Do not know what spurred me on to making this thread, just felt an inner jingoistic vibe, that patriotic feeling that postulates when your nation on the depths of igonominy within the confines of the known criterion and the inherent global hatred towards you and your country, I'm not just specifying cricket, but everthing, this seemingly systemic bias against us for the crimes, sins and acts of demonically despotic individuals has led to a delusional image of all the values that we never stand for.
You might be wondering- why bring Sir Fazal into this ? For I believe that amongst the deeply stymied nature of Pakistani cricket and its negatively ominous prognostications, a figure of true class and legacy needs to be drawn upon. Again why sir Fazal, when we have many other revered personalities ? Fazal Mahmood ignited the perennial fire of fast bowling which has been of utmost pride to us Pakistani cricket supporters, for he instigated the now, longlist of legendary fast bowlers: Imran, Wasim, Waqar, Aaqib, Sarfaraz to name a few.
Just to leave it to that understatement would mean an insult to the intrinsically integral debt Pakistani cricket owes to this man. The rapid escalation of founding steps were instigated by Mahmood, getting 12 wickets against England at the Oval in 1954 for our ground breaking victory there, 12 wickets against India and 13 wickets against Australia to record our maiden test wins. It was because of Sir Fazal's irreplaceable contributions that put us onto the world cricketing map. So I believe that we should appreciate the huge regard this great man deserves , especially in these times of intense uncertainty.
Well he definitely played better in the second test against Zimbabwe BUT I feel he still has some technical issues like his low sometimes slightly crouched batting stance.
But anyways, I'm no expert or great batsman but I'd still like to ask the people out there about how you think Manzoor will fare against the likes of Steyn, Philander and Morkel.
If he fails, do you see him being replaced by Nasir Jamshed/Taufeeq Umar/Imran Farhat OR do you see people labeling him as a 'Tried and Tested Failure' too?
Except for Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq, I'm not expecting much resilience anyways, but its interesting to see how the openers go in this series.
31 years ago on this date, Pakistan's Jalal-ud-Din took the first ever hat-trick in ODI history.
The obvious answer to this question is that it depends on the conditions, but with Rehman's recent success, there's an argument that Pakistan should opt for two spinners most of the time. It will be interesting to see what we opt for when Gul returns.
For the South Africa series, are we likely to stick with the two spinners approach and if so, will Gul be sidelined for Junaid and Irfan?
Here, I want to open a discussion and know your views about which of all the ODI world cups made for best viewing. Which world cup did you feel gave the fair chance to all competing teams without being boring ? Which WC had the best format ?
My personal favourite was 1992 WC for it allowed all teams a chance to play against all other teams, and made each league match interesting since only 4 places were available for the next round.
People can argue about associate nations not given a chance this way, which is also a fair point. Let us discuss what is your view.