PAKISTAN WIN WORLD CUP 2009!!
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SummerWine
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pessimism never helps other than it just tends to lessen the pain of losing something....hope must never be lost
SummerWine
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lol....sorry to hear that...thankfully wapda spared us today during the match...
ajpirzada
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this was written before today's Pak vs. NZ match
Tall, sharp and uncomplicated
He doesn't fail dope tests, he doesn't fight team-mates or officials, he just runs up, bowls - damn well - and goes away
Osman Samiuddin
June 13, 2009
Comments: 28 | Text size: A | A
Umar Gul is ecstatic after picking up another wicket, Pakistan v Australia, only Twenty20 international, Dubai, May 7, 2009
If he isn't the best Twenty20 fast bowler in the world currently, it is only because the glare that falls upon Shoaib and Asif hasn't located him © Associated Press
Related Links
Player/Officials: Umar Gul | Mohammad Asif | Shoaib Akhtar
Series/Tournaments: ICC World Twenty20
Teams: Pakistan
After Shoaib Akhtar and before Mohammad Asif, there was Umar Gul. Not as quick as one, not as gifted as the other, not as flash a Feroze as either, but a special one nonetheless. He's all grown up now from the gawky, thin teenager with an action so clunky the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz once called him to ask for it back. He has filled out, become stronger, smoothed his action, grown a mullet, cropped it and experimented with blond streaks. He now wears the confident, spiky crop beloved of 25-year-old men.
But not so much have things changed either; when he cocks up, the same grin appears. When he let the ball slip through his legs for a boundary against England the other day, he looked much like he did that March day in Lahore when he picked up a stump and ran off at the end of India's second innings, thinking the Test was over, when Pakistan had actually to chase 40 runs.
With ball in hand he has grown years. He wasn't swift then, but that day, against the finest modern-day batting line-up, he worked the channels, finding nip, bounce and cut where others found only frustration. He hits the bat harder now, and if he hasn't always found the same movement - the Mohali 2006 Champions Trophy game against South Africa was one occasion - he has other tricks. His natural length, just back of a length, demands caution from batsmen to survive and risk to thrive. Extra bounce makes it no easier.
Few men's yorkers have such unquenchable lust for toes or stumps. And only Albie Morkel could claim to have taken on an oft-deceptive bouncer and come out better; that too in a recent warm-up game. But the context of that India Test was significant: faster, brasher men - Shoaib and Mohammad Sami - sprayed it around that day, while Gul slipped in quietly, unheralded, took wickets and went back. Yes, much has changed, but not this.
If he isn't the best Twenty20 fast bowler in the world currently, it is only because the glare that falls upon Shoaib and Asif hasn't located him. Thank god for it. "The yorker and changes in pace are the two big weapons in this cricket," he says. "It is a batsman's game, but there is so much of it now that there is an opportunity to really hone these two skills."
Honed they have been during long hours in the nets, and by a wanderlust rare for the modern Pakistani cricketer. After ending the first World Twenty20 as the highest wicket-taker, a limited-overs anomaly in that he was a lethal first-change, Gul worked it at the IPL for the Kolkata Knight Riders, and in Australia's Twenty20 competition for Western Australia. He only played six games in the IPL, and though others from the franchise got more newsprint, nobody took more than his 12 wickets. In Australia he was the second-highest wicket-taker, alongside Dirk Nannes.
"Yes, I did well," is the uncomplicated observation, before noting how much watching old videos of Wasim and Waqar have helped his yorker. More has hopefully been picked up from the videos than just the ability to break a toe; manful things about leading attacks and all that. For with Gul lies the same job the one before him and the other after have failed abysmally at. He hasn't shirked so far and the outlook, from this year, is bright.
He is a plain and straightforward cricketer, is Umar Gul. Complexity is not contemplated around him, and though all humanity is inevitably complex, with Gul it is of no interest to anyone else
Understandably it was forgotten among the bullets of Lahore, but Gul's efforts in those two Tests were mammoth. Few nine-wicket hauls could have extracted such sweat and toil. It wasn't enough that he was combating surfaces with less life than Michael Jackson's pop career; he was lumbered with two raw newbies, each playing his first Test. Yet Gul caused a flutter in Karachi and ended with his best Test haul the day before the cricket world changed, Sri Lanka coasting to 600-plus each time. That performance was sandwiched between seven ODIs this year against Sri Lanka and Australia, in which he took 16 wickets. And before arriving in England, he poleaxed Australia in a Twenty20 international with the second-best figures ever in the format. Perhaps he needs to fail a dope test or three, or get arrested somewhere, to attract some attention?
"Playing international cricket for five-six years, I think you learn to adapt across formats. There is so much happening, you have to," he says. "I still enjoy Tests more than any other because you can really set yourself in for a spell. And if you don't do well, you can always come back in another spell, or the second innings. It's a proper test.
"I'm very happy with the responsibility, very comfortable with it. A lot is expected from us as players, but the coach, the captain and the team are there for support and they are happy with me. It's not like I mind leading Pakistan's attack or that it is a burden. You do it and you respect it."
How often he gets that opportunity is about the only dark spot on his horizon. Gul will be of a sizeable generation of players - including Salman Butt, Danish Kaneria, Sohail Tanvir - on whom isolation might take a toll. It is early yet, but Pakistan's lack of cricket over the last two years has done little for growth and development. No country has played as little international cricket as Pakistan has since the start of 2007. And where the rest of the world gorged themselves on cricket, glam and moolah at the IPL in South Africa, Gul and his countrymen lurked off cricket's red carpet, wronged and patient.
"Obviously it will help those who were there, but we also had a decent warm-up with the camp and the RBS tournament," he says. "But yes, it [lack of international cricket] is frustrating. When you are in form, at your peak, you want to play as much as you can and if you don't it affects your development as a player."
Ajantha Mendis has no answer to a yorker from Umar Gul, Pakistan v Sri Lanka, 2nd Test, 2nd day, March 2, 2009
Few men's yorkers have such unquenchable lust for toes or stumps © AFP
He is a plain and straightforward cricketer, is Umar Gul. Complexity is not contemplated around him, and though all humanity is inevitably complex, with Gul it is of no interest to anyone else. With Asif and Shoaib, you cannot but avoid it, heaped upon you by their very actions; excessively pampered, delusional, village bumpkin made it too big, all that stuff. Even Waqar, Wasim and Imran had much greyness about them. Gul? He bowls. He bowls long, hard and uncomplainingly. Then he goes away.
Though he is the head of the attack, he is naturally inclined to be an unquestioning follower; therein may be required some adjustment, but it is nothing terminal. And this shouldn't take from him. Rather the opposite; it is what makes him. He's already been through and come back from serious stress fractures of the back. If he had come back diminished or the same, nobody would have been surprised. But remarkably, he's come back better, and you could probably count the number of fast bowlers to have done that on one hand.
But what should brighten all Pakistan is the prospect that, at the end, when all is said, done and dusted, Gul's tale will be told in on-field feats and numbers and not in off-field scrapes.
Tall, sharp and uncomplicated | Specials | Cricinfo Magazine | Cricinfo.com
Tall, sharp and uncomplicated
He doesn't fail dope tests, he doesn't fight team-mates or officials, he just runs up, bowls - damn well - and goes away
Osman Samiuddin
June 13, 2009
Comments: 28 | Text size: A | A
Umar Gul is ecstatic after picking up another wicket, Pakistan v Australia, only Twenty20 international, Dubai, May 7, 2009
If he isn't the best Twenty20 fast bowler in the world currently, it is only because the glare that falls upon Shoaib and Asif hasn't located him © Associated Press
Related Links
Player/Officials: Umar Gul | Mohammad Asif | Shoaib Akhtar
Series/Tournaments: ICC World Twenty20
Teams: Pakistan
After Shoaib Akhtar and before Mohammad Asif, there was Umar Gul. Not as quick as one, not as gifted as the other, not as flash a Feroze as either, but a special one nonetheless. He's all grown up now from the gawky, thin teenager with an action so clunky the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz once called him to ask for it back. He has filled out, become stronger, smoothed his action, grown a mullet, cropped it and experimented with blond streaks. He now wears the confident, spiky crop beloved of 25-year-old men.
But not so much have things changed either; when he cocks up, the same grin appears. When he let the ball slip through his legs for a boundary against England the other day, he looked much like he did that March day in Lahore when he picked up a stump and ran off at the end of India's second innings, thinking the Test was over, when Pakistan had actually to chase 40 runs.
With ball in hand he has grown years. He wasn't swift then, but that day, against the finest modern-day batting line-up, he worked the channels, finding nip, bounce and cut where others found only frustration. He hits the bat harder now, and if he hasn't always found the same movement - the Mohali 2006 Champions Trophy game against South Africa was one occasion - he has other tricks. His natural length, just back of a length, demands caution from batsmen to survive and risk to thrive. Extra bounce makes it no easier.
Few men's yorkers have such unquenchable lust for toes or stumps. And only Albie Morkel could claim to have taken on an oft-deceptive bouncer and come out better; that too in a recent warm-up game. But the context of that India Test was significant: faster, brasher men - Shoaib and Mohammad Sami - sprayed it around that day, while Gul slipped in quietly, unheralded, took wickets and went back. Yes, much has changed, but not this.
If he isn't the best Twenty20 fast bowler in the world currently, it is only because the glare that falls upon Shoaib and Asif hasn't located him. Thank god for it. "The yorker and changes in pace are the two big weapons in this cricket," he says. "It is a batsman's game, but there is so much of it now that there is an opportunity to really hone these two skills."
Honed they have been during long hours in the nets, and by a wanderlust rare for the modern Pakistani cricketer. After ending the first World Twenty20 as the highest wicket-taker, a limited-overs anomaly in that he was a lethal first-change, Gul worked it at the IPL for the Kolkata Knight Riders, and in Australia's Twenty20 competition for Western Australia. He only played six games in the IPL, and though others from the franchise got more newsprint, nobody took more than his 12 wickets. In Australia he was the second-highest wicket-taker, alongside Dirk Nannes.
"Yes, I did well," is the uncomplicated observation, before noting how much watching old videos of Wasim and Waqar have helped his yorker. More has hopefully been picked up from the videos than just the ability to break a toe; manful things about leading attacks and all that. For with Gul lies the same job the one before him and the other after have failed abysmally at. He hasn't shirked so far and the outlook, from this year, is bright.
He is a plain and straightforward cricketer, is Umar Gul. Complexity is not contemplated around him, and though all humanity is inevitably complex, with Gul it is of no interest to anyone else
Understandably it was forgotten among the bullets of Lahore, but Gul's efforts in those two Tests were mammoth. Few nine-wicket hauls could have extracted such sweat and toil. It wasn't enough that he was combating surfaces with less life than Michael Jackson's pop career; he was lumbered with two raw newbies, each playing his first Test. Yet Gul caused a flutter in Karachi and ended with his best Test haul the day before the cricket world changed, Sri Lanka coasting to 600-plus each time. That performance was sandwiched between seven ODIs this year against Sri Lanka and Australia, in which he took 16 wickets. And before arriving in England, he poleaxed Australia in a Twenty20 international with the second-best figures ever in the format. Perhaps he needs to fail a dope test or three, or get arrested somewhere, to attract some attention?
"Playing international cricket for five-six years, I think you learn to adapt across formats. There is so much happening, you have to," he says. "I still enjoy Tests more than any other because you can really set yourself in for a spell. And if you don't do well, you can always come back in another spell, or the second innings. It's a proper test.
"I'm very happy with the responsibility, very comfortable with it. A lot is expected from us as players, but the coach, the captain and the team are there for support and they are happy with me. It's not like I mind leading Pakistan's attack or that it is a burden. You do it and you respect it."
How often he gets that opportunity is about the only dark spot on his horizon. Gul will be of a sizeable generation of players - including Salman Butt, Danish Kaneria, Sohail Tanvir - on whom isolation might take a toll. It is early yet, but Pakistan's lack of cricket over the last two years has done little for growth and development. No country has played as little international cricket as Pakistan has since the start of 2007. And where the rest of the world gorged themselves on cricket, glam and moolah at the IPL in South Africa, Gul and his countrymen lurked off cricket's red carpet, wronged and patient.
"Obviously it will help those who were there, but we also had a decent warm-up with the camp and the RBS tournament," he says. "But yes, it [lack of international cricket] is frustrating. When you are in form, at your peak, you want to play as much as you can and if you don't it affects your development as a player."
Ajantha Mendis has no answer to a yorker from Umar Gul, Pakistan v Sri Lanka, 2nd Test, 2nd day, March 2, 2009
Few men's yorkers have such unquenchable lust for toes or stumps © AFP
He is a plain and straightforward cricketer, is Umar Gul. Complexity is not contemplated around him, and though all humanity is inevitably complex, with Gul it is of no interest to anyone else. With Asif and Shoaib, you cannot but avoid it, heaped upon you by their very actions; excessively pampered, delusional, village bumpkin made it too big, all that stuff. Even Waqar, Wasim and Imran had much greyness about them. Gul? He bowls. He bowls long, hard and uncomplainingly. Then he goes away.
Though he is the head of the attack, he is naturally inclined to be an unquestioning follower; therein may be required some adjustment, but it is nothing terminal. And this shouldn't take from him. Rather the opposite; it is what makes him. He's already been through and come back from serious stress fractures of the back. If he had come back diminished or the same, nobody would have been surprised. But remarkably, he's come back better, and you could probably count the number of fast bowlers to have done that on one hand.
But what should brighten all Pakistan is the prospect that, at the end, when all is said, done and dusted, Gul's tale will be told in on-field feats and numbers and not in off-field scrapes.
Tall, sharp and uncomplicated | Specials | Cricinfo Magazine | Cricinfo.com
SummerWine
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He has been brilliant .....now he holds best ever, third best and 7th best bowling figures in T20 Internationals....
ajpirzada
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Charismatic Pakistan live to fight
The Bulletin by Sidharth Monga
June 13, 2009
Text size: A | A
Pakistan 100 for 4 (Shahzaib 35, Afridi 29*, Vettori 2-20) beat New Zealand 99 (Gul 5-6, Razzaq 2-17) by six wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Umar Gul picks up a wicket, New Zealand v Pakistan, ICC World Twenty20 Super Eights, The Oval, June 13, 2009
New Zealand's batsmen were clueless against the guile of Umar Gul © AFP
Related Links
Player/Officials: Abdul Razzaq | Umar Gul
Matches: New Zealand v Pakistan at The Oval
Series/Tournaments: ICC World Twenty20
Teams: New Zealand | Pakistan
Pakistan have bitten another bullet, in style. At the toss Younis Khan seemed relieved, almost trying to suppress laughter, when he called this a do-or-die match. It was as if he liked that there was no choice left, and his team showed they relished being in such a situation. By the end of the night, Pakistan had done, and left dying for another time. Abdul Razzaq, formerly a pariah and now making a comeback to official cricket after two years, struck with the fourth ball he bowled, and then in his third over to skittle the New Zealand top order, which was followed by Umar Gul's destruction. Gul was on a hat-trick twice and also became the first bowler to take a five-for in Twenty20 internationals.
Those two spells sandwiched a period when the spinners choked the life out of the middle order as a weakened New Zealand, missing Jesse Ryder and Ross, stumbled to a meagre total on a belter of a pitch at The Oval. Debutant opener Shahzaib Hasan threatened to finish the match in a hurry, but the New Zealand spinners did well to delay the end of the match, and make sure Pakistan didn't run away with a hefty net run-rate, which will come handy in case New Zealand beat Sri Lanka.
How Pakistan would want to thank BCCI for the "amnesty" it accorded the ICL players. For Pakistan had bowled yet another ordinary first over. The first and last balls, from Mohammad Aamer, were boundaries, in between there was poor fielding and no dot balls. Had even Razzaq got off to a poor start, Pakistan would have had to bring Gul on early, which is not their original game plan. But Razzaq got Brendon McCullum before he could cause severe damage, and then Martin Guptill with a trademark straight delivery that the batsman missed. He exulted with arms open, more of a reaction than you can usually draw from Razzaq. Welcome back, Pakistan cricket was poorer without Razzaq.
Razzaq's first wicket was the first dot ball of the innings, but by the time Aamer and Razzaq were done with their three-over spells, New Zealand had barely doubled their score at 1.3 overs. Time, then, for spinners to come on. For the first time with the medium-pacers having put them in a favourable position. Time also it was for the fielders to raise their game, which they did. Diving saves, hustling fielders, and accurate bowling meant that Scott Styris and Jacob Oram struggled even to rotate the strike.
When it got too much for Oram, he stepped out to Shahid Afridi, in the 10th over, and skied a faster delivery. At the end of that over, Afridi's figures read 2-0-3-1. And because the opening bowlers did their job, Younis had Gul saved up for the last eight overs. At 72 for 4 after 12 overs, New Zealand had their task cut out, facing the yorkers from Gul and trying to accelerate.
Styris tried to put Gul off his rhythm right in his first over, and all he managed was a top edge to long-on. But this was Afridi's moment. He ran from mid-on, his eye on the ball falling over his head, his hands stretching out at the right moment and finishing the catch metres inside the boundary. Pakistan fielding had come a long way from being the laughing stocks of the tournament.
Following that dismissal, it was all Gul, his accuracy and his late swing. Peter McGlashan tried to paddle him next ball, but was undone by the in-dipper. James Franklin saved the hat-trick, but couldn't deny the irresistible Gul for long. With a change of ends, he cleaned up Nathan McCullum and Franklin with straight and fast bowling. Kyle Mills, though, fell to a slower one, giving Gul the five-for and another chance for a hat-trick. The hat-trick didn't come, but New Zealand managed just 27 since Gul's introduction to the attack. Once the euphoria of this performance dies, Pakistan will want to thank the man returning to international cricket for allowing them to go ahead with their preferred bowling strategy.
It was the best environment for a 19-year-old making his debut. Shahzaib got eased into the chase, Kamran Akmal facing the first 12 balls of the innings. Turned out Shahzaib didn't need any shielding. He got off the mark with a free-hit, but showed glimpses of his potential in the subsequent overs, lofting Daniel Vettori for a six down the ground, and cutting and pulling with aplomb during his quick 35.
With Afridi batting responsibly, Vettori's guile and athletic fielding only fought the inevitable.
Sidharth Monga is a staff writer at Cricinfo
New Zealand v Pakistan, ICC World Twenty20, The Oval Report | Cricket News | ICC World Twenty20 2009 | Cricinfo.com
The Bulletin by Sidharth Monga
June 13, 2009
Text size: A | A
Pakistan 100 for 4 (Shahzaib 35, Afridi 29*, Vettori 2-20) beat New Zealand 99 (Gul 5-6, Razzaq 2-17) by six wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Umar Gul picks up a wicket, New Zealand v Pakistan, ICC World Twenty20 Super Eights, The Oval, June 13, 2009
New Zealand's batsmen were clueless against the guile of Umar Gul © AFP
Related Links
Player/Officials: Abdul Razzaq | Umar Gul
Matches: New Zealand v Pakistan at The Oval
Series/Tournaments: ICC World Twenty20
Teams: New Zealand | Pakistan
Pakistan have bitten another bullet, in style. At the toss Younis Khan seemed relieved, almost trying to suppress laughter, when he called this a do-or-die match. It was as if he liked that there was no choice left, and his team showed they relished being in such a situation. By the end of the night, Pakistan had done, and left dying for another time. Abdul Razzaq, formerly a pariah and now making a comeback to official cricket after two years, struck with the fourth ball he bowled, and then in his third over to skittle the New Zealand top order, which was followed by Umar Gul's destruction. Gul was on a hat-trick twice and also became the first bowler to take a five-for in Twenty20 internationals.
Those two spells sandwiched a period when the spinners choked the life out of the middle order as a weakened New Zealand, missing Jesse Ryder and Ross, stumbled to a meagre total on a belter of a pitch at The Oval. Debutant opener Shahzaib Hasan threatened to finish the match in a hurry, but the New Zealand spinners did well to delay the end of the match, and make sure Pakistan didn't run away with a hefty net run-rate, which will come handy in case New Zealand beat Sri Lanka.
How Pakistan would want to thank BCCI for the "amnesty" it accorded the ICL players. For Pakistan had bowled yet another ordinary first over. The first and last balls, from Mohammad Aamer, were boundaries, in between there was poor fielding and no dot balls. Had even Razzaq got off to a poor start, Pakistan would have had to bring Gul on early, which is not their original game plan. But Razzaq got Brendon McCullum before he could cause severe damage, and then Martin Guptill with a trademark straight delivery that the batsman missed. He exulted with arms open, more of a reaction than you can usually draw from Razzaq. Welcome back, Pakistan cricket was poorer without Razzaq.
Razzaq's first wicket was the first dot ball of the innings, but by the time Aamer and Razzaq were done with their three-over spells, New Zealand had barely doubled their score at 1.3 overs. Time, then, for spinners to come on. For the first time with the medium-pacers having put them in a favourable position. Time also it was for the fielders to raise their game, which they did. Diving saves, hustling fielders, and accurate bowling meant that Scott Styris and Jacob Oram struggled even to rotate the strike.
When it got too much for Oram, he stepped out to Shahid Afridi, in the 10th over, and skied a faster delivery. At the end of that over, Afridi's figures read 2-0-3-1. And because the opening bowlers did their job, Younis had Gul saved up for the last eight overs. At 72 for 4 after 12 overs, New Zealand had their task cut out, facing the yorkers from Gul and trying to accelerate.
Styris tried to put Gul off his rhythm right in his first over, and all he managed was a top edge to long-on. But this was Afridi's moment. He ran from mid-on, his eye on the ball falling over his head, his hands stretching out at the right moment and finishing the catch metres inside the boundary. Pakistan fielding had come a long way from being the laughing stocks of the tournament.
Following that dismissal, it was all Gul, his accuracy and his late swing. Peter McGlashan tried to paddle him next ball, but was undone by the in-dipper. James Franklin saved the hat-trick, but couldn't deny the irresistible Gul for long. With a change of ends, he cleaned up Nathan McCullum and Franklin with straight and fast bowling. Kyle Mills, though, fell to a slower one, giving Gul the five-for and another chance for a hat-trick. The hat-trick didn't come, but New Zealand managed just 27 since Gul's introduction to the attack. Once the euphoria of this performance dies, Pakistan will want to thank the man returning to international cricket for allowing them to go ahead with their preferred bowling strategy.
It was the best environment for a 19-year-old making his debut. Shahzaib got eased into the chase, Kamran Akmal facing the first 12 balls of the innings. Turned out Shahzaib didn't need any shielding. He got off the mark with a free-hit, but showed glimpses of his potential in the subsequent overs, lofting Daniel Vettori for a six down the ground, and cutting and pulling with aplomb during his quick 35.
With Afridi batting responsibly, Vettori's guile and athletic fielding only fought the inevitable.
Sidharth Monga is a staff writer at Cricinfo
New Zealand v Pakistan, ICC World Twenty20, The Oval Report | Cricket News | ICC World Twenty20 2009 | Cricinfo.com
SummerWine
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H2O3C4Nitrogen
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What a fine display of teamwork by PAKISTAN led by Younus-Khan. Today they played like Champions.
I was dissapointed when Malik got out so badly but in the end Pakistan realy came over the Kewis.
Next Target is the Ireland. I hope they really beat them convincingly.
I was dissapointed when Malik got out so badly but in the end Pakistan realy came over the Kewis.
Next Target is the Ireland. I hope they really beat them convincingly.
SummerWine
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Well if Kiwis get beaten by SriLankans ...and Pak beat Ireland then kiwis are going home and we are going semis
But if they beat SriLanka tomorrow...the we would have a clear runrate target in front of us....which we must achieve to qualify..
ajpirzada
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