SHOAIB AKHTAR BACK IN THE TEAM

I had been working hard in gym with Pakistan star Shoaib Akhtar, I always wondered that why is he working so hard on his fitness as it will be difficult for him to make come back. But today i got the reason behind his hard work when his name was announced in the 35 probable’s. When i met him in the gym, he was excited to be in the list, he said,heeagerly waited for this comeback. Today, he trained like anything, he was lifting heavy weights but only one goal on his mind, i need to play for my country again and i have to perform. It really clicked me, and i hope he may get a chance and perform because he has undergone sheer hard work for this comeback.
Anyhow, 35 players have been announced for the England tour and the final 15 will be announced later. Following are the probable’s for busy summer,
Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Khurram Manzoor, Shahzaib Hassan, Azhar Ali, Azeem Ghumman, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam, Hasan Raza, Asad Shafiq, Umar Amin, Aamer Sajjad, Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi (capt), Abdul Razzaq, Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Sami, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Irfan, Tanvir Ahmed, Aizaz Cheema, Danish Kaneria, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Zulfiqar Babar, Kamran Akmal (wk), Zulqarnain Haider (wk)
Pakistan has to play six test, five ODI’s and 4 T20 matches against Australia and England which will be played in England.
Shahid afridi has been named as the captain for the whole tour, he said at a press conference, "As a challenge I have accepted this," Afridi said. "Pakistan needs a senior player right now to lead them and that is why I accepted this. I don't think we should have too many expectations for Test cricket right now but I will try to get our ranking up to where it should be."
One decision that surprised all was the inclusion of 2 banned senior players, younis khan and shoaib malik
Well that is cricket new for you, where everything is possible !
I wish good luck to Pakistan team for the asia cup and the summer tour !
This is all from my side, would love your comments

PAKISTAN ALL TIME X1

Three fast bowlers have been picked unanimously in Cricinfo's all-time Pakistan Test XI. Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Imran Khan each received 10 votes from a jury that included Ramiz Raja and Intikhab Alam among others. The only other unanimous selection was Javed Miandad, in the middle order.

No current Pakistani player makes it to the side - unlike in five of the six all-time XIs named by Cricinfo so far. The most recent retiree was Inzamam-ul-Haq, who is at No. 5 in the order, with nine votes. Mohammad Yousuf, who received four votes, and Shoaib Akhtar (one) were among those who didn't make the cut.



Historically fast bowling has been Pakistan's strength, and it is a sign of how highly the fearsome and influential spearheads of the side's 1990s attack were rated that both were picked unanimously. While the two Ws made the XI purely as bowlers, Imran also serves as the side's allrounder. There was no consensus over the third quick bowler, though: Fazal Mahmood, who received three votes, edged out Sarfraz Nawaz and Shoaib Akhtar.



Wasim Bari and Rashid Latif were tied with four votes each for the wicketkeeper's place. Latif was picked for his superior batting.



The jury opted for an opening combination that would provide a mix of strokeplay and stoic defence: Saeed Anwar (six votes), who attacked no matter what the format or situation, and Hanif Mohammad (nine), who gave up his naturally aggressive style and dug in for several marathon innings to complement the stroke-making of his team-mates.



At one-down is Zaheer Abbas (six), the only Asian batsman to make over 100 first-class hundreds.



Only two members of the jury did not pick Abdul Qadir, who revolutionised legspin in the 80s and paved the way for the likes of Shane Warne and Anil Kumble, as the team's lone slow bowler.



Qadir also made it to the readers' XI, getting more than half the votes polled in the spin category, comfortably ahead of Saqlain Mushtaq. Latif narrowly missed getting the gloves in the readers' XI, losing out to Bari. The readers preferred Shoaib as the third fast bowler over Fazal. All their other choices matched those of the jury.



The jury included Salahuddin Mulla, who played Test cricket for Pakistan in the 1960s, cricket writers Qamar Ahmed (who also played first-class cricket and coached Netherlands) and Kamran Abbasi, and former administrators Shaharyar Khan, Arif Abbasi and Chishty Mujahid.



The XI: Hanif Mohammad, Saeed Anwar, Zaheer Abbas, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Javed Miandad, Imran Khan, Rashid Latif, Wasim Akram, Fazal Mahmood, Abdul Qadir, Waqar Younis



More on the XI here



The readers' XI: Hanif Mohammad, Saeed Anwar, Zaheer Abbas, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Javed Miandad, Imran Khan, Wasim Bari, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, Abdul Qadir, Waqar Younis.



The nominees





Openers: Aamer Sohail, Hanif Mohammad, Saeed Anwar, Majid Khan, Mudassar Nazar, Sadiq Mohammad, Mohsin Khan.



Middle order: Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saleem Malik, Mushtaq Mohammad, Younis Khan, Asif Iqbal, Saeed Ahmed.



Allrounder: AH Kardar, Imran Khan, Intikhab Alam, Mushtaq Mohammad, Wasim Akram.



Wicketkeepers: Wasim Bari, Imtiaz Ahmed, Rashid Latif, Moin Khan.



Fast bowlers: Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Waqar Younis, Fazal Mahmood, Sarfraz Nawaz, Shoaib Akhtar.



Spinners: Abdul Qadir, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed, Iqbal Qasim, Danish Kaneria.
the following article has been taken from the following link

http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/current/story/460532.html

who could be the next PAKISTAN CRICKET TEAM CAPTAIN?

To lead an Australian side is far easier then to lead a team like Pakistan. Captaining teams like India and Pakistan is just not about leading the team, the responsibility is just not to lead the team, but to take responcibility of losing also. To save yourself from criticism is just not easy; no one better knows this thing better then MS dhoni or Shahid Afridi, ask them what is it like to lead the team?


Actually countries like Pakistan and India, the fan following is enormous, the expectations are sky high from the players and fans just don’t want their heroes underperform but once they don’t perform to their expectations, players face extreme heat.

The new cricket is completely different, the reason why i am saying it as new cricket is, the leadership role has been completely transformed, you may be the best team in the world but without a good leader you will not perform. The leaders role in the performances of the players has significantly increased with T20 being the future of new cricket, the responsibility and skill level add up.

Cricket is considered to be a funny game where many funny moments will snatch victory from you, therefore it has become an indispensible for a team to have a mature leader. After losing semi-final to Australia, the debate for a new captain has aggressed instantaneously for the Pakistani team.

As M.yusuf and younis khan are banned for indefinitely, shoaib malik out for nearly 11 more months, shahid afridi being a failure as a ground captain, Pakistan is looking for new face. Now who could be that new face?

Kamran akmal? NO! He has been under fire for his bad performance in Australia. Could it be misbah ul haq? The answer is no, he is very near to retire, Abdul razaq? Yes could be, but will you playing him in test matches in England where his medium pacer will not be lethal weapon.

 Now the question is who could be that person to lead Pakistan in the Engloish tour, i reckon that should be Salman Butt, yes you read it Salman Butt, his surprising and excellent performance in ICC T20 cricket World cup has given a fair chance to lead the team.

He has the experience of leading the team, he captained u-15, U17, U19, Academy team to south Africa, so he knows what it is like to captain the team. Salman butt who is currently sponsored by ADDIDAS should be given a fair chance of leading the team in the English tour.

This is all from my side; your comments will highly be appreciated.

CLARKE wants to retain his captaincy

Michael Clark said he is ready to continue with the responsibility as a captain of Australian T20 squad besides bad performance in ICC world T20 cricket tournament. He said that he needs to rediscover his attacking nature of game to become a successful T20 operator. He said in an interview that he has no intention of leaving captaincy despite being not able to make a statement with the bat.

In the herald sun on Thursday, Ricky ponting said he was impressed with the leadership qualities that Michael Clarke possesses. Afterwards eve, Shane Warne defended Clarke by saying that Clarke was the best captaincy option and No. 3 for the Twenty20 team. All these statements came when Australia came back home after losing the final to England.

"Who knows? Maybe I need a little bit of that back," Clarke said. "Everybody has a different role in our team though and that is one thing that players certainly are aware of, and you need to do your role to the best of your ability.

"For me my role is not the same as Dave Warner or Shane Watson. I always want to perform, I always want to score runs, it doesn't matter what form of the game I'm playing, but like I said in this game, sometimes you can't always make those runs."

Clarke's future as the T20 captain is still in doubt, and his future will be decided in the next few weeks when the selectors will select the squads for the upcoming tour of England. It will be interesting to see whether the selectors still will pursue with Clarke or not as he himself is determined to take the role ahead.

"No doubt [I want to continue], I'm disappointed we couldn't win the World T20, win the final, but I've really enjoyed the opportunity," Clarke said. "I've loved playing with the guys, I've had a lot of support from people back at home, the people who came and watched the games in the West Indies, and family and friends, so it's been great and I'm enjoying it."

"It always hurts losing to England in any form of the game, but obviously a lot of guys in both teams that won't take part in the Ashes series," Clarke said. "They will take confidence out of it, no doubt about it, but I can guarantee the way we've been playing Test and one day cricket of late, or even T20 cricket in this tournament, we're very confident."

Well this is new cricket for you where everything is possible !

END of ICC T20!

The third audition of ICC WORLD T20 turned out to be very successful. The tournament made its success due to the atmosphere being provided by the Caribbean crowd. T20 cricket is always unpredictable and some matches proved it. The cricket being played was of superb quality. The tournament ended with little controversies. In the end, the biggest discussion going on regarding tournament is the WINNERS of this cricket trophy. The best two teams made it into the finals.

The winners of previous tournaments always provide plenty of stories; India's victory in 2007 sparked a revolution, Pakistan's in 2009 was a triumph against the odds and now England's was a historic moment for a side that had failed in world events for 35 years. And to break their duck, they beat a team that had produced some wonderful, scientific, intelligent, skilful and pleasurable cricket over two weeks. As the intellectuals say, Australia don’t give you success you have to earn it and guess that is what England has done, they earned their success through good cricket.

This year's tournament was characterized by large, boisterous crowds, especially when the home team was playing.


From start to finish the tournament was full of intrigue. Could West Indies spark a revival? Could Afghanistan make an upset at world stage? What would the new skill or shot be this time? What new techniques will be employed by the teams?
West Indies didn't make the semi-finals, which was a disappointment for the local crowd, because when they did play, the crowds produced a memorable atmosphere. Huge issues remain in West Indies cricket that need resolving..

Afghanistan were crushed by their two Test opponents,They were not overawed by India's superstars and after slumping to 23 for 6 against South Africa bravely avoided the lowest Twenty20 international total. They still impressed many !

The major disappointers were the India and South Africa; one troubled by the short ball, the other unable to make a run chase. Both teams have much to ponder over the next few months. south africa must be looking forward to win the series against westindies to gain some confidence back in the side.

Pakistan were the most lucky side in the tournament. Their victory against South Africa (and England's against New Zealand) earned them a semi-final berth where they lost the best everTwenty20 international match played as Mike Hussey played a blinder with his 24-ball 60. Pakistan were as unpredictable as ever, playing terribly against England, but raising their game against South Africa and showing the aggressive mindset with the bat needed to tackle Australia's attack.

New Zealand had a good outfit but could not perform; srilanka on the other hand will be pleased to get a berth in the semi-final once they lost their start off spinner murlitharan due to injury.

The 9.30am starts for many matches, purely for the Indian TV market, also weren't ideal. However, unlike in 2007, there were no insurmountable problems and the ICC certainly learnt from previous mistakes over pricing and accessibility.
No one invented a new shot this year, but the skill levels continued to rise. Batsmen have never been so confident in their ability to clear the boundaries, yet outright slogging was a rarity. Bowlers at both end of the pace scale enjoyed success - Dirk Nannes made superb use of the new ball, while Graeme Swann's spell in the final was a master class of offspin.

Dirk Nannes was the leading wicket-taker of the tournament, despite going wicketless in the final against England

The format's rise has brought many challenges to game, and some still sniff at the concept, it has also done a huge amount of good and what the last two weeks has shown is that nothing matches the intensity, passion and skill level of international competition

pakistan is defeated but not disgraced !

You will never expect Pakistan’s supporters feeling to hug their team in the time of defeat but you can sense this mood rippling around the fans after Pakistan’s loss to mighty Australia. Pakistan is traditionally known for its inconsistency, their bad performance, their comedy of errors in the field. You can expect Pakistan to be brilliant on one day and on the very second day you may see them losing to a team like Ireland. this is what Pakistani team is all about, you expect to be entertained, frustrated or bewitched at every twist and turn of the game.
To be fair, on this particular defeat, one can hardly blame Pakistan; they did the right things for most of the day. When you come up against the brilliance showed by hussey, you don’t feel ashamed of your defeat. i think everyone who understands and loves cricket will appreciate for what Australia achieved in this match.
The game did not deserve any loser, Pakistan played brilliantly for almost 36 overs of the game but Australia had the last laugh. i think the only thing which differentiated the two teams was the mental toughness, i was surprised to hear brad haddin during the match at the boundary that we are waiting for the last 4 overs and then we will go for winning it. i think it is in the Australian culture that never accept defeat unless you are really defeated.
The match will be remembered for years and years for brilliant skill shown by two great teams. Pakistan indeed is defeated but should not be disgraced. Pakistan was the under dogs for this match, they did nt give up, they went down fighting and when you go down fighting, you die with the honour intact.
There are still many things that Pakistan can cheer; they are the only team to play 2 finals and 1 semi-final of WORLD T20. Pakistani fan must be extremely angry at the defeat but they should accept defeat by thinking that their team fought hard but just could not end the game in their favour. I expect that Pakistan team should be welcomed with honour, warmth, affection and sympathy.
This is new cricket for you where everything is possible!

AUSTRALIA VS PAKISTAN 2ND SEMI FINAL PREVIEW

The second semi-final of ICC T20 will be played between the defending champions PAKISTSAN and hot favourites AUSTRALIA. Pakistan has just won 2 games out of the 5 they played whereas Australia has won all the 5 matches convincingly. Considering the current form of Australian team, there is no match for them.
Pakistan can still create upset and Australia must be aware of it. Pakistan team is facing problems with its combination; they have tried sami, asif n Khalid but they all failed. I reckon the team winning the toss will bat first and try to put runs on the board and then put opposition under pressure. Australia has chased only one match and that was against West Indies so Australia wont fancy chasing considering Pakistan spin attack.
If Pakistan bats first, kamran akmal will be the key, it is important for him to get start and give the coming batsman a platform for big hits. Shahid afridi played brilliantly against south Africa so he will also be a potential threat to aussies and they will be testing him on short pitched deliveries. If Pakistan socres more then 160, Pakistan will have an outside chance to win, bad nes for Pakistan is that, their start youn batsman, umer akmal has injured his back and probablt debuatant hammad azam will play instead of umer so Pakistan will be having a challenge to fulfil umer’s place who played exceptional cricket against southafrica and don’t forget, he is the current best fielder in the team so if he missed out, Pakistan will definitely miss him.
Australia has a perfect combination with smith impressing every one with his leggies. Australian openers have got starts, their middle has got starts, they have proved that even if their middle order fails, they still have the capability to score big.
St.lucia pitch might favour Pakistan because it is not a bouncy pitch, supports spinners so Pakistan must look to win this game.
I just hope that the match should be cracker, not a one sided contest.