Peaceful Strokes

FV # 158

If the matches are fixed - it`s quite hard to tell. Those with a keener eye than mine could comment on the progression of matches - it does not appear that either team is `letting the other team win`. I think it would be hard to play such closely contested games to a pre-determined outcome. But just a stray thought - if they were fixed that might explain some of frustration I`ve had with Ganguly`s behavior - lack of graciousness towards the host country and team. Regardless - isn`t it a lot of fun to watch?

all:
Healthy rivarly and good cricket should rule the day, I watched it last night with one fellow who didn`t know where Cricket ends and Real Life starts, and confuses people of an entire country with a team - very unpleasant but ignoring him worked just fine. Watching it in a mixed Indian Pakistani crowd is awesome - wouldn`t watch it any other way if I could.

My beef with Ganguly I must air - although I`ve heard explanations for it - still it bothers me.
While the Pakistani team and people have been extremely gracious and always praising the Indian team - I don`t see anything similar coming from the Indian team - anyone care to comment? I see it as dignity and graciousness but perhaps for some people nationalistic pride ? comes above all?
Not only this, I think Ganguly could have steered clear of comments about chucking from Shoaib and concentrated on his own batting - that would make more of a difference than anything else.

Both sides are evenly matched - so this ding-dong should not surprise anyone in One Dayers.

Being no expert in cricket , I think the Pakistani officials generally downplayed their own team so as to get the general public mentally prepared to accept a defeat easily.

Post no 144


hamid mere bhai…


now that pakis got
their sorry butts kicked,
defect and come on over!

with all your folks
(the more the merrier)
wife and kids and lover

we’ll gorge and feast
on fat babies
flavored with heaps of heeng,

we’ll dance and scream
with no restraint,
each one do his own theeng.

with hands on hearts
we’ll solemnly swear
to wash bas jumme ka jumma,

in this sweltering summer,
surely soon
we’ll outstink even the ummah!

kya liquor, kya meat
ya won’t miss nothing,
that nasha is much too weak

no way can it beat
the swaad of a wife
who hasn’t bathed for a week!

adaab.

This series has been a dandy so far. Exactly what you would expect of these two wonderful teams. Rarely does a sporting event live up to the hoopla like this.
How `bout that Kaifi, isnt he something? And is Shoaib Akhtar a stud or what?

Farzana & Sridhar:
You two have your heads up your asses.

Brat:
If Tendya were the captain, you would have been treated to a whole bunch of gracious platitudes by now. It`s not Ganguly`s M.O. to make gracious statements in the middle of the series. You have to remember that this is the guy who mentally disintegrated Steve Waugh who supposedly invented mental disintegration. Just wait till the end of the series and the Prince will spout forth with all kinds of gracious statements and so will Tendya & Dravid. Then you can have your heart`s fill.
These days the verbal sparring by way of press statements is part and parcel of the game. Have you noticed how after each game the Indians keep saying that the pressure will be on Pakistan in the next match? This is standard operating procedure picked up from the inimitable aussies.
The whole idea is to keep nagging the opposition with statements that may instill self-doubt but not say things that will really rile them up.
The worst thing you can do is what Javed Miandad did when he said that every gully of Pakistan has a couple of Irfan Pathans running around. Way to go Javed, picking on a 19-year old medium pacer who has not said a word to provoke anyone. Talk about graciousness! So how did that turn out for Pakistan? After two games, little Irfan doesn`t look like a quaint little gully cricketer does he?
And now Rashid Latif has recommended that Laxman be dropped. Do you really need to rile up a guy like that? I know Akhtar castled him last night but wasn`t he starting to look ominous?
Try to understand where Ganguly is coming from, this is all very orchestrated. Every thing is in Pakistan`s favor here, the head to head match up record, the fact that they are playing home, the fact that they have more talent overall. The only thing India has going for them (other than that stupid batting line up) is that they are now, under King John, a tremendously professional and organized outfit.

Farzana, Sridhar,

You guys are bunch of a$$. Kaif`s maginificeint catch with possible full speed head on collision with Badani and the one that could have paralyzed him for ever is not fixed. Sami and Akhtar are bowling each ball as if their lives are dependent on it and all those Pakistani players diving on the field. These are not fixed things.

Miandad needs those Infans from every gullie of Pakistan the way your front bowlers are giving extras. The Irfan Kid has heart and never die attitude that his players desperately need.

Inzi talking to Ramiz Raza after the match again said some stuff in Arabic .. i think he was blaming allah, or at least hoding him responsible. I think he is a real class player, and should be allowed to spank Akhtar with 10 lashes for every wide delivery.

Since Romair is ducking his usual post-match spin, i will attempt one...

Overall a good match. The momentum is now definatley with India since Pakistan tried their best weapons and failed inspite of that. Whereas, Indians have yet to get their weapons to fire, and they have evened the series. Zaheer is still bowling simple stuff so far, Irfan is a mohalla player, and Indians are happy enough with the results. Ganguly will make some real cool mental-game statements via Dravid (to sound more credible) which can mess-up minds. Akhtar is a good bowler (and chucker), but he has tried his best, and the way he was talking to himself, its clear that he will not be a major threat. Pakistani bowling even had damp evening conditions to assist them. Akhtar will get his two wickets, but will continue to give runs. Since he has already bowled his best, and Indians underrstand it, his performance can only get worse. So, for the final, Ganguly will win the toss since he has so far lost the toss, and he will bat first and Pakistani team will be tired agains Indian attack and the evening Mosquitos bugging them. In addition, Advani will be in the stands, to put more pressure from BJP (somehow). If Ganguly loses toss, Inzi will let them bat first, thinking that the wicket has a better bounce in the beginning,and he tried batting first already. In any case Ganguly will say that toss does not matter, which will put huge pressure on Inzi. Additiionaly, there will be a very big verbal fight between him an Akhtar, in which Sohail will say ``I am the stud and you are the spud``.

I am tired...

Brat:
It isn`t about ```letting the other team win```. There will be noteworthy performances, but both the times Pakistan got defeated we had 37/38 wides...and in the Lahore game not getting Shoaib Akhtar when it mattered...please...the goodwill has been pushed down their gullets. If Colin Powell knew anything about yorkers and mid-ons, we might have had an even more interesting game.

I tell you, one team will get ahead in the ODIs, the other in the test series...and something of a friendly duel will happen in Sharjah (it is for charity, so it is all right).

Individuals performing well will always be there, they cannot be so obvious about it, but since the cricketers are not campaigning they are providing the goodwill and filling certain coffers. Just wait and watch...

And for the rest, I bet my ass...

#166 jang
Haha. You left out the part about indians needing to be more self critical..

Jang mian, your posts are hilarious. Thank you!

Ferzi is really unhappy that hindi-pakis are getting bhai-bhai and bjp is actually gaining political milage out of this. If this goes on, soon pakis will stop saying mashallah-subhanallah to her articles. These are disturbing times.

A didnt know Farzana wrote for the Nation (under a ``nome de gurre`` of course)

http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/Mar-2004/22/national/lhr6.asp

impressions:

I had just read an article about the `Prince` and was sort of walking towards similar reasoning as the one you outlined, so thanks for elaborating :) I didn`t realise the extent of this mental pressure tactic, but you are right. And one thing is for sure that professionalism suits Indian team, no one likes to see (Sidhu`s) - Indians falling like Cycles on a Cycle stand.

Farzana:
Lahore game 1:
At one point the bowlers came too close for comfort. I mean Yuvraj Singh was also gone, and if they had taken just one more crucial wicket - Dravid - we were done for and out of the series. (Sometimes the others can pitch in and perform but you can`t count on it). I think that was what they were pushing for - but careful play on Dravid`s part (and I think luck that no wild ball came his way) kept us in the game. I think Dravid has this assured stance that might have come across to the Pakistani team and they may have given up - that`s what i see as the reason for the wide margin.

Second - I think bowlers tend to go after wickets - and disregard extras - at their own peril. We gave them 30 extras!

I think you may be right in one sense - both teams have been told to `play nice` so if they seem to be losing - they may resort to - `ok well all in the name of friendship/orders from above` - and not be out there wanting to devour one another.
I certainly don`t doubt the motivations BJP may have had.

jang:
`` In addition, Advani will be in the stands, to put more pressure from BJP (somehow). ``
If that`s all it takes - cricket crazy public will demand that the entire party go to the Australia matches.

Anyone who thinks that the extras are an indication of match fixing probably missed the stat line for those two games that we (pak) did win. We`re definitely gifting the Indian`s a 12th batsmen (extra`s) and the problem has plagued our team the whole series, win or lose.
I think people need to chill and enjoy (albeit for Pakis its frustrating at times) the great cricket instead of trying to discount the effort by the Indians and our homeboys.

Pakistani women cricket team playing with West Indians. Not many people even know about it?

bongdong, thats it!
Sponsors and friends` friends
By MA Niazi
Well, as I suspected, this One-Day Peace series between India and Pakistan is poised at 2-2. It had to. Apart from the fact that the teams seems quite evenly matched, it`s in the sponsors` interest. Look at it this way. If Pakistan had won this match, it would have won the series, and the final match would be what they`ve started calling a `dead match,` with no effect on the series, and with only pride at stake. So viewers wouldn`t have been attracted to the television, and advertisers would not be able to convince them to buy their stuff.
This series isn`t about cricket, or even diplomacy and politics. It`s about advertising. That`s why a South Korean company competed so hard with a Japanese to be sponsors. I mean, they don`t know anything at all about cricket in South Korea or Japan. They know football and hockey better. But catch them sponsoring either of those two much neglected games. Clearly, there`s no love of the game involved, just cold calculated greed.
So Pakistan lost the first match at the Gaddafi Stadium, not because the bookies had it fixed, but because the sponsors wanted it that way. Going by that, the last match should be an Indian win, because the sponsors are out there selling to the Indian middle class, which is about twice the size of Pakistan`s total population, and Pakistan`s middle class, in the national interest, which has been defined by the IMF and the World Bank, now hardly exists.
I didn`t go to the match, just as I haven`t done for years, because I don`t want to get into the whole parking and seating mess. About 20 years ago, I was quite a regular. In those days, a day`s play in the General Stand, on the bleachers, cost Rs 10, and you could get a five-day ticket for Rs 30. That was barely affordable, and it wasn`t much of a hassle. If you went a couple of days in advance of a Test, even if it was against the West Indies or Australia, you went up to this hole in the Stadium wall, and after a few minutes, someone would come and give you a ticket. There was usually a crowd on the day itself, but if you went early enough, you could get in quite easily, and take a seat at the midwicket boundary (from the College end). The College, by the way, is FC College, and it used to be a reasonably small walk from there, through the gap in the barbed wire fence near the Halls (as FC`s hostels are known). Obviously, we`d be bunking classes, but no pain, no gain, as they say.
The focus on cricket has cloaked two important events. First, the Indian invasion of Lahore, which has been on for a couple of months, and which is going to go on. Industry, trade, media, film, politicians: they`re all over here. In fact, the only Indian occupational group which hasn`t swarmed over the border is the Indian Army. I wonder what`s keeping them? The sort of welcome the other Indians have been getting should have guaranteed a warm welcome to the Indian soldiery, after all. I mean, have you seen the fraternal feeling between the Indian and Pakistani paramilitaries at Wagah? All you see is them exchanging baskets of sweets at the drop of a hat.
The second event also has to do with our brave paramilitary forces, but on the Western border. No, not their relations with the Afghan paramilitaries (who are actually US troops in disguise), but with their fellow citizens, the tribesmen of the North and South Waziristan Agencies. Them they are pounding with artillery and helicopter gunships. Barfi for Indians, bullets for Pakistanis. They`re guilty of hiding foreign terrorists. Well, if we can give the Indian BSF, who are terrorising the Kashmiri people, rasgullahs, why do Pakistani citizens who harbour foreign freedom fighters deserve rockets?
The key is that our friends are America`s friends: Afghan quislings are American friends, Indians terrorising Kashmiris are American friends, so they are our friends. And those who oppose them are our enemies. Fine. Let`s live with that, and get on with the important things in life. Like who`s going to win the last ODI. Does anything else matter?

Tust to remind, here is my analysis again.

#11 by ijaz_gul on March 12, 2004 9:04am PT
I feel the major difference will be in the attitudes of the key players and foolhardy attitude of showmanship performers like Afridi, Shoaib and Nazir. These players will have to keep their heads smaller than the game to produce consistent performances.

The corridor of uncertainity will remain a real test with India using three left arm seamers. Just recollect how Nehra teased the Pakistani players in the World Cup.

Despite boasting slow wickets, our performance against spinners of late has been pathetic. Even a mediocre like Stuart McGill, knocked the hell out of us. At Karachi, our players made a demon out of Giles. Right now we boast no world class spin bowler. Saqlain is not in the right frame.

Shuffling before the wicket and moving on the backfoot to low balls will produce many a LBW decisions and the coach ought to be worried about it. Both Inzi and Yousaf will be vulnerable to both factors early in the innings.

Saqlain somehow has lost his rhythm. Bowling with success to mediocre county batsmen in England on a different line and lenght has reduced his effectiveness. He had perhaps needed dedicated coaching to unlearn the county cricket and rediscover his old form, but alas!.

Though Shoaib will remain lethal in patches and Sami comme ci comme ca, the most teasing ones will be Shabbir and Umer Gul. On home wickets, Razzaqs over pitched ball hit for a six in Australia can become deadly.

It is most dangerous that India has gone through the dip in the very first match. They will need seaming wickets to go down again. Ours are equally bad on that. So where are our strenghts? I am sure someone must have thought of it. I am not so sure.