Dr. Kamran Abbasi, the highly respected cricket writer and Deputy Editor of the British Medical Journal has kindly agreed to contribute an article exclusively for KK to set the scene for the upcoming ODI series starting tomorrow.
We at GS are proud that Kamran has taken time from his very busy schedule to contribute this article for our guppies. We hope all of you enjoy it and like to take this opportunity to thank Kamran for his contribution.
*Why Pakistan should win *
Kamran Abbasi
12 March, 2004
Little known fact: apart from no Test wins, India has only won three one-day internationals against Pakistan in Pakistan. Not a record that predicts great success. Might this tour be different? India’s batting has not been so strong since the middle 1980s, Sourav Ganguly’s team boasts a clutch of genuine fast bowlers, and Pakistan has learned how to lose at home—a rare phenomenon until the end of the last century. This will be a tough one-day series for both teams—no other contest in cricket history has attracted such global and local interest—but I expect Pakistan to prevail. Here’s why:
1 India’s batting is glorious, perhaps the best in the world—in Test cricket. But the wondrous lustre of these regal batsmen blinds India’s selectors to a fatal weakness. One-day cricket is designed for innovation and unorthodoxy, particularly in batsmanship and particularly on batting wickets—which, whatever the noises from PCB and groundsman Andy Atkinson, are what to expect for this series. Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, and even Sachin Tendulkar—now that he has lost his dash—are simply too orthodox to break the shackles in the middle of an Indian innings.
On a decent batting track even a Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir, or Abdul Razzaq can outperform the most highly acclaimed batsman in the world, especially in a 10 over burst of ballistic hitting. Virender Sehwag, Ganguly, and Yuvraj Singh may match Pakistan’s hitters, but Ganguly will struggle against Pakistan’s fast men, which leaves too little blasting power on India’s side.
2 India’s bowling is as green as its batting is golden. Success has come against Pakistan historically through canny medium-pacers frustrating Pakistan’s batsmen and high-class spin bowlers. This Indian one-day squad possesses neither of these components. The reputation of India’s fast men is built on one-day victories under lights and helpful conditions. Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, and Irfan Pathan have potential but in truth they are untested. Too much is being made of them too early without enough evidence of their class. I guess that this inflated reputation and weight of expectation will be their undoing.
And, unfortunately this Indian squad does not include an international quality spinner to speak of, other than Sachin if he put his mind to it. A failing of Indian cricket has been an unrealistic appraisal of its bowling might. A fair measure of honest self-judgement and insight would probably produce better results for India, but that is unlikely to happen with the truly unprecedented hype surrounding this series.
3 Shoaib Akhtar—if fit.
Yet, two factors could find me eating my words. First, the two day-night matches will give India’s bowlers a sniff of a chance swinging the ball under lights. Second, is the unknown fix factor. We delude ourselves if we believe that Indian and Pakistani players have been falsely accused over the last two decades. Let’s hope that what we see is what we get—and if that is the case Pakistan should continue their home dominance over India, despite Mr Ganguly’s disregard for history.
May we ask Mr Abbasi to read through one of our threads and write an article on the interaction that goes on here?. It would be fun.
Nice Article but obviuosly being a busy person he could not go into details. But yeah Funguy's idea should be tried :D
Good Job Ehsan Bhai, and thank You Mr. Kamran Abbassi.
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*Originally posted by funguy: *
May we ask Mr Abbasi to read through one of our threads and write an article on the interaction that goes on here?. It would be fun.
[/QUOTE]
except the miandad thread hopefully
[QUOTE]
Originally posted by Fraudz: *
Good Job Ehsan Bhai, and thank You Mr. Kamran **Abbassi*.
[/QUOTE]
oh bhai, aik 's' hay.
tu vee naa, C* hee niklaya
okay point taken, i just had the persian spelling thing going..
Thank You Mr. Kamran Abbasi
well thankx for finally introducing me to other guppies ehsan bhi, Lakin Mera Naam** Abbas** Hai Abbasi Nahi :D
Funguy Yaar Main Tumhrey PM Key Intazzaaar Main Soukh Geya Houn.
I totally agree with this article word by work.Well written.
Good view Abbas , 
Perhaps you can shed some light on Indian batting strength.
I personaly feel that there are no fire workd about it only that so far it has proven it self to weak bowling attacks of England/NZealand and on recent tour of Austrailia to their under strentgh bowling attack..plzz
like to hear your views on this …
Tks this was cheltay cheltay.. 
Thank you Ehsan bhai for this service. It will be a treat to see such a reknowned writer writing for Guppies.
Thanks Mr. Kamran.
^^ In adding to that, its a nice little achievement for GS to get the services of a renowned writer. Thanks Kamran for your views!
Dr. Abbasi is the foremost cricket writer in the world, IMHO. I read all his articles very religiously. Ehsan bhai and I would like to thank him for taking the time to writing a little something for our members.
Also, thank you Ehsan bhai for arranging this wonderful treat for us all. :)
Thanx for your time sir. Nicely written. And thanx ehsan for bringing it to us.
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*Originally posted by KAKA-ATOM-BUM: *
Thanx for your time sir. Nicely written. And thanx ehsan for bringing it to us.
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Nice article by Mr. Abassi but he has unnecessarily dragged the match fixing issue in his discussion. Undoubtedly, there have been problems in this area in recent past and yes a very high profile gambling will take place in India and Pakistan for this series but I don’t think that we should suspect any of the current team players from both sides to be part of it. At least I feel very satisfied with ICC’s handling of match-fixing problem. By pressing respective cricket boards to take stern actions against high-profiled cricketers such as Azhar, Salim Malik and Hansie, ICC has delivered a very strong massage to every cricketer. “Play Fair or You will be banned”. In addition, by deploying anti-corruption units for every series, ICC has successfully curtailed the player’s maneuvering off the filed.
Such unnecessary speculations always raise rumors and create frustration among the followers. I can see some sense in bringing match-fixing issue up after observing some extremely unusual events in a particular match, but raising the match-fixing issue for such a high-profile and sensitive series before a ball being bowled is disturbing. So was the practice match fixed?
great article:k:
I just read Mr. Abbassi's memo to Miandad and Inzi; on cricinfo. Very well written!!
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*Originally posted by saby: *
I just read Mr. Abbassi's memo to Miandad and Inzi; on cricinfo. Very well written!!
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I agree with what he has written. 3 is too many all rounders. Two is just enough. If you really really want 3 all rounders, then drop a batsman to include one more specialist bowler. 2 specialist bowlers isn't enough.
Abbasi saheb ki tau aik ke baad hi bass ho gayee 
Hamaree tareefein pasand nahi ayein shaid. Kiya saaf pata chal raha thaa ke hamm jhoot bol rahay hein? 