Many critics and fans alike may term Pakistan’s backdoor route into the semifinals of the Twenty20 World Cup as a travesty of justice, a lucky break, a gross coincidence of errors, maybe even a cardinal sin. I wouldn’t begrudge anyone who is of that opinion. In fact, I’d nod my head in solemn agreement if an incensed non-Pakistani cricket follower got in my face and spluttered his discontent about how we hadn’t even earned our place in the second round, let alone the semis.
Pakistan’s ascension to the semifinal has been a story of failure, desperation, kismet, and fortuitousness. In getting this far, we have defied the bookmakers’ odds, as well as our own meagre form, and confounded most analysts. By refusing to go away despite several attempts to slam the door in our faces we have probably irritated and upset a lot of people.
And you know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Let me tell you something: merit is way overrated. “You get what you deserve,” “you reap what you sow.” Whatever. We won the last Twenty20 World Cup on merit and where did that get us? I’ll tell you where.
For one thing, we were publicly humiliated by being excluded from the Indian Premier League. I mean, couldn’t the franchises have just told us that we were too much of a security and political risk to inves
Re: Read the article with an open mind...
by wangdu on May 13, 2010 11:23 PM
tWhy make us go through a farcical auction process. They had to embarrass the Twenty20 champs by laughing them out of the auction house and telling them that none of their franchises had a place in their squad for the men who mastered the format.
“No Shahid bhai, Rajasthan would rather bank on the explosive talent of Aaron Finch.” “Sorry Razzaq, Delhi feel that Andrew McDonald is the next Richard Hadlee.” “Can’t help you, Umar Gul. Kolkata would rather spend its vast reserves of cash on keeping the redoubtable talent of Ajit Agarkar in the team.” By the way, how did the season turn out for you guys, then?
So if you’re looking for a travesty of justice, look no further than our snubbing at the hands of Lalit Modi’s circus. Which is why I’m quite pleased at the manner we’ve stumbled into the semi-finals. It’s like our team collectively slapped the rest of the cricketing world in their faces. Earn ICC silverware? Not on your life. We’ll play club cricket and still manage to outlast the better teams.
Secondly, you know another problem with success based on merit? Once you achieve it, you start to expect more of it. You begin to think that the momentum earned through hard work is going to pay off in this future. You’re on cloud nine and brimming with confidence. And then Australi
Re: Re: Read the article with an open mind...
by wangdu on May 13, 2010 11:24 PM
Our massacre down under will leave a scar on the national psyche so deep it will take years to erase.
Or perhaps just a potential final or semi-final victory.
Does anyone still believe that to be unlikely? Unlikely is our middle name, apparently. And now that fate has conspired to put us in a position we don’t deserve to be in, it is only fair that we return the favour by eliminating a team that is rightfully entitled to be in a similar position. It’s not like we haven’t done it before.
You’ll hear a lot of 1992 World Cup references over the next few days, a tournament in which we weren’t the masters of our own destiny and were counting on various permutations to progress to the semi-finals. We also weren’t a good team by any stretch of the imagination over the first three quarters of that tournament, but managed to pull it all together when it really mattered.
Things have come full circle since then. Now, we’re coming off a string of three successive losses and our most recent victory was against a puzzlingly uninspired South African side. Umar Akmal and Afridi may have impressed with the bat, but 140 odd wasn’t a competitive total by any means. Yet, against all reason, it proved adequate. There was a point when AB DeVilliers threatened to make a game out of it in the space of one over and the Pakistan team’s hearts were in their mouths. H
Re: Re: Re: Read the article with an open mind...
by wangdu on May 13, 2010 11:25 PM
Then came the waiting and praying game. The freedom fighters who gave their lives for liberation from British imperialist hegemony in 1947 must have turned over in their graves upon feeling the aura of pro-English sentiment emanating from Pakistan. Luckily for us, our prayers were answered and we managed to sneak into the semi-finals like a bunch of thieves.
So I say merit, justice, and logic can go to hell. Been there, done that, don’t want to go through the repercussions again. It’s time we turned back the clocks and attempted to win a tournament like the good old days of 1992. Back in those days, no one had high expectations and yet we ended up winning the whole tournament. Face it, unpredictability is in our blood. We have madness down to a science. If our players are going to be accused of being ‘retards‘, might as well win the trophy in as retarded a fashion as possible. Here’s to a Duckworth-Lewis technicality taking us to the final.
Now someone tell me, when Ganguly was bit week against Short ball,everyone was behind him. Now u have so many players who can not play short ball, but no one bothered to rake up the issue.
Mahela jaywardhe mvp he didnt go for the IPL parties or what as mr dhono said i think mahika was the sleeping with his team owner and had complete rest
To motivate the players they should be shown the video where kapil dev was hit for 7 consecutive 4s by SalimMalik at eden gardens and learn from that video
Afridis pak team looks like a bunch of clowns playing togather . But they still reached the semifinal and if lucky they will probably be in the final and to think that IPL did not select any of them and boasted of worlds talent assembled togather is a shame. Players reviews:
Gautam gambhir is a good flat track player and average player overseas . No matter how talented his lack of height will be a big handicap unless he develops a technique like saeed anwar or sachin . But right now he does not seem to be in that class and his end may be soon and him being a captain in IPL is a joke
Suresh Raina: Good in flat tracks , loser in bouncy pitches , could not learn how to play short ball in 1 year , will be a bunny for overseas fast bowlers . If this continues will end up like Amre and can continue playing in IPL for the next 5- 8 years
YK PATHAN he needs to play baseball instead of cricket . he has no brains anybody who beleives YK pathan is a cricket player will be diaapointed , YK pathan is a poor mans downsized afridi
Dhoni is a captain of IPL , T20 , Test team and 1 day team and also a wicket keeper Dhoni fails as soon as he crosses his limitations ,Dhoni is no gilchrist but better than his other team mates
Yuvraj singh Even Dilshan tilakratne bounced back to form in world t20 but not Yuvraj after playing so many matches . uncomfortable against short ball but does have the special ability to play a match winning innings. Not someone whom you can replace easi
Dhoni should not captain India in test , 1 day and t20 and also IPL captain thats too much burden for 1 player which he has finally aceepted . The same player should not be allowed to be captain in succession for the same trophy .He should be allowed to be captain in alternate seasons that way the bech strength of the captains increases and also competitiveness
Re: Dhoni
by Amit Jain on May 13, 2010 11:17 AM
HA HA HA
I guess finally his luck is running out. I am amazed at how Dhoni is ranked above Cameron White in the tables above when Dhoni was responsible (as a captain) for at least 3 horrible decisions which caused us to loose while White starred in 2 victories !!!
Dhobi needs to go (not only as a captain but from the team too).
