Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

FRI 24/1 - 09:00 AM GMT
1st T20I, at Lahore, Jan 24 2020
Pakistan
Bangladesh

SAT 25/1 - 09:00 AM GMT
2nd T20I, at Lahore, Jan 25 2020
Pakistan
Bangladesh

MON 27/1 - 09:00 AM GMT
3rd T20I, at Lahore, Jan 27 2020
Pakistan
Bangladesh

1st Test, at Rawalpindi, Feb 7-11 2020
Pakistan
Bangladesh

Only ODI, at Karachi, Apr 3 2020
Pakistan
Pakistan
Bangladesh

2nd test, at Karachi, Apr 5-9 2020
Pakistan
Bangladesh

Rather bizarre touring schedule. What's the reason for that?

Saw that Malik has now played an international in 4 consecutive decades, which is a cracking effort. Any others on the scene at the moment that can boast that? Gayle if WI pick him again perhaps.

Pakistan won the T20 series 2-0 with one match washed out.

After the T20 series, the Bangladesh players returned to play one fixture in their domestic league before returning back to Pakistan - a round journey of about 2738 miles.

Bangladesh 233 all out

Mithun 63

Shaheen 4-53

Good day for Pakistan, quite apart from getting to play at home.

Pakistan 445 all out

Shan Masood 100
Babar 143
Haris 75
Shafiq 65

Abu Jayed 3-85
Rubel 3-113

Naseem Shah (sixteen years old) took a hattrick!

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Naseem Shah (sixteen years old) took a hattrick!

Wonderful achievement but he isn't 16 imo.. Age fudging happens a lot in India and Pakistan to make cricket teams at younger levels. He is probably 18+ if not more. Indian board is banning such cricketers temporarily as and when they have been found out.PCB isn't doing anything.

Another Shahid Afridi or Rashid Khan who never grows old.

Bangladesh 168 all out

Mominul 41

Naseem 4-26
Yasir 4-58

Pakistan win by an innings and 44 runs.

Yasir Shah adds a fourfer to what has been a very impressive Pakistan bowling performance.

Their bowlers are looking good!

Looking forward to the second test in........two months!?!?!?

meninblue wrote:

Arthur Crabtree wrote:He is probably 18+ if not more. Indian board is banning such cricketers temporarily as and when they have been found out.PCB isn't doing anything.

Another Shahid Afridi or Rashid Khan who never grows old.

Its hardly comparable, is it? India can be seen to be doing a lot, but their player pool comes pretty much exclusively from the higher classes (last Dalit player was Vinod Kambli in the mid-90s, wasnt it? Happy to be corrected). When the system is based on official electronic birth registrations, I would say its much easier to verify this information in people born inside the elite systems, in hospitals, under proper administration. Rashid Khan was born under the Taliban Regime in a city that was a war zone, and spent his early life as a refugee in another country.... you think in war zones people are keeping accurate statistics on birthrates? Or when millions of refugees are flooding into foreign countries?

Shahid Afridi was born in Pakistan's tribal area at the time of the Mujaheddin/Afghan Wars, where currently UNICEF are making a big deal to highlight the fact that only 1% of the population are officially registered, which creates massive problems for the population accessing things like medical treatment, because they officially dont exist. Cricket boards cant be blamed for this sort of thing. Its pretty much impossible to verify someones age.

Once the bones fuse in the wrist at around 16, I think accurate biological assessment of age becomes tremendously difficult, so in short there is very little they can do. Its pretty much impossible to verify.

And Indian cricket can hardly claim a moral high ground when key players like Dravid and Sehwag talk about it openly so much. Dravid said it was the worst aspect of cricket in India, on par with match fixing; Sehwag got in trouble for playing the guess "Mishra's real age" game during commentary on a match. The latter is quite ironic considering Sehwag looked about 54 when he retired in his 30s, and has been himself the subject of suspicion. And if we were to talk all those U-19 World Cup wins for India and cross reference them to players who were subsequently found to be older, its arguable every one should be stripped for fielding overage players.

When I read about the Mumbai lad being banned recently (Salam) there was an article that went into details about the Indian age verification system; it sounded terribly like an underhanded class based system, considering its unlikely the lowest class of Indian, particularly in more isolated communities, would be able to provide the documents needed to satisfy the rules. It might be totally innocent, but its not a good look in a country that never picks people from certain class levels, and when the last they picked one in 1995, he was dropped averaging 55 in 17 test matches. Obviously nothing at all to do with his caste, right

Certainly its questionable that Shah is 16; he certainly looks between 22-24 ish to me.

sussexpob wrote:

meninblue wrote:

Arthur Crabtree wrote:He is probably 18+ if not more. Indian board is banning such cricketers temporarily as and when they have been found out.PCB isn't doing anything.

Another Shahid Afridi or Rashid Khan who never grows old.

Its hardly comparable, is it? India can be seen to be doing a lot, but their player pool comes pretty much exclusively from the higher classes (last Dalit player was Vinod Kambli in the mid-90s, wasnt it? Happy to be corrected). When the system is based on official electronic birth registrations, I would say its much easier to verify this information in people born inside the elite systems, in hospitals, under proper administration. Rashid Khan was born under the Taliban Regime in a city that was a war zone, and spent his early life as a refugee in another country.... you think in war zones people are keeping accurate statistics on birthrates? Or when millions of refugees are flooding into foreign countries?

Shahid Afridi was born in Pakistan's tribal area at the time of the Mujaheddin/Afghan Wars, where currently UNICEF are making a big deal to highlight the fact that only 1% of the population are officially registered, which creates massive problems for the population accessing things like medical treatment, because they officially dont exist. Cricket boards cant be blamed for this sort of thing. Its pretty much impossible to verify someones age.

Once the bones fuse in the wrist at around 16, I think accurate biological assessment of age becomes tremendously difficult, so in short there is very little they can do. Its pretty much impossible to verify.

Solkar also was from the lower caste. Now although thlass based discrimation has reduced drastically, it still exists in some rural and remote parts. Good thing is this generation does not cares as much about such system as the ancestors did. However, its true that there are only couple of lower caste cricketers in Indian team which has played for so many decades by now. Previously the Kings used to select their teams and they would be very biased. Some weird reasons are given like Dalits stay in remote undeveloped places so they do not have advanced training grounds with facilities and prominent cricket tournaments. Even in urban India there are so many people of all castes but i am not aware of how many Dalits form a population of Urban city . But even if the count is less it is tough to believe that somehow not even one of them makes international team in recent decades.

Sarfraz Khan , who has plays for Mumbai ranji team apart from two years he played for Uttar Pradesh, was banned in youth age cricket for faking age. Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) did bone marrow tests. I think there were few more culprits caught in that test but they were low profile youth cricketers. MCA also banned had also banned atleast 20 bowlers for chucking in domestic tournaments. It's not a big task to identify that players are many years older by looking at their faces, like in case of Rashid Khan. We do not need a birth certificate to say Rashid Khan was not 18 when he was claimed to be 18. Many Indian, Pakistani and Afghani people would tell that on seeing him regularly on Televsion. In such cases which are very likely to be age fudging the tests can be carried out like bone marrow tests. In India one cannot rely on birth certificate. I know that atleast three people in my circle had two birthdays. HR would send all employees birthday list wishing them and then those friends would tell us their birthdate is actually a day or few later or earlier than whats on certificate. So i would not totally have blind belief on birth certificate issued in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan where it either happens due to ignorance, negligence, purposeful by corrupting officials or any other reason whatsoever. Even Passports and government provided identity cards are found to be fake in so many cases. So one cannot apply the logic in Europe to a scenario in some Asian countries in all cases, especially Indian cricket where the competition is so much and earnings are so high for Indian cricketers there is a chance of such fake certificates used by cricketers.

It's not a big task to identify that players are many years older by looking at their faces, like in case of Rashid Khan. We do not need a birth certificate to say Rashid Khan was not 18 when he was claimed to be 18.

Of course, if you are going to ask me do I think Rashid looked 18 when he first come about, the answer would be absolutely not. He is clearly lying about his age, but you cant take someones livelihood away on such a basic assessment. You have to have proof, we cant make such arbitrary assessments. I knew a lad in school who had graying hair at 16, he looked a lot older, but I very much doubt he he lied about his age to start school later. So sometimes people look a little older or different.

In such cases which are very likely to be age fudging the tests can be carried out like bone marrow tests.

Id imagine such a test can cause extreme discomfort and pain to someone, and not sure if its 100% accurate. As I said, reading previously on the subject of players that India have banned, it seems that a very basic test of the wrist bone is made for players at U-16 level, as it is only after this age that the bone fuses in the wrist. For U-19s age groups, they have to revert to paperwork tests. I certainly havent read anything about bone marrow tests, maybe they have conducted them but certainly its not something I imagine would ever become widespread for welfare of those involved.