Win fantasy continues to elude Pakistan Down Under
By Qamar Ahmed
WE have thrown away yet another Test and with it the series before it is over. Heart-breaking indeed, the manner in which our batsmen surrendered their wickets in quest of a comfortable target on a wicket which held no terror nor any demon if only they had applied themselves to the task and grafted their runs instead of having a bash at every delivery as if they were in a hurry to catch another flight.
With a day to spare any team would have put their head down to concentrate on picking runs through the gaps as they came but the way the two openers launched the attack instead of building a partnership to set a solid base for others to build on to it was indicative of the danger that lurked around and that we all feared.
This golden opportunity to level the series before the third and final Test was thus squandered as the rest of the batsmen including the captain continued in the same vein as their openers to provide Australia the Test and the series on the plate.
From 1964 when the first Pakistan team visited Australia led by Hanif Mohammad who scored a hundred in the first innings and was given out when few runs short of another century in the second innings at the MCG in the only Test that Pakistan played to now, our aspirations of a Test series win in Australia thus remains a dream.
Even when we had stalwarts like Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Asif Iqbal, Zaheer Abbas, Majid Khan, Wasim Bari and Sarfraz Nawaz we did not manage to fulfil our dream except a solitary win on various tours.
In a very much similar situation in 1973, Pakistan bowlers Sarfraz Nawaz and Salim Altaf with their brilliant performance having taken eight and seven wickets in the match at Sydney had provided Pakistan a chance to chase only 159 runs to win. But to their disappointment they sat and watched their batting perish for 106, thus losing the Test as Max Walker destroyed them with 6 for 15 and with Dennis Lillee taking 3 for 68.The despair and disappointment that it brings is at times mind-blowing. While travelling with various teams to cover the tours I too have suffered my own aches and pains especially watching Pakistan’s rise and fall from a situation of safety to the ignominy of embarrassing defeats.
On Australian visits I covered matches at every venue including six Tests each at the MCG and at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) which included four against Pakistan and one each against the West Indies and India.
But my only moment of joy involving Pakistan was at Sydney in 1995 when Pakistan managed to hold their nerves to win the Test with leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed taking nine wickets in the match. Having already lost the series, Pakistan under Wasim Akram had set Australia 247 runs to win, to bowl them out for 172.
What also remains etched in my mind is the century that Ijaz Ahmed (137) scored in the first innings which really put Pakistan on course to a great win.
Had Pakistan not been cheated out by poor umpiring in the Hobart Test of 1999 I would have had another moment to cherish. The Australians chasing a target of 369 were reduced to 126-5 when Adam Gilchrist and Justin Langer having edged Wasim Akram were saved by patriotic Australian umpiring. The contact of the bat with the ball could be heard across the Tasman Sea into Sydney an hour and a half flight away. Such was audacity of the cruel decision.
A Test where the term ‘Doosra’ was coined in the game. Saqlain Mushtaq with his 6 for 46 in the first innings had done most of the damage bowling the mystery delivery that went the other way and got the Aussies on the hook. In the press conference later during the day he had described that delivery as ‘Doosra’, when questioned by the media.
After the conference when I was asked what Saqlain meant by the ‘Doosra’, the Australian press the next day ran this eye-catching banner headline in nearly every paper. ‘THE DOOSRA’ in Hobart Mercury thus got word going for ever.
Pakistan having lost the series already will be playing their final Test at The Bellerive Oval, perched on top of a hill looking over the Tasman Sea where the wind blows, the clouds hover above in heavy atmosphere to help men with swing and seaming ability to create havoc.
The present Pakistan team neither have the gumption nor the guts or the skill to cope with what will be in store in the final Test.
I fear that that the result will not be any different from the other two Tests that we threw away because of poor fielding, keeping and of course through indiscreet batting display. The less said the better.
What is really worrying is the way the whole thing is being handled. The gravy train of calling players from the tour and replacing them with others is once again on the move which does not really serve the deep-rooted malice which is a threat to our most loved game.
It is time that those who matter and are at the helm stop this jiggery-pokery which now threatens cricket’s future in Pakistan.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect...-continues-to-elude-pakistan-down-under-ts-05
