As much as I would like to, I cannot promise you that this would be the last post on Pakistan Cricket this month. A lot of murky dirtiness has passed under the bridge and a lot more has been promised.
Saying “these are bad times” cannot suffice. That would be overrating the regular sanctity of the way cricket functions in Pakistan, and the way their cricketers function abroad.
When the World T20 ended, it was universally accepted that the remainder of May would be one of the most uneventful days in world cricket, no offence to South Africa, West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka, but no one is watching you anyways.
Pakistan would have none of it. It seems it was mutually decided to cash in on this “window” the ICC has opened for them, to hog the headlines, the filth lines and the limelight.
Afridi is also a flip-flopper
Shahid Afridi was interrogated in the most casual manner possible by the senate. During the same, the officials would walk out for intervals of time without any aplomb, and Afridi would answer them in a scared but assertive tone.
Then the senate goes all out against the PCB Chairman in public. If this is the way a National Sporting Body should function, then my perception is as skewed as yours.
In the meantime, Shahid Afridi had announced that he did not want to have anything to do with test cricket. According to his own words:
“Some of my well wishers and supporters wanted me to return to Test Cricket. But it’s the end of Test Cricket for me and it’s my firm decision.”
The decision was so firm that a couple of days later (maybe even the next day, I am not sure), after there were talks of a single captain being made for all the three formats, he retracted his statement. His new statement goes by:
“It was a very hard decision for me because I have wanted to devote more time to my family and playing all forms of the sport all the year round has not been my cup of tea.
That’s why I avoided test matches, but after speaking to my family I have decided to resume playing Test matches because it is the need of the time”
If this move was a result of the ambition to captain all forms of the game for his country, it needs to be respected. If it was a result of pressure being put by the Senate, it needs to be left alone. You cannot even blame the officials here. It seems all they are trying to do is make the team more stable.
With Afridi as captain, there would be no matching the stableness of this team.
In completely unrelated news, Kamran Akmal has threatened to move court against the team’s former coaches Intikhab Alam and Aaquib Javed if they do not apologize for suggesting that he was involved in match fixing.
I feel what he wants to say is that the catches he dropped and the stumpings he missed were not intentional. Hey, we knew that already! Selectors, please apologize. He does not intentionally drop catches.
Coming Up Soon: The Dropmal Chronicles
Image Credit: Dinger’s Soapbox
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s a funny world..
should it be this funny? sport, if not marred by controversy, does not cease to be sport.
the world doesn’t echo my thoughts, though
Very sad and maddening what the PCB has done to Pakistani cricketers.
{ 1 trackback }