Test cricket returns to Sharjah

The Legendary cricket stadium very well known as "Sharjah" will host its first test match in nine years this November. Sri Lanka and Pakistan have reached an agreement to play last of their three tests in the UAE at Sharjah. The Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium has hosted more ODIs than any other ground but has not had any international cricket between top teams since 2003. Since we have huge cricket grounds being built in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, it looked extremely difficult for the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium to make a comeback in International Cricket. However the Emirates Cricket Board announced that there will be a test match played on this ground starting November 3rd. The other two venues for the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Test series are the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi and the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, which hosted their debut Tests during the Pakistan-South Africa series in November 2010. Sharjah was a very popular stadium at its time. It was a well-known venue for neutral ODI's and tri-series. It has hosted 200 One Day Internationals, 24 of those being Pakistan vs India. It was a huge blow for the Sharjah Stadium when India, who had played 72 ODIs in Sharjah, stopped playing there. This ground hosted its debut test match in 2002, but since 2003 it has not held any International Cricket, until this ground was called Afghanistan's home ground in 2010. I believe, International Cricket returning to this legendary stadium will bring back many memories to cricket fans, especially Pakistani fans, since Pakistan hold the record of winning most Sharjah Cups. Lastly Sri Lanka will play three Tests, five ODIs and a Twenty20 international against Pakistan from October 18 onwards in the UAE.

England Clinch a 2-0 Lead in the Series

England have defeated India by 319 runs in the Second NPower Test Match. India bowled out England for 221 in the first innings of the match. India went on to start their innings trailing by 221. They were hoping for the bats to show its magic and get a high scoring total to put the English team in some pressure, but the Indian team only managed to put a total of 288, with an awesome knock of 117 by opening batsman Rahul Dravid. India brought their innings to a close with a lead of 67 runs. England went onto start their second innings trailing by a score of 67. The Indian team expected their bowlers to finish off the work quickly like in the first innings, but things did not really go as planned for the Indian team. The English team put on a huge total of 544, with big help from some of their experienced players e.g. Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Eoin Morgan, and Matt Prior. England brought their second innings to a close with a lead 477 runs, setting India a target of 478 runs to win. With 2 days still left in the test match, the English team were planning to close out the Indian team quickly and take a 2-0 Lead in the test series. They were successful in their plan when they bowled out India for a very low score of 158, winning the test match by 319 runs and clinching a 2-0 lead in the NPower test series. In my opinion, Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan, both put on a match winning performance. Stuart Broad scored 104 runs and took 8 wickets in the whole match, while Tim Bresnan scored 101 runs and took 7 wickets. Honestly the Indian team, even with such a strong batting line up, failed epicly to show that they are the World Champions. England really out-classed this team who has just won the 2011 Cricket World Cup in the Subcontinent 4 months ago. The English team have truly shown that they are not an easy to defeat and will continue to do so in the upcoming Natwest ODI Series.

Should Sri Lanka Tour Pakistan later this year?

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has asked Sri Lankan Cricket (SLC) to play their series in Pakistan instead of Sri Lanka. PCB wanted to give back the people of the country the sport they dearly love. Sri Lankan Cricket replied to Pakistan's request saying that if we can get security clearance, we are ready to play our series in Pakistan without any hesitations. The big question that comes to people's minds, especially Pakistanis is that "Is it safe for the Sri Lankan team to visit Pakistan to play their series which will be held later this year?". Well, I believe it is surely not safe for the Sri Lankan team to visit Pakistan later this year to play their series because in the past month or so, there have been more than 5 bomb blasts in Pakistan, as far as my calculation goes, there have been 2 bomb blasts on 2 navy buses, then the Osama Bin Laden Operation, and now 3 bomb blasts on the PNS Mehran Base in the past 2 days. So after looking at all these disasters, it is clearly proven that it is not surely not safe for the Sri Lankan team to visit Pakistan for their series because who knows, ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN ANYTIME. We just can't risk the players' lives by making this series take place in Pakistan. I would like people who are interested in this topic for their comments and what they think should happen.

Tum Jeeto Ya Haro Sunno Humay Tum Say Pyar Hai (World Cup Song For Paki...

Pakistan's Road to Glory

AWESOME VICTORYY

Today we have witnessed another one of Pakistan team's awesome performances. Australia won the toss and chose to bat first at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo. The pitch I would say was heaven for Batsmen and there was some movement for seamers and spinners. Australia were targeting a score of atleast 270+, but outstanding bowling performance by the Pakistani Bowlers restricted the whole Australian side to 176. Pakistan went on to bat requiring 177 runs to end Australia's 34 games winning streak in the world cup and to regain the number one spot in Group A. Pakistani batsmen had a slow start with Mohammad Hafeez's wicket going down early at the score of 12. Then after Kamran Akmal's wicket at the score of 45, Younis Khan and Asad Shafiq steadied the Pakistan Innings with a much needed Partnership of 53, but at the score of 98, Younis Khan was caught behind off Brett Lee's bowl and then Misbah Ul Haq also was caught behind on the first ball. The crowd was quiet after Misbah's wicket. The much needed partnership of 41 between two young heroes Asad Shafiq and Umar Akmal brought Pakistan closer to victory, which ended when Asad Shafiq was caught at first slip after scoring a handy 46. The captain, Shahid Afridi (BOOM BOOM AFRIDI), walked out to the ground and all I could hear was the crowd cheering "BOOM BOOM", the crowd actually expected Afridi to play a good innings today, which did not go as planned when Afridi was caught by Brett Lee at the Mid-On boundary after scoring only 2 runs off 4 balls. That wicket once again shut the crowd up. Then finally in the end, a winning partnership of 39 between Abdur Razzaq and Umar Akmal provided Pakistan with a much important and needed Victory. The Pakistani fans were just laughing at the faces of the Australian players, it almost looked like they will start crying. Anywayz Pakistan has clinched an extremely important victory at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo ending Australia's 34 games winning streak and clinching the number one spot in group A. Now they will face the fourth team of Group B which can either be England or West Indies, and that decision will be made tomorrow after we find out the result of an important match India vs West Indies. Good Bye for now and Congratulations to all Pakistan fans around the world and inshAllah we will be looking forward to 3 more victories to take the cup home.

Live Streaming of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011

West Indies' bus stoned in Dhaka

The West Indies' team bus was stoned on their way back to the hotel after they demolished Bangladesh by 9 wickets in Dhaka. Bangladesh won the toss and chose to bat, hoping to post a large score against the West Indies' bowling side, but their own plan backfired on them when they were all out for only 58, which West Indies chased with a lost of only one wicket. I believe Bangladesh fans were really upset with this loss against the West Indies that they threw stones at the West Indies' team bus, but it should've been the opposite, they should've thrown stones at the Bangladesh team bus for such an awful performance with the bat.

It's all happening out theree !

TODAY. HISTORY WAS MADE. What happened though?, well this is what happened, IRELAND DEFEATED ENGLAND, CAN U BELIEVE IT?, IS IT TRUEE? YES IT IS TRUE, TODAY IRELAND CHASED DOWN A MOUNTAIN TARGET OF 329 SET TO THEM BY ENGLAND. Ireland were 0-1 on the first ball of their innings. It looked extremely impossible that Ireland would chase down such a huge target. I heard many people say "it is an easy victory for England", but those people were proven wrong by Kevin O'Brien's blazing 113 off just 63 deliveries. O'Brien set a record of the fastest century by a batsman in the world cup History and it was also the 6th Fastest century ever in One Day Internationals (ODI's). He was successful in completing this record and taking Ireland to Glory with the help of its teammate Alex Cusack. Cusack scored a very handy 47 off just 58 deliveries. Kevin O'Brien and Alex Cusack put up a sixth wicket of 162 runs, which led Ireland to cause the first upset of the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Honestly, people have witnessed a thriller today and will be hoping for more in the upcoming matches. Pakistan vs Canada tonight at 4 am, Can there be another upset in tonight's match? (Y)

ICC decides to decrease the number of teams in the next World Cup

As most of us are aware that the International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to decrease the number of teams in the 2015 Cricket World cup. The only teams who are granted permission to play in the upcoming 2015 Cricket world cup are the top 10 teams of the ICC. People believe that it's pretty useless to have teams like Ireland, Kenya, Canada and Netherlands in a tournament where the world champs are crowned. It seems very obvious that neither of those four teams will ever be crowned the world champs. The 10 teams who are granted permission to play in the 2015 Cricket World Cup are: Australia, England, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies, Zimbabwe, and lastly Bangladesh. In my opinion, I believe the ICC has made an excellent decision. Honestly, teams apart from the top 10 really make the World Cup boring because whichever team plays against them manages to win no matter what, which makes the matches considered as one-sided matches. An example would be the first 9 matches of the 2011 Cricket World Cup in the Sub-Continent. Those first 9 matches have really been one-sided, which pretty much started taking away people's interest from the World Cup. In conclusion, these teams should really not be allowed to play in big tournaments like the World Cup and to give these teams a chance to play, there should be a tournament hosted especially for these associated teams.

A THRILLER IN BANGALORE

On a thrilling day in Bangalore where a total of 676 runs were scored, a charismatic display of cricketing excellence yielded in a spectacular tie amongst an exhilarating encounter between India and England. The day began with India batting first putting on a mammoth 338 thanks to a splendid ton by the little master Sachin Tendulkar. The score, though monumental, was a smaller score than India could have gotten. In the latter stages of the Indian innings (40 overs onward), Yuvraj Singh had quite some trouble maneuvering the ball and finding frequent boundaries and as a result India were left 30 odd runs short.England began their reply strongly as the English Skipper scored a subjugating ton to put England in the driving seat. After 42 overs, with England requiring a mere 59 from 48 with 8 wickets in hand, the game looked all and done for India. But that was not to be. A fiery reverse-swinging spell from Zaheer Khan put the game in the balance.Slowly, the game began to sway towards India’s favour, this just one of many twists in this match. Finally, with 11 required from 4 balls, England’s Ajmal Shahzad hit an exceptional six straight over mid-on to again switch the equilibrium of the match. Subsequently, with the last ball requiring 2, Swann managed to get only 1 and an extraordinary tie was definitive. A lot was seen from this match today but perhaps the biggest was the exposure of India’s weak and susceptible bowling attack. Nevertheless, on a day probing for a resul, it shall go down as one of the greatest games to have ever been played in World Cup history.

Post Match Analysis: Lessons to Learn

First of all, I would like to congratulate all the Pakistani fans for the nail biting 11 run victory against Sri Lanka. Pakistan were off to a very fast start, but the run rate dropped during the middle overs the run rate dropped to around 4.5runs/over. The fans were very surprised by Pakistan's performance in the last 12 overs, Pakistan reached the 200 mark in 38th over, and in the last 12 overs, they only managed to score 77 runss, during which 5 of the 12 overs was the Batting Powerplay. Pakistan only managed to score 35 runss in the Batting Powerplay. They ended their innings with a total of 277/7. Sri Lanka started off their innings at a slow pace, but built on their total as the innings proceeded. In the first 13 overs, Pakistani fans started losing hope, but the 3 quick wickets between the 14th and 20th over raised their hopes and increased the confidence of the team dramatically. Srilankan Skipper Kumar Sangakkara and Middle order batsman Chamara Silva built a partnership of 73 runs after Samaraweera became a victim of Shahid Afridi. Sangakkara's wicket was taken by the Pakistan Skipper Shahid Afridi on 169, which pretty much took the game away from the Srilankan team, but they fought till the last ball. In the end Pakistan came out with a nail biting 11 run victory. Overall it was a hard fought game by both teams. Now let's talk about some aspects of the game team Pakistan need to work on. First of all opening Partnership. The team requires a strong opening partnership from the openers Mohammad Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad. Secondly, wicket keeping of Kamran Akmal, as we all know Akmal missed 2 stumpings of Srilankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara. So this proves that Kamran Akmal got some work to do behind the stumps during the team practise. Lastly, fielding of the rest of the team. Fielding of the team has been poor throughout the match, they have dropped 2 easy catches and have allowed many boundaries due to misfields. In conclusion, it was a very hard fought game played by both sides and if Pakistan work on the 3 aspects of the game i've listed above, iam assuring the Pakistani fans that they can make a major impact in this world and may even end up winning it inshAllah.

Butt, Asif, Amir Long Gone

Pakistan's former captain Salman Butt, and two of the best bowlers in the world Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir have been banned for 10, 7, and 5 years after an ICC tribunal found them guilty of Spot Fixing in the Lord's test in England last Summer. The trio cannot play any official sanctioned Cricket in the next 5 years. The suspension of Asif and Butt have been made on a condition that in the next 5 years, they should not make any further breaches of the code and participate in an anti-corruption program under sponsorship of the PCB. I totally agree with the bans placed on the trio and I am sure that many other people also agree with it also. All I can say about this ban on the trio is "THEY DESERVED IT".

Misbah sets up a clutch victory for Pakistan

Misbah Ul Haq's Unbeaten 93 has set up an emphatic victory for Pakistan in the 4th ODI against New Zealand, putting them ahead in the series 2-1. Misbah's return to the national side has really made a big impact in Pakistan's middle order. Misbah who was the 5th batsman to bat in the order, played an outstanding and very steady innings. He did not look for the big shots right from the beginning. He came out there and played like a sensible player, steadied his batting throughout his innings, which resulted in frustrating the New Zealand bowlers. The Black Caps were desperate to get Misbah Ul Haq out, but they were not successful in their objective due to Misbah's awesome strategy of batting. Fans are also aware that Misbah and Afridi are both in a race to find out who will lead the team in the 2011 Cricket World Cup late February. I believe this great performance from Misbah in the test matches and in the ODIs so far against New Zealand has increased his chances to take over Shahid Afridi's spot as Captain. Fans hope this awesome batting performance by Misbah Ul Haq continue in the remaining 2 ODIs against New Zealand.

Dominance of Sports in the World

Many people have different perspectives about Sports. Some people, who are interested, find Sports highly interesting and love to play whenever they get a chance. However, people who are not interested, find Sports boring and would not wish to play even if they earn a chance to play. Different people adore different sports e.g. Soccer, Hockey, Basketball, Baseball, and Cricket. Today I am gonna talk about different people's perspectives about these 5 different sports I've listed above. Let's start off with Soccer. Soccer is the most dominant sport in this world. It is watched by almost every man, woman, boy, girl out there in this world. It is also played by almost every kid and adult. Almost every country in this world is part of FIFA Organization. After considering all the facts above, we realize that people really enjoy watching and playing Soccer. Those were some of the advantages of the Soccer. Now Some of the disadvantages of Soccer. One disadvantage is that Soccer matches are 90 minutes. Many people really don't have time to watch 22 people running back and forth in the field for 90 minutes. Well to be honest, I sure don't have that much time. Although, these advantages will not stop soccer from containing its place as the most dominant sport on this planet. Secondly there is Ice Hockey. Ice Hockey is mostly dominant in North America, e.g. Canada and USA, it is also famous in a few countries in Europe, one of them is Russia. Ice Hockey is known as the fastest team sport in the world. This is the reason it is never boring to watch. The advantage Ice Hockey holds over Soccer is the shorter time period of one match, which is 60 minutes. While people are watching Ice Hockey, they expect something interesting to happen and they expect a goal every minute unlike in soccer when people have to wait several minutes for a team to score a goal. Even though, Hockey has that huge advantage over soccer, it is still not going to overcome Soccer's dominance over the world. Now let's talk about Basketball and Baseball. These two sports, likewise to Ice Hockey, are most dominant in Canada and USA. However, many people find watching these two sports extremely boring. Well I believe watching Baseball is extremely boring at times, but not Basketball, even though I am not a Basketball fan. People would think what is so fun about watching players running back and forth on the basketball court trying to put the ball in a little hole called the "Hoop". The fact that Basketball matches are "clutch", especially the endings of a match, makes it interesting to watch. However, not many people agree with my opinion. They believe they are wasting 2-3 hours of their lives sitting down at one spot and watching boring sports like Basketball and Baseball. This disadvantage and complaints from the viewers makes it extremely difficult for Basketball and Baseball to become dominant around the world. Now, lastly let's discuss about Cricket. Cricket is known as the 2ND most dominant sport in this world. It is watched by billions of people around different countries, e.g. Pakistan, India, Australia, England, etc. The advantage Cricket holds over all the other sports I talked about is that Cricket has 3 different formats to the game. Three formats are Test, One Day International (ODI), and Twenty 20 (T20). This gives people the choice to enjoy their favourite format of the game. Most people enjoy watching the T20 format since it's the shortest format of them all. However, some people the ODI format also even though one ODI match is around 7-8 hours. Despite the long period of timing of this format, people find it interesting to watch because at times ODI matches can result in a clutch finish. The test cricket format is the least loved by people just because of the length of the format which is 5 days. I don't believe people have time to waste watching a 5 day match which lasts more than 7 hours a day. This brings me to the conclusion that Cricket should be the most dominant sport in the world, even more dominant than Soccer because it provides fans 3 different formats to choose and enjoy from.

Who will it be?

Pakistan's ODI and T20 captain Shahid Afridi, and Pakistan's test captain Misbah Ul Haq are both in a race to find out who will lead the Pakistani team in the 2011 Cricket World Cup in Southern Asia late Febuary.

AFRIDI OR MISBAH ? WHO WILL IT BE
Well whoever that man will be, inshAllah he will lead the men in green to a world cup victory after 19 years