Yorked!!! – By Chetan Narula.

Onto the World Stage: Pakistan – The Unpredictables.

If ever Ekta Kapoor wanted to make a television soap on the melodrama in the cricketing world, she doesn’t need to write a script. All she needs to do is follow the fortunes of the Pakistan cricket team for six months and she will get enough antics to keep that soap series running for weeks.

The problem however is that no one in Pakistan is complaining. It has always been like this, some will say, why bother? Yes but its time for the world cup. Better pull your socks up and try and win it. But don’t be surprised if they reply that since it is the world cup year, let’s have a bit more of the drama. And believe me, by making more news off the field than on it this past season, they have done just that.

Taking a look at the fifteen who are currently in the West Indies preparing for the tournament: Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Younis Khan (vice-captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Nazir, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Azhar Mehmood, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Sami, Yasar Arafat, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Rao Iftikhar Anjum, you will find two names missing, those of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif. Two players on whom the bowling attack hinges. The very same duo, who have been embroiled in the doping controversy for the past six months.

Actually nobody knows what the whole mess is about. Did Shoaib really slap Woolmer in Jaipur? Did Asif really get into crowd trouble in a party in India and get into trouble, in which Akhtar was party too (pun unintended)? Or is it just ego issues again with inzamam? Is it really that they have failed the drug tests? One thing is for sure, that we will never know. Because this is cricket in Pakistan and probably they themselves don’t know. Unless that or how else do you explain that these two were first implicated in a doping scandal, then banned, then the bans overturned and played in South Africa and then again, didn’t bother to show up for the tests before their departure for the world cup. Or is it that they are really injured?

Whatever the reasons might be, we know that the Pakistan bowling is depleted. If we study the history of their cricket, it is quite clear that pace is their strength. The batting just revolves around it and spinners, except one or two quite good ones, were never that a big factor. That’s the way Pakistan plays its cricket. Now it has to change. It has to find the strike bowlers in the likes of Naved-ul-Hasan and Mohammad Sami. Both don’t make the first team on existing form. Plus Umar Gul’s fitness is still under the scanner as is Sami’s.

In this melee, the bowler who might just land in the Carribean unnoticed is Danish kaneria. The leg spinner has been seldom part of the ODI plans of Woolmer and Inzamam, featuring in less than 20 ODIs so far. His selection is not a surprise anymore because Pakistan has so far failed to fill up Saqlain Mushtaq’s shoes in the shorter version of the game.

And this is the one place the all-rounders would have been valuable. Pakistan has always supported its fast bowlers by able players who bowl first or second change and bat aggressively down the order. Abdur razzaq however got injured at the worst possible moment, in the nets just before leaving. His replacement Azhar Mehmood though a good player when in mood, is clearly an old horse and should have been resting at home. The biggest blow however is Shahid Afridi not playing the first two matches because of suspension.

By the time Afridi returns, they would have already played the West Indies and since the points are carried forward to the next round, this is one reason why the Pakistanis’ world cup might end early. In this edition, carrying points forward in the next round is of utmost importance, when all the best teams will play each other (presumably). And that is exactly where the batsmen have to step up. Only Yousuf Youhana looks a safe bet considering his past year’s run, where as Inzamam remains his mercurial self. Younis Khan is still finding his feet in the ODIs. Plus like all sub continent teams, they are fiddling with their opening combination. Shoaib Malik could come in handy at the top of the order but what Imran Nazir is doing in the team, after a whole year in the wilderness, only god knows.

So much so that even Moin Khan offered to come out of retirement. At what position Moin? If one position in the team is safe, that is of Kamran Akmal, the keeper. And why do you want to de-stabilize that? Guess controversies and Pakistan cricket go hand in hand. If we check the run in to the tournament over the last season, we will see them losing to India at home and then the big debacle in England. The ODIs were lost somewhere in the aftermath. The Champions trophy was bogged down under the doping fiasco but somehow managed to save face against the West Indies at home. However, just when things started looking up, the thrashing in South Africa undid all that.

Clearly, this team has had very little or no preparation at all. Very unlike a Bob Woolmer team. But then Woolmer didn’t know what he was getting into when he took up the job. Inspite of all this, the Pakistanis are a threat. Exactly what anybody in the world will say this, whatever be their form or present state of affairs. They are a sleeping volcano which can erupt anytime. Bob Woolmer knows atleast that. The big question is: can he ignite them?


My Verdict: They won’t win the cup but I am not betting my life on that.