Dazzling display by mercurial Pakistan

[WaseemBhai]

Ajmal made amends

WASEEM SIDDIQUI


They kept confounding me. They kept disturbing all my thoughts. They kept forcing me to think from a different angle when I thought that I am in a right frame of mind. In the end they won.

I was kind of thinking about writing an obituary of Pakistan cricket in the current Twenty-20 world cricket. I was thinking writing like Australia buried all Pakistan hopes once again like in the previous edition in St. Lucia. RIP Pakistan.

But how wrong I have been proved. In the last 10 overs Australia did a Pakistan. In the first ten overs of their innings they clouted 117 runs for two wickets. In the last ten they crumbled like ten pins. They managed barely half of that losing eight for 58.

But Pakistan proved armed-chair critics and pundits totally wrong in the end. They once again proved that they are the most mercurial and most unpredictable side in world cricket with an electrical display. And the fluctuating fortunes in this match are a proof of that.

They conceded an 18-ball half century. They let build a 118-run partnership in 64 deliveries. They got two wickets in the first over and waited for another conceding 118 runs and next 64 deliveries. The trusted the bowler who conceded 30 runs in his first over to defend 23 in the last of the innings. And he gave away only six to vindicate the trust giving away only six and collecting two wickets to give them a 16-run victory in a do-or-die situation.

They started shakily after being put in to bat by the Aussies losing two early wickets for just 25. They rebuilt the innings with Akmal Brothers---Kamran and Umer---to post 191 for five in the end.

Still a formidable total but in the face of such a solid batting line-up the Aussies boast of they must have a thought, how minor it may be, that were at least 10 runs short in the end and should have crossed the 200-barrier And with Maxwell and Finch in such a devastating mood it started to look like that they were.

However with a positive body language which was lacking in their previous loss against India in the tournament they showed that they are capable of beating any rivals on their day. And it was their day.

It was a comeback of a colossal proportion by Pakistan, exactly in the fashion they are known for. But it was totally un-Australian the way they collapsed.

At a time when it looked like it's all over, Pakistanis rose from their grave and gulped the Australians like hungry ghosts.

Who would have imagined that after a 33-ball 74 of which 50 came from only 18 Glen Maxwell would not have overhauled Umar Akmal's 94 that came in a rescue effort. Aaron Finch, the other big hitter and Maxwell's partner was brilliantly removed from the scene by ever dangerous Saeed Ajmal.

They were the only to reach the double figures as a reinvigorated Pakistan attack unsettled the formidable Australian batting line-up to such an extent that none of the other eight could reach double figures.

When Ajmal had dropped Maxwell at 70 the match was more or less sealed in the Aussies favour but Ajmal salvaged his and his team's pride by holding the next chance given by Brad Hogg to make amends to both Umar Gul and his side, the bowler aggrieved by his first spell.

And he completed his fantastic rearguard by snaring Finch in the 18th over in which he conceded only one run when Australia needed 31 to win leaving them an impregnable 30 in the last two which proved too much for the Australians.

It was a remarkable display of death bowling and it looked as if their skipper Mohammad Hafeez might have erred in trusting Bilawal too much after he had conceded 30 runs in his only over. He himself had two of his overs besides the option of four from Shoaib Malik at that stage. But Bilawal kept his faith.

It looked like Pakistan can never come out of India phobia. It's only that they woke up a little. They realised amid the Maxwell carnage that the entire Indian team was enjoying their drubbing at it looked like they felt it like sprinkling salt into their wound.

Just to remind their opponents that they may still face them in the final they changed the gears so smoothly that it surprised all and sundry.

Any way this this win has given their campaign in the tournament a new lease of life. This breathing space has given them a chance to come alive, breathing hot and breathing cold in their customary style to fight and die another day. It was not that day today.

How nice. Umar dedicated his match-winning knock of 94 to his brother Kamran on what he called his comeback to the team. Deservedly it was Kamran with run-a-ball 31 that resurrected Pakistan innings in his company.

Maxwell