Mohammad Aamer is today one of Pakistan’s best pace bowlers, despite having played only 8 Tests and 13 ODIS over the last one year. If there is any one bowler who can restore Pakistan’s status as a top cricket nation, it has to be Aamer.

His bowling consists of raw pace, something which bowlers these days lack perhaps due to wickets being more batting-friendly. His skills were very much present in pace greats such as Imran Khan, Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar. Bowling at 150 kmph regularly is no mean task for a 17-year old.

He is a left-arm bowler whose action is reminiscent to that of his idol and one of the highest wicket-takers in ODI cricket, Wasim Akram. Akram has been accountable for Aamer’s success at the international level so far.

He spotted him at a fast bowlers camp in Lahore in 2007, and considered him as a huge bowling prospect who could play for the country soon. Aamer had done reasonably well in England in the same year and in 2008, he helped Pakistan win a U-19 triseries in Sri Lanka.

He could have played the U-19 World Cup in 2008, but had a dengue virus. However, as Aamer grew stronger and older, his health and bowling too improved.

In 2009, in his debut season for the National Bank of Pakistan, he was one of the top wicket-takers with 55 wickets to his name. This wonderful performance at the domestic circuit earned him a place in the final squad of the World Twenty20 team.

He grabbed this opportunity to cement his place in the playing XI of Pakistan in all three formats of the game. He took over an out-of-form but experienced Sohail Tanvir as Pakistan’s spearhead.

In the World T-20, he bowled the final overs like an expert which eventually aided Pakistan to win the title. And his opening over in the final against Sri Lanka will be remembered by ardent Pakistani fans. Sri Lanka’s Tillakratne Dilshan was the man in form and was the highest run-getter of the tournament.

His new invention, the scoop shot was considered to be crucial in Sri Lanka getting a big total. However, Aamer got the better of Dilshan by getting him out for a five-ball duck with quick, dangerous short-pitched bowling which made him look like an amateur, nobody kind of a batsman.

He did well in Sri Lanka soon after in August 2009 when he picked 4 wickets in the final match of the ODI series to help Pakistan win 2 games out of 5. However, perhaps the best moment of his cricketing career came during the Champions Trophy in South Africa.

It was a first-round match between Pakistan and India. Pakistan had scored 300 in 50 overs, thanks to hundreds from Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik. The pitch was still good for batting when India came out to bat, requiring 6 runs per over minimum if they had to win. India’s openers were Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar.

However Aamer was undeterred very much like the World T-20 final. He struck with a magical outswinging ball which got the big wicket of Sachin Tendulkar for just 8 runs. From there on, India were never in the game and laboured to a defeat by 56 runs.

It was a dream tournament for Aamer as his career seemed to finally take off, as Pakistan finished 4th in the tournament, out of the top 8 teams of ODI cricket.
Aamer had a decent tour of New Zealand, despite going wicketless in the drawn Napier Test. However, it was in Australia when Aamer faced ups and downs.

Aamer had picked 5 wickets in the second innings of the Melbourne Test, which only showed his increasing maturity and his flexibility to play at the international level at such a young age.

However, in the 3rd Test at Hobart, Aamer dropped a simple, regulation catch at deep fine leg when an out-of-form Australian captain Ricky Ponting was batting on 0. He went on to make a double-hundred on his home ground, which prevented Pakistan from winning another Test match after the Sydney debacle.

In the ODIS, Aamer bowled modestly as Pakistan were whitewashed in the best of 5 series, therefore ending an ill-fated and winless tour. Despite all the controversy regarding IPL and the public fighting of the Pakistani team members, Aamer has been amazingly able to maintain his focus on his game and the result was another good World T-20 campaign for Pakistan.

Although the team couldn’t defend the title, yet they did make it to the semifinals. With a new captain in Shahid Afridi and a new coach in none other than Waqar Younis, Aamer’s best days are definitely ahead of him as he could be Afridi’s trump card for the World Cup 2011 in the Indian subcontinent which is just a few months away.

The second match of the Micromax Cup in Zimbabwe between India and Sri Lanka has a lot to offer. Although the rivalry between the two sides has been intense, so much so that the players must be tired of seeing each other’s faces again and again, yet the contest promises to be entertaining.

Primarily, it is because India lost to Zimbabwe in the first match of the tournament, causing the tournament to be wide open. On the other hand, Sri Lanka would find this a perfect opportunity to make a winning start to their campaign, which could give them confidence to win more as the tournament progresses.

India needed to hit back. Pressure was intense on Suresh Raina, the stand-in captain. However, on a windy day and a slow pitch in Bulawayo, he won the toss and elected to field first. His Sri Lankan counterpart, Tillakratne Dilshan knows the conditions perhaps better than any other foreign cricketer playing in this tournament.

It is because he made his debut at the same venue back in 1999. He too got carried away about what happened at the toss and miraculously for India, Sri Lanka faltered. Upul Tharanga, Dilshan’s opening partner, got run out as early as the second over.

Sri Lanka further struggled with their captain playing a Test-match innings, and forgetting that he was playing an ODI. Dilshan seems to have lost his Midas touch that he possessed in 2009, despite scoring a more-or-less responsible 61, until he was also run-out as well.

Thilan Samaraweera, batting at No.3, also played an uncharacteristic shot, getting himself stumped for just 19 runs. Angelo Matthews batted extremely well in a tough situation at No.4, slamming 75 runs of 95 runs. He was the only bright spark of the Sri Lankan innings which suffered largely due to lack of partnerships, which meant Matthews wasn’t given any support at all.

Thissira Perera tried to up the ante with his 32 runs scored of just 23 balls. However, it was too late for Sri Lanka as they could manage a paltry 242 all out with one ball to spare in the innings.

India did everything right. Their bowling was outstanding in the powerplay overs, a rare sight indeed! Even their fielding could be called ‘decent’ enough with two run-outs in the entire innings.

Amit Mishra and Ravindra Jadeja have yet again proved how their bowling can be crucial to India’s success in this format. However, India had to chase 243, which was not easy considering the Sri Lankan bowling attack having some experience.

India’s openers needed to start well, as the pitch was slowing down. Dinesh Karthik and Murali Vijay weren’t amongst the runs recently and thus to win it for India was an uphill task for them.

At 47/2 in the 10th over with both of them gone, it was huge pressure. It was then that the centurion of the last match, Rohit Sharma walked in to bat with Virat Kohli at the other end. And it was a counter-attack that would last long in every person’s memory who watched the match.

Kohli has a fascination for Sri Lanka and yet again he proved his increasing maturity with a fine 92-ball 82, with just four boundaries. His batting was outstanding considering how well he could find the gaps in a tight field set by Dilshan for his spinners to attack.

Kohli, the vice-captain on this tour, in fact helped Sharma get his second hundred on the trot, as it was he who looked to tear apart the opposition. Rohit Sharma has been in top form since the IPL this year.

His experience is what Raina has been banking on so far and he has repaid his faith by steering India to a comfortable win of 7 wickets with 7 overs to spare! Looking at the public displeasure in India after the defeat to Zimbabwe, this win was crucial in appeasing them and Raina too, who as captain has to face the heat the most.

Rohit Sharma was the man-of-the-match undoubtedly. Unlike India, it was Sri Lanka’s bowling which struggled. Apart from pacer Nuwan Kulasekara, none of the other bowlers impressed. Tillakratne Dilshan took a huge gamble by taking both Ajantha Mendis and Dilhara Fernando.

Mendis has become too predictable now and Fernando is not much of use on slow pitches. So like Raina, it is Dilshan who will be under the pump, ahead of the clash against Zimbabwe next up.

His experience will be a must for his young team, to help beat a confident Zimbabwe team, who are constantly improving. If Sri Lanka get their act right in the next game, the points table will get interesting further. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Zimbabwe might even beat Sri Lanka convincingly, which means that in my book, they are the favourites to win!

In the last edition of the IPL review, we take a look at the top 3 teams of the IPL last season and what are their chances of repeating their stupendous performances this year.

1) Delhi Daredevils
Without doubt, one of the best T-20 teams on paper as well as performance. Delhi Daredevils will make any one sweat with jealousy as not many sides are lucky to have world class T-20 players such as the Delhi opening duo of Virender Sehwag and captain Gautam Gambhir, Australia’s exciting talent David Warner, Moises Henriques, the Australian all-rounder who was bought from the Kolkata Knight Riders outside auction this season, AB de Villiers, South Africa’s most reliable batsman and an excellent fielder in the 30-yard circle.

And yes, who will forget the revolutionary Sri Lankan batsman who by far is the best player of 2009 in the eyes of many. The man who invented the new shot over the wicketkeepers head. He is none other than Sri Lanka’s Tillakratne Dilshan.

All the above players have a certain amount of experience in international cricket. However, the young players too are really a talented lot. Dinesh Karthik is still in the infant stages of developing himself in the Indian team, yet the wicket-keeper batsman is known to be a good finisher.

He proved his worth in tough conditions in South Africa. The Delhi lads Rajat Bhatia, Amit Mishra, the leg-spinner who has made a name for himself in the Indian Test team, Ashish Nehra who is experienced but has lost out on a lot of cricket due to injuries but can be a good partner to Dirk Nannes when it comes to opening the bowling. If Dilshan has taken the world by storm thanks to his batting, Nannes has done the same with bowling. He is the perfect replacement for Glenn McGrath, whose contract has been bought out this season. Pradeep Sangwan and Avishkar Salvi add to the bowling depth of the team further.

However, the question is whether Owais Shah and Manoj Tiwary deserve to be removed from the Delhi roster and sold to Kolkata, when Delhi need a good bench strength in batting. Will McGrath’s buy-out cost Delhi? Will Gambhir’s captaincy inspire Delhi in the long-run, which didn’t do the team any good in the Champions League 2009? Well, time will tell.

2) Royal Challengers Bangalore
The team owned by Vijay Mallya flopped in the first season by finishing second-last. However, events took a u-turn and luck started going their way and they finished second in the tournament! Bangalore won many fans in South Africa, but they are back in India. Will pressure take a toll on the team?

Well, not really when it’s known that Anil Kumble is the skipper of the team. He is a true fighter as it is known how he won consecutive matches last season as the then new skipper of the team when Kevin Pietersen had to leave half-way from the tournament and left Bangalore in disarray as he was out of form too with the bat. They have vast experience in players such as Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher, the two South African stalwarts.

Bangalore perhaps has one of the best pool of young players amongst all the 8 teams. Manish Pandey was the find of Indian cricket last season, Robin Uthappa is a true match winner, Virat Kohli who is India’s new prodigy with the bat and on the field, R Vinay Kumar is a potential talent, A Mithun could make his debut for the team after a good domestic season, Eoin Morgan, England’s future who was picked in the auction and Ashok Menaria, the Indian U-19 captain.

However, Bangalore’s chances look grim due to injuries sustained by Kiwi players such as Ross Taylor and Jesse Ryder. With no Kevin Pietersen available, Bangalore chances take a dip in the pool as it remains to be seen whether their performance last year was a fluke.

3) Deccan Chargers
They were the champions of the IPL last season. Who would write them off this time? The team gave a fitting reply to its critics who said that they don’t deserve to play in the tournament when they finished at the bottom in the first season. But an inspirational comeback was so good for cricket that it showed that the IPL is here to stay due to its excellent quality of cricket.

Unlike Bangalore, Deccan is even more strengthened despite the fact that the Hyderabad franchisee was knocked out in the first round of the Champions League 2009 in India. And a humiliatng fact is that they haven’t won a single match at home.

The fact that Adam Gilchrist is like an all-rounder who is captain, wicketkeeper and opens the batting is not just motivating, but also it leaves Deccan with several choices in the team composition, especially when it comes to the middle order. Herschelle Gibbs was missed in the Champions League and his presence this time will boost the team.

VVS Laxman is a crowd favourite in any part of India and his batting is a treat to watch even if it is a T-20 tournament. With Rohit Sharma, Andrew Symonds, Scott Styris and the young brigade of RP Singh, the highest wicket-taker last season, Ryan Harris, Pragyan Ojha as well as T Suman can perform in India too.

Can’t we fancy Deccan as champions again? Well, we could.
Thus the IPL promises to be a thriller and even better than the first two seasons as more players means more excitement and better quality of cricket, which is important.