Rashid Latif's T20 World Cup semi-final lineup prediction

Rashid Latif, one of Pakistan's enfant-terribles and a much sought-after cricketer for the rent-a-quote agency he runs, last week expressed concern that India's cricketers would be jaded after having played the IPL and would hence not do well at the T20 World Cup which starts in England in a couple of days.

I don't think it was a brilliant idea to have the Indian Premier League before the Twenty20 World Cup. It was poor thinking on part of the Indian cricket officials.

Maybe he knows something about the international cricket calendar and global weather patterns that no-one else does.

The period from April to June is typically the leanest for international cricket because to a large extent, West Indies and England are the only places where cricket can be played. It is far too hot in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh and cold in Australia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and New Zealand. Even in England, April and May are the rainy months.

Given contractual commitments, the IPL had to happen. There was a lot that the IPL organizers did wrong when it came to engaging the Indian government. There was no way that the tournament would be postponed (because there simply was no other free slot available) or cancelled (telecast rights, team owners having spent millions of $ in securing the services of players). So, the tournament went to South Africa, and was a rip-roaring success primarily because of the quality of cricket.

There's also no doubt that the Indian players have been on the road for the last 3-4 months after the tour of Pakistan was cancelled, playing ODIs in Sri Lanka, touring New Zealand and then the IPL. Yet, I don't quite think they're at a stage where they're jaded.

Given a choice between turning up for a T20 World Cup after playing 15 T20 games involving most of the best cricketers and ODIs & a single T20 game against Australia's third choice XI, I know which one I'd prefer if I was an international cricketer.

Going by Latif's logic, countries that didn't contribute significantly to the IPL player base should do very well at the T20 World Cup. So which country has the most number of players in their T20 World Cup squads who didn't show up at the IPL? Let's exclude the Associates teams for obvious reasons.

Country	# of players
Australia	11
Bangladesh	13
England	9
India	0
New Zealand	8
Pakistan	15
South Africa	3
Sri Lanka	5
West Indies	11

The semi-final lineup suddenly looks so bloody obvious: Pakistan, Bangladesh, West Indies and Australia.

Labels: india, indian premier league, rashid latif, twenty20, twenty20 world cup

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:10 pm | Sledge/Read 3 sledge(s)
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Match-fixing in cricket: Separating the facts from the myths

Now I have to make an admission first, given there is still no concrete evidence what so ever of match fixing having anything to do with the murder of Bob Woolmer, I find the constant speculation in this regard increasingly annoying.

In fact I find the whole debate on match fixing annoying. It is not an aspect of our game I like to discuss. But given so many people have been voicing their opinions in this regard off late, and they really are, nothing but personal opinions, here I am blogging about it.

You expect people like Rashid Latif and Sarafaraz Nawaz to be making the noise, as Moin Khan said in response, Sarafaraz probably thinks every match is fixed. So I’m not sure we should take him too seriously, but off late the list of people with doubts and suspicious has seen an increase.

Michael Vaughan joined in by saying his gut feeling was that some corruption in the game still exists, Shehreyar Khan, the ex PCB chief, has now added that he thinks spot fixing (which involves, in case you didn’t know, fixing minor aspects of game, such as the number of extras bowled, as opposed to the entire result of a game it self) still happens and that it is something you can’t really prevent.

In between, SA’s manager has come out and admitted one of their players was approached by bookies on the country’s tour to India two years ago (to which you really have to ask why he is making this public now, where was he two years ago?).

And now people like Lord MacLaurin, the former chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, during whose tenure the first through investigation into match fixing took place, have joined in the chorus.

The ICC and the police in Jamaica investigating into Bob’s murder, have also, as a result stepped in and hinted they have expanded the scope of their investigations in this area. And of course, since it is their job to find the man(or men) responsible for Bob’s murder, they ought to thoroughly investigate all the suspicions anyone has raised, but you would really hope, that in such a sensitive time for the game, people would do more then just come up with their ‘opinions’ on whether or not corruption exists.

Its not that I like to live in oblivion about the realities cricket is facing, but murder investigations aren’t solved based on what people’s opinions are. Next time Michael Vaughan is asked for his opinion on match fixing, I’d be much more pleased if he kept his mouth shut.

We’re so not interested in knowing his mere ‘opinions’. If he has facts, if he knows anyone who is involved, any information at all that might actually be helpful, sure, go ahead, don’t just talk to The Sun about it, might as well call a live global press conference.

But spare us of your opinions please Virgil, how about getting some runs for a change, you haven’t done that for a long, long time. Ditto for Shehreyar Khan, Sarfaraz Nawaz and Rashid Latif. I’ve already had enough of people trying to be the self-righteous upholders of the spirit of the game.

Labels: bob woolmer, death, match fixing, moin khan, rashid latif, sarfaraz nawaz, shehreyar khan, vaughan

Thus spake Unknown @ 5:21 pm | Sledge/Read 6 sledge(s)
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The enfant-terrible of Pakistan cricket, Rashid Latif, has taken the Pakistan Cricket Board to court over the ban imposed on him by his board a few weeks ago.

Labels: rashid latif

Thus spake Jagadish @ 8:44 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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Osman Samiuddin profiles the enigma that is Rashid Latif, following the PCB's decision to impose a six month ban on him after he conceded a domestic game on account of a poor pitch.

Labels: rashid latif

Thus spake Jagadish @ 3:57 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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