The Londoner

By Sikander Hayat  Fawad Alam played a masterful innings in the first innings of the first Test match against South Africa in Karachi . He scored 109 runs, played 245 balls and stayed on the wicket for 353 minutes in a mammoth effort to bring Pakistan back into the Test match at Karachi cricket stadium . There were no fans in the stadium to enjoy this innings live but Fawad Alam proved yet again that his exclusion from Pakistan Cricket Team for last ten years was a big mistake and that Pakistan wasted a major talent by pursuing wrong selection policies. Fawad Alam is now 35 years old and can only serve Pakistan like Misbah for another few years if he stays fit and keeps scoring but he has been successful in at least doing one thing and that is to prove that he is an international level talent who should never have been dropped from Pakistan after one series in which he scored a big hundred against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka.  Fawad Alam was ably support by Muhammad Rizwan and...

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif will be allowed to return to Pakistan's domestic cricket in January, three months after their spot-fixing bans ended, officials announced on Saturday. The pair along with Mohammad Aamer were banned for five years following a spot-fixing scandal during Pakistan's 2010 tour of England, where they took money for deliberate no-balls in the Lord's Test. Aamer was allowed to feature in domestic matches in April this year after the International Cricket Council (ICC) relaxed certain conditions of his ban through an amendment to its code of conduct. Quick Single: ICC lifts ban on Pakistan duo However, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) directed Butt and Asif to complete a rehabilitation program and, despite the duo being selected by former domestic champions Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), they were not allowed to play in any domestic matches. But PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan announced Butt and Asif would be allow...

By Sikander Hayat No, he should not retire because Pakistan needs him to perform and until such time when he stops performing or Pakistan starts losing,  Misbah  should captain Pakistan. He is the greatest cricket captain in terms of his own performance and the impact he has on the team in terms of leadership.   Misbah  has given Pakistan stability when team was in the midst of multiple crises and needed a calm hand to steer it away from the abyss. In  Misbah ’s case, age has proved to be just a number and is a template for what an ideal Pakistan captain should look & behave like. People will understand what they have lost only when he will leave the stage and they will miss his  touch. People like Imran Khan were able to succeed in an atmosphere where they were surrounded by great players like Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Salim Malik, Abdul Qadir e.t.c but  Misbah ’s team was full of half-baked players like Akmal ...

By Sikander Hayat  Is this the worst Pakistan fielding team ever representing Pakistan in a cricket world cup .  Pakistan dropped six catches against west indies and three against India . Anyone who  expect that a team can win a cricket match after affectively giving two goes to  any team is living in fools paradise. Old cliché that catches win matches is true and Pakistan need to start catching soon. If I am brutally honest, I do not want this team to qualify for quarter finals as that will be the  false reflection of the performance of some of the players in this Pakistan side . For me although batting failure is one issue but fielding is the biggest issue at this point and if Pakistan had took all their catches, West Indies could have been bold out for 180. This would have turned the match on its head and Pakistan could have wo n easily. Some of the players in this team are so unfit that calling them athletes is a travesty . If you a...

By Sikander Hayat 1. Why has Fawad Alam not been selected in place of Umar Akmal . Akmal brothers have been a constant in Pakistan team for last ten years or so but apart from very rare occasion they have lead to Pakistan’s defeat rather than contributing to Pakistan’s victories. 2. Wahab Riaz should not have been selected for the world cup given the fact that he has never been a reliable bowler and his line & length on most occasions is totally off chart. 3. Umar Akmal has been a failure for so long that it is hard to imagine any other team having a player like him for this long period of time. There is a tendency in Pakistan selectors to overlook some very talented players while keep giving chances to players who look good on style but there is absolutely no substance. 4. Pakistani selectors destroyed the careers of many players but recent notables have been Asim Kamal & Fawad Alam . Selectors nearly killed off Misbah’s career as we...

By Sikander Hayat  Sarfraz Ahmad has scored a brilliant hundred against New Zealand and in doing so kept New Zealand lead to a minimum. This is his third hundred in this year and this makes him the first wicket keeper from Pakistan to score three hundreds in a calender year. Tail ender played well around him and especially the last wicket partnership frustrated New Zealand for a long time. HOME 

By Sikander Hayat Sri Lanka has beaten Pakistan in the 2nd T20 and has leveled the series 1-1. Pakistan lost the match in the first innings as Pakistani bowlers were unable to contain the Lankan batsmen who played brilliantly and with freedom that is associated with vintage Lankan batsmen of the previous generation. J ayasuria, Aravinda & Rana Tunga were the torchbearers of the older generation but the current generation has proved that baton has been passed to the correct people. Pakistani batsmen made a valiant effort to chase the score and in the end were 20 odd runs short of the target. This is good practice for Pakistan for the coming T20 world cup as Pakistan has not been very good at chasing good totals and on odd occasions when Pakistani bowlers failed in their quest to restrict the opposition, Pakistani batting has been found wanting. In the end it was a very good effort by Pakistani batsmen like Sohail Tanweer ( who is turning into a bit of an all...