PakPassion.net

What is "passion" for every Pakistani?
Cricket!

What is cricket for every Pakistani?
Passion!

well that was some recursive logic :P

But anyways came across this website and was deeply impressed! A website *focussed* on Pakistan Cricket?? Wow!

The simple yet attractive layout and (very) active forums would make you bookmark this site right away! The articles are also very focussed and well written (not the usual garbage you find on the newspapers etc.)

Courtesy: Nouman Haq (webmaster/developer PakPassion.net)

Use of Technology in Umpiring

    
Interesting debate taking place on cricinfo.com about the use of technology in umpiring. The experiment during the recent World Series had mixed but very vocal repsonses. I feel if the technology is there we should use it. But the question is, is that technology good enough? Whats the use of technology if it takes 5 minutes to decide whether a catch was taken cleanly or not. Also there should be some validation of the Hawk-eye science. If its good enough (and sure enough) I guess its only fair to use it. Even though it will leave us less things to talk about :-)

But then this helps me wonder why doesnt the MLB in US use that kinda stuff? They still have the human umpires out in the field altho I think baseball umpiring is much tougher due to the speed of the ball/game. I guess the crowd loves the anticipation when the umpire calls "safe!".

Badmouthing Shoaib Akhtar - tis the trend

Looks like this is "in" as my fellow blogger pointed out here. Everybody from the management to the coach and captain is busy in getting trash after trash for this dude. OK he isn't innocent or whatever but so what do we do? I can't care less about the media coming up with such trash and I think Shoaib Akhtar should go ahead and sue the ppl responsible. Another post on the same topic proves that this has been going on for quite a while now. Shoaib Akhtar needs to pull up his socks as well. How in the world can he afford to gain weight and not be 101% fit when he knew how crucial it is for himself and his team.

As far as John Elliot's remarks are concerned I guess he needs to look in the mirror and ask himself the question: Did he have it in himself to be able to manage men? I feel no matter how rogue/rebel a player there is always a method which is just right for him. And the role of the coach/manager is to find that method for him. Whether its carrot or stick - i am not sure but there has to be some way of handling those people.

(Btw John Elliot's remarks might just be psychological pressure techniques that England ppl have learnt from the Aussies in the recent times).

Let your egos/jealousy aside people and lets beat some Englishmen!

"Explanation of Cricket" (borrring!)

The most boring explanation of cricket I ever found! :D.... i mean its sooo boring it makes me laugh! Ok its informative/comprehensive or wateva but still.. it makes cricket sound like a chemistry experiment or something.... plus i think it doesnt cover the latest additions to cricket like Super-sub, third-umpire for lbw (and other previously N/A) decisions. I am attaching a screen shot of the "table of contents" :D

Btw it would've helped if the author had put up a few pictures depicting the various shots, umpire signals, ground pics, national kits etc. etc.

Air-tight Security promised for Pak vs Eng '05

Pakistan cricket officials have promised top-notch security for the forth-coming series against England. There has been a lot of controversy already about the venues with Karachi coming under the fire (as usual).

Btw I was just wondering what does this mean for cricket fans in Pakistan? More agony. Traffic jams. Parking restrictions in the rush-est of hours. Mayhem all over. Do they expect more attendance from the crowds this way? We are already facing a challenge to bring enough people into the stadiums specially for Test matches and steps like these might not help. But then you gotta do wat you gotta do. Can't take any chances.

They have even formulated an emergency evacuation plan for the players in case of a disaster like the Earthquake which hit the Northern Areas of Pakistan on Oct 8, 2005 and claimed 50, 000 lives :(.... (altho i am not entirely sure how this would help in the event of a disaster of such magnitude :P)

Cricket Reality Show!!

Wow! why didnt I think of this! Amazing idea and endless possibilities... my mind is just racing with concepts how this will capture the cricket frenzy nation by heart. Especially with the England series coming up followed by the India one early next year!

I remember there was a TV play some time ago about a kid who was a cricket fanatic and wanted to play cricket all day, while his parents wanted him to put some time into studies as well. (Yeah yeah same old - been there done that)... but it was sweet, how it highlighted all the common things we all relate to. Big boys bullying little kids on the field, the coach petrifying the new-comers, parent's curfews and sneaking out through it etc.

Well the show i am talking about here is an Indian TV show where they are hunting for a genuine fast bowler! Well fast bowlers are definitely "in", specially after what we saw in the recent Ashes series :))..... this show is fathered by Channel 7 and hosted by none other than Ajay Jadeja!

Welcome Zaid!!

Ladies and gentlemen,

Please help me welcome the newest member of our blog....

/*drum-roll*/

Zaaaiid Ikhlaaaaaas!!!

As you can see here he is straight away into action with 3 blogs already!

Way to go.... !

10dulkar is back!

.... and looked like he had a point to prove with his 96-ball 93! Undoubtedly the God of Indian Cricket - when he gets going the others can only watch. The good thing about this come-back innings of his - after six months of lay-off - was his dominating attitude that he is known for. We saw all that he is famous for in this innings. Magical strokeplay, disdainful aggression, genious improvisations. His 50 came of fifty balls after which he played the anchor role and let Irfan Pathan take the attack to pieces.

Glichrist reaches form.. Finally!

Went in to the Ashes series labelled most dangerous player in the world, but nothing seemed to work out for him this summer in England. Which was one of the bigger factors of Aussie failure in England perhaps. Maybe it was the English attack (Flintoff?) which sized him up carefully or his own confidence-level. But he didnt take too long to make ammends and prove that his reputation is not too far fetched. With scores of 45 and 103 (off 79!), he has reiterated his posture among the Aussie fans. Although both the innings wasnt the most fluent we've seen but very well fought out.

Btw that century off 73 balls is a national Aussie record too! He is back! Or am I passing a judgement too quick?

PS: I wish the World XI side had won the toss this time. Would've been some good contest at least.

Sport Photgraphers r0Ck!

I have always been amazed by the sports photos; their brilliance, focus, vivid-ness, and how they catch the moment that happens in a split second!

Although this one seems to be a slightly "engineered" one, but still it exudes the thrill of the moment!

There are a lot more at Cricket.org, courtesy Getty Images.

Is this related to Cricket?

This story by Osman Samiuddin made me pull my hair. What in the world does it have to do with c-r-i-c-k-e-t and what is it doing on Cricket.org? He basically talks about the increasing "influence" of religion in the Pakistan cricket team and the forces behind it. Well I am not saying his facts are false but why does he care? Wonder where journalism is going these days. The most irrelevant stories make the headlines and the most crucial ones are missed out.

Why can't the players have some privacy as to what they do/think/behave? Your job is to write on their cricket - please focus on that. If you dont have anything interesting to write about please keep quiet. I know you get paid only when you submit an (interesting?) article but that doesnt mean you write about anything. The next article you mite start to discuss the "growing tendency in players to use Colgate instead of something else".

Yousuf Youhana's turning muslim had any relation to being the future captain?? Man are you sick? or nuts? or both? I mean do you even understand the place religion occupies in a person's life? How could you even imagine a person changing his *religion* just for this sake?

And the reaction people show after winning the matches - only if you knew what it takes to defy all odds - dont you think its only proper to thank the Almighty God for the blessing? Javed Miandad ran after hitting that Sharjah six coz in those days the public used to run on onto the ground and the players had to make sure they could avoid the rush. It was the same Miandad to the sajda after winning the 1992 World Cup.

Ok I have wasted enough time on this useless article review anyways.

ASHES 2005 is Fixed!!!

Oh yes it is!!

• How come McGrath who was on crutches a couple of days ago became so fighting fit as to play in a Test match soooo quickly?
  
  
• If he was really injured why did they play a less than 100% fit McGrath in the 3rd test? Or even Brett Lee who was reported to be carrying problems.
  
  
• Why are they persising with Jason Gillespie even after his poor performances throughout the One Day series as well as the first two tests?
  
  
• Why wasn't Michael Kasprowich played in the 3rd test even after showing the best performance as a pacer in the 2nd test?
  
  
• How come a bowler like Ashley Giles, who was so ordinary in the previous matches, ends up _dominating_ the Aussie batting who have been known to handle the likes of much much better spinners than him?
  
  
• Dont the record-breaking number of dropped catches and mis-fielding raise a few eye-brows?
  
  
• Why did Ricky Ponting persist with Jason Gillespie in the midst of a huge partnership building up even though Shane Warne was on the verge of 600 wickets as well as the (only) in-form bowler - leading to the rumors of the "rift" between the two?
  
  
• So many others...
  

See how easy it is to label a genuine genuine effort out in the middle as being *f-i-x-e-d*?? Had this been an India Pakistan series I am sure I would not have been the only one saying this.

Scared 'R' Us!

So England wont play a Test match in Karachi for fear of being blown up? (well if they get lucky and are spared some by the Aussies :P). Today PCB announced that the Pakistan team will not play a match in London (or anywhere near that)... heck! we are sh!t scared!! Its 4 bombs in London vs 1 bomb in Karachi afterall. :O.

Wasim Akram also seconds the decision.

And undoubtedly Australia are the bravest team on the planet! Even after receiving the drubbing in the One Days, they did not fear being blown away even after the 2x4 blasts!

Hint for British police: Guys you better do a background check on PCB officials who sooo wanted to play the test match in Karachi... they probably wanted to prove a point by those London fireworks.

Player's Central contracts

God knows wat goes on in the minds of the selectors/management when looking at players. Look at the list of players awarded central contract. Well most of the awardees are fine but I am surprised to see some of the non-awardees and some obvious contradictions.

So how can they award a central contract to Imran Farhat who hasn't played a game since i can remember and not award it to Taufeeq Umar? And why do they keep ignoring the relatively more experienced Misbah-ul-Haque and have faith in Bazid Khan? Or even Rao Iftikhar for that matter. Also Shahid Nazir was selected for the indian tour which meant that he must have showed some promise right? But he was never allowed to reciprocate the confidence shown in him as he wasn't played in a single game. And then he isn't offered the central contract. He didnt do well on the bench-sitting or something? He must be very confused right now I am sure. On the other hand Umar Gul was screaming "fit" for ages before the WI tour started yet he wasnt selected, _however_, he was awarded the central contract! Arshad Khan saw a U-turn in fortunes in the past couple of years I guess - no offense tho.

maybe i m too hardcore a techie to make sense out of the "logical" decisions. feel free to help.