Well after their triumph in the T20 world cup finals on Sunday, most all of the Pakistani cricket fans would have rejoiced their team's victory by getting crazy. Of course..who on earth would not like to do so when something major has happened unexpectedly for Pakistan after 17 long years. After winning the world cup in 1992 that was held in Australia/New Zealand, Pakistan have just managed to enter the finals of two major ICC sponsored events when they were lucky to make it to the finals of the world cup in 1999 and then they entered the finals of the inaugural T20 world cup in 2007.
If anyone gives me an opportunity to have a say, I'd rather say that this is Pakistan's first ever major cricket title sponsored by the ICC. The 1992 world cup was just a fluke. Oh! C'mon..let us just go back to the league stages of the Benson & Hedges world cup 1992 where Pakistan had losses against arch rivals India, South Africa and West Indies. Pakistan until then had wins only against Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Of course not to mention the win against Zimbabwe. The match against England was a virtual knock out between Pakistan and Australia. Victory for England meant that Pakistan gets knocked out and Australia advance to the semis.
And much to one's surprise, Pakistan were bowled out for a paltry score of 74 which would have sealed Pakistan's fortunes. But, it was rain that came to Pakistan's rescue that day. And the rest that followed is well in front of our eyes. Anyway, that was a better result for, had Pakistan lost to England, the 2007 world cup win for Australia would have been their fifth world cup and 6 world cup finals in succession. And in 1999, Pakistan won matches against West Indies and Australia in a close finish only to lose to South Africa and India in the super six stage. It was the victory in league stage that helped Pakistan enter the semis. Pakistan had to win just 1 match to advance further to the semis and there was Zimbabwe to that came to their rescue.
Now, this victory is bound to remove the fluke tag from Pakistan. Pakistan beat two teams in Sri Lanka and South Africa who were unbeaten until then in the tournament. May be that, had some other team like say Australia had made it to the super 8 stage in place of Ireland, Pakistan would have had problems after their loss to Sri Lanka. But, that luck could be overpowered by their semi final win against the Proteas. However, their days of glory are numbered. They can enjoy being the T20 champions only until next April when another world T20 championship kicks off in the Caribbean. Meaning Pakistan can remain as T20 champions for only 10 months unless they win the next competition as well. And in the mean time we have the ICC Champions Trophy in September and incase Pakistan loses, that will surely overshadow their T20 win.
Showing posts with label Pakistan vs Ireland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pakistan vs Ireland. Show all posts
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
Pakistan Makes Full Use of The Advantage
Well the match between Ireland and Pakistan played last night was as expected won by Pakistan, who in the process made it to the semi finals of the ongoing T20 world for the second time, after making it in South Africa last time a couple of years back. However, things are not difficult for any test playing nation when there are teams like Ireland around. For a better picture regarding the caliber of the Pakistan team, one has to consider the matches against stronger teams like Sri Lanka, New Zealand and England. Pakistan lost to these teams barring New Zealand. Both Sri Lanka and England came out better than Pakistan on that day.
Anyway, that is a forgotten issue at the moment. And in the match between Pakistan and Ireland, it was a rather decent game played by the Irish there, for they never gave up their chase like the New Zealand did. In the super eight of the ICC T20, the Irish have displayed a comparitively better performance when compared to New Zealand not only in their match against Pakistan but otherwise also. Being a test playing nation, New Zealand were all out for a partly score of 99 and the Irish managed to go up to 120 with a wicket still in their hand. One need not be reminded that Ireland had defeated Pakistan in the ICC world cup 2007.
All that the New Zealand team could manage was a win against minnows Ireland and Scotland. And most of the odds favor Sri Lanka in their last encounter of the world cup this season. I wish New Zealand recall the thrashing given by Sanath Jayasuriya in the inaugural edition of the same. New Zealand were no match for any test playing nation even then. It was shrude luck that landed New Zealand in the semis. New Zealand entered the semis at the cost of South Africa or in other words, South Africa's loss was New Zealand's gain. It was good to see an Irish batsman score 40.
Had it not been for Ireland, things would have surely been tough for Pakistan and may be that in place of India or Australia, Pakistan would have been eliminated. This could be taken from the game played against strong teams. It was the same luck that helped Pakistan win the 1992 world cup in Australia/New Zealand when at one point of time they were not even the favourites to make it to the semis. And in the semis against New Zealand, it was only after Inzamam stepped in that Pakistan could hope of a final berth. And this time as well, Pakistan have defeated only one test playing nation in New Zealand. The real task for Pakistan is in the semis.
Anyway, that is a forgotten issue at the moment. And in the match between Pakistan and Ireland, it was a rather decent game played by the Irish there, for they never gave up their chase like the New Zealand did. In the super eight of the ICC T20, the Irish have displayed a comparitively better performance when compared to New Zealand not only in their match against Pakistan but otherwise also. Being a test playing nation, New Zealand were all out for a partly score of 99 and the Irish managed to go up to 120 with a wicket still in their hand. One need not be reminded that Ireland had defeated Pakistan in the ICC world cup 2007.
All that the New Zealand team could manage was a win against minnows Ireland and Scotland. And most of the odds favor Sri Lanka in their last encounter of the world cup this season. I wish New Zealand recall the thrashing given by Sanath Jayasuriya in the inaugural edition of the same. New Zealand were no match for any test playing nation even then. It was shrude luck that landed New Zealand in the semis. New Zealand entered the semis at the cost of South Africa or in other words, South Africa's loss was New Zealand's gain. It was good to see an Irish batsman score 40.
Had it not been for Ireland, things would have surely been tough for Pakistan and may be that in place of India or Australia, Pakistan would have been eliminated. This could be taken from the game played against strong teams. It was the same luck that helped Pakistan win the 1992 world cup in Australia/New Zealand when at one point of time they were not even the favourites to make it to the semis. And in the semis against New Zealand, it was only after Inzamam stepped in that Pakistan could hope of a final berth. And this time as well, Pakistan have defeated only one test playing nation in New Zealand. The real task for Pakistan is in the semis.
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