Nasim Ashraf has resigned from the post of PCB chairman after his main benefactor General Musharraf resigned. Good riddance!

Nasim Ashraf fled the country in July after a huge fraud was uncovered in NCHD an organization run by Nasim Ashraf where billions were embezelled by Mr. Ashraf and his chief benefactor General Musharraf, I predicted in one of my previous posts that Nasim Ashraf is fleeing the country he is not going on vacation it was an indication of events to follow, Musharraf made sure that his right hand man and his main partner in crime reaches a safe haven before he resigns from Presidency.

Nasim Ashraf’s name should have been put on exit control list after the fraud at NCHD was uncovered but its a shame that in Pakistan planned safe exits are given to the most corrupt there is no accountability, in a few days Musharraf will also fly to a safe haven a Saudi Plane is already waiting for him at the Chaklala air base. The list Of Musharraf’s crimes is long and his crimes are completely unpardonable but given the history of Pakistan no Army general has ever been hold accountable, they come from back corridors they loot and plunder the national coffers, destroy institutions, and on their way out hand the country over to the most corrupt politicians the innocent but short sighted people of Pakistan always  express their jubilation on the streets but fail to understand why their fate transfers from one corrupt person to another and why people who loot and plunder the national wealth and sell our national interests to foreign nations get deals to get in and out of the country, is it a self perpetuating system where only the most corrupt can get to the top or is this system being carefully monitored and controlled by invisible forces who want only the corrupt and weak at the helm of the power so that the country remains unstable and vulnerable.

I always prefer democracy even in its most corrupt form over dictatorship and one institution which has been the breeding ground of dictators and puppets of foreign powers is the army, this institution has been working against national interests and for foreign powers like a mafia its only because of the Army Generals that a stable democratic system cannot exist and function in Pakistan, this institution needs  a clean up on a large scale or else only  faces will change and the system will remain the same.

Now the onus is on the new democratic coalition they will have to hold Musharraf and his cronies accountable or else they will have to face the wrath of the nation, with Musharraf out of the scene they cannot shift blame anymore they will have to deliver good governance and stability to the people of Pakistan and it cannot be done until they restore the judges and implement a system of accountability in Army. They will have to keep this coalition in tact and eradicate extremism from the northern areas and Balochistan and keep our Northern border safe and free from intrusions. Above all they will have to find a way to deliver a quick economic relief for the common people.

Coming back to cricket I hope that the politicians will not see the vacancy at PCB as an opportunity to make money and will appoint somebody with character and knowledge of cricket as the new chairman of PCB.

India’s big three failed once again in the first innings of the 2nd test against Sri Lanka, the big three (Sachin, Ganguly and Dravid) in the three innings have a combined score of 97, their recent form and performance in the Srilanka series is indicating that these stars are fading and they are a mere shadow of their illustrious past, which raises the question should India bid fare well to these fading stars and show more faith and invest in their emerging players? The answer to the above question is a simple “yes” but the implementation of this simple answer is not so simple, the iconic stars in Subcontinent are not renowned for their honorable transition into retirement mostly their exit is bitter and embarrassing and they have to be shown the door by the selectors.

The selectors in Subcontinent are often confused in choosing between fading experienced stars and talented but inexperienced emerging players the answer is again simple but gets more complicated due to the huge fan following of the iconic players, if the emerging player fails the selectors come under fire from all corners as a result they always play it safe by voting in favor of the fading stars. In subcontinent people worship these stars like gods  and  often have unrealistic expectations  from these stars they keep on hoping for one more performance reminiscent the past, it’s not that these players can’t play cricket anymore, yes they still can deliver occasionally whenever they will get favorable conditions but the consistency is not there.

I bet if Warne, Gilchrist and McGrath were Indian or Pakistani they still would have been playing for these countries, their performances in IPL were  far better than some of the iconic players from the Subcontinent, the Australian team is still struggling as the replacements of these legendary players are taking their normal time to settle in International cricket but their transition in International cricket is far smoother than any emerging player from Subcontinent who often have to compete unnecessarily for years against these fading stars as a result they are often in and out of the team. These fading stars at the twilight of their career turn into shooting stars and some of them take some other bright stars with them into oblivion.

Do you think it’s time for India to let go of these fading stars?

After months of uncertainty due to security concerns, finally ICC board has given a green signal for staging the Champions Trophy in Pakistan, bringing an end to all the speculations as to which country will host this tournament. The tournament will be held in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi from September 11 to 28.

The decision was taken during a teleconference on Thursday where the western block needed seven votes to shift the venue from Pakistan, the Asian block led by India remain united and thwarted all the attempts made by the western block to change the host country, in the meeting all the security concerns and different security reports were thoroughly discussed and Pakistan’s view point regarding those concerns was heard.

The board also established a task team to manage those concerns and perceptions and to ensure the effective implementation of the recommendations of the ICC’s independent security advisors and to liaise with various stakeholders.

The players from South Africa, NewZealand, Australia and England have threatened to pull out if the tournament is hosted in Pakistan, its yet to be seen how the boards of these countries respond to such threats. It is expected that NewZealand and Australia might send their B teams to Pakistan as in those countries life of  junior players  is not as precious as that of the senior players. Australia has not toured Pakistan since 1998.

Some uncertainty still looms as the ICC has set a task force to oversee the implementation of the recomendations of the security experts and a deadline of August 10th has been set.

“If it’s a battle of legality and logic, we have won it,” PCB chief operating officer Shafqat Naghmi said.

“But if still they say that they have reservations, what can we do?”

The host broadcaster ESPN Star also wanted the Champions Trophy shifted otherwise it faced huge losses if forced to televise a second-rate event if the Western block countries send their B teams.

Despite hosting Asia cup and several international series successfully during the last six months its unfortunate that Pakistan still has to prove that it’s a safe venue for International cricket.

Despite concrete evidence of huge financial corruption in PCB and NCHD General Musharraf is shamelessly continuing to protect his buddy and business partner Dr. Nasim Ashraf. The question is Why?

In March a huge financial scandal was uncovered by the Auditor general of Pakistan at NCHD an organization which is being run by Nasim Ashraf the details of the audit report are highlighted in the following report:

Furthermore the Senate’s Sub committee for sports has also several times recommended the accountability of Nasim Ashraf for his gross mismanagement and financial corruption being done at PCB. PCB was not to long ago being efficiently managed by a staff of 32 employees now the number of its employees is 756 most of whom are ex military officers who are close to Musharraf and are directly appointed by him to look after his interests in the organization.

Despite a huge public outcry for the accountability of Nasim Ashraf and multiple direct pleas made by Ex Cricketers to thePresident Nasim Ashraf is still controlling PCB.

WHY? We all know PCB is a cash rich organisation and the following article will explain in detail the hidden relationship between Musharraf and  Nasim Ashraf. They are Business Partners billions have been looted from these two organisations and used to buy PSO (Pakistan State oil).  The article is an eye opener for those who believe Musharraf has never indulged in a financial corruption.

March 20/ 2008 (DAWN) - An audit report has unearthed irregularities, unauthorized use of funds and unaccounted for expenditures amounting to Rs 1,289.997 million by the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) [which is headed by its  Chairman Nasim Ashraf].

Findings of the Auditor General of Pakistan’s report for 2005-06 highlight major issues like unauthorized utilization of endowment fund, unreliable accounting record, non-retrieval of costly assets from various NGOs, irregular payment of salary and allowances to officers working in the NCHD on deputation, and lack of internal controls in the organisation.

The report says the Commission irresponsibly spent about Rs 1,250 million from the endowment fund; it has failed to retrieve about Rs 3.22 million from various civil society organisations after expiry/ cancellation of their contracts; an amount of Rs 22.1 million received from telethon had not been accounted for; and unsecured advance payment of Rs 14.677 million was made to a company for supply of 24 imported vehicles out of which 18 were not supplied.

Accounting record of the organisation has been declared unreliable. Irregular appointments, inappropriate payment and allowances to officers have also been reported. A large number of bank accounts for different receipts were maintained without justification and foreign aid has not been reported to the government.

During the audit of the NCHD accounts, it has been observed that proper accounts of receipts and expenditures have not been maintained in accordance with the generally accepted accounting principles.

The Auditor General has also accused that complete record was not provided to the audit team for inspection.

Similarly, the NCHD management also refused to produce the records relating to provision of contracts to NGOs/CSOs and their terms and conditions despite repeated requests from the audit department.

Furthermore, none of the CSOs could complete the tasks they had been assigned and failed to fulfill the contractual clauses.

NCHD Chairman Dr. Nasim Ashraf was not available for comments. This reporter repeatedly tried to contact him for his version, but the office secretary said he (Dr. Ashraf) was busy in a meeting. A message left with the secretary also went unresponded.

The Desperate Bid to Award Rs 874 Million to Nasim Ashraf

The usual suspect Asif again made the headlines by testing positive for drugs, its hardly a surprise for anyone, Asif is out of Champions trophy and perhaps International cricket, BCCI by failing to keep his test results secret may have provided Asif  a legal loophole, I think enough is enough PCB should learn from their past mistakes and  dump this druggie forever.

After I read the news about Asif last night, I was thinking that what actually did PCB gained by protecting Asif and Shoaib  and a story came to my mind which I would like to share with all my readers.

Once a thief got caught red handed he was brought before a judge who gave him an option to choose between two punishments, either eat 100 onions or receive 100 lashes, the thief chose the first punishment as it appeared less harsh,  after eating 70 onions he thought he made a mistake so he requested the judge can he get 100 lashes instead, the judge agreed and the thief ended up getting both the punishments.

The same is the case with PCB, its been more than two years since Asif and Shoaib tested positive for Nandrolone, and during this time Shoaib has only played 4 tests and 5 ODis and no T20’s for Pakistan and Asif has played 5 tests and 14 Odi’s and 9 T20’s for Pakistan. During this time Pakistan has played 8 tests, 39 ODI’s and 11 T20’s. Both the players missed most of the major tournaments and major series played during this time. So what did PCB gained by saving these two?  In my opinion PCB management has proved that they are no lessor morons than the thief who chose to eat 100 Onions over 100 lashes and ended up getting both the punishments. If PCB had banned these two players initially for a year or two they would have saved themselves from huge embarrassment and these players also would have redeemed themselves, by bailing these two out PCB became partners in their crime and tarnished the reputation of a national institution.

The only probable justifcation which comes to my mind is that all the drama which is created by bending and breaking rules is only done to extort money from the players.

The three men Inquiry committees and the all the tribunals and their sham proceedings have made Pakistan Cricket a laughing stock all over the world, PCB management always acts tough after every incident they even announce punishment but in reality all these steps are only taken to tighten the rope around the players neck to extort huge amount of bribe and as soon as the money is received all the previously taken disciplinary actions taken are reversed.

Another news which again didn’t surprised me at all was that Yousuf made himself unavailable for the Champion’s trophy, its a serious blow for Pakistan team, I was not surprised because it has become a pattern, its been almost 3 years when Pakistan fielded its full strength team in any major tournament or series, strange things happen midway during the series or just before it, either players are banned or they get injured and as a result Pakistan team fails to deliver the desired results, the inclusion of Shoaib Akhtar had to be compensated with the exclusion of another player of his caliber. I don’t think Ramadan had anything to do with it as Pakistani players are used to play in Ramadan.

As long as this current management is at the helm of PCB the same pattern will continue.

Pakistan’s hopes of hosting the Champions trophy received a serious blow because of the recent bombings in Karachi and Islamabad. The recent statement made by a PCB official to demand compensation if the tournament is relocated elsewhere is indicative that ICC is already planning to take the hosting rights away from Pakistan due to security situation.

ICC has named Sri lanka as the replacement a country a country  which is virtually going through a civil war since several decades according to an FBI REPORT the Srilankan civil war has taken the lives of more than 70,000 SriLankans on both sides, the Tamil tigers have carried out more terrorist attacks than Al- Qaeeda, Hamas and Taliban combined during the last five years hence making it the most dangerous terrorist group in the world, so if security is the real concern how Srilanka is safer than Pakistan? Are the bombs which explode in Srilanka any safer than the bombs in Pakistan.

South African cricket board anticipating this fact has offered to host the champions trophy if offered by the ICC a move which may have been put forth after consultation with the other cricket boards in the western block.

Another issue is that if the tournament is relocated then how PCB will be financially compensated?

The war on terror will continue for decades and being the frontline state fighting this war Pakistan will continue to be a victim of terrorist attacks for decades to come, does this mean that people in Pakistan will be deprived to watch International cricket/hockey on their home ground?

The civil war in Srilanka has been going on since the 80’s, the IRA carried out attacks in England for several decades nobody ever boycotted these countries.

PCB under the current management has been spineless to react against the efforts of the western block to isolate Pakistan in sports by declaring it unsafe they have to show some spine and retaliate.

The national cricket selectors have decided to include the pace trio of Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul in the list of probables for September’s ICC Champions Trophy.

“Giving utmost respect to the decision of the Lahore High Court, we have included Shoaib Akhtar’s name in the list of 30 probables for the ICC Champions Trophy along with Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul,” chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed told Dawn on Wednesday.

“But while Shoaib and Umar have to prove their fitness, Asif’s selection will largely depend on the report of PCB’s fact-finding committee,” said the chief selector. The PCB committee, formed to probe the lanky pacer’s detention saga in the UAE last month for carrying a banned substance, is yet commence their inquiry.

Umar, who had sustained a rib injury during the ninth Asia Cup at Karachi, is currently going through rehabilitation process.

The final list of 30 probables will be handed over to ICC on Thursday.

All three players will have to prove their fitness by playing domestic cricket, the only domestic tournament currently in progress is the Inter-district cricket the final of which will be held on July 21st, No other domestic competition has been finalised for the coming weeks and therefore, the players are unlikely to fulfil the requirement of proving their fitness for the Champions Trophy at least until August.

Although the selectors are saying that they will respect the courts decision to reinstate Shoaib Akhtar but I don’t think he will be selected keeping in view his tiff with the chairman.

I am against Asif’s inclusion in the team, the guy should be banned at least for two years, but the statements made by the chairman and other PCB officials are highly indicative of that he will be escape any disciplinary action. He is already working out in the academy to regain his fitness.

Given the fragility of his body, his recent form, and the scandals he has been involved in his inclusion in the team will draw huge criticism and will eventually have a negative affect on the team, my first choice will be Umar Gul if he is fit or else any other youngster.

Shoaib Akhtar if he passes the fitness test, it would be foolish to leave him behind he should not have been banned in the first place.

Pakistan won their final match of Asia cup against Bangladesh, hence keeping their record of winning all the inconsequential matches in a tournament intact, Pakistan team continues to reflect double personality, One day they are heroes and the next day zero, in the past this inconsistency was attributed mostly to the players, but currently I strongly believe that the management is playing with two combinations one to win and the other to lose, they very well know what is their winning combination as whenever they feel the heat they play the right combination and win the match and thereafter  subtly restore the losing combination, strange injuries, harsh bans, and dubious selections  are their tools to maneuver which ever way they want.

The whole world knows that Malik is a weak link in the Pakistan team, he is a coward captain, and a nothing bowler, he is an ideal candidate to captain the losing combination, PCB despite a huge public out cry  and despite the fact that Misbah led the team exceptionally well still restored Malik as a captain, they did their best to prove him unfit so that he doesn’t play against India a match PCB desperately wanted to win, hence killing two birds with one stone, by declaring him unfit they saved the career of their dummy by not exposing him and also fielded the right combination and won the match.

They also rested Afridi in the last match against Bangladesh to show people that the selections are being made on merit and PCB is fully trying to give chance to new players, the question is why Saeed Ajmal was not identified earlier and included in the team? BTW did I mentioned that Afridi will be back in the next series whether he recovers his form or not and one deserving youngster Mansoor, Fawad or Saeed will again get axed. I was told he is seeing a holy man to get his form back, he knows it very well the only holy man he should be really seeing to save his career is DNA.

Shoaib Akhtar has again become available and within a week or so the nation will be informed about the availability of Mohammad Asif, making the bench look extremely strong, but as soon as the next series will come closer strange shit might happen again rendering our bench strength thinner than ever.

The youngsters will be dropped for no reason, and will only be given a chance when the winning combination is required. Those who will threaten the career of a core player will be surgically removed from the scene by making them play in an environment which doesn’t suit them.

This is the business model of PCB and we are sorry that we exposed it.

Shoaib Malik is getting renowned for his acting, this is not the first time he has feigned an injury, whenever the situation gets tough he pulls out a huge acting job, I have never seen a TV footage of a players fitness test, why was PCB so keen to show the nation that Malik was actually unfit, his performance was just comical, a few steps of gentle jogging and he collapsed on the ground like a pregnant woman as if he just ran a 100 m sprint.

I strongly believe PCB deliberately took him out in order to save their dummy puppy from further criticism and to save his career as a captain.

Its not that Malik has not performed with the bat infact he was the top performer for Pakistan with the bat but his selfish batting and  defensive captaincy clearly showed that he was not playing for the country he was only trying to save his own arse. This is the third or fourth time that he has abondoned his troops before a big battle.

Nasir Jamshed was brought in Malik’s place and boy he played with so much confidence and aggression I have been advocating since the last six months that we need to have two regular openers, in limited overs cricket the openers are your first line of defense and if the outer most wall of a fort is the weakest then its not hard for enemy troops to breach it. Nasir even though he scored in all the matches he played he was dropped just because PCB and the selectors wanted to maintain status quo.

The selectors and the PCB management will have to share the burden for the recent defeats as they stubbornly persisted with some out of form players, Afridi is still in the team the guy pleaded and begged to be dropped but the selectors were not listening, Pakistan although won today but their batting still looks thin, in the absence of Kamran Akmal and keeping in view the pathetic batting form of Afridi Pakistan is really playing with five batsmen.

The selectors included Saeed Ajmal in the playing eleven today and now everybody must have an idea why Malik was pleading for his inclusion the selectors never listened to Malik . Ajmal bowled perfect doosras, he bowled well against a formidable Indian batting line up. His late selection in the team is indicative of how poorly the selectors are doing their job. Pakistan was desperately in need of a good spinner and the selectors continued to ignore a bowler like Ajmal.

Younis Khan after scoring two ducks in Kitply cup is consistently scoring runs, today he completely dominated the Indian bowlers and never let the game slip away. He made two push ups after completing his century facing towards the players balcony, it was an insult  directed towards Malik, that also shows how much the seniors hate Malik, Younis made a strong statement through his innings and the demonstration of his fitness but the big question is why he didn’t batted like this under Malik consistently? We only saw him score under Malik when he was on the verge of getting dropped.

Some might argue that in the sweltering heat and humidity of Karachi its very common for players to get unfit due to dehydration and cramps.

Malik scored that century almost a week ago he again played against Srilanka and was looking fine the team had three days of rest and medically speaking the cramps don’t last that long especially when you are intaking fluids through drips.

It will be interesting to see who captains the side against Bangladesh. I would like to see Malik and Afridi both out of the team. Time to bring in youngsters.

India paid the penalty of playing with eight batsmen they should have played RP singh instead of Pathan or Kumar, Piyush Chawal did not impressed me at all he only looked dangerous when he was bowling round the wicket, I think India should try Ohja against SrilLanka.

Pakistan managed to salvage a little bit of pride by winning today they kept their record of surprising every one by playing all of a sudden at a higher level, one day they play like minnows and the next day they play like champions the inconsistency of some senior players usually gets translated into the teams inconsistency, they may not reach the finals its a long shot only if Srilanka beats India with a big margin only then they have a chance of making to the finals.

A lot of Indian supporters and bloggers were regarding this tournament as boring and onesided I assume that some of them will change their opinion as now the tournament has opened a bit.

The new mystery bowler from Srilanka Ajanta Mendis has caused quite a few problems for the batsmen in Asia cup  with his unpredictable variety, it is said that he can bowl six different varieties, but  the key question is whether the batsmen can figure out his mystery balls or no?

I have noticed a few simple things in his action which might help demystify his bowling to some extent.

For a bowler to completely decieve a batsman must bowl his varities with the same action, Ajantha Mendis is new on the scene and most of the batsmen have not done their homework on him as of yet. With the paasage of time and with the help of all the technology I am sure he will get worked out.

The above picture clearly shows that he has three different grips and releases.

The first picture shows how he grips and releases the ball when he is bowling a Googly. Yes a Googly, he is an offspinner who can bowl a googly, the ball releases from the back of his wrist the seam is up and he uses the flick of his middle finger to spin the ball. He can bowl a flipper also with the same action but for that the seam should be straight in up right position.

The second picture shows him bowling a conventional off spin it is a normal grip for an off spinner the ball is in the front and not so difficult for a batsman to pick. The third picture which is unfortunately a bit cropped but you can watch the  video, he is bowling a doosra or a leg break the ball is again in the front and the middle finger is placed firmly behind it in a flick position like a carom strike, his pinky, ring and index finger will be raised when the ball is delivered it will be very hard for him to keep them down, he cannot bowl a lot of these deliveries as they must be quite painful for his middle finger. The three raised fingers will be a clear sign for the batsman.

If a batsman is paying attention  to his grip and release of the ball he can definitely work him out.

If Ajantha later on manages to bowl an off spin with the same action with which he bowls the doosra he will definitely be unplayable, I have seen bowlers who bowl offspin and legspin by flicking their middle finger but none with a cricket ball all of them used to bowl with a tennis ball with tape rolled over it,  the trick is in the placement of the middle finger and the seam position for doosra the middle finger is placed at the lower edge of the seam on the right side, and for off spin it will be placed on the left side.

I have made it sound easier but trust me it will not be easy for the batsmen as they have only a second to read the action.

What truly amazed me was his control, imagine a bowler controling the flight the speed and the length with only one finger and that too with a cricket ball either his finger is made of steel or he uses a lot of ice after the match.

I think the trick lies in his run up he uses a lot of momentum from his medium pacer like run up.

It will be fun to watch him bowl against the Indians.