Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar
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:love:
Pakistan captain docked heavy fine after India one-dayer](Yahoo is part of the Yahoo family of brands.)
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq was fined 80 percent of his match fees for his team’s slow over-rate in the second one-day international against India.
Match referee Ranjan Madugalle of Sri Lanka also penalised the entire Pakistan team 15 percent of their fees for bowling three overs short in the Rawalpindi game on Tuesday.
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Inzamam faces a ban of two to four Tests - or four to eight one-day internationals - if found guilty of a similar offence over the next 12 months, Madugalle told AFP.
“If under Inzamam, Pakistan again fall short by three or more overs in any game for the next year, he could be banned for a specified number of matches,” Madugalle said.
Pakistan, bowling second on Tuesday, won the match by 12 runs to level the five-match series 1-1.
This is the second time in as many matches on the current Indian tour that Inzamam has been fined for slow over-rates.
Both he and his Indian counterpart Sourav Ganguly were docked 20 percent of their match fees for falling two overs short in the first international at Karachi last Saturday.
That match ended as the highest scoring one-dayer in history after Pakistan, replying to India’s mammoth 349-7 from 50 overs, fought back superbly to reach 344-8.
The Indian team appeared to have learnt from the mistake by sending down the full quota of 50 overs in the available three hours and 35 minutes in Rawalpindi.
Madugalle, however, took no action against Ganguly, who had criticised as “ridiculous” the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) rule governing over- rates which imposes only fines instead of the earlier practice of docking overs.
“I find that ridiculous,” Ganguly had said at Karachi. “When you are in a tight situation, and when winning and not losing is so important, players don’t mind foregoing money.”
India and Pakistan play the remaining one-dayers at Peshawar on Friday and at Lahore on March 21 and 24.
India will also play three Tests from March 28 on their first full tour of Pakistan since 1989.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by ehsan: *
Inzamam faces a ban of two to four Tests - or four to eight one-day internationals - if found guilty of a similar offence over the next 12 months, Madugalle told AFP.
"If under Inzamam, Pakistan again fall short by three or more overs in any game for the next year, he could be banned for a specified number of matches," Madugalle said.
[/QUOTE]
I hope our bowlers are reading this. I don't think we can afford to lose Inzi as a batsman especially not in test matches.
I think the best option for PCB is to replace Inzi with either Moin Khan or Shoaib Akhtar as captain. Else be prepared to lose Inzi's services as a batsman for a few months. And once Moin Khan gets his first warning, then make Shoaib a captain. Keep rotating it among the 11 players until Inzi's 12 months are up. And then do the whole thing all over again.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by ehsan: *
Recalling Umar is a great move and he should play at Peshawar instead of Younis Khan. My team for the Peshawar would be:
Yasir
Afridi
Umar
Youhanna
Inzi
Razzaq
Malik
Moin
Shoaib
Shabbir
Sami
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Ehsan bhai thats my team too, but I will play Afridi and Umar as openers. Yasir will be usefull on one down position. He is an asset for Pakistan, he is good at No. 3 in ODIs. Its not that he is not a good opener for ODI, but Umar's fearlessness from the first ball suites ODI. Yasir is good to stablize the innings.
Answering to Xtreme's question, who we have in hand as a replacement for Shabbir or Sami (just in case if they continue to fail for next couple of games). We have Rao Iftikhar who swings the ball more than any current player on the national side. He might not be as fast as Sami, but the guy has good line and length and has lots of variety. As far as pace is concerened Abdul Rauf is another candidate sitting out because has no parchi. So if Bari looks around fairly, he will find talent accross the country. BTW its a good thing that we have alternate of almost everyone in the team (akhtar is a differnt case). This will keep the danda on the players heads all the time and they will go all the way to perform to save their position in the team.
This is what The Great Khan had been saying for last 25 years. This model suites Pakistan as its a huge population country and we need a proper and fair process to bring the best talent to Under 17, Under 19, A team and the national team. If we continue to do this we can be Austrailia one day. Inshallah
So many players so much talent! Pakistan should have another national team. 
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by smooth_guy: *
but Umar's fearlessness from the first ball suites ODI. Yasir is good to stablize the innings.
[/QUOTE]
yaar what fearlessness are you talking about here? He is a player with proven record in test matches and a potential to become a good one day batter too BUT so far he hasnt shone at international level in one day scene. And was extremely nervsous in last year whenever he got the chance to play. I agree Taufeeq has played wonderfully well in side match but you have to consider three factors, less expectations, less crowd and less pressure.
That being said, i think in this form he should be played in peshawar, and i hope he succeeds!!
I don't know why are you all so eager to change batting line-up that produced 344 and 330 in two matches.
Get a frikkin head exam. You are all losing it. Just don't start typing. Put some thought behind it.
Stadium’s nice:k: Outfield’s kool…
and Paki’s pumped up:jhanda:
Actually, to some extent I agree with Saby. There will be tremendous amount of pressure on Taufeeq now, to show the brilliant batting he showed in side match. I don’t know if Peshawar pitch is similar to Pindi and Karachi, if it is then Taufeeq might be able to do it otherwise this could be his last exposure to ODIs 
I hope he is included and shows the brilliance, so other openers like Imran Farhat will know that there really is a competition for the slot and scoring 24 is not much.
Well dropping Imran Farhat was a good bet 
, may be moving Yasir Hameed to one down and bringing Taufeeq could be even better :halo:
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by funguy: *
I don't know why are you all so eager to change batting line-up that produced 344 and 330 in two matches.
Get a frikkin head exam. You are all losing it. Just don't start typing. Put some thought behind it.
[/QUOTE]
it is much better than your suggestion of rotating captains. No one is advocating wholesale changes. It is a matter of tweaking one or two players. So yes put some thought into it before typing as to what you are typing.
ehsan jee, my suggestion of rotating captains was satire on Inzi and the PCB.
Aap bhi?
Why doesn't ICC just allow a grace period of 30 minutes after the regulation? With so many teams regularly bowling 2/3 overs short, it seems harsh to penalize them for taking a few extra minutes.
*Zaalim Bhaijaan, ICC believes an over can be bowled in 4 minutes. And I think that is a very good rate. They are still giving 10 minutes on top of the 4 minute an over for field changes, etc. The problem is that they did not take wides and No balls into account which on an average means 2 to 3 overs extra. For Pakistan it can mean 5 to 6 overs extra. That's where teams suffer the most. Pakistani team makes the lame excuse that it has too many fast bowlers. Well, Australia has fast bowlers too but they move very fast in between overs. You can literally see the keeper and slips running towards the other end.
I think 3.5 hours to bowl 50 overs including wides etc is still a good rate and allows for fast pace game. Teams need to adjust themselves and play the ODI game a little more quickly.
very interesting points about Rao. lets see what he’s capable of.
Selectors recall Taufeeq Umar for Peshawar match
RAWALPINDI: The regular Test opener Taufeeq Umar has been recalled to the Pakistan one-day squad for the third One-day International against India in Peshawar on Friday.
The left-hander whose last one-day appearance for Pakistan was in May 2003 in Sri Lanka is the only addition to the squad that has been reduced to 15 players after the selectors released seamer Rao Iftikhar and batsman Misbah-ul-Haq.
Chief selector Wasim Bari said both the players had been told to go and play in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy matches and if required would be called up again for the series.
“We decided to reduce the number of players to 15 because that is enough for a match. We felt it would be better if Rao and Misbah kept in practice by playing for their respective teams in the domestic matches,” Bari said.
Both didn’t get a chance to play in the first two games against India.
** sources close to the selectors said that Iftikhar who has emerged as the highest wickettaker this domestic season is being prepared for the test series against India.
“Rao is an excellent swing bowler and has a very potent outswinger. The selectors feel it would be better to blood him in the Test matches than in the one-day series where bowlers who have a strong outswing generally tend to take some beating from the batsmen,” the source said.
The source said the selectors had been very impressed with Rao’s talents in the nets.**
Bari said that the team for the last two one-day games in Lahore would be announced later on.
“I think we have got a balanced outfit for the Peshawar match which is very important for us,” Bari said and added that Taufeeq had been selected because of his hundred against India in the warm up match in Lahore last week.
The chief selector was very pleased with the performance of allrounder Shahid Afridi on his comeback to the Pakistan team.
“I think he has give the captain more bowling options and he has shown that having been out of the team has made him a more determined player,” he added.
The Pakistan squad: Yasir Hameed, Shahid Afridi, Imran Farhat, Inzamam-ul-Haq (Capt), Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan, Moin Khan, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik, Taufeeq Umar, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Shabbir Ahmed, Saqlain Mushtaq and Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan.
Pakistan prepare to tackle Ganguly’s mind games
RAWALPINDI: The Pakistan camp is not happy at all with the mind games and pressure tactics being employed by the Indians to gain the upper hand in the series under progress.
A Pakistan team official told “The News” that they had come to know that efforts were made by the Indian team think tank including captain Saurav Ganguly to put pressure on Shoaib Akhtar by starting a whispering campaign and manipulating the media to raise an issue over his bowling action.
“We know that the Indians have been behind a whispering campaign about Shoaib’s action being under scrutiny in this series by the umpires and match referee through their media corps.”
“We realize it is all a ploy to start a controversy in the press about Shoaib’s bowling action and try to put him under pressure and disturb him in this series as he is a potential match-winner. But he is ready for such a situation,” the official said.
**The Indian captain is a master at exploiting the media to play mind games with the opposition and sometimes with even his own players and official.
After the Karachi one-day match Ganguly made it a point to ask some Indian journalists to specifically ask a question about the fines imposed on the teams over slow over-rates. As soon as the question was put to him he blasted the new ruling on slow overrates and described it as ridiculous.**
Ganguly, however, escaped any censure from the match referee Ranjan Madugalle for violating the ICC Code of Conduct for players in which they are not supposed to criticize any ICC rules or decisions of the match-referee or umpires.
A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) spokesman said that the whispering campaign about the match-referee or umpires having been told to keep a close watch on Shoaib in this series because the ICC had prepared a list of bowlers with suspect actions was not true.
“I don’t think there is any such list nor have the match referee or umpires been given instructions to watch Shoaib’s action,” he said.
He said that the ICC as per protocol issued the reports on any bowler to the match-referee and its umpires for every series. “There is nothing wrong with Shoaib’s bowling action and he has been cleared by the ICC just as Muttiah Muralitharan, Harbhajan Singh or others.”
Imran’s advice brings the best out of Shoaib, Sami
RAWALPINDI: After the hiding they took in the first one-day match against India, the message for Shoaib Akhtar and Muhammad Sami from one of the greatest fast bowlers produced by Pakistan was simple; "Just go out and attack the batsmen. Don’t worry about the runs or extras.’
The result was that Shoaib and Sami both played lead roles in Pakistan’s 12-run win over India here on Tuesday night with three wickets apiece.
A Pakistan team source said Imran Khan had sent a message to both the players after the Karachi match, telling them they were sending down too many no-balls and wides because they were getting double minded while running up to bowl. “He felt that Shoaib and Sami were struggling because they were in two minds whether to attack the batsmen or contain the runs,” the source said.
On Tuesday both the fast bowlers also cut down their no-balls and wides considerably and it helped the team perform better. In the first match at Karachi Shoaib had sent down three no-balls and six wides and went for 55 runs while Sami conceded 74 runs including 5 no- balls and three wides. But in Pindi, Shoaib took 3 for 49 with just two no-balls and Sami 3 for 41 with three no-balls.
Pakistan coach Javed Miandad also admitted that the two had been told to go flat out against the strong Indian batting line-up as that was the best way to contain them. “They have a very strong batting line-up and on these pure batting surfaces the only way to contain the run-flow is to keep on getting wickets regularly. And Shoaib and Sami both have the ability to do this with their pace and experience,” he said.
He admitted that containing the strong Indian batting line-up in the five-match one-day series is proving to be a challenging task. He said this was happening because the pitches were tailor made for batting and they were lot of limitations for the bowlers because of the rules and regulations in one-day cricket unlike in Test matches where the situation was different.
Javed said Pakistan’s victory was the result of a team effort and was particularly pleased with the performance of Shahid Afridi. “I think he has shown a lot of responsibility and improvement. He is a good student and whenever I have been coach he has responded to my advice.”
The Pakistan coach said Shoaib and Sami had also shown discipline to cut down on their no-balls and wides in the match and this was a good sign. “Given the sort of batting pitches we have in this series. I can tell you no total is safe. And bowlers will get punishment. But they have to bowl in difficult conditions and one can understand their plight.”
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by funguy: *
Bringing in another batsman is really absurd. In both matches played so far Pakistan lost a combined total of 14 wickets, an average of 7 per match. If anything we need to strengthen our bowling and give an adequate answer to India's massive batting line-up. I say bring in Saqlain instead of Shabbir.
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I agree. With Taufeeq coming into the team, Pakistan now has 4 openers in the team of 15. Our batting his been firing on all cylinders in the series, and its been our bowling which has been medicore, so why not beef up our bowling, instead of calling up another opener. I guess Taufeeq can come in place of Younis Khan and open with Afridi or Yaasir, because he isnt middle order player, if he is going to be playing, he should open.