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Missing IPL is a blessing for Pak players

Friday, April 9, 2010 2:57 AM
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Shahid Afridi, the captain of Pakistan's squad for the World Twenty20, believes that not being selected to play in the IPL is a "blessing in disguise" for his players. "No I don't have any regrets at all. In a way it is a blessing in disguise for all our players that we are not playing in the IPL before the World Cup," Afridi told PTI.

"Given the problems that have besieged Pakistan cricket in recent months it is good that we have got time to work together as a team in the World Cup training camp, it has allowed us to settle down and focus on the World Twenty20," Afridi said.

Pakistan's cricketers were unanimously cold-shouldered by IPL franchises despite being put up for auction before the current season of the tournament. This was the second successive year that Pakistan players missed out on the IPL, after being left out of the 2009 edition due to political tensions between the two countries. On that occasion, Pakistan went on to win the World Twenty20 tournament that followed.

The Pakistan squad is undergoing rigorous training in Lahore in a bid to improve fielding and general fitness before the World Twenty20, and Afridi said it did not give his players time to follow the IPL. "We really are not following the IPL closely. We don't know who is playing or who is not playing because the purpose of holding this training camp has been to gel the players and allow them to prepare as a team for the World Twenty20," he said.

Being the captain and most senior member in the team, Afridi admitted he had to shoulder extra responsibility. "[If we win] I would definitely feel that I have achieved the biggest landmark of my career, I want the team to do well in the World Cup. It is a big ambition for me and I know as a senior player I will have to show the way in every department of the game," he said.

The World Twenty20 is scheduled to begin from April 30 with Pakistan slated to play Bangladesh and Australia in the league phase, on May 1st and 2nd respectively.

T20 Cricket: Batsmen re-discovering themselves

Sunday, April 4, 2010 6:44 AM
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The Indian Premier League (IPL) has transformed many slow batsmen into hard hitters. It is hard to imagine Mahela Jayawardene hitting 110 runs in 59 balls proving he has the ability to play whirlwind knocks. Jayawardene thus guided Kings Punjab XI to a splendid victory, chasing Kolkata Knight Riders' total of 200.

Similarly, Paul Collingwood too hit a splendid unbeaten 75 off 46 balls to help Delhi Daredevils down Royal Challengers Bangalore. Collinwood hit seven sixes in that match revealing that he can be as good as his England teammate Kevin Pietersen, who is considered their hardest hitting batsman.

Collingwood and Jayawardene are the type of batsmen who rarely attempt to hit powerful or wild shots and so no one ever expects them to swell the score at a brisk pace. In fact, when they bat, it's rare to spot a fielder on the boundary line. So it must have been shocking for Kolkata skipper Sourav Ganguly, who has played many matches against Jayawardene in international cricket, to see such a transformation.

Jayawardene, like Sachin Tendulkar, does not believe in hitting sixes, and he too showed that boundaries can produce the same effect like the big sixes. His innings contained 14 boundaries and only three sixes, but he did more harm than Kolkata's Chris Gayle, who cracked 88 runs with eight sixes.

Making a point

Jayawardene's inning was nothing but a reflection of his fighting spirit. He must have been really disappointed by the string of defeats to his team and wanted to make a point.

Collingwood's innings mainly showed his love for the IPL. In a chat with him in Dubai during the Pakistan-England series recently, he clearly expressed his passion for the IPL and urged authorities to create a window for the IPL in the international calendar so that England players too can participate in it.

Until recently, England players rarely hit hard, and Twenty20 cricket has helped many to even change their batting approach. So, if at all England does well in the oncoming Twenty20 World Cup, a lot of it can be attributed to their IPL experience.

Cricket nations should no longer view IPL as just another domestic tournament, but as an event that can help them become champions in the Twenty20 format of the game.

Both Jayawardene and Collingwood have clearly shown that batsmen too can be as unpredictable as the result of an IPL match. On their day they can be as dangerous as any reputed hard hitter.

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