By Omair Mushtaq

First of all, Ramzan Mubarak to all of the readers. I hope you are enjoying all the blessings endowed upon us during this month. Out of the many benefits of this month, one benefit that most people like to reap is associated with health. And you would be able to make most of this month if armed with some useful information. I will be answering some questions regarding working out during Ramzan and how to make fasting work to your advantage.

Establishing workout times:

First point to remember: make sure your workouts are around sehri or iftari times. Workouts take a toll on your body, workouts right before iftari would allow you to replenish yourself with hydration and nutrients and workouts after iftari would enable hydration during workout which is especially critical when working out in hotter climates.

By Imran Asghar

Sri Lanka romped to a 209 run win against Pakistan in Galle in the opening Test of the series. A superb 101 by Dilshan followed by patient, yet mesmerising, 199 not out by Kumar Sangakarra propelled Sri Lanka to make a mammoth 472. Despite a fighting effort from Saeed Ajmal (5-146) Sri Lanka were always in control after winning the toss and batting first.

Pakistan started their innings in woeful style. Batsman after batsman came and went. Apart from debutant Ayub Dogar, not one player could seem to put out any resistance against a, if not spectacular, then resilient bowling. Pakistan were bowled out for a mere 100 runs as Suraj Randiv picked 4-13 and Rangana Herath 3-30. With Pakistan still 372 and staring at a follow-on and a possible innings defeat, Sri Lankan captain decided to bat again.

By Imran Asghar

The Pakistan hockey team are to travel to Staffordshire in July to prepare for the London 2012 Olympic Games. The Pakistan Hockey Federation has selected Cannock Hockey Club as its final training base to get ready for the the event.

Pakistan has been drawn in a tough group that also includes the hosts, GB, for the preliminary round of the Olympic hockey tournament.

Councillor Pat Corfield, cabinet member for culture, communities and customers at Staffordshire County Council, said: "We're very proud to attract a top ten nation to use the excellent sporting facilities here in Staffordshire.

"We extended a warm welcome to the Pakistani team during a previous visit in 2009, and the combination of our hospitality and top-drawer facilities has encouraged them to return." she added.

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

It has been announced that the ICC ticket launch ceremony will take place in Sri Lanka at the Galle Face Green on Saturday 24th March 1830 (Colombo time), with tickets going on sale to the Sri Lankan public from 0900 (Sri Lanka time) on Monday 26th March. There will be a special window of four days in which only Sri Lankan fans will be able to buy tickets.

Tickets will then go on general global sale to international fans on 30th March at 0900 GMT. Some tickets will be held back for a second phase of sales and will go on sale on 1st August 2012. Prices for tickets start from as little as US $0.25 for any group game on its own and between US $2.50 and US $45 for the Final. A maximum of just six tickets can be purchased by any one person for the group stage, while a maximum of four tickets can be purchased by any one person for the Super8s, Semi-Finals and Final.
 

With Pakistan's recent rise and new found consistency in all forms of the game, there were calls for current interim coach Mohsin Khan to be retained as permanent coach. Whilst things are going well, Mohsin's brand of encouragement and arm around the shoulder with the occasional tap on the behind, seems more than an adequate form of coaching in the eyes of many fans and pundits. Yet I'm not convinced it is. It is when things go wrong that the coach really does his job, and in the first ODI of the series against England, things went badly wrong. It will be interesting to see how the Pakistan team reacts in this ODI series, but here is where you need a proper coach in my opinion, to spot the intricacies behind any bad performance and help the players iron them out. A 'don't worry boys, we can put it right in the next game' simply will not suffice.

Pakistan should not be done with Mohsin completely; I'm certain there's a role for him. But Pakistan's first team players need coaching in the conventional sense probably more than most of the world's other top teams, due to their heavy reliance on natural talent.

By Shizza Asif

Third day of test 2 at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, which was interestingly holding its 3 rd international test match today, yet again proves Pakistan’s unstable nature. Test one was a complete blow to the English side and Pakistan looked very much unstoppable, also neither side disappointed us in the first two days of the second test, though things seem to have completely changed in the third day’s play, where Pakistan was on the losing end.

Day 2 had left Pakistan with 256 runs, despite of all the expectations, not much was added to that score on day 3 when Pakistan were bowled out for 257, with a mere addition of a single run on the day. Nevertheless, England started off with their first innings in reply to Pakistan’s 257, only to find themselves losing Strauss to Hafeez at 27 runs, over 14. It would be of interest to add here that Hafeez has had 25 Test victims of which 20 were left handers. He had 3 today, Strauss being one of them. It seemed as though England’s batting was going to collapse, with this early fall of wicket. But that was not bound to happen, as to England’s relief the next wicket came down long after some good productive over’s, that too after the tea break, this was no other than Trott on a Perfect left arm orthodox delivery by Abdur Rehman, this seemed to put Pakistan back into the game once again.Between thefirst and the second wicket, the likes of Saeed Ajmal and Umar Gul who had been by far more impressive than the other bowlers in the previous test, had also been tried out, but to no avail.

By Osama Bin Liaqat Mir

Marva Collins, an American educationalist once said: "Success doesn't come to you….You go to it." Saeed Ajmal, presently Pakistan’s greatest spin sensation since Saqlain Mushtaq gives testimony to this fact. Representing a country known to produce the world’s finest breed of fast bowlers and only two astounding spinners in the past two decades, finding his way to the world’s top ODI bowling spot in 2011 was quite laborious to say the least.

Few would’ve fancied his chances at the international level when he debuted for Pakistan in July 2008 nearing his 31st birthday, conventionally considered an old age for a cricketing debut.

Ajmal’s late debut, however, didn’t deter him at all from putting in stirring performances persistently against assorted oppositions and on contrasting pitches, to establish himself as a permanent fixture in Pakistan’s traditionally competitive and pace heavy bowling unit.

His first class and international debut stand 12 years apart. Making up for the lost time, has perhaps been a crucial determinant in his significant development as one of the most accomplished spinners on the planet and that too in such a short span of 3 and a half years.

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.

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.

If his sentence does not reform him, then Amir may have been a corrupt cheater, but the failings against him would have been far worse – and that’s without considering how such a young, talented man was failed before the spot-fixing scandal broke.

Justice should not be just about punishment. Real justice should have an element of rehabilitation to it. It’s not only about the punishment, but more importantly, it’s about the lesson. Will the custodial sentences handed out to Butt, Asif and Amir teach them that what they did was wrong? In Butt and Asif’s case, I’m not really bothered, but Mohammed Amir will have many years ahead of him in cricket, and his sentence would have needed to act as education to him too.

In an interview with Sky Sports News a while ago, Michael Atherton spoke about how Amir should be given a second chance and welcomed back into cricket after he has served his sentence and ICC ban. I would be inclined to agree with that, but Amir would have to have fundamentally changed as a person by then.