Brilliant article.

Salam Namaste to all. Very well written ibrahim in response to samirs article. You have made some very good points in regards to incidents. I would just like to say that samir chopra is a very good writer one of my favourites however the last article that he wrote i was 50/50 about regarding the points he made. Samir if your reading this i think if you go through your article again its just a little to anti pakistani as all you have done is write negatively about them. The point ibrahim is making is that look pakistan cricket is in a bad state but make no mistake about it india has had its problems too. Everybody is entitled to there opinion agreed. Khuda hafiz.

I agree with every single word. Great writing! :)

In short I feel these measures should have been taken:

1. Younis should have been spared this kind of disgrace. He's only played for the country, instead of slapng him with a ban, he shoud have been awarded a certificate of excellence in demeanor and dignified role he has shown over the time.

2. Yusuf should have been levied with a hefty fine and stripped off captaincy. He's a great player but not a great captain and he should definitely learna thing or two from Yunus on how to keep quite. he did bring disgrace to himself. Ban is/was never a solution.

3. Afridi had already been fined. There was no need to fine him again

4. Akmal brothers need to keep quite too. big brother should have been sit out for a while and fine and younger one shoud have only been fine for talking too much without any authorization.

5. Shoaib and fined and fined again. There kiddish attitude needed to to be straigtened out.

6. Mr. Butt should have resigned after announcing these measures.

All he could point out was what Indian controversies in cricket. Agreed. Every team or board has committed mistakes. But can anyone compare Pakistan board with Indian board. Many may call BCCI to be money minded and cricketers must run Cricket. But just take India and Pakistan boards, you ll understand thro' the teams results.

A very balanced article, Ibrahim. Would be happy to see more of your posts. Though of course I am an Indian and support my team unstintingly, been disappointed over the way Pakistan team has performed over the years despite the abundance of talent. I always felt that Pakistan and India do well under strong captains, even if they be a little dictatorial or whimsical. Regards.

And on player power - Recent Sports Illustrated Polls on Powerful Men in Sports shows Sachin is Numero Uno and MSDhoni is 3rd place. Both ahead of Board officials. It means still players are most influential. But no such infightings here. Because players are mature. Its not so the other side.

Shabash, Ibrahimji. This riposte should serve as a model to other posters on cricinfo. It is balanced, makes its points with economy and respect, and disagrees with Samir without disrespecting the man.

certainly true. PK cricket needs reforms and tightening of bolts. but for it to happen "open contempt and disrespect" are not what the doctor order :)

Regards

Dear Mr. Moiz, let me congratulate you on writing such a mature and unbiased article. I agree with you word for word. Its a relief that in a world where creative readers identify conspiracies where none exist, there are people who put it in perspective and reply in a mature manner.

You are quite right on parts where you mention about the incidents pertaining to Indian team. However, the problem arises by the sheer volume of such incidents within a time span. If we take the last decade(2000 onwards), there has been all kind of things happening in Pakistan Cricket starting from Multiple Drug cases, Player-Captain differences, Different groups within the team, match fixing allegations and counter-allegations from all concerned including the cricket board, and the last nail in the head is the numerous goof ups by the cricket board itself (the last one being the press conference to declare Shoiab Akhtar's medical condition in finer details). And then all these is forgiven and forgotten in the matter of months (when the govt. intervenes) till the new cycle begins. Sameer was pointing to this fact that in spite of actions, the pattern does not change because Players are sure they are going to be back in the scheme of things once the Board president/members are changed.

Well conceived and well directed but overly tolerent of very inappropiate views of Mr.Samir. Wish all people of the sub-continent are as decent Ibrahim Moiz.

There is a difference between incidents and epidemic. Thats the crux of Samir Chopra's article. Nobody is perfect, there are incidents involving every team from time to time. And why compare with India, compare with every other team. The pattern of defending Pakistan cricket is always to pick up incidents from here and there and equate it to an epidemic. No team is in the middle of chaos on every front associated with cricket. Like Osman Samiuddin started his article on this subject .. its an asylum with wrong person holding its keys.

Thanks for writing that.

Wonder if it s Tony Cozier ur refering to, dont remember any article by Garner on Cricinfo.

Good one! and I don't think it's inflammatory :-) Samir who usually plainspeaks and a good one to read, went overboard in his last post. Ofcourse Pak cricket requires course correction. The mental state of the players and officials respresent the country as a whole, that of insecurity and rhetoric. One thing worse than a conspiracy is the rumour of it! Pakistan has abundance of that. So, many people may believe in a rumour and take part in an actual conspiracy! The board officials have tried to take care of their own insecurity and taken steps which are absurd. Yes, some of the players needed punishment but what about Younis and Yousuf? Samir's exmple of Inzi's forfeiture of the test was in bad test. I felt Inzi did the honourable thing by protesting as the umpire took a decision without any proof. Instead of Inzi the umpire behaved as braindead as he didn't allow play to resume when Inzi was ready. Sunny is one of the bravest player from subcontinent who had the guts way back in 70s.

Salam to all. Ibrahim you are asolutely spot on. I am a big fan of samir chopra however i feel he has crossed the line when talking about the problems in pakistan cricket as ibrahim has beautifully wrote he has taken a opportunity to vent a lifetime of misgivings which is a step too far. Samir a message for you wake up and smell the coffee your team aint perfect so dont try and make others worse then they are. : ) Khuda hafiz.

Dear Ibrahim, Contrived fluency of English can smother your anti-Indian feeling only so much. Given that there is always a high non-linearity between the driving thoughts and what transpires through the keyboard, your 'unbiased sounding' rants, 'am sure, emanate from something more dark, profound and hatred-driven. In fact, I would have preferred a swear-laced stereotypical Pakistani post rather than this fake-decent writing you have so scrupulously conjured. It doesn't take a conspiracy theorist to guess that you must surely have a anti-Indian youtube channel with a pseudonym to go with this charade. Let me simpligy this for you. What Samir wrote was an as astute albeit a tad bit sour sounding analysis of your cricketing establishment's current fracas. You perceiving this to be 'lambasting' and deeming our fans' responses to some of the 'fiascos' to be 'fit-like' most clearly exposes the underlying sinister mindset. Try cheering for the Canadian ice-hockey team and get a life!

I beg to disagree with the author. The frustration stems from the failure of all of all other methods. Pakis are a charming but indisciplined lot, ready to implode any second. Earlier, the bunch was kept in check by strong, level-headed men like IK, WS and Inzy.. With a 12-year-old-ball-biting-Afridi being hailed mature, the team lacks role models.

Moreover, Mr. Butt is an absolute disgrace and embarrassment to cricket but hints at his incompetence do not seem to go down well in Pakistan's echelons of power.

May God guide them through...

Salaam everyone,
Its like reading what I wantd to write,I felt anger after reading samir chopra article and its the first time I felt sourness in his article about PK,anyway I think this fines and bans are pretty valid,younis is dignified but he let us down so many times about captaincy,so is yousuf,but i m happy to see ban on malik,he deserved it.rana i dont know why,but this bans should stay as they are, bring new blood and talent they are abundent in pakistan,
Long live Pakistan and Pak Cricket
Asim Muhammad

So in short, you agree with everything Samir said, but question whether he has the right to phrase things in the manner he did (which you found "patently offensive") because of his ethnicity and the fact that the country hasn't had dissimilar experiences. There are marked differences of course, which are outside the scope of this post and will only incite more inflammatory reactions, not least the difference in how the BCCI is run (without direct petty political interference which is almost a hallmark of the PCB) and how as you have noted, India has emerged stronger. Note also that the BCCI doesn't threaten to go around suing everyone in sight, not least if their captains are unfamiliar with the laws. That is but one example of the unprofessionalism that Samir speaks of. From the various forums I have visited, seems those from Pakistani who have objected, have done so based on Samir's ethnicity & not on his argument. Kamran Abbasi is far more damning and they outright agree with him!

Thanks for the feedback guys. Achettup, I can assure you it's got nothing to do with Samir's ethnicity (aren't Indians and Pakistanis the same ethnicity? I think you meant nationality). Rationalism believe me I hate Indian cricket with a passion but I wouldn't try hiding behind "fake decency"-the point is that I felt that Samir was maybe overreacting. Just a personal opinion, nothing to do with his being Indian--he's been writing on cricket far longer than I have, for one thing. I do agree the PCB suffers from enormous mismanagement but to blame it on Pakistan being "spoilt" or "tolerated" by the cricket world is purely one-eyed in my opinion. Ashtung and Asim Muhammad...I agree with you but I would like to know what exactly Malik was guilty of, it seems his name's being linked to all sorts of crimes without any solid evidence whatsoever. And living in Canada doesn't make me a hockey fan--though I do enjoy the field hockey game

Hi Ibrahim,
Firstly I must congratulate you on a sensible piece of article. However, I strongly beg to differ on your take about Samir's post. The point here is not about Pakistan or its people being corrupt. The question Samir wants to pose is how long will this mismanagement and lack of professionalism by PCB will be tolerated by everyone, Pakistani's included? Every country has such characters who make others suffer for the sake of their vested interests, but the difference being that they are tackled strongly nevertheless. Guess its time PCB showed some guts to ensure that once-in-a-generation talent like Amir is not lost in the wayside. Hope Pakistan cricket can emerge stronger and cleaner from their latest debacle.