Editorial

Security

Politics

World

Letters

Sports

Obituaries

Archives

by Ranjan Anandappa

Former Pakistan cricket captain and now a TV commentator, Ramiz Raja, said that the current cricket series between Sri Lanka and Pakistan has not been a sparkling one, as people do not turn up to watch the home team performing. He said: "you go to India, and Pakistan crowds are massive and the passion no end."

He aired his views in a Cricket Chat Show which included Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer and Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara hosted by Farooq Hassan, Head of Unsecured Standard Chartered Bank soon after its Cricket Credit Card launching ceremony at the Cinnamon Grand Colombo Atrium last Friday.

The reason for this he guessed may be Sri Lanka cricket not being marketed properly, "However, it was not a great series because of the pitches, the one day series didn't have a lot of stroke play as one day cricket is all about batting and I thought Pakistan was not properly tested in the end. It was a low scoring game and it did not have the flavour that we expected from a one day game.

The Test match was a good one, but because of the rain it was a dampner. It was a well contested first innings and the pitch somehow had dried completely in the second innings, so it was a bit of a bore I guess, but overall I feel that spark was missing." said Ramiz.

Talking about some individual performances Ramiz said that he had always argued with Bob (Woolmer) that Shoib Malik is the wrong choice as an opener, and he (Woolmer) said "you watch, and he will develop into a fine opener". I am very pleased that I have been proved wrong, but still he (Woolmer) feels that Pakistan need to have a solid opening pair when they play against top quality teams or fast bowling units such as Australia and England, so you can dictate terms.

"I think credit should go to Shoib Malik as he has been a brilliant one day player and to change the game the way he did was commendable. He had great temperament, very good technique specially against Muralitharan".

"Mohammed Asif has been absolutely outstanding. He has played three or four Test matches and his maturity excites you. He is a different kind of a bowler, sort of an English type, very unlikely a Pakistani. He does not adopt the method of most of our fast bowlers do where they bank on raw pace.

He is a different type as he gets the ball to swing in, and I am sure Kumar Sangakkara would have felt his swing bowling in the first innings, where we saw him bowl a couple of wonderful deliveries." said Raja.

Kumar Sangakkara answering a question as to who is the most difficult bowler to face in the present Pakistan team he said that looking at the pitches that they played in the first two ODIs that he cannot make a judgement.

"Looking at the wickets we played on and they performed I don't think that I would have made a judgement in the first two one dayers we played.

In the third one we saw a bit of what was to come in the Test. In the first innings when we batted against Mohammed Asif, we all rated him very highly. Danish Kaneria has been around for sometime and we rate him highly too, but as a fine leg spinner." said Sangakkara.

"Umer Gul, we have seen a bit of him against India, he got Sachin (Tendulkar) a couple of times and he is also a bowler like Mohammed Asif who doesn't depend a lot on raw pace, but hitting the right areas, right length and asking questions from the batsmen in the little corridor outside the off stump.

"Sometimes bowlers can go into matches expecting things to be repeated and expecting things to come their way second time around.

That does not happen. Sometimes you are not prepared mentally to adjust to that, and that was the great thing I saw in Farveez Maharoof as both times he bowled the wicket was flatter, but he still managed to keep his discipline. After facing lot of bowlers, I personally have a lot of respect for Mohammed Asif and we can see glimpses of what he can become and the rest of the Pakistani bowlers.

You know when you are a batsman you always remember it takes only one ball to get you out, one lapse of concentration.

Pakistan historically has been a great fast bowling side and they have produced the odd great spinner, may be an offie or a leggie. They have great balance and are just emerging on a road towards the 2007 World Cup." said Sangakkara.

| News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security |
| Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries | Junior Observer |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.