BOOOMM BOOOOMM!

This guy is THE BEST. A NATURAL MATCHWINNER. 
I'm still trying to get over the excitement that pakistan actuallyy wonnn!!!

 

All thanks to LALAAA!
His best performance ever! 
Heres what happened, Pakistan were on the verge of a total batting collapse. But boom boom came to the crease and made 75 of 65 balls, helping us to reach 200, which seemed way out of reach before. Ajmal contributed by sticking around and making runs too.
Thennn, while bowling, cheema was expensive but got tharanga and dilshan early. After that the spinners kept it tight, but mahela and sanga were easily making a few runs and werent under pressure because the required run rate was not much. It looked like the game was all sri lankas because this partnership looked like it was just what sri lanka needed for victory. 
We were on the verge of a loss, till the man with a knee injury came into bowl. He took the wicket of sangakarra, and along with saeed ajmal dismissed the tail to keep sri lanka 26 runs short of the target which was just 201!! AND afridi was on a at trick too, AND while dismissing the tail, HE TOOK A FIVER!
NOW BOOM BOOM IS THE ONLY MAN IN HISTORY TO HAVE MADE A FIFTY AND A FIVER TWICE!
BUT EVEN MORE IMPORTANT
PAKISTAN WON!!! EVEN THOUGH WE MADE JUST 200 RUNSS!
ALL THANKS TO LALAS SUPERB MATCHWINNING PERFORMANCE!
(I still cant believe i almost went to sleep when sanga and mahela were batting)
What a match for when cricket returns to sharjah, eh!?
Nowww, we have won the series :')
Pakistan may have won, but there are still a lot of matters to address.
Batting woes, we need a stronger middle order. And openers who know how to rotate the strike, have good temperament and DONT THROW THEIR WICKET AWAY REGULARLY.
Perhaps, umar akmal should come in between misbah and younis?
And misbaaahh, youre lucky youre the captain and we won. Otherwise critics would be all over you. The way your wicket as fallen the last two matches is just unacceptable. YOU HAVE TO SET AN EXAMPLE. Okay, one time running yourself out, bad luck, fine, but a second time? didnt you learn anything from the last match?
Andddd, should shoaib malik be given another go? Or razzaq? i wish there was a way to go with both :( maybe if umar akmal could wicketkeep...
lastly. WHERE IS JUNAID KHAN!? I will be very dissapointed if he is not given a go in the last one dayer. He impresses in the tests, and yet you persist to keep him out of the action? 
And for sri lanka, keep up the batting collapses mate, we might need them for the next match. ;p


So now, afridi as put a sock in all his critics mouths. Waqar younis was right, afridi should let his cricket do the talking, I am immensely proud of this man and his superb performance under pressure. At a time when pakistan cricket needs all the inspiration it can get, he is delivering.
Keep it up, lala. 
We love you!

4th ODI: Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Sharjah - Match Summary:

Result : Pakistan won by 26 runs

Man Of The Match : Shahid Afridi (PAK)

Pakistan 200 (49.3 ov)

Shahid Afridi 75 (65)
Mohammad Hafeez 27 (51)
Saeed Ajmal 20 (37)

CRD Fernando 10-3-26-3
BMAJ Mendis 9-0-40-2
S Prasanna 10-1-55-2

Sri Lanka 174 (45.2 ov)

KC Sangakkara 58 (103)
DPMD Jayawardene 55 (87)
WU Tharanga 16 (13)

Shahid Afridi 9.2-0-35-5
Saeed Ajmal 9-1-29-2
Aizaz Cheema 8-0-48-2

Swannys ashes video diary!!

 Here all of the parts of swannys ashes video diary for all those cricket lovers who havent seen this. These are incrediblyyy funny and always make me feel better when i watch them! This guy is a genius!!

Peter Roebuck-death on 12th November 2011.

 He died yesterday, i didnt know him personally but i loved reading his articles. There is no doubt that cricket has lost a great, someone whose opinions were widely regarded. I would like to share the tribute here for Peter Roebuck that was posted on cricinfo:

Tributes for the cricket writer and former Somerset captain Peter Roebuck, who has died in South Africa, aged 55

"RIP Mr Roebuck. Mentor. Maestro. Mate. Thanks for your guidance and friendship. So very sad." - Alex Brown, director of sport, Daily Telegraph and former sports editor of the Sydney Morning Herald

"A magnificent analyst and writer on the game." -Mark Scott, managing director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation

"'Nobody cut to the chase more succinctly and nobody saw how the game was and where it was heading better than Peter Roebuck ... [his] incisiveness and the way he delivered was the blueprint for our cricket commentary." - Kerry O'Keeffe, former Australia spinner and ABC cricket commentator

"Devastated. My dear friend and one of the greatest cricket writers ever Peter Roebuck passes away. He was meant to write about cricket in the manner Sachin Tendulkar was born to play it." - Harsha Bhogle, Indian commentator and writer

"He bought particular insight to his commentary based on his lengthy experience as a first-class cricketer and captain, and combined that with a singular flair for the written and spoken word. He spoke his mind frankly and while one didn't necessarily always have to agree, you always respected what he had to say." - James Sutherland, Cricket Australia, chief executive officer

"Peter was not only an extremely gifted cricket writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, he was also one of Australia's most popular cricket commentators for the ABC." - Greg Hywood, CEO of Fairfax media

"We are saddened and shocked at this news. Peter was one of the finest cricket writers of his generation. His reporting and commentary were always fair, balanced, and insightful." - Peter Fray, publisher and editor-in-chief of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Sun-Herald

"I don't think anyone in cricket writing had a voice like Peter's when he arrived on the scene in the early 1980s. You only have to contrast the way we wrote about cricket in the 1970s to the way we write it now - Peter has been responsible I think for a lot of those developments." - Gideon Haigh, cricket historian and writer

"RIP Peter Roebuck. I didn't agree with everything you wrote about cricket but f*** I loved the way you wrote it..." - Wil Anderson, Australian comedian

"Shocked to hear the sad news from Cape Town, RIP Peter Roebuck a great cricketing mind." - Tom Moody, former Australia allrounder

"Cricket has lost one hell of an intellect and a bloke who cared deeply about the game. I always read Peter Roebuck with complete admiration." - Lawrence Booth, editor of the Wisden Almanack

"Shocking and sad news about Peter Roebuck. One of the two or three best writers on cricket in the world," -John Stern, former editor of The Wisden Cricketer

"My God. Just heard about Peter Roebuck. Loved working with him. Incisive. Erudite. Funny." - Jonathan Agnew, BBC cricket correspondent and former England bowler

"Very sad news: Peter Roebuck, former Somerset batsman and one of the finest sportswriters around, has died at the age of 55." - Phillippe Auclair, sports journalist and author of Cantona: The Rebel Who Would Be King

"Peter taught me so. He took the time to share his thoughts on the game he loved so much. A wordsmith of the highest quality." - Peter Walsh, ABC broadcaster

"We love an opinion, whether we agree or not. We've just lost a great polariser." - Iain O'Brien, former New Zealand bowler

"Peter was caustic, opinionated, brilliant & funny, a man who could make you laugh, get pissed off or say, 'why couldn't I put it that way?'" - Kadambari Murali-Wade, editor-in-chief, Sports Illustrated India

"Can't believe that Peter Roebuck is no more...met him a couple of times and read him a million times. One of my favourite cricket writers. R.I.P." - Aakash Chopra, former India batsman

"Very, very depressed. A friend and one of the world's greatest cricket writers Peter Roebuck is no more. Roebuck was a cricket intellectual. He always saw the game 'beyond the boundary' which made his writing so special." - Rajdeep Sardesai, editor-in-chief, IBN network

Spotfixing.

This is for all those who want to know about the spotfixing case going on nowadays :)

Third test-Pak vs. Sri Lanka. Pak clutch series!

 The third and last test of the series ends in a draw, but so what? Pakistan still win the series! (1-0) This was an exciting gane, which would have surely ended in a result if it hadnt rained during the whole first session (rain in Sharjah, i know right?). This was the first match in which victory for Pakistan looked unlikely. Mainly because our bowleers were not able to take quick wickets, allowing batsmen like Dilshan, Paranavitana and Sangakarra to score high. Heres a summary and a few facts:

• Pakistan beat Sri Lanka 1-0.
• Even though Pakistan clutch the series, Pakistan still retains its 5th place ranking and Sri Lanka its 6th place ranking.
• Sangakarra got the award for most sixes in the series. (Ridiculous award to be given in test cricket in my opinion)
• Sangakarra got the man of the match and good performance award.
• Saeed Ajmal and Sangakarra got a shared man of the series award, good decision in my opinion.
• Sangakarra the highest run-scorer of the series making 516 runs at an average of 85.
• Ajmal is the highest wicket taker with 18 wickets at 28.77.
• Sri Lanka continue their run of series losses after the retirement of the previous greats.
• Misbah continues his great captaincy form by not losing a single series yet.

 There are positives and negatives for both teams from this series. Lets start with positives.
Pakistan

• The return of Umar Guls form.
• Junaid Khan picking up wickets against a world class team, surely one for the future.
•  Azhar Ali will have gained confidence after his century.
• Pakistan finally has two settled openers.

Sri Lanka

• One word, Sangakarra, that says it all.
• Welegederas bowling. Amazing.

Negatives

Pakistan

• Fielding. Pakistan has to improve their standards of fielding and catching. Catches win matches, a lesson we have had to learn the hard way, but will not want to again.
• The batting has overall been good, with centuries each match. That shows improvement and we need that so that our usual collapses dont take place.
• Asad Shafiq may just be youngster, but there are high expectations from him. He really has to work on his technique.
• I personally feel Pakistan should have atleast one batsman in the squad who can be there to pick up the run rate when needed. We have none. We need atleast one to be able to attack the opponents.
• Pakistan should be taking risks sometimes. Its okay to play defensive so that you dont lose, but taking risks is necessary if a team wants to win.

Sri Lanka

• All the batsmen not performing. In each of their innings, it always been one or two whove made all the runs. Mahela hasnt been in good form at all and a lot more is expected from a player of his class and experience.
• The bowling. It is a generally good line up but they need a leader, or a strike bowler who can be depended on to take wickets.
• Their fitness. I personally feel the general fitness of the Sri Lankans is not good. They have to work on that.

 So overall Pakistan played good cricket, they were a bit defensive at times but the captaincy was good otherwise. If Sangakarra hadnt stood in their way, a whitewash was definite. I really enjoyed watching this series, the competition was good, not as intense as i had expected earlier though. As good as both these teams played, theres no doubt that theyre both better in the shortest formats, so looking forward to those!

Kudos to both teams :)