Fan-atics :"Captain Malik or Captain Mistake?"

A Distraught Pakistani and dear friend of the flyslip, Zaid, sent this one in.

Captain Malik or Captain Mistake?

I feel that twenty twenty cricket is the easiest form of the game to captain in. Shoaib Malik, Pakistan's young skipper, failed badly vs Sri Lanka in both matches. The first match he got away with, but if it was test or 50 over cricket the result would most probably be very different.

Malik's Mistakes vs Sri Lanka

1. (first match) captain Malik wins the toss and choses to bowl first on a pitch that is getting harder to bat on

2. (first match) Captain Malik brings Umar Gul on in the 15th over so he can only bowl 3 overs max (note gul took four wickets in those 3 overs)

3. (first match) Captain Malik comes into the match and plays one hell of a slow innings forcing other batsman to take risks and get out


4. (1st match) Captain Malik sends in Sohail Tanvir ahead of recognized batsman Fawad Alam and makes Pakistan's task more difficult

5. (2nd match) Captain Malik brings on Umar Gul too early and well...just watch this to see the result

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/-jh0QUJQuJ4&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/-jh0QUJQuJ4&rel=0</a>

6. (2nd match) Captain Malik brings on Akhtar in the 15th over...now this is where Gul would have been brilliant as shown in the next over Gul bowled who took a wicket and should have had another

Now after that Akhtar over the match was over. Now you say "why bring on Gul? he got hammered by a rookie!"

Well a few days before captain Malik said Gul is the best bowler with the old ball, so why bring him on in the 5th over and then why not bowl him when the opposition is under pressure rather than giving it to the out of form Shoaib Akhtar.

All this one a short T20 match. Malik's time as skipper is running out. I would take anyone as captain now- Afridi, Misbah, Younis, or even Yousuf

Canada cup- it is upon us!

The series is now officially on Cricinfo.

While the Canadian immigration officers were distracted by New Zealands record breaking performance, the Zimbabwe team got past their border.

Shoaib got his Visa, MoYo dint.

Of course there was a selection saga in Pakistan and somebody resigned because the PCB picked something like 10 openers. Apparently you don’t need so many or something.

So we are ready to play ball. Today.
The excitement is killing me, Don’t deny it, I know you are feeling the same.

After all, this series is going to provide some competitive cricket, Its not like the Final is already a given before a ball is bowled.

In the meantime, Rover, our international correspondent who follows the Sri Lankan team all over the world sent in this snippet from his interview with Splendid Mendis.

Rover: So, Ajantha, what does it feel like to be playing cricket in Canada?
Splendid Mendis: “Mata bohoma seethalay” (I feel very cold) (Mata= I, Bohoma=Very, Seethalay= Cold)

Rover, who doesn’t speak a word of Sinhalese, had to turn to Sri Lankas UN appointed interpreter, Mahela Jayawardene for the translation

MJ:”He says he feels very cool under pressure, And he isn’t afraid of anyone cuz he’s in the Sri Lankan Army”

Rover said he felt that something was lost in translation, we have no reason to doubt him.

For the Canada cup preview go here.