Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the Australian Open to be held at Melbourne on January 15. Earlier he had withdrawn from the Abu Dhabi exhibition event and will not be playing in Doha next week at the Exxon Mobil Qatar Open. This withdrawal is likely to be a setback for the Qatar Open but should not detract from the immensely popular event. This event has been a favourite with the players since its inception in 1993 and invariably draws huge crowds of the expatriate population of Doha as well as the local Qatari fans.
Pakistan have announced a four member Davis Cup team for their tie in Sri Lanka. This should be, in all probability, a cakewalk as Sri Lanka have not had good players for some time now. In fact Pakistan’s Aqeel Khan would know more about the Sri Lankans than almost anybody, since he coaches the Sri Lankan players, surely an unprecedented occurrence.
Trials were held for the third and fourth positions on the team with Mohammad Abid and Yasser Khan being selected. Had PTF waited just ten days, they could have had two of the most promising Pakistani players in the trials, Samir Iftekhar and Abid Akbar. Both are playing tennis at the highest university level in the USA and have wins over world class players.
It is a mystery why PTF could not delay the trials for ten days as the tie is to be held in February. Now the selected players will get together for a motivation sapping one month camp.
President Kaleem Imam will have to decide what the priorities of PTF are. Is it to just focus all PTF resources on one or two fourteen year olds or to cast a wider net. The future of tennis cannot be just one or two players. It has to be forty or fifty youngsters out of which maybe two or three might reach Asian level. But for that a vision is required.
With the PTF president away on duty and an absentee secretary, the way is clear for Pakistan tennis’ lifetime tormentors, those for whom ‘white badges’ are the utmost priority. For that, they will appease their bosses, do anything to keep them happy and fulfill their own pernicious agenda. For PTF, the honeymoon is long over.
In Doha, Pakistan’s under-14 stars won a bronze medal in an eight nation team event. Pakistan’s highlight was a hard fought win by future world hope Nofil Kaleem over a Qatari opponent. Nofil had less success against his other opponents, losing against Iran, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and UAE. Nofil has been training at the elite tennis academies of the world and travels with his personal coach. He has been proclaimed Pakistan’s future tennis star. It must be depressing for all the other youngsters in Pakistan to be written off before they have even started.
It was double delight for Pakistan as they got the better of arch rivals India in cricket as well as hockey. In the T20 series in India, our boys showed great maturity, twice rebounding from adverse situations to take the game away from an Indian team. Perhaps, edgy in front of a partisan home crowd, the Indians were given a good start by Gambhir and Rahane who put on 70 plus on a benign track. However, Pakistan’s experienced bowling attack reined them in with Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal and the towering Irfan taking the last nine Indian wickets for 50 odd runs.
Pakistan were then set back by debutant Indian pacer Kumar, who bowled, or should we say, cast a spell over the Pakistan top order, setting them up and then bowling them with banana shaped swingers. It was then left to experienced players Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez to show the younger lot that T20 is not all about slogging. They weathered the Kumar storm and then took the Indian attack apart with some remarkably composed aggressive batting.
It was encouraging to see a Pakistan team that showed resilience in the face of adversity and refused to panic as opposed to an Indian side whose nerves were fraying at the edges.
The second T20 was lost and the rubber shared, but Pakistan still acquitted themselves rather well – with skipper Mohammad Hafeez playing out of his skin to be named Man of the Tournament. And the tallest cricketer in the world, Mohammad Irfan too didn’t do his reputation as a rising star any wrong.
Now the three one-day games beckon. It remains to be seen whether they can keep the tempo up in the remaining matches, without getting unduly flustered by the loss. Certainly, the psychological advantage is with them in the shape of their bowling attack. Irfan could prove to be a huge asset as he brings the ball down at express speeds from an intimidating height. Umar Gul and Ajmal are seasoned campaigners and know what it is to rebound from a bad over or two.
Should our batsmen retain their composure, Pakistan has a good chance to take the series. But T20 is essentially a crap shoot where a good cameo innings or a couple of wickets can make the difference. Form or momentum have little significance.
In the second T20, India were boosted by a torrid display of six hitting by Yuvraj Singh who scorched seventy plus at two runs a ball. On a placid pitch, all the Pakistani bowlers were taken to the cleaners by the Indian batters. Pakistan started off strongly with Nasir Jamshed and Shahzad leading the response. But then, slowly but surely, the asking run rate started climbing in spite of an electrifying captain’s knock by Hafeez. In the end the Indian total was a bridge too far. This sets up a highly anticipated three ODI series commencing in Delhi on Sunday.
Meanwhile, in Doha, Pakistan defeated India in the hockey Asian Champions Trophy. It was a high scoring contest, with Pakistan opening the scoring and then India drawing ahead at half time, with Pakistan clinching the win 5-4. Following their bronze medal triumph over their traditional rivals in the Champions Trophy, this win should be a confidence booster for the green shirts.
