Over the Slips

Besides the cricket, which I torture myself by watching every day.

Over the Slips won’t be updated for a while. Unfortunately, I just don’t have the time to keep it updated every day and until I get home to my own computer, you can consider me AWOL.  I’ll always be watching Pakistan screw up though and when you’re screaming at the TV, just imagine me there screaming with you. This is in a strictly not=creepy or staulker-like way. I’m so sorry guys.

Take Care

-Paki Gal-

Quick one today, since I’m supposed to be studying or something like that. No cricket until day after tomorrow…whoohoo, and I’ll be in Pakistan then! So no updating tomorrow and the day after. I’m sure no one will mind really but I hope I’ll be back by Friday.

Anyways, cricket. With us losing the first test, the criticism starts again. I mean, there’s lot’s to criticise, unfortunately Shoaib Malik’s captaincy is also questioned.

Ramiz Raja says that the team is becoming selfish and the players are playing to keep their place on the team rather than for the team itself.

“I just feel after watching the one-day series and the Test that a tendency of selfishness has crept into the performance of some players. They are only playing for themselves and not for the team,”

“And until the players give priority to the team, the performances will not improve,”

Lots of former Pakistani cricketers are speaking out and their criticisms are genuine. Anyone who reads this blog knows that my knowledge of cricket is limited and I’m learning, so even though I berate the team for being useless, I won’t always pick up what’s going wrong exactly, though our wonderful ex-cricketers have hit the nail on the head.

Javed Miandad,

“There was nothing wrong with the Ferozeshah Kotla pitch. The players just needed to apply themselves and play patiently. It is shocking the way some of them got out. With this attitude how can you win matches at the top level,”

Not the most constructive of criticism, as always. Instead of telling us the problem, also give a solution!

Rashid Latif,

“There were moments in the Test when we could have shut out India from the match but we lost those moments due to careless and unprofessional play,” he observed.

“What is the use of runs and wickets if they are not meant for the team and don’t come under pressure,”

Mohsin Khan,

“We squandered the advantage of batting first on this sort of a pitch. If we had played with enough concentration and application and set India a target of around 300 runs, we would have won this Test. Sadly that application and character was missing from our batting.”

And obviously, there’s still a lot of favouritism on the field. Kamran Akmal wasn’t completely useless this test, no dropped catches, but I still think we need a new wicketkeeper. Where’s the healthy competition? Kamran always knows that he’s first choice wicketkeeper, so what makes him strive to do better…or screw up less?

Maybe Malik’s captaincy hasn’t been the best, but shouldn’t we blame Younis Khan for that? The man was vice-captain for 3 years and when the time came for him to step up, he said no. He wasted 3 years when some other player (i.e. Malik) could have been groomed for captaincy instead of being thrown into the fray. Hehe, it’s fun how I can blame YoKha for all of Pakistan’s ills.

Moin Khan gave a very interesting interview…the guy has his head screwed on right. Tell me what you think of it.

And some sources say that Shoaib Malik is kinda becoming a dictator. That can’t be good.

“He used to take the entire team along with him in all decisions and had created a good atmosphere in the dressing room. But of late he has changed. He is now more individualistic and aloof and hardly consults the seniors,”

Seriously not good. The senior players are their to help and advise, use them. Someone please talk some sense into the guy. Shoaib’s not a bad player but he has to include the team…if your captain is being selfish, then what message is sent to the team?

And I’ll leave you with those depressing thoughts. Have a good week people and see you on Friday (I hope). Let’s also hope that another fast bowler is there to back Shoaib Akhtar up.

Well, we lost today, which was kinda expected after yesterday’s performance. I can’t write about cricket when we lose…I’m sure that’s not good blogging etiquette but I’m too happy to let the Pakistan team bring my mood down. So whatever, Pakistan suck…we need Mohammad Asif or Umar Gul because Shoaib Akhtar can’t do the job by himself and our middle order should go slap themselves a few times for being so pathetic. This game could have been in the bag, but no, we have to throw it at India.

Anyways, enough about that. Let’s look at other cricketing news. Ironically, even though everyone’s worried about security issues in Pakistan, it’s the Pakistan team that’s being threatened in India. There’s been some bomb-blasts in India and afterwards, India TV received emails that threatened the team and told them to go home and not play any more cricket.

India TV released this statement,

“Today at 1029 hours, INDIA TV received an email from an alleged terrorist, originating from the email ID guru_boys2000@yahoo.com, threatening the Pakistani cricket team to withdraw from the test series. The mail also clearly states that they may kill Pakistani Cricketers if they fail to go back to their country. The mail has warned the Pakistani Players from playing any further in the country. The last line in the mail says ”Go back to UR home Pakistani’,”

Well, if their performances continue like this, then I might encourage them to do the same, lol, just joking. Play up Pakistan and ignore the nutters.

The team are taking more security precautions though, with team manager Talat Ali saying,

“The security has been beefed up and the police have advised all the players not to leave the hotel without informing police or security staff, who can accompany them,”

“These are only precautionary steps but we must listen to the advice from the police and security people.”

I have a question, is there something in the water of the subcontinent that just makes people behave really stupidly?

The Australian team is still worried about security in Pakistan however. And you get to read about it all by yourselves.

Though there might be some good news in the cricket, finally. Maybe Asif’s seen the mess that the bowlers are making in India (though most of the blame still lies with our batsmen) and has decided that he’s recovering early and may even play in the final test.

Hope so, we need him. And that’s it for today.

Good morning all.

The sun is shining, it isn’t raining, Pakistan are recovering somewhat and it’s a Friday, so things are looking pretty good. Let’s do a short, concise and informative post today.

At the moment Pakistan have India at 219/6. Dhoni and Laxman brought about some recovery when Pakistan had them at 93/5…similar to our situation yesterday. One or two more wickets should really turn the tide. Though full credit to Misbah-ul-Haq and Mohammad Sami for not going out before 150…or even 200. Misbah and Sami did what the rest of the team couldn’t, stayed calm and made clever shots to get us to 231…I’m not sure exactly how Misbah went out but it doesn’t sound so good. Either way India still trail by 11 runs at the moment, but don’t expect this to be an easy match either way, no side has the advantage yet. Aww, Kumble just survived a very close call…damn.

Shoaib Malik and PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf have backed Shoaib Akhtar, saying that he’s the trump card for Pakistan and are glad that he’s gaining some rhythm again.

The PCB isn’t sure how Umar Gul is, but they’re hoping that his injury isn’t that serious that he’ll have to be sent back to Pakistan. What is up with our fast bowlers getting injured? Not fair, we need them! Let’s hope he’s fit for the second test.

Oh, and there we go, play ends for the day as the light gets worse, and the batsmen take the offer of bad light. India are 228/6, trailing by 3 runs and we’ll be back tomorrow with some good news, I hope.

Some final bits and bobs…a bit being the PCB doesn’t think it’s ok for it’s cricketers to write sports columns or appear in talk shows as this will impact negatively on their performance. Since they are already paid well and get endorsement deals, there’s no need for them to do other things…or so says the PCB.

The bob is that the PCB is giving a final warning to it’s players who have decided to play for the Indian Cricket League, as playing for them will make sure that they don’t play for Pakistan again. Quite a few active Pakistani players have decided to defect to the illegal league, including Imran Farhat, Taufiq Umar, Azhar Mahmood, Shabbir Ahmed and Abdur Razzaq.

Nasim Ashraf says,

“No, we are simply following the policy of the international cricket council and other member boards which do not recognise the ICL. Our stand is no different from others. The league is not a sanctioned one,”

“The day it is recognised by the ICC we will also accept it. But for the moment it is a tournament which is an unofficial event and not supported by any board.”

Good point…and until then, those players really show how incredibly selfish they are by making sure that Pakistan don’t get anything out of their talent in the quest for money. Idiots.

And I say good day to you. Good day!

I don’t know what to write because I’m just all-round disgusted at today’s performance. At the moment, we’re 151/8, after the Pakistan middle order basically collapsed.

I don’t even want to go through it, it’s too depressing. And I’m not having a good holiday! So things just really suck.

We just have to see how long Misbah-ul-Haq survives. Any bets? Even though things are terrible, I might make some money out of it.

Or we could just blame the state of emergency and say our players were put off by all the turmoil back home, right? Ah whatever, enjoy the patheticness of the cricket people, I’m out of here.