ICC Champions Trophy 2013

Before the start of ICC Champions Trophy 2013, Pakistan Team was being considered as the strong contender for the title. But all expectations have proved wrong and all their efforts and plans went in vain. After losing their first match to West Indies by 2 wickets, Pakistan lost their 2^nd and 3^rd match to South Africa and arch-rivals India respectively and eliminated from the tournament with null performance. Senior batsmen like Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal and Imran Farhat were seemed struggling throughout the event. Pakistan team didn’t manage to pass the total score of 170 runs in any match of the tournament.

Champions Trophy 2013 is being played in England and Wales. As the conditions are difficult for Pakistan, they had a training camp in Abbotabad with similar conditions as in England and Wales. They also played two One Day Internationals with Scotland and Ireland before Champions Trophy. But after all these efforts, the performance of our national team was very shameful. Bowlers did the fantastic job by limiting opponent teams to a small total however batting was totally flop. In all three group matches, only captain Misbah ul Haq and Nasir Jamshed were able to do job with the bat. Except both of them, whole batting line up of Pakistan was considered as totally flop.

Opener Imran Farhat Dismisal in ICC Champions Trophy

Captain Misbah ul Haq was very disappointed with his team’s performance. Keeping in mind he is the top scorer from Pakistan throughout the tournament.

“Disappointing performance again with the bat, the weather also played a part as it was difficult to get in and out so many times. In this sort of format, it is too short for the teams because you have one bad day at the start of the tournament; you are almost out of it,” said Misbah at the presentation ceremony.

Former cricketers and other sports journalists have also criticized Pakistan team on their performance. They said that either Pakistan team is lacking talent or skills or they have problems with confidence, temperament and self-belief. They made demand with to groom the youngster and bring big changes in the team. Wasim Akram said,

"I don't know if there is lack of ability in our players or there's some psychological problem, but drastic steps should be taken."

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Death of a True Hero - Big Loss for the Nation

Dr Muhammad Ali Shah was a renowned Orthopedic surgeon, Sindh Chief Minister special advisor and formal sports minister of Sindh. He was also a member of governing board of Pakistan Cricket Board. He was not only a distinguished orthopedic surgeon but also a good player of cricket and a promoter of sports. He was also elected as a member of Sindh Assembly from PS – 103 in the general elections of 2008 on an MQM ticket.

Dr Muhammad Ali Shah

               He was born on Oct 26^th, 1946 in Bareilly, India. His family migrated to Pakistan. He passed his intermediate examination in 1965 and then completed his graduation from DOW Medical College in 1970. He earned his MRCS fellowship from Royal College of Surgeons, England, in 1976, LRCP from Royal College of Physicians, London, in 1978, FRCS from Royal College of Surgeons, Glasgow and Edinburgh, in 1978 and LMSSA from University of London in 1980.

               Dr Shah has 2 wives and three sons. He was the son of a retired judge Syed Asghar Ali Shah. He had a passion for cricket. He built a cricket stadium in North Nazimabad, Karachi, named after his father, to indulge his passion. In appreciation for his contribution in sports, he was awarded Pride of Performance in 1996, Tamgha-i-Imtiaz in 2003 and Sitara-i-Imtiaz in 2009. His love for sports also took him to different countries including Austrailia, UAE, South Africa, India, New Zealand, UK, USA, etc.

               He was also associated with different organizations. He was the president of Pakistan Orthopedic Association, president of Karachi Cricket Association, president of Karachi Region, PCB, president of Private Hospital and Clinical Association, president of Sindh Olympic Association and an English Cricket Commentator at Radio Pakistan.

               Dr Shah resigned from the Sindh Assembly in December on account of possessing dual nationality. He was currently serving as an advisor to the Chief Minister of Sindh. Last year he successfully organized cricket matches between World XI and Pakistan XI in Karachi providing a return of international cricketers to the country when no country was willing to undertake a tour. He also had announced plans of a hockey match along the same lines.

Dr Mohammad Ali Shah with Shahid Afridi and Sanath Jaysuriya

               Dr Mohammad Ali Shah was a cancer patient. He was undergoing the process of chemotherapy in a hospital in Houston, USA. During this process he had a heart attack and left this world. He died on 4^th Febraury, 2013 in Houston at the age of 67. The death of Dr Muhammad Ali Shah is a great loss for Pakistan. His all friends and colleagues are very disappointed on his death. MQM chief Altaf Hussain expressed deep sorrow over the demise and express his condolence to his family. 

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President Trophy: Another Title for Misbah as Captain

After the announcement of long awaited President Trophy Grade-I Final by PCB, final was played between teams of Habib Bank Limited (HBL) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL). It was played on 14 January 2012 to 18 January 2013 at National Stadium, Karachi. These teams also included many stars of Pakistan national team including Misbah ul Haq, Younis Khan, Umar Gul, Umar Akmal, Adnan Akmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq and others.

Captain Misbah ul Haq

               SNGPL team was led by Pakistan’s national team's skipper Misbah ul Haq and Younis Khan led HBL team. HBL won the toss and invite SNGPL to bat first. Misbah led from the front from the very first day of final match. As SNGPL loses 3 wickets for only 49 runs, 38 years old give a strong support to his team by making unbeaten 85 runs and take team total to 283 runs. Inform batsman Ali Waqas also contributed 83 runs. Fahad Masood of HBL clinched 5 wickets for 67 runs.

Misbah ul Haq playing shot

               In their first innings, HBL batsmen were struggling throughout the whole innings. They bowled out for the total of only 137 runs. Ahmed Shahzad played a good knock of 79 for his team. Mohammad Hafeez took 4 wickets for only 16 runs.

               SNGPL was leading with 146 runs. In their 2^nd innings, SNGPL batting line up failed to establish against the good pace bowling of Umar Gul. Umar Gul’s Hat-Trick destabilized SNGPL batting line and they were dismissed only for 182 runs. Umar Akmal was the highest scorer for SNGPL who scored 76 runs. Umar Gul bowling figures were 6-67.

Umar Gul Celebrating after taking wicket

               Chasing the target of 329 runs, HBL started the innings and finished day 4 on the score of 159 for 6. At the start of final day of the final match, Imran Farhat was the only hope for HBL to lead their team towards the victory. But no one succeeded to have victory for HBL. Remaining 4 batsmen dismissed at the total score of 253 and lose the match.

Imran Farhat

               At last, Mr Patient Misbah ul Haq snatched the President Trophy title for his team by 75 runs after beating Younis Khan’s side. He has been continuing his victorious journey in different national and international tournament as captain since 2001, winning different national and international titles for his team, including defeat to World Cup holders in recent bilateral ODI series.

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BPL without Pakistan

Finally, Pakistan Cricket Board has declined to allow its player to play in Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2013. PCB has not issued No Objection Certificate (NOC) to the Pakistani cricketers to play in BPL. BPL 2^nd Edition will be ahead without any Pakistani Players. PCB’s spokesman Subhan Ahmed told BCB that no Pakistani player has issued NOC until BCB gave them a confirmation and a schedule for Bangladesh tour of Pakistan.

Bangladesh Premier League (BPL)

               51 Pakistani players have signed the contracts to play in BPL 2013, but not a single player is going to represent in BPL this year. However, Pakistani players are more popular in Bangladesh but PCB has pulled out its player from Bangladesh domestic T20 tournament. These players include Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Shoaib Malik, Saeed Ajmal, Imran Nazir, Umar Akmal, Ahmed Shehzad and others.

               PCB also said that if any board wants to approach players, it should approach their parent board and seek for their approval. They didn’t tell PCB about the tournaments condition and seek permission at the very last moment. It is embarrassment when boards are bypassed and players are approached directly, the PCB said.

               A spokesman for the PCB said:

“We have no report from Bangladesh about their plan to tour Pakistan before the start of the league and we have not yet taken any decision whether to release the players for the league or not,” 

Imran Nazir playing BPL 2012

               Pakistan was focusing towards the Bangladesh tour to Pakistan to play a T20 and an ODI this month which would be its first international game since 2009. But the BCB has cancelled the tour saying that Pakistan is not safe for their players. BCB has decided to send its security team to Pakistan to have a report about security, and sought more days from PCB. But till Tuesday, there was no development in this area.

               the BCB chief said:

“Now we have decided that BPL would go ahead without Pakistani players. With the competition just two days away, they backed out. This is an unexpected and uncalled-for situation. The second edition of the BPL is a challenge for us. We have also communicated with all 7 franchises and have told them to choose replacements”

               PCB has desperately been making efforts to convince an international cricket team to organize a successful tour in Pakistan. Pakistan has not played any international cricket in their home since the militant attack on the Sri Lankan Cricket Team in March 2009. It has been playing its home tour on a neutral venue and has been doing many efforts to arrange a tour at home.

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