ENGLAND T20 SQUAD AGAINST INDIA

1- Eoin Morgan(c)

2- Luke Wright

3- Tim Bresnan

4- Stuart Meaker

5- James Harris

6- Jonny Bairstow

7- James Tredwell

8- Joe Root

9- Samit Patel

10- Danny Briggs

11- Jos Buttler

12- Jade Dernbach

13- Alex Hales

14- Michael Lumb

ENGLAND ODI SQUAD AGAINST INDIA

1- Eoin Morgan

2- Kevin Pieterson

3- Ian Bell

4- Chris Woakes

5- Tim Bresnan

6- Stuart Meaker

7- Alastair Cook (c)

8- Steven Finn

9- Jonny Bairstow

10- Jos Buttler

11- James Tredwell

12- Samit Patel

13- Craig Kieswetter (wk)

14- Jade Dernbach

15- Danny Briggs

SOUTH AFRICAN TEST SQUAD FOR NEW ZEALAND SERIES

1- Grame Smith (c)

2- Alviro Peterson

3- Hashim Amla

4- Jacques Kallis

5- AB de Villiers (wk)

6- Elgar

7- Faf du Plessis

8- Jacques Rudolph

9- Rory Kleinveldt

10- Robbin Peterson

11- Dale Steyn

12- Morne Morkal

13- Vernon Philander

AUSTRALIAN SQUAD FOR THE BOXING DAY TEST 2012

1- Michael Clarke (c)

2- Shane Watson

3- David Warner

4- Usman Khawaja

5- Ed Cowan

6- Matthew Wade (wk)

7- Mitchell Johnson

8- Mike Hussey

9- Peter Siddle

10- Nathan Lyon

11- Mitchell Starc

12- Phillip Hughes

13- Jackson Bird

SOUTH AFRICAN T20 SQUAD FOR NEW ZEALAND SERIES

1- Faf du Plessis (c)

2- Farhaan Behardien

3- Henry Davids

4- Quinton de Kock

5- Ryan Mclaren

6- Richard Levi

7- Aaron Phanigo

8- Justin Ontong

9- Rory Kleinveldt

10- David Miller

11- Lonwabo Tsotsobe

12- Robin Peterson

13- Chris Morris

14- Morne Morkal

15- Dale Steyn            

PAKISTAN ODI SQUAD FOR INDIAN TOUR

1- Mohammad Hafeez (vc)

2- Nasir Jamshed

3- Younis Khan

4- Misbah-ul-Haq (c)

5- Umer Akmal

6- Kamran Akmal (wk)

7- Imran Farhat

8- Umer Gul

9- Anwar Ali

10- Saeed Ajmal

11- Wahab Riaz

12- Zulfiqar Babar

13- Haris Sohail

14- Junaid Khan

15- Azhar Ali

PAKISTAN'S T20 SQUAD FOR INDIAN TOUR

1- Mohammad Hafeez (c)

2- Nasir Jamshed

3- Ahmed Shehzad

4- Umer Amin

5- Umer Akmal

6- Shoaib Malik

7- Kamran Akmal (wk)

8- Asad Ali

9- Junaid Khan

10- Sohail Tanvir

11- Zulfiqar Babar

12- Shahid Afridi

13- Umer Gul

14- Saeed Ajmal

15- Mohammad Irfan

SRILANKAN TEST SQUAD FOR AUSTRALIAN TOUR

1- Mahela Jayawardene (c)

2- Angelo Mathews (vc)

3- Tilakaratne Dilshan

4- Tharanga Paranavitana

5- Kumar Sangakkara

6- Thilan Samaraweera

7- Prasanna Jayawardene (wk)

8- Dimuth Karunaratne

9- Suraj Randiv

10- Rangana Herath

11- Nuwan Kulesekara

12- Dinesh Chandimal

13- Chanaka Welegedara

14- Shaminda Eranga

15- Dhammika Prasad

16- Nuwan Pradeep

SPOTS IN THE INAUGURAL TEST CHAMPIONSHIP

After a prolonged T20 spell of International stature and numerous multimillion dollar leagues, International test season of many cricketing giants has started from 9th of this month- Austrailia vs. South Africa, India vs. England, New Zealand vs. Srilanka, Westindesh vs. Bangladesh - Except Pakistan & Zimbabwe, every single test playing nation would be playing in whites infront of mostly not-so-excited-crowd in rarely even half field stadiums.

But the fact of the matter is that according to cheif invincibles of ICC, Test Championship of top four test team will start in 2017 and will be organized every 4 years.

But who will play in the inaugural event is a great concern.

Since the powerful Indian board will make sure that Team BCCI must participate despite their awful recent & historical record in longest format, and it will influence the cut-off date to make it favourable for them.

Therefore my idea is that cricket fraternity now must wake from a long lasting sleep and announced the decent date to ensure that deserving teams make it.

As it stands now, South Africa, Austrailia, England and Pakistan are four top test & deserving teams.

But with many home series for India coming up, one can feel Indians will make a claim for the spot.

BANGLADESH TEST SQUAD

1- Mushfiqur Rahim (c/wk)

2- Mahmudullah (vc)

3- Tamim Iqbal

4- Junaid Siddique

5- Shahriar Nafees

6- Nasir Hossain

7- Shakib Al Hasan

8- Naeem Islam

9- Nazimudddin

10- Elias Sunny

11- Abul Hasan

12- Shahadat Hossain

13- Rubel Hossain

14- Sohag Gazi

SRILANKAN TEST SQUAD

1- Mahela Jayawardene (c)

2- Angelo Mathews (vc)

3- Tilakaratne Dilshan

4- Tharanga Paranavitana

5- Kumar Sangakkara

6- Thilan Samaraweera

7- Prasanna Jayawardene (wk)

8- Tharindu Kaushal

9- Suraj Randiv

10- Rangana Herath

11- Nuwan Kulesekara

12- Dinesh Chandimal

13- Chanaka Welegedara

14- Shaminda Eranga

15- Dhammika Prasad

INDIAN TEST SQUAD

1- MS Dhoni (c/wk)

2- Virender Sehwag

3- Gautam Gambhir

4- Sachin Tendulkar

5- Yuvraj Singh

6- Virat Kohli

7- Pujara

8- Umesh Yadav

9- Pragyan Ojha

10- Zaheer Khan

11- Ravichandran Ashwin

12- Ishant Sharma

13- Harbhajan Singh

14- Ajinky Rahane

15- Murali Vijay

WEST INDIES SQUAD FOR BANGLADESH TOUR

1- Darren Sammy (c)

2- Denesh Ramdin (vc/wk)

3- Tino Best

4- Darren Bravo

5- Chris Gayle

6- Shivnarine Chanderpaul

7- Narsingh Deonarine

8- Kirk Edwards

9- Assad Fudadin

10- Sunil Narine

11- Veerasammy Permaul

12- Kieron Powell

13- Ravi Rampaul

14- Kemar Roach

15- Marlon Samuels

AUSTRALIA SQUAD FOR THE TEST DOWN UNDER

1- Michael Clarke (c)

2- Shane Watson

3- David Warner

4- Ricky Ponting

5- Ed Cowan

6- Mathew Wade (wk)

7- Ben Hilfenhaus

8- Mike Hussey

9- Peter Siddle

10- Nathan Lyon

11- Mitchell Starc

12- James Pattinson

DREAM T20 TEAM

1- Chris Gayle

2- Mohammad Hafeez

3- Marlon Samuels

4-Mahela Jayawardena (c)

5- Luke Wright

6- Brendon McCullum (wk)

7- Jeevan Mendis

8- Stephen Finn

9- Mitchell Starc

10- Saeed Ajmal

11- Ajantha Mendis

12th man- Shane Watson

CONSISTENT SEMI-FINALIST OR CHOKERS

Well it will be an understatement to call Pakistan among the top 4 teams of the world in the game of cricket. 6th consecutive (at least) semi-finals is some feat, out of which they have won 2 to proceed to finals and their last major world cup victory (famous win at Lords in 2009, beating Srilanka by 8 wkts chasing an under-par score) coming during this fertile period.

The concerning things is their chocking in semi-finals. While in Champions Trophy no one can believe the loss to much inferior New Zealand, their 2nd last such stage lost to India a year ago was also tainted as pre-setup game.

When it comes to shortest form, their last 2 of total 4 attempts to reach the final has been disappointing.

In 2010 Mike Hussey snatched the game in last 20 balls in as good innings as you will see in T20 ever.

While in latest version in Srilanka, they lost to home team by 16 runs in Colombo, played on one of worst pitch to be honored an international mega event game.

While one can argue about the dryness of the pitch but they are also many reasons than this responsible for departure of the Greens from the ICC WORLD T20.

SRILANKAN T20 SQUAD FOR THE UPCOMING HOME SERIES

1- Angelo Mathews (c)

2- Upul Thranga

3- Tilakaratne Dilshan

4- Jeevan Mendis

5- Lahiru Thirimanne

6- Kumar Sangakkara (wk)

7- Nuwan Kulesekara (vc)

8- Dinesh Chandimal

9- Sachithra Senanayake

10- Dilshan Munaweera

11- Shaminda Eranga

12- Thisara Parera

13- Akila Dananjaya

SRILANKAN ODI SQUAD FOR THE UPCOMING HOME SERIES

1-Mahela Jayawardene (c)

2- Angelo Mathews (vc)

3- Tilakaratne Dilshan

4- Jeevan Mendis

5- Lahiru Thirimanne

6- Kumar Sangakkara (wk)

7- Nuwan Kulesekara

8- Dinesh Chandimal

9- Upul Thranga

10- Rangana Herath

11- Shaminda Eranga

12- Thisara Parera

13- Akila Dananjaya

14- Lasith Malinga

15- PD Kaushal

SOUTH AFRICAN SQUAD FOR THE TOUR DOWN UNDER

1- Grame Smith (c)

2- Alviro Peterson

3- Hashim Amla

4- Jacques Kallis

5- AB de Villiers (wk)

6- JP Duminy

7- Faf du Plessis

8- Jacques Rudolph

9- Thami Tsolekile (wk)

10- Robbin Peterson

11- Dale Steyn

12- Morne Morkal

13- Imran Tahir

14- Rory Kleinveldt

15- Vernon Philander

NEW ZEALAND TEST SQUAD

1) Ross Taylor (c)

2) Trent Boult

3) Doug Bracewell

4) Tod Astle

5) Neil Wagner

6) Daniel Flynn

7) Tim Southee

8) Martin Guptill

9) Chris Martin

10) Brendon McCullum

11) Jeetan Patel

12) Kruger van Wyk

13) Rob Nicol

14) James Franklin

15) Kane Williamson

NEW ZEALAND T20 & ODI SQUAD FOR SRILANKAN SERIES

1) Ross Taylor (c)

2) Andrew Ellis

3) Adam Milne

4) Brendon Mccullum

5) Rob Nicol

6) James Franklin

7) Jacob Oram

8) Ronnie Hira

9) Tim Southee

10) Nathan McCullum

11) Trent Boult

12) Tom Latham

13) Kyle Mills

14) BJ Watling

15) Kane Williamson

WHY PAKISTAN LOST

Pakistan fails to earn a spot in the last two for second time in a row. The target 140 was above par on this dry wicket, last over costs 16 which was also the defeat margin & surely prove decisive in the end.

Batsman did well to get to 123 but the following dismissals became deterrent to earn a spot in the finals.

Nazir was probably in two minds either to attack or defend; Hafeez didn't get to the pitch of the ball to out stump by Kumar.

Shahid Afridi-probably in the kind of nick that it will end his career, doesn’t move his feet to an unorthodox delivery from Herath get another golden duck.

Kamran-in this age of variation, can't pick the undisguised slower one from Mathews. Tanvir was also stump attempting a wild slog.

Both Umars did all they could to repeat their South Africa win but req.run.rate was too high, bowling was faultless & pitch was dying.

Pakistan has to learn very quickly, because they can never win consistently merely on individual brilliance and/or natural flair.

ENGLAND TEST SQUAD FOR INDIAN TOUR

1- Alastair Cook (c)

2- James Anderson

3- Ian Bell

4- Jonathan Trott

5- Tim Bresnan

6- Stuart Broad

7- Jonny Bairstow

8- Steven Finn

9- Samit Patel

10- Graham Onions

11- Graeme Swann

12- Eoin Morgan

13- Matt Prior (wk)

14- Nick Compton

15- Joe Root

16- Monty Panesar

SAVING THE GREEN

Pakistan latest T20 captain is too difficult to digest for his many critics.

Especially for those who are big fan of SHAHID AFRIDI. According to them latest appointed person is too mediocre to lead international team.

Yes he is mediocre!

He is mediocre because he is leading run scorer in every format among Pakistanis since couple of years.

In ODI, (he was top rated bowler) currently ranks 2nd,

2nd rank all rounder (Afridi 4th).

In T20, 2nd rank all rounder & among top 11 bowlers.

He is mediocre because he has opened the batting & bowling in every format many times which is a unique feat.

If he really is mediocre despite showing consistency, then what about (the match winner) Afridi?

MOHAMMAD HAFEEZ first played under Rashid Latif (great player & captain) & showed initial promise but due to inconsistency, he was dropped and forgotten for so long, when he comes back, he was a different cricketer altogether, improved in all departments & since then permanent member of the team in each format.

Pakistan’s world cup 2011 performance is thought to be due to Afridi, while Waqar Younis also deserved a part of credit in world cup performance.

Afridi is the match winner but not ideal for captaincy, because being a ball biter, pitch destroyer, fighter with former greats etc. can never be role model for young cricketers.

He is lucky in getting Man of the match awards because many greats, who perform regularly couldn’t get it more often than not, as it includes quite a big luck factor.

Furthermore, he is the match winner in 1 out of every 10-15 games & had most off-days even as a bowler than any other Pakistani bowler in history of ODI except who don't played regularly. While hitting nearly 300 sixes is some feat and so is 348 ODI wickets, he had played so many ODI's that he will definitely make his numbers look good but he has the worst avrg & is to take most innings to got there among anyone who have made 7000. As for the current debate of T20 captaincy, he has worst w/l ratio among Pakistani captains in T20

Therefore, let’s conclude that winning MOTM is not necessarily a sign of greatness; Saeed Ajmal has only got 3 such awards, combined in all formats. Can u believe it?? And he has performed in over 100 matches.

No matter what they rank, mighty Australians are always a tough team to beat.

While for few nonsense people Hafeez is mediocre and coward man, the results doesnot always tells the truth, by looking on his onfield tactics, I guess Hafeez would be the best captain after Younis Khan, he is already way ahead of Afridi & Misbah)

In 2^nd T20, Hafeez was brave enough to gave it to Abdur Razzaq, any other captain may would have gone with spin and match would have been lost with atleast 2 bowl to spare, whether we like it or not Razzaq is finished as a bowler especially on flat tracks, but he got a bonus chance to prove himself, otherwise few were expecting that Pakistan would not be defeated going to the last over with only 10 run.

Good to see finally that Ahmed Shehzad (I am referring to his innings in Srilanka) & Nasir Jamshed batting sensibly, but when will Afridi & Umer Akmal will gain their senses while batting & take responsibility? (Probably never)

As it was a common argument when Misbah was the skipper that Afridi has been popular choice,

With sorry to say captain of a national side can never be appoint on popularity basis, otherwise Tendulkar would have been Indian captain since ages.

In T20, Misbah is one of best Pakistan have produce yet, whether like it or not, I tell you what, He has more runs, more 50's, more 4 & 6's, better avrg & s.rate, better best score than guess whom?

.

.

MS Dhoni

Who is a so called a match winner-in T20 and Dhoni has atleast 3 losses when he remain not out till the end.

In Pakistan, people understand now what is better for the team & in social media Afridi is being thrashed at for his pathetic consistency, whether his fans like it or not, doesn’t matter, face the reality!

I hope Hafeez will Insha Allah follow in the footsteps of Younis Khan in winning the ICC WORLD T20 for the fans of man in Greens.

IRELAND T20 WORLD CUP SQUAD

1- William Porterfield (c)

2- Niall O'Brien (wk)

3- Alex Cusack

4- George Dockrell

5- Trent Johnston

6- Nigel Jones

7- Ed Joyce

8- Tim Murtagh

9- Kevin O'Brien

10- Boyd Rankin

11- Max Sorensen

12- Paul Stirling

13- Stuart Thompson

14- Andrew White

15- Gary Wilson

ZIMBABWE T20 WORLD CUP SQUAD

1- Brendan Taylor (c/wk)

2- Elton Chigumbura

3- Graeme Cremer

4- Craig Ervine

5- Kyle Jarvis

6- Hamilton Masakadza

7- Chris Mpofu

8- Stuart Matsikenyeri

9- Prosper Utseya

10- Malcolm Waller

11- Forster Mutizwa

12- Richard Muzhange

13- Vusi Sibanda

14- Brian Vitori

15- Ray Price

NEW ZEALAND T20 WORLD CUP SQUAD

1- Ross Taylor (c)

2- Brendon Mccullum

3- Doug Bracewell

4- Adam Milne

5- Rob Nicol

6- James Franklin

7- Jacob Oram

8- Martin Guptill

9- Tim Southee

10- Nathan McCullum

11- Ronnie Hira

12- Daniel Vettori

13- Kyle Mills

14- BJ Watling

15- Kane Williamson

AFGHANISTAN T20 WORLD CUP SQUAD

1- Nawroz Mangal (c)

2- Asghar Stanikzai

3- Dawlat Zadran

4- Gulbodin Naib

5- Hamid Hassan

6- Izatullah Dawlatzai

7- Javed Ahmadi

8- Karim Sadiq

9- Mohammad Nabi

10- Mohammad Shahzad (wk)

11- Najibullah Zadran

12- Mohammad Nasim Baras

13- Samiullah Shenwari

14- Shafiqullah

15- Shapoor Zadran

SRILANKA T20 WORLD CUP SQUAD

1- Mahela Jayawardene (c)

2- Angelo Mathews

3- Tilakaratne Dilshan

4- Jeevan Mendis

5- Lahiru Thirimanne

6- Kumar Sangakkara (wk)

7- Nuwan Kulesekara

8- Dinesh Chandimal

9- Ajantha Mendis

10- Dilshan Munaweera

11- Shaminda Eranga

12- Lasith Malinga

13- Akila Dananjaya

14- Rangana Herath

15- Thisara Parera

BANGLADESH T20 WORLD CUP SQUAD

1- Mushfiqur Rahim (c/wk)

2- Mahmudullah

3- Tamim Iqbal

4- Junaid Siddique

5- Jahurul Islam

6- Mohammad Ashraful

7- Shakib Al Hasan

8- Nasir Hossain

9- Abdur Razzak

10- Elais Sunny

11- Mashrafe Mortaza

12- Farhad Reza

13- Shafiul Islam

14- Ziaur Rahman

15- Abul Hasan

INDIAN T20 WORLD CUP SQUAD

1- MS Dhoni (c/wk)

2- Virat Kohli

3- Ravichandran Ashwin

4- Ashok Dinda

5- Gautam Gambhir

6- Piyush Chawla

7- Virender Sehwag

8- Irfan Pathan

9- Zaheer Khan

10- Suresh Raina

11- Yuvraj Singh

12- Rohit Sharma

13- Manoj Tiwary

14- Harbhajan Singh

15- Lakshmipathy Balaji