First edition of IPL twenty-20 tournament finished six days ago. Eleven Pakistani players also took part in the tournament. Following was their performance. While Sohail Tanvir was declared the best bowler of the tournament, we didn’t see many match winning performances from Pakistani batsmen.
As clear from batting analysis, only Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal and Misbah-ul-Haq were able to score more than 100 runs total in the whole tournament. Shoaib Akhtar took 4 wickets in his first match of IPL and caused a brief stir. Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi also did well in bowling. Shahid Afridi however, proved a total failure in batting by managing only 81 runs off 9 innings.
What is your opinion on Pakistani performance in IPL or on this new wave of cricket entertainment called Twenty-20. I’ve seen few Internet articles claiming twenty-20 has it origin in Pakistan where it was first introduced as 20 overs a side Ramzan Cricket in 80s. I personally remember Nazimabad “Super Cup” Ramzan tournament of 1980s where matches started in the afternoon and were completed before ‘iftar’ time. In last few editions of Super Cup, it drew 36 teams from all across Pakistan. It is said that Pakistan failed to commercialize on this form of cricket and now we are left far behind in its commercial success. We’d like to hear your opinion on this.
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As I was expecting..
The Pakistani contingent was a mixed bag in the IPL but 2 most high profile flops were Afridi and Shoaib Malik…
Shoaib Malik has truly shown his true colours after getting the captaincy….eg, he was a player of much promise who has lost the plot somewhat partly by his own doing and partly by the abject handling by the PCB who took him down this slippery slope by not taking any action against him when he threw a T20 match as captain of Sialkot…
He looks increasingly isolated on the pitch mid match (my personal opinion from the team’s body language) and instead of trying to lead a team has been trying to players against each other and getting Afridi kicked out…this stems from the true lack of respect he has in the team and the insecurity that breeds..
That in turn has affected his game and mind set towards the game….
That he was exposed in the IPL is no surprise to me personally…..a player of middling capability and a captain with the personality as inspiring as a potted plant…
I think Afridi’s case is not that simple (as to why he failed). I will opine on those and please feel free to add comments or contradict me on this. Here goes:
1. Playing for a franchise just doesnt float his boat the way playing for his country does and just not gelling with the team and Laxman…
2. Over the last year and a half he has been considering himself more and more a bowling allrounder…something which is a tragic mistake as he is equally capable with both leather and willow….
3. His general state of mind with baggage from the Pakistan dressing room viz a viz shoaib Malik’s attempts to unload him from the team…..
4. Just a dip in form at the wrong time..(??)
5. The fact that the expectations were just too much…in his own words he said the pressure to perform was too much..(I have trouble in buying that as he is no stranger to this)
just my opinion..I could be very wrong…
a Word on Tanveer….
He did really well in T20 but I fear for him in the test arena…he must develop at least a couple of yards of pace if he is to take quality wickets at that level…otherwise an average of 40-45 per wicket looms for him…
Lets hope Geoff lawson can get him to work on his speed..although I feel that his delivery action might not allow him that…
He should atleast develop the ball that kicks off a short of a lenghth and the off one that hurries on at around 140-143 Km/Hr…
I agree performance of Pakistani players, especially batsmen, was disappointing. Sohail Tanvir did us proud, though, as did Umar Gul and Shoaib Akhtar for a while before his customary injury.
I don’t think we can claim Ramzan cricket as the antecedent of 20-20, which is probably best described as a shortened one day match. There are many earlier examples of shorter matches - e.g. in England in the 70s I sometimes took part in evening club games of 25 overs each. In those games, every player other than the keeper had to bowl at least 2 and max 3 overs, and batsmen had to retire after scoring 25 runs.
Sir,
Personall y i was disappointed with performance of Shahid Afridi. But players like ponting,symonds also could not cope up with the format. Only slaman butt could cope but by the time his team was out.An unknown Indian Asnodkar realy showed class.
Shahid
Well you may know there is an ex-test and ODI cricketer of Pakistan by the name Shahid Saeed. He played against India in Sharjah and Pakistan. I had lunch with him a day before Karachi Test match in 1988. That is why I was wondering if you were him.
I was born in 1989. This means there are very little chances I would have played for Pakistan in the 88/89 season
Shahid Saeed and Rehan, you are correct on Abdur Razzak andI’ve made the corrections.
Shahid Saeed, by any chance are you Pakistan’s ODI player of 1988-89?
Agree with Shahid. This abdur razzak is from Bangladesh. Other than that, very poor performance. Misbah could have done much better but did not get chance early on in the tournament.
Abdul Razzak is a Bangladeshi player