Watch and read part two of the interview hereLets talk about the turmoil of
being a Pakistan cricketer.
Wholesale Nike Shoes Free Shipping . Youve
been involved as a player, coach, captain. Has a lot changed in Pakistan cricket
or is it still pretty much the same as it was in 1989? I come from a very small
town in southern Punjab, called Vehari. I have seen lots of ups and downs. I
have seen Pakistan winning titles and also seen a lot of controversies during
that time. Yes, Pakistan cricket is struggling a little bit at the moment. We
have issues, but you know the system. From that day till now things have moved,
not changed. Theres no real consistency in the team as well as in the
management. I think thats where the actual problem is. We have been
administrated by army men, politicians, businessmen, bureaucrats. Cricket is led
by a lot of different people.Despite these problems, we see the emergence of
such special cricketers from Pakistan. How does that happen? In the subcontinent
we have a lot of talented cricketers. If I go back to Fazal Mahmoods time, I
dont really know much about how the system worked then, but I thought the system
was a little better than what we have now. We had fewer teams. Im not saying
that we dont have the talent but I think weve lost a bit of it because weve got
too many teams playing first-class cricket. In those days we had only around
eight first-class teams. It was very difficult to play first-class cricket those
days. I still remember when I first played my first first-class game, and it was
a dream come true for me. I dont want to take cricket away from any kid in
Pakistan. They all deserve it. I come from a small town, so I know how important
it is. There should be serious competition - thats how you produce top
cricketers, and I feel that that is lacking in Pakistan at the moment.The story
goes that Imran Khan spotted you bowling on television and said, who is this
kid, I want him to play for me. What do you remember of that time? When Imran
saw me, he saw me on television, so I must have done something to get to
television. I played under-16 and u-19 for Pakistan, and I played against the
Indians as well. We played against the Jadejas, Mongias, [Jatin] Paranjpe was a
very fine cricketer. I was in the camp for the youth World Cup but I couldnt
manage to get into the team.Imran was sick, he wasnt coming to the camp, and I
was dying to see him. He saw me playing that match on television over the
weekend. The first thing he said to me was, Youre going to Sharjah. It was
probably he who was running the whole show.The art of learning how to bowl fast
- was that something you learned prior to joining the Pakistan team? When I came
in, I knew a lot of things and a lot of hard work was put into it.Fast bowling
is a very natural act. Nowadays theres a lot of coaching involved and you tell
people how to swing the ball. But you cannot teach someone to bowl fast. Youre
born with it. You can improve maybe to a certain degree, but when it comes to
genuine pace, you cannot make a medium-pacer into a genuine fast bowler. I was
very lucky that I had that skill, and on top of that I had put lot of hard work
into it.When I was first selected, I knew a lot of things some of the guys were
doing at the top level, like reverse swing. And I was very lucky that I had
Imran Khan as a captain, as a role model. The first thing Imran told me when I
played my first game was, Here is the ball, run in and bowl fast. He never
allowed me to slow down or just hit the areas.Things like wrist position, how to
construct a spell, how to set up a batsman - was that learnt on the job for you?
I think it was very naturally taught. I had Wasim Akram, who had already played
for a little while, Azeem Hafeez was just sort of finishing, Saleem Jaffar was
there, we had Imran. It was easier to learn just by watching them. I back the
system through which I have come from.Imran was captain for the first two or
three years of your career and then he retired. Did you sense in your remaining
years that the Pakistani captaincy lost a bit of authority, that it wasnt the
same kind of figure because of all the chopping and changing? Yes, you can say
that. It did work for a little while after that, when Javed Miandad took it from
him and then Wasim became captain. We were also lucky in that span when Imran
captained that nobody else competed as captain or wanted to captain because he
was a genuine leader and people looked up to him. He was simply brilliant.We had
good captains like Javed Miandad, Wasim, Saleem Malik, and then there were so
many captains in that short span that we got confused over who is the right man
for that job.And then the media. I think the pressure from the media has
probably been more in the last ten years. Before that, there was more focus on
the game, and even the cricket board was more focused on the game.Why aer there
so many well-documented difficulties in player relationships within the
Pakistani system? Was this a bigger problem in the Pakistan team than the other
set-ups that you saw around the world? I dont know. Its a very tough question to
answer because there were difficulties, we had a lot of controversies. In the
90s and into the 2000s, controversies were part of most of the teams around the
world. Its tough to pinpoint why. Insecurity maybe, maybe policies of the
cricket board. There were no real harsh steps taken at times when they were
needed.Do you regret some of the things that happened, especially with Wasim,
the fact that your great comrade was not really a friend for many years of your
playing career? I am really good friends with Wasim bhai. He has always been an
elder brother, he supported and helped me on and off the field. Yes, we had
issues. He didnt have issues with me alone but we had issues in the team those
days, which I do regret at times because it did not really help Pakistan
cricket. We had issues off the field but when we walked on to the field it was a
different ball game altogether. We wanted to compete with each other, we wanted
to take more wickets than the other, and I think in a way, it did help. It was
ugly those days but we were younger and we didnt know much, and now we are
wiser.During the match-fixing era, there was a lot of factionalism in the team.
Did that impact your career in any way? We were all above all those
controversies. We had match-winners in our team, guys like Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saeed
Anwar, Aamer Sohail, Mushtaq Ahmed, Aaqib Javed, Moin Khan. That was the golden
period of Pakistan cricket. When you have so many stars in the team, they are
going to have issues.One question that gets asked by a lot of people is why
someone would want to be captain of Pakistan. What were the challenges you
faced? I enjoyed it. When I became captain I had about six or seven ex-captains
who were under me. It was not easy, and the 2003 World Cup was a clear example
of that. Its the cricket boards duty or a policy should be there to pick a
captain for a longer period. We have seen around the world that captains who
have led for good eight-nine years have had major success. We just pick out of
the box. At one stage we had three or four captains changed within a year or so.
Did you feel that you had the support of the entire team, or were there problems
there as well? We played poorly in 2003. We were a very fine side, but if you
ask me what was going on behind my back, I dont know, to be very honest. There
are a lot of teams that have gone out of the first round, they were probably the
favorites for the tournament. These things happen.How much of an impact did
match-fixing and a controversy leave on you as an individual? Did that wear you
down? Did you think that you were treated shabbily? Or did you think that in
that environment the criticism was fair? I think the entire cricketing circuit
in Pakistan suffered because of that. Not only in Pakistan but in India as well.
To me it was very upsetting. It was not what we wanted, not what the cricket
board wanted. But the whole episode really put Pakistan behind maybe five or
seven years compared to the other teams. It did pull me down as a cricketer for
a little while but I came out of it. Ive always been a fighter, and I led
Pakistan after that and I coached Pakistan also.Watch ESPNcricinfo Talking
Cricket at 9.30pm IST on Fridays and the repeat on 12 noon on Sundays on
SONYESPN
Cheap Nike Shoes Online . -- The Portland
Timbers and Real Salt Lake played to a 0-0 tie Saturday night that left the top
of the Western Conference standings unchanged.
Cheap Nike Shoes China . With their top three
point guards and Kobe Bryant all sidelined by injury, the Lakers signed Marshall
out of the D-League on Friday before their home game against Minnesota.
http://www.wholesalenikeshoesfreeshipping.com/
. -- When the Florida Panthers fell behind by two goals in the first period to
the top team in the NHL, it appeared they were on their way to yet another loss.
CHICAGO -- Patrick Kane scored a spectacular tiebreaking goal in the second
period and the Chicago Blackhawks beat Montreal 3-2 on Sunday night, handing the
league-leading Canadiens just their second regulation loss of the season.Marian
Hossa added his team-leading ninth and rookie Gustav Forsling scored his first
in the NHL as Chicago improved to 9-0-2 in its last 11 and ended Montreals
four-game winning streak.Shea Weber and Andrei Markov scored for the Canadiens
in a matchup of conference leaders.Both goalies faced teams from their
hometowns. Canadiens backup Al Montoya, a Chicago native, made 32 saves.
Chicagos Corey Crawford, from Montreal, stopped 21 shots.Kane put Chicago ahead
3-2 with 3:37 left in the second period to cap a terrific individual effort.
Kane skated down the slot, fooled Jeff Petry with a move and chipped a shot past
Montoya -- while falling to the ice with Max Pacioretty checking him closely
from behind.RANGERS 3, OILERS 1EDMONTON, Alberta -- Michael Grabner scored
twice, Antti Raanta stopped 38 shots and New York beat Edmonton.Dan Girardi also
scored to help the Rangers win for the seventh time in eight games -- including
two victories against the Oilers. Grabner now has 10 goals in 16 games this
season, topping the nine he had in 80 games with Toronto last year.Andrej Sekera
scored for Edmonton and Cam Talbot finished with 24 saves. The Oilers have lost
three straight to fall to 2-5-1 since starting the season 7-1-0.CANUCKS 5, STARS
4, OTVANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Troy Stecher tied it with 1:40 left in the
third period and Markus Granlund scored in overtime, helping Vancouver rally to
beat Dallas.Dallas held leads of 3-1 and 4-3, but Vancouver got goals from Louis
Eriksson, Brandon Sutter, Bo Horvat and Stecher to force overtime. The Canucks
were coming off a 1-5 road trip and have two wins in their last 12 games.Ryan
Miller made 17 saves for Vancouver.Patrick Eaves scored twice and Lauri
Korpikoski and Antoine Roussel also scored for the Stars, who wrapped up a
five-game road trip 2-1-2.Kari Lehtonen stopped 25 shots for Dallas, which had
won 10 straight against the Canucks.Granlund scored 1:27 into overtime by
finding a loose puck off a faceoff and snapping it past Lehtonen.
Cheap Nike Shoes Wholesale. .JETS 3, KINGS 2,
SOWINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Mark Scheifele scored the deciding goal in a shootout to
give Winnipeg a victory over Los Angeles.Patrik Laine also beat Peter Budaj in
the shootout, and Dwight King scored against the Jets Connor Hellebuyck.The Jets
are 3-0-1 in their last four games and 8-7-2 overall. The Kings have lost three
straight to drop to 7-8-1.Kings forward Kyle Clifford was called for a boarding
major in the first period for a hit that sent Jets forward Kyle Connor into the
boards head-first. Adam Lowry and Marko Dano took advantage with power-play
goals.Connor left for the dressing room, but returned for the second
period.Tanner Pearson scored in the first period for Los Angeles, and defenseman
Tom Gilbert tied it midway through the third.WILD 2, SENATORS 1, OTOTTAWA,
Ontario -- Matt Dumba scored late in overtime and Darcy Kuemper stopped 35
shots, helping Minnesota beat Ottawa.Ryan Suter scored a short-handed goal for
the Wild, and Kuemper was nearly perfect in his third start of the season.Craig
Anderson made 40 saves and was again solid for the Senators, who got a goal from
Kyle Turris 5:06 into the third period.The Wild were playing their third game in
four nights to conclude a four-game trip, but they controlled much of the action
with Ottawa looking disorganized for most of the night.BRUINS 2, AVALANCHE
0DENVER -- Tuukka Rask stopped 21 shots and David Krejci scored in the first
period, lifting Boston over Colorado.Rask showed no signs of fatigue despite
being in net for a second straight night. He made 31 saves in a 2-1 win over
Arizona on Saturday. Rask got his 33rd career shutout and moved to 7-0 on the
road this season.Krejci scored his second goal of the season on a wrist shot
midway through the first period.The Avalanche pulled Semyon Varlamov with about
a minute remaining but couldnt generate much offense. Dominic Moore sealed it
with an empty-net goal with 27.2 seconds remaining.Varlamov was the hard-luck
loser, stopping a season-high 43 shots.
Wholesale China Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Authentic Jerseys
Nike NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Nike Basketball
Jerseys Hockey Jerseys
China Supply Baseball
Jerseys Football Jerseys
Sale Authentic College
Jerseys MLB Jerseys China Stitched Soccer Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap Nike Jerseys ' ' '