Riaz Haq writes this data-driven blog to provide information, express his opinions and make comments on many topics. Subjects include personal activities, education, South Asia, South Asian community, regional and international affairs and US politics to financial markets. For investors interested in South Asia, Riaz has another blog called South Asia Investor at http://www.southasiainvestor.com and a YouTube video channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkrIDyFbC9N9evXYb9cA_gQ
Pakistan cricket team has won all four of the group matches it has played so far in the T20 World Cup being played in the United Arab Emirates. Pakistan currently sits on top of the points table with 8 points in Group 2. Pakistan's only remaining match is with the team from Scotland which has lost all 3 matches it has played so far. There is no doubt about the top talent in the Pakistani team but their performance at the T20 World Cup is extraordinary. So what accounts for it? What has changed recently within the team? Do Pakistanis have a chip on their shoulder and they are out to prove themselves? Are the new world-class coaches helping them?
Pakistan's Coches Mathew Hayden (L), Vernon Philander
One possible explanation is that Pakistanis have a chip on their soldier. They are out to prove themselves after having been shunned by teams like England, New Zealand and India. Another more likely explanation that I find more appealing is the change of leadership of Pakistan Cricket Board and the hiring of world class coaches.
Prime Minister Imran Khan appointed ex cricketer and cricket commentator Ramiz Raja as the new head of Pakistan Cricket Board in September 2021. This appointment triggered the walkout of head coach Misbah ul Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis.
Misbah's and Waqar's decision to quit created an opportunity for Ramiz to bring in a new coaching team of his choice. Ramiz chose British-Pakistani Saqlain Mushtaq as the new head coach, brought in world-class Australian batsman Mathew Hayden as the batting coach, and South African seamer Vernon Philander as the bowling coach.
Pakistan's Winningest T20 Team. Source: ESPN
Here's how Ramiz Raja described Mathew Hayden: "The Australian can bring some aggression into the team. He has experience of World Cups and was a world-class player himself. Having an Australian in the dressing room will be of great benefit for us."
On Philander, Raja said, "I know him well, he understands the nuances of bowling and he has a great record in Australia."
These changes were clearly risky just before a major tournament but seem to have worked out well for the Pakistani side. Pakistan has already made it to the T20 World Cup semifinals, and is now considered among the favorites to win the World Cup this year.
Pakistan's 10-wicket triumph over India in their recent T20 World Cup match has made history. It's the country's first ever win against its neighbor in 13 World Cup matches. It is also historic because the Indian bowlers failed to take even a single Pakistani wicket. Pakistani opening batsmen Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan romped to an easy 10-wicket victory by scoring 152 runs in 17.5 overs without any losses. Batting first, India lost 7 wickets to reach 151 runs total in 20 overs. Since this India-Pakistan encounter on October 24, 2021, Pakistan has gone on to win its second match against New Zealand by 5 wickets.
Babar Azam and Virat Kohli
In a rare honest analysis seen on India's ZeeTV, the comments by retired Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif and sports journalist Harpal Singh Bedi summed up the results as follows:
Mohammad Kaif: "Shameful defeat for India"..."No amount of praise (for Pakistan) is enough"... "They (Pakistan) have done it without practice matches..New Zealand pulled out...England cancelled tour"..,.. "Dew factor hurt us (India) because we failed to take early wickets before dew became a factor" ..."we got no wickets...we were completely flat on our back (Charo khane chit)....."Babar Azam had a complete plan...all 11 players pre-announced....field first..etc" "Shaheen's bowling was amazing"
Harpal Singh Bedi: "They tore us apart....they exposed us...we were completely dismantled" .... "Pakistan did the same in the Champions Trophy Final in 2017"..."Dew factor has no meaning".. "Never underestimate other teams" ..."Always respect the opponent" ...."Pakistan took early wickets...essential in T20" ..."Mauka Mauka is nonsense!"
For the uninitiated, "Mauka Mauka" is an Indian ad that mocks Pakistan for its string of losses against India in World Cup matches. Pakistan has done better against India in matches played outside of the World Cup. The two sides have played a total of 200 times. Pakistan has won 87 matches compared to India's 70 victories. In Test matches and ODIs Pakistan has won more matches than India, although India has won six of the nine T20 International between the two sides.
It is indeed refreshing to see such candid commentary by Indian analysts on the emotion-filled India-Pakistan T20 encounter in Dubai, UAE. Here's a video of the ZeeNews show:
Has the world seen the best and the worst of humanity since the Christchurch mosque massacre in New Zealand? How did New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern handle the aftermath of the tragedy? Is her genuine compassion and decisiveness a shining example of leadership? How was the response to the tragedy from major world leaders like US President Donald Trump, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Imran Khan? What does it say about them?
Who came out to show support for Muslim communities around the world? How did New Zealanders show solidarity with Muslims? How did Muslims in Silicon Valley deal with the aftermath of the tragedy? Who joined them in mourning?
Who celebrated the massacre of innocent Muslims and why? What do White Nationalism and Hindu Nationalism have in common? Are these two sides of the same coin? Who was BS Moonje and why did he meet Mussolini? Who was Golwalkar and why did he admire Hitler? What is Modi's connection with Golwalkar's RSS movement? What did he say about Hitler's treatment of Jews as "a good lesson for us in Hindustan to learn and profit by"?
What did Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik say about Hindu Nationalists in his manifesto? Are White Nationalists and Hindu Nationalists reinforcing each other on social media platforms? What role does social media play in promoting extremist ideologies? What can be done to manage this problem?
Viewpoint From Overseas host Misbah Azam discusses these questions with Sabahat Ashraf (ifaqeer) and Riaz Haq (www.riazhaq.com)
"Ulat Dunya Kee Sair", my friend Ali Hasan Cemendtaur's latest travelogue written in Urdu, was launched on January 15, 2017 at an event organized by Urdu Academy of North America, a Silicon Valley-based group dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Urdu language in the United States and Canada. The travelogue tells the story the author's travels to the world Down Under (appropriately translated by the author in Urdu as "Ulat Dunya), specifically three southern hemisphere nations of Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. It is available on Amazon.com.
Riaz Haq Speaking at the Event
The event was chaired by Khwaja Ashraf sahab, a published Urdu writer in his own right, and attended by many local Urdu lovers hailing originally from South Asia. It was emceed by Arshad Rashid sahab who, along with Tashee Zaheer sahab, runs Urdu Academy. Other presenters included Kausar Syed sahiba, Mariam Turab sahiba and Riaz Haq. The program concluded with Ali Hasan Cemendtaur's hilarious and self-deprecating roast of his own writing that he called "Apni Gheebat". Please follow the embedded links or search Youtube for the individual names to find and watch the presentations.
Ulat Dunya Kee Sair Book Cover
In his presentation, Riaz Haq said "the history is often referred to as "His Story", a description acknowledging the fact that the history writer's worldview influences his or her work. This reality applies to travelogues as well".
Kausar Syed Reading Excepts of Ulat Dunya Kee Sair
We are used to reading world travel accounts written by western travelers; Ali Hasan Cemendtaur's travelogues, written in English or Urdu, are rare exceptions as they get the reader to see the world through the eyes of a Pakistani traveler.
Marian Turab's Commenting on Ulat Dunya Kee Sair
"The Green Ibn Battuta", the title of Cemendtaur's last travelogue launched last year is a tribute to Ibn Battuta, the 14th century Muslim traveler from North Africa who wrote extensively about his travels of much of the known world at the time. Ali's Ibn Battuta covers his travels starting in 1990s. The fact that Cemendtaur's access to modern transportation enabled him to to see a lot more of the world in a relatively short time than Ibn Battuta did would make the 14th century traveler green with envy; hence the title "Green Ibn Battuta".
Ali Hasan Cemendtaur's Self Roast
Ali's Pakistani-ness drove his curiosity to visit Multan Karavansarai in Baku, Azerbaijan., where he discovered old trade ties between the Pakistani city of Multan and the Central Asia region dating back to the 15th century.
Cemendtaur's Pakistani origin compelled his interest in The Caucasus (Koh Qaaf), the mountainous region 1,000 by 600 kms in size that lies between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, where Azerbaijan is located. Koh Qaaf (Caucasus mountain) is associated with many fairytales that Pakistani children have grown up with. Dastaan e Amir Hamza is an Urdu collection of fairytales from Koh Qaf that continues to fascinate Pakistanis to this day. The Caucasian label, the US official race classification for American whites, traces the origin of all white Europeans to the Caucasus region. Harvard genetic studies have confirmed that the ancestors of many Ancestral North Indians and Pakistanis came from this region.
In "Ulat Dunya Kee Sair", Cemendtaur's interest in South Asian language shows through in his impressions of the spoken in Fiji by people of South Asian origin who speak a variant of Hindi but switch to "Bollywood Hindi" when conversing with Urdu or Hindi speaking visitors.
Cemendtaur writes about dealing with what he thought was "gutter smell" in Rotorua, New Zealand, and expresses his shock that a developed nation like New Zealand could have the kind of stink more common in developing nations of South Asia n areas with open sewers. He soon finds out that it was the smell of hydrogen sulfide emanating from sulfur-laden water from hot springs in the area.
The author also notices that, unlike Australia where most immigrants are Chinese, the immigrants from South Asia are more visible in New Zealand. Apparently, there are many Punjabi farmers in dairy business who have been living there since the days of the British Raj.
Cemendtaur finds a Hazara town in Sydney with many Hazara Shias from Pakistan who have fled sectarian conflict to find safety in Australia. Upon research, he finds that human smugglers provide this service for a substantial fee by flying Hazaras to Sri Lanka, then arranging visas to Indonesia from where they are put on boats to Australia.
Riaz Haq concluded his presentation by recommending "Ulat Dunya Kee Sair" as a well-written Urdu travelogue "filled with entertaining anecdotes and insightful observations about many exotic places and interesting cultures. It is written in an easy to read and highly engaging style that will keep you absorbed and make you finish it in one sitting once you start reading it."
The event concluded with a very self-deprecating and humorous monologue by Ali Hasan Cemendtaur that reminded the audience of Zia Mohyeddin's reading of Mushtaq Yusufi's work.
After a string of 12 test match losses over the last three years, Pakistan won convincingly today against New Zealand by 141 runs at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. Pakistan's bowling attack, the Akmal brothers superb batting performance and patient scoring and leadership by Mohammad Yousuf were crucial in winning.
Ross Taylor's valiant second innings stand that added 97 runs couldn't save the Kiwis from defeat. In the end, Pakistan 264 (Kamran Akmal 70, Vettori 4-53, Tuffey 4-64) and 239 (Yousuf 83, Umar Akmal 52, Martin 4-52, O'Brien 4-66) beat New Zealand 99 (Asif 4-40, Kaneria 3-6) and 263 (Taylor 97, Asif 5-67, Kaneria 3-94) by 141 runs
Pakistan's terrible test cricket performance has been in sharp contrast to its successes in T20 matches, including the World Championship. As always, Pakistanis owe their test win to the great bowling attack led by Asif and Kaneria. The win came in spite of the lackluster Pakistani fielding with over half dozen dropped catches, particularly in the second innings.
Pakistan's first test win in three years coincided with neighboring India achieving the top ICC rank for test cricket. Before their 2-0 victory over Sri Lanka in the recently concluded home series, India were ranked third with 119 points after Sri Lanka and chart-toppers South Africa (122). The two consecutive innings victories in Kanpur and Mumbai earned India five points, taking them two clear of South Africa, while Sri Lanka slipped below Australia to fourth place. England and Pakistan occupy the fifth and sixth places respectively. Pakistan also ranks 6th in ICC ODI rankings while Australia and India occupy number 1 and two spots.
In recent international tournaments, India have been sent home early during 2009---T20 in England and ICC Trophy in South Africa.
While Pakistan won the T20 title in England, Indians couldn't even make the semis. In ICC trophy, India were eliminated early while Pakistan defeated India and made it to the semi-final.
In terms of the history of India-Pakistan cricket encounters in all three formats, Pakistanis continue to have an edge over their Indian rivals:
Tests ODI Twenty20
Matches played 59 118 3 Won by Pakistan 12 69 1 Won by India 9 45 1 Draw/Tie/No result 38 4 1
With an unbeaten 73 in a record 10th wicket partnership of 103 against New Zealand, Pakistani tail-end batsman Mohammed Aamer's performance with Saeed Ajmal was nothing short of awe-inspiring. After the rest of the Pakistani batting collapsed in chasing a paltry total of only 212 runs, Aamer and Ajmal put on a fierce fight, almost clinching the series. In his impeccable batting that featured three huge sixes and seven confident fours, 17-year-old Aamer put his senior team-mates to shame and showed the way for Pakistani youngsters to never give up----in play or in real life. It is an absolute confidence booster for a nation that really needs it in this difficult hour.
In the end, the first ball of the final over, bowled by Jacob Oram, finally provided New Zealand's salvation as Aamer's partner Ajmal top-edged his pull to allow Mills, running in from fine leg, to take a good catch. With it, Pakistan lost the final game by a mere 7 runs, and lost the series 2-1.
Regardless of the outcome, this was probably the finest, most energetic performance I have seen by Pakistan's tail-enders playing under pressure. The mostly Pakistani crowd was clearly enjoying every minute of it toward the end. Let's hope this week-end's 20-20 matches offer more excitement leading to Pakistani wins under Shahid Afridi's leadership.
