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Completely agree with Najaf except for this:
“My name was there on the probables list for the Pakistan A team tour to Australia. However, I was dropped in favour of another left-arm bowler who picked up less than half of my tally in domestic cricket,” he said.
He shouldn't point fingers at collegues otherwise he is spot on, he MUST have been included in A tour at least if not senior squad.
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“My name was there on the probables list for the Pakistan A team tour to Australia. However, I was dropped in favour of another left-arm bowler who picked up less than half of my tally in domestic cricket,” he said.
He shouldn't point fingers at collegues otherwise he is spot on, he MUST have been included in A tour at least if not senior squad.
Agreed :) .. Khalil did well in the last game though
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Khalil sucks big time...its all politics.
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He has plenty more to prove and perform consistently in few more series's before can truly be called McGrath of Pakistan.
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I agree, thats why I added the words in paranthesis "atleast so far".
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**Shoaib’s star turn **
A warning to the batsmen of the St Georges club from Telford in Shropshire.
For your own safety and that of your batting average do not play in the away fixture against Berkswell on 5 August.
That is the time to bring up the wedding you can’t get out of, the family holiday, the tax returns, religious pilgrimage - anything.
Because that distant figure you see pacing out an impossibly long run-up is likely to be the fastest bowler in the world, none other than Shoaib Akhtar.
The charismatic paceman, who destroyed England with 17 wickets in the winter series, is rehabilitating after a spate of injury problems.
He has not played for Pakistan since the final Test against India on 1 February but is looking to play some part in the current series against England. In order to get some match practice, Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer expressed his wish for Shoaib to play for a club team, and his comments were smartly taken on board by members of Berkswell.
And one of those players Matt Nightingale explained, as David Coleman would say, what happened next.
“Our club skipper is former Warwickshire batsman Dominic Ostler, who played under Bob Woolmer in the trophy winning side of the 1990s and Dominic started the ball rolling,” he told BBC Sport.
“He made the initial contact, and based on the fact that we were one of the few Birmingham League clubs not to have an overseas professional, and the fact Bob was comfortable with Dom as captain, we received confirmation that Shoaib would be available.”
So one of the most fearsome fast bowlers of all time is due to take part in a 55-over Birmingham League Division Three contest.
But it will not be a village green collection of farm labourers, students and estate agents.
In addition to Ostler, Berkswell feature former Leicestershire seamer Dave Brignull, and young Danish wicket-keeper Frederick Klokker who has played in the Championship for Warwickshire this season.
Brignull is thought to bowl around 75mph, a similar speed to England all-rounder Paul Collingwood, but as Nightingale observed: “I don’t think he will mind not having choice of ends for one week!”
Nightingale and his colleagues are clearly excited by the prospect of having Shoaib in their dressing room - even if it is only for one match.
“It is the beauty of cricket,” he enthused. “I don’t think you would see Wayne Rooney turning out for a local Manchester league football club as part of his rehab!”
And as a proud Englishman, Nightingale offers the following caveat to David Graveney and his management team. “We are by no means an exclusive training ground for returning Pakistan players to full fitness, and should Duncan Fletcher wish us to help rehabilitate messrs Flintoff, Plunkett, Jones, Vaughan, Giles… the list is almost endless… we are more than happy to oblige.”
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MANCHESTER: Lanky left-arm pace bowler Najaf Shah was called in to bowl here at the nets by the Pakistan team management on Tuesday.
The six feet four inches Najaf Shah, who always finds it hard to earn a place on the Pakistan team mainly due to lack of required backing, was the most impressive of the bowlers at the nets.
bhai Najaf mian, agar aap ko team mai aana hay to aap ko qom per ek ehsan karna ho ga, woh yeh ke qom per doosra ehsan (read bojh read Mohammad Sami) kaheen kharach kar do phir shayed tumhay koi team mai jaga dene ka sochay ga... ab jaao aur iss per ghor karo, shabash.
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Wasim emphasises Pakistan should have bowled first
MANCHESTER: If there is any Pakistan Test cricketer who knows the Old Trafford wicket inside out it is Wasim Akram. And had Inzamam-ul-Haq sought his advice before going in to bat in the second Test here against England on Thursday, Wasim would have told him: “Bowl first if you win the toss”.
But in spite of the fact that Wasim was in Manchester, nobody from the Pakistan camp made an effort to contact Wasim, a legendary left-arm paceman of all times. Inzamam did win the toss but decided to bat first only to see his team getting bundled out for 119.
“I believe Pakistan should have taken advice from somebody who has played on this wicket and who knows it well,” Wasim said here, barely disguising the fact that he was talking about himself.
He was asked by this correspondent: “Did anybody from the Pakistan team contact you for advice?” His answer: “Nobody did that and I don’t know why. I believe they could have got useful tips from me.”
The former Pakistan captain has played for Lancashire, for whom Old Trafford is a home ground, for over a decade and is regarded as a local hero in Manchester. The city is, in fact, his second home as Wasim mostly spends his summers here.
Wasim said it is a traditional Old Trafford track which is dry and hard.
“Any team winning the toss would be lured into batting first here. But anybody with the experience of playing here would know better,” he said.
If Wasim were the skipper, he would have bowled first after winning the toss. “England just have one dangerous bowler — Steve Harmison. Probably Pakistan thought they would see him off. But on this bouncy wicket, they should have known better.”
Wasim praised Harmison for his great spell on the opening day but took a swipe at some of the Pakistani batsmen whom he said just threw away their wickets, saying, “(Mohammad) Yousuf and Younis (Khan) were so well settled but got out on average deliveries while playing poor shots. They could have easily taken Pakistan to a safer position.”
Wasim expressed that Inzamam was the only Pakistani batsman to get a brute of a delivery from Harmison while the rest of the batsmen just crumbled.
He added that he cannot find any logic behind Pakistan’s decision to play two spinners — Danish Kaneria and Shahid Afridi — in the match. “I don’t think they (Pakistan) read the wicket correctly. You need more pacers on this pitch,” the fast bowling icon reckoned.
Wasim opined Pakistan should have fielded left-arm medium pacer Samiullah Niazi in the match.
“I haven’t seen him but I get from reports, he is a talented, young fast bowler. I’ve heard he was especially called from Pakistan for this series and can’t understand why he is not playing this Test.”
With no forecast of any rain over the next few days, Wasim believes only a miracle can save Pakistan here, saying, “They scored very few runs and conceded a lot. There are still three days left in this match and frankly it seems our team doesn’t have much chance left.”
SOURCE: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=17587
If that is the case why back in 2001, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat at Old Trafford even though Pakistan were 1 down in the series (Pakistan won that match and the series was drawn 1-1)
Wasim was not the captain but still was an integral part of the team. If they didn’t listen to him then, what makes him think that they will listen to him now :hehe:
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What he did in 1999 World cup Final himself?
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**Pakistan’s lack of spine extremely demorlising
**
By Imran Khan
Winning and losing is part of cricket. In recent times the Pakistani public has accepted losing far better than in the days when I played. There used to be so few international matches then that whenever we lost a match it took us a long time to redeem ourselves.
With so much cricket being played these days, the public has become fairly tolerant of an odd reverse here or there. That perhaps explains the sporting behaviour from a home crowd when Pakistan lost the one-day rubber to India at Lahore two years back. I for one had not expected that, so I was taken by a surprise.
However, Saturday’s defeat has been more demoralising for the Pakistani supporters than it has perhaps been for the team itself. This because of the manner in which the Pakistan team capitulated against a fairly mediocre England side. One cannot help but feel that it was the pace and bounce of Steve Harmison that frightened the daylights out of our batsmen - to the extent that they gave up without a fight!
Once Pakistan was bowled out for 119, especially the spineless way the last seven wickets fell, there was no chance for the second string Pakistan attack to stage a comeback.
I also thought that the Pakistani management made a big mistake by not playing Mohammad Sami and Umar Gul in the county game prior to the Test match as both were short of match practice.
I also find it rather strange that Sami was not being used as a shock bowler, like he was at Bangalore last year in our magnificent win when he bowled with aggression and produced vital breakthroughs for Pakistan.
When the captain urges him to bowl line and length, Sami tends to fall between the two stools. Neither does he have the control of a medium pacer nor does he have the real pace to unsettle the batsmen. The line and length stuff should come from Umar Gul and Abdul Razzaq while Sami should be used to attack.
As for Danish Kaneria, there is no denying his talent but there definitely is a big question mark about his temperament. One reason why I say that Warne stands head and shoulders above any leg-spinner that I’ve seen is because of his ability to keep his nerve under pressure,.
Having said that, it was our supposedly full strength batting that caused the humiliating defeat at Old Trafford.
The big problem is that of the openers. The Pakistani think tank has shown shortsightedness in the past two years by chopping and changing the openers. Even worse was relying on makeshift openers, who in Lahore club cricket’s parlance were called railokattas.
Pakistan had good options. Salman Butt should have been persisted with consistently after his century against India at Kolkata in November 2004. Yet he was dropped from the recent Sri Lanka tour and arrived here absolutely unprepared. Of the little I’ve seen of Yasir Hameed, he was gutsy and had a good temperament but like all Pakistani batsmen bred on our slow pitches, he had a flaw outside the off-stump. Both Salman and Yasir could have been groomed on the job and this is where the coach should have come in. Pakistan is now paying the price of not realising the value of specialist openers.
Whenever the ball bounces or moves off the track, or Pakistan comes up against quality pace bowlers, which fortunately for them are very few in world cricket right now, the Pakistani openers will expose the middle order as they have consistently done in these two Test matches.
For Headingley, Pakistan desperately needs a fit Mohammad Asif in its ranks. Even more than Shoaib, Asif could be Pakistan’s trump card with his high-arm action and late movement on either side of the wicket.
What is more, Asif could provide the inspiration that could reverse this demoralised mindset of the team.
There is one thing Inzamam needs to know: half the game is played in the mind. He needs to approach Headingley with an aggressive and attacking approach. He should remember that it was a stronger England team that Pakistan had defeated in November last year.
Only self-belief and taking the attack to England can bring Pakistan back in the rubber.
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Najaf is only the tip of the iceberg. A lot of promising bowlers cannot even find a place in the 'A' team let alone the national team. All the while bowlers like Rao, Sami get a free ride. It's all about who you know rather what you can do.
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True...wheres Arafat, in county cricket, unlikely to ever play a test...Najaf Shah as well.
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*Dont know if its posted here before or not!
*
**"We did have one special piece of equipment which we utilised in the ** **nets on the Nursery Ground. At the start of the tour, I bought a slab **
**of granite with a marble top, measuring a metre by half a metre, from **
**a store in London for £91.65. The original idea for this came from **
**Javed Miandad, the great Pakistan batsman, and we have been lugging **
**this around on the team coach and placing it on a length during **
**practice sessions. I then hurl balls at it which rear up at the **
**batsman’s throat and head, simulating bouncers in the middle. This **
**worked particularly well at Lord’s as England’s fast bowlers tried **
**out a new tactic when Inzamam came in, namely constantly testing him **
**with the short pitched ball. The marble has to be transported from **
**the coach to the nets by wheel-barrow, normally by the driver and **
**the batsman who is to use it first, and has caused quite a stir among **
**spectators who have watched us in practice. I tell them I am working **
**out my frustrations. "
**if you read the whole article its quite interesting however its a whole lot of talk and no action when required!!!
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"Shock bowler" and Sami are oxymoron. The only shock Sami is capable of generating is that of one to batsmen by consistently throwing pies.....
"He is talented" bla bla bla yawn
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We all have great respect for Khan Sahib however I disagree on this issue of Mohammad Sami. I guess he hasn’t noticed that since Bangalore test, Sami’s performace has gone from bad to worse. He played 6 matches and has taken only 10 wickets at an average of approx. 60 
I don’t how much his poor performace has to do with not being a shock bowler lately. I mean Sami should be knowing better about his abilities after playing international cricket for more than 5 years with bowlers like Wasim, Waqar, Shoaib etc. If he is only effective being aggresive, then why he is coming from a shortish run up? He has been one of the fittest bowlers we have seen in the last 6 years from Pakistan, but hasn’t been consistently effective. I don’t understand what is the problem with him. Apparently he doesn’t have what it takes to be an ace bowler.
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by Imran Khan
Once Pakistan was bowled out for 119, especially the spineless way the last seven wickets fell, there was no chance for the second string Pakistan attack to stage a comeback.
***I also thought that the Pakistani management made a big mistake by not playing Mohammad Sami and Umar Gul in the county game prior to the Test match as both were short of match practice.
I also find it rather strange that Sami was not being used as a shock bowler, like he was at Bangalore last year in our magnificent win when he bowled with aggression and produced vital breakthroughs for Pakistan.
When the captain urges him to bowl line and length, Sami tends to fall between the two stools. Neither does he have the control of a medium pacer nor does he have the real pace to unsettle the batsmen. The line and length stuff should come from Umar Gul and Abdul Razzaq while Sami should be used to attack. ***
As for Danish Kaneria, there is no denying his talent but there definitely is a big question mark about his temperament. One reason why I say that Warne stands head and shoulders above any leg-spinner that I’ve seen is because of his ability to keep his nerve under pressure,.
Having said that, it was our supposedly full strength batting that caused the humiliating defeat at Old Trafford.
The big problem is that of the openers. ***The Pakistani think tank has shown shortsightedness in the past two years by chopping and changing the openers. Even worse was relying on makeshift openers, who in Lahore club cricket’s parlance were called railokattas.
Pakistan had good options. Salman Butt should have been persisted with consistently after his century against India at Kolkata in November 2004. Yet he was dropped from the recent Sri Lanka tour and arrived here absolutely unprepared. Of the little I’ve seen of Yasir Hameed, he was gutsy and had a good temperament but like all Pakistani batsmen bred on our slow pitches, he had a flaw outside the off-stump. Both Salman and Yasir could have been groomed on the job and this is where the coach should have come in. Pakistan is now paying the price of not realising the value of specialist openers. ***
Whenever the ball bounces or moves off the track, or Pakistan comes up against quality pace bowlers, which fortunately for them are very few in world cricket right now, the Pakistani openers will expose the middle order as they have consistently done in these two Test matches.
SOURCE: http://nation.com.pk/daily/july-2006/30/sports1.php
This is my point from start, Imran Khan the best tells the truth once again. I never said that Butt, Sami, Razzaq, Yasir and Afridi are mature enough to take game on their shoulders. I never believe in it. The thing is all of them have some talent, we need to utilize it to the best, and you need a strategy to do it. When you have Wasim Bari openly calling for Faisal Iqbal to open, just shows how much of a think is there in their tank. They do not know jack about cricket and because of their indecisiveness, our talent is going down the drain. 100% agree with Khan Sahib.
Moreover, Danish is not Warne or Murli. Comparing him with those two great is like comparing Warne with Giles, they are far ahead. We know England is very weak with spin bowlers and PCB did not send any new spinners. All they thought is that Afridi will play that supporting role, very bad decision.
Imran agrees too bring back Yasir Hameed.
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Yousuf seeks advice on tackling Panesar
Having lost his wicket to Monty Panesar three times in this Test series, Mohammad Yousuf sought the advice of Zaheer Abbas, the team manager, in tackling the left-arm spinner.
In the recently concluded Old Trafford Test, Panesar finished with his best match figures of 8 for 93, including a five-wicket haul in the second innings. Panesar, who dismissed Yousuf in both innings, combined with Steve Harmison to beat Pakistan by an innings and gain a 1-0 lead in the four-Test series. The pair shared 19 wickets between them.
Abbas was of the view that Yousuf was playing Panesar too casually, and was guilty of throwing away his wicket after nullifying the pace and bounce of Harmison, who finished with eleven wickets on the match.
“I am not trying to take away credit from Panesar because he bowled quite well”, Abbas told The News, a Pakistan daily. “But most of our batsman, especially Yousuf took him too lightly. They thought the only threat for them was Harmison. Personally I believe they made a fatal mistake.”
Abbas added that the onus was on the batsmen to perform, given that the Pakistan bowling attack has been weakened with the absence of strike bowlers like Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif. He urged the batsmen to iron out their technical flaws quickly, to give the side a realistic chance of squaring the series.
“Making a comeback from a Test down is not easy especially at a time when you are playing without you top bowlers”, he added. “That is why there is extra responsibility on our batsmen. They will have to deliver at Headingley and at The Oval if we are to avoid a defeat in this series”
SOURCE: http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/engvpak/content/story/255154.html
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**Asif on track for Pakistan return **
Pakistan paceman Mohammad Asif has made a good recovery from his elbow injury and could play in the fourth Test against England starting on 17 August
Pakistan Cricket Board director of operations Saleem Altaf told Reuters: “He should play in practice games this week and could take part at The Oval.”
Asif returned from England before the first Test of the series at Lord’s.
England lead the series 1-0, with the third of the four Tests starting at Headingley, Leeds on Friday.
The Pakistan squad has had to cope with several injuries to key players, particularly the bowling unit.
Their number one bowler, Shoaib Akhtar, is still battling to return to full fitness after suffering knee and ankle problems in recent months.
And their other key fast bowler, rising star Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, is out of the series with a groin injury. Even if Asif is not in time for the last Test, he should be available for the one-day series which follows.
SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/england/5232580.stm
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koi 3rd Test ke liye bhee fit ho jaye 
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Hopefully we dont lose 3rd test, cuz we have a good chance of winning the 4th test...but I have a feeling we will lose the 3rd test considering the team we r likely to pick...damn all these politics.