Pakistan's cricket team leaves for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 tour
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 and 4 other players, has left for the tour of New Zealand. The 40-day tour includes 3 T20 matches, 2 Tests and 6 ODIs. These will be both teams’ final international matches before the 2011 world cup, due to
start on the 19th of February.
ODI and T20 captain Shahid Afridi and senior players Younis http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hong-Kong-c2919, before landing together in Aukland.
Pakistan Cricket Board has already received severe criticism, even before the tour has started. The selection of the squad has come under immense scrutiny, after PCB axed Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohsin-c77587 Khan has stated
that all three players were not eligible for selection as they were not granted clearance by the PCB.
It is interesting to note that wicket keeper Akmal and leg spinner Kaneria have already been cleared by the ICC of all charges. The players have notified the Board and have presented a written letter from the ICC to the PCB. They were still denied entry
in the squad.
The case of former captain Malik is even more tangled. The middle order batsman has never been charged for any wrong doings by the ICC, but still the PCB denied Malik a chance to come back.
Despite all these controversies, team manager Intikhab Alam, talking to the media at the airport said,
“There is lot happening on the sidelines but our job is to play good cricket and try to beat New Zealand in their own backyard.” He went on to say that the team is under complete
“harmony” and that he is confident Pakistan will do well in the tour.
New Zealand too, are having a horrendous time. Their problems, however, are on the field as they have now lost at least 9 consecutive ODI matches; 4 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750. The Kiwis will be hoping to get back to winning ways in their own
backyard, against a team which has failed to win an ODI series since 2008.
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