Bangladesh will try their best to keep this man out of the game in all three departments of the play. But that is going to be a real tough task for them.

Shakib ul Hassan:

For Bangladesh Shakib has been a left-handed version of Shahid Afridi thus far. A quality batsman, clever bowler and a very fine fielder. Shakib has proved his worth with ball in both LOIs, but at the same time, he has failed to deliver with the bat. Currently Bangladesh are in a dire need of any batting Messiah to stand up and perform on the given day. They’ll be hoping for Shakib to fire with the bat as well.

About team KheloPakistan: Abdullah H

Danish Nawab — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 08:40:56 -0600

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.

About Abdullah

I am a student currently. I am a very enthusiastic and passionate cricket follower. I like to watch, play, read, write, recall past memories and gather statistical information about this great compelling sport. Away from cricket, I am interested in writing in general and also like to keep fit and busy through cycling, racket sports etc. I play league cricket in the summer and have played at high levels from a young age.

A word on Pakistan Cricket....

I feel cricketers are Pakistan's leading ambassadors and a great way to unite the people, gain headline positivity in an age where Pakistan is in a state of political and social turmoil and also further develop the reputation and image of the country, it can be seen as an area of pride and identification. Therefore, I feel the performances and organisation of the board is of utmost significance. I am pleased to see the Pakistan team showing consistency, professionalism and stability nowadays and feel they have found one heck of a captain with strong man management credentials tactical awareness, calming influence/stabilising presence, utmost professionalism for a sporting gentlemen, extraordinarily consistent individual contributions, highly respectful reputation and advanced cricketing intellect to get the best out of his troops and key leadership qualities, they are definitely moving in the right direction. I won't say this lightly, but I feel he is the sort of captain you get once in a generation. 2011 has been a tremendous year. The results are there for one and all to see.