Controlled chaos
Hey yaars,
Little did I know what posting a picture of Shoaib Akhtar over the weekend would do!
Yesterday, along with fellow strike bowler Mohammad Asif he was sent home for failing a drug test. When I initially read the headline, I had to think they stupidly got caught smoking some dope or recreational drug. I was dead wrong. The pair both were found to have nandrolone in their systems. My jaw is still on the floor from reading those words.
The team has gone through a tumultuous 6 weeks which I can summarize as follows
1 - The whole ball-tampering situation - Umpire Darrell Hair awards England 5 runs, calling Pakistan for ball tampering. Pakistan soon exits the field and refuses to re-enter, leading to a forfeiture of the game (the first of it's kind in over 125 years of international cricket).
2 - The ICC, cricket's governing body, has a hearing with the umpires in question, Pakistani captain Inzamam ul-Haq, and officials from both teams. Pakistan are cleared from charges of ball tampering, while Inzamam is charged a 4-match ban of putting the game into disrepute.
3 - Due to Inzamam's suspension, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) decide to award Younis Khan the captaincy of the team for the beginning of the Champions Trophy. In a surprising turn, Younis refuses the captaincy, stating that he did not want to be placed as a "dummy captain". Subsequently, Mohammad Yousuf is declared captain for the matches.
4 - It's discovered that through a subtle rule in the rulebook, despite Inzamam only having a 4 match ban, he's barred from playing in the tournament as he would not have been in the provisional squad for the tournament.
5 - Shahryar Khan, Chairman of the PCB resigns from his post to be replaced by Dr. Naseem Ashraf. In ANOTHER about turn, Younis now reclaims the captaincy for the duration of the Champions Trophy tournament.
6 - The drug scandal involving Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar of this week.
Yes, that was a long description of events, alas that is Pakistan cricket. Controlled chaos is the best way to describe it. Shoaib has professed his innocence and I am now reading that newspapers in Pakistan are reporting that the presence of nandrolone could be through receiving treatments prescribed by hakims, herbal practitioners in Pakistan. What a web us brown people weave!
If that weren't enough to digest, they opened up play this morming in the tournament against Sri Lanka, a team which was on a run of 10 straight victories. And in true Pakistani form, they managed to pull of an audacious 4-wicket victory!
Who needs soap operas when you got sports AND storylines following this team. Pakistan Zindabad!
Little did I know what posting a picture of Shoaib Akhtar over the weekend would do!
Yesterday, along with fellow strike bowler Mohammad Asif he was sent home for failing a drug test. When I initially read the headline, I had to think they stupidly got caught smoking some dope or recreational drug. I was dead wrong. The pair both were found to have nandrolone in their systems. My jaw is still on the floor from reading those words.The team has gone through a tumultuous 6 weeks which I can summarize as follows
1 - The whole ball-tampering situation - Umpire Darrell Hair awards England 5 runs, calling Pakistan for ball tampering. Pakistan soon exits the field and refuses to re-enter, leading to a forfeiture of the game (the first of it's kind in over 125 years of international cricket).
2 - The ICC, cricket's governing body, has a hearing with the umpires in question, Pakistani captain Inzamam ul-Haq, and officials from both teams. Pakistan are cleared from charges of ball tampering, while Inzamam is charged a 4-match ban of putting the game into disrepute.
3 - Due to Inzamam's suspension, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) decide to award Younis Khan the captaincy of the team for the beginning of the Champions Trophy. In a surprising turn, Younis refuses the captaincy, stating that he did not want to be placed as a "dummy captain". Subsequently, Mohammad Yousuf is declared captain for the matches.
4 - It's discovered that through a subtle rule in the rulebook, despite Inzamam only having a 4 match ban, he's barred from playing in the tournament as he would not have been in the provisional squad for the tournament.
5 - Shahryar Khan, Chairman of the PCB resigns from his post to be replaced by Dr. Naseem Ashraf. In ANOTHER about turn, Younis now reclaims the captaincy for the duration of the Champions Trophy tournament.
6 - The drug scandal involving Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar of this week.
Yes, that was a long description of events, alas that is Pakistan cricket. Controlled chaos is the best way to describe it. Shoaib has professed his innocence and I am now reading that newspapers in Pakistan are reporting that the presence of nandrolone could be through receiving treatments prescribed by hakims, herbal practitioners in Pakistan. What a web us brown people weave!
If that weren't enough to digest, they opened up play this morming in the tournament against Sri Lanka, a team which was on a run of 10 straight victories. And in true Pakistani form, they managed to pull of an audacious 4-wicket victory!
Who needs soap operas when you got sports AND storylines following this team. Pakistan Zindabad!
posted by Naveed at
5:45 PM
1 Comments:
hey.. I better hear that you went to the exibition India/ Pakistan match next year... AND that you took Koji and Travis with you!
By
The Pixy Princess, at 11:29 PM, October 18, 2006
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