Azhar Ali: Crucified before the battle
With the proverbial arm band not yet on, the number 79 jersey still folded neatly, Azhar faces a serious predicament.
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You know things are bad when you are crucified for something you haven't even done yet.
That's the predicament Pakistan's new ODI captain Azhar Ali is faced with; the proverbial arm band not yet on, the number 79 jersey still folded neatly in the closet.
For many, the criticism of Azhar by experts and fans is a continuation of the scorn heaped on outgoing skipper Misbah-ul-Haq. For the past five years the 40-year-old received more flak than all of his predecessors combined and it was so intense that it has naturally been transferred onto the unassuming Azhar.
Have we hit a new low as a cricketing nation?
The main talking point is the 30-year-old's strike rate. Despite an average of 41 in both Tests and ODIs, his strike rate of 39.56 in Tests and 64.84 in ODIs makes for dismal reading. He has scored runs; the problem is in the manner in which he has scored them. Remind you of anyone?
I don't think anyone has a problem with Azhar's elevation as vice-captain of the Test team. He is among the leading run scorers for Pakistan in the longest format of the game in the five years since his debut. Besides Younis Khan, no one has scored more Test centuries for Pakistan than Azhar Ali in that time period.
He had been earmarked to captain Pakistan in Tests for a long while now and it only makes sense that he is the appointed deputy as Misbah's career winds down.
But as Pakistan's new ODI captain his critics seem to have three major issues:
He has not played ODI cricket for two years
He was not part of the World Cup squad
His strike rate is not good enough
Let us focus a bit on why Azhar was appointed captain of Pakistan's ODI team.
"I know he hasn't played ODI cricket for 2 years. But in the Pentangular Cup he was very impressive. His batting and captaincy were both impressive and we felt he was the best man for the job," Shaharyar Khan said during his press conference when he announced Pakistan's new ODI captain.
The PCB has been giving a lot of weight to the Pentangular One Day Cup that was held during the first two weeks of January. Rightly so, considering that the country's leading 75 cricketers compete in that tournament; therefore the best 15 should represent the national team. That makes sense, doesn't it? Do people remember Azhar's performance in that Pentangular Cup though?
Not only was Azhar the leading run-scorer in the tournament, he also led the Balochistan Warriors to the final, rousing the interest of the PCB.
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"I am aware that my strike rate is not good. I have worked on this problem and have improved it in domestic cricket. Insha'Allah, I will be able to do the same in international cricket and results will be for all to see, " Azhar said upon his appointment the new captain.
There is a trait that everyone looks for in a captain. The ability to own up to faults and take criticism head on. Azhar's confident response to the criticism so far shows that he is aware of what needs to be done, that he he means business.
His performance in the Pentangular Cup coupled with his performance in the President's Gold One Day Cup (234 runs in 4 innings at an average of 58.5 and a strike rate of 87) demonstrated that the level-headed batsman has worked tremendously hard in improving the fluency of his knocks.
Azhar is fairly senior given that he has been around with the Pakistan Test team for half a decade now. He is well respected in the dressing room. The senior statesmen Misbah and Younis Khan speak very highly of him. Waqar Younis, reportedly, also backed his appointment.
What more does one need in a captain? Don't we all want a stable, confident, and self-critical person? If Azhar was always the best choice to take over the Test team, does it not make sense to make him the leader of the the ODI team as well? Is it fair that we are passing judgment before he has even taken the team on the field?
Only time will tell whether he can live up to the billing of Pakistan's next international captain, but till then I believe it is only fair that we give the man a chance.
We must also realise that he would be under already be under the cosh when he walks out to lead the team in greens; such is the pressure we have put on him.
Azhar has the confidence of the board. He has the confidence of the team management. More importantly, he has the confidence of his own players.
Its time he got the confidence of the public as well.
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Umair Qazi is the founder of wellpitched.com, co-founder of the popular facebook group 'Boys in Green', and he tweets @wellpitched
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Comments (56) Closed
Apr 03, 2015 03:36pm
So azhar ali is chosen as THE captain because he performed well in a tournament where nasir jamshed was THE best batsman....LMAO..... PCB is a bigger joke than I thought it was.
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Apr 03, 2015 03:38pm
absolutely well written "Azhar has the confidence of the board. He has the confidence of the team management. More importantly, he has the confidence of his own players.
Its time he got the confidence of the public as well." ...
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Apr 03, 2015 03:40pm
I think every writer of sports should learn from this article that how to write a peace with evidence. We need a cool and stable person like Azhar Ali not the so called big hitters who out before 40 overs.
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Apr 03, 2015 03:42pm
Another "Inshallah" man.
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Apr 03, 2015 03:42pm
Another article which ignores the most important facet of the Azhar argument: the drought of shots. I suppose it takes more than the average cricketing knowledge to see through the avg/SR stuff and know the real limits of a batsman. No amount of strike rate analysis or being ‘backed by seniors’ is going to change the fact that if he is shotless, he is going to change Pakistan’s batting dynamics for the worse. We’ve seen it happen with Misbah, we will see it again.
If Azhar develops ODI shots and finds the right temperament, fine, in fact great (no reason to hope this will actually happen). But until he doesn’t, all this talk of stability and calmness and confidence is only to fool ourselves…yet again.
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Apr 03, 2015 03:42pm
Good analyses...time has to be given...criticising everything for the sake of criticism is no good...those saying he wasn't even in the ODI squad know nothing about cricket...If two players of similar style (Misbah and Younus) were already in the team then why another one? If Younus didn't get much chance to play then how would Azhar have? There is something called 'right balance'. It's like asking have three Afridis in the team...and we know how one did.
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Apr 03, 2015 03:52pm
Their is no sense of professionalism when it comes to leading a cricket nation of 190M. To suggest tht 'inshallah' he may improve his strike rate in future ODIs does not define credibility for capataincy. You have to prove credibility b4 u take up the captaincy.
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Apr 03, 2015 03:53pm
@Umair Qazi: I've not read your full article but if you think he is the man then why he was not even selected in WC15??
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Apr 03, 2015 03:57pm
In short he is a carbon copy of Misbha.Just make the bosses happy and keep the captaincy
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Apr 03, 2015 03:57pm
Spot on!
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Apr 03, 2015 04:01pm
A defense based on his performance in the Pentangular Cup, in which Nasir Jamshed averaged of 70.5 at a strike rate of 101.8, and Asad Shafiq averaged 68 at a strike rate of 91.27 ?
To me that's more like a verdict on the quality of the bowling in the tournament than an indication of the improvement in Azhar Ali's batting.
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Apr 03, 2015 04:10pm
I am rather amused to see Nasir Jamshed as the second highest scorer of Pentangular cup and that too in one less match. I might not be against Azhar'z appointment as captain, but with due respect cracks in your argument are too visible to be ignored.
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Apr 03, 2015 04:39pm
Excellent - To the point - Article ! Well justified Umair Qazi !
Azhar has got the confidence, responsibility, maturity, talent and the leadership, he now only needs the support from the public.
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Apr 03, 2015 04:42pm
Do these selectors have any brains. Misbah was criticized for being defensive and they have chosen another captain like him. Repeating the same mistake twice is called what? Guess.
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Apr 03, 2015 04:43pm
Pakistan need a captain who is aggressive who is attacker , azhar ali is good option to include as an middle order, but not for a captain, otherwise it will continue misbah's approach... For the sake of the future of Pakistan Cricket, PCB really need to think instead of eating "Kajoo" .....
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Apr 03, 2015 04:58pm
Only because Fawad Alam has played 2 matches less than Ali. in 3 Pentangular cup matches Fawad has scored 62, 90* and 6 with a whooping strike rate of 116 and 79 average. That would put him on top of the list very easily.
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Apr 03, 2015 05:31pm
I think misbah should be back as one day captain , he is still in form and the best captain
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Apr 03, 2015 05:39pm
PCB is definitely amongst the worst sports bodies around, and without any accountability...just look at the squad selection for the BD tour
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Apr 03, 2015 05:42pm
regardless of this little pentangular cup leading run scorer chart, Azhar has performed very well in test cricket! Evident by the batting performances of last 5 years, Pakistan doesn't need another shahid afridi, Pakistan wouldn't be so bad with another Misbah.
Undue criticism, when you haven't even seen the guy in the role. How many chances were given to the likes of shehzad, akmals, Younis Khan, Afridi...come on folks, keep calm and watch some cricket. No Massiha is gona come and fix everything in one day!
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Apr 03, 2015 06:14pm
@Tabernacle Who would you have selected as captain?
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Apr 03, 2015 06:16pm
captaining a side in a domestic match where most of the players under you are not even regular members of your national ODI side is a different ball game altogether from captaining your national side where players have been the part of it for quite some time such as Ahmed Shahzad and Umar Akmal. i am sure the decision didn't go down well with both Shahzad and Akmal and few others aswell since they would feel that Azhar has hardly been part of the ODI side and this has been the case with Pakistan cricket for a long time. we are not tolerant we are not accepting and this has always created controversies. i reckon Wahab could have been a better choice since he is aggressive and been part of the team and it seems he gels really well with other regular members of the team aswell. the only good thing with Azhar is that he has played good amount of test cricket that would bring some stability to the already fragile Pakistani batting
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Apr 03, 2015 06:48pm
@RATHOREW I wholeheartedly agree with the 'plan' suggested over here: www.dawn.com/news/1172833/what-pakistanis-think-about-azhar-ali-as-their-new-odi-captain (esp its Azhar Ali section). Ironically, Umair Qazi is the co-founder of the group BiG. His views must differ from the rest of the group.
In any case, I am strictly against what most fans are doing right now:
Day 1-Call for batting overhauls and modern strokemakers after a dismal tournament.
Day 2-Forget Day 1, shut your eyes in denial and stack up 'inshallahs' in favour of whatever new 1980s specimen the PCB appoints as captain.
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Apr 03, 2015 06:54pm
Nice try Umair Qazi! Number game is always interesting. As the old saying goes, if your head is in the fire and your feet are in the snow, by the laws of average, you are doing just fine. The same thing goes for Azhar Ali also. You have worked hard to justify Azhar Ali’s captaincy of the ODI team based upon recent domestic performances but you ignored some very basic facts. If he was so good, balanced, and mature player for ODIs then why did the PCB and Misbah not select him to the ODI teams in the last 2 years? Why was he not chosen for the World CUP ODI team? How can the PCB appoint a man as the captain who has played only 14 ODI matches at the international level? These are the questions that are begging for answers. Playing at the Pentangular Cup and at the world stage are 2 different things as Nasir Jamshed has proved to us. I wish Azhar Ali the best as ODI captain. He has to lead from the front and by example to win the hearts and trust of the public. Let’s see how aggressive and dashing a player his is and how much he rotates the strike when batting.
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Apr 03, 2015 07:50pm
Interesting POV re Pakistan's new ODI Captain Azhar Ali. Pakistanis are passionate about our national game of cricket, and in the end the choice needs to be outcome and performance based. We hope PCB Chairman Shaharyar Khan is basing his selection on more then just Azhar's Pentangular One Day performance.
IMO, two areas in Azhar's track record need to be considered:
1) How did Azhar Ali perform in international matches prior to WC 2015? Ie, in UAE and in New Zealand, both international level cricket matches - far more rigorous and put more pressure on players vs a Pentangular ?
2) If Azhar Ali wasn't selected for any of these international matches pre WC 2015, then he and the PCB will need to focus on improving his training and leadership skills including staying cool under immense pressure. This upward performance trajectory could be doable for Azhar, as was the case with Wahab Riaz who worked very hard on his bowling skills, and well the rest is history : )
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Apr 03, 2015 07:54pm
As far as batting is concerned we need who can score even st low strike rate. Just see how many times we completed 50 overs in recent past.
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Apr 03, 2015 07:55pm
I don't know why I think Fawad alam should've been considered for the captain that guy has something in him he can be a good captain
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Apr 03, 2015 08:31pm
Give him a chance and don't heap a lot of pressure on him. We can't be critical. Apart from Misbah I ave not seen anybody who has calmness to lead a side. It won't be long before we regret that we do not have him as a captain. The other option would have been is to identify someone from under 19 team with leadership skills. Haven given the captaincy to Azhar, he needs to be put through some training / coaching on leadership skills just as commercial,organisations do.
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Apr 03, 2015 08:46pm
k i have been watchin cricket for a long time but pakistan nation is flashy but trust me the gritty and ugly runs are more value than flash 10s 20s example umar akmal i support azhar ali coz i know he is gritty and passionate abt the game we should back him as fans
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Apr 03, 2015 08:46pm
please guys give azhar a chance. stop criticising and give him and our team full support. sending positive vibes will give them a positive feeling.
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Apr 03, 2015 08:57pm
Perfect Analysis, Azhar has a Parchi what can Shhryar Khan do? Good luck Pakistan.
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Apr 03, 2015 08:58pm
And most important of all Azhar has the confidence of Lahore or rather all of Punjab, which is important in national cricket :)
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Apr 03, 2015 09:08pm
Misbah and Waqar are responsible for the mess Pak team is in the first place. Their suggestions must be avoided.
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Apr 03, 2015 09:14pm
Azhar Is a mature guy. The people will trust him once he performs.
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Apr 03, 2015 09:51pm
The criticism to select a non active ODI player as skipper is well directed at PCB... based on writer's analogy and the chart shown to justify Azhar captaincy Nasir Jamshed is a better candidate for the job as he scored equal amount of runs with a better strike rate in less games than played by Azhar. Go figure...
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Apr 03, 2015 11:14pm
Do we want another Tuk Tuk captain?
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Apr 03, 2015 11:18pm
He is the captain now and has our support. But not for long. Pakistani public is not only cricket crazy but also cricket literate. Azhar needs to bat close to run a ball and develop the ability to take wickets through his bowlers and win games. Otherwise I see us at 7 for a long time.
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Apr 03, 2015 11:19pm
Azhar has maturity, cool temperament, leadership and vision etc. The only thing he does not have is cricketing sense in him. But that is ok. We are already used to it by virtue of Misbah
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Apr 03, 2015 11:28pm
Lets look at the successful ODI captains: Steve Waugh, Ponting, Dhoni, Clarke...all aggressive batsmen...Azhat Ali is in Dravid mode...n at best can best be an average captain
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Apr 04, 2015 12:11am
@Karachi Dude
What "confidence of Lahore ". We're all Pakistanis first.
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Apr 04, 2015 12:28am
The strike rate of shahid afridi is very good, what was his performance in the world cup. We need dependable plplayer notthe one with high strike rate
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Apr 04, 2015 12:39am
No doubt Pakistan has talent but we have only talent and our players donot work to make use of it But i have seen a talent and hard work in Azhar Ali so he is the right choice i guess..
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Apr 04, 2015 01:27am
According to the basis of Azhar Ali selection in the team, Nasir Jamshed should have been pick ahead of him with the highest pantangular series average of 72. I believe on seaming bouncy wickets of Australia Azhar would not have survived either. Sorry to say standard of Pakistan domestic is so bad that the players get exposed when they play outside sub continent
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Apr 04, 2015 01:59am
@Khan
I feel this Fawad Alam guy should migrate to Australia, South Africa or maybe even to England. I guess he will prove his worth their and get a fair treatment in any of those countries with a fair system of selection.
I really feel sorry for the guy.
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Apr 04, 2015 06:03am
Importantly he is from Lahore. PCB is located at Lahore and we want lahori to lead.
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Apr 04, 2015 06:09am
@Haider Rehman
People of Karachi are the child of people who made Pakistan, please do not tell first Pakistan
so why is the QUOTA system in Pakistan constitution?
Why Fawad Alam was not selected for world cup regardless of his wonderful performance in domestic and international cricket in 2014. Ex Cricket legend and politician Imran Khan even said any statement for backing Fawad Alam. But he did for Younis Khan.
Sarfraz Ahmed was excluded for three one days but no questioned was asked or impeachment to waqar & misbah but Moin Khan was sacked only.
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Apr 04, 2015 07:03am
I think most of the people oppose him,because, Waqar supported him. Well, I wish him all the best and hope he can make a good team. Good Luck Azhar
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Apr 04, 2015 07:44am
interesting stats. since nasir jamshed scored all of 5 runs in 3 international ODIs in the recently held world cup, we get an idea of azhar ali's calibre. he will definitely score 7 or even 10 runs in 3 ODIs. that is almost 100% improved performance. good job PCB.
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Apr 04, 2015 08:15am
if u want good captain..public need to give support also..its important..u cannot judge first..wait for few series n then judge..
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Apr 04, 2015 09:41am
Does somebody remember Imran Khan Junior who bowled decently against the Aussies in UAE. I don't know what sin he has committed that he has been ignored altogether and the likes of Sohail and Adil have been preferred over him. I am clueless.
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Apr 04, 2015 10:07am
I feel we should give the man a chance after all these are the same criticisms stacked against Misbah when he was appointed captain
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Apr 04, 2015 12:17pm
I still wonder who appointed Azher Ali as ODI captain ! I think the most powerful person (WY) in PCB, made this announcement in Australia at the end of WC-2015 and it was supported by Misbah, too. He needs a person like Misbah to follow his dictates , Azher Ali was never considered for the WC and picking him as the captain is some thing strange!
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Apr 04, 2015 12:43pm
Too many judgemental comments. I would rather wait and see the performance of new captain in next 10-20 matches. Domestic performance do count. Its better giving chance to person who have some track record at domestic level than having none. Axing Akmal and Shehzad looks to be good decision. Both lake temperament and have played mindless shots on number of occassions in WC. Hope the board is choosing right combination.
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Apr 04, 2015 04:00pm
Just 2nd to Azhar Ali was Nasir Jamshed in the run scoring chart, period.
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Apr 05, 2015 03:40am
If PCB foloows three golden rule of cricket the standard will rise.
1. One player shopuld not be selected for all three formats. A better fileder gets preference if two or more players have the same average and strike rate in ODI cricket.
2. Any player fails twice in a row he is out till he can justifuy his selection by his perfromance in domestic cricket.
3. 2 x opening batsmen 3 x middle order batemen, 1 x Wicket-keeper, 1 x All-rounder [minimum] 4 x bowlers [spin and pace mix depending on pitch]
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Apr 05, 2015 07:00pm
If our team play as strong unit it doesn't matter who is captain. If Azhar Ali has the required leadership qualities than his selection is right. However, based on U19 record it seems Sarfraz Ahmed is the only one who has the required leadership qualities to captain Pakistan. Still there is nothing wrong in trying Azhar Ali. Keep in mind when Imran Khan was recommended for captaining Pakistan in 1981-82 he was not even considered to be captain material since Majid and Zaheer were senior most and in those days it was unheard of having strike bowler as captain i.e. Nation was not in favor of naming Imran as captain. Bottom line is, leadership is the key and that's what made the difference when Imran took over. So the question for us is: What makes Good Leader? And what makes Good Follower? writer should consider writing on these subject also.
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Apr 09, 2015 09:48am
fair enough. we should give him a chance. what else can we do?
the real question is not "why him" but where was Mr Waqar younis sahib when w/c squad was being picked or replacement for junaid khan was being sent for? why didn't head coach who now is backing Azhar Ali fought for his inclusion in the w/c? if a man not deemed fit for the most important tournament of the sport by the head coach, then head coach's recommendations now have no weight.
waqar younis along with his cronies should be sacked. the man to take pak team forward is Aqib javed. he was after all the U19 w/c winner who's captain was ironically keeper and vice captain incumbent Sarfaz Ahmed!!
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