Haq's Musings

Riaz Haq writes this data-driven blog to provide information, express his opinions and make comments on many topics. Subjects include personal activities, education, South Asia, South Asian community, regional and international affairs and US politics to financial markets. For investors interested in South Asia, Riaz has another blog called South Asia Investor at http://www.southasiainvestor.com and a YouTube video channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkrIDyFbC9N9evXYb9cA_gQ

Showing posts with label West Indies. Show all posts

Monday, March 23, 2015

Wahab Vs Watson: "Cricket at its Absolute Best"

Ricky Ponting, the legendary captain of the Australian national cricket team, has described Pakistani fast bowler Wahab Riaz's bowling in Pakistan versus Australia quarter final at the ICC World Cup 2015 as "extraordinary spell" and the contest between Wahab and Watson "cricket at its absolute best".

Brian Lara, another great cricketer and ex-captain of the West Indies, has called the decision to fine Wahab Riaz "ridiculous". Lara also offered to pay Wahab's fine.

Wahab's initial six-over spell brought 2 for 24. Then it was a dropped catch off of Wahab's bowling early in the innings that saved Watson from being dismissed at a very low score. Australia stood at 83 for 3 at this point. "(Watson) couldn't do much but survive against Wahab Riaz in that extraordinary spell on Friday night," Ponting wrote in The Australian. "Their contest was cricket at its absolute best. Watto (Shane Watson) didn't want to hook him and Wahab (Raz) was going to make life hell for him if he didn't". Watson made the best of the chance afforded by the dropped catch to score an unbeaten 64 off of 66 balls, taking Australia to victory.

Another critical dropped catch was that of Glenn Maxwell off of Wahab when Australia were at 185 for 4. Maxwell reached an unbeaten 44 to win the match for Australia. Although Pakistan couldn't win the encounter, it did earn a lot of respect for Wahab from Brian Lara who was incensed by the ICC decision to fine Wahab 50% of his match fee. "It's just unbelievable that that's the end result ... both were fined. I don't know what the ICC is thinking. It's just uncalled for. We need this in a sport that people are running away from, especially 50-over cricket. I loved the exchange. It was above board as far as I'm concerned and I can't wait to meet him. I want to meet with [this] Riaz guy. I'll pay the fine."

Wahab Riaz is the latest pacer to come from the land that produced legendary fast bowlers like Fazal Mahmood, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younus and Shoaib Akhtar. Mohammad Irfan, 7 ft 1 in tall fast bowler with the distinction of being the tallest in the history of cricket, could not play against Australia due to injury. The list of the victims of bouncers bowled by Pakistani pacers reads like the Who's Who of international cricket: Sachin Tendulkar, Alan Lamb, Mohinder Amarnath, Lance Cairns, Brian Lara, Shane Watson, Saurav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh.

Pakistani bowlers, particularly Wahab Riaz, bowled their hearts out but they still couldn't make up for their team-mates' poor batting and fielding. The shot selections by Pakistani batsmen were just atrocious and the fielding extremely poor. It's hard for any side, including Pakistan, to win against a well-rounded side like Australia without strong performance in all three departments: Batting, Bowling and Fielding.

Here's a video clip on Wahab's performance:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2k5c0l_wahab-riaz-fight-with-shane-watson-australia-vs-pakistan-highlights-quarterfinal-best-spell_sport

Wahab Riaz fight with Shane Watson Australia vs... by gagan051194

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Pakistan Won 1992 World Cup After Losing to India and West Indies

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Pakistan Breaks Australia's 34-Match Winning Streak

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Saturday, February 21, 2015

Pakistan Won 1992 World Cup After Losing to India and West Indies

Pakistan cricket team has drawn widespread derision after performing miserably in its first two matches of World Cup 2015. Many Pakistanis are understandably very angry at the top batting order that fell like flies to create a new world record of the loss of 4 wickets in the first few minutes of the match against West Indies with the score stuck at 1 run.

While I agree with much of the criticism of the Pakistan cricket team for its poor performance seen so far, I do think the hysteria is unnecessary. All we have to do is to look at the history of Pakistan's performance in the 1992 World Cup which Pakistan won.

Like the 2015 World Cup, the 1992 Cricket World Cup was hosted by Australia and New Zealand. Before going on to win the1992 World Cup, Pakistan lost badly to three teams: India, West Indies and South Africa. Here are the scores from these matches:

Pakistan (173 runs) lost to India (216/7) by 43 runs.

Pakistan (220/2) lost to West Indies (220/0) by 10 wickets.

Pakistan (173/8) lost to South Africa (211/7) by 38 runs.

Pakistan were bowled out by England for a meager 74 runs. Had luck not favored the Pakistanis with rain in England-Pakistan match, the "talented" 1992 players like Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Javed Miandad would not have gone on to win the 1992 World Cup. Instead, they would have returned home defeated.

1992 World Cup Points Table Source: Wikipedia

Pakistan side remains as talented and resilient but unpredictable as ever. While the start of the 2015 World Cup is terrible for Pakistan's national team, it's too early to write them off. Let's hope Pakistan can still repeat the 1992 performance yet again.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Resurgent Pakistan Roar in to WC Semifinal

Pakistan cricket team gave a very special gift to their nation on Pakistan Day today; it thrashed West Indies to roar into the World Cup Semifinal to be played at Mohali, India on Wednesday March 30 against the winner of Australia-India quarterfinal match tomorrow in Ahmedabad.

By pleasant coincidence, the venue for the Pakistan Day victory of Afridi's team was Shere Bangla stadium, named after Shere Bengal Maulvi A.K Fazlul Haque who introduced the Pakistan Resolution on March 23, 1940 in Lahore that led to the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Bangladeshi spectators in Dhaka made the Pakistani team feel at home by loudly cheering them on during the entire match.

Skipper Shahid Afridi led Pakistan's devastating spin attack to bowl West Indies out for a paltry total of 112. The opening partnership of Mohammad Hafeez and Kamran Akmal did the rest by scoring 113 without losing any wickets.

Pakistan spinners Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal each took two wickets in an over to bowl out the Windies for 112. Afridi claimed 4-30 to reach 21 wickets in the tournament with only Shivnarine Chanderpaul resisting with 44 not out.
Pakistan reached the modest target with 175 balls left, man-of-the-match Hafeez (61) with 10 fours and opening partner Kamran Akmal firing seven fours in 47.

Coming on the heels of a historic win over unbeaten Australia last Saturday, this victory has helped boost the confidence of Pakistani team and its committed fans back home. I hope these back-to-back victories over Australia and the West Indies propel Pakistan to win the next two matches to lift the Cricket World Cup in 2011.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Pakistan Breaks Australia's 34-Match Winning Streak

Pakistan Punish Aussie 2-0 in T20 Series

Afridi's Leadership

Pakistan In, India Out of T20 Semis

Pakistan Beat India in South Africa

Kiwis Dash Pakistan's ICC Championship Hopes

Pakistan Crowned World T20 Champs

Pakistan's Aisamul Haq Beats Tennis Great Roger Federer

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Pakistan In, India Out of the T20 Semis

Call it sheer luck. Or unexpected reward for the final desperate bid to stay. The bottom line is that defending champions Pakistan have squeaked through to the semifinals after defeating South Africa in the T20 Super 8 group E match at the Caribbean island of St. Lucia yesterday.

Earlier loss to New Zealand by a single run on the last ball of the Super 8 match may have helped Pakistan in achieving a better net run rate than New Zealand overall. But what finally did it was the expected defeat of the Kiwis at the hands of the English team. If the Kiwis had won against England and collected two points, Pakistan would have been packing up to return home today. Australia and England, both unbeaten so far, remain at top the groups E and F.

India were knocked out of the semis today after losing to the Sri Lankan team in a thrilling contest which the Lankans won by a massive six hit by CK Kapugedera on the last ball of the match. The Indians put up a brave fight but it was just not enough to go through to the semifinals this year. Sri Lankans now move on to the semis after the host team West Indies lost to Australia in the final group F match.

Pakistan made a bad start against Proteas with their top batting order falling quickly, but Umar Akmal's brilliant knock of 51 runs with four sixes helped them in putting up a respectable total of 148 runs for 7. Umar was well supported by his brother Kamran and skipper Afridi who batted well against spin bowlers in building up the score in the second half of Pakistan's innings. Pakistan's superior spin bowling attack and much improved fielding allowed them to defend a fairly unimpressive total by dismissing South Africa 11 runs short at 137 for 7 in 20 overs.

Pakistanis will now face the formidable Aussies in the first T20 semifinal on Friday. Australian appear to be the favorites to snatch the title from defending champions Pakistan. Being one of the most talented but unpredictable sides, it is quite possible that Pakistanis will succeed in retaining the T20 world championship.

Here are the video highlights of Pakistan-South Africa Group E match: