UMAR AKMAL And Darren Bravo Will Rule The Cricket World In This Decade

Umar Akmal is the most talented batsmen in the World today. There is a reflection of Kamran Akmal, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Azharuddin, and Dean Jones in his batting. Darren Bravo is another immensely talented young batsmen. You can see the shadow of Brian Lara in Darren Bravo. Everything about Darren Bravo reminds you of Brian Lara. There is no cricketer similar to another cricketer as much as Darren Bravo is similar to Brian Lara.

One has to see more of Darren Bravo in order to make concrete judgement about caliber. If he can play like he did against South Africa consistently, we might in for the second Brian Lara. As for Umar Akmal, the first time I saw him, I told to the people sitting around me watching the game that Umar Akmal has the talent to be the greatest batsmen of all time. He played all kind of shots in that particular innings. He rarely played a false shot. He played all the clean shots that easily cleared the boundaries.

What is affecting Akmal's games is the state of Pakistan cricket. I feel that Umar should open the innings in all formats of the game, especially in shorter format of the game. Just see the way Tendulkar rose to another level of stardom after being promoted as an opener. If younger Akmal is promoted as an opener and lasts the entire innings he can score a double hundred every time he plays for the entire innings.

Tendulkar has never scored a hundred before he was promoted as an opener for the first time in his first 79 games. It took only a couple of games for Akmal to register his first one day hundred batting in the middle order. Umar Akmal is definitely a more capable batsman than a Sachin Tendulkar and can match Brian Lara with his performances.

I am looking forward to many delightful and entertaining innings from both Umar Akmal and Darren Bravo. They will be the biggest stars for this entire decade-and-half. I hope the overall states of these two teams Pakistan and West Indies improve so we can see the best of these two extremely talented batsmen in Umar Akmal and Darren Bravo.

Another Great Start By Yet Another Top Contenders To Cricket World Cup 2011

When South African captain Graem Smith won the toss and elected to bowl, one would have been a bit unconvinced about his decision. South Africa could have been at the receiving end of calling it right at the toss as it happened many times throughout the history of the tournament. The doubts looks taking the shape of reality when Darren Bravo got going. But as it happened during the time when a certain Brian Lara was around, the West Indian team collapsed once Darren Bravo went back to the pavilion.

Darren Bravo was absolutely in the mould of Brian Lara. The style of holding the bat, the stance, the looks, the movement of the bat, most of the shots or for that matter all of the shots were similar to Brian Lara. The collapse was also similar to what used to happen whenever Brian Lara used to get out. Darren Bravo is an absolute clone of Brian Lara. The fans who might have been missing Brian for sometime will have a reason to cheer and rejoice. We will soon see Brian Larasque feat and will have definitely experience the sense of nostalgia. Had Bravo stayed at the crease for a longer time, things would have been quite different for West Indies and Graem Smith might have ended up ruing the decision.

There was an even spectacular performance on the field coming from someone making his debut in the World Cup. Imran Tahir captured the imagination of billions of cricket followers, the expert and the amateur alike, with his excellence in debut. Imran Tahir could be handy for South Africa in the coming game and for the tournament. The kind of beginning South Africa made could be termed as perfect at the least. Their two best batsmen did not contribute in the first game meaning that they will be due in the games ahead. It was also great that the two middle order batsmen, particularly De Villiers came good in this game. It will provide him confidence for the forthcoming matches.

Characteristic Beginning To Pakistan's Campaign In 2011 World Cup

Where there is Pakistan, there will be drama. They must have caused a few heartbreaks, but as usual, they can heal the wounds as well as nobody else could. Pakistan has a rather cautious beginning to their innings after wisely electing bat on winning the toss. Cricket fans all over the world would have expected as aggressive approach from the openers especially from Ahmad Shahzad after what we have seen of him during the New Zealand series. I think the fact that Pakistan is being picked as the top horse dark by many experts and by some as favorites to win the title, Pakistan players seems to have come a bit under pressure.

All the Pakistan fans must have felt disappointed after that rather slow start and loss of two wickets in quick succession. If that was unexpected, the resurrection might have been surprising for many. That is Pakistan cricket in a nutshell. Pakistan should be happy about the fact that all their players found playing some degree of rule in this victory and that would boost confidence of overall team. The real satisfaction for them is the form-finding knock by Umar Akmal. Umar Akmal is the most accomplished batsmen today in the World. The unrest in Pakistan cricket probably has not helped his cause in the recent past after a grand entry into International cricket.

 I think Umar should come in between Younis and Misbah so there is balance between aggression and stability. I believe Umar will emerge as the best batsmen in the World out of this tournament. The only thing I would like to change or for that matter Pakistan need to change from this game is the short balls from Shoib Akhtar. He bowled one short and was promptly dispatched to the boundary. He should not bowl more than three overs in one spell.

Australian Are Getting It Right

The way Australia went today with the game augers well for them in this World Cup. First of all, Ricky Ponting did well to bat first on calling it right at the toss. It gave the Australian batsmen a chance to have an easy time at the crease. They could bat themselves in and hit the form. It was good that they steadily went about the job rather than hitting every other ball. The instint for the batsmen at the crease will give the Australian batsmen immense confidence going into the bigger games. If they hit some form during the initial stages of the tournament, it will help them peak at the right time in the tournament. Most of the batsmen found themselves among runs. If they keep on scoring runs during the initial stage of the tournament it will boost them and they will be able to deliver at the most crucial time in the tournament.

Their most important batsmen Shane Watson and Ricky Ponting are already among the runs. Michael Clarke too has hit the form. David Hussey showed his utility in the late middle order. Once all their batsmen find themselves among the runs and secure a place in the quarter finals, they will be close to the Australian sides of the past and would be as good as any other team going into the knockout stage of the tournament.

Australia also has one of the best fast bowling line ups in the tournament. They only department where they are behind the other top teams in the tournament is in the spin department. If Australia play their normal game, neither their best nor bad, they should be able to make it to the knockout stages easily and it will help them get on the top of their game in the knockout stage of the game. 

Obsession To Call Sachin As The Greatest

Rajdeep Sardesai asking all the cricket experts on Kings Of Cricket program to compare Bradman and Tendulkar made me laugh. Why people are so obsessed with calling Sachin as the greatest. What made me laugh even more was Border's reply. Border said "look Bradman average is  around 100 and Sachin averages in 50s with many other players.

Before turning to Allan Border, he asked Imran Khan and Vivian Richards for comparison. Imran Khan has recently commented when he was in India a couple of months back to unveil the World Cup trophy that he has not seen Bradman and that Vivian Richards was the best batsman against pace bowling and Inzimam the second best. If a general cricket enthusiast like me knows that, I do not think that a senior journalist like Rajdeep Sardesai does not. Rajdeep Sardesai still went ahead and asked Imran to make a comparison between Tendulkar and Bradman. On the same program, a couple of days back, Rajdeep told Imran during a conversation that he will not ask him to make comparison between Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar and just the other day he defies his own statement and asks the same question. What a pity. If you yourself have a doubt if Sachin Tendulkar was the greatest batsman, then why ask the expert who have picked other batsman as the greater batsman. An embarrassed Imran Khan tried to salvage the situation by saying that Sachin is probably the best of his time just for the amount of runs he scored. It looked to me as if Rajdeep Sardesai want to make all these expert to pronounce Tendulkar as the greatest batsmen.

Vivian Richards had maintained in an interview to Nasser Hussain a couple of years back that Gavaskar, Javed Miandad, and Greg Chappell are the three greatest batsmen that he has ever seen. Now he also says that Sachin is the best on being asked by the Indian media.

Another interesting fact is that the media often asks Lara as to who was a better batsman between himself and Tendulkar. Lara has always been generous in heaping praise on Sachin and said that Sachin was best or Sachin is the Bradman of our time. The media never asks Sachin Tendulkar as to who is the best batsman of his time or all time. For that matter the media never asks Sachin if Lara or himself was a better batsman. Lara has often called Sachin as the best, but Sachin has never called Lara as the best. I do not know who was better of Bradman and Sachin. One thing I know is Lara was unique and the best of his time.

Does that mean Sachin and his fan wants Sachin to be called as the greatest batsman of all time at any cost. Is it the reason why Sachin always keeps on building on records. Is it the reason why Sachin never misses a series against Bangladesh. My guess is as good as any other cricketing enthusiast.

Misbah Can Make A Difference To Pakistan's Fortunes In Cricket World Cup 2011

Misbah is one player who can make a difference to Pakistan fortunes in Cricket World Cup 2011. Misbah is a unique player of his type. Misbah may not be the batsmen of the class of certain Sachin Tendulkar, but when it comes to playing under pressure and orchestrating the innings he beats everyone and beats Sachin Tendulkar by miles. There is no other batsmen in the World in Misbah's mould.

You can compare the Pakistan bowling attacks to other top bowling lineups in the World as well as you can compare their batting to any other batting line up in the World. But please can anyone show me a better batsman for crisis than Misbah-ul-Haq.

Misbah can provide much needed stability to an explosive and rather unpredictable Pakistan batting line up. If Misbah comes good in his role as he did in New Zeeland recently, against India a couple of years ago, and what he did in the 20-20 World Cup 2007, then Pakistan can go all the distance with the kind of explosive batsmen they have in their order. Yunis Khan who should look to play an anchor role rather than going for too many shots himself. If either Misbah or Yunis comes good with the ammunition in their tank, it will be quite difficult for the opposition teams. For One Day side, I think Pakistan has the perfect balance. India may be a strong team than Pakistan in terms of the number of top notch batsmen, but Pakistan is most versatile and most balanced team in the tournament. I would be happy to see India and Pakistan in the final with South Africa being my third favorite team to win the World Cup 2011.

Cannot Wait To See Pakistan In Action

I am desperate to see Pakistan in action in World Cup 2001. Pakistan is the most exciting team in the tournament and my favorite to win the World Cup apart from India. Sehwag gave ultimate entertainment in the first game, but the excitement of watching two Akmal brothers, Shahid Afridi or Abdul Razzak in full flight is quite different. The two Akmal brothers are clean hitters of the ball. Particularly the elder Akmal can hit the ball to any distance when required the most. He has finished some close games for Pakistan. The younger Ukmal is the more talented batsman than the elder and in fact he is most talented batsman in the World at this time. The problem with Umar Akmal is he does not seem to realize his own potential. He does not seem to have an stable mind in his head. If Umar Akmal comes good, I do not see any reason why Pakistan cannot go all the way. I firmly believe that India and Pakistan are the two best teams in the tournament at this time. I would not rule out a final between India and Pakistan if they do not meet in Quarter Finals and Semi Finals. Currently the cricketers who excites me the most while batting are the Akmal brothers, Afridi, Razzak, Sehwag, Yuvraj, and Christ Gayle. In the past I used to like watching Brian Lara, Adam Gilchrist, Imran Nazir, Saeed Anwar, and Azharuddin the most.

Many people, including the pundits have chosen India, South Africa, Australia, Sri Lanka, and England as favorites in that order labeling Pakistan as the dark horse. I think Pakistan is the favorite team to win the World Cup. In my opinion, Sri Lanka is not the favorite team to win the World Cup. It was Jaysurya who gave the Sri Lankan team x-factor with Muralitharan and De Silva being very close to Jaysurya in terms of value to the team. They will make it to the quarter final and semi final, but they will not go beyond that. Only one of the three teams India, South Africa, and Pakistan will win this World Cup with Pakistan and South Africa having an edge over India just because of reduced expectations. The hype and high expectation on the Indian team make them a lesser favorites than Pakistan and South Africa. Otherwise any one team from India, Pakistan, and South Africa should be able to win this cup with Pakistan being my top favorites.