But the company is so crammed with talented, testosterone-driven heroes that their absence shouldn't necessarily hamstring its forthcoming campaign. Subedar Major I.U. Haq has great phlegm and can hold a position forever. Lance Naik Afridi, urf Shaheed, (sometimes reduced to the ranks for recklessness beyond the call of duty), can turn a skirmish into a rout single-handed, but it is never clear whether his actions will cause Pak Company to be the router or the routee. Naib Subedar Yousuf, always a fine marksman, has in the past year become infallible, his conversion ratio of shots to hits nearly perfect. Subedar Y. Khan, a fine strategic thinker and no mean shot himself, was long ago singled out by Colonel I. Khan (no relation) as officer material.

One of the recurrent frustrations of Pak Company has been its inexplicable failure to defeat the Light Blues in world tourneys despite defeating them in other, bilateral battles. Subedar Major Haq has been working on this with Pak Company's new secret weapon: the prayer huddle. This formation's solitary drawback is the possibility of being ambushed from behind while bonding in faith. Naib Subedar Yousuf, however, has solved that problem by suggesting that Sepoy Kaneria, surplus to requirement in the prayer huddle as Yousuf himself once was, ought to act as a look-out.

On the face of it, Pak Company shouldn't have a prayer this time round: it comes to the tournament without its fastest and best bowlers, uncertainty about its opening pair, and a recurrent tendency to come unglued in moments of stress. Colonel Khan, who is an expert witness as far as Pakistan is concerned, thinks that the team's preparation for the World Cup has been the worst ever that he can recall and I'm not going to argue with him.

But if I was a betting man looking for big returns on a small investment, I'd put some money on Inzamam's men. The Pakistan team has two things going for it:

a) The absence of Shoaib Akhtar is a huge bonus whether the team knows it or not. The operatic absurdness of his behavour subverted the authority of the coach and deranged the whole team.

b) Pak Company is never short of talent. It's selectors behave like fickle recruiting sergeants, drafting in gifted eagle-eyed rookies and then dumping them after a skirmish or two. A case in point is Sepoy A. Mehmood, a fine all-terrain fighter, forced to seek foreign employment because he inexplicably fell out of favour. Most teams would find their cupboards bare after such prodigal behaviour, but Pakistan still has all the fast bowling talent it needs and in Afridi, Razzaq, Mehmood and Shoaib Malik, it has a string of ODI all-rounders who can, when the stars align and when they remember to put their brains in gear, turn matches on their own. It goes without saying that in Younis Khan, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Yousuf, the team has batsmen of real class.

Pakistan's largest liability is its captain, who seems to have outsourced inspiration and leadership to that offshore Entity, the great Call Centre in the Sky. Contrast the way Inzamam blundered about, clueless, in the team's confrontation with Darrell Hair, with Ranatunga's clinical, ruthless defence of Muralitharan when he was called for chucking in Australia. Whatever the rights and wrongs of those confrontations, Ranatunga was in charge of events while Inzamam was hostage to them. If World Cup rules (like those of the Davis Cup) allowed non-playing captains and if Colonel I. Khan was willing to fill that bill, Pakistan would a real contender for the Cup. Even without a first-rate captain, Pak Company remains a serious threat to every other team in the competition.

Mukul, I take my hat off to you. Reading between the lines in your flowery language, you can write nothing but things that are inflammatory. You are like the Prince Philip of cricket writing.

Good one,Mukul.But cannot agree more with Aditya-be prepared for vintage backlashing from across the border although strictly speaking there is nothing insulting or derogatory in the article. I shall pray for you nevertheless!!

This is the first time I have read any of your articles. I am a pakistani and I think you have expressed your feelings superbly - the good thing is you like the team and think that this team can still do well. I agree with you on that - I think this team will do well than their last appreance b'ce they are not under pressure and this is West Indies not south africa. And I think Krishna if you ever have a chance to travel accross the border you will find things much differently.

mukul, it looks like u really like to criticize other teams, dont you? just the other day, u labeled the west indies as "lara and the eleven dwarfs", and now u criticize pakistan. and wat on earth do u mean by "Sepoy Kaneria, surplus to requirement in the prayer huddle as Yousuf himself once was, ought to act as a look-out"?

You are the right person to write the "History".

Nice dramatization of key facts for Pak team. Hoping for an exciting WC after a long time.

It would be foolish to count pakistan out because they are so unpredictable. Inspite of being so unsure of themselves, they surpassed South Africa in the warm-up.
Their bowling attack is still competetive(unlike india where some bowlers lob pies at 100kmph to regain rhythm and lost glory!).

Their batting looks solid save No 1 and No2.It would be best to adopt a strategy similar to Srilanka in 1996.Not so great bowling, but impeccable batting strength.

Mukul, I think you took the metaphor to a degree of absurdity that I have never see in cricket journalism! Nevertheless, if you look beyond the self-gratification of the writing, this article does raise several interesting and pertinent points on the potential performance of Pakistan in the forthcoming World Cup. However, I would agree that the absence of Shoaib Akhtar may be a blessing in disguise for the team because of the following reasons:

(1) Whilst outright pace is perhaps always a significant component in any attack, I do not think that the wickets in the West Indies are overtly suited to express-pace. Ironically, the trick to bowling could be to take the pace off the ball which would make clearing the short boundaries on these grounds significantly more difficult.

2) The egotistical attitudes of Shoaib have perhaps never been conducive to the collectivism and team unity that is required to win a World Cup. He is more likely to cause disharmony and divisions within the dressing room, and the significant periods in which he has been injured have coincided with periods of great success and unity within the team.

However, I do disagree with your analysis of the captaincy of Inzamam. He is clearly someone who leads on the field by example rather than by words. Yes, that is perhaps a fault but his captaincy prior to the ball-tampering incident had brought a period of moderate stability to Pakistani cricket which had hitherto not been seen for many years when the captaincy seemed a mere merry-go-round. He appears to have the full respect and backing of the team (perhaps with the absence of Shoaib) which could not be said for the previous incumbents such as Wasim, Waqar and Moin Khan amongst others.

First-rate piece!Bouquets,not brickbats, from me.Colonel Khan--crusty, ignorant and dictatorial as ever, continues to bask in the vanished glory of one successful campaign waged in World Cup pre-history and deludes himself of the supposed infallibility of his dubious judgment.Finally. the Pakistanis should bow down in gratitude for having the speedsters absence being defined as an undisguised blessing.Bravo!!

Amazing work. i dont see anything insulting. In fact on the face of it you have been really kind to Pak and actually praised Imran (though not undeserved I must say). And i cant agree with you more, Shoaib not being in the team is a blessing for Pak. Maybe he would have made a difference in a short tournament, but he was always going to be a HUGE problem for them in a 2 month tour. And cant agree with you more about Haq and a non playing captian in imran. I think if Imran became their coach, and Younis the cappo, I wud fear for their opponents. As long as they have Haq as captain and Woolmer as caoch, there is trouble always round the corner and they can blow hot and cold.

i am surprise to see that krishna didnot think this article is insulting.if you consider this is not insulting(Looking at this endearing mob of M.A.S.H. style misfits, you wouldn't know that it is, in fact, a company of elite soldiers, first-rate fighting men. Those two big fellows over there in glitzy mufti, shamming injury, and suspected of emptying some dull opiate to the drains till a few weeks ago, were the squad's death-or-glory artillery boys, its big guns. Then their habits got to them. Now they're convalescing, poor chaps, certain to miss the big battles coming up) then hats off to you also

Its a balanced article.As a Pakistani,the first half can drove me to reply and send same type of topic for the indian team although I am someone who love India and after Pakistan supporting it for the wc champs.But the second half was in Pakistan's favour and to be honest my reply would have contain the same type of information you pasted.
Now personally,I think Aditya and Krishna are too worried but i would ask them that not many ppl will be against to what its been said in the article.My next comment will be posted when inshAllah Pakistan brings the wc back or even India because they r my two favorites.
This Pakistani team will surprise many-so immediately start writing a blog on it so you have much more time for other things as soon as the finals end of this wc.

The Indian war of independence of 1857 laid the way for the departure of the colonial powers 90 years later. The so-called sepoy brigade might do the same thing - pave the way for the Pakistan team to take a few future world cups, if not the present one. The nifty defeate of South Africa in the first skirmish proves the point.

Alas, the learned babu who writes this piece fails to conjure up other metaphors from the bygone era on Indian slavery - the portly NCO Haq may just as well be the Bakht Khan who won the initial battles, or the Rani of Jhansi, Mangal Pandays, Ishwiri Prasads (Yunus, Yusuf, Hafeez?)one might find in the present Pakistani team - a valiant group who might lose the war today, but put the East India company to route.

The learned(?) writer might do well to read the history of a historical event in greater detail before making comparisons - alas, all battlefields are not alike.

wow, what have you been reading? Like Aditya said, Vocabulary like this is absolutely mind blowing. But I agree with everything you said. Talent has never been an issue in Pakistan. The difference is Dicipline, and Champion mindset. As long they can't work on these two important things. They will stay the way they are right now. I wish, I could coach this Pakistani side for 1 WEEK. hahaha but I am DAMN serious about that

Mukul, you got it wrong,its not Sepoy Company, beware its the DIRTY DOZEN who are set to ruin all other contenders hope, this time history will repaet irself in a short cycle of 15 years !

A beautifully written article - glad to see that there are at least a few contributors to cricinfo who can construct a vivid extended metaphor that's just right both linguistically and conceptually.

I'm from across the border. I respect your views but have one comment. Why don't you call a spade a spade? Inzi is not good, Shoaib is not here, Asif is injured so Pakistan should lose. Simple.Why the ifs, buts and howevers? The glorious game of uncertainities or a run of the mill Indian view which thought Ganguly was way past prime and Aussie cricketers were rude in pushing the cricket board president. Just wondering!

Mukul, excellent. I read cricket blogs regularly but this time lines written by you took me to the battle field and i thought of some company commander who percive for the fight and analyze the situation. Everyone is saying the same about Pakistan Sepoys what you are saying but your style is different. I am thinking why there are few comments about your written blog. But good job Kesavan, only fiction man can write such lines from across the border.

On the whole, a nice assessment of Pakistan's contingent making its way to the BIG CUP. BUT....

(-- now for the "precedented" backlash frm "across the border". --)

Mr. Mukul, Sir, when exactly did you see Kaneria not being included in the team huddle?!! And your comment that it would be Yousuf keeping him out, was not naughty, it was below-the-belt. Add to that ur labeling Kaneria as 'sepoy', and it spoiled an otherwise cleverly written article. Kaneria is an integral member of the Pakistani team, whether you accept it or not. Cheers.

It's quite funny how you seem to refer to the Pakistani cricketers as army people. To refer them as army people, you are reviving the India-Pakistan rivalry in Cricket, as well as the war that takes place between these two nations' people.

Another bias method which seems to amuse me is how you've seemed to almost dismiss Pakistan's chances in the World Cup. You will be referring to Pakistan's 'big guns' as if they have got to where they are from almost drugs alone and that without them, Pakistan is almost nothing.

Then you write: "Pak Company is never short of talent," as if it makes up for the abuse you throw at Pakistan Cricket Team. Ofcourse, you won't directly find this abuse, you'll have to read between the lines ;)

To refer to the men in Pakistan's squad as 'talented, testosterone-driven...' shows disrespect as the reader just about that the writer is referring to males.

There is also a lot of disrespect for individual players as you will put words like 'phlegm', and words that show as if they are of a low status in the cricketing world, crammed into the same sentence to signify their 'respect.' However, you do then refer to the batsman, Yousuf, Inzi and Y. Khan has 'real class,' which seems to make the reader almost forget all the disrespect that has been said about the Pakistan squad.

More defence is used to make the reader almost forget the abuse of the Pakistanis by referring in the very last sentence as the Pak squad as a 'serious threat.'

Overall I think you have disrespected the Pakistan squad as if your counter-part, Kamran Abbasi, has been 'sledging' the Indian cricket team with small sly insults in his blogs to gain the respect of his fellow countrymen.

dude, what planet are you from?

Hello ..
I am a Pakistani supporter .... and this was some article ..... haha ... I really enjoyed it ..

Thank you for another great article. Perhaps you could have elaborated a line about Umar Gul who was Pakistan's best ODI bowler of the yesteryear.
Please note that Razzaq will not be playing in the world cup.

I don't have the desire to read the article through, it's too much effort to follow the metaphor. However, I've read enough to question on what evidence you base the assertion that Younis Khan is a "fine strategic thinker".

Also, as far as I can see, the "pre-modern state" remark refers to Pakistan as a country, which in my view is most certainly insulting and derogatory, in contrast to krishna's opinion.

Cricinfo in general is far above such cheap jibes, and I personally am beginning to question whether you are really the right person to run an Indian blog. That may sound harsh, but I assure you it's not personal - I have agreed with several of your cricketing observations. However, these are outnumbered by the majority of posts that are either irrelevant, ridiculous or offensive to much of your readership.

I found your sarcastic take on the religious angle petty and questionable. It clearly exposes your anti-Pakistan stance.Had it been one of the interactors indulging into such cheap shots, people would have skipped over but coming from someone who claims to love cricket, I find it pathetic.

Mukhul you have written a maserpiece and i support you tht Pakistan can be serious contenders like they beat Africa.Asif doesnt have a brilliant record in ODI's.

Indians couldnt come up with cheaper antics. What a provocative article. Pakistan will Beat India in this WC. Mark my words and read it over and over again. By the way Pakistan is the only team conducted tests on it's players. Has India conducted the tests ?...What a pathetic article by a garbage writer !!

And another point I'd like to mention is that this is supposed to be an Indian Blog, written about Indian Cricket, or am I wrong?

Simply insulting the rival and talking about Pakistan in a INDIAN blod doesn't quite seem to make sense for me. I was wondering, why are the sides of this page blue, and not green?

Well written. Inzy and co might have been awarded a few higher ranks. And Col Khan?? The way he led, he should have been Gen Khan!!

But Pakistan is a real contender for the cup no doubts, as long as they managed to stay disciplined at the crunch situations.

While absence of Mr.Akhtar could well be the gelling factor in the team but being rated as underdogs could well be the secret course into the castle. Lack of an innovative war plan, I feel, might not hurt as much as the dearth of producing an innings the Subedar is known for. It is getting evident that Mr.Haq is suffering from his weakening reflexes as his lackadaisical effort in his languorous innings of 45 not out against the South Africans in the recent series suggests. Its high time that he gets back to his old and let his bat talk to the media.

I think, Pakistan has a sea of gifted players. I agree with Mukul, about the absence of Shoaib Akhtar. However absence of Asif and Razzak is going to be a big blow to their preparations. I firmly believe a team having number of all rounders in one day game has a better chance of success. This was evident in India's victory in 83 as well as SriLanka in 96.
Pakistan may a good team to watch inspite of being in the situation that they are in.

Mukul, the flowery language and all is fine - but what is the point of this blog? The Pakistanis have Pak Spin, while the English and Australians have tons of people writing for them. We don't have a single blog expressing the Indian view - and clearly your blog is adding to waste. Please write something more relevant!

I hope Brig. General Woolmer has a plan for the openining troops that will hopefully bomard enemy troops. I also hope that he keeps giving 1st sergeant Sami hugs in the swiming pool to boost his confidence and destroy enemy lines by throwing that grenade of his.

You are writing an article a day before the cup's opening and you don't know Razzaq is out of the squad through injury? Hats off to your journalism!

Yes Mr.Mukul your writing is very flowery, keep in mind you are not writing an essay to pass your PHD exams or what not. I am not sure how you can criticize Pakistan's opening since Mr.Sehwag who needs to seriously loose major weight like honestly, I can go on and on but never mind. Australia has this worldcup locked down yet again.

Haven't read a cricket article like this for a while. Well done for being so original, although I bet it may well leave a lot of people scratching their heads.

i dont know about backlashing krishna .. but i think this frame of mind that across the border ppl will definately disagree will get us anywhere if u get my point... as far as sir ur article is concerned it was a masterclass although i still believe it will be a tough ask of inzi man to turn around a corner this time reasons being not shoib's absence thanks god for that but ...
1 without mohammed asif the attack lacks potency
2 the captaincy at best can be infantry
3 and a team filled with too many of those bits and pieces players that can on there day be destructive and win matches single handedly but there day on avg comes once every 50 matches unfortunately

though i being a hard core cricket fan and a pakistani team fan as well would still chear for the and chear for cricket cause pakistan win or loose if they fight good cricket definately wins
keep your fingers crossed
adios to you all
enjoy the game

Good analysis Mukul. I don't see anything wrong with this article. I think pakistan can be a surprise entry in the top four since they have no pressure whatsoever of doing so. But cannot agree more that inzi should lead by example and should be a bit more lively during the action. Just one comment which i found derogatory on timesofindia.com was the headline "no english please, we are pakistanis". I did'nt expect that from a reputed newspaper. I think we should avoid such inflammatory remarks. Just wanted to get it out of ma chest. peace

I am from Pakistan and would like to tell Krishna that I quite like this article and agree to most of things. I must also say that by assuming backlashing from acroos the border, you don't have to be ethnically or geographically discriminatory because it's not like that. Mukul, it is really a nice piece of writing and quite closely reflects the state of affairs of Pakistan cricket at the moment. Infact, I would suggest if you can send its copies to Dr. Nasim Ashraf and Wasim Bari. Thank you.

Mukul. You sound like an another frustrated follower of cricket from across the border who belongs to the losing breed of the die hard but deflated fans of the 80's n 90's. A typical mentality of grudge and hatred from a representative of a generation who has spent their youth with a phobia from the green tigers hich owes to embarassing surrenders.All i can say is that this Sub Major is capable of reminding your flop heroes of their true place which is nothing but on a stage arranged for a catwalk with some rotten bollywood tune in the background which would be a blend of some western copied music. All i can say is that try to find some formulas to get some fighting spirit in your over rated full time models cum part ime wannabe cricketers.
P.S. I hope this commment gets posted.

Mukul. You sound like an another frustrated follower of cricket from across the border who belongs to the losing breed of the die hard but deflated fans of the 80's n 90's. A typical mentality of grudge and hatred from a representative of a generation who has spent their youth with a phobia from the green tigers which owes to the embarassing surrenders from the soft blue and soft hearted models. This Sub Major is capable of reminding your flop heroes of their true place which is nothing but on a stage arranged for a catwalk with some rotten bollywood tunes in the background which would be a blend of some western copied music and an another copy of an already copied Bollywood classic oldie of the 70's. All i can say is that try to find some formulas to get some fighting spirit in your over rated full time models cum part ime wannabe cricketers.
P.S. I hope this commment gets posted. Though i must appreciate your sense of humour and creativity.;-)

haha...well-said (whatever I understood, in any case), a lot of critisim is quite fair. The captain is a libaility, indeed, because he is not only uninspirational but is bound to make errors in judgment on the field. But to a lot of us that is the beauty of Pakistan cricket: Undisciplined, and without a consitution indeed, we play cricket with an aura unique to us and don't give much to the betting man in terms of predictability. You never know which Pakistan will show up, which is never enough consolation for the opponents. In some senses, we bring to cricket what other teams fail to: drama, publicity, and at the end of the day, a good laugh. I have my fingers crossed for Pakistan, you hold your breath.

hahahaha! brilliant! lolz...i dont think theres gonna be or should be backLashing like krishna said, but this is an intriguing article, i wish u'd gone even further into your analogy...because the Palace (PCB) certainly is a crazy place! nicely written....and as for the Men in Blue, well, of course u had to mention it...but it didnt effect pak in 92, 99 or '03....hopefully this time it will effect India (in a bad way, hehe) and then the 70-30 record we have against India will come into real perspective..i hope Afridi clicks for a game against India!
interestin readin....and i also think can inzy is being put down too much...2yrs ago his captaincy had venom in india with his back towards the wall, i think for this SwanSong of his...u'll see him more animated...but regardless of animation, i think u'll see him more dedicated, concentrated, ruthless even (inshaAllah!)

Mukul, you just like playing to the gallery, don't you? I hope no one takes the bait to defend Pak and ignores this entry, because thats what this blog deserves.

I salute you Mukul... even though im from "across the border". I do agree with you, as I am sure a lot of Pkistanis do, when it comes to Pakistan's fickle selection policies. I do not think Pakistan is a serious contender this time around, although their unpredictability factor does make me an optimist.
This was one of the wittiest, tounge-in-cheek posts, and I would like to congratulate on that.
Shahzaib Quraishi.
Dallas, TX.

No, I am speaking from across the border. But there is nothing in the blog which can disturb someone even hardcore Pakistani cricket fans. It was one great piece of creativity with keeping everything in right perspective. We all are saying thanks for missing Shoaib for the cup. But Inzi still have a big role to play. We are not as optimistic of our chances as you are. Hopefully, we will turn out to be a fighting unit during the tournament. We just want our Sepoys to fight till the last drop of blood in their bodies. Everything will be fine whatever it might be after that.

Mukul,
I am extremely disappointed with the fact that you are allowed to write on Cricinfo blogs. First you write "Lara and Eleven Dwarfs" and now this one. Both articles speak volumes of your stupidity and ignorance. Reading these articles was disturbing, I sincerely ask you to please give us all a break. In the meanwhile work on the factual correctness of your articles instead of making your babbles more and more cryptic. Hope this helps.

Instead of hiding your aggression behind flowery prose (which is rather cowardly I might add), may I suggest that you think before you speak? As articulate as you are, you could've simply gotten to your point but I dare say, The BJP is preparing for the worldcup again? As a "Social Historian" why don't you practice your writing on something less inflammatory...for the sake of your kids and mine. Don't mix politics with sport, my friend.

"Most teams would find their cupboards bare after such prodigal behaviour, but Pakistan still has all the fast bowling talent it needs and in Afridi, Razzaq, Mehmood and Shoaib Malik...." Pray tell me, which Razzaq you are talking about?

wtf?

Mukul, I just love the way you write about the Pakistan cricket team, it's just so funny, but interesting at the same time!! I think it is fair to say that there is alot of dirty politics in the PCB. I think that the people of Pakistan would agree with me on that!! I think a good cricketer like Azhar Mehmood is being given a very raw deal by the PCB!! I also agree with you on the fact that Shoaib Akthar is the villain of world cricket. He is as guilty as sin and should have been banned from international cricket last year itself, but politics in the PCB got him out of jail!! I dont have anything personally against Pakistan, but I dont give them much of a chance to win this World Cup realistically!! I think that Pakistan should look at India and learn from us. They should not be so immature and fickle-minded in their outlook towards cricket!! I hope that Pakistan will understand this in good time!!

I never enjoyed reading you as much i did this time. I could not agree more . But i bet, they are coming in the action this time. I donot know but this is some how, the second nature of Pakistanis (not only the cricket team), to be inconsistent. You will never be able to predict what they are coming along with. Defeating Newzealand 2 times in a row in 1992 and then being defeated by Bangaldesh in 1999, is the feat done ONLY by Pakiz ever.

Any how, let see what Inzi has to offer this time. For some not-so-good reason , i beleive that this time either light-blues or green shirts are going to draw attention this time.

You, Sir, are a Hero. Never has such a tenuous analogy been stretched so far.

good post.... (pakistani poster)

Seems like you read few articles, put in your words in colorful way and post it. I was expecting more than that from archrivals. I agree at least on one point. By no means Underestimate Pakistan Cricket Platoon.

I am not sure whether these comments will be posted, but hopefully this writer(mukul) would read them at least on his own.

Your "imagery" sadly doesnt make any sense, infact is quite stupid!

However whats more digusting is your potrayal of the muslim congregation in prayer which you have desribed as a the "prayer huddle" with "the possibility of being ambushed from behind while bonding in faith".

Now if this is humor then this is sick and infact highly insulting! Living in India, no matter how faithless you are; you must have come across muslim rituals. And in your "wannabe-western", "secural" state relegions are supposed to be respected not ridiculed!

Hopefully cricinfo will take a notice of this and will make sure such kind of cheap journalism will not be encouraged!

Well, someone's got to do it sooner or later, so might as well go ahead and get started on the so-called vintage backlashing from across the border.

The short of it is that humour is scarcely your forte Mukul, and I say this in good faith. This ended up being the biggest load of drivel that's appeared on this website, not so much for the views it expressed, but for the style of writing, which tried exceedingly hard to rise above itself, but ended up being weighed down by an inability to be funny. If you dont have it, you don't.

Regarding the particular views, the focus on "prayer huddles" doesn't reveal a particularly mature mindset. It's needlessly inflammatory, as for that matter, is the comment on the "inexplicable failure to defeat the Light Blues" in the world cup. It sort of presupposes that Pakistan cricket has little scope beyond an obsession with India, which is a particularly precious thought. Not to mention the fact that it's one of those lame statistics that one might hide behind to conceal the fact that in the greater scheme of things the record stands heavily loaded in Pakistan's favour. One is almost reminded of Javagal Srinath's comments in the last World Cup about how he is the "fastest veggie bowler" on the planet.

Umm, yes, but that doesn't change the fact that he's still a poor trundler in the greater context of things.

Really enjoyed the artile and Mukul you raised some valid ponints. The selectors have played a big role in mis-managing the immense talent at their disoposal. Being a paki and your average die hard cricket fan , I believe that mr khan should be given the role of pcb head. BUt sadly his being a political figure is a hurlde. Looking forward to reading some more stuff from you, keep writing.

I am not sure why my friends Aditya and Krishna are reading too much between the lines. I think it was an accurate analysis and somewhat correct analogy. I see most positives and few negatives pak team does posses, correctly pointed out. No doubt faith is playing a critical role in pak campaign. Whatever the result maybe, at least some inspirations are there. Excellent article and accurate analysis. keep up good job Mukul

Great comedy, Mukul, I have been reading you articles and wondering why you were on Cricinfo, I now realise you have aspirations for stand up - however, your points are mainly correct and valid, and as a patriot, I will always say Pakistan Zindabad. The problem is that even by our usual standards, this build up was chaos - but some teams thrive on it, I just hope ours can. Anyway, as long as we beat the Indians, I don't care!

Mukul,
Not being a pedant but it is A Mahmood not mehmood. And oh razzaq has been ruled out, hasn't the company sent you word? Very funny and I disagree with the posters above. There is nothing inflammatory coz u had your tongue firmly in cheek. The look out thing made my day. I could really dig in but oh well the ones from across the border don't do humour when it comes to their cricket company.

Major Mukul,
Great job!!

There is nothing wrong with the article politically krishna, but I would still say what the heck crawled up your behind mukul? I mean I was trying my best and biting my hand to make sure I'm reading this sort of material on a venue like cricinfo for real. Pathetic, childish and so non professional stuff. But again, just to make things clear, I'm not saying that there is any political error there.

Hat off Mukul, i am across broder, but you have written amazingly to the core, keep on dude!
Ahmed

Nice one Mukul. Call me an eternal optimist but I still believe pakistan can lift this cup if sepoys sami (I was never his fan but just hoping Colonel I. Khan was right for yet another time when he was rating him high) and Rana. Let these guys fire and others are already capable of wreaking heavoc on any side.

wtf!!! man stop showing off..and write some real stuff...

Your pragmatic look at the Pak team is a very refreshing read. And quite accurate too, I might add.

hi mukul
A very well writen comparison to the east india company.I applaud your effort.I cannot disagree more to krishna abt yy wud this bring out a backlash across the border.Its just an assesment of a team like any other team on the cricket circuit.
I m nt sure mukul though if Pakistan has enough bowling resources left to get to the semis.With asif and to an extent Shoaib Pak company wud have been a serious contender for the crown.So far as the pak india clash i think after a while this time india wud start favorites to take the game.Pak company used to have a better bowling atatck and thats why they wud usually win against india but tht doesnt seem to be the case in this world cup.Colnel Imran was pak company's best ever leader and sub major haq cannot think of coming close but if he can score some runs that wud atleast help him lead from the front and instill some confidence in him and the team.cricket is by chance but with the loss of key players pak company's chances have seriously dwindled although to count a team like them out wud be a mistake.
From
Philadelphia
USA

I am from across the border. I couldn't stop laughing. Its a very realistic assessment Mukul. I salute you for this. Have a garam chai ki pyali on me ~~(_)D

dude... what's up with the allegoric references... just write straight up...it sounds cute in the beginning but then gets quite annoying...

You say bad thing about pakustaan kirkit. I blow you up. Prepare to meed bhagwaan. I press button now and u blow up. Hindu skummm......
And now that I've perfected the fundamentalist-pakistani stereotype and given you all an extremely potent reason to hurl a barrage of "told-you-so's" to the Talented Mr. Mukul here, jump over to Kamran Abbasi's blog and return the favor in kind, shout some extremist slogans and burn a few effigies, let's finally talk about cricket.
Mukul I like what you write. You're passionate enough to shun political correctness and call a spade a spade when need be - and not a modern-portable-disinterring-device. Right on about the Aussies, right on about the windies, nearly there about the pakies. Some things you missed out about our sepoys however:
Havaldar Akhtar, if recent reports are to be believed, is supposedly living in Dante's hell ever since he got himself and his protege booted from the camp. He's also raring to tear into the opposition's ranks come the 20/20 skirmish. Some pakis think Havaldar Akhtar's best use would be to force/trick him into suicide tactics - strap a covert bomb on his waist, send him into the next campaign, press the button and methodically mutter 'oops' for good measure. And then perhaps eulogize him in Tool's words: "He had a lot to say. He had a lot of nothing to say. We'll miss him." Decorate him posthumously. And then lastly, spare a brief moment for not only Gentleman Cadet Asif, but also the countless unsung, nameless faces in the reserves who - despite convictions of martyrdom, despite intent, despite craft - never got to see battle and retired with dreams unmet, convictions broken. Yes, I'm talking about the ghosts, the could-have-beens, the should-have-beens who were kept at bay due to the Pakistan Commanding Board's (PCB's) policy of : "All sepoys are equal but some are more equal than others." - (a la George Orwell for the uninitiated).

AHAHAHAHHAHAA
get a life !!!!

Yes you wrote more than reality, but pakistani captain and coach are fickle minded, they both don't know how to utilise the best of game Afridi, and they are sopiling him they didn't and don't know he is the real threat to world, Izmam prais Hafiz and did not give the chance to open Afidi, but time will tell hafiz and the other would not give the good start to pakistan, Younis is too slow,they should go with afridi and nazir but it does not look like because in both warm up game they did not give the cahnce to afridi open let's hope but m sure pakistan batting will not , but the allrounder willl be the winner like afrid and mahmood.............

God help him to understand the necessity for opening with Afrid.......

well, the only thing I get from this article is that when you have failed to thrive as a historian, give a shot at cricket.

The article was a good one. Whatever team Inzi get whether it's strong or weak they going to beat a hell out of other teams. That's what I am sure of.

Makul, Please Please Please... Do us all a favor and shut your mouth! Reading back to back blogs with such poor taste and content is a real embarassment to this website...

I have no idea how your blog was chosen by cricinfo....because you have absolutely no knowledge of cricket or even social history for that matter. You want to write flowery passages? Then go to a website where the rest of you fruits congregate...This a cricket website pal...something you know NOTHING OF.

Please Mr. Makul...Don't Quit Your Day Job.

Brother, while I agree that you have been fair and all that, you are missing one of the basic rules of writing. Less is more. If any editor in any publication worth its salt had seen this piece, he would have slashed it to pieces. They days where flowery language with obnoxious words were appreciated, have passed. You are not going to be given accolades based upon how many difficult words you know. Come on man, dont spoil the names of other Indian journalists with your writing style. That said, in terms of content, you have been fair. It was neither too critical, nor too supportive of the Pak team, exactly where they should stand at the start of the World Cup.

I am posting it again,hope you will have the b...s to post it.Else i will post i elsewhere.
I can suggest you a title for your next one on India RAHUL AND HIS ELEVEN ENGLISH SPEAKING MONKEYS"
It would be interesting to see a match up between
the monkeys and the Sepoys,although the monkeys have suffered quite a few defeats in the recent past at the hands Of the sepoys,last time when the sepoys were in monkey land they gave the monkeys a special ... whipping ala shaheed shahid Afridi
who is again itching to hunt a few monkeys,
RAHUL is worried bcz he has (Saurav)in his ranks, whom he does not trust another problem for RAHUL IS his Artillery it is sub standard Ala Bofors scandal,
Another problem for Rahul and his monkeys
is most of his monkeys are too old they have lost their edge,but still rahul and his eleven monkeys can put up a significant fight,
as far as the sepoys are concerned they always play well when their backs are agianst the wall and specially when they play Rahul and company.
They came to the tournament as underdogs as the rest of the world is always jealous of them and always want to discount them,but Pak company has
regrouped and their are chills running in their opponents already,
The pak company even when they are not at their best are always ahead of Monkey & co
as far as ratings are concerned,its just that
Monkey company is more popular bcz of its eleven english speaking monkeys and the money they generate from part time circus keeps their former
slave masters very happy.
The forthcoming contest between the two will be really exciting,Subedar Inzmam has been the best leader they have had in a long time
and he has found able deputys in Khan and Yousaf,they are short in the artillery department but still its enough to hunt a few monkeys,
Subedar Inzimam is on a mission he does not fear any pressure as he is a man of faith and when they huddle together and pray a new Pak company emerges
fearless and full of faith.
And remember Kaneria is an integral part of that
huddle its not india where minorities are mistreated and left out.

really nice and honest opionion.
pakistan side has been always so consistently erratic,but everyone in india knows never write them out.
they can with with this team loose to bangladesh(again)and can beat australia or india any day.
they wud not be my favourites but they are always a force to reckon with.
Because they like all punjabis are never afraid of anything, like true tigers i hope they really do perform well.
well if not please fans dont stone their houses.

i will there in the carrebian islands watching these men in green put up a good fight

The article is witty and funny. One may or may not agree with Mr. Mukal's view and some may also not find him funny. However, i dont see why some of my fellow Pakistani's are getting excited. I am a pretty devout muslim and a Pakistani and I didnt take offence to the 'muslim huddle' either. Its a tounge and cheek article, let it just be that without drawing in cross border issues.
Go Pakistan!

Your article remindes me of your Ghandi, Jinnah once said "Mr. Ghandi never says what he means and he never means what he says" I hope you post this comment its also part of the history. Good luck to indian team, I hope we have an india and Pakistan final.

Its amazing with the all that unprofessionalism and indiscipline,Pakistan still is number 3 ranked in both forms of the game. That shows some talent.....

good and refreshing one. lets see what happens this time in world cup. in all previous cups we were ready to take the bettle but could not won from light blues this time we are not ready so may be this time?????? one thing which can be observed from previous performances of greens is a clear cut efforts and termendous results whenever they are pushed to walls. i can remember 2004 india tour when paki team was without shoaib,asif,umar gul and sami was out of form and still they managed a vital series victory. so hoping for best and same sort of efforts.

Whatever you are smoking...must be really great...it shows in your writing.

Clever piece of writing...after reading couple of lines...I totally forgot to agree or disagree with you. Just felt like enjoying it.

And...thank god finally somebody realized that NOT having Shoaib 'Actor' is actually a blessing.

The beauty of watching Pak team playing cricket is...you have no idea whats going to happen. Not even a greatest Jotshi can predict how the team is going to play...let alone the malang captain and vaio savvy coach.

Keep the passion up in your writing...and keep smoking...

The 1857 analogy is well taken. But two facts indicate the analogy may be more apt for the Indian team. First, a majority of the Sepoys who rebelled against the British was Hindu (see William Dalrymple's brilliant book, "The Last Mughal"). Second, the sepoys bolted under pressure, even when they had an advantage over the advancing British. Both point to the need for an analysis of the Indian team...especially given their performance in the last final of the WC.

Mukul, nice creative angle and most of the stuff was good analysis BUT....i think u need to stick to the cricket..u have no rites watsoever to talk abt what kind of a state pak is or abt what pak team does or doesnt do in their huddle..that comment was assumed and stupid..howvever ur getting better..

great article...as far as rahul and eleven monkeys...chill ..here azar doesnt have to become amit to to become captain...ditto the nawab ..saifs father...also zaheers and munaf r indians first rate..all the state teams have all representations...each is treated fair in this country...president is a muslim pm is a sikh ..and sonia is a foreigner....and lalu and the communists run the parliament....wasim bhai i am a jain ..and my fiance is a muslim...cheers to india..and best of luck to both teams...defeat aussies and africans and the complainin phirangs of uk....unite to defeat them ...or yesterday it was pawar who got pushed arnd ...and tomorrow it will be u and me....follow my countries example and try to make an infosys and reliance in ur country..

For Wasim, GET A LIFE,BUDDY!!!! Don't be so childish. Read the damn article several more times, may be you will understand then......

Mukul, Funny Article, I liked it.
have fun in world Cup. Let be the Sub continent country win.

Mukul.. I agree with you on one thing. If and Only if a certain I Khan was the non playing captain ( read coach) pakistan would have been with a great chance of winning the cup.it is surprising that Pak cricket board does not understand this.I would be prudent to spend the US$ on him than on Bob woolmer.

Mukul, nice post but some of your religious comments involving Yusuf & Kaneria are unneccsary and uncalled for. Please stick to the cricket.

You don't have to bash Pakistan Cricket to become famous with Indian cricket fans.

Awesome article!! And some really excellent responses on this blog. What surprises me is how seriously some of the more one-dimensional rebuttal artists take themselves. It's really illuminating to note how little it takes to successfully needle the emotionally vulnerable and the rabidly passionate. Come now, cricket is just a game. Let's appreciate some good writing, some skillful debate, and some quality humor, without having us an embolism. Cheers!

Well-written piece, no doubt, but also a piece that reminds me why the 1947 parting of ways was necessary. You see, for the average Pakistani, the offshore Entity is niether offshore, nor somone we outsource to. The Entity is THE SOURCE of inspiration, and because it is, the best way of getting the team to gel as one cohesive unit is to get them in tht prayer huddle you seem to ridicule between the lines.

This article is every reason why we stand by the Two Nation Theory. I know the writer had no ill-will, nor did he intend any mischief; but he just fails to see where we come from. Some of my fellow-countrymen, in thier enlightened moderation, will feel compelled to prove to everyone the extent of thier enlightenmen and the heights of their moderation in waxing eloquent about the "literary" merits in this article. Metaphors, Similies, and all else literary must surrender its license and bow in respect to what is most sacred to us - our faith, our constitution. The allusion to Inzi's marshalling his troops through faith, and the implication that those in the team were unwelcome in the huddle, are in bad taste, offensive and smack of an ignorance of the underlying factors peculiar to the team and the nation.

I am getting a bit sick and tired of this "dont count pakistan out" rhetoric. the constant reminders of the 1992 exploits, their victories in unexpected circumstances... blah blah blah. lets be honest now, every team at some point of time has managed herculean feats. be it new zealand, or zimbabwe or pakistan. heck bangladesh made history when they defeated australia in england a year ago and then almost managed a test victory against them too! my point is that when we recall the 1992 exploits, we conveniently forget the circumstances under which pakistan qualified for the semi finals... they managed to secure a single point lead over australia thanks to a rained out match against england where after being routed for 74, england had them by the jugular at 45 for no loss. add to that the debacle in the england - south africa final where the best team of the tournament was rejected a berth in the finals due to a rule that is best summed up as the colloquialism for intestinal refuse. and yeas i feel that while mukul began the article quite well before losing continuity by drifting in and out of the plot: once referring to the team as an army then another second as the pakistan cricket team. otherwise i like your style of writing mukul.

"Sepoy Kaneria, surplus to requirement in the prayer huddle as Yousuf himself once was, ought to act as a look-out"? A very nice way of symbolic writing. Dear Pak countryfellowmen, don't get upset with this piece of article. There is nothing insulting in this. It's a very unique way of analyses of the team's capabilities and their chances in the world cup. Mukul, I liked the article.
Dr. Syed Erfan Asif
Pakistan

You seemed to have pulled a Mr. Abbassi here: write something controversial and attract people to your blog. Was I bieng to diplomatic in my last comment, and not adding enough fuel to fire, that you didn't post it?

Drmanish dont be so over sensitive,this is a cricket website not a political one my comments were in response to Mukuls offensive remarks,as far as your sugessions please i would again remind you this is a cricket website and not a Political one otherwise I could have given you some other stats from the most recent world bank report about the poverty,homelesness and other socio economic issues,as far as you being a jain and your fiance
being a muslim congartulations, whats his Name,
Cheers.

"Mukul Kesavan teaches social history for a living"

After reading the first paragraph of article i am disappointed that a person who doesnt even know how not to use derogatory language for other countries/nations teaches social history for living. I think if this is the last thing he can do for living then he better sacrifice his living in order to save world's social history and future.

Or he should travel to pakistan to see how pre-modern it is. an ignorant social history teacher is recipe of disaster for coming generations. we need to get rid of these losers both in PK and India.

Nice article Mukul. Props for that man. I know ppl r pissed about some of the stuff in there. But the facts r facts. Nice dramatization - especially the part about Kaneria being the look out - lmfao!!!

mukul....ive always enjoyed reading ur comments...and this one just made my day....the way uve dramatized our team Pakistan is great...and surely i dont find it derogatory...thanks for looking up to a team which is prior to the world cup looking down on the barrel...

i'll be using those term throughtout the WC by which u refer to our players...loved that "LANCE NAIK AFRIDI"...i think he can be the man ffor pakistan this time...
in the end i equally wish the best to ur team India for success in the Worldcup...who cares which side the wc comes back to...it shall return to the SUBCONTINENT..

Yes, Krishna and all other Indians, I am sure you people are not naive enough to understand that there are no smoking guns across the border.

well well well...
first of all.. i wud like to comment on some of the responses..!!

Mr. shamit..
do u really think the PCB and the pakistan should LEARN from INDIA?

so would u like to listen wat should we learn?

me should learn the confrontational hell between between KIRAN MORE and SOURAV GANGULY?

we shold learn that nearly all the senior indian monkeys (as i wud quote from the title of mr. mukul's upcoming article"RAHUL DRAVID WITH ELEEVN ENGLISH SPEAKING MONKEY'S") were alllll against inclusion of ganguly back even though he performed in domestic?

we should learn how nearly-lost mr.damliyah back ganguly even if he scnores no more for an year?

so......!!!
rather demanding PCB to learn from BCCI or somewat, i wud like youuu to suggest yourrr borad to learn atleast to hide their shames..

secondly..
Mr. avik roy

its really easy as far as u think to evoke the emotionally vulnerable and rabidly passionates..!!
and u think.. u really think that this blog is a so-called skillful debate and a QUALITY humor..

let me tell u sir, if someone narrates the praying of cricketers in a MANDIR a hurdle in their cricketing abilities.. will that be a GOOD HUMOR for u? if yes than my dear.. i have reservations on ur sense of humor..

and finally MR.MUKUL.
u are getting too much into (i would call it) rationalism. u have no right to comment of someone's religion or some'one's performing of religion in cricket or watever.
u comment on kaneria being not included coz yusuf think he's a hurdle?

wat abt mohammad kaif not included? and dinesh karthik preferred regardless being a faaaar low grade player from suresh raina and mohammad kaif?
am i allowed to write that its becoz rahul dravid thinks him a hurdle in his pooja.. and not so abt patahn and zaheer who are included?

This article.. must have a no-place in a cricket website..
i persoanally condemned this kind of features or blog by ANYONE.. i repeat ANYONE... any pakistani writing abt the indians or indians writing abt pakistani or any countries..
its simply evoking fire.

yeah i totally agree with you. i was happy the day i came to knew that shoaib was no more part of our team in the world cup. felt little bad abt asif but thats the part of the game.. we think the bowling department is little weak but we got all the power and experience in the batting dept.. Inshallah our team will perform their best. our best wishes are with them.

A few words for Kapil, "In 1992 Pakistan would have qualified anyway had their match against SA not been affected so badly by rain: SA won because of that very stupid rule that cost them semifinal. Thus getting a point for England match was not that fortunate; pakistan lost 2 points to the same rule". People quickly recall the SA semifinal and Pak/Eng match but they forget Pak/SA match; obvious bias.

Flowery language doesn’t seem to over look the piercing tone for the religious beliefs.
Loose that part and we have a nice balanced non-biased “Cricket Article”. It's a sensitive issue and many will not see the way you do.
I too think Inzi is a mediocre captain but a grand player. We will respect him in any way he thinks he can get the job done.

Mukul, I stumbled upon your blog quite by chance last week. I thought "Lara and the Eleven Dwarfs" came as close to evoking the perfect cricket article from the heady, glorious days of the first half of the 20th century, eclipsing, as it easily did, most of the inane fodder found on Cricinfo (Siddharth V. -- that brilliant, charismatic and wholly under-rated writer aside). However, "Subedar Major Haq and a Company of Sepoys" goes several steps further and, just as easily, establishes you as the cricket writer with the most panache in the 21st century. The witty blend of metaphors and analogies in what is essentially a very sensible critique elevates your "blog" into the realm of writings by venerable, colonial-era cricket journalists/writers like Sir Neville Cardus and John Arlott. Your very humourous allusion to Yousuf and Kaneria, one can see, has been, as expected, misinterpreted by an ever-increasing legion of the mistakenly pious, but that should not make you desist from entertaining -- even enthralling -- us with future, even more superbly choreographed dalliances between the sublime and the ridiculous. Thank you for reviving what I had come to think of as a dying art: the supremely under-stated cricketing missive that aspires to reach even the uninitiated and strikes -- in the best possible homage to great cricket-writers from the past -- home with all the lightning speed of a Fred Spofforth yorker!

I feel Mukul Kesavan is very scared and on the other hand understands us very well and purposely has gone with the army metaphor and have tried to target us on the areas we are weak such as following which we tend to improve on these days.

He very well knows that if these guys will pray together which of course shows unity and require discipline than 1965 episode can be replayed as the only time we have shown faith, discipline, unity and courage post Pakistan much bigger than 1992 world cup of course.

In fact we should take his article as a lesson that all our enemies always think of hitting from behind and change our tactics to half praying and half guarding as many of you would know what I mean, but what they are really not aware of that if it were up to them we wouldn’t have existed by now but we still we do exist and worst of all after all the confrontations against our arch rivals we have remained unbeatable for years in almost all aspects.

mukul....I guess you are saying that Pakistan will win the world cup? you are on the right track if you are saying that.

Mukhul, I guess you should give the pen some rest. I know its a cool atricle but It sould not be accessible to some blokes who don't read it for fun. See you ended up in a making a crazy bloke who does not know about cricket in India question the professionalism of one of the richest sporting bodies of the world. Why do you put your self and expose India to such un educated blokes?

no wasim ..it is not a political forum..i agree and the article that mukul has written reflects the circumstances..yes i agree there is poverty in india..we have to fight on so many fronts..poverty terrorism ..corruption..but also there is chance for everyone out here..thats why i lv this nation.i dont condemn any nation...urs i am sure is great too..i see w akram on star sports and i find no difference between him and my best friend sayyed imran..as regards my fiance ..thanks..HER name is dr tasneem... all i mean to say is that mukul has written this article in a very analyical way..obviouly kaneria doesnt know to pray namaz..so he will watch out for ...i should say guard the team against outsiders ...think of it in a writers point of view....and think of the global perspective of what i am tryin to tell u...think how india pak can learn to be as consistent as aussie and south africa..a case in point is mrf bowlin academy...our pace attack is largely due to mr lillee...cant we start a spin academy like that ?we dont ..ur countrymen r blessed with good physiques for fast bowling,but they end up like akhtar ..why?or asif?why ..cos we dont have a culture of sports in both our nations..i write this in my capacity as an ex mumbai u16 legspinner...i quit cos my father didnt have the money to get me into a ranji side ..i am a doctor now..but had i been in aussie ..i would have had greater support..scholarships and all...thats what i mean ...when we look at our national team ....we look at our society...urs in constant upheaval..ours needed to borrow from aussie knowledge not utilising our own manpower or knowledge..the administrators r like jamindars..feudal lords..dalmiya was one such example..heck its all about money over here..even our cricketers reflect our society...the richest of them all will open restaurants to grow more rich...ask him for some donations and he will put up some bat for charity...only one soul mr i khan has done something good...most great players give nothin back to the game...finally a word of advice...the management rt now of the indian team is perhaps the best i have seen in 20 yrs...nonperformers r shown the door ....players like karthic get the deserved chance..captain gets one or two men of his choice cos he thinks they r match winners and they r....all 15 r competing for places ..anil is standin behind harbhajan,..sreesanth is behind agarkar and zaheer ...karthick is behind all batsmen...sehwag knows that this is his last chance ...and pathan knows that ashish nehra and ishaant singh r fightin hard to get back in the squad..chappel has introduced a performance oriented multidimensional culture..all have to adapt..there is competition in the first 15 and beyond....and colonel vengsarkar is the best selector ..he minces no words...sehwag was taken in at the instance of dravid..whats wrong with it ..dravid has acknowledgedit...he wins he takes the credit he looses he gets the blame..fair deal..its a good team and the approach is rt...good luck to both the teams..may the best team win...

Having read all the posts - and being a Pakistan supporter who has lived in Australia since 1989 - and as someone who always believed the team could come back from all the first round losses in 1992 - but one who stopped believing in miracles when we lost early wickets in the final at the MCG - but started to believe again when Wasim and Mushtaq took some incredible wickets to turn the game around.

Seems this time around I should be supporting Australia.

Because I don't seem to have anything in common with the vitriolic subcontinentals who seem to take it all too seriously.

It is only a game after all.

Hey guyz chill out, hope the Cup comes to the Sub-continent but Mr. Mukul seriously the religious factor was just uncalled for and the same goes for anyone from either countries (India or Pakistan) in calling names or insulting eachother. Best of luck to both the teams...CHEERS

I would like to think that Ali is taking the mick, but unfortunately I don't think he is. The reason why writing such as this blog entry is not seen very often is that it is not very good - take a look at Sudz's post a while back, it hits the nail on the head.

I completely disagree with Ali's comment that the journalism on cricinfo is "inane" - the standard of journalism on cricinfo is in fact extremely high in my opinion.

Your blog entry had no flow and I think you went crazy with the thesarus after you wrote it by gong through every word and painstakingly right clicking it and finding a more rare synonym for each one. I hope no West Indian read your dwarf article, because if you are attending the world cup and some locals recognize you they will show you how much punch a dwarf packs. Should't you be busy writing something negative about Ganguly? Even without Shoaib and Asif we have bowlers who would make any internation ODI side and each one of them is more faster and consistent than any Indian bowler and you know it. The thing that has me excited is our batting which hasn't looke like this for ages. A more fitting analogy would have been comparing the Pakistani squad to Pakistan's SSG elite commandos, not regular old sepoys!

Mukhul, I actually did not complete what I intended to say in my previous post. I mean there are numerous times my views opposed yours. I guess that does not pose a problem. I still do not agree you making a comparison like you did in the article. I'm sure you would have written the whole article with a grin in your face. Well, I don’t know if the grin was an evil or a good one.

Putting me in your shoes, I will exercise caution in writing such article. Especially being an Indian and writing about of all teams, Pakistan. It has been a well known fact that people across the border are not TOLERANT as the Indians. Many a times, whatever an Indian talks about them is seen in a religious point of view. I think the people who read this should have the tendency to separate sports from politics and religion. People from Pakistan, I am afraid, majority of them have not attained that level of maturity. I was glancing through the posts and there were at least two people read your post with a religious point of view.

I love cricinfo and I think it’s the best site for cricket lovers like me who travel constantly. Tarnishing it with such articles breaks my heart, not the fact that these articles appear but the way people translate and read it. This, I’m afraid will cause detrimental affects to life outside cricket. I hope in future you think what you write and not feel after you post it. It will be interesting to see other articles up your sleeve and what kind of issues it will raise to satisfy your quest for identity.

Mukul the Pakistan tigers in spite of being uncertain, inconsistent, unstable have some of the finest players in international Cricket. Do not count them out yet. They are twice as much dangerous in absence of their key strike bowlers. South African's have tasted some of that venom in their recent warm up match. If Pakistan can play every game to their full potential, they can pull up and upset.

Go Pakistan! Prove all your critics wrong, play your hearts out and make your fans proud.

R u enjoying all the attention and finally some one has paid attaention to an average personality with an average IQ level and definitely a below average sense of humour. Guys i want to let every one know that this Thaneydar Muk didnt have the gutts to post my previous comments which compared him with a SHIV SEENA activist. He was the team leader of the mob who was involved in digging the picthes in India and also led the group to throw stones n stop the match in calcutta when his guttless team lost to Sri Lanka.
I cant beleive that CRININDO ooops CRICINFO can allow such people to write such articles. Irrespective of the country, religion, cast or clas such artcles can not get away in the name of freedom of expression. We have to draw a line otherwise even SHIV SEENA should be allowed to do whatever they want to do.
I strongly condem CRICINDO staff for being biased which i think they are any way.

Thanks for your article. Many wouldn’t know that the army analogy comes from Pak’s military dictatorships and that their General, Commander-in-Chief is the patron of PCB. Pak team’s shambolic disciplinary record would suggest Pak is a disorderly rabble force taking on well-drilled (and vastly better equipped) forces to the East and West!!

I think Imran’s magic, soothing balm is finally beginning to fade. Yes, Inzamam is the greatest batsman of his generation (now joined by Md Yousif). Yes, Pak has the best fast bowling attack. Yes, Danish Kaneria is the missing link in Pak’s ODI strategy (a deadly strike bowler). But why hasn’t Sami become Great under Imran Khan’s tutelage? In fact, Why hasn’t Imran’s wand (or backing) created a few megastars? Didn’t Imran promise the WC and several test series to Pakistan?! Secondly, Pak is seriously lacking new talent (forget about a young Shoaib). Imagine Pak bowling being lead by medium pace guys (Yasir Arafat / Nazir/ Asif/ Gul/ Azhar/ Razzaq). Imran Nazir is their best young batsman! No technically correct young batsmen to speak of. Who replaces Akmal? Last two editions of the under-19s has drawn a blank!!! Pak fans should be demanding the sacking of selectors, the coach and the captain!! Lastly, you missed the key roles for Pak: 1) dual fighter or the amphibious force (eg. parachute regiment or the marines?), 2) strategic reserve fighters (YK, MY, IUH). Pak openers are indeed the poor, sacrificial infantry. But there are a few other Kamikazes around. Akmal and Rana Naveed are suspected of being double agents (working against Pak).

There you go Mr. Khayyam, having an embolism. You're not the only one, but a good case in point. Take a deep breath. Lighten up. It'll do you and the rest of us a world of good. It's a sport for heaven's sake. You have a right to say whatever you please on this blog, just as Mukul can write his piece with, as another blogger mentioned, with panache. I'm just suggesting we all don't get caught up in what we think is our own gravitas! Cheers!

Mukul, the article is good, but the reference to religion is in bad taste and comes off as highly unprofessional.

I am an Indian, but have been an ardent fan of the Pakistani teams over the years. Losing Mohammad Asif is a big blow, but I believe that in Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik, Pakistan have the X factor which makes them as good as the rest of the competing teams, and they have a fair chance to hold the trophy aloft.

In fact, this world cup looks to be the most open one ever, and it is extremely difficult to pick a winner. Am looking forward to some real great cricket over the next six weeks!

What I meant was that line about "Kaneria being surplus to the prayer requirement" as Mukul put it. Now if you think there is a theocracy in Pakistan, there is a place to rue it and that place is not a cricket-writing blog.

Oh holy god.Look what you have unleashed Mukul!!
I like the prose man, lyrical prose is always so good.
Sadly I see that a few Pakistanis are working up sum serious and uneccessary steam. Guys cant you'll just relax a bit and enjoy some good writing when you'll see it.The Kaneria thing was totally adorable. ...I just feel sorry for you people( especially a certain wasim )
I totally agree wit Ali.
Go Mukul!!

Some people have said that Kamran Abbasi should 'return the favour.' What will Kamran, and the Pakistanis, gain from this? Nothing.

This is a fact: This is a supposed to be an INDIAN blog. Kamran Abbasi doesn't make blogs about other countries, he makes blogs about Pakistan Cricket Team.

Truly, Mukul, this is pathetic and I truly do not believe that this should be posted on a place such as Cricinfo. Truly Pathetic.

Simply Brilliant Mr. Kesavan. We hope you shall continue with your amazing script throughout the tournament.

Satyajit, I don't think this is about angering Pakistanis, rather Indians sledging Pakistanis for no reason whatsoever. The world cup is arriving, and this sort of writing is just not needed.

I'm 100% that if a Pakistan writer had written about the Indian Cricket Team in this manner, then there would be far more uproar than this; Trust me.

I think the Indians are amused and, almost as if, they have victory of some sort.

Not one Indian has used a non-bias method and approached this, rather they have encored this further and praise Mr. Mukul.

This, disturbingly, shows the attitude that this country, India, has for its neighbour, Pakistan. This sort of attitude is the main reason why it is difficult for Pakistan and India to be alleys. You may say 'yes' or 'no' to any of what I'm saying, but at the end of the day, you know I'm right. I will pray for you so that your minds and hearts may be opened in non-bias ways. Aameen.

I agree with Mukul to the extent that this Pakistani team are mercurial in that - they can beat the best...and then lose to the worst.
However, this Indian team is not too far behind.
I am amazed with the fact that an batting line-up can regularly not score runs out of Marlon Samuels / Sanath Jayasurya and regularly keep battering Shane Warne !

a funny observation...whenever our beloved nieghbors write about anything positive about our country... they always try to emphasize on our flaws and how nothing ever works...just amazing...

we might have our flaws sir, but we stand united when needed.

the worlds biggest democracy isnt perfect either.

danish
karachi, Pakistan

Mr. Zak you are absolutely right. Im sure i can imagine Mr. Mukul sitiing in his drawing room and getting applauded by his like minded country men feeling victorious like a hero. Im sure he thinks that he has done what his brilliant millitary couldnt achieve in Kargil. Im sure deep down every one has a conscious and knows whats right and whats wrong. However its always been people like him who have caused unrest and bitterness in societies. Well if some of you think that im being too bitther then i can suggest that if you throw stones at some ones house then you cant expect to get sweets in return. Cricket is a sport and at no point should religion or any social practices should become a part of it. Thats what we call a NO BALL and bad sports man spirit.Well what else can we expect from some ome from across the border as their history is full of it and every one knows how bad losers they can be.

dear Zak, i think quite a few Pakistanis find this post rather interesting and not at all offensive.Infact its pretty well analysed and has a certain charm, lacking these days in journalism.
Why are we always talking about a bias .When Mukul comes around to India I'm sure he'll dish out some critical things too.So do we accuse him of 'sledging' his own country then?
I'm sure quite a few paki journos feel the same way about the pak team as well.And this is by no means a "Indian" blog at all.If any pakistani feels this way he's better off reading Kamran's inane prose.
Are they no secular patriotic paki's here to stand up against this rabid and rather unsavory fanaticism??
cheers

Dear Satyajit. I live in the UK and was involved in a discussion with my English colleague the other day about being politically correct in regards to certain terms such as 'nigger', 'kiker', 'faggot' or 'Paki'. He questioned that how come when a black colleague calls himself a 'nigger' no eyebrows are raised but as soon as a non black person calls any one a 'nigger' or 'paki' a race card is raised. Well the answer to this interesting observation is that name is one's right in the world which one choses for himself. No one else has got the right to call some one with a name of their own choice. Like if i call you call a 'BANYA' then thats wrong as even if i feel that your a banya but i dont have the right to call it as your an Indian. So if some one wants to call me a Paki thats politically incorrect as we didnt chose that word. what we chose was Pakistani. I can call myself whatever that is my right n you dont have the right to say so untull i allow you to.
Secondly whatever the Pakistani journalists feel about our cricket team that is our right n our own business. A father can call his son whatever he wants n can punish him but wont allow his neighbour to do the same to his son. You cant just go and beat some ones kid as you have seen his father hitting him the other day.
Thirdly any one is more then welcome to critisize the cricketing affairs but not the personal n religious matters. What Mr. Mukul has done is focussed more on the socio, economic, political and religious state of the Pakistan cricket team n less on the cricketing matters.
Lastly secular is not allowing people to make fun of people from different faiths n beliefs. Infact i think that teaches you to be more considerate. For example we eat cows and dont consider it to be a holy thing at all but would we start making fun of cows in front of you. No way n i dont think you will be able to take it. Lets be very honest. Remember when Pawar was degraded by the Aussies, what was your reaction? Did you or your media try to laugh about the whole episode?
Guys grow up and realize that with freedom of speech n expression comes an added responsibility to be more wise, considerate and understanding.

I will just quote what Mr. Mukul wrote about Dean Jones comments when he called Amla a 'terrorist' . Why didnt the media or Mr. Mukul take it as a joke or be secular about it?

'The truth is that no American commentator working for a major TV channel would use ‘kike’ or ‘nigger’ or ‘faggot’ with their colleagues around even if they thought the mikes were switched off. Because political correctness, in the best sense of that term, has made these words unsayable. To use these words in polite society is to court ostracism.Dean Jones said what he did because he thought his colleagues in the box would be amused, because he didn’t think the words he used were taboo. Jones assumed that a remark tossed off like that would pass without challenge or reproach. That’s the real significance of this incident, not the fact that he got caught with the microphones on.
The reason ‘kike’, ‘faggot’ and ‘nigger’ are taboo today is because public opinion backed up by social sanction made them unsayable. If an Indian commentator was caught calling … a Dalit player a ‘chamar’ he would never work again. Roebuck and Border and cricket’s commentariat seem to think calling a bearded Muslim a ‘terrorist’ doesn’t belong in the same category of proscribed words. Well, it’s up to us to persuade them that it does, through a policy of zero tolerance'/
That was the reaction of Mr. Mukul. I~s this the same writer. Such insensitivity n hypocracy. Its simple double standards.

In reply to Satyajit's post:

Ofcourse Pakistani people have a blast at their own cricket team, I mean, who doesn't? However, for another person, on an Indian blog, to refer to the Pakistanis in the manner which he has, has certainly crossed the line.

I think Mr. Mukul has deliberately inserted good comments about Pakistani players to make sure his blog is not 100% completely bias.

I thank Satyajit for answering in a way which was appropriate and not deliberately insulting Pakistanis like some other people in this blog have.

I have read many of these comments and most of them are attacking the Mr. Mukul. Remember guys he is a journalist and he suppose to write his opinion. Overall i think he has not tried to attack Pakistani team. He has just expressed his feelings about what he thinks about Pakistan and most of it is true beleive or not. Journalism is game itself and you know what they say. "HATE THE GAME NOT THE PLAYER". So no need to accuse Mr. Mukul. Mr Mukul, you have the right to write so keep doing it

Hi Mukul,
I think while your article was good on prose/lyrical style it was not so politically correct. Particularily the commment on prayer huddles and Kaneria was particularily uncalled for. Are you a regular feature of Pakistani dressing room?

Any article from a foreign writer on any other ountry particularily the articles with critical overtones in bound to evoke strong responses. And while as a crtic or cricket writer you can make comments on foreign cricket teams you need to be careful about touching sensitive topics partcularily without having first hand knowledge of the events. I mean then what your are writing is not a sports article which has to have factual and statistical merits but is more of a fiction (no pun intended here).

The article is certainly enjoyable as far the imaginative use of language is concerned but also borders sometimes of pure imagination where facts would have been needed.

Though I was surprised that more than expected numbers of readers from Pakistan found your article a good read I also sensed that some of them thought otherwise.

I would like to make mention of the last post by Zak in which I agree with most of points raised by him except the fact that this has to be treated as an Indian blog. If that were the case your comment would not have got posted here or probably you should not have been reading it in the first place.

Cricket as a sport hardly has a huge following worldover. I mean it is nowhere when compared to soccer or tennis. So we are talking about a small community of cricket playing nations and I guess because of this somehow there is no only interest in what is happening with your national team but also with other teams. Frankly more than any team sports that I know cricket is one game where quality cricketers have a fan following that goes beyond national boundaries.

Miandad no body in will ever forgive him for that last ball 6 but yet in put in correct perspective Javed Miandad is considered to be one of the greatest batsmen of all times. And as far I have been reading Tendulkar commands the same kind of respect in Pakistani circles.

So this question of my team and your team becomes somwhat irrelevant in cricket.

Personally speaking I am as much interested in India performing well as much as Pakistan or as Australia. After we are the paying public and it cant get better for us if we watch some really exciting cricket and not drab affairs as we had in 2003 World Cup in which part from Australia and India no other team seemed to be performing as expected from them.

Mr Kesavan,

This is the first time I’m posting on your blog. There is not much in your article that I disagree with. I have noticed that some Pakistani fans have made jingoistic comments and I am not sure whether that is a natural reaction to something which they perhaps feel is insulting to their country and its integrity.
People in the two countries have radically different ways of looking at religion, politics and society. That is why Pakistan was made in the first place. Maybe Indians feel that Kaneria is left out of the team huddles but I have never noticed anything like that. Indian people and media prioritise those issues which are usually disgraceful for Pakistan. Maybe Pakistanis do the same with India but since I do not follow Pakistani channels I can’t say.
For instance I saw detailed coverage on Indian channels of the recent doping scandal. I saw detailed coverage of the Oval test fiasco. I saw detailed coverage of when Shoaib Akhtar allegedly slapped Bob Woolmer or when Afridi threatened the spectator with his bat.
But I did not see Mohammad Yousuf’s conversion to Islam being reported. Neither did I see any specific coverage of when Yousuf broke Viv Richards’ record. I am almost certain that this was due to the fact that Pakistanis revere their religion and Yousuf said his success was only due to his newly-acquired faith. Why does not Indian media want to bring “Islamic positives” in the limelight? News channels around the world reported Yousuf’s record and (rightly) claimed that his change of religion facilitated his form. But sadly I did not see Indian channels reporting the same. This reeks of bias, a bias which is embedded within Indian people.

Cricinfo should not publish articles riddled with religious jibes. It is not the business of this author or anyone else to question or comment on Yousuf's choice of religion or for that matter Kaneria's or anybody else's. It is too personal a topic and just to woo your countrymen ( which I am too )one must not indulge in such cheap tactics. I havent ever seen them keeping out Kaneria from their group huddle, what the mechanics are within the team is their own business but Kaneria himself has never complained about any bias against him. Truthfully if Kaneria was Indian , I do not think he would have been playing the world cup.
I am usually a big fan of Kesavan's writing and I sincerely hope he keeps religion out of his future cricket writings or if he wants to continue in this vein then he should write for some of the right wing hate mongering newspapers which thrive on such incitement ans division along the lines of religion.

dear farhan.
when i say paki i mean it as a shorter way of saying pakistani's..much like calling britisher's brits.
No offence meant when i say "paki's" .but will be more complete next time.
Regarding your argument about only pakistani journos being allowed to criticize their team and how its like a father whipping his own child, i find it very paternalistic n reeking of age old feudal beliefs.
And Zak ,please do not be so suspicious.I assure you there is no deep conspiracy afoot here!!
Mukul is a creative writer thats all.
cheers!

What ever happened to brevity and simplicity? I have said it before and say it again that reading your blog chokes all oxygen out of the body. There are two scenarios that come to mind; this was an attempt at increasing the hits on your blog, or that you are a member of the Al-Qaeda and this is an attempt to send a coded message to your headmaster Yosama.

I think however that you are treading on Kamran Abbasi’s territory. Here’s a little lesson, if Kamran Abbasi had written anything resembling what you did about Indian cricket, we would have an Indian tanks traffic jam downtown Wagah the border between India and Pakistan. Talk about being trigger happy.

No contention on the validity of the content. Heck we at Pakspin have been saying this (in English) for months, you should look in sometimes. However, I disagree with your cold treatment of Mohammad Asif, and Kaneria. Mohammad Asif is just a kid who got in with bad company and advice and paid a dear price for it. Kaneria, like one of the poster’s said is an integral part of the Pakistani squad and revered or hated for his performance and nothing more or less. In the case of the former Yousaf Youhanna again wrong company and he too paid the price.

Listen don’t get your turban wound up so tight that you can’t think or reason. Minorities in Pakistan are not treated as bad as you would have us believe. Now, sure things can be a lot better just like any other culture or country. Then things aren’t so peachy in your neck of the woods either. Ask most Gujrati’s they will tell you that the common greeting in Gujrat is; killed any Muslims lately?

I am a South Asian at heart. I know that realistically Pakistan does not have much of a chance. But, then you can’t write us off totally and the rabbit runs scared. If however, Pakistan does not win, I am pulling for Sri Lanka and or India to bring the Holy Grail to South Asia.

My sincere advice to you is to start reading Kamran Abbasi’s blog to understand what good writing is. AMF!

This Kesavan guy is really a clown with Cricinfo's licence to shoot off anything that comes into his essentially confused and feeble mind.

Bob Dylan many years ago wrote these lines in a song titled "Idiot Wind". Can anyone tell me why I am reminded of these line after reading Kesavan blog:

Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth,
You're an idiot, babe.
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

i agree with shoaib but inzamam is a captain he does not need be respect by anyone outside of his team and country. he needs to play well and have the respect, backing, and attention of his player. the team is alot more united with him in charge even that incident that people refer to being so negative. that symbol of not coming out as a team had to motivate the players. it also proved that subcontinent teams wont take any more prejudice and mind boggling decisions by supposed respected authorities.

Mukul
You write well, you write truthfully. No game of cricket was ever won by people playing it on a prayermat. Growing beards does notturn a mullah into W.G. Grace. But you give retired colonel Khan too much credit. He claims a direct line to the Big Umpire Above too. Only the Big Umpire doesn't listen to hypocrites. May be subedar Haq learnt a few words of English and shaved off his bush it will take a big load off his heavy shoulders.

Drmanish I agree with most of your points but the
fact that a cricket journalist tries to get cheap popularity by mixing cricket and socio-political environment and in such demeaning language its deplorable, I have been defending mukul on his pervious blogs to a certain extent bcz they were related to only cricket and if he wants to bring into limelite sociopolitical environment in a country or religious environment he is more than welcome to do that but first of all a journalist has to be honest and i dont think cricinfo is the best platform to do that, his remarks about kaneria and the prayer huddle were uncalled for and below the belt,Danish is our national hero and players are not offering namaz in the ground this piece was only Mukuls imagination where he wanted to tell the world a non muslim in Pakistan team either he has to become a muslim or he is left out, and kaneria is left out to watch for ambush from behind what does that mean? that if we stand for prayers somebody will throw a bomb or something,It was a stereo type remark I think mukul has also joined the group of western journalists and channels who have islamophobia.

I am not a very religious person I live in united states have alot of friends who are indians and jews I respect their culture and religion and expect them to respect mine,If their is sectarion voilence,or cases of terroism in Pakistan they happen in India too and most of the times even more violent,but we never relate them with your cricket team or bollywood stars,or indian masses if India is progressing so is Pakistan and against all Odds,Cricket is one example despite our limited resources and with all the soap opera going on in PCB we are still ranked 3rd or 4th I fail to understand why Pakistan team is so under attack and things getting blown out of the proportions when they relate to pakistan,we were just robbed of two test matches in England and lost the series,one due to ball tampering charges and the other bcz kevin peiterson was given four lives by the umpires,and I think the subcontinent teams should be thankful of Pakistan and inzimam that they got rid of darrell hair i fail to understand why Mukul was so critical of Inzi about the Oval fiasco he stood up for his country and the whole thing only brought shame for Darrel hair ,ICC and ECB.
The pakistan team got effected bcz of that incident too but did we invited that crisis no,Inzi is a great player and those who say he is lazy they are decieving themselves his batting speaks out loud whether he is lazy or not.In short we Pakistan fans are sick of our team being picked for issues which they are not responsible,or issues which are not related to cricket.

Politics is a dirty game,and no country or culture is perfect,but to make fun of a sports team just bcz they grew beards and looked towards their faith for bonding and inner peace is a cheap attack.
Winning and losing are both part of the game and religion is not going to improve cricket skills but hey if some body wants to use it for unity and inner peace I dont think any body should have any problem with that,This new trend of mixing sports and politics is deplorable.

I like your Idea of joining hands to support each other but for that matter we have to be sincere
and honest with each other first and above all should have repect for each other as respect is always mutual.

Mukal you mush be sitting back in your couch and enjoying whats going on above more than your cup of tea. Maybe thats why your wrote this article. You wanted attention and lot more readers and responses and you got that- but in an cheap way - Few less han a billion people enjoyed yoru article and over a 100 million hated it - so what did you get out of it -

And also looking at your previous articles this one will be most read and responded too - so doing good Mukul- Congrats

I must say it is a clever piece of journalism.

However, I must also say that you seem to be a very CONFUSED biased Indian, who doesn't know much about Cricket History.

One thing is for sure, that Pakistan has not beaten India in World Cup, however, lets talk about India and Pakistan's record. Pakistan is leading by more than a mile.

As well, let's talk about that Miandad 6 which demoralized the Indians for many years now.

While we are at it, why don't we talk about the 45 ball 100 Afridi scored against India. If not that then why don't we also talk about the Karachi Test Match when India was tormented.

Forget about Pakistan, why don't we talk about GANGULY (who may I say supported the whole) time as being the best Captain in the world to be thrown out of his team by GREG CHAPPLE or rather a "gora", why don't you include that in your little METAPHORE, that still one forigner was able to ouster the most thrilling and attacking captain India ever produced. As a side note, Ganguly, what a superb come back and I feel the best batsman in the Indian side.

Now let's shift gears and talk about Pakistan's chances in the world cup. Well I believe finally they are settled side and they have a good chance to bring the World Cup back to Pakistan.

My proof you ask: Well in a limited overs match for bowlers unlike test matches, the most important part of the puzzle is not necessarily attacking bowlers, rather, containing bowlers. If you are able to contain the opposition the wickets will come through frustration.... And I feel Pakistan may not have the attacking bowlers but definitely the containing bowlers, save, RANA, who I feels should be a reserve, if anything. And my SECOND PROOF is that Pakistan in this World Cup will be the side that will bat most likely 9 deep. And that is a powerful Batting order when Pakistan has the likes of 1.Nazir 2. Younis 3. Yousuf 4. Inzi 5. Malik 6. Afridi 7. Hafeez 8. Akmal 9. Mahmood 10. Arafat and 11. Even Sami can bat.

So there you have it. I would love to see some unbiased views on the assesment of Pakistan.

My unbiased view of India: India has a fair shot at the world cup. However, no matter what they do, if they play four/five specialist bowlers then they are 1 batsman too short and and if they go with one less specialist bowler then they are missing a bowler. What they need is an Allrounder... and their hopes lie with Pathan, I hope he comes through, but the guy is bowling at 100kms... GANGULY stays in for 20 overs in any match and India will win that match, mark that down.

Lastly, if Pakistan can't take it home then I wist India all the best, because I feel this World Cup will belong to DADA, Ganguly if India is to win.

Thanks for reading...

Sami from Toronto

Bringing the religion card, this writer has never mentioned the fact that when Indian players do a "dharmic huddle" before they exclude the Muslims and Sikhs from it.

Mukul is a clown who desparetely needs attention, and to satisfy that craving for cheap publicity he attacks other religions and nationalities. Boot him out of cricinfo. Maybe u wont even publish this; What a pathetic childish writer !

It does not matter weather you are or wrong, and it does not matter weather the provocative article gets a zillion responses. What does matter is that you choose to demean a sacred event of the subcontinent history, and an event in which hundred of thousands of people the enslaved Asians of all creeds and religion died fighting for their basic humanity. I love my cricket, but the sanctity of the events of 1857 is a notch above my nationalism and just a notch shy of my religion. I am surprised you only called them ‘Sepoys’ and not ‘Pandas’, maybe there is still some hope for your colonial alterego.

You seem to have more faith in the current Pakistani team than most Pakistanis have... good this whole india pakistan thing is getting really old anyway.

Absolutely brilliant! Probably your best piece on this blog so far. Only a historian like you could have pulled this off. It is quite appropriate that you chose the army metaphor to analyse the Pakistan team, not least because Pakistan as a country has been under army rule for most of its existence. Even the Pakistan cricket team seems to take cricket as a real battle, more so than other teams. For that reason, I wonder whether having a foriegn coach was a bad decision for them, because you can no longer have that combative spirit when you are being coached by not one of your own.

Good piece. Pakistan can win WC based on the right combination of inspiration and dare-devillery. Talent, team work etc; are secondary. One huge tipping point is all that is required. My prediction though is SA vs Aus final.
Semis: WI,SA, Aus,NZ.
I would love to be proved wrong though.

Hye MUKUL, good article but yeah u concentrated alot on prayer phenomenon which might be taken as a n offense by many pakis....for me it was guud article but bit draggy one....

A good description of cricket affairs in pak. we are all hopefull tha the boys will put their mind in gear before enggaging their Bat with the Ball or vice versa. All said and done lets hope for the best.well done mukul.

Mr mukul y dont you use your stocks of vocabulary for your side of cricketing talent after all it is supposed to be an indian blog and your overly televised and publicised cricketers might benefit from general public's comments. And mr wiseguy by the way azhar is the best possible option in absence of razaq and its might of razaq that kept azhar on the sidelines for last three years.

i agree with khansahab. for example , Headlines today, an indian news channel, talked about the dopping incident with shoaib and asif, but they never talked about mohammad yousuf's breakout year. they only want to show their viewers the negative things about pakistani team and anything related with pakistan. they want to brainwash indian people into believing that their neighbors "across the border" are villains. and mukul, i would like to tell you that your comments about danish kaneria being excluded from the team huddle and that mohammad yousuf was in the same position before him, that was uncalled for and offensive to alot of people.

Mukul,

Pay no attention to Zak, Farhan and the other drama queens who read between the lines for insults and presto!! find them. You made a few very salient points and hit the mark, though I must say the Kaneria reference was uncalled for. People with fragile egos are better off not getting on to blogs.

But from one admirer and an ardent fan of my team from the other side of the border, good job!

Mr. Mukul Kesavan I think you have not done your homework which you should have done. By writing this you have become a racist yourself something your entire nation cried upon recently (Shilpa’s case).
Do you even know what is the history behind Subedar Major in army????
I guess not this was a special post created by the British for those who used to translate their orders from English to hindi/urdu, these people were treated like kami kameen by the Gora’s so you have absolutely no right to make such degrading remarks against our captain and our team. If you want to do became a racist like a similar piece on our team also they are not “Doodh ka dhula” as well.
And to all the Pakistani’s praising this article I think they are either pretending to be Pakistanis or they do not know their history.
In the end I would just say that everybody has got the freedom of expression especially Indian journalists but you should be careful with the usage of words and should refrain from degrading others especially when your team is no Australia.
Thanks a lot for widening the gap between the two nations.

I could have expected nothing better from a "baghal mai churi mu mai ram ram" mentality anyways good luck.. pakistan is out of pressure it has very very good bowling attack even without the shoaib and asif and in the turning wikets kaneria is going to be a killer see u on 18th of April because Srilinka will be on top in Group B and Pakistan in Group D. Try to make it up for the semis

Ideally speaking, I fail to understand your point, or may be it was lost some where in your beautiful Webster English. While writing some thing for public, please be specific & to the point, and deliver your massage in such a way that majority understands it. That is the way of communication we have learned. I hope you understand what I meant to say

Mr. Mukuul....a shear display of typical "bunya" mentality. You "bunyas" will just not leave any stone unturned when it comes to ridiculing Pakistan team..maybe the wounds still hurt from that mighty six by the great Miandad and that blitzkrieg innings by Saeed Anwar......God help u people on the other side of the border

ho ho ho ho mr samit u must b congratulated saying that pak should learn from india ha ha ha what should we learn fom u guys losing matches all the time and dont u dare call shoaib the villain of international cricket he is the shining light of international cricket u guys probably think that express bowlers like venkatesh prasaad make international cricket interesting and exciting hahahahahahahahaha

I'm hoping Pakistan and Australia make it to the final.

But from there - I see Pakistan all out for 132. And Australia winning with nearly 30 overs to spare. Hang on, that already happened. Back in 1999.

Go Australia!

Very well written. However, I am skeptic about your idea of Pakistan still being able to put up a good show. Inzamam is an extremely talented player but not the best of Captains. The team might not be Pakistan's worst at the moment but certainly not the best either. I would say, to put up a good show, we need luck to be on our side for more than its average commitment to every time.

Mukul: I think Razaaq is missing in the pakistan lineup. I don't think Inzi is a bad captain at all as highlighted by you. One need not be jumping in the field to get the captain aggressive/active tag! Pakistan has won many matches under Inzi-Woolmer combo.
The chances of Pakistan are good like any other team. Top 8 teams all have equal chance this time with may be very minimum advantage to teams like Aust and SA.
The team that performs consistently will reach Semis. From there on it is a matter of who performs better on the day clubbed with little luck.
My feeling is that the cup will go to someone who has not won it be4. (counting the minnows out).
Which means NZ/SA/Eng. Take your pick!

Last but not the least this article seems to be a cting as a good promotion for the anticipated Ind-Pak match in Super 8 stage! If Sachin doesn't fire the match for the first time in WC history is likely to go to Pakistan.

Being a cricket-mad Pakistani, my first reaction was of anger as certain comments were a bit unfair and insulting. However, keeping that aside, on balance I do agree with the analysis part though I am not optimistic about Pakistan's chances. It would be great, but not likley to happen.

Pakistan will perform better than expected. That is the beauty of low expectations. For the sub-continent teams, positive expectations are directly co-related with pressure on the players. In essence, the absence of positive expectations can be quite liberating. Good luck to all the teams. May the best team win!

I have seen a lot of individuals taking offence to the comment on Danishi Kaneria not part of the team huddle. However, the way I read Mukul's comment - Kaneria is not part of the regular one-day cricket strategy of Inzy / Woolmer. Considering the low volume of Kaneria's appearance in one-day matches for Pakistan, I don't think evne Inzy / Woolmer would be able to argue with that. Just leave it there.

Sigh of relief. The fear speaks out! Akhtar's absence is not a blessing for his nation and team. I would say that the world just got lucky. Whenever he has played he made his presence felt. He is one of his kind and no doubt, he is a big name in the cricketing world. He is the worst terror for all the so called big guns (Lara, Ponting, Tendulkar) you name it, he got it. If the trio (Aktar, Asif, Razzak) would have been there among the eleven, Pakistan would have done it for the second time for sure.

Mr. Wasim
Dear i would like to humbly remind you that there is nothing inflammatory or antagonising in this article , if anything it is a brilliantly executed piece of cricket writing. As far as Rahul and his eleven English speaking monkeys not all Indian players except for Rahul, Sachin , Saurav and to an extent Dhoni and Yuvraj can speak fluently in English. It would be better if you come out of your bias and please remember that the last time around India were able to Whip Pakistan 4-1 in the one day series in Pakistan and when you Talk about Afridi Shaheed's Pyrotechnics don't forget the way Dhoni Murdered the so called genuinely quick Sami by repeatedly lifting him over his head for massive sixes and Yuvraj the way he tore into Pak bowling. We are not here for a team comparison but to enjoy Mr. Keasavan's fresh blog written with imaginative wit.

Honestly, this guy, Kesavan, is a sham cricket writer. He doesn't have in depth cricket knowledge or even passion. It is all superficial and too apparent.

Connections in the Indian subcontinent cannot just get into the national cricket team but also into cricket sites, Cricinfo is not exception here, sadly.

Mr. Ulysses,
Taking the name Ulysses won't make you a competent writer like one Mr. Joyce . At the same time nobody has asked for your hallowed opinion on the subcontinent and its writers . If you are not from the subcontinent there is no need for you appoint yourself a pedigreed pontiff "pontificating" on the system prevalent here. It just shows your literary bankruptness when you indulge in such vile criticism of Mr. Kesavan.This same country has produced literary geniuses like Arundhati Roy , VS Naipaul , Salman Rushdie and now Kiran Desai who have all won bookers and even a noble prize writing in a langauge alien to psyche of the subcontinent. Your criticism is nothing but has its basis in vicious racism.

A good article...but since when did Shoaib Malik and Abdul Razzaq not use their brains? They are two superb (though Razzaq is out of form) all-rounders who always play exactly according to the situation. Malik has played almost a lone hand (Mohammad Yousuf being the exception) in his last few matches, rattling off battling 50s amid consternation. As for Razzaq, he is a completely sensible and selfless cricketer who always plays to the nature of the situation. How many ODI batsmen are there who have made 50s in 20-odd balls (22, 23, 26, 29) and also made 50 off 113 when the team needed them? Just because Afridi is a hyperactive buffoon doesn't mean you have to generalize.

Inzamam may not be a great thinker but don't put that down to his being religious. It's possible to be religious and intelligent at the same time, you know.

Hi,
very funny article, and subtly provocative too.
Sadly, the antagonistic respondants haven't appreciated the humor. Its rarely that we get to appreciate witty atricles like these.

World Cup winning teams have always had high performing captains, especially during crunch situations. Which of the captains will play a knock like that of Kapil's against Zimbabwe in 83, Waugh's against Porteas in '99, Ponting's in the final of 2003, this time ?
They may have been tyrannical, but Imran and Ranatunga were probably the best leaders of men the sub-continental cricket ever produced.

Among the present line-up, Graeme Smith seems to be the best Cap'n. Ponting has proved himself in the last WC. Stephen Fleming and Vaughan are good Cap'ns however their teams may not be upto it. Likewise Mahela Jayawardane,- Jayasuriya, Attapattu, Vaas, Murali, are all past their prime.
Inzi and Lara are good batsmen. However their abilities in marshalling their forces are not very impressive. Dravid is a good batsman, but he is not a clever captain. If the game goes according to plan, he will prevail over all others. However, the game rarely goes according to plan, especially in the WC.

Ten or fifteen years back, WC was the biggest prize in cricket that all cricketers looked up to and strove to get. Today money is the biggest prize in cricket and to get it is through endorsements and advertising deals.
A number of players would be more concerned about getting their half century or a few wickets that will assure their continued selection in the team and modelling careers rather than team victory. On rare occasions is team spirit on display.

bari changi gallan keetiyan ne tussi. chhaa gaye ho. aeho jayi gallan roz roz keetiyan karo.

Imran Khan has lashed out the selectors with his chartecteristic dismissive observations that the current contingent in carribean islands is the worst ever team selected for world cups. The defeat in the lung opener may also back his views. But, the real fact is that Pakistan is capable of rising from nadir to zenith. Even Immy needs to be reminded that the Pakistan Team, way back in 1992 world cup in Australia, lost to West Indies in the first match. Only after that match, Imran joined the team. In fact,the current team is no way inferior to that team. The one zing thing that is missing is the combo of Wasim-Waqar'. Yet, this Pak team, if rediscovers itself and plays to its potential, may surprise many.

Nice article Mukul with a rich blend of metaphors, similies and analogies. As a writer you might have the license to write/express what you have written, but I guess there were a very few takers who understand this style if writing. I guess, we all live in stone-age when it come to Indo Pak thing...can't really think beyong religion and Kashmir.

High time you wrote something on Indian Cricket? Being a pakistani ive noticed quiet a lot of things written on Pakistan from all of these Indian sites.It's time you look into your own flaws!

on the start of the tournament people of pakistan had no comments about pakistani team bcz they were playing without key bowlers but pakistan lost due to batting colaps thats was the part of the any sports win and lost but i dont understand indian media and people were pin pointing to pakistanies? we people should see how sehwag were playing except cricket minnows burmuda and did ganguly was really responsible may be he had eye on captaincy after dravid or dravid were responsible. did he had in his mind to see billions of people wishes ohh star sachin what he was doing over there i never see he played for country he is individual player who has no country but he is legend like bradman but he was the match winner not a loser like sachin i think so he should be retired from the cricket or match one team in the team he should be alone and dont need another players in his team bcz he is not a player of the team he is individual who always see his own record but people of india like me dont understand why he is still playing in dravid eleven.sachin u has earned alot rest of your life u can survive without any difficualty plz plz plz leave cricket now. who Yuvraj Singh he was the only man in the indian team who match winner but it was his bad world cup he tried but didnt succeded best of luck to him but what about blind hitter dhoni he dont know how to see bowl without seen bowl just twist your bate dhoni this is not baseball this is cricket if u want to stay long cricket then u have to learn about cricket not baseball i dont have time to type more bcz i have to go somewhere then see u soon.

this is artical of only critical

Wow Mr. Kesavan, you have some nerve to write something like this, thinly veiled insults in the guise of metaphors, why dont you use your supposed "fiction" talent to pen something on your own team? I dunno why the most intolerant person is the most intent on criticizing others and giving advice, you would be better off using your "talents" to write about your own team, but wait.. it just dawned on me that Indians dont respond well to being shown a mirror ala Chappel or Chappal I should say as he is commly referred to by indian "fans".

What you write of Pakistan is true of India too.
We are both failures.India of course is a marginal success as a nation.