The Cricketer with Mansoor Ahmed
Not sure if you have noticed, but there seems to be en endless stream of cricket being played by most cricket playing countries at the moment. Even a die-hard cricket fan like me is getting a bit fed up with meaningless ODIs and Twenty20 matches around the world. I feel sorry for Indian and Pakistani players who have been asked to turn up in Ireland and Scotland respectively to play a series of One Day Internationals. I wonder how they mange to motivate themselves for such games, which are primarily played for TV audiences. I believe this oversupply of matches will not only burn out the players but de-value the game. Look at what happened to the likes of Virender Sehwag, who was scoring 100s for fun not long ago but now, can’t seem to get past 20 and has been left out of Indian squad to play England. I wonder how many of us can remember the last home series’ played by India or Pakistan or what the results were!
I wish the likes of ARY Digital, Sony and Zee TV would telecast other sports involving sub continent countries, like football, hockey, tennis and athletics.
Whilst we await the PCB to announce the next coach of Pakistan having short-listed 3 candidates, Geoff Lawson, Richard Done and Dav Whatmore, stories and rumours have started surfacing as to who the players want. It seems that some players are shy of had work and would like to see a soft personality like Bob Woolmer. I’d like to see Dave Whatmore get the job. If not, they should appoint an army general to knock some of these lazy bums into shape and help them focus. I feel that Pakistan cricket team is a bit like Pakistani politicians, who need a powerful army supreme to keep them in check.
As the Indians prepare to take on England, I am really excited by the prospect of Monty Panesar bowling to some of the best players of spin the game has ever seen. I feel Monty will surprise many people.
