Twinty20 World Cup 2007

By Shariq M. Qureshi

20th September: Three Matches played in South Africa in twenty 20 tournament, out of which two were very important to know which teams will go through to the Semi-finals, Aussies were the first to take on Sri Lanka, The first decider of the day, winner shall move on to the next round of semis, Aussies won the toss and put Sri Lanka in to bat, and right from the very first over Bret Lee claimed the huge wicket of Jaysuriya, Sanath Jaysuriya failed once again to rescue his country, and no other batter following him could get Sri Lanka out of woods, they all perished for a pathetic 101 all-out, Aussies did mean it a seroius business, after having restricted Sri Lanka to a miserable 101 all-out, their opening Pair got the job done for them, winning it comfortably with 10 wickets, in just eleventh over.

Second Match between Pakistan and Bangladesh, the outcome totally insignificant, as Pakistan had alredy qualified for the Semi-final, one would expect Pakistan to be doing against Bangladesh, what Australia did to Sri Lanka, as they would be playing the game absolutely without any pressure. But, Pakistan after winning the toss electing to field first, looked already a bit strange decision of Malik, as if he was not trusting his bowlers, where as batting first would have been a better decision, to let your Batsmen have a go against some easy bowling, as the opening has been sloppy, throughout this tournament. Perhaps, Malik thought of sending Bangladesh back home on an earlier flight, by dreaming of getting them all out in may be ten overs or less, and chase the target in 5 overs. Not to be, This Match looked like if Pakistan is playing deleberately to lose, or as if they were in a benefit Match, they certainly didn't look the team, which had just two days back ratteled the Australians, Asif throwing wides, the fielders not concentrating on the Game, Pakistan though won the Game finally, but if thet go into next games with this kind of the decipline, they can start booking their Flights for Saturday evening.

Third and the last Match of Super eight. Infact, all important match, because this match's outcome would decide the fate of three teams, out of which two teams in the group, S. Africa Kiwis or India two shall play in the semis. South Africa who haven't lost a game in the tournament looked pretty solid to knock down India, and move on to Play semi-final, but the way Indians came back in this game after having lost some early wickets, the Captain Dhoni produced a Match winning Partnership with a new comer Rohit Sharma, South Africa likewise Pakistan didn't play the way they usually play, some drop catches and absolutely sub standard fielding, did dent them heavely, so much so that they lost the game, despite all the other measures they took to win, like preparing a Pitch suiteable to their bowlers, having the greate Home Crowd support, they just didn't capitalise on that all, or perhaps had taken India not seriously enough. India on the other hand put 153 on the board to defend, started very poorly with Sreesanth giving away 11 runs in the first over. It was RP Singh commenced on the other end sent Gibbs and the South African Skipper Smith home in his first over, what can be described as the turning point in this Match.

Now, Pak vs NZ and Aus vs Ind. shall be playing in the semis. On paper Pakistan are capable enough to beat New Zealand, and there should be no douts in anybodiy's mind to suspect Aussies, and undermine their ability of getting undone by India. And then in the Final they would avenge Pakistan, for what they did to them in super 8 round.

But cricket is a funny game, especially in a twenty 20 game its the team that plays with decipline, and have stronger nerves, to withstand the pressure.

Do you believe Australian will prove the world that they are unbeatable, or perhaps Pakistan will repeat their performance of super 8 round against them, once more and take the trophy Home. Another posibility is that India eliminating Aussies and allow Pakistan to for the first time win against India in a major tournament, or will it be Kiwis fighting Indians to take the Trophy home.

Have your say, feel free to express yourself, and let's see whose predictions will prove right.

Pakistan's Cricket future after twenty20 Tournament

By Shariq M. Qureshi



By winning over Australia on the 18th of September, and the match a day before on the 17th of September against Sri Lanka, Pakistan has certainly put the lid on many mouths, which have only been criticizing PCB for appointing Malik as the skipper, and in general were very sceptic of Pakistan’s Cricket team. But, since Pakistan’s victory on 18th Sep. they are the first to have secured a place for the semi-finals, where as, all other teams are still struggling to get there, Pakistan was the team, which was not even been considered, to have reached the Quarter-finals, have certainly surprised every body.

The confidence they have gained after beating two strong opponents in a row, should they carry on, till the very end. Their Morale is certainly high, after having won against two good opponents, Keeping this momentum going, and try to lift the trophy. They should not be carried away after their superb performance against Aussies, as it has been some kind of a legacy of Pakistan's Cricket History. The Game against Bangladesh should not be taken easy. Malik should be telling his troops to hold their nerves, and erase immediately, any mishaps happen to anybody, from their minds. Especially key players like Mohammad Asif should learn to do that, and perhaps learn it from new comer Sohail Tanveer, who may look a bit rough, just arriving on international scene, with a unique bowling action, but his looks tell you that he is very determined. Asif looked dejected against Aussies, his bowling was not up to the mark, he perhaps has still been caught-up in that over of his against Sri Lanka, in which he got hit for some twenty odd runs, he can be the main difference in the games coming up next, he should remember that it can happen to any bowler, get hitted out of Park, like Yuvraj hit 6 X 6 in one over against England, he can together with rest of his team and captain give Pakistan the nicest gift on this Eid-ul-Fitr.

The biggest concern would still be Salman Butt, especially his appointment as the Vice-captain, he should be first securing his position in the true 11, PCB must be looking in closely to his performance as an opener and especially him carrying as Vice-captain, as the whole nation is looking at him too. The opening is another issue needs to be dealt with, ever since Saeed Anwar and Amer Sohail have left Pakistan cricket scene, the opening has been the biggest issue, and then in all formats of the game, whether it be test matches or 20/20, more then a dozen players have been tried and tried again and again, many pair combinations were put together, but until now all efforts have proved fruit less. This has cost Pakistan dearly, in the past, and this trend is still very much persistent, so the matter needs to be looked in seriously, may be the best solution would be, Malik himself promoting as an opener together with Younis Khan or Imran Nazir, and let Younis comming one down, middle order has always been the back bone of Pakistan's Batting, what still looks pretty much sound with likes of Hafeez coming down the order, the immaculate Misbah should be followed by Afridi, Kamran Akmal can prove handy later down the order.

Pakistan’s main strength bowling, looks in safe hands again, in the form of Swing King Mohammad Asif, and dashing Umar Gul supporting him nicely, the new find, rough Sohail Tanveer, needs a bit of polishing, though he has got the basics right, natural swing and a perfect Yorker in his arsenal, a deadly Look and determination in his eyes, what makes a fast bowler a fast bowler. Perhaps Mr. Lawson the Pakistani Coach can smooth-up his line a bit, to fine tune his bowling, I guess, the rest he’s got in control.

Wicket-Keeping is not always been as smooth as you’d expect from a keeper at this highest level, Kamran Akmal missed a certain stumping chance, against Australia, he has this problem for quite some time now, not collecting the ball nicely, in the series against India at home last summer and on South African Tour, Pakistan lost games because of his blunders, so maybe it is about time, another wicket-keeper to be given a chance.

Fielding has certainly improved, since they played last, they need to carry on with it, you saw some good catches were taken, Afridi’s direct through on to the stumps, running out Clark, needs to be repeated and copied by others.

Middle order batting, missing Mohammad Yousuf and Inzi, especially Misbah-ul-haq’s replacement with Mohammad Yousuf, has faced lots of criticism, and has raised many eye brows. But after looking at the performance of Misbah ul haq, he certainly has proved his critics wrong, Misbah delivering in every innings he has played in the tournament, Misbah who came back after a long break, and was criticized for being replaced with Yousuf, must be under tremendous pressure, at least twice in this tournament, he came to the crease in some crises situations, as it has been a growing concern for Pakistan in all forms of Cricket, a chronicle problem that the opening doesn’t seems to click any more, especially the last two games, in a crunch situation he together with Skipper Malik saw Pakistan through to victory. Misbah replacing Yousuf, who is the top scorer until now not only for Pakistan but in this twenty 20 2007 tournament and by hitting the biggest six has earned even more respect by every cricket spectator around the globe.

By looking at this Pakistani side, which is first to have qualified and waiting for others to join them in the semi-final group, seems to be the hottest favourite together with South Africa to play the final, who also have been playing aggressive cricket through-out this 20/20, these two teams seems to have eliminated chances of giants like Australia and Sri Lanka, and hotter favourite England, not to forget Kiwis in their black outfit under the leadership of Vittori can paint your day black as well, the New Zealanders, these Men in Black are certainy one of the contenders looking very determined to take this trophy home as well.

So this tournament is still very much open, too early to make any statement, as to who’d win the final, I’d say only the team that holds their nerves, and play positively and aggressively, do not give too many extras, and the Batsmen able to hit big sixes, at the moment Pakistan’s Misbah is on top with 111 m, let’s see who breaks his record, and whether it be a Batsman or a bowler helping his team to the victory stand.

If Pakistan wins 20/20 trophy! What we all now, very much hope, since win over Aussies, what would the Pakistan’s cricket future be like? in your opinion! The rested Mohammad Yousuf who has scored highest number of runs in last season, with nine hundreds in it, is the highest for any Batsman in the world ever, winning the cricketer of the year award 2007, he must be feeling let down by the PCB and perhaps not very happy with Shoaib Malik too. Inzi the highest run taker for Pakistan out of scene sine the humiliation this summer in the Caribbean, star Speedster Shoaid Akhter, or better said scandalous running machine Shoaib Akhter has not humiliated himself but his Nation as well, what for him is becoming an habit, as it is not for the first time he’s done so, he may have Captaincy aspirations, but to act as one, and becoming Pakistan's Captain, he has to go a long way forward, and I’m afraid he hasn’t got much time left to learn that all.

PCB should be having a final word with Express bowler, as to his behaviour towards the team members and his approach towards the game, he looks pathetic in his artificially grown muscles, shoulder long hair with baldness arriving on his skull, should slowly be trying to behave like a grown-up one.

The ageing Inzi should have realized long before, that he is not functioning as a captain and should have rather concentrated more on his batting and his growing belly, which makes him even slower on the field, most importantly hurdling while running between the wickets, its important to be fit. Mohammad Yousuf should and could have been the part of this twenty 20 team, he too, should only look to his fitness level, this shortened version consumes lot more of a Player, then the normal One-dayer.

The advice to Malik would be to take someone with experience and a confident player as his vice-captain, send Salam Butt back to the nets to better his skills and learn to keep his eyes on the ball, Misbah can be a good choice! Afridi can also be tried for this responsibility, this might have good effect on his batting, to make him play responsibly. In order to avoid hick-up he should prove Late Bob Wolmer right and start opening for the team, may be with Imran Nazir. Hafeez and Afridi, though they haven’t performed yet, should be kept in the team in middle order as they can, on a given day make a difference, look-up for another keeper, and give some rest to Kamran Akmal, as he is not performing well as a wicket-keeper what also is having an effect on his batting, otherwise the game against India in the preliminary round could have been easily won.

Those waiting on the boundary line should be given chance occasionally, Shabbir Ahmed, Sami, Farhat and many more to name shouldn’t be dishearten but keep themselves fit and ready to be called anytime, and try to prove themselves as Misbah has done it.