Saturday, 29 October 2011

Azhar Mahmood

Azhar Mahmood Biography
Full name Azhar Mahmood Sagar
Born February 28, 1975, Rawalpindi, Punjab
Current age 36 years 243 days
Major teams Pakistan, Islamabad Cricket Association, Kent, Lahore Badshahs, Marylebone Cricket Club, Pakistan International Airlines, Rawalpindi, Surrey, United Bank Limited
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast-medium
Azhar Mahmood had a successful first season at Canterbury after joining Kent from Surrey.

He famously struck three centuries in his first eight Tests, but despite some streetwise performances for Pakistan, Mahmood fell out of favour by 2001.

Mahmood first played for Surrey for a one-month spell in 2002 and returned as a full-time overseas player for the following three seasons.

His explosive hitting has produced runs when Surrey have needed them and he has often been responsible for helping them to get out of precarious positions.

His line-and-length seam bowling has been particularly useful in English conditions and, combined with his variations in speed, has enabled him to break partnerships when batsmen look well set.

The all-rounder is also a good fielder and a bubbly presence in the dressing room.

He bowled the final over of the match as Surrey snatched a one-run victory over Lancashire in the 2004 Twenty20 Cup semi-finals.

Injury restricted his appearances for Surrey in 2005, as he played in only half of their first class games.

However, he was able to score 204 not out towards the end of the season as the club battled to stave off relegation into Division Two of the Frizzell County Championship.

He also took 26 first class wickets in the season, proving his worth to Surrey as an all-rounder.

His 2006 season saw him make 600 championship runs and take 31 wickets, but it was in the C&G Trophy that he really made his mark topping the bowling averages and averaging 52.5 with the bat.

His performances for Surrey earned him an international recall for Pakistan but he failed to impress and did not get a chance in his team's dismal 2007 World Cup campaign.

He was released by Surrey midway through the 2007 season as they decided to change their personnel and brought in an overseas spinner in Harbhajan Singh in his place.

He signed for Kent in the 2007 winter and played as a British citizen after applying for a UK passport on residency.

Finger and back injuries limited Mahmood to just six first-class outings, but made a thrilling start with 116 against Nottinghamshire in the opening LV County Championship match.

He underlined his enduring class with 5-30 against Sussex at Hove and 6-55 against Yorkshire at Canterbury.

He was more utilised in the limited overs formats, with 35 cheap wickets, though he was less effective in the Spitfires’ two final losses in the Friends Provident Trophy and Twenty20 Cup.

Azhar Mahmood

Azhar Mahmood Cricketer Post by Zagham

Azhar Mahmood - 11 Wickets in 2 ODI's

Shahid Nazir

Shahid Nazir Biography
Full name Shahid Nazir
Born December 4, 1977, Faisalabad, Punjab
Current age 33 years 329 days
Major teams Pakistan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala Cricket Association, Habib Bank Limited, ICL Pakistan XI, Lahore Badshahs, National Bank of Pakistan, Northumberland
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast-medium
Shahid Nazir, like Fazl-e-Akbar, is from a school of fast-medium pacers who have lorded over the domestic circuit without quite ridding people of the suspicion that they lacked something to make an impact internationally. As a fast-medium bowler of healthy pace, Nazir's entry into international cricket in 1996-97 was impressive enough. Seven wickets on debut against Zimbabwe were impressive but ultimately overshadowed by Wasim Akram's 257. It has been the way with his career so far.

His pace and ability to swing and seam the ball, extravagantly in helpful conditions, meant he played a vital part in Pakistan's only triangular triumph in Australia (the Carlton & United series in 1996-97) in the final stages though his contribution was overshadowed by the emergence of Mohammad Zahid and the blistering pace he generated earlier in the tournament.

Essentially that period - match-fixing rife, Wasim and Waqar in confrontation, Aaqib Javed on the decline and splits in the team - marked Nazir's best opportunity to cement a place for himself. He didn't and was soon plying his trade - albeit very successfully - on the domestic circuit. At some point, all that domestic success had to keep him in the frame, especially with Pakistan's first-choice pace attack after the 2003 World Cup so injury-prone. It eventually did with a recall to the squad in 2005; he didn't play any role for some time but with Pakistan missing three front-line pacers on the tour to England in 2006, there was always a chance that he would return. So it was, at the third Test at Headingley - a ground ideal for his brand of bowling - that Nazir returned to Test cricket, over seven years after his last Test.

He played in the series against West Indies and toured South Africa but could only manage 13 wickets in five matches. The emergence of Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul affected Nazir's hopes of a comeback, which he jeopardised further by joining the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League.
Osman Samiuddin (February 2008)

Shahid Nazir

Shahid Nazir Bowls Russel Arnold

Shahid Nazir Swing

Rana Naved-ul-Hasan

Rana Naved-ul-Hasan Biography
Name: Rana Naved ul Hasan
Birth date: 1978-02-28
Hometown: Sheikhupura
Teams: Pakistan, Allied Bank, Herefordshire, ICL Pakistan XI, Lahore Badshahs, Lahore Division, Pakistan Customs, Sheikhupura Cricket Association, Sialkot Cricket Association, Sussex, Yorkshire, Tasmanian Tigers
Debut: 4th Apr 2003
ODI Best: 29* | 6-27
Test Best: 42* | 3-30
A late starter in cricketing terms, who made his debut for Pakistan in 2003.
A hard-hitting low order batsman who bowls was his billing – and he’s lived up to that tag.
Now regarded as one of the best ‘death’ bowlers in the game, Rana Naved has the ability to vary his pace without a discernable change in action, and without losing control. Also has the ability to bowl orthadox and reverse swing in favourable conditions.

As a bowler, he possesses it all – he is the classic ‘ODI Specialist’. His 9 test matches spread over 4 years have proved disappointing, and its unlikely he’ll add to his test tally given the bowling options Pakistan have at their disposal.

It’s no surprise that his finest performances for Pakistan have come in ODIs against India and West Indies – 56 of his 95 wickets have come against them, but he has struggled for consistency.

He paid the ultimate price for a poor run of form in 2007 (which featured a career threatening injury sustained for Yorkshire CC) – not only was he dropped from the Pakistan team, he failed to secure a Central Contract, which ultimately proved the catalyst in him joining the ‘rebel’ Indian Cricket League (ICL) for the 2008 season, where he made a huge impact as batsman and bowler.

Voted the ‘2008 Man of the Tournament’ for the guiding the Lahore Badshah’s to the ICL Championship, Rana Naved is arguably in the best form of his career.

Rana is back at Yorkshire for his second season there and has recently been released from his ICL contract. As a result he is back playing international cricket for Pakistan with relative success. Just recently he signed for the Tasmanian Tigers in the KFC Big Bash and has already made an impact with both bat and ball.

Rana Naved-ul-Hasan

Rana Naveed ul Hassan Good Fielding

Rana Naved Ul Hasan Interview

Umar Gul

Umar Gul Biography
Full name Umar Gul
Born April 14, 1984, Peshawar, North-Western Frontier Province
Current age 26 years 280 days
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast-medium
Umar Gul Picture

Major teams Pakistan, Gloucestershire, Habib Bank Limited, Kolkata Knight Riders, North West Frontier Province, North West Frontier Province Panthers, Pakistan A, Pakistan International Airlines, Peshawar, Peshawar Panthers, Western Australia.
Umar Gul Profile
The least-hyped but most successful and assured Pakistan pace product of the last few years, Umar Gul is the latest in Pakistan’s assembly-line of pace-bowling talent. He had played just nine first-class matches when called up for national duty in the wake of Pakistan’s poor 2003 World Cup. On the flat tracks of Sharjah, Gul performed admirably, maintaining excellent discipline and getting appreciable outswing with the new ball.
He isn’t express but bowls a very quick heavy ball and his exceptional control and ability to extract seam movement marks him out. Further, his height enables him to extract bounce on most surfaces and from his natural back of a length, it is a useful trait. His first big moment in his career came in the Lahore Test against India in 2003-04. Unfazed by a daunting batting line-up, Gul tore through the Indian top order, moving the ball both ways off the seam at a sharp pace. His 5 for 31 in the first innings gave Pakistan the early initiative which they drove home to win the Test.
Unfortunately, that was his last cricket of any kind for over a year as he discovered three stress fractures in his back immediately after the Test. The injury would have ended many an international career, but Gul returned, fitter and sharper than before in late 2005. He returned in a Pakistan shirt against India in the ODI series at home in February 2006 and in Sri Lanka showed further signs of rehabilitation by lasting both Tests but it was really the second half of 2006, where he fully came of age. Leading the attack against England and then the West Indies as Pakistan’s main bowlers suffered injuries, Gul stood tall, finishing Pakistan’s best bowler.
Since then, as Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar have floundered, Gul has become Pakistan’s spearhead and one of the best fast bowlers in the world. He is smart enough and good enough to succeed in all three formats and 2009 proved it: he put together a patch of wicket-taking in ODIs, on dead pitches in Tests (including a career-best six-wicket haul against Sri Lanka) and established himself as the world’s best Twenty20 bowler, coming on after the initial overs and firing in yorkers on demand.
He had hinted at that by being leading wicket-taker in the 2007 World Twenty20; over the next two years he impressed wherever he went, in the IPL for the Kolkatta Knight Riders and in Australia’s domestic Twenty20 tournament. Confirmation came on the grandest stage: having poleaxed Australia in a T20I in Dubai with 4-8, he was the best bowler and leading wicket-taker as Pakistan won the second World Twenty20 in England. The highlight was 5-6 against New Zealand, the highest quality exhibition of yorker bowling. He is not a one-format pony, however, and will remain a crucial cog in Pakistan’s attack across all formats.

Umar Gul

Umar Gul Vs Aussies =Its Amazing

Best of Umar Gul World Cup 2011

Friday, 28 October 2011

Mohammad Asif

Mohammad Asif Biography
Full name Mohammad Asif
Born December 20, 1982, Sheikhupura, Punjab
Major teams Pakistan, Asia XI, Delhi Daredevils, Khan Research Labs, Lahore Division, Leicestershire, National Bank of Pakistan, Sheikhupura Cricket Association, Sialkot Cricket Association
Playing role Bowler
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast-medium
Few Pakistani fast bowlers have been as wily and smart as Mohammad Asif, though fewer have been as prone to scandal and controversy off the field. Neither claim can easily be made given the rich competition.
But such is the magic in the loose wrists of Asif. Pace is not his calling - he abhors such measurements - but he is unerringly accurate and cuts the ball either way with wicked regularity and glee. He is tall and lean so to these skills is added bounce and a natural ability to bowl long spells. An easy action and easier run-up mean that watching a long Asif spell, watching him out-think batsmen, is an experience in cricket not to be missed.
On several occasions, in Kandy, in Karachi, at The Oval, in South Africa, and in Sydney, all of it has come together in spells not only of the very highest quality, but of crucial importance to Pakistan's cause. But if ever a young, small-town man was blinded by the bright lights of a big city and fame, it was Asif.
Already, unforgivably, he has tested positive for steroids twice. Soon after the second offence, he was caught with a recreational drug in his wallet at Dubai airport and kept in detention for three weeks. Most seriously he was charged in 2010 with spot-fixing - bowling pre-planned, deliberate no-balls - and in February 2011 he was handed a seven-year ban, with two years suspended, by the ICC.He has come back well from bans before but the latest might spell the end of his career.

Mohammad Asif

Muhammad Asif Destroys Indian Batting

Mohammad Asif's best T20 figures - 4/18 - vs India - 2007 - HQ

Mohammad Sami

Mohammad Sami Biography
In early 2000, Pakistan had one of the most devastating bowling units even by its standards with the likes of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar and Saqlain Mushtaq dealing the opposition team a psychological blow even before the games had commenced. With such a serious pace battery at the helm, few would have bet on another Pakistani bowler breaking through the ranks let alone staking a claiming in the side.
But when a young Sami burst on the scene with 8 wickets on Test debut against New Zealand in 2001, it seemed that another pace sensation had announced his arrival on the big stage. The Karachi lad with his short run up and quick arm action was able to generate such sheer pace that he once clocked 164 kph on an unofficial speedometer. In only his 3rd test, he claimed a hat-trick and went on to repeat the feat against the West Indies in an ODI. His excellent performances against Zimbabwe and New Zealand earned him a place in Pakistan’s 2003 WC squad and despite not playing for a major part of the tournament went on to have a fine 2003 season. However with the retirements of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, the pacer found himself spearheading the attack, a title which made him uneasy. The pressure of performances got to him and despite being given numerous opportunities continued to remain a pale shadow of his former self. Finally in 2007 he was booted from the side after joining the rebel ICL but made a one off appearance in a Test against Australia in 2010 and also replaced an injured Umar Gul in the 2010 T20 WC but failed to make an impact.
Sami’s problem seems to be more mental than technical and unless he gets over it he won’t be able to perform to potential.

Mohammad Sami

Mohammad Sami karachi exprass

Mohammad Sami- True Paceman

Shoaib Akhtar

Shoaib Akhtar Biography
Shoaib Akhtar Biography receives strong comments from Wasim Akram, Shahrukh, BCCI, PCB, Shoaib Malik, Tauqeer Zia and several others. Wasim Akram has termed it as a cheap publicity move by Shoaib Akhtar. He further said that Shoaib was a “problem” when he was an active player and remains just that even in retirement. Wasim Akram rubbished Akhtar’s claims of making Sachin Tendulkar uncomfortable with his pace in the Faisalabad Test in 2006 as has been claimed by Akhtar in his book titled ‘Controversially Yours’.

“I remember Sachin’s one innings when he was 16 and touring Pakistan. Sialkot Test was Sachin’s 4th Test. He made his debut in that series. There was a lot of grass on the pitch. Waqar and I bowled very fast. Waqar, I think, was 19 and Sachin was 16. Waqar hit him (Sachin) on the helmet just below the chin and he got hurt. But he put a plaster and he came back to score a 50. If a 16-year-old kid wasn’t scared, I don’t think any of the top batsmen in the world is scared of any bowler,” Akram said.

“Maybe he might play on the back foot to block the delivery or maybe he might just see it off. But I don’t think a player like Sachin can get scared of any bowler. He (Shoaib) can write anything to sell a book, but it does not affect me or Sachin,” he said. Cricblogger totally agrees with Wasim on this one. Even though we have critically analysed Tendulkar’s performances and have written about his centuries and of him not being the best of match finishers, we stand with Wasim on this one. Tendulkar is a great batsman and no top batsmen can be scared by any bowler, Ganguly included (pun intended). Cricblogger has also praised Tendulkar’s world records in another article.

On Akhtar’s allegations that Akram was responsible for destroying his career, he said no one but the Shoaib himself was responsible for destroying his career. ”He himself is responsible for destroying his career. Nobody helped him (in destroying his career).” said the King of Swing.

“There is no point in me talking about his book. I still haven’t read his book. But his idea is good. If the books get sold then good luck to him,” Akram said adding that, “You people (media) will ensure his book is a bestseller.”

Shahrukh Khan, the bollywood super star responded to the allegations made by Akhtar in a similar fashion. He said that there is just as much truth in Akhtar’s claim that we (Shahrukh and company) are cheaters as there is in the fact that Sachin fears his (Akhtar’s) bowling.

Rajiv Shukla, a senior BCCI official demanded an apology from Shoaib Akhtar for making such remarks against Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. Akhtar had remarked that Sachin and Dravid lacked ability to finish off games early in their respective careers. It seems unnecessary for the BCCI to jump into the swamp, just ignore Shoaib he is just trying to sell his book.

The former PCB chairman, Tauqeer Zia has also rubbished Akhtar’s claim that Zia had helped Akhtar when Wasim Akram tried to destroy his career and threatened to walk off with have the team if Akhtar was selected. Zia said that no such thing happened. Shoaib Malik responded to the allegations by Akhtar that Malik was incompetent to be captain and said that Akhtar’s allegations were a joke.

Meanwhile, there have been some protests in India against the paceman and the opening function of the launch of the book has been cancelled without giving any reason. Shoaib has another public appearance on Monday. Lets see how it goes but one thing is for sure, there are lots of people out there looking to read his book.

Even my blog has seen an unusual rush of visitors on this particular story and the search engines are all flooded with queries about his book and who said what in response. He seems to have achieved his goal, it might just turn out to be a best seller. His slower ball usually works in the midst of bouncers and yorkers. Lets see what he does next.

Shoaib Akhtar