New Delhi: Controversial former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar created a stir by claiming that master batsman Sachin Tendulkar is not a match-winner and was scared of him.

He also admitted to having tampered with the ball in his autobiography “Controversially Yours”.

He said that Sachin was scared of him and there are occasions when the premier batsman shied away in fear of facing him. He also claimed that neither Sachin nor Rahul Dravid was a match-winner as they don’t know how to finish the game [..]

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According to Press Trust of India, security personnel also positioned themselves on the rooftops in the adjoining buildings of the stadium to maintain strict vigil. Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police, Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, said that anti-sabotage teams, mounted police, 150 CCTV cameras, bomb disposal and sniffer dog squads would also be in place for Wednesday’s match.

Nearly 1,200 police officers were deployed around Hotel Taj, which is about 12 km from the stadium, where the two teams are staying.

Over 16,000 match tickets were sold in less than two days in the 28,000-capacity stadium while the rest were to be distributed to officials and guests.

Cricketing ties between the two countries were suspended in the wake of Mumbai terror attacks in 2008. Pakistan’s official announced on Sunday that Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani will visit India at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Dr. Manmohan Singh to watch the cricket match.

The invitation for the match came just ahead of the Interior Secretary-level talks between both countries, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. According to officials, the talks, the first since the attacks, will discuss terrorism, humanitarian issues, removal of visa restrictions and cooperation to fight drug trafficking.

The November 26 attack in Mumbai was executed by ten Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives which arrived by sea. The group divided in two and carried out an unprecedented attack for 60 hours at the Hotels Taj Mahal and Oberoi-Trident and Jewish outreach centre Nariman House in South Mumbai.

Overall, the terrorists killed 166 people and injured 238 others. Nine of them were killed by Indian security forces after the siege. The attacks caused damages worth around $34 million.

Afridi, who was played his 300th match, really showed character and made some pretty good bowling changes that brought English batting demise, and not too forget he was the one who initially started the onslaught with his quick fire 37 which included a huge six off the last ball of Greame Swan’s spell. I never liked Afridi as a captain but as the time is progressing, he has shown lots of improvement and has shown character that a cricketing captain should possess.

This match particularly should be dedicated to all the 30 plus cricketers in our side, as too start off with Afridi and Razzaq, whose blistering batting over shadowed a fifty from M.Hafeez at the top of the order, when English bowlers saw the ball visiting the boundary line 10 time in the last 12 balls. Mr Razzak plundered 40 runs of his last 10 deliveries and ironically the first 10 deliveries he faced only got him 4 runs. Shoaib Akhtar, who perhaps is the fastest 30+ bowler of the world, amazes me when he bowls at 93.6 MPH at the age of 35. He took wickets of Strauss and Eoin Morgan at crucial times which sealed the victory for Pakistan. Last but not the least; the oldest Cricketer in our side, M. Yousaf who never has been an agile fielder even when he was 26, took a brilliant running catch to dismiss Eoin Morgan.

After that, it was up too our clean up specialist, Umar Gul; who did the job by cleaning up the tail by getting all his wickets as bowled. May be Waqar’s coaching is having a good effect on Mr Gul, who has now 10 wickets in the last 2 games. I would like to also mention Fawad Alam, whose agile fielding clearly saved 20 odd runs for us. People have been against him but I will support his selection because if a guy is scoring 20-30 odd runs in every game and saving the same amount of run because of his fielding. His contribution is about 50 runs per game. So he totally deserves his place in this side, because on field you can see him putting his heart and soul in the game not for money but for the Green shirt he is wearing.

Not long ago, Team Pakistan lost their pride at the same venue due to all the match & spot fixing allegations, as the English Print and Electronic media bombarded with allegations against Pakistan, but they managed to get it back at the same venue in a way that this time English media could not utter a single word against our boys and were helpless to praise team Pakistan’s brilliant team work. Now it’s a brilliant opportunity for Men in Green too win the last ODI and the series and come back home with Pride and honor.

Akhtar and Razzaq the two most experienced bowlers for Pakistan , used it to good effect and thwarted England’s advance by taking early wickets. Struass continued his fine form this season by making a fine half century before being cleaned up by Umer Gul, who put up a career best effort to win an important match for the team. Waqar Younus must have had a chat with Gul, as he bowled full and fast through out his 10 over spell.

After the failure of the top order , it was again Morgan on whose shoulders rested England’s fate in the match. He dominated the bowling in his 61 run innings before holding out to Wahab Riaz on the bowling off Gul. His wicket eroded any chance left for the England to win the match as they bundled out to 218 in 45.4 overs. Afridi recieved a huge cheer from the crowd on winning an important match as the tour became more of a nightmare for the visitors. Umer Gul recieved man of the match for his inspired bowling performance.

It just took a couple of T20 internationals to bring out the difference between the coaching staff and Shahid Afridi over the selection of the team. Reports say that the team management is against the selections of the likes of Yousaf and Akhter in the team on the account of their fitness. While it is true that these players are certainly over the hill but then they shouldn’t have been selected into the national squad for the one day internationals by the selectors in the first place. It is mind boggling that the team management cannot understand that Pakistan can well afford a white wash in this series under these circumstances but can ill afford infighting in the team.

All those who have loved Pakistan cricket over the years have a responsibility to raise their voices to bring about a change on how cricket is being run in this country. This absolute mockery of our national image must end. If we can’t replace a grinning joker sitting in our presidency we must try to get rid of the fat Dutch guy from Austin Powers that he has put in charge of cricketing affairs. The way he has handled the affairs of the cricketing board is criminal. With Pakistan already suffering from isolation due to terrorism at home these morons have all managed to convince everyone that playing host to us is a very bad idea. As crowds number dwindle for the ongoing series England and Wales board may not see hosting Pakistan a financially viable option in future and for that matter any other board(apart from the our middle eastern friends who luckily like us have no moral issues what so ever).

As I am writing this I am hearing that the alleged spot fixers are heading back to Pakistan “without being charged”. We all should take our heads out the sand and realize that there is something terribly wrong on how cricket is being administered here. It seems as if people who run cricket are hell bent not to take their heads out of this honey pot even after this farce and want to make anything and everything before this well dries up. Such is the reflection of our national character. It is very likely that the tainted trio may never be charged, as the pig who sits on top of the cricketing administration says but this whole charade has shown the real face of these insatiable monsters and my God is it ugly!

Choosing to bat first, Pakistan batting showing a mixture of confused mindset and phases of sudden rush of blood, with Kamran Akmal setting the tone with his characteristic “going no where” pull shot which was caught off the bowling of Bresnan. Yousuf and Shahzad followed suit showing their complete inability to play the short ball and Pakistan innings was in tatters from the start.

In came the captain Shahid Afridi to a rather somber welcome form the crowd to which he is normally used to. The skipper obviously has a lot more things on his head these days then a cricket match and it certainly was showing, he got out to the fourth delivery he faced pulling nervously to mid wicket. Pakistan 22 for 4 after five overs.

In came Mumahhad Hafeez who batted as if it was still 60′s and there were still a couple of days in the game, nudging here poking there and practicing solid defensive shots between overs. At the other end Umar Akmal was waiting impatiently to just explode at first given opportunity and he started his futile onslaught by striking two sixes off swan in the two overs he faced from him before customarily losing his wicket by leaving enough gap for a swan delivery to rattle his stumps.

Hafeez’s misery at the crease was also ended soon enough as he was run out by Side-bottom leaving Fawad Alam with no other option then to make a quick journey to the center and back as he was bowled out for a first ball duck. It was then the job of the bowlers to bring the innings to a conclusion with England needing a meager 90 to chase off their 20 overs.

England Innings started with openers showing clear intent of giving Pakistan a quick kill with Craig Kieswetter launching into Akhtar and Gul in their opening overs. Both the openers fell in Akhar’s subsequent over but Akhtar was already giving his tired, lethargic looks and wasn’t even a shadow of his past self. The speed meter did show him constantly breaking into the 90 miles per hour bracket but he was not anywhere near threatening. Afridi and Ajmal did pick wickets of Bopara and Saeed Ajmal but Morgan supreme form ensured Pakistan was never in the game.

It was another disappointing day in the field for Pakistan with their fielding showing no signs of any improvement and when Muhammad Yousaf is fielding in a T20 match you know something is terribly wrong. We all hope with the Pakistan Team that the “Misery one day international series” ends soon enough and those who can still manage to get a clear chit from immigration and customs can head back or play poker or whatever they want to do with their sorry existences.

Cricket has always been a passion for my generation and the ones before it. It has always managed to capture the imagination of this cricket mad country. The feeling of pride has been taken over by that of disgust and repugnance which now engulfs Pakistan Cricket and its followers after we have all bore witness to the most heart breaking images to which even the defeats at Bangalore in 1996 and Lords in 1999 paled in complexion. Good news has never been in great supply here, and certainly recent memories have been tainted by blood and gore. Amid the flood waters and millions of hopeless, shelter less people the sight that our boys wonder, the one who we have all been so proudly calling our next fast bowling sensation bowling no balls on order to some shady bookie is a tragedy in itself. A young boy falling prey to such a corrupt system just makes the whole saga even more saddening. It feels as if last shreds of honor and dignity of this wretched land were sold out for a few thousand quids. Cricket is something that is followed with such fervor and passion in this country that is unparallel to any other sport. From the Imrans to Akrams cricket stars of such caliber have always been given a very special status of prestige and honor. Amir even at such a young was widely seen as the potential successor to this lineage, having seen him bowling those no balls on order for a few thousand pounds was the most sickening and saddening thing I have seen happening on a cricket field.

Corruption and criminal inability now runs deep in our society which unfortunately reflects in whole range of our state institutions including cricket. Merit is something that is not respected widely in this country. We are all guilty of this, we have always looked for short term gains at the expense of justice and hence we find ourselves in a situation where are now devoid of any sense of legitimacy. Our cricket administration has failed to stamp its authority when most needed. That is so because it lacks the legitimacy that is essential for such a governing body. No administration can ensure that its players follow strict disciplines when it is run in such a shameful ad hoc manner as is the case with the PCB. The chairman PCB who himself has managed to secure his position by favoritism alone can never expect its players to behave differently. The situation has never been graver for Pakistan Cricket where the world has had enough of the freak show that we have to offer and our cricket is run by the most ghastly jokers who certainly have no familiarity with respect or honor.

It is a watershed for our cricket, we must stop blaming every boogie man we can think of for all our troubles and do some soul searching. Justice must be served and there should be no hiding from the fact had we made examples of such behaviors in the past where players have caused damage to National prestige we might have been better respected today around the world. The crisis that cricket in our country certainly doesn’t end by handing out strict punishment to the players accused if found guilty but a whole revamp of our cricket administration is needed. The culture of corruption and nepotism that has been nurtured for too long must be stopped. A strong message has to be sent now that no one is above the law. We must put our house in order so that no Muhammad Amir will go down this path in future; it is just too painful to see such talent put to such humiliation.