Back to Main Page                                                                       Archives

Tickets for Indo-Pak cricket series online: http://pcbtickets.cricket.org, http://pcb.cricket.org, www.cricinfo.com.

Multan Test: Jamiat calls strike

          Lahore: The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) has called for a complete strike from March 28 to April 1 in Multan against the first Test match being organized in the city. It also threatened to stop cricket fans from entering the stadium to watch the match. The call has indeed put cricket fans in a dilemma whether to watch the match or be glued to their TV sets to avoid a law and order problem. "We will not create a law and order situation on this big event in Multan. However, we will try to stop cricket fans from going to the stadium," the Daily Times quoted Mufti Hidayatullah Pasroori, the district chief of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), which is a part of (JUI-F). According to the paper, the JUI-F strike call had been made to express solidarity with the Kashmiri freedom-fighters. "We are going to observe a complete shutter-down strike during the Multan cricket test match on March 28 to express solidarity with the Kashmiris," Dr Muhammad Arif Khan, a local leader of the JUI-F, reportedly said. "We will convince the people not to go to the stadium to watch the match because the Indian government is massacring innocent Kashmiris," he said, adding, "Good relations between Pakistan and India cannot be established unless India pulls out its troops from Kashmir and stops killing innocent Kashmiris."

          Meanwhile, in a related development, vehicles equipped with a system to issue computerized tickets for the Test match arrived in the city on Monday. The tickets counters iwould be thrown open for sale from today amid tight security.

Ganguly unhappy over Test squad selection (Go To Top)

          Lahore: Indian captain Saurav Ganguly has reportedly expressed his unhappiness over the team that has been handed over to him for next week's three Test series against Pakistan. According to the News, Ganguly was quoted as saying that he was not satisfied with some of the selections made by the five-member selection committee that met in New Delhi on Monday afternoon. He was reported to be particularly incensed over the selectors ignoring his demand to include Railways off-spinner Kulamani Parida in place of the injured Harbhajan Singh. Sources within the Indian camp said that Ganguly had a long tele- conference with the selectors, including the chairman of the selection committee, Syed Kirmani, West Zone selector Kiran More and East Zone selector Pranab Roy before the Test squad was finalized. "Ganguly wanted the off-spinner Ramesh Powar to be sent back and instead have Parida in the Test squad along with the experienced left-arm spinner and batsman Sunil Joshi as back up for Anil Kumble and Murali Kartik," a source was quoted by the paper, as saying. "But the selectors insisted on just three changes bringing in Anil Kumble, Ajit Agarkar and Akash Chopra while retaining Yuvraj Singh and Powar in the Test squad," he said. Ganguly apparently was not happy with the selectors not giving him Joshi and Parida whom the he rates highly.

PCB tightens security over fake ticket scam (Go To Top)

         Lahore: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will apply stricter norms to prevent fake ticket holders from entering Lahore's Gadaffi Stadium on Wednesday when Pakistan plays the fifth and final ODI against India, the Daily Times reported Tuesday. Apart from the security men, PCB officials would also be present at the entry gates to check the tickets and passes, the paper quoted PCB chairman Shahryar Khan as saying. He added that during the fourth ODI a large number of cricket fans entered the stadium on fake tickets. "The PCB plans to open the gates for the series decider - a sellout event for which 23,000 authentic tickets have been sold - four hours before the scheduled start of the game, to avoid rush for seats by people with fake tickets," he said. PCB chief Shahryar Khan admitted that besides seizure of fake tickets during the fourth ODI, mismanagement was witnessed and people without tickets had entered the stadium in connivance with law enforcing agencies deputed at the stadium's entry gates. "We caught them at various entrance gates. Police have arrested a few people who were selling these tickets outside the stadium," Khan said while showing the media three sacks full of fake tickets. "To avoid this from happening again, we will depute the PCB staff at various gates on Wednesday to stop illegal entries," he added.

          He reportedly said that board officials and security agencies denied entry to more than 1500 spectators carrying fake tickets. Such tickets had the code bar and special insignia of Pakistan, and the scanners failed to recognize them, he said adding that those who presented them were not allowed to enter the stadium. "It is a breakthrough in the history of Pakistan and we are glad that our hard work to introduce computerized tickets has produced productive results," he said. Asserting that people with genuine tickets were forced to queue outside the stadium for a longer time because of the counterfeits, he said: "Normally a genuine ticket is checked within a few seconds. We had to push back all the fake ticket holders and the genuine ticket buyer had to wait for a long time." He further said that the Board had planned more facilities for the spectators during the final ODI. "Some problems like shortage of water and food in the enclosures were reported during the fourth ODI. And we don't want these problems to crop up during Wednesday's game," he stated.

Miandad: Why no match fixing allegations when we win (Go To Top)

         Lahore: Former Pakistan cricket captain and now coach of the team, Javed Miandad, has lashed out at critics raising match-fixing doubts over the fourth one-day international played here on Sunday night and won by India. "I am not surprised that we have some people again questioning the commitment of the players and starting a whispering campaign about the match being 'fixed'. It happens every time we lose. Why can't people say anything when we are winning matches?" he said in an interview with the News. Miandad was visibly unhappy with the way his team had lost the fourth match after putting up a decent total of 293 runs and taking four Indian wickets early for 94 runs. "The key was the inability of our bowlers to contain their scoring rate which remained between six and half and seven per over even when their wickets were falling. So, when Dravid and Kaif were batting together they were not under pressure of meeting a high run-rate and that made all the difference."

Aaqib Javed: Only Irfan has aggression among Indian bowlers (Go To Top)

         Lahore: Irfan Pathan is the only bowler in the Indian team who has required aggression. All others, including Zaheer Khan and Lakshmipathy Balaji, lack it, claimed former Pakistan fast bowler Aaqib Javed. "Indians have never been aggressive. Even Javagal Srinath, who often bowled at 90 mph, lacked necessary aggression. Zaheer Khan struggled in first three games and Lakshmipathy Balaji is timid. The only exception has been Irfan Pathan who has it in him to be successful," the News quoted Aaqib as saying.

          He further said that Pakistan produced aggressive fast bowlers because of genetical, cultural and socio-economic factors, besides their meat eating habits. "We're generally tall and strongly built and that helps a lot. Besides, there is diet and Pakistanis eat lots of meat. You get lot of aggression from beef and red meat," he added. "We also get to play a lot of tennis ball cricket at a young age. The lighter ball needs power to be thrown at a distance. It helps develop your muscles and gives flexibility to joints and ligaments," Aaqib added. The former Pakistan fast bowler said that contemporary Pakistani fast bowlers were "trying too much" to produce results on batsmen-friendly wickets in the ongoing series, which had resulted in a large number of extras.

          About Shoaib Akhtar, Aaqib said he was struggling with rhythm. "He is going flat out for pace too early in the innings," Aaqib said, adding that, "Pakistan's strategy should be simple. Shoaib is a strike bowler, so the rest should only look to contain the Indians." To minimize no balls and wides, Aaqib said that if a bowler applied the take off principle used in the long jump, the problem could be rectified in a couple of days.

Shoaib's dizzy spells leave Inzi, Miandad hopping mad (Go To Top)

          Lahore: Pakistan cricket coach Javed Miandad and skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq have expressed their unhappiness and worry over fast bowler Shoiab Akhtar's frequent spells of dizziness and blackouts during Sunday's fourth one-day international against India, which Pakistan lost by five wickets. Shoaib had to go off the field in the middle of the Indian run- chase and on his return, struggled to get his act together, and ended up conceding 13 runs at a vital stage of the match. According to the News, sources in the Pakistani team quoted the duo as saying: "It is not the first time this has happened in the middle of a series. What is irritating is that even the team doctor and trainer have no explanation for why he suffers these sudden spells of dizziness or blackouts." "If there is something wrong with him, he should get a permanent and proper treatment instead of it happening in a match which is disturbing for the team," the sources quoted the duo as adding. Inzamam reportedly looked and sounded very upset on Sunday night when asked what had happened to Shoaib. He said Shoaib had a spell of dizziness and had to go off the ground. "He came off the field and complained of having a blackout and dizziness. He rested for a while and then came back but was not at his best," Miandad said.

PCB mulling over hiring of specialized coaches (Go To Top)

          Lahore: The Pakistan Cricket Board is reportedly mulling over the team's demand for specialized coaches for bowling and fielding, besides a physical trainer to improve the overall performance of the team, the News reported on Tuesday. "We are seriously considering to hire not only a bowling coach, but also a fielding expert and a physical trainer as well to overcome weaknesses in these departments," the PCB chairman, Shaharyar Khan, was quoted by the paper, as saying. "But we cannot do it all of a sudden and it would take some time to implement these decisions and hopefully we will be making some decisions after the India series," he added. He said such decisions would not be made in haste, as the PCB was committed to the goal of coming up with a winning combination. PCB CEO Rameez Raja was also present on the occasion.

ODI: PCB apologises to former cricketers (Go To Top)

          Lahore: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has apologized to some of Pakistan's former cricketers for not inviting them for last Sunday's fourth one-day international against India at Lahore. PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said the Board didn't mean to cause any inconvenience or show any disrespect to the players. "The truth is that because of the heavy demand for tickets we had decided in advance that we would invite former Test players for the final match. But it is also true that perhaps some former players didn't get their invitations for that I offer my apologies as we meant no disrespect to them," the News quoted Khan as saying here Monday. He said the Board had all the respect for former players and had invited them accordingly for the final match. Board CEO Ramiz Raja said that if the Board didn't have regard and respect for the former players it would not have invited a legend like Fazal Mahmood to come and hold a coaching clinic. "We are facing an extraordinary situation in this series because of the pressure from various counts. Perhaps some players might have felt they were being ignored, but it not like that at all," Raja added.