Same story repeated

England won the toss, decided to bat and in the process nulified Pakistan’s supersub for the second time in a row. While batting second, Pakis will have the conditions against them, as was the case in the first match. Let’s hope that the bowlers do a good job and restrict England to a gettable score this time.

Pakistan goes down fighting

They fought and they fought hard, but in the end, the huge total that England piled earlier was too much for them. Pakistanis got a good start, but without much contribution from Inzamam, the already big total looked huge. Salman Butt, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik all poured in with half centuries, but couldn’t carry it on further, which was what Pakistan really needed.

Another thing that went against Pakistan was it’s Super Sub selection. Mohammad Arshad was rendered useless in the morning when England won the toss and decided to bat first. In future, an all rounder is needed as a Super Sub in order to avoid the dependence on the outcome of the toss.

With four matches to go, England have relieved themselves of the pressure on them after losing the test series and passed on some of it to Pakistan. Pakistan will have to play well and win the next match, after that return of Afridi will give them a boost.

A day of huge totals

England has setup a huge target for Pakistan, but the Pakistanis have started off well. Nevertheless, to get to 328 Pakistan will have to fight till end. However, if they need any inspiration, they can look at New Zealand who chased down 331 against Australia, which also is a new world record.

Btw, is Younis Khan also growing a beard??

Analysis: Pakistan

Openers:
For the first match, the only confirmed opener for Pakistan is Salman Butt. His test match opening partner Shoaib Malik is in Australia getting his action diagnosed. He will be back by the second match. In his absence, the most logical thing to do would have been to promote Afridi, but he has to sit out the first two matches because of the ban that was imposed on him in the test series. The third option would have been Abdul Razzaq, however he is coming back after a long break due to the injury and Pakistan team’s management is not going to take such a huge risk as to let him open the innings. Thus comes Kamran Akmal to rescue. While Kamran has opened the innings before for Pakistan with mixed results. His century against West Indies points towards his ability to make an impact, however he wasn’t so successful the rest of the times. But desperate situations call for desperate measures and Kamran Akmal, after hitting a career high in the last test might have enough confidence to carry him trough this with flying colors.

The final option will be to bring a new player to open the innings for one match. This will not only create pressure on the player as he will have only one match to perform and to be successful in that will be almost impossible. But PCB has a knack for experimenting, so don’t be surprise if you see a new face in the team.

Middle Order:
Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam-ul-Haq comprise the core of the middle order for Pakistan. With all three in form, this Pakistani middle order will be the envy of any team’s management. If the openers give them a solid start, the chances of these three letting it down all at once are very low. The void that is left because of the absence of Afridi and Malik can be filled by Hasan Raza. Although he hasn’t had the best of the test series, but his last visit at crease showed some promise before he was out playing a reckless shot.

All Rounders:
In the absence of Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq will be the lone all rounder in this team and he is coming with a big question mark. I am sorry, but I don’t consider Rana Naveed as an all rounder. He has to give some performance with bat when needed in order to be classified in this category. Pakistan is going to miss both Afridi and Malik and this can be the only downside in an otherwise solid one day team.

Pacers:
Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami and Rana Naveed will share the workload in the department. With the resurgence of Shoaib and the accuracy of Rana, the pacers will be creating a lot of problems for the English batsmen.

Spinners:
Danish Kaneria will be the lone spinner for this side. However, in past, Danish hasn’t been able to translate his success of Test into the One day match. With Pakistan having no other option in the form of Afridi or Malik, this will be his chance to prove everyone wrong.

Let the match begin…

With less than 24 hours left before the start of the first one day between Pakistan and England, I thought I’d give my views on the strengths and weaknesses of each team.

Comparatively, Pakistan is a much better one day team as compared to England. Pakistan is on a 7 match winning streak and will be looking to extend it further. However, they are coming after a long lay off and will be excused if they lose a match or two. However, if they loose the series, then all the excitement of winning the test series will be forgotten in an instant.

England meanwhile is down in the dumps, especially after losing the test series and the only warm up one day match. Also, their captain will not be there in the center, all of which means they will come in as underdogs. However, they have the ability to fight back when chips are against them. Also, as an added incentive, England will have to win this series in order to avoid playing in the preliminary round of the ICC championship in India. Top 6 teams will qualify without playing in the preliminary round. England is currently placed at sixth while Pakistan is third in the ICC rankings.

When nothing goes right..

A new day, a new match and a new hero for Pakistan’s second team. Taking cue from Hasan Raza, who maneuvered his team to beat England just before the Test series began, Bazid Khan emerged as the tormentor for the English team this time. He hit an unbeaten 91 to guide Pakistan A to victory as the wickets kept falling on the other end. England must be at the lowest depths as far as confidence is concerned. At the post match conference, the issue was raised that England’s three main weapons, Trescothick, Flintoff and Harmison were not playing in this match. However, taking the same argument, one can say that the only person in Pakistan A that might make it in the playing eleven for Pakistan was Abdul Razzaq.

Pakistan has a golden opportunity to crush the struggling opposition. However, England will come to the ground, desperate to win. They will try to show the world that Ashes win was not a fluke. Before the tour started, they were the favorites to win the Test series, while Pakistan was the front runner for the one day series. Pakistan has already proved everyone wrong in the Tests; let’s see if England will be able to do the same thing.

Sniffing Victory

As the last test match was heading towards a draw it seemed sad that the final day of the final test will be a boring run through the motion. More of a warm up for the upcoming one day series. Especially the way Pakistani hammered the English bowlers all around the ground, everyone seemed to have settled for a draw. Everyone except for the eleven players that came out charging with only one over before the lunch.

With only one over to go, Trescothick must have had flashbacks of Faisalabad when he was bowled on a duck. Shoaib bowled with similar intensity and the outcome was also the same, England was down one for naught.

Pakistan will have to decide now whether they want to press for a win or settle for a draw and win the series. If they are to win, they will have to come out charging and will not have to let go of the vigor they have shown throughout the series. It will be up to Inzamam to instill in his players to play as if they are down by a match and have to take the last eight wickets in order to level the series. This is where Afridi and Younis Khan are going to be missed the most. Both are known to energize the whole team in the field and tomorrow Pakistan will need to come with a winning attitude. Draw is not an option, if Pakistan win this match, the psychological boost they will carry into the one day series will be well worth the extra effort.

Third test update

Back with some brief sports update after a long time. Shoaib Akhtar has turned a new leaf and is playing a vital role for Pakistan. Never before have we seen Shoaib playing for Pakistan, before it was always for him and his image. But today, thanks to Shoaib’s gutsy defense, and with the fact that Inzamam is still to come, Pakistan are well positioned to get a draw and win the series. While draw isn’t what they were aiming for, but after a disastrous start, draw will be most welcome.

First test roundup

Ahhhh….. what a wonderful start to the tour. After four days of taking criticism from the whole nation of failing to take advantage of the wonderful starts, the Pakistani team on the last day of the match came out with only one thing on their mind, getting a W. They left their egos at the hotel and came and played as a team. After going thru many defeats in the past, they’ve finally learned that even if all eleven individuals are brilliantly gifted and talented, it takes a team to win matches.

With such a measly target to defend, the old Paki team would have accepted the defeat at the end of the fourth day, however this team is different. They came in the last day willing to give it all. Even though the day started in England’s favor, the vigor with which the bowlers bowled was an indication that the game was still on.

Danesh Kaneria has won many a matches for Pakistan and this time was not any different. The surprise came from Sami, who was sure bet to be dropped from the team because of his performance in the first inning. He bowled his heart out and was rewarded with two wickets and hopefully a place in the second test. Shoaib Akhtar showed that he is fully fit and how devastating he can be when he is playing without his big ego. The dismissal of Ashley Giles took us back in time when the two Ws were in their prime and used to regularly ravage through the opposition batting line ups. Paki cricket lovers are not going to forget that delivery for a long time to come.

After a long time Pakistan is up 1-0 in a test series. But this is the same England side that after going down in the first test, went on to win the Ashes against the mighty Australians.

We should relish this moment as the egos of our superstars might return, as has been shown in past, our cricketers don’t handle success very well.

The next match starts on the 20th, with the only foreseeable change in the lineup being Shahid Afridi coming in to replace Hasan Raza. The hard hitting Pathan will bolster the Pakistani lineup as he can turn the match around with his hitting and give Pakistan another bowling option.

We Won!!!

Pakistan just beat England by 22 runs!!!! After looking down and out for 4 days, they finally played with the desire to win and took the match away from England.

All credit goes to “the boys”……. “the boys” are back with a bang