Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Pakistan is Pakistan after all ...

Last night everyone went to bed thinking that Pakistan will win their first test match in two and a half years.

I didn't.

Go to bed that is.

I stayed up all night in anticipation of a Pakistan win.

97 to get, 8 wickets in hand, Yousuf and Butt at the crease; who would have thought that the Pakistani batsmen had other things on their minds.

Sri Lanka have all but closed this test and I guess its time to go to bed.

I know Stani and many others will be looking to slit my throat for pointing out that Sri Lanka had not won a test against Pakistan at home since 1986.

But a fact is a fact. It was true.

So the win, which was supposed to be a first for Pakistan in two and a half years, will now in all probability be a first for Sri Lanka in 23 years!

A bit historic for them I guess.

Sri Lanka never looked like winning this game; Pakistan was on top from the moment Younis Khan called right at the toss.

All the way till this morning.

Tushara and Herath bowled brilliantly and the Pakistani batsmen had no answer for the swing and spin.

But there is no excuse for Pakistan's slide from 71-2 to 86-7.

They blew it!

Make your pitch on this post...



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25 Pitched:

  1. straight point said...
      This comment has been removed by the author.
  2. straight point said...
     

    how does misbah manages to find different ways to get out every time puzzles me...

    waste of a talent...

  3. Leg Break said...
     

    Bloody hell Q,

    How did that happen?

  4. Som said...
     

    T20 triumph and this defeat, no other team could complete the cycle with such effortlessness.

  5. khansahab said...
     

    If you kick Malik out and play Fawad Alam these debacles will happen less frequently.

    When Malik fails, people don't criticise him that much because they think Younis, Yousuf and Misbah should have performed too.

    If Malik is playing as a batsman what is the point of having him in the Test team if he can't ever take responsibility?

    There is a problem in our psyche. All of a sudden when there is a batting collapse the cannons are turned towards Younis and Yousuf, whereas we conveniently overlook Malik because he is not a proper batsman. Yet, when it comes to selecting squads, Malik is an automatic selection because of his "batting". You can't say his bowling because in Tests his bowling strike rate is 130 or something. A club cricketer can bowl better than him.

    It doesn't make sense. To an unbiased, logical and educated mind, it does not make sense.

  6. Viswanathan said...
     

    Well, they blew it.:)

  7. pRAFs said...
     

    any team with lesser talent may not have come even close to this effort. but that's Pakistan.
    if you support them you gotta be ready for the unbelievable as much as the unthinkable

  8. SM said...
     

    Hi Q , I know Pak blew it now and that Pak is Pak after all .. at a time when the win was in sight , they made sure that they let it go with grace . how ever let me take some positives out of it .
    - that this format of the gamne can equally be unpredictable given that Pak were the better team on all 3 days and couple of bad sessions and panic did them all .

    - that this format can never be said to be less engrossing than all the other recently born bonsai forms of the game .

    - that Pak can only improve from here on and look forward to playing some positive cricket rather than saving the match

  9. Rayden said...
     

    How the hell did this happen? I just came back home and saw on the news Pak lost - could not believe it. Logged on to your site now for some news.

  10. Stani Army said...
     

    khansahab,

    I think you're being a bit harsh on Malik.

  11. khansahab said...
     

    Stani

    Someone who can't play pace and swing should not be batting in the middle order. Simple as. He is not a Test player. Look at his first class performance in domestic cricket.

    He can't bowl, he can't bat.

    He is not above criticism and suspicion.

  12. rahul said...
     

    Rangana Herath another spin magician for Sri Lanka after Mutahia and mendis.

  13. Q said...
     

    SP,

    Its amazing how he does it. Whenever u think that now its over, he can't possibly find another way to get out, boom.. he does it again!

  14. Q said...
     

    LB,

    Well in the 2nd over of the day, Yousuf mis read a straigther one and was caught plumb in front.. 2 balls later Salman Butt decided to hit the ball out of the ground and got caught at the boundary..

    An over later, Shoaib Malik did not move his feet and was caught behind of a more than decent delivery..

    Then Akmal got a brute that swung in and he went..

    Then Misbah found himself in the middle of the pitch while everyone was appealing for an LBW.. he forgot that he get back into his crease and was run out...

    The rest was the tail which just got mopped up.

  15. Q said...
     

    Som,

    That's true.. only Pakistan..

  16. Q said...
     

    Khansahab,

    "If you kick Malik out and play Fawad Alam these debacles will happen less frequently"

    Fawad Alam alone cannot change the unpredictable nature of the entire team. This collapse was nothing new.. we have all seen it before.

    I would love to see Fawad in the XI but even if he had Alam playedI don't think he would have got Pak to 167 alone while everyone else fell like nine pins.

    Everyone is to blame here.. not Malik alone, not Younis or Yusuf alone, not Misbah alone.. all of them including Salman Butt who played an atrocious stroke.. wat was he thinking?

    To be fair, the Lankans bowled really well... but we still have no xcuse for folding like nine pins..

  17. Q said...
     

    Ottayan,

    That they did.

  18. Q said...
     

    Prafs,

    That is Pakistan for you!

  19. Q said...
     

    SM,

    Thanx for your comment.

    I agree with you.. there are many positives to take out from here.. and though it was sad to see Pakistan lose, it was an amazing test match!

  20. Q said...
     

    Rayden,

    Well I watched it live and was just as shocked!

  21. Q said...
     

    Rahul,

    This was not the first time Herath did well against Pakistan.. he did the same back in 2004 in Pakistan.

  22. Silly Point said...
     

    Q , I am not too sure how does thsi happen very often to Pak teams , so often. It feels sorry to see good players (eg Butt , Malik ) not able to switch from the bonsai cricket to the glory cricket mode getting out on ridiculous shots. I was awake all night to see that partnership between Yousuf and butt all night only to be heartfelt how Butt threw his wicket losing patience . They need to do some soul searching to and work on shot selection .

  23. Q said...
     

    Silly Point,

    I know what you mean. I was also up all night to watch the end of the game and how it ended wasn't what I was expecting..

    Pakistan does have this uncanny ability to lose matches from winning positions; on the other hand they also have the same ability to win matches from almost lost positions.

    There are a few reasons that I can pinpoint on but they're not the be all and end all of it..

    1) Inexperience.. besides Yousuf and Younis none of the batsmen have played even 50 tests.. so batting under pressure, closing what they started, etc. is something they are relatively unfamiliar to...

    2) Pressure of winning a test.. they haven't been in that position for a long time.. maybe the situation got the better of them.. there were a lot of nerves...

  24. smk said...
     

    I completely agree that shoaib malik should be out of the team. He is probably just in it on the basis of having scored a century in SL last time around, but what did he do this game? In the first innings, he was involved in a run out with yousuf...soon after which he got himself out! When he was the settled batsman and it was his and akmals responsibility to give us a big lead, he folded like a deck of cards to the new ball! It was pathetic watching him poke around and this coming from some1 who has been used as an opener before!!

    Of course he's not the only one to be blamed, but he did not exactly set the world alight...bring in faisal or fawad plz

  25. Q said...
     

    SMK,

    Agreed. Fawad or Faisal should have played instead of him anyway in my opinion.. but he cannot be solely held responsible for the loss today.

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