Story Passion for Pakistan: A Journey to the top? 1st ODI: *10 Over Update**

[Highlander999]

Oh Pakistan what has happened to you? The days of the greats thundering in and up-rooting stumps are long gone. Matches against India where the tension was so great, people couldn't look away from the action seem so long ago. Where has it all gone?

A team in disarray and a country at war would sum it up. Terrorism within Pakistan has brought the country to its knee's and left the cricket team in exile from being able to play in their own country. Nevertheless progress is beginning to be made. Has stability begun to return to Pakistani cricket? Shahid Afridi is now at the healm of the team and hopefully now the infighting within the Board will ease off. Maybe now, Pakistan cricket can focus on one thing. Winning matches and bringing back pride to a country which has had little to cheer about over the past few years.

In a gesture of goodwill which has surprised many in the cricketing world, the BCCI has agreed to play a 5 match ODI and 3 match Test series with their neighbours in what one BCCI spokesman called, "A gesture to our brothers that through cricket we can bring friendship to one another." Certainly this announcement has brought fans on both sides of the border to their feet in excitment for one of the biggest cricketing rivalries second only to The Ashes.

Shahid Afridi whilst visiting an orphanage in Karachi had this to say on the upcoming ODI and Test series:

"For a proud Pakistani like myself when hearing the announcement of this series, my first thought was one of pride that I would get to lead my country's team against our oldest rivals. We know that many of our people are suffering here, but hopefully how we act on the field will bring much pride to them, and of course we do plan on winning We have a very young squad now, so it is up to the senior players to lead by example and really contribute and show what we are capable of. Hopefully over the next year or so, we can show that Pakistani cricket is back, and it is here to stay!" ​

With the date's and fixtures all set up suprisingly quickly by the BCCI in what was thought to be a free period in the calendar for both India and Pakistan, all that is required now is the naming of the squads and plenty of fans to buy tickets to ensure that the atmosphere in those Indian grounds is electric. Here's hoping we are about to see the re-birth of Pakistani cricket, and like a phoenix rising out of the ashes, they can come back stronger and better then ever before...

 

[riz7khan12]

seems interesting, i'll be following this but i doubt pakistan can win.

so are you gonna sim the matches or..?

 

[Highlander999]

Oops, forgot to put the prefix up It'll be on '05 and I'll be playing all the matches as Pakistan

 

[riz7khan12]

that changes nothing, pakistan still to lose.

 

[Highlander999]

My playing style will suit Pakistan, very up and down

 

[Meet]

Too many pakistani story...:P
Anyways good luck tom

 

[Aditya]

BCCI has agreed to play a 5 match ODI and 3 match Test series with their neighbours

Great!!!

Would be a interesting series for sure. If Younus Khan and Yousuf get a chance to get back to Pakistan team then Pakistan team can certainly be a lot stronger. If not, then too their is no need for Pakistan fans to worry. They have Umar Akmal.... Would be interesting to see the squads of both the teams for the series.

Nice start there Tom. Best of luck for this story.

 

[Highlander999]

Cheers for the comments people

Too many pakistani story...:P
Anyways good luck tom

Yeah but I'm not some noob in the story section, mine will actually go somewhere

 

[Gaurav_7]

Yeah but I'm not some noob in the story section, mine will actually go somewhere

Ha ha, right. I wish your .... wakes you up every night and like you did the roster you do some updates over here.

 

[Bounce]

A gesture to our brothers that through cricket we can bring friendship to one another.

Wish someone actually does it.

Anyway, nice start Tom.

 

[Highlander999]

ODI Squads Announced​

Both India and Pakistan have named their 20 man squads for what has been called the "ICC Spirit of Cricket Tour" named after the similar MCC one from when Pakistan toured England. Half of the money earnt by the BCCI and PCB through things like TV rights and sponsorship will be donated to orphanages throughout Pakistan and India to highlight the spirit in which this tour is taking place.

However, one thing is for sure, whilst things off the pitch are all good natured, you can be sure on the field, there will be no quarter given. Looking at the two squads, it appears Pakistan are going to really struggle and it will take a lot of skill from their management to get this young squad to beat one of the best sides in the world.

In a joint press conference, Shahid Afridi and the coach Waqar Younis announced the squad.

Shahid Afridi (C)
Salman Butt (vc)
Kamran Akmal (wk)
Zulqarnain Haider (wk)
Shoaib Akhtar
Umar Gul
Shoaib Malik
Wahab Riaz
Danish Kaneria
Mohammad Hafeez
Yasir Hameed
Azhar Ali
Imran Farhat
Mohammad Aamer
Tanvir Ahmed
Umar Akmal
Umar Amin
Saeed Ajmal
Abdul Razzaq
Faisal Iqbal​

The key for Pakistan in this tour is going to be making sure their batting stands up to the task. Senior players like Afridi, Malik, Butt and the Akmal brothers are going to have to stamp their mark by getting some much needed runs on the board as in recent years batsmen have come and gone in a heart-beat. The bowling attack does look strong with the likes of Akhtar, Aamer and Gul who are all superb one day bowlers who will hopefully trouble the Indian batsmen.


Meanwhile, over in Delhi, MS Dhoni was announcing his ODI squad to try and win the first ever "ICC Spirit of Cricket" Trophy. The Indian batting department is easily the best in the world, however, their pace bowlers have let them down in recent months, not helped by some complete and utter roads which they have had to bowl on. Hopefully, they will be able to bowl on surfaces giving them more assistance.

MS. Dhoni (C) (wk)
V. Sehwag (vc)
KKD. Karthik (wk)
G. Gambhir
Z. Khan
IK. Pathan
A. Mishra
SK. Raina
Harbhajan Singh
RP. Singh
Yuvraj Singh
Sreesanth
SR. Tendulkar
PP. Ojha
M. Vijay
S. Badrinath
AD. Nehra
R. Jadeja
P. Kumar​

There are certainly lots of options there for Dhoni in regards to batting and bowling. Obviously the likes of Tendulkar, Gambhir and Sehwag are certain to play, but there is a lot of competition in the middle order and in regards to the seam attack, it's a guessing game for who will play and how many specialist spinners India choose to go in with. One thing is for certain though, the Indian squad (on paper at least) is certainly far superior to the Pakistani one. This is going to be one tough tour for Pakistan...

Sky Sports meanwhile have secured the TV rights for this historical series. The Twelth Man show is a new analysis programme which will be run at the end of the innings and day's play to look at what took place. Ramiz Reja will be with Sky for the whole tour, along with other well known faces like Sir Ian Botham, David Lloyd, Michael Holding, Mike Atherton and David Gower, however, special guests from both India and Pakistan will also feature in this plus a select few users will be invited to post their opinion on the action.

 

[Meet]

It would be an interesting series.Nice to see earnings to go to orphanage.
On whole,amazing start,amazing ideas.:hpraise

 

[Gaurav_7]

Badrinath? Did BCCI allow him in a story? Wow so nice of them.

I'm so jealous about the presentation.

 

[Dutch]

Good story, Tom, nice presentation and good ideas. I wish with IC2010 it was easy to take screenshots. I might just do a story on Cricket 2005 as it is easier to get data! Good luck mate!

 

[Dr. Pepper]

It's Twelfth man damnit!

If this is twice the story 3 lions on a shirt was, then it'll still be ████.

Starting with a series against India is bound to be tough, expect tensions to flair and someone to get a bit hungry .