The making of Imran

Don't be fooled by what you read in the press and hear in the media. In Pakistan it was decided long ago that he can do no wrong. He took those 12 wickets in Sydney, bowled that immortal afternoon spell of reverse swing in Karachi, stared the West Indies down on their home turf, led the cornered tigers in 1992. In short, he ushered Pakistan cricket into its golden era. And then there is the man. As any number of women would say, just look at him.
You would think this makes Imran Khan an irresistible biography subject - and you'd be right. There are very few autobiographies of Pakistani cricketers, and fewer biographies. Imran has become the focus now of a second worthy book (after Ivo Tenant's Imran Khan, which appeared in 1994). The latest effort is by Christopher Sandford, a seasoned biographer who has previously tackled Godfrey Evans and Tom Graveney in addition to an august list from the world of music and film.
It is not strictly a cricket book, because Imran is not just a cricketer. There is naturally a great deal of cricket in it, but it is so seamlessly interwoven with general experiences of the human condition that this book can be read with equal enjoyment by die-hard fans and casual followers alike. Indeed, Imran transcended cricket in that many people with little interest in the game found themselves absorbed by his public image and personality. This book will appeal to them too.
Sandford succeeds in his essential biographical task, which is to conduct an enquiry into the making of the Imran Khan phenomenon. The research and sources are extensive, complemented by a solid bibliography. The prose, engaging and conversational throughout, is at times even riveting. Imran cooperated and is the first in a long list of acknowledgments.
Delicious nuggets are buried here and there. Asif Iqbal pockets serious cash from Kerry Packer at 100-1 odds in a World XI vs West Indies WSC match. Imran floors Zaheer Abbas with a bouncer in a county match against Gloucestershire after being egged on by his Sussex team-mates, and immediately loses his aggression to become full of empathy. A novice political reporter asks Imran the politician in the middle of a hysterical campaign rally if he has ever seen anything like it before, and Imran quietly answers that yes, he has.
Imran's utter focus and devotion to the given task at hand - be it cricket, politics, or social welfare - is well known and understood. But Sandford provides a nuanced picture of a shy yet restless soul brimming with self-belief, who is as concerned with substance and meaning as he is self-conscious about image and style.


Sandford provides a nuanced picture of a shy yet restless soul brimming with self-belief, who is as concerned with substance and meaning as he is self-conscious about image and style

Imran is vividly characterised for his fiercely independent Pathan streak, his bristling sensitivity towards any hint of colonial condescension, and his successful exorcism of Pakistan cricket's post-colonial inferiority complex. Yet paradoxically he is also totally at home in British culture. Sandford presents this as not merely a post-colonial but in fact a post-modern phenomenon: Imran does have complete comfort and ease in even the most rarefied levels of British society, but it is without any sense of superiority. The English, for their part, cannot have enough of him. An unstated subtext running throughout Sandford's narrative is that the English would love nothing more than to claim Imran as one of their own.
There are a few disappointments. In January 1977, Imran took 6 for 63 and 6 for 102 in Sydney to record Pakistan's first Test win in Australia. It marked him as the first Asian in the cadre of true fast bowlers, and the victory has been described by Javed Miandad - Imran's sometimes dysfunctional partner in the making of modern Pakistani cricket, as Sandford puts it - as a crucial watermark in the nation's cricket psyche. Sandford makes short work of this match, disposing of it in barely a paragraph. This is in contrast to page upon page devoted to obscure county games and to arcane proceedings such as Imran leaving Worcestershire and signing on with Sussex. Sandford does identify a watershed in Pakistan cricket, but places it two years later, in Karachi against India. But Karachi 1978 was just a jingoistic celebration compared to Sydney 1977, which with all its symbolism was the true awakening.
As the book moves into Imran's contemporary life, you keep expecting to read a dissection of his failings, but it never comes. Sandford accepts that Imran is marginalised in Pakistan's national politics, but also argues that he is better off for it. Yes, he has an obstinate side, but that just makes him a formidable proposition. And true, he may not have succeeded as a broadcaster, but an obscure poll is cited, which ranks him as the game's fourth most popular celebrity commentator. These judgments finally reveal Sandford's hand as an admiring scribe. Not that you can blame him, of course. Everybody admires Imran Khan, and those that don't are lying. Indeed, in politics as in cricket, Imran receives a great deal of unspoken credit for insisting on stepping out of his comfort zone. Sandford's treatment has done him justice.

Fielding and bowling must improve - Dhoni

MS Dhoni, India's captain, has admitted that sloppy fielding and inconsistent bowling were two areas he was "concerned" about as the team prepared to leave Mumbai for the Champions Trophy, which starts in South Africa on September 22. India recently spent a day on top of the ICC's ODI rankings during the Compaq Cup in Sri Lanka and Dhoni wanted more consistency from his players in order to regain the No. 1 spot.
"We have done well in patches. It is not that we are consistently doing well game after game" Dhoni said. He identified bowling as a problem area, saying the bowlers had "scope to improve" in the middle and final overs.
The other deficient discipline was India's fielding. Earlier this week, India won the Compaq Cup final against Sri Lanka thanks to a century from Sachin Tendulkar and a five-for from Harbhajan Singh but their fielders dropped two easy catches and squandered three run-out opportunities. Dhoni himself missed a stumping.
"We need to raise our fielding standards," Dhoni said bluntly. "It has gone down a bit for whatever reason. It has proved costly more often not. We are missing run-out opportunities and have dropped a few catches which could prove costly in any game. We are a bit concerned. Even our ground fielding, especially the boundary fielders, can make it hard for the opponents to get those extra runs."
Dhoni said that the fielders needed to be more proactive and reduce every scoring opportunity for the opposition. "If we can cut down as many as 20 runs from the opposition total that will be a big achievement."
Considering India have won their last six ODI series played in the last two years, Dhoni's worries might seem misplaced, but he is not happy riding on past glory. His pragmatism was clear when he spoke about the forthcoming challenge in South Africa.
"We are in a tough group so it would be important not to allow any slip ups and perform well right from the beginning," he said. India are pooled with Australia, Pakistan and West Indies in Group A and open their campaign with a high-pressure encounter against their neighbours at Centurion on September 26.
Dhoni, however, said he was not concerned by the "pressure of expectation". One of the reasons, according to Dhoni, India were doing well was that they weren't bothered by expectation levels because they knew that if they won the rest would take care of itself. "We think about how well-prepared we are for the games and focus on the small aspects like fitness, mental conditioning."
On the subject of player fitness, Dhoni welcomed the return of Gautam Gambhir after the opener had to pull out of the tri-series in Sri Lanka due to a groin injury. Gambhir underwent a fitness test in Mumbai today in front of coach Gary Kirsten and trainer Nitin Patel. "His return will bring a lot of relief," Dhoni said. "Not only can he provide good starts but he can stay put till the end of the innings."
India's batsmen had struggled against the short ball on lively tracks in England during the World Twenty20 in June as well as in the following ODI series in the Caribbean, but Dhoni disagreed when asked if the problem would persist. "The last time it happened was in the World Twenty20, where you hardly have time to adjust as you look to go after the bowler. What happens in a 50-over game is you can pick and choose. In Twenty20 you see it as an opportunity to score runs."
Another reason Dhoni wasn't bothered about opponents using a short-pitched attack was the presence of Rahul Dravid in the top order. "It is good to have players who have faced similar conditions and been under pressure. Guys like Rahul, who bats at No.3, are an asset to the side," Dhoni said. "In South Africa, where the conditions help the fast bowlers, he is the kind of batsman who is suited to deal with the situation."

“Something wrong with the Proteas”

The fourth episode of Cricket Up Close on STAR Cricket analyses what goes wrong with the South African team in crunch moments.
Presented by ESPN STAR Sports cricket commentator and analyst Harsha Bhogle, Cricket Up Close takes a peek into the teams participating in the ICC Champions Trophy.
Though Nikhil Chopra, Sanjay Manjrekar and Ayaz Menon agreed that the Graeme Smith led team has some great talent, it is the crucial matches that let them down.
Manjrekar, a former Indian batsman and now an ESPN STAR Sports commentator, said there is something wrong in the South African team.
"You cannot put it down to choking or bad luck," Manjrekar said.
"They lost the crunch game in the semi-final (against Pakistan) after looking unbeatable throughout the ICC World Twenty20."
Menon, Editor-at-Large, however, said that Smith has turned things around for South Africa ever since the disastrous World Cup campaign in 2003

Black Caps slip up

South Africa and Pakistan collected big wins in their CT warm-up games, but New Zealand lost a thriller to the Warriors.
South Africa beat the West Indies by a whopping 188 runs, while Pakistan topped Sri Lanka by 108 runs.
But the Black Caps, the only team to be playing local opposition on Friday, fell two runs short with seven balls remaining as the tail end collapsed to waste half-centuries from Martin Guptil (78) and Ross Taylor (51).
Brendon Diamanti was the last man out for three as New Zealand fell agonisingly short of their target.
Hosts South Africa dominated with the bat as they thrashed the West Indies.
Graeme Smith (83), Jacques Kallis (86), JP Duminy (80) and Mark Boucher (55) all contributed half-centuries as the Proteas posted a huge total of 388 for four.
The West Indies never threatened to catch it once the opening partnership of Dale Richards and Andre Fletcher was broken, and Roleof van der Merwe ripped through the tourists' order, taking four for 34.
Big scores from Kamran Akmal (82), Misbah-ul-Haq (72) and Umar Akmal (67) helped Pakistan post an imposing total of 306 for eight, and with only one Sri Lankan, Chamara Kalugedera (59) passing the half-century mark, the required run-rate was always against them.

Tim Paine settling in

Rookie Tim Paine is enjoying life as a part of Australia's one-day team after his maiden century at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

Paine's ton helped the tourists go 6-0 up in their series against England.
The 24-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman has got off to a flying start in an Australia shirt as he has seamlessly filled in for injured first-choice keeper Brad Haddin at the top of the order.
After making his debut in the win against Scotland last month, Paine is yet to taste defeat in seven one-day internationals for his country.
Great going
He belied his inexperience with a composed 111 from 148 balls that not only moved Australia to the brink of record-breaking whitewash of their greatest rivals, but which also sent them back to the top of the ICC one-day rankings.
Paine showed no sign of nerves until he crept up on his milestone last night - before he spent nine balls on 98 - but after reaching three figures with a push to long-on he admitted he is enjoying life as an international player.
"I'm rapt. Obviously I got a bit nervous there so to get it out of the way and for the team to win a sixth straight game is a great performance," said Paine who is now the second leading runscorer in the series with 233 at 38.83.
"It's been great to be spending a bit more time at this level and getting comfortable with big crowds and all that sort of stuff.
"I haven't thought too much of what will happen when Brad returns, but for now I'm just concentrating on enjoying playing for me country."
Paine admitted he had been frustrated not to convert some of his starts earlier in the series into a big score.
He showed composure on Thursday to first see out James Anderson's testing early spell, before putting the home attack to the sword.
It was an innings for England's aspiring batsmen to take note of after a series when they have been unable to display similar fortitude, and Paine's comments afterwards portrayed a young player intent on proving his credentials.
Knowing the job well
"My job opening the batting for Australia is to score runs and in the first few games I felt reasonably good but just didn't go on with it," he said.
"So it was pleasing once I got my start to cash in. I was conscious of that; if I did make a start then I had to cash in and have the mental thing to be hard on yourself and keep batting.
"I was pushing myself mentally and trying to bat for as long as I could. I knew if I did that I'd get the runs I wanted."
Australia can become the first team to secure a 7-0 series win when the series reaches its final stop at Chester-le-Street on Sunday.
The match will be their last before the Champions Trophy begins in South Africa next week and all-rounder James Hopes warned they would be gunning to maintain the momentum they've built up.
"We heard last night that 7-0 has never been done before so that's a bit more of a motivation," Hopes told Sky Sports News.
"We don't want to go to the Champions Trophy losing the last game before that.
"We are in quite a tough pool against Pakistan, India and the West Indies so we have to go there winning and 7-0 against England, there's nothing better than that."

Flintoff heading to Dubai for rehabilitation

Andrew Flintoff is to spend the next three months in Dubai to aid his recovery from the latest operation to his right knee and make a return to England's one-day team as their star allrounder.
"It's always easier doing rehabilitation in warm weather and that's the main reason why we've decided to go to Dubai," Flintoff told his website. "Three years ago when I was recovering from my ankle, we all went to Florida as a family and it worked really well and I see this being a similar situation.
"I can't drive for at least another six weeks, so it will difficult getting from A to B and doing my rehabilitation without relying on someone else to drive if I stayed in England. Where we are staying in Dubai, all I have to do is press the right button in the lift to get from our apartment to the gym and everything I need is on the doorstep."
Flintoff, 31, retired from Test cricket at the end of England's Ashes-winning summer, and 24 hours after helping them regain the urn he underwent arthroscopy to his injured right knee. He admitted in a newspaper interview last week that there's a chance he may never play again, but his main ambition remains to play in another World Cup and has targetted England's one-day leg of their tour of Bangladesh next February as a realistic date for a comeback.
His latest bout of rehabilitation suffered a minor setback this week when it was revealed that he was afflicted by deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in his right calf, though the ECB was quick to release a statement describing it as "a common complication of surgery".

WI board to resume action against players

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has said it will continue with the disciplinary action against players at the centre of the controversy surrounding pay and contractual matters. The action had been suspended during negotiations between the board and the players but those talks broke down last week.
Leading players including Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan are all part of the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA), which is currently locked in a battle with the board over annual retainer contracts. The West Indies players have not signed those contracts since October 2008; WIPA has claimed that the players have played four tournaments in a row this year without the contracts while the WICB says the demands of the players are unjust.
In a separate statement, indicative of the widening gulf between the two parties, WIPA also agreed that a number of proposals, including the involvement of the Caribbean Court of Justice, were no longer applicable following the breakdown in talks.
The board's statement said it decided to resume disciplinary action against all West Indies players who had committed breaches of its Code of Conduct during the England tour, Indian tour and the Bangladesh tour earlier this year, by referring these matters to its disciplinary committee.
It did not itemise all of the breaches of its code but the Jamaica Gleaner said the players were likely to be asked to respond to well-publicised charges from the three series.
Against England, the players blocked the logo of the team's sponsor during the first one-day international in Guyana, where they also failed to attend a cocktail reception hosted by the same sponsors. The players also failed to show for the official launch of next year's Twenty20 World Cup to be staged in the Caribbean during India's visit.
Matters were brought to a head in July this year with 13 of the leading West Indies players making themselves unavailable for the first Test against Bangladesh in St Vincent, citing pay and contract issues. The WICB was forced to field a weakened squad which resulted in Bangladesh sweeping both the Test and one-day series.
Mediation efforts between the WICB and WIPA also collapsed recently, with the mediator, former Commonwealth secretary general Shridath Ramphal, claiming that one "party" had introduced a document late in the negotiations that led to their stalling.
The board also came in for criticism from Bharrat Jagdeo, the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) chairman and Guyana president, alleging that the board prejudiced the efforts to broker peace from the start.
However, the WICB denied the claims. "Disciplinary action against offending players had been initiated prior to the commencement of mediation and had been suspended in favor of a settlement through mediation," the board said. "The WICB had as part of its compromise in the mediation effort offered to withdraw all disciplinary action against the players. With the failure of mediation the next step would have been the settlement of all matters through arbitration which, the WICB will be pursuing immediately."