Arm Ball

I have a fight with my captain. Ok I m quitting cricket. I would go join ICL.

Few months later…..

Coach and captain are fired. New captain. Captain my friend. Younis. Mera bhai, mera dost. I would quit ICL and I would play for Pakistan as long as possible.

2 years earlier.

Oh they feel me I m not useful for T20 format. I would quit cricket and play for ICL. Would show them that T20 is my cup of tea too.

Joining ICL.

Mia Yousuf, you are our great batter after inzi bhai. We need you. Come back to our folds and we would get you a IPL contract.

Really ? Would you also give me captaincy ? I converted for the same. I was vice captain for Inzi bhai.

Joining IPL.

Are yaar yeh Yousuf to IPL jaa raha hai. Chandra se approval lo aur court case file karo iske against.

Court case goes in favor of Zee and Yousuf is barred from playing IPL.

What does this show ? Whenever the man doesn’t get his deal he jumps the gun. He jumped the boat to ICL in 2007 when he had a terrific 2006 when he broke all records for most calendar runs in Tests. And then when PCB persuaded him to go back, he played for 1 more year and then again jumped the gun. Imagine this happening to any other country. The player would be dumped no matter how important he is for the team. Symonds and Warne were dumped. Warne never played ODIs again. Australia lost the Test series to India and South Africa in absence of Symonds. And then again the World T20 early exit. They didn’t compromise even now. Symmo would have been more than handy in Ashes with his off spinners.

India dumped Siddhu in 1996 when they had no other opener in the squad to England. Its only in Pakistan that they keep going to players like Yousuf or Akhtar who feel themselves to be over the team, over their nation and are ready to make enough switches. All they care for is money. And they selectively decide their priorities depending on their convenience. Where the country comes ? Where does the loyalty to the team comes ? Nowhere. Who bothers. When you have a boss who would get you in at any cost in the team, then hell with the team priorities and stuff. All I know is my money and my comfort zone.

Every time he [Chanderpaul] gets runs he never fields,” Pieterson told the Daily Mail. “There’s always an injury or something. That has really got on my nerves here. It leads me to think he plays for himself.

That’s true partially. But no doubt today Shiv is one of the most valuable but underrated batsman for West Indies. He doesn’t have flair, but he is dogged and he is rock solid. In the end of the day runs matter in the scorebook. And not only he has scored in Tests, but also in ODIs. Ask India. They made him the star he is. Forgot 2002 series? 3 Hundreds in 5 test series, the last India played. Since then his conversion of 50s to 100s has remarkably turned around. The dude has now got 8200 odd runs in Tests and 8000 runs in ODIs.

KP forgot that when he had ego tussle with Peter Moores, he was having it for himself. It wasn’t healthy in the team cause. So may be what KP says for Shiv, the same holds true for KP too. Unfortunately they both are the best batsmen of their team. KP hasn’t been able to win matches for England, as he should have been. At least in ODIs it holds true.

Boy, Flintoff is playing today. I thought he has returned to England and is waiting to fly to South Africa for playing in IPL.. But he is patriotic Englishman. Wow. And boy Harmi boy is playing too and he has been hit for a six. I wonder why is he even playing now? That’s his record: “”In, in, out, out, in, in, out, in, out, out, in, out, out, in, in, out, in””

Wonder what Poms would have done had they won the Test series in WI? Hey Bring the Aussies on. We are ready for the fight. And win the Ashes.

Meanwhile there is a criticism of IPL schedule released by Lalit Modi. Being a Modi in India is a sin. Be it Narendra Modi, Lalit Modi (IPL) or Himanshu Modi (ICL). Do whatever, you are gonna whipped. Now IPL schedule was released and I got to read one post on one of the blog where the schedule was criticized. More than that the timings were questioned. Is there any doubt that IPL is Indian event and players all over the world are dying to play in it and get their booty? So much so that the skipper and vice skipper of a team fight with the Board chief to play in the glitz event and cancel the TEST tour. And so the timings of the IPL would and should be suited per the Indian audience. Big fat Indian middle class. Deflating economy.

The post says “A key feature in the original IPL was that almost all matches drew huge attendance figures, largely through cheap tickets that were given away and the matches being at favorable times in the late evening just after work.“

Cheap tickets if that means the 1^st season of IPL? Cheap tickets? When from? I mean kab se? 5000 bucks for a ticket is not cheap in Indian currency for an average Indian middle class person. Watching IPL is even related to the ongoing economic downturn. I don’t know the intent of that post, but that seems biased and one viewed. I don’t know how IPL-2 would figure out, but for sure it wont be as pessimistic as its made out to be. And contrary to the popular opinion when ICL came in, the IPL is gaining prominence and seems to be making a decisive strike to the ICL. The slowdown has made ICL shut its shop, IPL has shifted its shop though.

And going forward I wont be as critical as I would have been here. And not more intense than this. Lets see how it goes.

As the first after-reactions of the terror attacks in Mumbai, the cricket in India has taken a hit. England have returned back home cancelling the 2 ODIs suffering a whitewash. ICL World Series is gone. IPL CL is postponed. Test leg of England might or might not happen. Cricket right now is last thing on our minds. We are yet to come out of the shocking terror attacks in Mumbai which is also the BCCI headquarters. Brabourne was supposed to host the final Test match and both teams were to be booked in Taj Colaba, which is under the fire from Pakistani terrorists. So were the 4 CL teams from India, Australia and England.

One thing that comes as a highlight here is BCCI didn’t supposedly exercise the so called muscle flexing in pestering the teams to stay on and play the series for monetary benefits. Perhaps they knew that nobody would be in a right frame of mind and with the upcoming elections in Delhi during the weekend and supposed threat from the ultras, the security cover for teams could haven’t been managed as well they might have to. BCCI assessed the situation well and let go of the cricket for the time being. And so did ICL. Kudos to them.