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Shoaib Malik Joins Long List Of Players To Attack Pakistan Cricket

Shoaib Malik joins long list of players to attack Pakistan cricket

Pakistan all-rounder and former captain of the national team, Shoaib Malik, has accused the Pakistan Cricket Board of favouritism. Stating that it is a cultural problem in the national team, Malik alleged that more importance is given to personal contacts than on the performances of the individual.

"We have a system of liking and disliking in our cricket, which is something that is present in the rest of the world as well but seems to be a bit more in our culture. The day things change in our cricket system where more importance is given to skills rather than who a person knows, only then will things improve," Malik was quoted as saying by Pakistani journalist Saj Sadiq.

Conceding that he was putting his career on the line Malik said that he will have no regrets if he does not ever play again.

“I would have felt more regret if I had not spoken up on behalf of my fellow cricketers," Malik told Pakistani journalist Saj Sadiq.

Several cricketers in recent times have come out against the policies of the Pakistan Cricket Board, latest being Wahab Riaz who told Cricket Pakistan that senior players were not being given a longer rope despite their service to the nation.

Shoaib Malik in his interview with Sadiq echoed similar sentiments and stated that players were being selected in the national team on the basis of one good innings or one good spell.

Earlier in May, Mohammad Amir and Sami Aslam had come forward alleging that they were suffering from mental pressure and there were several other players suffering from the same issue who were afraid to speak up.

Aslam had alleged off nepotism as well, arguing that there were different yardsticks for players playing in the national team.

“There were players who would flop in 10 matches and still get picked, but if I failed even a couple of times, I’d be left out. There seemed to be different parameters for me and different parameters for others. So, I had that feeling that the selectors didn’t want to pick me and were just looking for excuses to not have to pick me.” Aslam had told Sadiq in an exclusive interview.

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Hanuma Vihari lends helping hand in challenging times

The cricketing fraternity has been helping the people in the country in these tough times and India batsman Hanuma Vihari who is presently in the UK is one of them. Vihari has made a group of 100 volunteers to help requests from Covid-19 patients. The group operates on WhatsApp. Speaking to Sports Today, the right-handed batsman said that he wanted to use his social media following in a better way. "I thought I have to use the followers on my social media in the best way I can. It started slowly. I tried to interact with people. I realised a lot of people are in need of a lot of things," Vihari told India Today Consulting Editor, Sports, Boria Majumdar. "I put a post on Instagram. I am very fortunate that most of my followers joined me. We are close to 100 people in our WhatsApp group. We try to solve every problem of the patients, if we can't solve it in our group, I post it on social media," he added. Vihari has been named in the Indian squad for the WTC final against New Zealand slated to take place in Southampton next month and the five-match Test series against England that will follow after that. He had left for England during IPL 2021 to play the County Championship for Warwickshire. In the six innings that he played for the side, Vihari managed to score 100 runs that included a half-century.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar slams reports claiming he isn't interested in playing Test cricket

India seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has slammed the reports that claimed that wasn’t interested in playing Test cricket anymore. Bhuvi took to Twitter and wrote he has been preparing himself for all the three formats irrespective of the team selection. “There have been articles about me not wanting to play Test cricket. Just to clarify, I have always prepared myself for all three formats irrespective of the team selection and will continue to do the same. Suggestion - please don’t write your assumptions based on “sources”!,” Kumar wrote. According to a report in the Times of India earlier in the day, sources close to the bowler have said that he was no longer interested in playing Test cricket. "Bhuvneshwar just doesn’t want to play Test cricket anymore. That drive has gone missing," they were quoted as saying. The right-arm bowler had played his last Test for the Indian team in January 2018 against South Africa but has been out of the setup for the longer format since then due to injury concerns which didn’t even allow him to play all of the matches in 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League and be a part of the contingent for the Australian tour. The 31-year-old made a decent return to the Indian team during the England series at home but once again sustained injury during the 14th edition of the IPL. He wasn’t picked in the Indian team that will tour England for the WTC final against New Zealand that would be followed by a five-match series against the English team. He has played 21 Tests for India and has scalped 63 wickets for the team.

WV Raman accuses of smear campaign against him after removal from head coach post

Outgoing India women’s cricket coach WV Raman who was not retained in the position has alleged that a smear campaign against him has hogged the limelight unneccesarily. In a letter written to BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, Raman requested him to take actions against it. He also addressed a mail to the National Cricket Academy head Rahul Dravid stating that it will be “extremely disconnecting” if his candidature was rejected based on anything order than his “incompetancy as a coach”. Raman who was handed over the coaching duties of the national team in 2018 was surprisingly not retained despite having a good time with the women’s side. Under his coaching, India reached the final of the 2020 T20 World Cup where they lost against the mighty Aussies in the final. The Cricket Advisory Committe headed by Madan Lal reappointed Ramesh Powar for the post after he was shown the door in 2018. “I presume you might have been told different views about my style of functioning and work ethic. Whether those views conveyed to the officials of the BCCI had any impact on my candidature is of no consequence now,” Raman wrote in the letter which is currently in possession of PTI. “What is important is that the smear campaign seems to have gained some unwarranted traction with some BCCI officials which needs to be halted permanently. I am prepared to give an explanation should you or any of the office bearers require it,”the letter further read. The former Indian batsman who appeared in 11 Tests and 27 ODIs for the national team between 1988 and 1997 said that if he was rejected due to his incompetence as a coach he won’t have any problems what so ever but if he was released due to some other reason then it is extremely disconcerting. “If I were to be rejected due to my incompetency as a coach, there is no argument on a judgment call at all. But what will be extremely disconcerting is if my candidature was rejected due to any other reasons,” said Raman. “Especially if it was due to allegations from people who were more focussed on achieving their personal objectives at the expense of the overall hygiene and welfare of the Indian women’s team and the pride of the country,” he further added. Raman’s letter is bound to make a few heards turn as the trend of sacking coaches having issues with players is nothing new. Fallout with players has either made coaches step aside or has been sacked from the position. The fallout between Mithali Raj and Ramesh Powar forced BCCI to remove him from the post in 2018. While no name was mentioned by Raman in his letter, it is understood that he was speaking about the star culture that prevails in the team which is perhaps doing more harm than good. “If some people in the system have been highly accommodative to the extent of being seemingly obsequious to an accomplished performers for years on end and if that performer feels constrained to adhere to the culture, then I would leave it to you to decide if the coach was asking for too much,” Raman said. “In a coaching career spanning 20 years, I have always created a culture in which the team always comes first and insisted on no individual overriding either the game or the team,” he further added.

Bowling standards are high in PSL as compared to IPL: Wahab Riaz

Pakistan pacer Wahab Riaz has praised the functioning of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in comparison to Pakistan Super League (PSL). The left-arm bowler has said that IPL is at a “different level” and certainly no league can compete with it. “You can’t compare IPL with PSL, I believe IPL is at a different level. Their commitments, the way they run things, communicate things, the way they draft the players, that is totally different. I don’t think any league can compete with the IPL, but if there is any league that stands behind it, it has to be the PSL. The League in Pakistan has proved it,” the Pakistan pacer was quoted as saying during an interview with Cricket Pakistan’s YouTube Channel. While Wahab appreciated the IPL, the Pakistan bowler hailed the bowling quality of PSL and said that the standards are really high. “The standards of bowling are quite high. The kind of bowlers you get in the PSL is not found in other leagues, not even in the IPL. This is why PSL doesn’t have many high-scoring games. The bowling attacks in PSL are the best in the world,” Riaz said. The PSL 2021 that was postponed after a rise in Covid-19 cases within the teams is slated to resume on June 1 but the venues for the matches are yet to be decided. Earlier, the remainder of the tournament was set to be held in Karachi including the final. It was later moved to UAE after the franchises had asked the PCB to reschedule the tournament citing a fresh surge in the Covid-19 cases. But it seems unlikely that the remaining fixtures would take place in the country after it had announced a ban on travellers from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, IPL 2021 was also suspended on May 4 with immediate effect after few players and staff members had tested positive for the disease. The BCCI has received an invitation from the Sri Lanka Cricket Board to hold the remaining matches of the IPL in the island country in the month of September. But the Indian board is yet to make a call on it.