Pakistan batting just bring shame to great cricket nation and AKA fighters. They are bunch of losers in the team. Salman Butt comes in with Knight Riders gloves on as of he is big star of theirs or team is any champion. This shows how much is cooking in his head and he is missing focus of WC. He needs to change his mind set and wear more of Pak national colors like Gambhir does. Though I believe he should not have been part of the team against Sri Lanka at first place. 2ndly the Shoaib Malik has not played up to mark until now after having 5 matches already he should be rested and Fawad gets proper chance. Lot is missing in Pak team spirit, combination, support to captain, responsibility of being national players. Looks like, they are playing for their own little causes. The stand out performer is Afridi and Gul. Hope Akmal clicks in the next game with Razzaq around and we thrash NZ. But at this rate of performance PAK Team simply do not deserve spot in Semi’s because this is not standard of PAK Cricket!!!

don’t get too serious. after all it’s just a article

Congratulations to Team Sri Lanka on their excellent performance. Hope & pray they win the T20 this year. Well done boys, keep it up.

AH

Love the article. Ti’s a reminder that sport is sport and it requires us to have some fun with it – rather than put all our national pride into just one game that is mismanaged.

For those who think that this is sub-standard journalism and disrespectful to the dutch team, you have a point. But read the article again and you might find the rather fine analogy drawn between making fun of names and taking things a little lightly – something we all need to do?

And lets not overplay the ‘respect’ card. Frankly I do find their names funny – as do I find the fact that a guy named Yasir Arafat plays for Pakistan.

Very poor article. What does author want to tell through this?

“Those who live with too much fanaticism and too little humour will never understand this, which only heightens our bafflement at their perspective – and their hatred of us.”

thumbs up!!

This article just goes on to show our unprofessionalism.

1. Laughing at other culture, because their names sound funny to us.
2. Writing articles through emotions and not in the proper context.

Why are we expecting our team to win, when we themselves don’t take our professional seriously. Media makes or breaks a nation, and in our case, it certainly isn’t helping.

Lack of international exposure and misdoings of people from across the border have rendered the once ominous Pakistanis a team of confused cricketers who seemed to have lost their way somwhere along the track to winning ways.Confidence is in tatters and with the exception of a few of them most go out to bat like scared chickens who are out to be slaughtered.What happened to your bravado and the fierce attacking approach in the thick of matters?Being kept away from any kind of cricket including the IPL by some dirty politics has dented severely hunger for fight and eventual victory.

So it’s my humble request to Butt Sahib to use some sense. Cricket has become very competitive these days because millions are involved in it. Keep merit in mind even if the player id from Punjab,NWFP or Karachi.All want to play for Pakistan’s name so why not give them equal chance.
Professionals are there to make money..playing just for the country without any substantial benefit is not feasible anymore.So work out a deal with those playing ICL or IPL ( which at present nobody is doing).Pakistan first but they should also be allowed to play outside.Tum bhi khush mein bhi khush.
Proper planning is the name of the game because ‘miracles don’t happen everyday’.

Its good that Pakistan Team won against a club level team of Holland. The real match will be against Sri Lanka. Lets hope and pray for the best. Only our prayers can help them win.

Well these are desperate times, its been a while since we as a nation has anything to celebrate..me like all of my friends desperately need Pakistani team to win this tourney..

Just drop malik (in both the innings faced almost 4 overs and still couldnt lift the run rate?)
BUTT has under 30 avg in test matches (he played 2.5 years of equivalent test matches == 22). He scored in one-dayers only against bangladesh or depleted bowling attacks like Indians. The only batsman in our team with under 100 strike rate in 20-20…

An extremely well written article.Puts things in perspective.

The article seems to have been written in a light vein. It is all right. However, I would still say that making fun of names is not a courteous gesture.

what doesnt kill u makes u stronger

The Pakistan coach should ask Afridi to not come out of the fiels in less than 15 overs and Pakistan will surely post a big total. IF Afridi stays at the wicket he will doubtless score at more than a run a ball and he would have more than done his job. And for Afridi to stay at the wicket, he must be explicitly stopped from hitting every ball out of the ground for that strategy has miserably and repeatedly failed. The coach and captain must emphasize this new stay-at-the-crease strategy to Afridi. Imagine Afridi fulfilling his batting responsibilities and Pakistan have a chance to beat the best team of the day.

Another crucial point is that the maximum runs have to be scored in the first 4-5 overs—that paves the way for a big total and puts pressure on the other team. As far as bowling is concerned the same point can be applied in reverse– the first four or five overs should yield measely runs even if we dont get wickets and that would surely reduce the total posted by the batting team and can win a match for Pakistan. It is quite clear that Pakistan does not go in with a strategy when they take the field. The jump and bite is missing in the Pakistan team and surely in its inept game managers. Pakistan can do well to emulate the drive and enthusiasm exhibited by the Sri Lankans and the South Africans so far.

Tougher tests lie ahead. Pace will be key against Sri Lanka. If Gul, Tanvir, Razzak, and Amir can take early wickets, Sri Lanka can be beaten.
Yunus needs to have a plan and can not afford any fielding mistakes. The players should be serious even though it is a game!
Thanks
Syed

Humour is best medicine of all and I think one should laugh and enjoy all the best moments to the fullest. Regarding names, all of us have given alias to all our players. These alias are good when they perform well and bad when they perform worse. Like Dhoni is Dhobi when he blasts strokes and Sangakara is Nakara when he got out cheaply.

This is one of the worst articles I have ever read on any cricketing blog. It is disrespectful to Dutch culture. A team that lit up the tournament at the very beginning they deserve all the respect. With the fighting spirit they have shown as part time cricketers they deserve a place in the super 8’s, they came here to win with nothing to loose while we came to England to have fun. God knows what this team would be capable of if they had the same resources as the PCB. We have made it because we have the talent and international experience. This article should point out our drop catches the flaws in the field. Our fielding needs immediate improvement if we have any chance of making it to the semis. The confusion in the last paragraph is laughable. Making fun out of the Dutch team on an international leading English newspaper website is appalling. As a Pakistani, I would like to thank the Dutch team for giving everyone a run for their money and actually playing a role in improving the morale in Pakistan by waking them up.

This is not journalism, The author’s work needs to reflect a higher degree of maturity before writing in a credible paper such as Dawn.

yes it is a game and we should accept ervery win and loss gracefully. and I agree with some of the people that we should not make fun of other’s name intentionally or unintentionally.

Every culture has its share of names that sound funny or absurd or vulgar to others. Some laugh; some don’t find it laugh-worthy. To each his own.

I read two paragraph of this article and stopped. I didn’t find it amusing that a leading English publication in Pakistan would poke fun at names from another country/culture. The writer needs to gain cultural sensitivity. Also, he needs to get rid of this delusion that he is from a planet where there are no funny names when pronounced in English. Lastly, the editors need to stop publishing articles/blogs that gives out a bad impression about our writers and jeopardizes their intellectual integrity.

This article was a waste of time to read.

Why did you have to make fun of someone’s name to enjoy Pakistan’s win? You cannot get away with it just by saying that Dutch would enjoy our names as well (unless, of course, there is someone sitting fully wired in one of Amsterdam’s bars having a similar mentality). This is Pakistan’s leading newspaper and is this what you want the world to know about us? de Grooth is just as funny as Noor Ahmed. I hope Tom de Grooth doesn’t read this article.

This is borderline racist. I guess if de Grooth or Butt have names like Mark, John, Brown etc then that will appear to be appropriate to the author.

I am surprised that Dawn has chosen to give space to this piece which makes mockery of foreign cultures and names.

Please remove this from the site.

I agree that it is all about fun, and it is after all just a game. However knowing the preferred modus operandi in the Land of Pure, I could imagine what could have been if Younus Khan and his boys had lost against Netherlands, and I do not see any fun in that.

Wow! Great article! I have been to holland and have lots of dutch friend. Their media says that they are happy that we won as we have already too many problems and loosing to holland will just made it more miserable for us. I like it! They always think positive!

I just don’t understand what’s so funny about De Grooth and Van Bunge. I don’t think any name can get funnier than Butt of Pakistan or Misbah-ul-haq with a bunch of dashes in it. Write something useful.

Loved the article!

Please do not make fun of names!

Not a good article. Your artilce showed immaturity. Do you remember Lahore semi final that we lost? We lost because of Abdul Qadir’s insulting behaviour, he was making fun of Sri Lankan palyers when he got them out. As a muslim it is our (whole Pakistani nation’s) beleive that Allah will not bless you if you make fun of others.

Great humour and a wonderful way to put the point accross! A British fighter pilot during the Second World War when re-captured despite being treating very well, had commented to his German captures that war was not a game of cricket! I would like to submit that the converse is also true.

I visit dawn.com to read intelligent litrature. Your words and ideas do not reflect the quality of this newspaper.

Good sense of humor!!
If I was you I wouldn’t expect our community to digest it easily. Too complicated for the majority. We have proved incompetent as a nation to understand anything in simplicity. we get personally offended by everything, and love complicating most simple issues including our religion.
we will see the majority would react to my comments as well.
Guys take it easy..the writer is just trying to be humorous in his approach.
As far as I am concerned…in general, I do not expect much positive thinking or tolerance from the majority of my people.

How about Salman BUTT. Will he CRACK under pressure, in the games to follow, that has been on him because of his (mis)fielding/s? Or Won’t he?

What a childish article. Cricket is played with talent of the player…not with the good name or funny name. Pakistan won with the small country does not mean you can make fun of them. There should be some dignity, even if Pakistan won the game. Pakistan should learn to respect their opponents too.

Many in my part of the world also think BUTT is quiet funny

Better be carefull talking about others name whlie expressing joy.Pakistan was marcilesly beaten by other teams in the tournament earlier-those team also have players with “funny” names. But I think you never mentioned that while our stylish team licking their wounds – “wow,how Pakistan can loose to such names”.
Have patience in joy-Pakistan is very unpredictable team!!

Brilliant article !

Well Pakistan cricket team not only had the good wishes from their countrymen but also from across the border with many Indians including me with a blog to Dawn, just seconds before the match started. We also wish and pray that both India and Pakistan reach finals and of course with same results as in last world cup.

You know your article captured precisely what I was feeling while watching Afridi steamroll the dutch. And at that time, I felt peace at heart, albeit for only an hour.
But nonetheless, those few moments where the fire of patriotism rages and love for the country knows no bounds, are greatly cherished. I hope that we will be able to enjoy many more such moments over the next couple of weeks.

If Younus and his team can produce a good performance, it will gel the nation together and God knows we need that. It can even make life for the IDPs a tad more bearable.
I wish you all the best, Younus. Make us proud yet again! Pakistan Zindabad!

It’s hilarious to say the least. I like your writing style.

As a cricket fan i have no issues with Pakistan losing. The only problem is that the best talent should be playing and they should be playing hard. Things like when Fawad Alam and Tanveer are sitting outside is mind boggling. Even yesterday when Pakistan needs big runs players like misbah coming so low at the batting order makes you wonder what are these people thinking.
Its sad when our batting keeps failing and batsman like fawad are sitting outside.
I only have on request for the PCB …for god sake only the best talent should play all the khalifa players should be kicked out who don’t perform on a consistent basis.

when pakistan lose the match then you criticize it too much and when pakistan win you call it after all it’s just a game