It Stumps me that.....

How can someone be as badly named as Misbah. First a 'guy' can’t be a Miss and then, when he never misses a single thing except when makeshift bowlers are in view, it sounds so strange. May be the media can slightly change it after his laudable performance, and name him MrWah!

How can bad light deny India in a match where they could have easily declared at Lunch even if they had gone on at the rate of five per over and made around 340. They just needed 120 in 25 overs. And how could Pakistan have achieved 170 per session in the final two sessions on a pitch where cracks were connected by the soil!

How could Younis get dismissed when he DID NOT (RPT DID NOT!) not play a reverse sweep! Probably he would have survived had he tried reverse sweep on that Kumble’s ball. That fatal drive into the bowler's hand was a foolish shot!

A sense of history should have served us better. At Mumbai in 2004, somewhat similar pitch, left arm slow bowlers were very effective. Remember Michael Clarke taking six wickets and Murali Kartik following it up with three. Someone like Yuvraj, a leftarmer, was underutilised as bowler.

(Take it too seriously only at your own risk! Serious stories will come as you scroll down)

Miandad knows what batting is all about, defends Younis' Reverse Sweep

One of the top batsmen of the world in the seventies, eighties, and even nineties, Javed Miandad has defended the reverse sweep of Younis Khan at Bangalore which had resulted in his dismissal.

''When a player gets out playing a reverse sweep, it looks ugly and becomes a controversy. But one should not forget that when one succeeds, as Younis did in Kolkatta and on Monday, it draws applause from spectators,'' he wrote in one of India's premier papers, The Hindustan Times today (A PMG Column).

Miandad felt it would be folly to blame Younis and Yousuf for going for runs considering the wicket.

If one recalls, Miandad did not seem to be having the most conventional of techniques, but lasted a good two decades thanks to his ability to find gaps and some innovative stroke-making. Naturally, he believes that some risks are essential to succeed for any batsman as ultimately it is the runs on the board that matter.

Below is a link to the story written on the same issue yesterday. http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/younis-khan-lives-in-present.html

A harmless query for Younis

Why did you do it it Younis! or rather, what did you do skipper!!

You allowed Shoaib to carry you on his back, as was prominently displayed in pictures today.

And today, he has gone to hospital for an MRI for back pain even as Pakistan fights a grim battle!

How come the burden was too much for your main bowler!!

Now we know why you were smiling so much in the picture. In the Land of Kumble, you were the real smiling assassin!!!

(Caution: It is purely in jest)

Will he, or Won't he...But Younis certainly deserves better treatment from PCB

Younis never wanted to be a lame duck captain. So refused captaincy before. At Kolkatta, circumstances forced him to become one even as a partially fit Shoaib Akhtar was thrust on him.

Now, after a superb rearguard action at Kolkatta by Pak, with a brilliant century by the stand in skipper being the Jewel in the Crown, if Younis Khan wants to have his own team in this 'gallow or glory battle', then what is wrong in it.

None of the PCB office bearers is ever going to resign if Pakistan fail to win Bangalore test. Even their selectors, at best, will opt for some new faces. So what’s wrong if Younis wants to fight a battle with his own hand-picked men.

If will be a pity if he is dropped as captain in favour of someone like Misbah, who is yet to prove his credentials in all conditions notwithstanding whatever Rameez Raja says about him.

Pak media manager may claim that there is no truth in the reports that Younis does not want to lead but the signs of turmoil were already there when Younis had written about the controversial inclusion of Akhtar in Kolkatta test, even as Pakistan were battling to save the test.

Now he, or his well wishers, have used some friendly journalist to convey the message that all is not well.

Well done, Younis!