Time to Test the Bench in the Caribbean !

IPL has thrown up some surprises. Some players whom I have disliked all along have done well. Some whom I have hyped up haven't. And some whom I have waited for have done well too. And thankfully, the new teams aren't door mats. Let us take a look at Indian players @ IPL 2011 chapter.

Of the lesser known faces, Abu Nechim looked good when he got a chance. Ambati Rayudu has been fantastic. Paul Valthaty is Revelation and Revolution put together. He is the 'Item Number' of IPL-4. Harmeet Singh Bansal got slower but also got Sehwag. Vinay Kumar has never looked better.

Bharat Chipli is another surprise package. Venugopal Rao is a blooming, but perhaps a tad too late for a total recall. Dinesh Karthik is not the same Boss DK he was a year ago. Abhishek Nayar too has slipped down the ladder.

Murali Vijay and Badrinath have played well, but nothing exceptional. Shikar Dhawan has been a total disaster. Naman Ojha is missing Warne. Che Pujara hasn't got the chances to bat higher. Saurabh Tiwari has been too tame. Anirudha Srikkanth has shown more maturity than his father.

Dravid and Laxman have batted well, but ! Mohammed Kaif hasn't got a look in. Akash Chopra is a very good blogger today. Wridhiman Saha is in a team whose Captain's name is M. S. Dhoni. Ajit Agarkar will retire after this season.

Dinda has bowled no-balls and bad balls and wants to believe he is India's answer to Malinga. That he is NOT. Irfan Pathan has done precious little. Jakati is not the same bowler he was in IPL-2010. Gony is more of agony and Sreesanth is Freesanth.

Murali Karthik is toiling gamely, but selectors are not looking back. Sidharth Trivedi has blown hot and blown cold. Abhimanyu Mithun has been blown away. Umesh yadav wants to play tests. But where is he ? Why aren't Rajastan trying Deepak Chahar ? And where is Kamran Khan ?

Sarabjit Ladda looks good and then looks bad. What is Asad Pathan ? A Bowler who can bat or a Batsman who can bowl ? Too many Pathans, too little Pathaning !

Rohit Sharma is maintaining the Legend of Rohit Sharma. I watched live, Raveendra Jadeja slam two huge sixes against CSK. Robin Uthappa has played his customary big shots. Balaji looks fabulous with slower ones but perhaps Vinay Kumar is a better package.

Yusuf Pathan has bowled better and flattered to deceive with the bat. Thankfully Piyush Chawla will not be in contention; Jadeja demolished him. Pragyan Ojha looks pale and Amit Mishra just about hale.

Manoj Tiwari has missed out on scaling the next level twice this time. Good, yet not as good as say, Rayudu, Valthaty or Uthappa. Everyone is busy talking about Poonam Pandey. Does anyone remember the first Indian to score an IPL century ?

Manish Pandey

Sehwag should have had shoulder surgery NOW. He is MESSING up the IPL and will be MISSING the West Indies and England tours. Too bad. Sachin is Sachin, Thank You Sachin.

Yuvi the Captain isn't as great as Yuvi the match winner. Bhajji is looking as ordinary as he has been for past 3 years. Zaheer needs rest. Gambhir can make an ordinary team with Kallis, Lee, Morgan, Shakib, Yusuf and Gambhir.

It is believed Dhoni, Sachin, Sehwag, Bhajji and Zaheer would like to be rested. Nehra is yet to recover from injury. Will he be ready for the West Indies ?

Though Dhoni has maintained that IPL should not be the criteria for India selection, we can't altogether ignore the greatest Glicket show on earth.

So here is my ODI Team for the West Indies Tour ! This is open for updating as the IPL progresses.

1] Gautam Gambhir [Captain - He should OPEN or should not play]
2] Paul Valthaty [Why not ? It is time to see if he is good at the next level]
3] Virat Kohli [Obvious choice. There isn't a better No. 3 right now]
4] Yuveraj Singh [Rested enough and rusted enough. He needs to be playing]
5] Suresh Raina [He too has to be there too]
6] Robin Uthappa [He deserves a chance. Second Wicket Keeper]
7] Yusuf Pathan [Poor IPL batting form. But he deserves at least 1 full series]
8] Parthiv Patel [The Wicket Keeper. Has batted usefully]
9] Ishant Sharma [He has been good so far. He is Future !]
10] Munaf Patel [In spite of my dislike, he is in because he is IN]
11] Ravindra Jadeja [Well, he has come back in a BIG way]
12] R. Ashwin [He is our strongest Spinner in shorter formats]
13] R. P. Singh [Scratchy. But a little support and he can be R. P. Swing !]
14] Vinay Kumar [Absolute guts and hard work. Deserves to be there]
15] Ashish Nehra / Praveen Kumar [One of them needed for the experience]

Unless someone from this list plays really badly or someone else plays really exceptionally, this could be the team. Rayudu, Rohit, Balaji  and Vijay can consider themselves unlucky to miss the flight. But then we have a pretty good Bench Strength. We can afford to waste a few talents. Even Greg Chappell believes so !




SPun Doctor
Also blogs @ http://diehardcricketfans.org/category/contributed/govind-raj-shenoy/

Why do I love IPL ?

IPL-4 is here, opening on a Friday; on a day most of the movies are released in India and elsewhere.

IPL has a lot in common with movies in India. Cricket and Cinema go together like Viv Richards and Nina Gupta. Howsoever far apart they might be, they do make strangely great bed-fellows. And IPL, is the Masaba of this relation ! A cross breed, yet beautiful and highly successful at a very young age.

Masaba...aah !

A lot of people, Purists, Poms and pushy Aussies have denounced IPL as 'Not Cricket'.

Michel Holding, one of my childhood favorites declared, "T-20 is not Cricket and Keiron Pollard is not a Cricketer".

Those who have not got a bite in, blame IPL for 'Crass Commercialization' of the 'Once Beautiful' game.

Pakistani Cricketers declare they don't care about IPL and then secretly curse Ijaz Butt.

BCCI declares IPL as clean because they have rid IPL of the corrupting influence of evil Lalit Modi.

But let people heap abuses and denigrate IPL. Let them damn it. Let them condemn it. Let them do anything except 'ban' it. That is something nobody will do. Thankfully, because IPL is a 'Goose that lays Platinum Eggs'. Gold is passe !

It is simple. I love IPL. I always like to give 5 reasons for anything and everything. But when it comes to IPL, I have so many reasons to love IPL, I might run out of space on the web. So I will stick to 11; one each for every team and one for Lalit Modi.

I Love IPL because...

1] I can sleep tight on the previous night of IPL Final. I couldn't on 1 April 2011 night.

2] Whoever wins the IPL Final, I can celebrate. An Indian team will be winning. If it is Delhi, happy for Viru. If KKR wins, great because Pathan is there. If Mumbai Indians win, Thank You Sachin.

3] My wife and daughter cope up with shorter matches. They thought I was on another planet during the entire World Cup campaign.

4] My temper remains fine even in the worst of situations during IPL. Ashish Nehra can't ruffle me and I adore Munaf Patel. Piyush Chawla is such a wonderful prodigy after all. And Rahul Dravid can't draw a match.

5] I don't have to worry about Sachin's 100th International Century and then his 50th ODI Century and then his 102 Century and then his 19000 runs in ODIs and 15000 runs in Test Cricket and so on...

6] 92 runs needed of 60 balls doesn't send my heart rate soaring to 184 in 60 seconds. It remains down, almost like Munaf Patel's speed. Nothing can change it.

7] Nobody will dare to drop Yusuf Pathan to accommodate Nohit Sharma / Ravindra Jadeja in the team.

8] Ravindra Jadeja can't lose a match for India, howsoever hard he might try.

9] Suresh Raina will not be bothered by short pitched bowling.

10] Shane Warne can continue to play; perhaps till we celebrate the Silver Jubilee of IPL.

11] And most importantly, Billy Bowden can't beat India !

And one for the Glamor !

How can we ignore the Glamor quotient ? How can we ignore Preity Zinta, Shilpa Shetty and her sister, SRK, Deepkia and her latest boyfriend and Kingfisher ? And of course the parties and Page-3 crowd and Fake IPL Player ? IPL is GLICKET [Glamor + Cricket]

Hail IPL; the greatest show on Earth !



SPun Doctor
Also blogs @ http://diehardcricketfans.org/category/contributed/govind-raj-shenoy/

Munaf Patel for Captain : Let the Helicopter Fly !

Cricket is all about skills. Multiple levels of skills. Batting, Bowling, Fielding. It also involves the cerebral, like strategizing, planning and of course execution.

I don't know what were the plans and strategies Team India had deployed when they played Australia. Most things they did went well and some things the Aussies did, did not. The luck factor too was more often with the Indians except the coin.

Virendar Sehwag's shoulder and knee and Gautam Gambhir's suicidal mania apart, Team India gave more or less 100%. All the 10 'Players' in the team did their best. And then there was Munaf Patel. What is he doing in the team ? I have harped on this before, but let us take one more look.

Except Bangladesh defending 370, he's never threatened to take a wicket any time.
He has gone for over 6 an over after the first match. 5 wickets for 268 in 44 overs.
Most of these wickets have come at the end of an expensive over.
Twice out of two chances to bowl at death, he has been whacked by tail-enders.
He is an Opening bowler who seldom opens the bowling these days.
Bowls no Yorker, no bouncer and can't reverse the ball even if Dhoni were to bite it.
He is the only 'fast bowler' who is consistent. He consistently bowls length balls at death.
After Abey Kuruvilla, Munaf has inherited the mantle of 'Slowest Fast Bowler' on earth.
Ashwin and Pathan have bowled more during Power plays than Munaf.
He was taken to the cleaners by Haddin and Ponting while others toiled.
He hasn't completed his quota of 10 overs in the last 5 matches.
He inspires confidence in Dhoni. Sachin bowled at death and did better.
Fielding has fluctuated between pathetic to comic, never threatening to improve.
His visits to the batting crease have been 'blink and you miss' guest appearances.

With all these 'Qualifications', how does he manage to continue in the team ?

Here are the possibilities...

India want to fool the opponents by creating some false sense of well being.
He is some kind of a lucky mascot for the highly superstitious Indians.
The Captain doesn't have confidence in the available alternatives.
The Team believes he can deliver in crunch situations.

But none of these are good enough reasons to keep him in the team. Yusuf Pathan has bowled 35 overs [mostly during power plays] and gone for 167 runs at 4.77 though wickets have eluded him. So it would be a better option to go ahead with Yusuf purely as a bowler. Whatever runs he scores and all the fielding he does are all bonus.

So who should be playing against Pakistan ? Let us take a Man vs Man look at our next opponents.

Pit Munaf against Umar Gul. Oh, forget it. Pit him against rookie Wahab, still not a match. Pit him against the slower Abdul Razack and Munaf comes across as useless. If Pakistan manage to beat India at Mohali, the difference will be Munaf Patel.

So if the 'Think Tank' still thinks Munaf should play, please do us a favor...

Dhoni has been burdened by Captaincy. His batting has suffered and the Helicopter isn't flying. So relieve him of Captaincy. Make Munaf Patel the Captain. He will be true to himself and as usual do nothing. The Team can take care of itself and let the Helicopter fly !

Enough is Munaf !




SPun Doctor
Also blogs @ http://diehardcricketfans.org/category/contributed/govind-raj-shenoy/

No Pace = No Peace !

My last post was my most serious ever. That emanated from the fact that I am depressed with the way Team India have struggled during this cup. But looking back, I gave India no chances of winning at all.

From the day Munaf got that Man of the Match award in South Africa, I knew India were doomed. Why do I believe so ? Just look at our opponents from that series. South Africa are playing this cup without the man who got more wickets and bowled much better than Munaf during the same match and the same series.

Why do I dislike Munaf Patel ? As much as the Team members, Captain and Selectors repose faith in him, I strongly believe Munaf is not the guy we need in our campaign if we want to win. And why do I 'believe' so ? Let us look at Munaf's repertory.

What He is: Decent line and length bowler. Can keep it in the corridor with the new ball.
What He ain't: At best a trundler. No Pace. No Yorker. No Bouncer. Not much Reverse Swing. Regularly bowls length balls at death. Can't run to save his own life or that of his wife. Batting is a single digit lottery; you win once in one million chances.

How can India depend on a bowler who depends upon the pressure created at the other end or by huge scores to survive ? He has got 9 wickets to his credit so far. But at what cost ? Except the Bangladesh match, he has consistently gone for runs when it mattered the most. People remember Nehra went for 13 runs in the last over. But they have forgotten Munaf went for 14 in the 48th over against Saffers. He also bowled a pathetic last over against England.

Unfortunately the wise men in the garbs of Selectors left Team India with no other options. Dhoni's zeal for Piyush Chawla is tough to understand. That boy hasn't played any meaningful ODI Cricket for ages. The selectors should have known with the "Handle with Care" tag that both Ashish and Zaheer come, we should have had one more Pacer in the 15 member army.

Piyush Chawla will go down in the history as the costliest blunder ever by a bunch of Selectors. I am not being wise in retrospection. I have from the beginning believed Nehra, Munaf and Piyush were misfits and said so.

We are now facing a possibility of a second successive first round exit at the World Cup. Many people believe India have already qualified for the Quarters. But that is far from true. There are so many possibilities.

Imagine England beat West Indies by a big margin tonight. West Indies then rout India on Sunday, again with a big margin. And Bangladesh upset Saffers, India will probably be pipped to the post by England. How do we like that ? Though there are a lot of ifs, it isn't impossible.

And if that happens, we needn't worry about our combination for the next round. Our highest paid players can straightaway start preparations for IPL-4. There is some relief. Only an Indian Team will win IPL, come what may !

What is the Carry Home message ?

Australia have Lee, Johnson and Tait; all doing well.
Saffers have Steyn and Morkel, the best pair in the business today.
England have a ready Pace replacement for every Pace bowler that gets injured.
Pakistan have Aqthar, Gul and Riaz and a factory of Fast bowlers.
Sri Lanka have Malinga and a bunch of disciplined medium pacers.
West Indies have Roach, Russel and a number of support bowlers.
New Zealand have Southee, Mills, Franklin and many slow medium pacers.

What do India have ?

Zaheer Khan !

Don't even mention Nehra and Munaf. We already have seen them, discussed them and done with. Sreesanth ? He doesn't have the confidence of his own Captain.

So the situation is simple...

No Pace = No Peace !

That is "The End" !



SPun Doctor

A Tale of Two Tails !

The Cliffhanger between India and South Africa was without doubt a good advertisement for Cricket. It could have gone either way. But guys like Peterson, Botha and most importantly du Plessis held their nerves when Nehra lost it.

But in the end if we look at the match, both innings turned head over heals in the 40th over. India lost Sachin in their 40th and then started the procession. South Africa struggling for run rate had a big over of 17 runs by the otherwise brilliant Zaheer Khan and that perhaps pipped India in the end.

Let us talk about the collapse. The same happened against England. Our late order batters just threw their wickets away like they throw rotten eggs at Politicians. Agreed Steyn bowled well. But it wasn't as if he was unplayable.

Even a few singles and twos and India could have had a score 310 and that would have given Nehra a better chance. But as the cliche goes, Cricket is not a game of Ifs and Butts ! But if that is true, how come Ijaz Butt continues to rule Pakistan Cricket ?

South Africa had their share of idiots too. ABDV and Duminy were stupid to perish the way they did. Botha too played a bad shot. But they had more sane people than in the Indian 11.

Gautam Gambhir dropped a simple catch. Dhoni missed a should have been stumping. Munaf Patel continues to bowl length balls at death and even the No. 10 and 11 can hit him for sixes. He got a wicket solely because of the stupidity exhibited by Morne van Wyk.And Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and Nehra are so very ordinary in the deep, they bled some precious runs. Virat and Raina were the only saving grace.

Dhoni decided to call Nehra even after Bhajji was bowling pretty well and went for only 7 in his last over. He was high on confidence compared to Nehra. Nehra has done it in the past for India. He has won some tight matches. But of late, he has been just rubbish. India needs to take at least one more look at Sreesanth and definitely not Piyush again. And of course, bring in Ashwin.

Finally, the main difference between the teams was at the rear end. South African tail clicked with Botha and Peterson scoring 41 runs of 22 balls sharing 4 boundaries and 2 sixes between them. Indian tail scored 3 runs of 16 balls with 3 ducks !

Thus in the end, it was "A Tale of Two Tails"; one that sucked and another that Clicked !
.

SPun Doctor

Yuckmal and other World Cup Trivia - Part-1

The Cricket World Cup is on and I landed back on Terra Firma with a resounding thud this evening. My second favorite team was Kamraned initially and then Taylored. From then it went all Southee-wards. So now we have some fun on the KumRun and Pakistan is back to being Pakistan.

Here is a random look at some of the trivia from the action up till now.

Finally... He caught something !

It is reported that 'KumRun' Akmal finally 'caught' something. Well, it turned out to be a stomach bug. And he 'dropped' again; this time in his pants ! His team-mates now call him Yuckmal !

Shoaib Aqthar recommended for Nobel Peace Prize. For not mugging Yuckmal.

People are unnecessarily being harsh on Kakmal. He confessed to his younger brother that he was just being nice to the Birthday Boy. But he is cut up with Taylor for not reciprocating the gesture.

Bollywood stunt masters have used boxing gloves, hockey sticks, stumps and even a basketball to wreck violence on celluloid. They now have added an exciting new weapon, "The Groin Protector" !

Bangladesh fans believed their team was full of 'Rock Stars'. But the team played as if they belonged to the 'Stone age'. So the 'Stones Rocked' and there was a Gayle storm on Twitter.

henrygayle Chris Gayle

This is some bullshit.....Bangladesh stoning our bus!!! Freaking glass Break!!! This is crap,can't believe..what next bullets!!!! Kiss teeth 4 Mar 

Piyush Chawla is taking his batting seriously. Well, who is taking his bowling seriously ?

Dhoni planning to promote Yusuf in the batting order. Then which position will he win matches from any position ?

Munaf Patel lauded by Dhoni for a fine effort in the field. He managed to beat the ball to the fence and picked it outside the ropes.

Ashish Nehra fit to play. He actually walked from the Team Bus to the ground on his own legs.

Sreesanth heard talking to a friend about cutting a music CD. Dhoni mistook it for LCD and gave Sree a public dressing down.

The Pepsi ad is doomed. 'Palti hit' has herniated. 'Upar Cut' isn't going Upar enough. 'Doosra' is missing in action. 'Pallu scoop' isn't Dilshining. Most importantly the 'Helicopter' hasn't taken wings and the 'Fan' is stuck.

But Indian Captain has rejected outright, the theory that he has lost the flair. Dhoni explained, "Helicopter is also called Chopper. You all must have noticed I am chopping a lot these days. So you still can watch me play 'Chopper Shots'. In the end, we all mature over a period of time"

Kohli is the newest addition to the 'Atheists' gang. He Viratified the Sachin LBW verdict and then asked the God to take a walk !

South Africa have rubbished the reports that they choked against England. Smith said, "We played our natural game and will continue to do so in future" !

Afridi is reported to be upset and asked Umar Gul, "How could you get How out ?". Jamie How made 4 runs of 29 balls with a striking strike rate of 13.79.

Umar Gul took the only catch in the New Zealand innings. All other catches went in One direction.

"Our bowling is weak" say Indian experts. An in depth analysis has revealed the reason. All our batsmen are on some kind of energy boosters. Like Sachin on Boost. But none of the bowlers are on anything. That explains Yuveraj's new found vigor. He has been "Revitalized" !

I just noticed I have completed a Century on "Doctoring the Balls". But to prevent this post from becoming a calamity like the 47th over of New Zealand innings, I declare here. I will come back, as random as random comes !



SPun Doctor

Tie is a Tie is a Tie !

Tie is a Tie is a match that's Tied,
Don't know how many have died !
Zaheer ran one and a three quarter,
Never seen anyone half smarter !

Dedicated to the Great Indian Bowling Team that made this result possible !

Give them a total in excess of 350 and they will manage to scrap through.

Give them a total in excess of 330 and they will manage a Tie.

Give them a total of par 300 and the Captain can blame the batsmen.

England's batsmen from 7 to 10 made 48 runs of 30 balls between them belting 3 sixes.
India's 7 to 10 made 14 runs from 14 balls and still managed to run one short.

The way Indian lower order batted and ran was plain disappointing. When the Umpire signaled Zaheer Khan as short as he ran himself out like a blind mouse, I had told my Cricket crazy Mom that 'This Run" might well become the difference in the end. Am I the New Cricket Prophet ?

But Dhoni's decision to bowl Piyush Chawla in the 49th over, was Stupid. A bowler would be able to fire down flat would have done a better job. Sehwag, Pathan or even Yuveraj should have been the choice.

Munaf Patel's last over proves once again why he is a liability when it comes to death bowling. For once, I missed Nehra.

In spite of all this, if this match ended up as a Tie, England's fielding has to be blamed. They were far below their normal standards. Are they experimenting with KP as opener at the wrong time ?

The final Analysis:

In the end, Tie is a fair result only because neither of them deserved to Win !




SPun Doctor

Team India: Dhaka Dhamaka !

Revenge of the Blue Brigade; Well done with some minor hiccups !

Sehwag: Has never minced words. From Ordinary Test side to Revenge match, he talks like he bats and bats like he talks. Absolute Sehwagging ! Looks and sounds great when it works. Now he wants to bat longer and perhaps through the innings. Some serious stuff but augurs well for Team India.

Sachin: What was he thinking when he started that run ? He was shaping up better than Viru at that stage. Well, little big man, save your best for the big matches.

Gambhir: Looked good till he was undone by one that kept a shade lower. He will have to bat longer when the big two have an off day.

Virat: Century on World Cup Debut was waiting to happen for the most competent batsman to arrive since Dravid. Amidst all the Sehwagging, Virat completed a century in lesser balls than Sehwag.

Pathan: Had very little scope to go ballistic. Fielded as if this was the final. Got rid of Bangladesh Captain when he was going great guns.

Yuveraj: Pulled off a brilliant catch to dismiss Tamim and kept the bowling tight. Is he going the 'Up the Anti [e] - Ravi Shastri' way ? Shastri arrived as a bowler but retired as a tired and rusted Opener. Yuveraj arrived as a batsmen second only to Sachin in talent and will probably retire as a tired and frustrated left arm pie chucker.

Dhoni: The way he slaughtered New Zealand bowling must have given Sehwag the kick. Viru must have thought, "WTF, even Dhoni is hitting like this, so why not me ?". Kept his tryst with toss. We wouldn't mind a bit if he loses 9 out of 9 as long as India win matches.

Bhajji: He was by far the best bowler tonight. Don't look at the score card. He kept things water tight after the Sreesanth nightmare.

Zaheer: Yellow hair and some flair. Even when his partner was getting caned, the Khan kept things under check. Experience helps. Remember it was his first over that sunk India in 2003.

Munaf: Munaf is Enough. I eat my words. He was really good, damn good. If he keeps things like this most of the times, I am ready to suffer his fielding and all else.

Sreesanth: The eternal bad boy was chosen ahead of Ashish because of his speed. Faster he bowled, faster he was thumped to boundaries. Let us not be too critical. He was swinging the ball well. It just wasn't his day perhaps. But it is almost certain that Dhoni will go back to his trusted Nehra and I wouldn't fault him if he does so.




S-Pun Doctor

Neighbor's Envy, Owner's Pride ?

*

Neighbor's Envy ? Yes

Owner's Pride ? Unfortunately Not !

India's World Cup Team has been announced. Some surprises never manage to surprise us. We know there will be surprises. We just have get ready to be surprised. Remember Sunil Valsan ? He has a distinction which even Sachin Tendulkar doesn't have. He was part of a World Cup winning team.

On every tour, we should carry a reservation candidate. Right now, Saha is the one in South Africa. Piyush Chawla it will be, for the WC-11. The OBC perhaps. How did he manage to get in there is a question only Srikkanth and Co will be able to answer.

Why does Sreesanth find himself out of favor and perpetually unfit and of late profligate Nehra retain his place is a big surprise too. No one grudges Munaf Patel's selection, but this team has at least 5 men in the 'wounded soldiers' list. Sachin, Sehwag, Gambhir, Praveen and Zaheer are the names. Do we have worthy replacements ? What will happen if 3 or 4 or all of them fail to recover ?

With Dhoni having more faith in any Tom, Dick and Harry compared to Pathan, it won't be a surprise if they go for 5 bowlers scheme of things. That should give some hope for Chawla. Else, he will not be playing a single match during the Cup.

As I was wondering over the selection issues, I was tickled by THIS ! Howsoever stupid might be their Head Butt; Pakistan Cricket is a marvel to be marveled about. They have demolished New Zealand in New Zealand, within a month of the Kiwis' tour of India where the fancied Indians were made to sweat and grind on home soil.

This is practically Half-B Team of Pakistan. Yunis Khan, Misbah ul Haq and Umar Gul are the only players from the possible best Pakistan -11 playing here. In spite of that, they have crushed the Kiwis in the first test and done so quite handsomely. Coming to second test, Pakistan are on the verge of a series win; their first since 2006.

We are talking about Australia missing their greats and how they are suffering. We also see how South Africa miss Kallis and India miss their 'Stars' every time they lose. Murali-less Sri Lanka become tooth-less Tigers. Pakistan are playing without almost entire team thanks to several problems and Ejaz Butt. But they still can win.

I salute the 'Spirit of Pakistan Cricket' ! And also the ever enthusing talent pool ! If only they had a proper system, they would have been the team to beat. Why doesn't someone bump off the Butt and some more of those Mismanagers of PCB ? They have so much talent at their disposal even for this job ! After all Butt is a Blasphemy on Cricket !

Still, in spite of all their problems; for me, Pakistan will be the dark-horses for WC-2011 !




S-Pun Doctor