all is set for ICC trophy..Pakistan is playing their crusiel match against Sri lanka..what do u think the chances of pakistan in this tournament?
ICC Trophy and schedule
ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka, 12th - 30th September 2002
Match Schedule
The following are the pools:
Pool 1 : South Africa, West Indies, Kenya.
Pool 2 : Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Holland.
Pool 3 : India, Zimbabwe, England.
Pool 4 : Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh.
1 Thursday 12th September Sri Lanka v Pakistan Premadasa (d/n) 1430
2 Friday 13th September Sth Africa v West Indies SSC (d) 1000
3 Saturday 14th September India v Zimbabwe Premadasa (d/n) 1430
4 Sunday 15th September Australia v New Zealand SSC (d) 1000
5 Monday 16th September Sri Lanka v Holland Premadasa (d/n) 1430
6 Tuesday 17th September West Indies v Kenya SSC (d) 1000
7 Wednesday 18th September England v Zimbabwe Premadasa (d/n) 1430
8 Thursday 19th September Australia v Bangladesh SSC (d) 1000
9 Friday 20th September Sth Africa v Kenya Premadasa (d/n) 1430
10 Saturday 21st September Pakistan v Holland SSC (d) 1000
11 Sunday 22nd September England v India Premadasa (d/n) 1430
12 Monday 23rd September New Zealand v Bangladesh SSC (d) 1000
13 Wednesday 25th September SemiFinal1(Winner Pool 2 v Winner Pool 3)
Premadasa (d/n) 1430
. Thursday 26th September Reserve Day - Semi Final 1
14 Friday 27th September SemiFinal2(Winner Pool 1 v Winner Pool 4)
Premadasa (d/n) 1430
. Saturday 28th September Reserve Day - Semi Final 2
15 Sunday 29thSeptember Final(Winner SemiFinal 1 v Winner SemiFinal 2)
Premadasa (d/n) 1430
. Monday 30th September Reserve Day - Final
** I have been trying to find if any Tv channel is showing the matches but there is no everywhere hopefull ATN or ZeeTv Usa would do something which I am praying they do but for now in their schedule there is nothing and not even on ppv damn
According to Jang, Saeed Anwar has been dropped and he will be replaced by Imran Farhat. Inzi is also not 100% fit so he may not go either. However, YY has fully recovered and will be joining the team in Colombo along with Imran Farhat on Sunday. One of Imran Nazir or Azhar Mahmood will be returning, and I hope its Azhar who does. Still no word on Saqlain.
Fpr those in the UK I think that Sky Sports is showing the whole tournament.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Pakistanee: *
According to Jang, Saeed Anwar has been dropped and he will be replaced by Imran Farhat. Inzi is also not 100% fit so he may not go either. However, YY has fully recovered and will be joining the team in Colombo along with Imran Farhat on Sunday. One of Imran Nazir or Azhar Mahmood will be returning, and I hope its Azhar who does. Still no word on Saqlain.
[/QUOTE]
The Jang is not telling the truth, the team manager himself stated that Imran Nazir and Shoiab Malik are likely to be dropped to bring in Saqlain Mushtaq and Mizbah ul Haq who was not orignally named in the squad.
Very good indeed, Pakistan needs spinners in this tournament to take wickets in Murali friendly pitches of SL.
I can doubt any of the major countries will win this like Australia or Pakistan.
I think England will be winners.
I think dropping Saeed Anwar would be a bad move by the PCB. The Pakistan team needs stability and experience in the top of their batting line up and they need to get Saeed to play as many matches to get try to get him in form before the Wolrd Cup. I think Shahid Afridi or Imran Nazir should open the batting with Saaed, and neither Afridi or Nazir should be dropped from the team, becasue they both have immense talent. It would be a pity to such a thing. Afridi has a key role to play since Saqlain Mushtaq was not up to the task in his last match and Afridi is the only Leg Spinner on the side. Although he is not as reliable with the bat, he can still win games for you, and the same goes for Imran Nazir with the bat. Also, both of them are by far the best Pakistani fielders on the team, and fielding is something Pakistan must improve before the World Cup gets underway. Naming Misbah-Ul-Haq in the Squad for the ICC tropy is a very good move. This talented youngster will get some matches under his belt before the World Cup. I think Azhar Mehmood should be dropped to put in Yousef Youhana. But the Selectors thought otherwise and are gonna drop Imran Nazir, not a good move in my opinion, this guy has a lot of talent, and plus he is only 20 years of age. Well, this is what I personally think. Anyway, does anyone know which channel the ICC tropy is gonna be on? Or is any channel even showing it?
Thanks
Pakistan should play with this line up:
- Saeed Anwer
- Shahid Afridi
- Yousuf Youhana
- Inzamam
- Younis Khan
- Misbah ul Haq
- Abbdul Razzaq
- Rashid Latif
- Wasim Akram
- Waqar Younis
- Shoiab Akhtar
Afridi can be replaced by Shoaib Malik or Imran Nazir. Shoiab Akhtar can be replecaed by Sami or Saqlain.
Will You accept report from Dawn - Saeed Anwar likely to be dropped
There is no limit to your accusations.
Why the **** would Paistan drop Anwar?
They probably will cos the PCB are a bunch of absolute idiots-with no appreciation for stability and class in the team/a player.
I can only see one of 5 sides winning this:
Pakistan
Australia
South Africa
New Zealand
Sri Lanka
Not in any order of likelyhood, Aus are my favourites.
pool 2 winner plays pool 3 winner..i would love to see pakistan play india..can this happen? i didnt know holland had a cricket team
I just hope Pakistan and India's path cross and they both go in
action. God I'm gonna love that.
is any channel showing the matches....?
OK people here is the report, Saeed Anwar will not be dropped.
Changes likely for ICC Trophy
By Our Sports Reporter - 5 September 2002
KARACHI, Sept 4: The Pakistan team for this month’s ICC Champions Trophy is expected to be changed in the backdrop of recent performances in Nairobi.
A meeting of the selectors has been convened by the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board in the next 48 hours to make the necessary changes.
The selectors are expected to meet sometime early next week as the tournament begins Sept 12 with the opener between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The winner will be guaranteed a place in the semifinals as the other team in the group is Holland.
**Indications are that Misbah-ul-Haq, who was initially overlooked for the Colombo competition, would be included in place of Imran Nazir who has been a complete flop in the last four weeks. ** 
:k:
Shoaib Malik’s place also appears to be under threat as off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq is expected be recalled. It may be added here that Saqlain was keen to play in Colombo but was overlooked after he refused to tour Nairobi to look after his wife who is expecting a baby.
However, if Saqlain fails to get the selectors nod, wrist spinner Danish Kaneria might be drafted in. Kaneria was initially recommended by the team management for the Champions Trophy. He was, nevertheless, not included in the 14-man squad.
The selectors will also be taking a decision on Inzamam-ul-Haq who has missed three matches in the ongoing triangular tournament because of a bad knee.
Umair, what u posted is old, what i am is the latest ;)
KARACHI, Sept 7: The Pakistan cricket selectors have decided to drop Saeed Anwar from the ICC Champions Trophy starting in Colombo Thursday.
The selectors held discussions amongst themselves over telephone Saturday in which they took the decision. However, they insisted that it remained the prerogative of the team management which player they wanted to release.
"Saturday's development is that Saeed Anwar has to return. But let's see if the tour team management agrees to our decision," a selector said.
The tour management has to release at least two players after the selectors decided to send left-handed opener Imran Farhat and retain Misbah-ul-Haq.
Imran flies out along with Yousuf Youhana Sunday afternoon for Colombo where the Pakistan team arrives later in the day.
Indications are that Azhar Mahmood could be the other player besides Saeed to return home although Imran Nazir also had a dismal run with the bat in Tangiers and Nairobi. He, however, may escape the axe because of his fielding abilities.
"Saeed lacks fitness and form. Besides, he is not mentally in the game. It was on these facts that we decided to pull him out to give him more time to recover his form for future endeavours," the selector added.
Saeed aggregated 151 runs from eight matches in Tangiers and Nairobi at 18.78, including 70 against Sri Lanka.
Saeed's return could have been inevitable had Saqlain Mushtaq agreed to join the team in Colombo. But the champion spinner excused himself from the assignment saying he was still nursing his sick wife who is expecting a child.
Pakistan face Sri Lanka in the opening match. The winner will guarantee a place in the semifinal as the third team in the group is Holland.
I guess you are right!
But its a bad decisions, dropping Anwar is not a good thing.
He finally looked in good form, last 2 innings he played against Aus he looked like he was going all the way but 2 inside edges got him out.
Imran Farhat is another great Pakistani batting sensation.
He should bring more fireworks in the batting order, and on a pitch of Srilanka, bunch of runs will be scored.
PPl keep sayin who shud b dropped but why the hell duz nobody mention Waqar. Unless ur watchin a different game 2 me iwhenever i watch Pakistan Waqar gets murdered. His economy rate is nearly 5 n over which is awful considerin he has no pace. Dont 4get he lost us da 96 WC wen he was at his best now dat hes totally finished hows he gona win us da 2003 WC. The teams in Pak's WC group all hav dangerous battin lineups who will murder him. Just bcoz hes the captain duznt mean he can continuously get killed. Also hes terrible on da field n wid him in da side the balance isnt rite as he is takin Sami's place.
Waqar is captain and it will damage the team further to have to have a new captain at such a late stage just befor the World Cup.
I will say that i was extremely dissapointed with Wasim during the Kenya series. Every over was like eight balls. It was stupid. I hope he improves during the ICC Trophy.
Waqar and Wasim may not be at their best but they possess that experience that is indispensable in a tournament like the World Cup and i would not rather see anyone other than these two bowling at the death for Pakistan.
Anwar not getting dropped after all, and I think its good. His experience will come handy and I believe he is at the brink of geting his form back. Last 2 matches suggesting that he is getting into his grooves.
:k:
Azhar dropped, Misbah retained for Champions Trophy
By Waheed Khan
KARACHI: Chief selector Wasim Bari and his colleagues took a sensible decision on Sunday of not making, or rather forcing, too many changes in the Pakistan squad for the ICC Champions Trophy tournament. They opted to just replace the out of form allrounder Azhar Mehmood with inform batsman Misbah-ul-Haq, a sensible decision given that the 28-year-old had scores of 50, 39 and 50 in the just concluded triangular tournament in Nairobi, Kenya.
Misbah’s solid batting performances came at a time when Pakistan without Inzamamul Haq and Yousaf Youhana were really struggling in the batting department, which confirmed his place in the team for the Champions Trophy.
While it was always on the cards that Misbah would be selected for the Champions Trophy after initially not being retained in the 14-member squad which was announced last month, the good thing was that no other changes were made despite the team’s poor performance.
With Pakistan failing to impress in Tangiers, Morocco and Nairobi it was expected that the selectors might be under pressure to make changes. And they came up with the brilliant idea of sending young opener Imran Farhat to join the team in place of veteran Saeed Anwar.
But sources say the touring team management resisted the move to call back Saeed rightly pointing out that in the Champions Trophy, Pakistan would be playing a do-or-die encounter against Sri Lanka on September 12 and it would be foolish to rush in an inexperienced opener in place of someone as seasoned as Saeed.
More than anything else, while Saeed might not have had a great series in either Tangiers or Nairobi, in his last two games in Nairobi both against Australia he appeared to be regaining some of his old touch and batted fluently but was unlucky to fall in awkward situations.
In the last league match against Australia he got an unplayable ball from Brett Lee while on Saturday he was forced to try to push the run-rate because of the extremely slow batting from Shoaib Malik at the other end.
Interestingly, the 94-ball 37 scored by Malik saved his place in the team for the Champions Trophy as it is confirmed that the Bari and his fellow selectors Shafiq Ahmed, Mohsin Khan and Aaqib Javed had also recommended that Malik be sent back to accommodate Misbah and not Azhar Mehmood.
But all said and done the good thing is that neither the selectors nor the cricket Board has hit the panic button after the recent poor performances because if this Pakistan team is to pick up its performances it should atleast be allowed some continuation in the Champions Trophy.
However, the grapevine has it that if the Pakistan team does not improve its performances in Colombo, then heads are likely to roll before the Test series against Australia which commences from October 3.
Misbah’s selection, however, is totally justified given his round of good performances in the Nairobi tournament for which he deserved a place in the Champions Trophy team. As it is, Azhar has not been in prime form lately and is also struggling with his fitness and needs to regroup. Misbah kept his place in the Pakistan squad which will reach Colombo on Sunday night from Nairobi after sharing the final trophy with Australia, after some consistent batting performances.
Ironically, this is the same Misbah who had to drop out at the last moment from the Pakistan team in June prior to the tour of Australia due to jaundice and the Board didn’t even bother to announce a replacement for him. He is the same Misbah who was not selected for a single match in the triangular tournament in Tangiers, Morocco last month although one could argue that it was difficult to fit him in the playing eleven.
But certainly in Nairobi, when both Inzamam and Youhana were not available, Misbah should have been an automatic choice but instead Shoaib Malik was preferred over him in one game before the tour selection committee realized its folly of trying to play an all-rounder instead of a specialist batsman in the middle order.
The Pakistan squad for Champions Trophy is: Waqar Younis (Capt), Inzamamul Haq (V.Capt), Abdul Razzak, Imran Nazir, Misbah-ul-Haq, Muhammad Sami, Rashid Latif, Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, Shoaib Malik, Wasim Akram, Younis Khan and Yousaf Youhana.
Why was there a fuss about replacing Anwar. The man has just come back from injury so naturally it will take him time to settle in. They made the right choice. Many will disagree but i think it was the right choice to keep Imran Nazir in the squad because at the age of 20 he has immense talent and if he can be taught to use it wisely then he can be one of the World's best. But becuase of Misbah's form iwould make him an automatic choice which leaves Afridi having to open for me as we need a bowler.
My team for the opening match against Sri Lanka.
Saeed
Afridi
Inzamam
Youhana
Y Khan
Misbah
Abdur
Latif
Wasim
Waqar
Shoaib
It would have been nice to have Saqlain but who would he have replaced? I would have had Saqi instead of Wasim. Wasim has been a bit wayward recently and although his experience is an asset, we don't need the team chasing targets in 48 overs because of slow over rate because of Wasim's 8 ball overs. I hope he improves during the ICC Trophy but Sri Lanka are going to be tough to beat.
Any news on the Sri Lanka squad???
In my opinion Misbah should be batting higher, either 3 or 4 cuz he takes more time to settle down and at #6 he may not get too muh time to settle down, Younis Khan on the other hand doesnt take long time.. lol.. unless if our batting collapse again and our #6 batsman gets to teh crease in 16th over, misbah shoudl bat higher. My Line up would be
Saeed Anwar
Shahid Afridi
Misbah ul Haq
Inzamam ul Haq
Yousif Youhana
Younis Khan
Abdur Razzaq
Rashid Latif
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Shoaib Akhtar or Sami
We cant take the risk of playing injured Shoaib, cuz we only have 5 bowlers and if he goes off the field limping or vomiting blood, we are screwed. No?