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Fast bowlers must support Ajmal: Misbah
Wasim hails Bangladesh’s decision to tour Pakistan MUMBAI
LAHORE
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AKISTAN one day captain, Misbah ul Haq has urged the Pakistan pace battery to extend proper support to master spinner Saeed Ajmal to fetch desired results against India in India during the three oneday match series later this month. “Total reliance on Ajmal cannot lead to our desired goals and our all bowlers, irrespective of their type, should put in their best to play their due role in elevating team’s performance against India,” he told reporters here on Wednesday after a training session of the team at Gadaffi stadium. Misbah called upon the bowlers to excel in their respective art of bowling for leading Pak team to success during the one-day games. He expressed his satisfaction over team’s preparations for the Indian tour and said the practice matches are helping the senior players in a big way to gain touch and from. “It is a positive sign that big guns like Younis Khan and Shahid Afridi are getting back to form and through this training at home we will be fully prepared to give India a tough time in the one-day games. He rejected a questioner that India after their loss to England at home will be an easy opponent to beat. “We should not forget the important aspect of a come back by the Indian side no matter they have lost to England because it (India) is a team which has in-depth batting and quality bowlers in their ranks and in the given circumstances there is no need to undermine their strength,” he asserted. Misbah was
beaming with confidence when asked his team’s prospects in the one day games. “We have victory in our mind set and we will be demonstrating a collective team effort to rise to the occasion,” he said. Pak one day captain supported the idea of batting consultant of the team, the former captain, Inzamam ul Haq, to display aggressive cricket in the series. “When ever Pak-India team plays aggressive cricket is witnessed and our bowlers as well as the batsmen will be under heavy load of responsibility to show case their talent in aggressive style of cricket to defy Indian side,” he said. To a question, he said the final
Pakistan’s tour of west indies to be split LAHORE sTaff reporT
Pakistan's tour of the West Indies in July 2013 is likely to be split into two parts in order to accommodate the PCB's plan of hosting India in August for a series that is yet to be confirmed. Pakistan were due to play two Tests, five ODIs and two Twenty20s in the Caribbean in June and July but now they will only play either Tests or limited-overs matches to create a window for India, reported Cricinfo. According to the FTP, West Indies are scheduled to host Pakistan from the last week in June to the last week in July but they also have a tri-series against India and Sri Lanka during that time. To avoid the clash with Pakistan, the WICB had asked the PCB if their Caribbean tour could be rescheduled to August. That, however, would interfere with the PCB's hopes of hosting India, so Pakistan's West Indies tour had to be split. It is understood that after the upcoming limited-over series in India starting on December 25, the PCB is hoping to invite India to play another series in Pakistan. "The limited-over series isn't [just] what we wanted," a PCB official said. "We wanted long-term bonding with India on reciprocal basis, and to extend our relationship we will invite India to play a series next year in August. We will find a way to at least keep the window open." Cricket ties between Pakistan and India were put on ice following the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai and the upcoming series will be the first in four years. Pakistan had also sought a postponement of its scheduled tour of Zimbabwe later this month so that they can tour India. Pakistan were scheduled to tour Zimbabwe before their South Africa visit in 2013, but Zimbabwe Cricket agreed to put it off.
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line for the matches will be named after reviewing pitch and playing conditions and if any player who performs to a higher level in the T20 matches can be also be considered for one day games. He did not agree to a question that Pak team will be under pressure while playing India in the Indian backyard. “Why to be feel under pressure ,but one thing is obvious it is very important series between the two countries because when ever both teams plays emotions are involved and what is important for us is to remain focus in our batting, bowling and fielding to outshine Indian opposition,” he added.
Legendary paceman Wasim Akram on Tuesday hailed Bangladesh's decision to tour Pakistan next month, saying it was an important step on the road to reviving international cricket in the country. Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Monday said it has agreed in principle to tour Pakistan to restore international cricket, which has been suspended since militant attacks on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in March 2009. BCB spokesman Jalal Yunus said in Dhaka that Pakistan had proposed a one-day international and a Twenty20 game to be played in Lahore on January 12 and 13. "It's a welcome decision and I hope that the tour takes place as agreed because Pakistan badly needs international cricket and one series will convince other countries to tour," Wasim told reporters. Bangladesh had accepted an invitation to tour Pakistan in April for a short limited-over series but the Dhaka High Court blocked the tour on security grounds. Officials have said they see no judicial bar this time. "Pakistan badly needs international cricket and I fear that if this suspension continues for another two (or) three years then it will affect the standard of Pakistan cricket," said Wasim, Pakistan's all-time top Test wicket-taker. "I think the overall security situation in Pakistan is improving and if we put in place the best arrangements for the Bangladesh series then other teams will also follow suit," he said. But the Pakistan Cricket Board has been cautious over the prospects of Bangladesh touring, with president Zaka Ashraf telling local media negotiations were under way, but if a series took place, it would be in January. India’s inability to pick 20 wickets in a Test match was ex-
posed as the visiting England side won a series in India after 28 years. In an exclusive chat with espnstar.com from Karachi on Wednesday, former Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram believes that the future of Indian bowling is rickety. "To be very honest, the future of Indian bowling looks bleak. Zaheer Khan looked average in the three Tests and then got dropped. Ishant Sharma was okay in patches but after five years at the international level you have to be more consistent. I am afraid he is going the Mohammad Sami way – a wasted talent. Umesh Yadav seems to be injury prone and the selectors don't pick Varun Aaron," said Akram. Apart from Pragyan Ojha (20 wickets) and Ravichandran Ashwin (12), no Indian bowler bagged more than 5 wickets in the series. Akram feels it's time to ring in bowling changes for the future of Indian cricket. "It's time that India look for new faces or tell the present bunch to shape up or ship out. I will suggest a certain Shami Ahmed to get a look in. The Bengal pacer is just 22 years old but has tremendous potential. Having worked with him for Kolkata Knight Riders from 2011 season, I believe bowlers like him are the forward for Team India," the KKR consultant said. A medium-pacer from Bengal, Shami made his first-class debut in 2010 against Assam, picking up three wickets. In a Ranji Trophy match against Hyderabad this season, on a green top at Eden Gardens, he took 4/36 and 6/71, and scored 15 not out from 6 balls in the second innings to help his side win the match by 4 wickets, along with Wriddhiman Saha. The MS Dhoni-led team has come under intense criticism from all quarters and even coach Duncan Fletcher is under scanner. Akram believes England's support staff was better equipped than its Indian counterpart.
South Africa complete long road to the top MELBOURNE aGenCies
South Africa celebrated their long-heralded arrival at the summit of test cricket in 2012 while West Indies enjoyed their first world title since the team's 1970s heyday with a maiden Twenty20 Trophy. The giddy heights proved too much for England whose year-long reign as the number one test nation ended at Lord's with a 2-0 series thumping by Graeme Smith's South Africa in August. The Proteas appear determined to build a dynasty as they backed up their coronation with a 1-0 series win in Australia to finish an exhausting year unbeaten in 10 tests, with nine of them coming on tour. Smith, who became the most-capped captain of all time during 2012, could rely on world-class performers throughout his side. The fearsome fast bowling trio of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander were supplemented by the evergreen all-round talents of Jacques Kallis while Hashim Amla can lay claim to being the most consistent batsman in world cricket. West Indies have had little to celebrate since their allconquering days ended in the early 1990s, but victory over hosts Sri Lanka in the World Twenty20 final gave the Caribbean side their biggest prize since the one-day championship in 1979. Marlon Samuels blasted a 56-ball 78 after flamboyant Chris Gayle failed with the bat in the 36-run win. But Gayle made amends with his rendition of the horse-riding dance made famous by South Korean pop sensation Psy in his hit "Gangnam Style". Sri Lanka's master batsman Kumar Sangakkara was named ICC cricketer of the year in September after scoring 1,444 runs in 14 tests and Australia captain Michael Clarke became the first to score four double-centuries in a calendar year. Clarke started the year with an unbeaten 329 against India in Sydney, added
210 against the same team in Adelaide and torched South Africa with double tons in consecutive home tests. The captain's heroics were not enough to defeat the Proteas whose 309-run win in the third and final test in Perth spoiled Ricky Ponting's last international match. The hard-bitten 38-year-old signed off his career with only eight runs in his final innings to finish with 13,378 runs in tests, the second-highest tally after Sachin Tendulkar. While Ponting strode off into the sunset after naming his final test, the 39-yearold Tendulkar hung on, his declining output of runs flattered briefly by his 100th international century in a one-day match against Bangladesh in March. With the retirements of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, the untouchable Tendulkar remained the last of a golden generation of Indian batsmen and, for growing numbers of frustrated fans, an impediment to the team's regeneration. England's 2-1 test series win in India in December, their first there since 1985 and India's first home series defeat in eight years, underlined the point. Alistair Cook thrived as England cap-
tain with the bat and in the field after replacing the retired Andrew Strauss before the series. Match-fixing continued to haunt the game in 2012. Former Pakistan and Essex leg-spinnner Danish Kaneria was banned for life by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) after being found guilty of corruption. His Essex team mate Mervyn Westfield was jailed for four months and banned from cricket for five years after pleading guilty to the ECB charge of accepting money to underperform. India's cricket board banned one uncapped player for life for corruption and handed out lesser punishments to four others in June. A TV sting by a broadcaster from the same country led to six umpires from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka being provisionally suspended by the International Cricket Council after appearing to agree to spot-fix matches. There was better news for fans in Pakistan when the country welcomed back international cricket for the first time in more than two years, with two T20 exhibition matches in October. The Pakistan All Star XI played an Interna-
tional XI in Karachi under a security blanket of more than 5,000 police and paramilitary personnel, the first international match since militants attacked the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in March 2009, killing six policeman and a van driver. England continued their love-hate relationship with adopted son Kevin Pietersen, the South Africa-born batsman dumped from the test team after admitting to sending provocative text messages about his then-captain Strauss to members of the South Africa test side. Following a public apology and a renewed commitment to playing for England in all three forms of the game, the 32-yearold blasted 186 against India in Mumbai in his second test back after returning to the national fold. One sadness for South Africa was the exit of Mark Boucher, the wicketkeeper forced to quit international cricket after a bail struck his left eye during a tour match against Somerset. India welcomed back Yuvraj Singh after a long battle with a rare form of lung cancer while retired leg-spinner Shane Warne, once the world's most deadly bowler, teased Australia with talk of a comeback before the back-to-back Ashes series in 2013. Australia's David Warner helped rewrite the record books by scoring the fastest century by a test opener in his 69-ball ton against India in Perth. Bangladesh's Abul Hasan became the first number 10 to score a ton on debut in more than 100 years with his 113 in the second home test against West Indies in November. Opening batsman Richard Levi thundered the fastest international T20 century with a 45-ball century for South Africa against New Zealand in Hamilton, smashing a record 13 sixes on his way to an unbeaten 117. But South Africa leg-spinner Imran Tahir held a much less enviable record - he was belted for 260 runs by Australia's batsmen in Adelaide, the most runs conceded in test cricket without taking a wicket.