Raina grabs opportunity with both hands

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Not for the first time the injury or illness to a key player paved the way for someone waiting in the wings for quite sometime and the opportunity was grabbed with both hands. Suresh Raina was certainly not in the scheme of things when the Indian think-tank sat together to field their strongest possible outfit in the second Test to prevent hosts Sri Lanka from running away with the series.

Yuvraj Singh was the obvious choice for the number six slot despite having failed in both the outings of the first Test after that fluent century in the only warm-up game. As the luck would have it the experienced but enigmatic left-hander was declared unfit and Raina was handed over the Test cap finally.

Yes it had been a long wait for the enterprising Raina whose exceptional talent had made him a permanent member of Indian limited overs team for the past few years. In fact he had already played in 98 One-day Internationals and would have certainly played many more before his Test debut if Yuvraj had not been ruled out at the eleventh hour.

Raina had to spend the first couple of days in the Test arena doing leather chasing as the Sri Lankans scored heaps of runs after winning the toss. Although the ever-brutal Virender Sehwag had got off to a cracking start the Indians had a mountain to climb in order to save the game.

As we have become used to watching it there was a batting collapse after the fall of Sehwag for 99 and all of a sudden the batting paradise of SSC Colombo had started to look a favoured strip for the home bowlers.

The Indians, having been hammered in the previous Test, were in danger of yet another crushing defeat when debutant Raina came in to join Sachin Tendulkar, who had witnessed the cheap dismissals of the big guns Rahun Dravid and VVS Laxman at the other end.

Raina didn’t show any sign of nerves apparently while tackling the young Sri Lankans spinners who were dominating the seasoned Indian batsmen yet again. With Tendulkar as assured as ever at the other end he had the opportunity of discussing the strategy in the middle overs.

The presence of Tendulkar and the experience of 98 ODIs must have played a huge part in Raina remaining cool and calm throughout the length of his innings which turned it around for his side.

A century for him was very much on the cards on the fourth day and he didn’t let go the opportunity. He was consistently attacked with the short-pitched stuff but he did show the resilience to negotiate everything with confidence.

He was up to the task whenever the ball was pitched to him and he was not afraid to drive them gracefully towards the fence. He took his chances when the spinners tested him with flight and his couple of sixes reflected him being in total control.

Raina’s century on Test debut provides another worthy option for the Indian middle-order that does need someone as dashing as him at number six. He would obviously be needed to prove his mettle on the bouncy pitches abroad before he could be permanently slotted there.

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Mahmood Lodhi to be honoured for winning national chess title yet again

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The Mind Sports Association of Pakistan (MSAP) has decided to celebrate the accomplishment of International Master Mahmood Lodhi who recently improved his own record of winning the national chess title for the 12th time.

Tariq Rasheed Khan, Director, MSAP, has announced that a befitting ceremony is being planned in the honour of Mahmood Lodhi who emerged triumphant in the 27th National Chess Championship 2010 that concluded at the Jinnah Stadium in Islamabad the other week

Mahmood Lodhi won the recently held National Championship by securing nine points in the competition played under the 11-rounds Swiss League System in which Aamir Karim and Akram Wasim, both of them also from Punjab, shared the second position by aggregating 8.5 points each while the next position was shared with eight points each by Tanvir Gilani (WAPDA), Salman Farooqui (Sindh), Anwar Qureshi (Railways), Mohammad Waqar (Sindh), Dr Murtaza Ali (Punjab), Noman Mustafa (Sindh) and Mohammad Shahzad (Punjab).

He has participated in various international tournaments over the years but due to financial constraints he also has had to miss quite a few events during this period that has denied him the sought after Grand Master title.

“Mahmood Lodhi is an asset for the country and the MSAP will do everything to facilitate him in his quest to become the country’s first Grand Master of chess which will indeed be an honour to Pakistan as well,” Tariq Rasheed noted.

The Gujranwala-based Mahmood Lodhi has remained jobless for a long time after having been relieved by the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) despite having been crowned as the national champion on the highest number of occasions.

It’s really a pity that an athlete of the calibre of Mahmood Lodhi, having earned laurels for the country in the limited opportunities coming his way besides ruling the chess arena at the national level for so long, has remained unemployed over the years despite the tall claims of the successive government being sports-friendly.

Even the administration of Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali couldn’t do justice with him when there was a lot of talk about the sportsmen getting their due quota of jobs.

The Chess Federation of Pakistan (CFP) is also to be blamed for not having pleaded the case of their most valuable asset in the manner he deserved.

On the contrary the national record holder has had grievances with the functionaries of the federation who are believed to have created hurdles for him instead of taking care of him.

Mahmood Lodhi has got a new lease of life after being taken in their folds by the MSAP whose officials have proved by their acts that they really desire to facilitate the national champion in accomplishing his cherished goal of rising to the coveted rank of a Grand Master.

He thoroughly deserves the consistent support he’s being extended by the MSAP at what probably is the most critical phase in his career. He does have the eagerness and the talent to scale greater heights.

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Brilliant Shabbir extends purple patch

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Mohammad Shabbir Iqbal, the country’s leading golfer, extended his brilliant run by clinching the professionals’ title in the Byco 12th Sindh Opening Golf Championship which concluded at Arabian Sea Country Club in Karachi on July 25.

The 33-year-old Islamabad-based Shabbir overcame the difficulties of strong windy conditions on the third and final day of the competition as he demonstrated his prowess by having played two-under-par 70 third round to end with an aggregate of 204. By retaining the Sindh Open title, he also completed a double, having annexed the Chief of Naval Staff Championship only the other week.

The settings at the Arabian Sea Country Club (ASCC), with cloud cover and all tees pulled back, were indeed presenting ideal golfing conditions but the strong winds did pose a challenge and only the skilled campaigners were able to do it with precision.

The President of the Byco Petroleum, Kaleem Siddiqui, was the chief guest in the prize distribution ceremony and he presented the glittering silver trophy to Shabbir Iqbal with a purse of Rs 173,850 while runner-up Matloob Ahmed received Rs 119,036 and third placed Mohammad Munir collected Rs 66,880.

The Chief of the ASCC, Arif Ali Khan Abbasi, one of the famed sports personalities, was also present in the presentation ceremony alongwith the livewire Vice President of the Sindh Golf Association (SGA) Asad I.A.Khan and the proactive Tournament Director, Dr Tariq Raz.

The ASCC has been playing host to the various leading golf events and the facilities over there have always been to the liking of the participants as well as the covering media.

Back to the action in the golf course, Shabbir played the rounds of 67, 67 and 72 on the final day to lead the pack of 40 golfers.

Matloob Ahmed of Lahore Gymkhana, who was enjoying a one-stroke lead over Shabbir at the start of the proceedings on the final day, slipped to the second position after playing two-over-par 74 to end with a total of 207. He had played a splendid six under-66 on the second day of the Championship.

Muhammad Munir from Islamabad secured third position with rounds of 67, 71 and 71 while Imdad Hussain of Railways produced the best round of three-under-par 69 to secure the fourth slot.

Suffian Dhaduk of Dreamworld Golf Club won the amateur gross event with score of 224 while Muhammad Rehman of Royal Palm Beach Club ended as runner-up.

Umair Saleem of Karachi Golf Club won the net event with total of 209 while Wajid Ali was the runner-up with 215. The U-18 event was claimed by Daniyal Asim of DHA Golf Club who carded 88 gross while Hamza Ghani, also from the same club, was runner-up with total of 80.

Meanwhile Shabbir Iqbal, in a media interview, stated that with proper support and sponsorship he had the ability to excel at the Asian Professional Golf Tour.

“I have already done well on the Asian PGA tour and finished fourth in Pakistan Open (part of the Asian Tour) in 2007 in Karachi. But without international exposure you cannot raise the standard of your game. If a Pakistani can finish among the top four in the presence of top golfers from across the world it means they are good enough for the Asian Tour,” Pakistan’s top golfer reckoned.

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Heart-broken Ponting accepts blame for loss

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Ricky Ponting was not the only ‘culprit’ in Australia’s shocking defeat at the hands of the struggling Pakistan outfit in the second Test at Headingley but his decision to bat first was certainly something beyond comprehension.

Winning and losing is obviously a part and parcel of the game but allowing a rival to dominate that’s in disarray itself is not expected from a side known for not giving up against the toughest of rivals.

Ponting has been the architect of many famous victories but at the moment he’s at the centre of a controversy as the cricket entuhisiasts all over the world still remain surprised why had he chosen to bat when he could have simply sealed the series by inserting the inexperienced batting line-up on the first morning.

"There's no doubt it's had a big impact on it," Ponting said of his decision to bat first after winning the toss.

"That is my responsibility to get those sort of things right. The wicket was dry and it had surface cracks. It certainly wasn't something you expected to seam all over the place, but it did that. Any decision that is made like that is obviously the captain's and when you have a loss like we've had, it's the responsibility of the captain as well. The buck stops with me," he stated.

The conditions in Headingley on the first morning were such that would have tested even the greatest batsmen on earth. Well Ponting himself faced the music after his openers were unable to weather the storm for long.

It’s not often to find Australia getting skittled for 88. They still had the potential to recover as they had done several times in the past. But nothing was to go Ponting’s way in this game as his front-line fast bowlers failed to exploit the conditions.

Obviously if Ponting had to turn to Shane Watson, Steve Smith or Marcus North for wickets it clearly meant that the men expected to do the job were not delivering and the captain was under additional pressure.

Great teams usually recover from the tightest of corners because they are not depending on just a few individuals and they have a whole lot of match-winners. So has been the case of Australia under Ponting for quite sometime now.

Ponting, to his credit, had done well, prior to the Headingley Test, to have got the best from his young side whose never-say-die abilities were admired and feared by the opponents.

It was almost unbeliavable to imagine the Australian batting as well as bowling to flop in the same game. Add to this the blunder of batting first after winning the toss and the situation was such that no team could have escaped disaster.

The misfiring pace attack of Mitchell Johnson, Doug Bollinger and Ben Hilfenhaus let Ponting down miserably after the batters had collpased on the first morning. It was amazing to find them bowling all over the place making it very difficult to set fields for them.

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Australia play terribly poorly to lose to Pakistan finally

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Yes Australia had to play far too poorly to lose a Test match to Pakistan and they finally managed to do it at Headingley. Considering the huge gap in the strength of the two teams the Aussies had to play much below their potential to deny themselves another series win against their demoralized rivals.

Ricky Ponting deserved full credit for having allowed Pakistan to come from behind and square the two-Test series against the heaviest of odds.

Pakistan had yet another new captain for the Test match in Salman Butt and the composition of their team reflected as much uncertainty as in the past. There were changes in the line-up as usual and there was nothing to suggest that they had the ammunition to undo the Australians.

A lot has already been written and spoken about the blunder Ponting committed by electing to bat after having called it correctly. To cut the long story short I don’t think the Australian captain was in his senses when he made probably the most horrible decision of his captaincy career.

Everybody knew that traditionally the Australian captains preferred to put runs on the board to bring their opponents under pressure rather than insert them into bat. But there have been exceptions and they have also gambled and succeeded.

May be Ponting and the Australian think-tank took Pakistan very non-seriously and they didn’t mind batting first even in the overcast conditions on a lively pitch offering plenty of swing to the bowlers.

The Pakistanis could not believe their luck when Ponting made the outrageous decision because they knew that they were being offered a lifeline.

It became evident within a couple of hours that Ponting had committed a suicide and Australia had to play a catching game afterwards. In the past they had been successful in the damage control exercises but they looked out of sorts in this particular match to finally it by three wickets on the fourth morning.

It’s not certainly enough for the Australians to have just gone down fighting. They had to pull it back from somewhere but they lacked the purpose that had been the hallmark of their team until not too distant past.

How often would one see Michael Hussey drop a sitter in the gulley region or watch Shane Watson make a mess of a regulation slip catch? Their fast bowlers were all over the place on a pitch they could have exploited much better. It was one of those games which they would like to forget quickly.

Pakistan, on the other hand, have cashed in. They have to thank their stars as the prayers have moved the mountain once more. When the luck is on their side they become invincible with even the weakest of arsenals.

Whether the inexperienced Pakistan side with a new captain deserved to win the game or not is a matter to debate but there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Australia played terribly badly to let themselves down and draw the series instead of taking it once more. What next skipper Ponting?

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Shaukat Omari inaugurates KPC Table Tennis tourney

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The Honorary Secretary of the Karachi Table Tennis Association (KTTA), Shaukat Omari, inaugurated the Karachi Press Club’s Table Tennis Tournament at the Club’s Khoja Hall on July 22.

The table tennis tournament is a part of the Karachi Press Club’s Summer Sports Festival 2010 being held with the support of the sports department of the Government of Sindh. The competitions in snooker, chess, scrabble and badminton have already been completed.

It may be recalled that the KPC Summer Sports Festival 2010 was opened by Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui, Secretary, Sports and Youth Affairs to the Government of Sindh, in a very impressing ceremony on June 30.

Shaukat Omari, an active social worker besides being a former table tennis champion, placed on record his appreciation for the officials of the Karachi Press Club to have revived the Sports Festival that used to be quite a sought after event in the past.

The inauguration ceremony of the table tennis tournament turned out to be quite lively in the presence of a large number of media corps. After performing the formality of cutting the ribbon, Shaukat Omari played a couple of big rallies with Khurram Baig, Secretary of the KPC’s Indoor Games Committee.

There were no speeches on the occasion but the KTTA Secretary could not conceal his feelings and he was friendly enough to share them with the media.

“I am really thrilled to watch my media friends taking to table tennis so seriously,” he observed in a friendly chat while a group of enthusiastic KPC members displayed their talents on the table in the air-conditioned hall.

“I think it would be a better idea to have more than one table, space permitting. Table Tennis, besides providing recreation, is also very helpful in burning calories and the busy media professionals can have a game or two in the limited space between their pressing assignments,” Shaukat Omari suggested.

The KPC President, Imtiaz Khan Faran, complimented the Sports Committee for having done a fabulous job and he encouraged them to continue doing the good work despite the uncalled for and even senseless criticism from certain quarters.

He also announced that the Governing Body of the KPC was considering the proposal of building a mini-sports complex type of thing in the backyard.

Meanwhile a total of 19 entries were received for the KPC Table Tennis Tournament, being played on knockout basis.

The draws were taken out by Zulfiqar Ahmed, Joint Secretary, KTTA, in the presence of the participants and the KPC officials soon after the inauguration ceremony. The matches will start at 4 pm on July 23 with the semifinals and the final to be played on July 24.

Khurram Baig, Maqsood Hussain, Rashid Ali Khan, Ashraf Khan, Saddam Tufail Hashmi, Hasan Mansoor, Mohammad Azhar and Ehsan Qureshi were given a bye in the first round while the other KPC members to have entered the contest are Ubaid Narejo, Moosa Kaleem, Syed Javed Iqbal, Mahmood Ahmed Khan, Zeeshan Azmat, Khurram Ali Shah, Akhtar Baloch, Adil Jawwad, Maqbool Ahmed, Jamal Khurshid and Nasim Rajput.

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Ifs and Butts ought to destroy Pakistan cricket further

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

There’s another twist in Pakistan cricket with the appointment of a new captain in the middle of a tour. Barely a few weeks ago Shahid Khan Afridi was handed over the responsibility of leading the team throughout the summer in England in all three formats of the game.

But rather dramatically Shahid, following the 150-run defeat at Lord’s in the first Test against Australia on July 16, announced his decision to retire from the Test arena after the second and final game against Ricky Ponting’s side starting in a few days time at Headingley.

Ijaz Butt, who has been ruling the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for the past couple years by hook or by crook, was believed to have stepped in to deny Shahid the opportunity of playing his final Test at Headingley.

Ijaz, availing yet another foreign tour, is very much in England these days. He is understood to have intervened in the team matters as he always feels it’s his prerogative to do so. He has chosen to pass the baton to Salman Butt with immediate effect and there will be no place for the one-Test skipper in the next game. What a shame!

If Shahid was good enough to be entrusted with the job for the whole of summer featuring six Tests there was no point in making him a persona non grata after just one failure.

Salman did play a couple of fighting knocks at Lord’s. In fact the only Pakistan batsman to come good in the trying conditions when the ball was darting around and the Australian quickies were right on money.

Isn’t it a pity that Salman, just having reached the peak of his career as an opening batsman, is being burdened with captaincy? He would have been much better off playing his natural game without performing the additional and more critical duty of uniting a team that has been shaken once more.

It looks like another blunder by the bigger Butt who is just not prepared to look beyond his own self. Many of his decisions have already harmed the Pakistan cricket enormously but it looks like as if all eyes are closed and nobody is prepared to take him on.

Those having dared challenging Ijaz Butt over his alleged wrongdoings have been shown the door such awesome has been his clout in the corridors of power with his brother-in-law Chaudhary Ahmed Mukhtar, an influential Federal Minister, having given him the license to do things as he wishes even if the national interests are compromised.

The heads of the PCB have been in the firing line in the past as well but nobody seems to have caused as much damage to the Pakistan cricket as Ijaz Butt has done in a matter of two years. With no signs of any accountability or anything close to it there’s very little chance of getting things back in order.

The temperamental Ijaz Butt, who’s not prepared to follow merit in any of his decisions, has considered himself above board all along and he has been treating the PCB like one of his briefcase companies where only the top man has the authority to every thing.

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Predictable result with changed characters, venue

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

There was nothing unfamiliar with the final result. Considering the wide gap between the two sides there was hardly an element of surprise in watching Australia overpower Pakistan by 150 runs in the first Test at Lord’s with over a day to spare.

The match was won and lost on the basis of first innings and there was not much Pakistan could have done to prevent another defeat at the hands of their fancied rivals who possessed far greater depth and experience in the batting department.

It went to the credit of the Pakistan bowlers, however, to have tested the mighty Australian middle-order and cut them to size in conditions which were not ideal for free flowing strokes.

Australia, having been floored in both the Twenty20 Internationals prior to the start of the two-Test series, might have desired to win the first Test a bit more convincingly but in the end they must have been satisfied with what they really achieved even after not being in total control.

Simon Katich, who is not as flamboyant as Mathew Hayden or as secured as Justin Langer, rose to the occasion in both the outings to save his team from embarrassment. It’s not often that the trio of Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey fails to dominate the bowling but it was one of those games where they were unable to dictate terms.

Australia collapsed in both their innings despite the heroics of Katich. They were unable to build a score they would have liked and it was left to their bowlers to expose the inexperienced Pakistan batting line-up which they did.

How often does one see Australia lose their way after being in the driving seat? They were in a commanding position after the 120-run third wicket stand between Katich and Clarke yet they struggled to post a total of 250.

Australia made amends by bowling Pakistan out for less than 150 that gave them a more than handy lead of 100 in what was more likely to be a low scoring affair.

The start to the Australian second innings was more assured than the first one but another middle-order collapse from a position of strength reflected the vulnerability of their top-class batsmen. It was really amazing to see Ponting, Clarke and Hussey perish so quickly one after another on the second evening.

Katich turned out to be unlikely bowling hero and even unlikelier bowlers stole the limelight. Shane Watson swung the ball appreciably on the second afternoon to rip through Pakistan’s batting and was rewarded with a five-wicket haul.

Then just as the sun came out and the batting conditions eased out Pakistan’s batsmen grabbed the opportunity of helping themselves for some runs which didn’t threaten the Aussies but the game was stretched to the fourth day.

Pakistan could have seriously considered themselves in a position to win the game even while chasing a fourth innings target of 440 if the opponents were anyone other than Australia.

The Pakistan batsmen took the off-spin of Marcus North for granted and obliged him with a haul of six wickets. Their act was not too dissimilar to the ones in Australia a few months ago when they had gone after Nathan Hauritz to gift him five-for a couple of times.

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