Pakistan relax against Zimbabwe

History in cricket has been evident as to what would happen in case a strong team underestimates or relaxes against a so called weak team. However, Pakistan yesterday got back into the game when they saw Tantenda Taibu and Chigumbura advancing towards the target of 142. In the beginning, Pakistan had a slow start which remained to be slow by scoring runs at just over 7.00 runs an over. After Mohammed Hafeez scored 51 runs at the top of the innings, the next score worth mentioning was that of Umar Akmal who scored 28 runs that too under 6.00 runs an over which might be justified only in ODIs.

Looking at the scorecard, it is evident that the Pakistan was also touring Zimbabwe with an inexperienced team with only Shoaib Malik, having played more than 100 one day internationals. But, that would be more than enough against team like Zimbabwe. Had the same score been put up against some other team like India or England, the result would have been otherwise. On the otherhand, Zimbabwe had 2 batsmen in Tatenda Taibu and Chigumbura who have played more than 100 one dayers. That was just for the sake of trivia which has hardly got anything to do with the match result.

The Zimbabwean captain - Brendan Taylor stuck to the famous five formula when he had just five of his bowlers bowling at the Pakistani batsmen. Though Taylor had experimented with his bowlers, that would have hardly changed the match result. Out of those five bowlers, there was a pick of the bowlers when Kyle Jarvis returned with figures of 4-0-15-3 which was a bowling performance one of its kind. Another feat to be relished was Mohammed Hafeez' efforts of 3-0-11-3 which made him both the top scorer of the match and the most economical bowler as well at the same time.

All that mattered for Zimbabwe which was responsible in them losing to Pakistan was because their top order didn't just cope up with their middle order losing wickets at regular intervals. It is just understandable that Charles Coventry got bowled by Junad Khan with his experience not justifying that. Looking at the scorecard, I wish Mohammed Hafeez should have been given another over when he was the most economical bowler in terms of runs given as well when he gave away runs at a rate of 3.66 an over. If Yasir was to be tried, Misbah-Ul-Haq could have done it replacing Sohail Tanvir.

An obvious result for Pakistan

Well as all would have predicted, Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by a whopping 85 runs at Harare yesterday with contributions pouring in from all the batsmen who took it to the crease. There is little to be argued about keeping in mind the caliber of the Zimbabwe team who have made news only for the bad reasons when in 2005 they were stripped off their test status and had a series of losses to Bangladesh, by now who have become Bangladesh's best friend in cricket. Zimbabwe more often play Bangladesh and most of the time it is Bangladesh who walk away with all the honor.

Every year there would be a tour consisting of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh where either of them tour the other country for a full fledged series. This would be a delight for Bangladesh who can boast of a win. Had there been no Zimbabwe, Bangladesh would have lost all the test matches they would have played and may be their test status as well. One can see the scorecard to find the 15 wide deliveries bowled by the Zimbabwean bowlers out of the total of 198. If not for those wides also, Pakistan would have emerged victorious. It was a wrong idea to have Pakistan play Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe are best suited to play lesser known teams like Holland, Scotland, Ireland, Bermuda etc and not some Pakistan. Even against those teams, there are greater chances of Zimbabwe losing with Ireland and Kenya playing better cricket compared to what is expected out from them. There would be no point in looking for mistakes in the Pakistani batting which included contributions from Mohammed Hafeez, Asad Shafiq, Rameez Raja and Umar Akmal. Had Pakistan used its brains, they would have rested their key players and tried in some lesser known names. But, who can convince the PCB to try that out?

The Zimbabwean batsmen failed to even play their full 20 overs when their innings ended in the 98^th ball of the innings after scoring 113 runs. Though that would be something harsh to expect from Zimbabwe, teams like Ireland are found to do wonders. The highest individual score from Zimbabwe happened to be from the blades of Charles Coventry who scored 30 from 13 balls that included four boundaries and one six. Coventry came in at number 7 and Zimbabwe had to wait until the sixth wicket fell. Though a victory over Pakistan is not expected from Zimbabwe, a decent performance is definitely looked forward from them.

Drop catches and the tournament will drop your team

Well one can imagine the drop catch of the Kiwi big-hitting batsman Ross Taylor in the league stages of the tournament in the match between Pakistan and New Zealand at an unimportant venue. Ross Taylor was solely responsible in bringing up a total in excess of 300 when he blasted 92 runs of the last 4 overs at a rate of over 20 runs an over. That was the first defeat that Pakistan had in this tournament but was hard to come to terms with whatsoever. That was Pakistan's first defeat to New Zealand since 1979 world cup in world cups.

And then I can cite the match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka where top batsmen were repeatedly dropped by poor Pakistani fielders which though didn't stop Pakistan from emerging victorious but reduced the margin to victory restricting the same to just ten runs. Many claim that to be a close encounter for Sri Lanka that could have gone anybody's way. But, anybody who would have watched the match ball-by-ball would conclude that it was Pakistan's drop chances that reduced the margin of victory to ten instead of 50. Thse two games never bothered Pakistan for those were league stage games.

There was always a chance for Pakistan to come back into the tournament when all was not lost. They had won the match against Sri Lanka and later on in the world cup tournament beat Australia which saw them top the charts in group A ahead of Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Australia. Then in the quarter-finals, beating West Indies was not a tough task for anyone. But, the real test for Pakistan would be in the match against India where they have been ousted for the third time by their arch-rivals India. I'm not citing their 5-0 loss to India in world cups.

India knocked out Pakistan in the 1996 world cup when they registered a 39 run win despite a 113 run 1^st wicket partnership between Aamir Sohail and Saeed Anwar in 13 overs. Then came the match in 2003 which was famous for a drop catch of Sachin Tendulkar off a Wasim Akram delivery by Abdul Razzaq which spoiled their hopes of entering the super-sixes. Yesterday, another series of drop catches was observed when Sachin Tendulkar himself was dropped four times with Sehwag being given a chance. With all these, chasing 261 should not have been difficult for Pakistan. May be Pakistan wanted to go home early.

Best of the quarter-finals

Well with all the four quarter-finals of the world cup being over, I guess it is time to bid the best of the quarter-finals which included 8 teams playing four games (obviously). The first of the quarter-finals between West Indies and Pakistan was just a walk over game for Pakistan who thrashed the West Indies like never before. First by bowling out them for just above 100 and then chasing the same with close to 30 overs left. But, that feat can be enjoyed by no one other than the Pakistanis. So, that match stands canceled in picking the best.

Next on the list comes the match involving India and Australia which India unexpectedly won with 5 wickets still in hand. This goes down as the best of all knock-out games in this tournament so far with hardly anyone having their bet on the co-hosts though they are the favorites to win the crown this time. Though Australia have lost the services of Adam Gilchrist, Mathew Hayden, Damien Martyn, Andrew Symonds, Glenn McGrath and others, there are some like Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, Brad Haddin, Brett Lee etc who are still fresh from their days of glory since the last decade.

Australia might have lost to Pakistan in their league stage encounter with the sub-continent nation but the quarter-finals of the world cup is totally a different game whatsoever. Coming to the next game between New Zealand and South Africa, that was just an elimination match where both teams don't deserve to be in the semi-finals and one of them has to make it there irrespective of whether anyone likes it or not. Both South Africa and New Zealand had just one win in their league stage and that too by a one man show and a crash by the opposition.

It was India who lost their equations against South Africa and if not for Ross Taylor, no other batsman from the Kiwi side put Pakistanis under pressure. Last but not the least we have the game between England and Sri Lanka which was (we guess) anticipated by England to be their last show in this world cup. Gone were the good work when they had a tie against India chasing 339 before losing to Bangladesh and Ireland. They were just a step better than the West Indies and nothing else. Teams gotto be lucky to have faced West Indies and England and likewise they did it in style when they didn't lose a wicket en-route to their successful chase.

Was this a T20 or an ODI?

Well I just cannot say anything about the first quarter-finals between West Indies and Pakistan. I was totally confused whether the game was a T20 or an ODI. Scorecard suggests that West Indies played a 50 over cricket with Pakistan playing a T20 game if the overs played are considered. To be exact, West Indies played 43.3 overs and Pakistan played 20.5 overs meaning, the West Indies' innings lasted just short of 50 overs while Pakistan's batting innings lasted just above 20 overs. This would no doubt go down as the worst contest of the tournament no matter who says what.

Needless to be said, Pakistan effortlessly surpassed the total with no bowlers able to stop them from winning. The West Indies' bowlers could not even get a single Pakistani batsman out. Had Shahid Afridi been to the crease, the West Indian bowlers might have just walked out with a consolation of having gone with a wicket in hand. One can go and check out the scorecards of all the games played in his tournament so far to see where the West Indies stand after this encounter with Pakistan. As a matter of fact, Canada were able to bowl out the Pakistanis out for 184.

Bangladesh, defending 58 runs were able to scalp the wicket of Devon Smith and Holland were bowled out for a score that was 8 runs more than what West Indies could score against Pakistan yesterday. The list goes on and on. The only performances worse than this was Kenya's loss to the Kiwis and Bangladesh losing to South Africa to mention a few. Was this the game that most of the cricket fans over the world were looking forward to? A hint regarding the performance of the West Indies team was observed in the earlier games the West Indies played.

They did well to get both England and India all out but failed miserable in the chase which was not so tough given the likes of Chris Gayle, Devon Smith and Ramnaresh Sarwan. A total of 245 against England and 269 against was not an unachievable one for any decent outfit. Had West Indies beaten India the other day, they would not have been playing Australia today which happens to be a different issue. But, quarter-finals of a world cup should be a different game compared to what happened in the league stages isn't it? One has to just wait and watch what happens after this.

Finally a game to watch

Well in this world cup, there have hardly been games that can be watched keeping our fingers crossed if not for a game or two. One game that I can cite here would be the game between India and England at Bangalore and the one between England and Ireland on the same venue. Despite India piling up 339 runs on the board aided with century from Sachin Tendulkar and a half century from Yuvraj Singh, the match ended in a tie with England also being unable to make it theirs. And regarding the match between Ireland and England, a score of 320+ was not sufficient to keep Ireland from winning.

This is not totally due to the games involving the non-test playing nations alone and instead, even the match between England and South Africa happened to be a viewers' nightmare with South Africa coming so close and leaving things to England to finish their task. Now, there has been some excitement from the world cup with just 4 overs of the game changing the game totally. One cannot even figure out how on earth someone could smash 92 runs from 4 overs with every ball fetching close to 4 runs. Had it not been for these four overs, even a 4 an over average would have been tough.

A tougher thing to figure out was how could Pakistan drop the catch of the same player who towards the end of the New Zealand innings be equally devastating as calm he was in the beginning? One has to recall the way Pakistan dropped the easy catch of Sachin Tendulkar in the league match against India (obviously) in the 2003 world cup. Had it not been for Sachin Tendulkar, the match would have gone the Pakistani way with Ganguly going out for a duck and with Yuvraj Singh not being as fit as he is this time with half centuries in four games.

Even in the game against Sri Lanka, Sangakkara was put down repeatedly and though Pakistan eventually won, the margin of victory was just ten runs which should have been a warning to the Pakistani fieldsmen to improve upon the same. Finally, they paid a price for their first ever defeat in this world cup when they surrendered to New Zealand. The lone fifty from the Pakistani innings came from the blades of the number 8 batsman Abdul Razzaq who scored 62 runs along with a partnership of 68 runs for the 8^th wicket. That was all the Pakistanis could manage.

Sri Lanka could not cash on drop catches

Well despite there being so many drop catches by Pakistan against Sri Lanka, it is a point to wander about by the Sri Lankans who are one of the favorites to at least make it to the semi-finals of the tournament. Having dropped uncountable number of catches against the co-hosts of this world cup, ending up on the winning should be on one side enjoyed to the fullest extent and on the other side worry about their fielding. Pakistan have always been poor fielders especially in crunch games like the world cup knock-outs though this is not one such game for the Pakistanis.

On the other hand as well, for Sri Lanka, being unable to make use of the opponents' poor fielding definitely needs a re-thinking when they are set to face Australia in the days to come. One need not remind me writing earlier about Sri Lanka's chances to beat Australia with their spin potent and Australia's lack of will power. I have to re0thing upon that since the day Australia beat New Zealand a couple of days back in a one sided encounter at Ahmedabad. And, even Sri Lanka's chances look slim after their debacle against Pakistan and so would be Pakistan with their opposition-friendly fielding.

One only can think about the reduction in the power of the Australian team that is found touring this world cup but, hardly anybody is able to sense the caliber of the teams which are set to face Australia-be it Pakistan or Sri Lanka. Of course, New Zealand is a matter of the past. Or else, Canada, Kenya and Zimbabwe can only be a last minute hope for any team which can at least make it to the quarter-finals of the tournament. Coming to the game between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, this was Sri Lanka's fifth defeat to Pakistan in world cups.

Scorecard reflects the team work that the Pakistani team got right when four of their top and middle order batsmen able to contribute along with a little bit from Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi. In the beginning, it looked as though the Pakistani total would go past 300+ and no credit to the Sri Lank bowlers when it was the Pakistani batsmen who made fools out of themselves. Afridi's caliber is seen in the area which he rarely concentrates and seems to fail in that area where he is expected to do a killing. Or else, a dashing batsman is seen scalping 4 wickets something which frontline bowlers couldn't manage.

An apple pie for Pakistan

Well, this is one such match where either all players gear up to show their talent and prove a point or else make a mess of them by underestimating the opposition. Earlier in the tournament, England and India went through all sorts of struggle in their games against Holland and Bangladesh respectively and on the other hand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka defeated Canada and Kenya by a margin in excess of 200 runs respectively. In such games, every player wants to make his name to the record books no matter what their performance has to say in serious games like Australia.

Pakistan is yet to win a game against India in world cups and have now beaten Kenya by 205 runs. In the previous world cup at West Indies, though India failed to make it to the super-eight stage, they made headlines to have scored the highest team total in world cups and the highest margin of victory in one day internationals when they scored 413 runs against Bermuda and won the match by 257 runs surpassing the 398 set by Sri Lanka in 1996 against Kenya and the 256 run win of Australia over Namibia in 2003. Of course, had Pakistan lost yesterday, it would have made headlines.

There were four batsmen from Pakistan who notched up half centuries and a bowler who took five wickets. This was the second time Shahid Afridi has taken a 5 wicket haul against Kenya when he had figures of 5/11 in the ICC champions trophy 2004. If not for some initial hiccups, things went on very smoothly for Pakistan when the middle order took decent charge of the Pakistani innings. Confusion lied in giving the man of the match award when there were four Pakistani batsmen who had scored half centuries and Shahid Afridi who had returned with figures of 5/16.

Even well known bowlers like Zaheer Khan and James Anderson cannot boast of a bowling figure as good as this. Afridi gave away runs at just less than 3 runs an over when he bowled 6 overs. Despite his experience in international cricket Sachin Tendulkar rarely comes out with such a splendid performance with the ball though he has so far had two five wicket hauls. So, as you might have already guessed by now, my man of the match is no one but Shahid Afridi. However, it is not a matter of concern who was awarded the man of the match when there was such a good team work.

Rashid Latif targets history

Well if at all the present Afghanistan coach Rashid Latif is to be believed, he targets a test status for the team which he is coaching. This would indeed be a history if at all it happens to be true. There have been teams like Kenya and Ireland in recent times and in the past as well who have shown exceptional performance in international cricket considering their standards in international cricket. Kenya have managed a world cup semi final in 2003, something which teams like West Indies, England, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa couldn't in that edition. But, still Kenya is not being considered for tests.

Pak must learn from Zimbabwe

Well in the past decade, there have been three major developments in international cricket with the first one being the granting of test status to Bangladesh, for reasons best known to the ICC alone. The second on the list would be the stripping of the Zimbabwe team of its test status in 2006 owing to the political instability in the country though that had hardly got anything to do with the game of cricket. And then would be the harsh decision on Pakistan which is a deserving one as far as Pakistan is concerned. Pakistan has been the last country for any team to tour.

First it all started with most of the teams from across the world taking a back seat when it came to tour Pakistan, that included the likes of New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, England and India (of course). As a matter of fact, even Zimbabwe didn't turn up to tour Pakistan though they had shown interest in traveling to that country with little bit of hesitation. When a country whose political stability itself is a matter of question decides to boycott touring Pakistan, nothing specially needs to be said about Pakistan specially. The only team that bravely decided to continue to tour Pakistan was Sri Lanka.

But, that gave answers to all the questions posed by the five teams mentioned above. At that time, even Sri Lanka was not a safe country to head. But, no team ever decided against touring the island. Despite the ICC dropping Pakistan as one of the hosts for the upcoming world cup in 2011, Sri Lanka's bravery to tour the nation needs to be appreciated whatsoever. At last, Pakistan themselves had to boycott their own nation and go to England and play their home series against Australia and England. The situation in Zimbabwe was hardly any different from that in Pakistan.

With the political turmoil in that African country, that was also a country where touring had to be given another thought. Still, there was no hesitation from teams like Kenya and Afghanistan who went on with plans to tour the nation for the intercontinental cup. Now, the latest we hear is that Ireland has decided to go ahead with its tour to Zimbabwe neglecting all fears of the political instability there. One has to recall England boycotting their pool match against Zimbabwe in the 2003 world cup owing to the same reasons. Now, if at all Ireland and Scotland have decided to tour Zimbabwe, then Pakistan will have to do something with the situation in their country.

14, 15 and 16 are the top scores

Well it was fascinating not only to see England win the first test at Nottingham yesterday but also the scorecard was one of its kind when the top three individual scores in the 2^nd innings of Pakistan's batting happened to be 14, 15 and 16. Of course, the score of 14 in the innings was scored by extras and that is no player. These three add up to 45 runs which is more than half of the total score of 80 put up by Pakistan. Recently, a couple of weeks back, Pakistan made news for the right reasons when they bowled Australia for 88 which was their first score below 100 to lose all ten wickets.

Now, they themselves make news this time for the wrong reasons when they lost all their ten wickets for a score 8 runs less than what the Aussies scored. Coincidentally, the aforementioned scorers were the only three which crossed the double digit mark. Extras apart, there were just two Pakistani batsmen who scored above ten and with one making up his mind in leaving out the tail end batsman Danish Kaneria who scored 16, the number reduces to just one batsman out of 11 scoring double digit. It is nothing but a tragedy that the top scorer in the innings happened to be a number 10 batsman in Kaneria.

One more thing that would fascinate all Pakistan cricket fans would be the fact that the top scorer for Pakistan, with both their innings combined would be another tail end batsman in Umer Gul when he top scored with an unbeaten 65 in the 1^st innings. That was the 3^rd highest individual score in the match after the English batsmen Eoin Morgan and Matt Prior notched up centuries for their team in the 1^st and the 2^nd innings respectively. It was a good toss to win by the England captain Andrew Struass who wisely chose to bat. The scorecard tells us the pitch which was found favoring the bowlers and batting 2^nd would have been inviting trouble.

Of course, hardly any captain wins the toss and elects to bowl first no matter n what pitch he is playing. The Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni can be excluded from the list who is often found making abnormal decisions with reasons which only he justifies after making a fool out of himself and his team. One can see 8 bowlers from the Pakistan side having the red cherry in their hands in the first innings when England scored 364 as against the only 4 bowlers from the English side. This showed the pressure that the Pakistan players were. This was unnecessary with three more sessions and four more days to go in the match. Pakistan needs to learn a lot. Better approach Bangladesh.

Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat

Yesterday's game between Australia and Pakistan in the second semi-finals of the T20 world cup was something different than reading some freeta's blog when a total of 191 was not only chased down successfully by the Aussies but also ended with the winning runs being scored in the form of a six. Aussies nevertheless were at one stage reeling at 105/5 from 12.3 over with their top five batsmen heading back towards the dressing room. Still, Mike Hussey had different things in mind when the wickets tumbling at the other end never seemed to bother him and he continued to sail with ease.

In yesterday's match, Mike Hussey was a T20 version of Michael Beaven who is famous for Australia's wins in the semi-finals of the 1996 and 1999 world cups. Whatsoever, no one can ever blame the Pakistani batsmen or their bowlers for their loss. The Pakistani batsmen got everything right with all of their top order batsmen barring Afridi contributing with the bat. And, a total of 191 on the board speaks for itself. Despite the score ticking for Pakistan, Dirk Nannes got an over maiden which was a highlight of Aussie bowling. It was just impossible for part time bowler to stop the flow of runs.

After the top bowlers namely Johnson, Nannes and Tait finished their spells, Clarke had no option but to toss the ball to Watson, Smith and David Hussey who added fuel to the Pakistani fire. The Aussies needless to be said kept on losing wickets at regular intervals with the scoreboard at one stage reading 105/5 as mentioned with Australia needing 87 runs from 45 balls at a rate of 2.00 runs every ball on an average. Though it has not happened for Australia in the past, this time the Aussie batsmen have been flawless with their approach to the T20 game.

Aussies have been unbeaten in this world cup when no one expected them to do so. Aussies have dominated the other two formats of the game for nearly decades which need not be cited specially but they had a problem with T20 format which forced Ponting to call it a day. With the T20 being the shortest version of the game, one has to give hats-off to Mike Hussey for bringing back Australia into the game. There is little time left in T20 game unlike in ODIs and tests. Hussey's innings gives rise to a new saying "Fast and steady wins the race".

A series of surprises

If the ongoing world T20 tournament is given a close look at, one can sense that since the qualifying round, all groups have similar run-ups. The was a team in each of the four groups which had won both games in the pool stages namely India, Australia and New Zealand with England missing out. England have reached the semi-finals without a win in their league stages. However, England managed to win all the three matches in the super-eights stage when they were termed as the first team to head back home. Another team to surprise was India but this time it is for the wrong reasons.

India lost all three games in the super eights of the tournament unlike England and Australia who won all three games. England beat Pakistan, New Zealand and South Africa while Australia needless to be said beat India, Sri Lanka and West Indies. However, the remaining two teams that would make it to the semis was in a toss in both the groups. In one group, Pakistan lost both their games to England (obviously) and New Zealand while on the other hand, South Africa lost their game against England and had a last chance with the game against Pakistan yet to go.

Luckily, Pakistan could make that one count with New Zealand losing to England on the same day, hours after Pakistan registered a win over South Africa. So, Pakistan will be reaching the semis with just one win in the super-eights. On the other hand, Sri Lanka should consider themselves lucky to be in the semis with India failing to put up a better game plan in their must win match against Sri Lanka. At the same time, Sri Lanka were are found wasting a space in their playing XI by having Jayasuriya playing especially at number 6 when the batsman has been opening the innings for decades altogether.

This has happened for the first time in a T20 world cup that a team makes it to the semi-finals after winning just one game in the super-eights. Meanwhile, predicting the finalists could be partially with Australia and England being more of a probability. However, Pakistan are a more decent team compared to Sri Lanka and it would come in as no surprise in case Pakistan beat Australia. And on the other hand, Sri Lanka can tackle England with their spin bowling. But, it doesn't look like England are in for any compromise looking at the way they have handled teams in this tournament. Check out if this is ur best blog.

South Africa exit yet again

For the third consecutive time, South Africa have given a grand exit from the world cup after losing to Pakistan at Gros Islet by 11 runs. The margin of victory for Pakistan might not seem to be that good but, the match against the Proteas was worth wining for both teams one, for South Africa to make it to the semis and second for Pakistan to keep their hopes alive in making it to the semis. Pakistan has lost both their earlier games to England and New Zealand while South Africa have a win against New Zealand and a loss to England.

With all gates being close for South Africa, Pakistan has a chance of making it to the semi-finals in case England happen to win over New Zealand. In case New Zealand win, the semi-finalists would be the two teams which beat Pakistan in the super eight stage. Coming to the match, the pitch never seemed to favor the batsmen when both Pakistan and South Africa had a bowler in their team who could scalp 4 wickets. Or else, a total of 147 is hard to defend. This is for the 2^nd time that Pakistan have ousted South Africa from T20 world cup.

Last time year, Pakistan had knocked off South Africa (who were until then unbeaten) in the semi-finals of the tournament en route to their successful campaign in England. Looking at the scorecard, After Kamran Akmal's stint at the top, Pakistan had to wait until the entry of Umar Akmal to see their scoreboard ticking once again. It was Umar Akmal's 51 runs along with a 61 run partnership with Shahid Afridi which laid the platform for a decent score on a bowler friendly pitch which went on to become a winning total for them. Shahid Afridi's 30 runs from 16 balls should also not go unnoticed.

Coming to the batting of the South Africans, initial blows from Asif and Abdul Razzaq was more than enough for viewers to come to conclusion of the match. If not for AB deVilliars, no other batsmen really had something to talk about. In the end, South Africa lost equal number of wickets as Pakistan but fell 11 runs short of what Pakistan could put up on the scoreboard. Now, all that Pakistan would want to happen is that England win thrashes the Kiwis which will see Pakistan making to the semis of a T20 world cup for the third consecutive time.

Second land that beat Pakistan

It was just a couple of days back that England beat Pakistan by 6 wickets after they had a successful run chase of 148. Yesterday, Pakistan had a close encounter against New Zealand which Pakistan lost by a margin of just 1 run. According to me, this match is one of the foolish way to lose a match with top batsmen in their side. New Zealand were never in the race for victory and on the other hand, Pakistan never had problems evident from the match. All that Pakistan lacked was a good game planning for which they paid the price.

There was no superb or an outstanding batting performance from the Kiwi batsmen. The highest score by a New Zealand batsman was 38 which was scored by the captain Daniel Vettori at number 5. usually, in any game, 4 bowlers bowl their quota of four overs but yesterday, four of the Pakistani bowlers were found bowling just three overs. I wish the reason for such a decision was that like Australia, New Zealand are also bad players of spin bowling and keeping that in mind, Shahid Afridi used Saeed Ajmal and himself to the maximum extent, bowling their complete quota of four overs.

But, wih the batsmen struggling, it would not have been a bad decision had Afridi gone in for fast bowlers as well. Even Mohammad Asif and others could have made much of the Kiwi batsmen. Whatever, keeping in mind the total of 133 which Pakistan could not chase, Afridi's decision might not go applauded. If not for Salman Butt, no other batsman from Pakistan showed any sort of courage. Salman Butt stayed at the crease despite 7 wickets falling from the other end. I wish Pakistan needs to be taught that cricket is a team sport unlike badminton and tennis.

Hats-off to the Kiwi bowlers who did not lose their rhythm despite showing a dismal performance with their bat. Once they came to know that they had a chance of winning the game, the Kiwi fielders and bowlers didn't leave any stone unturned. At the same time, the Pakistan team kept on losing wickets one after the other as mentioned. Ian Butler stands apart in his bowling which had an over maiden along with three batsmen to his credit. That was the over which made the difference. But, with the pitch hardly assisting the batsmen, it would not have been a bad choice had Butt been jointly awarded the man of the match.

Sensational victory for England

One would have hardly expected England to win against Pakistan at Bridgetown yesterday when they couldn't win even a single encounter in the league stages of the tournament. Whatever, there is no reason why England should not win against any team. But, looking at the way they played against Ireland, speaks of their caliber to take on Pakistan. Of course, one should not forget they way bad fortune stuck them in the match against West Indies when they scored 191 and still lost with rain interfering and forcing the second innings to just 5 overs. Had the match progressed, England would have definitely won.

However, in the match against Ireland, England could manage only 120 on the board which cannot be a winning total even in today's one dayers. In yesterday's game, Pakistani batsmen are themselves to blame for having put a low total with most of them scoring more or less the same number of runs. Batsmen who comparatively stood apart were Salman Butt and Umar Akmal who scored in thirties. But, that could have been a score only in cases where rain interrupts and a D-L method gets enforced and the match gets reduced to five overs. A strike rate of less than 150 by top batsmen is useless in T20 cricket.

It is confusing to read the mindset of the Pakistani batsmen who took such a different approach. Otherwise, the Pakistani batsmen are known for their blind slogging needless to be said. That was the main reason why the Pakistani batsmen got flattered here yesterday. There were four bowlers from England who bowled their complete quota while Paul Collingwood unnecessarily got one over which went for ten runs.With a total of just 147 on the board, there was nothing much that the Pakistani bowlers could do. There was not even a single bowler who stood apart and tried to control the flow of runs.

Keeping in mind England's problem against spin bowling, Saeed Ajmal had a say when he scalped 2 wickets and gave away runs at a rate of just over 5.00 runs an over and was given to bowl 4 overs which made him the most economical bowler of the lot. So was the case with Shahid Afridi who got the wicket of Collingwood. There didn't seem to be any pressure on the English batsmen though they took the game until the last over to secure a win. Mistake lied in allowing Mohammad Asif to bowl 4 overs despite going in for 10.00 runs an over.

Will Ijaz Butt allow Pakistan to feature in the 2011 WC for matches scheduled in India?

The dates for the Champions' League T20 tournament 2010 are yet to be decided and so are the venues where the world's best T20 domestic teams will fight it out. But, a news prior to all these has already taken precedence when the PCB chief Ijaz Butt says that no teams from Pakistan would be participating in the Champions League 2010. But, there is just a hint that it will be held in India in 2010 which is yet to be decided. There should be no reason as to why any team from Pakistan should not participate in the Champions League though there is a more probability of the same being held in India.

Pakistan had no problems when the international hockey team is going to take part in the world cup that is scheduled in India. Is the frustration of the Pakistani players restricted only to cricket and no other game? The reason need not be cited specially that it is due to the backing out of the IPL sponsors who turned down on bidding on a Pakistani player that Ijaz Butt has come to such a decision regarding its participation in the Champions League. Would this be the decision if at all by freak chance, the tournament is held outside India by the committee members?

Is it a sort of revenge from the Pakistani side for the humiliation that its players had to bear when they were not picked up by any of the 8 IPL team sponsors? Or is protest a better word than revenge for Ijaz Butt's decisions? If any of the above reasons are anywhere to go by, Pakistan will be missing out on an opportunity to showcast its talent in T20 cricket, which has seen Pakistan giving its best since the inaugural world cup held in South Africa. The PCB chief has hardly taken any sort of responsibility for the attack on the Sri Lankan team bus and reacts in an unexpected way regarding the behavior of IPL sponsors.

One has to think whether the PCB chief would stand by his decision in case the Champions League is held outside India for the venue is not yet decided. And another issue to think over is that the world cup in 2011 is to be held in the sub continent minus Pakistan, wherein Pakistan will have to play matches in India as well. If that is the case, will Ijaz Butt rule out the players from Pakistan from participating in the world cup as well or boycott the matches that are due in India? If given a chance, Ijaz Butt would see to that the ICC scrap India also from hosting the world cup in 2011.

Pakistan Totally Outplayed

What can anyone say about the Pakistan team which toured Australia and lost each and every encounter if faced? Pakistan were on the verge of victory on three occasions in the 3 tests, 5 one dayers and the only T20 game that was played yesterday at Melbourne. In the second test played at Sydney, Pakistani bowlers did well to contain the Aussie batsmen by bowling them all out for a score of 127, that in turn set many records for Pakistan. That was followed by Pakistan piling up 333 runs on the board, which was as good a follow on by a team batting first. But, the end result is that Pakistan lost the match by 36 runs.

Then, in the 1^st one dayer at Brisbane, Pakistan did well to put up a decent score of 274 on board and eventually, out of bad luck lost the game and took honors after the Aussie batsmen went till the last over to win the game by 5 wickets. Then, in the 3^rd ODI, though the Pakistani batsmen lost control in the initial stages of their chase of 286, there was an 85 run 5^th wicket partnership between Fawad Alam and Umer Akmal, that restored hopes of a Pakistani win until the tail-enders viz Rana Naved and Shahid Afridi made a mess by just slogging irresponsibly.

Then comes the fifth one day match held at Perth, where still Pakistani batsmen made a mess of their game by losing all their wickets for a partly total of 212. But, that was not all until the Aussie batsmen had trouble chasing the same partly total. The Australian batsmen lost wickets at regular intervals, with the pressure balancing more on the Aussie batsmen than on the Pakistani bowlers. But, eventually, the result was that Pakistan had still lost by 2 wickets. Another blow to the Pakistan team was the suspension of Shahid Afridi for tasting the ball on the field.

Finally, in the T20 game held at Melbourne, Pakistan did everything to take home a win by first bowling the Aussie batsmen for 127 and then start the run chase the way it was supposed to be. Still, the final result of the game was no different. In defending a modest total of 127, even a 1 run victory is worth an innings win in case that can happen. The only thing that the Pakistani players can boast of is that they lost 1 wicket less than what the Aussie team could manage. Finally, needless to be said, the Pakistan team was totally outplayed, the reasons regarding the same being hardly of any weight.

The crowd's take on the match

Well from Eden gardens to Lahore in 1997, there have been much disturbances to the sporting action on the field, most of which has resulted in abandoning the matches. No one can forget the way the semi finals of the Wills world cup 1996 was washed out due to fan fury in the game between India and Sri Lanka when the scoreboard for India read 120/8 during their unsuccessful run chase of 252 imposed by Sri Lanka. However, hardly anyone would have noticed the way India lost the third ODI to Pakistan in Lahore which saw Ijaz Ahmed blasting a 84 ball unbeaten 139 to take Pakistan through in just 26.2 overs.

It was neither India's weak bowling nor the strength in the Pakistani batting line up that saw such a splendid performance from the Pakistani batsmen. But, it was the stone throwing incident in the 2nd ODI at Karachi that made India surrender the 3rd ODI to Pakistan. Then there have been many such incidents like the first three ODIs between India and West Indies, which took place irrespective of whether India won or lost. The third ODI between India & West Indies had to be called off after 27 overs owing to a stone throwing incident despite India being in a dominating position and were ultimately declared winners.

The other incidents that need not be highlighted specially is the one in the 1996 world cup where Australia and West Indies cancel their group matches against Sri Lanka scheduled at Colombo after news papers reports of LTTE strikes in the city, that was favored to Sri Lanka finally. Then comes the way England and New Zealand call off the matches against Zimbabwe and Kenya anticipating some trouble from the crowd especially England in 2003 world cup. The ugliest of them all being the one in the 2nd finals of the Commonwealth Bank series 2008 where a streaker was hit by Symonds after smuggling himself onto the field at Brisbane.

There was a similar incident even in the previous game as well that was let off lightly. The latest one that we hear is the one recently in the fifth and the final one day match of the first part of the Commonwealth bank series between Australia and Pakistan, where a spectator comes in from behind and hugs on to Khalid Latif in the deep. The case was hardly any different when a fan was found throwing a water bottle at a Pakistani fielder in Bangalore in 1999 after India's chances of winning was ruled out by the Wasim Akram led side. This has to be something that the ICC should keep an eye upon at least in Australia, where such incidents are fresh unlike the ones in the sub-continent.

Pakistan prepared for the worst?

The last time a team was found heading to Australia and coming back empty handed was Zimbabwe way back in 2003 when they lost both the test matches to Australia and then lost all the eight matches in the then Victoria Bitter series with 4 loss each to India and Australia. That was the test series where, in the first test Australia's Mathew Hayden scored a world record individual score of 380 runs breaking the 14 year old record held by the West Indian legend Brian Lara. Now, Pakistan after having been defeated in 3 tests and 4 ODIs are heading in the same direction.

It is no doubt that there have been teams in the past as well who have been whitewashed by Australia in tests. There was England team that lost all 5 matches in the Ashes 2006-07 and then there was Sri Lanka who lost both the test matches to Australia in 2007-08. Very few teams like India have been lucky not to have come back without winning even a single test match. India were able to win one test and draw another one on their last tour to Australia. Prior to that, South Africa managed to draw their first test at Perth in 2005-06 thus avoiding whitewash though they were not able to win.

Luckily, the West Indies were able to draw the second test at Adelaide in December last yer. But, when it came to the one dayeres, in the last decade there have been almost all major cricketing nations who have been a part of the VB series which is now played as a bilateral series under the sponsorship of Commonwealth bank. Though India was not able to win a game against Australia in 1999-00, they had a win against Pakistan in that year. So has been the case in the following years where a team takes home atleast one victory from the series be it against any opposition.

But, this time the Pakistan team that is currently under tour of Australia are found to break that jinx in case they lose the remaining one dayer to be played at Perth and the only T20 match that is bound to follow that. And moreover, Pakistan has not been whitewashed atleast in the recent past over almost a decade by any team. even in their last meeing with Australia, Pakistan despite losing the series could manage to win 2 out of the 3 one dayers and the T20 game also with it. Their worst defeat in the past decade has been 4-1 against India in 2006 and against New Zealand in 2004.