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Seamer backs himself to adapt well despite batters trying to anticipate his variations

Hemant Brar16-Jun-20220:36

Harshal -‘Playing consistently on pitches like Delhi can hamper your confidence’

India seamer Harshal Patel is not worried that batters have started anticipating his variations. In the first T20I, Rassie van der Dussen had smashed Harshal for three sixes and a four in an over to turn the game around. After the match, van der Dussen had said that post the first two sixes, he knew Harshal would turn to his slower balls.”People have been trying to anticipate for the past two years,” Harshal said on the eve of the fourth T20I against South Africa. “To be very honest, with every bowler, the longer they play, the more the opposition will realise what their strengths are, what the patterns are, and try to adapt to it. But as a bowler, my job is to stay one step ahead of batters.”At the end of the day, you can have 15 different plans, but on a particular day, in a pressure situation, if you don’t go out and execute with confidence, everything doesn’t really fall in place. So my focus has always been on how to read the game better in that particular moment and how to execute the best possible delivery at that point in time.”Related

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Harshal is currently the joint-leading wicket-taker in the series, with six scalps in three games. In the third T20I, the Visakhapatnam pitch was on the slower side, which suited Harshal’s style of bowling, and he duly picked up 4 for 25 in 3.1 overs.”Although there was not a lot of variable bounce or lateral movement from the pitch, it was definitely slow,” he said. “So that allowed us to bowl hard length and slower balls into the pitch. It was difficult to clear the boundary from those lengths.”I would certainly prefer playing on slower pitches because it allows you a bit of fighting chance. If you consistently keep playing on pitches like Delhi, it can hamper your confidence a little bit. We also have world-class spinners in the team, who can bowl well on any pitch, but it does bring them a little more into the game when we have slightly slower pitches and slightly bigger ground dimensions.”From head coach Rahul Dravid to stand-in captain Rishabh Pant, everyone has spoken about how the team has been building towards the T20 World Cup, to be held in Australia in October-November. Harshal said while that is true, they are also focused on winning this series.”To be honest, you cannot play your cricket thinking too much about the future or past. Like everyone has said before as well, the World Cup is at the back of our minds and we are trying to work towards that goal. But at the same time, we are 2-1 behind in the series, so the focus is on how to win the next two games. After that, we are going to Ireland, so things will move towards that direction but at this point, our focus is on how to win this series.”

The allrounder struck smashed 15 fours and 10 sixes, six of them in one over, in his assault

Arun Venugopal15-Dec-2017When Ravindra Jadeja was left out of the ODI squad earlier this year, he slammed a double-century in his first Ranji Trophy innings of the season. Now, with the Sri Lanka limited-overs series ongoing, Jadeja – who has struck three first-class triple-centuries, the most by an Indian – stuck to the destructive pattern and struck six sixes in an over en route to a blistering century on the opening day of the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) inter-district T20 tournament.Jadeja smashed a 69-ball 154 as Jamnagar brushed aside Amreli by 121 runs in their opening game at the Saurashtra Cricket Association ‘B’ ground in Rajkot. The win gave last year’s semi-finalists Jamnagar four points.Opening the batting with Divyaraj Chauhan, who has turned out for Saurashtra in seven first-class matches, Jadeja was dismissed only in the 19th over. In the 15th over, Jadeja launched a brutal assault against offspinner Nilam Vamja and carted six sixes in a row. Vamja ended up conceding 48 in two overs.By the time Jadeja was run out in the 19th over, he had unleashed mayhem to propel Jamnagar’s total to 239 for 6. He scored 120 off his 154 runs in boundaries – 15 fours and 10 sixes. Jadeja’s efforts were supplemented by another Jadeja – Vishwaraj – who struck 39 off 23 balls.The SCA inter-district T20 tournament features 16 teams divided into four groups. Jamnagar play their next game against Botad on Saturday.

“Having been through difficult match situations and close defeats, hopefully we will react better under pressure at this World Cup”

Annesha Ghosh23-Jan-20221:50

Jhulan Goswami: “I hope past experiences help us handle pressure better in this World Cup”

Three appearances in the knockouts in as many world tournaments between 2017 and 2020. Yet, a maiden World Cup title has eluded India, their mental toughness in the face of pressure coming under scrutiny every time. Runners-up last time out, India renew their pursuit of the ODI world crown on March 6 in New Zealand, and their premier quick, Jhulan Goswami, is hoping that the “near-misses” of the past help them respond better in high-pressure fixtures.”This is a very valid point,” Goswami, set to become only the eighth player to feature in five ODI World Cups, told ESPNcricinfo. “If you see the last three World Cups, including the T20 World Cup in the West Indies [in 2018], we had a very good chance. We played good cricket, but the pressure of that semi-final (in 2018) and the final (in the 2017 ODI World Cup and in the T20I equivalent in 2020) is something that cannot be denied.Related

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“It may have played a part in how we performed. It was like a final barrier we were stumbling at every time. Maybe this year we will be able to respond better as a team. Sports is very unpredictable, but hopefully, those near-misses and our preparations leading up to this World Cup will help us react better in big matches.”India’s inability to get out of sticky situations in knockout fixtures had its most pronounced manifestations at the two most recent finals: at Lord’s, where they lost the 2017 50-over World Cup to hosts England by nine runs, and then at the MCG, where wayward bowling and shoddy catching early in the 2020 T20 World Cup final effectively pushed them to a point of no-return against Australia.With record crowds in attendance on both occasions, critics, fans, and casual followers deemed India’s defeats less a reflection of their technical abilities, and more a case of fragility of nerves.”I think people can criticise us. But it’s something we are [still] developing slowly, slowly. Overnight it will not happen, but we are in the process of developing,” Goswami said. “So, whatever experience we’ve gathered in the past – I’ll put it in that way – hopefully, in this tournament we’ll handle in a better way.”I can expect that [kind of approach] from my team-mates. They are mentally very strong. Whenever challenging stuff comes, they take that challenge and take responsibility. So, I am very much hopeful that learning experience is going to help us in this tournament.”New Zealand is traditionally conducive to pace and movement. Seam-bowling talisman Goswami, the highest wicket-taker in the women’s game with 340 strikes and India’s most successful bowler in ODIs in 2021 with 15 wickets, will spearhead an attack that doesn’t have Shikha Pandey, one of the notable absentees in India’s extended 18-player squad for the upcoming bilateral fixtures against the hosts in February and the ODI World Cup that follows.Goswami, 39, had said earlier this month that the bilateral series could help India acclimatise better to “windy conditions” and “fix our errors” ahead of the World Cup. She had also stressed that she appreciated the need for her and her team-mates to not put themselves under undue pressure by overthinking about variables.Instead, the focus, she said, should be on implementing the takeaways from India’s series defeats in 2021 against South Africa (at home) and England and Australia (away).”World Cups come with pressure, expectations, and unpredictable elements – it’s sport, after all,” she said. “But I expect, individually and as a unit, I and we back ourselves to deal with that pressure in a positive way without thinking too much about anything. We must enjoy our cricket because I think that’s very important if we are to express ourselves and our preparedness in a proper manner.”We have been put under very challenging situations [in the recent past]. Though we did not win any of the three series we played last year, they were all very important preparations for us. So, having been through a variety of difficult match situations and close defeats, hopefully, (we) will react better under pressure at this World Cup.”India have been in quarantine since January 16 in Mumbai and are scheduled to leave for New Zealand on January 24. They are expected to serve at least a seven-day hard quarantine upon entering the country, with a very real possibility of being under rigid restrictions, albeit with some relaxations, for much longer.Goswami – “We must enjoy our cricket if we are to express ourselves and our preparedness in a proper manner”•Getty Images

“This [dealing with restrictions because of Covid-19] is not something you can overcome in a day,” Goswami said. “It’s not a cricketing technical part that individually we can go there and bat and bowl [to improve]. It’s a different thing. It’s not easy.”I think worldwide we all are struggling with mental-health issues at this moment. Because of the present situation, sportspersons are having to quarantine, they’re staying in biobubbles, not able to meet your family, friends, staying in hotels, having same food – that’s a challenge. That’s called mental toughness.”Heading into the World Cup, the Indian squad, Goswami suggested, has grown into a more tight-knit group. She attributed that to the players’ participation in a boot camp, understood to be the brain child of head coach Ramesh Powar, during Christmas last year in the cool climes of Dehradun, in northern India.”In my 20 years as an India cricketer, never before had I participated in anything officially known as a boot camp” Goswami said with a smile. “Yes, we may have gone on camps from the National Cricket Academy for a night or so in the past, but this camp – the boot camp – lasted five days, so it was definitely first of its kind.”It was a new and fun experience, especially getting to know each other better, from up close, as team-mates – was refreshing and could be helpful for us in the future. I now know my team-mates a little better than I did before the boot camp because we were put through a kind of challenging situation – living in a tent, in cold weather, with limited resources, and yet no body complained.”Plus, there were tasks devised to help with team bonding and react in pressure situations. I hope this experience helps us in the World Cup because understanding each other as team-mates plays a big role in a team’s performance. We never had this kind of a team bonding exercise or camp, so I’d say it was a good thing to participate in before New Zealand tour and the World Cup.”

However, the Cricket West Indies president was personally quite satisfied by security arrangements in Lahore for the final match of the World XI series

Umar Farooq16-Sep-2017Cricket West Indies president Dave Cameron said it was a “challenge” to convince the West Indies players that it was safe to visit Pakistan. Cameron was on a two-day trip to the country to watch the final T20I of the World XI series, an event which the PCB hopes will convince other nations to send their teams for international tours.”I have enjoyed my two days in Pakistan,” Cameron said in a press conference at Gaddafi Stadium on Friday. “As Najam [Sethi, the PCB chairman] said, we’ve been talking about this for some time and have our own challenges back in the West Indies. We’re only 5 million people, and as you heard there was recently a hurricane passing through our islands as well. But my challenge is to convince the players that it’s safe enough. It’s our duty to help as well. I felt that if I came over here to show that it’s safe enough that would go some way in convincing the players. InshAllah [God-willing] in November, we’ll be here.”This is the second time PCB has approached West Indies to tour, after they refused to travel to Pakistan in March upon receiving security advice from the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA). In the report then, FICA warned that the risk level in Pakistan remained “at an extremely elevated state” and that “an acceptable level of participant security and safety cannot be expected or guaranteed”. It had also discouraged players strongly from travelling to Lahore for the Pakistan Super League final.But things have improved since, as ICC’s chief executive officer David Richardson noted at a press conference on Wednesday. The security arrangements were overseen by international security consultants. The ICC bore the cost of the security advisors and have agreed terms to assist the PCB for every series they host in Pakistan from hereon in.But Cameron also explained that the matter may not necessarily be in his hands, with the board not having the final say over whether its players tour a particular nation. “We’ve had the security team here for the final of the PSL and they’ve seen these matches as well,” he said, when asked if FICA could be convinced. “Here, Pakistan’s board makes decisions [regarding where to tour]. My board’s a little bit different, with the WIPA [West Indies Players Association] also having a big say. We have to respect their decision.”We want to ensure that when the players come over, everyone actually wants to come and enjoy the experience, and we don’t want to be seen to be forcing anyone. We’ve had Darren Sammy here and Samuel Badree and they’ve loved it. Sammy’s on his second trip and I think that will also convince the players that it is safe to come.Cameron also gave the security arrangements in Pakistan a personal vote of confidence. “From what I believe I’m very convinced. The hospitality has been great, and the security has been first-class, and from where I stand right now, everything looks good.”

England’s captain says he “couldn’t be prouder of the boys and all their efforts” following his team’s runners-up finish

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Feb-2022Halfway through the Under-19 World Cup final, England were confident they could still win, despite only having put up 189. Tom Prest, their captain, had the belief that his bowling attack could defend that total.”We’ve bowled really well throughout the tournament,” he said. “We thought if we could take some early wickets, get their middle order in early and really put some pressure on… then Josh Boyden taking a wicket in the first over kind of filled us with confidence.Related

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“But yeah, at half-time I thought we’d done really well to get up to 189 from where we were, [thanks to] James Rew’s effort. It’s not often that you get to play in a World Cup final. That’s enough motivation as it is to scrap for every ball and defend every run as best as we could.”As it turned out, India survived a few hiccups to chase down their target and claim their fifth Under-19 World Cup title. Despite the loss, Prest said England could feel proud of the tournament they played, and for being the first side from his country to reach an Under-19 final since 1998.”It’s obviously pretty tough to take, losing in a final, but we’ve done amazingly just to get here,” Prest said. “It’s taken 24 years to get to a final. I couldn’t be prouder of the boys and all their efforts, right from the group stage. We’ve put in some amazing performances, but unfortunately we couldn’t just do one more.”India seamers Ravi Kumar and Raj Bawa ran through England’s top order to leave them gasping at 61 for 6 and then 91 for 7, but Rew’s innings of 95 and an unbeaten 34 from No. 9 James Sales dragged England to a total of 189. A bit more solidity at the top, Prest suggested, could have led England to a defendable total.James Rew’s 95 dragged England from 91 for 7 to an eventual total of 189•ICC/Getty Images

“The way James Rew and James Sales came in, I think they put on close to a hundred or maybe even just over [93],” he said. “All it would have taken was one more partnership, really, earlier on in our innings, and if we had got to 230 it would have been really interesting.”Prest was proud of the way his bowling unit fought, and kept India on their toes through most of the chase. “I think we actually did really well, restricting the run rate,” he said. “It felt like they were almost digging themselves a hole, really, that first partnership [between Harnoor Singh and Shaik Rasheed for the second wicket]. They chewed up quite a lot of balls – we felt, just a couple of wickets and we were well in the game.”Rasheed obviously played really well, but then we got the key wicket of him and then we got Yash Dhull as well out, fairly soon after. Once we got those two quick ones the game kind of changed, and they had to rebuild again. I felt the bowlers, all of us, we bowled really well, we didn’t bowl much loose balls, and it was backed up in the field as well, with some great fielding.”Asked for his highlight of England’s tournament, Prest picked the tense semi-final win over Afghanistan.”I think that win in the semi-final against Afghanistan, that was an incredible feeling, to get to a World Cup final,” Prest said. “There was a lot of pressure at the back end there, and the bowlers really stepped up, so we did really well to come through that, and yeah, get to play in the final today. That’s probably my highlight.”

“We are not used to catching the pink ball, bowling with the pink ball, and as batters, playing against the pink ball”

Andrew Fidel Fernando11-Mar-20221:56

Bumrah lays out the challenges while moving from red to pink balls

The pink ball. It can come on to you faster. It moves more in the evening than during the daytime. It’s weird to track and catch. Oh, and you’ve also got to change your body clock for day-night games.These are some of the challenges teams face when switching from a standard red-ball day game to a day-night Test, according to Jasprit Bumrah. Ahead of the second Test against Sri Lanka, in Bangalore, India are making these adjustments, he said.”There are mental changes you have to make,” Bumrah said. “Growing up, we haven’t played a lot with the pink ball. We are not used to catching the pink ball, bowling with the pink ball, and as batters, playing against the pink ball. Whatever little games we’ve played we’re trying to get feedback from those games – certain ways the ball behaves under the lights, and how to adjust to you. We’re still very new in this format. We’re playing a pink-ball Test after a long time.”Related

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India have played three day-night Tests so far – in Kolkata, Adelaide and Ahmedabad. They won two and lost one. Sri Lanka too, have won two out of their three day-night Tests (in Dubai, Bridgetown and Brisbane). Although morning sessions are generally the toughest for batters in red-ball cricket, the post-dinner sessions have been more difficult when the pink ball is in use.”As professional cricketers, it is our job to adjust as soon as we can. Sometimes the pink ball reaches you sooner than you expect,” Bumrah said. “The timing is different. In a normal Test match the ball swings more in the morning session. Here maybe the ball won’t do much in the afternoon, but in the evening it could probably swing more. There are many such small pointers.”We haven’t played many day-night matches, and whatever we have done have been in different conditions. We are just trying to work on whatever little we have noticed in our limited experience.”Where the first Test of the series began at 9.30am, this one starts four and a half hours later, meaning cricketers have to be at their peak at a completely different time of the day. The teams did, however, have an extra two days to prepare for this Test, because India won the first match inside three days. Both sides had trained with the pink ball even while they were in Mohali.”Of course the times are different. We practise in the evening. While playing a [red-ball] Test match you practise early morning because the sleep pattern is usually like that. These are adjustments you have to make – you play till late at night, so you have to practice at night. This is part of our journey.”

“A player like him, who has won so many matches, needs only one or two good innings to bounce back”

Nagraj Gollapudi14-Jul-20221:41

Rohit on Kohli’s form: ‘Why is this discussion happening?’

” (Why is this discussion happening. I can’t understand this)”India’s captain Rohit Sharma had a bemused expression just as a journalist started a question on Virat Kohli.Kohli’s form in the last few years has become a national debate, with some ex-players including former India captain Kapil Dev, wondering why the senior India batter could not be dropped. The debate will continue after Kohli once again failed to convert a start in the second ODI at Lord’s on Thursday.Having missed the first ODI due to a groin strain, Kohli took a batting fitness test of sorts on Thursday morning, before giving a firm nod to India coach Rahul Dravid indicating that he was good to play. But Kohli had already been in the news before his return to the eleven. About an hour before the Indian team arrived at Lord’s, the BCCI had announced the squad for the T20I series in the West Indies starting on July 29. It did not specify a reason for Kohli’s omission.Related

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At Lord’s, Kohli walked in to bat in the third over and his first runs came off a straight drive to the boundary. But before that shot, he had played seven dot balls, including a maiden over. Two consecutive fours followed against Reece Topley, but Kohli could not find fluency and ended up pushing away from his body and edging David Willey to the wicketkeeper.When asked if Kohli needed the support of the team during this difficult phase, Rohit said there was no need for a debate in the first place.”He [Kohli] has played so many matches. He is playing for so many years. He is such a great batsman so he does not need reassurance,” Rohit said after the game. “I pointed to this in my last press conference, too: form goes up and down, that is part and parcel of any cricketer’s career. So a player like him, who has played for so many years, who has made so many runs, who has won so many matches, he only needs one or two good innings [to bounce back]. That is my thinking and I am sure all those who follow cricket will think similarly.”This is the second time Rohit has backed Kohli publicly during the white-ball leg of the England tour. Rohit agreed that Kohli was going through a “slump” but said the team management still had firm belief in him.Virat Kohli walks back after nicking behind outside off•AFP via Getty Images

“We do have chats about this topic, but we should also understand and think when we talk about such things. We have seen that the performance of all players goes up and down, but the quality of the player never gets worse. That we all should keep in mind. That is very important. (he has made so many runs), check his average, how many hundreds he has made, he has [vast] experience of doing that. There is a slump in every player’s life. Even in the personal life it comes.”It wasn’t just Rohit, even the England captain Jos Buttler said Kohli was “due” a big innings.”I suppose in a little way it’s quite refreshing for the rest of us that he [Kohli] is human and he can have a couple of low scores as well, but look he has been one of the best players, if not the best player in ODI cricket in the world,” Buttler said.”So he’s been a fantastic player for so many years and all batters, it just proves, go through runs of form where they don’t perform as well as they can do sometimes. But certainly as an opposition captain, you know a player of that class is always due, so you’re hoping that it doesn’t come against us.”Like Rohit, Buttler also wondered why Kohli was facing criticism over his form. “Yeah, incredibly surprised, as I said, his record speaks for himself. The matches he’s won for India and yeah, why would you question that?”

Allrounder anchors innings before contributing to tigerish defence of low total

ECB Reporters Network31-Jul-2021Alice Davidson-Richards helped the Northern Superchargers maintain their winning start to the women’s Hundred with a tigerish defence of 109 in a thriller against Oval Invincibles at Emerald Headingley.Their 109 for 8 looked below par despite a sluggish pitch, with Davidson-Richards top-scoring with 42 off 30 balls having been inserted.She was then brilliant in returning 2 for 17 from 20 balls with her pace-off seamers, defending 10 off the last five as the visitors finished on 105 for 4.A bowler-dominated game went the hosts’ way as they made it three wins from four and consigned the Invincibles to their first defeat in three.The Invincibles only really fell behind during the second half of their chase, and Mady Villiers failed to hit the last ball for six as the Superchargers went top of the table.Alice Capsey, aged 16, bowled her offspinners for the first time in the competition and returned two for nine from 20 balls, having opened the bowling for the visitors.The more recognised offspin of Villiers and seam of Grace Gibbs and Tash Farrant also contributed two wickets apiece for the Invincibles.The Superchargers slipped to 78 for 6 after 75 balls, though Davidson-Richards recovered with five fours.There were no wides or no-balls bowled by the Invincibles.Related

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South African Laura Wolvaardt made 27 off 26 balls, sharing 38 for the third wicket with Davidson-Richards as they advanced from 28 for 2 after 30. Capsey had Wolvaardt caught behind and Bess Heath caught and bowled with the 58th and 60th balls to make it 66 for 4.The teenager then opened the batting in the reply and was dropped on two at mid-on by Heath. Superchargers got the wicket late in the powerplay when Capsey miscued a catch to backward point off Davidson-Richards’ seam for eight to make it 20 for 1 after 22 balls.Georgia Adams hit back-to-back boundaries off Katie Levick shortly afterwards. But when she was caught at long-off against the same bowler for 26, the Superchargers had a sniff at 45 for 2 after 48.Linsey Smith had England’s Fran Wilson caught at mid-off – 65 for 3 after 64 – and Davidson-Richards was miserly as the target became a testing 40 off 30 balls with Sarah Bryce and captain Dane van Niekerk together. That target later became 23 off 10 before van Niekerk hit Smith for three successive boundaries to swing the pendulum.Davidson-Richards, however, had Bryce caught at long-on for an innings high 29 with the penultimate ball to delight the 6,737 crowd. Liz Russell also contributed as she conceded only 14 runs in 20 balls.The Invincibles were missing two of their three overseas players, with Marizanne Kapp and Shabnim Ismail out with injuries.

CSA has announce eight marquee international players to be drafted to the franchises in its new T20 tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Apr-2017Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum and Kevin Pietersen are among the marquee international players who have been signed up by Cricket South Africa (CSA) for its new T20 tournament, scheduled to begin in 2017-18.CSA has announced that the eight players – Gayle, McCullum, Pietersen, Dwayne Bravo, Lasith Malinga, Eoin Morgan, Kieron Pollard and Jason Roy – have agreed to two-year contracts and will go into a mini-draft, with the franchises each bidding to be allocated one. Franchise owners will be asked to consider which cities certain players already have links to before making their picks.”We are thrilled by the calibre of the top eight international players we have lined up to participate in our new T20 League,” CSA chief executive, Haroon Lorgat, said. “They are all stars in their own right and will add great value to the franchise teams they will represent.”This top quality list of players will set a high standard for our tournament. With each one of them [being] a household name in the world of cricket, we can certainly look forward to some enthralling contests that will grip the imagination of fans in South Africa and around the globe.”The high level of interest from players and sponsors to participate in our league is proof of the great attraction of South Africa as a global destination. This is indeed very exciting for the country.”CSA is hoping to completely overhaul its domestic T20 offering, creating a competition similar to the IPL and Big Bash, with private ownership, foreign investment and a roster of international names. The eight franchise teams will also be allocated a marquee South Africa player.The threat of Kolpak departures to England was also behind CSA’s planning for the league, which is expected to run in November-December this year.

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Aug-20171:46

The ups and downs in Umar Akmal’s career

Umar Akmal responded to the PCB’s show-cause notice in a defiant manner, urging the cricket board to form a committee of “well-reputed senior players and government officials” to establish whether Mickey Arthur was guilty of “derogatory remarks” against the player.In a letter that repeated many of the allegations he had made against the Pakistan head coach in a fiery press conference last week, Akmal promised to apologise to Arthur should the proposed committee find him guilty, but also made clear he expected the same from Arthur if the verdict was in his favour. Calling himself a national cricketer who had “produced excellent results for Pakistan”, he said that the law did not allow any person to hurt the feelings and self-respect of another individual. He concluded by expressing full faith in the PCB to resolve the matter efficiently, as it was one “of respect, dignity and pride of Pakistan and its nation”.Akmal was sent home from England after failing two fitness tests leading up to the start of the Champions Trophy – despite initially being included in the squad. Akmal had previously been dropped from a tour of the West Indies in April for similar reasons. He was excluded from that squad after he was the only player, out of 31, to fail the fitness test during a camp held at the National Cricket Academy in March.”He [Arthur] shouldn’t be swearing at me like that, it is like he’s abusing all of Pakistan,” Akmal had complained last week. “You look at any cricket match, and you’ll see he’s swearing at one player or the other. I want to reveal this to the public and to all my fans. I request the [PCB] chairman [Najam Sethi] to take this issue very seriously. When the head coach is allowed to swear at someone whenever they wish, that is unacceptable. As a Pakistani, I could not stomach it.”