Former T20 World Champ Pakistan have finally reclaimed some of their lost honor by beating Australia in two T20 matches on consecutive days at Edgbaston, England. These convincing 2020 match wins brought an end a long losing streak for Pakistan which was comprehensively beaten by the Aussies in all formats in 12 consecutive matches played in Australia and West Indies.
Although the T20 matches were played far away from home, they had the look and feel of a home series with a large number of boisterous Pakistani fans in attendance on both days. In the first match on July 5, Pakistan (167/7) beat Australia (144 all-out) by 23 runs. The second encounter the next day had Pakistan (162/9) defeated Australia (151 all-out) by 11 runs.
Pakistan's formidable talent was on full display under Captain Shahid Afridi's confident and able leadership. The team delivered good performance in all departments--batting, bowling and fielding. The biggest contributions came from the youngsters like batsman Umar Akmal and bowler Mohammad Aamer, well supported by Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Kamran Akmal, Umar Gul and Salman Butt. The only disappointment was the newcomer Shahzaib Hasan who opened the innings for Pakistan in both matches. Back after a long gap in international cricket, veteran paceman Shoiab Akhtar did not live up to his fans' expectations either.
Now Pakistanis are going into a test series with Australia with a lot of confidence from the two T20I wins. However, given the significant differences between the two formats, it will be a real test of Pakistanis to repeat their recent stellar performance of the T20 series. Australia are very powerful and disciplined test squad. It will be fascinating to see how Pakistanis deal with them in 5-day matches.
Here's a video clip of the T20 match on July 6, 2010:
Related Links:
Haq's Musings
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
7 comments:
Riaz, whenever Pakistan is involved in a cricket match, how can I know which match is fixed and which one not, given all the scandals? You may argue that IPL is also corrupted, but as a whole players from Indian team which is an amalgam of different states, castes and religion seem to have much more integrity than Pakistani players. Probably Pakistanis(like many other Muslims) ultimately do not understand the concept of nationhood(a concept which had been imposed upon them by West, to be fair) and can be motivated probably only by tribal honors or by the apparent presence of an external religious enemy.
Zen: "whenever Pakistan is involved in a cricket match, how can I know which match is fixed and which one not, given all the scandals?"
I am not sure why you are singling out Pakistanis when the world of professional international sports is filled with scandals of various kinds. The amount of money involved is so large that it has been corrupting players in almost every sport in every nation...some more high profile than others.
Besides, you should not hold these players to a higher standard than the society at large.
Zen: "and can be motivated probably only by tribal honors or by the apparent presence of an external religious enemy."
Sports rivalries between nations exist everywhere, not just India-Pakistan. The Ashes rivalry between England and Australia is a big example. And defeating the almighty and talented Aussies is no mean task. It's definitely worth a celebration.
I've only one thing to say, its T20 for God sakes.
Tests are soon to be followed. That'll,my friend, will be fun.
"I am not sure why you are singling out Pakistanis when the world of professional international sports is filled with scandals of various kinds"
Yes, there has been a corrupt player even in German Bundesliga and IPL is also probably corrupted.
But when it comes to match fixing while playing for national teams, no other countries' players have such shameful record as Pakistanis. There have been some scandals in India a decade ago when Sharjah cup was active, but after that it became very rare.
"Besides, you should not hold these players to a higher standard than the society at large. "
Fair enough, but even in ultra corrupt Africa, their football teams are quite often an oasis of unity, team spirit and honesty, as seen by this soccer WC. These countries got their independence from Europeans around the same time as Pakistan got, but despite high corruption, many of them look like Sweden when compared to Pakistan. So am I wrong in believing that something is so fundamentally wrong in Pakistani soceity that even the prospect of winning major tournaments for their country no longer motivates players?
Zen,
The amount of corruption in Pakistan is atrocious. We talk about islamic sharia law (Pakistanis want more of it), but it looks shameful that every Air Conditioner outside the window is bolted by special locks and chains to prevent their theft. Cell phone stealing has become a national sport.
Pakistanis claim themselves to be very religious, but look at how they live.
we lost to aussies again today. our 13th consecutive defeat in test matches. we are heading for an all time record.
I think we this we are now at the top of hall of shame in cricket where a team lost to another team max consecutive times, before this we were sitting on top jointly with Bangladesh :-)
Our decline is in line with Pakistan's race to the bottom in all fields.
ps: India is ranked #1 in test and #2 in ODI.
Congrats Pakistanis! #Pakistan (174/9 in 19.2 overs) beat #SriLanka (172/7) in 2nd T20 thanks to fireworks by tail-ender Anwar Ali #PakvsSL
Pakistanis were 40 for 5 at one stage, going absolutely nowhere, but Afridi, Anwar and Imad have won it for Pakistan....Lots of short balls and full-tosses that Anwar simply kept sending to the boundary. ... Anwar Ali is a great asset for Pakistan as bowler, fielder and batsman!!!
http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-pakistan-2015/content/story/905537.html
Post a Comment