Living a Dream...
I'm playing cricket in Abu Dhabi for a team called ACE, which is currently taking part in a 25-overs a side Division B cricket tournament. The team is made up of young cricket enthusiasts from Pakistan, who have spent the best parts of their lives growing up in the UAE. While we won our first match very convincingly, it was our 2nd match this past Friday that convinced me to mention the team in this blog.
Fielding first, we had bowled the opposition out for 148, setting ourself an easy target. The chase began in emphatic fashion with the openers putting on a brisk 28 runs in the first 4 overs, before the spinners came on. The next 8 overs saw the entire top and middle order collapse. At drinks, we were 55-6 of 12 overs. The match was all but lost, and the whole of ACE was sitting with their heads in their hands.
Play resumed after drinks and the two batsmen at the crease slowly started building the innings, playing with caution and picking up singles and doubles against the spin dominated attack. I started paying attention to the match again after the 17th over, when 76 runs were required of 8 overs. 10 an over on a cement pitch is manageable even with ones and twos. The batsmen were doing exactly that, and I started thinking of a turnaround. Just when I got up from the background and sat next to the boundary line, we lost another wicket - with 7 overs left, 69 runs were required with only 3 wickets in hand.
The next couple of overs saw some mighty blows - a couple of 4s and a huge 6, but a wicket fell on the 20th over, leaving 56 to win of 5 overs with the final 2 wickets left.
The number 10 batsman, Bilal Sulaiman walked in, as the captain from the boundary said "we can do it with 1s and 2s". Bilal replied "56 of 5, let me play". Bilal and Ali Abbas, who had been at the crease since the fall of the 6th wicket, continued the innings. They got a single or a double of every ball, a couple of boundaries, a six each, and the required score dropped to 44 of 4 overs, 36 of 3, 28 of 2, and 16 of the final 6 balls of the match.
The final over of the innings started, ACE gathered around the boundary line hoping for a miracle, the first ball was delivered, Bilal drove to long on, ran the first one hard, Ali turned for the second, Bilal refused, and in attempt to return back to his crease, Ali was Run Out. The last man, Omer Rizvi walked out amid silence – 5 balls remaining, 15 to get, and only 1 wicket left. Omer was beaten of the 2nd delivery, but managed a single of the 3rd getting Bilal back on strike. 14 of 3. "3 fours" screamed a guy. "2 sixes and a four" screamed another.
What went down over the final 3 deliveries of the match is what dreams are made of. Every young Pakistani boy dreams of doing a "Miandad", even if it is in a tape-ball game in his back yard and Bilal Sulaiman lived that dream on Friday. The 4th delivery was thundered for a 6 right over the bowler's head, the 5th was sent soaring for 6 over midwicket, and the final delivery driven over extra cover for the winning 2 runs.
We had won by 1 wicket of the final delivery of the match. The scenes after that were unbelievable.
During our practices we talk about having the 'Australian Attitude' - our first victory was very much Australian, but this last Friday, it was a very Pakistani win!
This was by far the most tense and exciting cricket match I have ever been involved in over the last 15 years! And the experience was worth sharing with all of you. Here's the brief scorecard.
Fielding first, we had bowled the opposition out for 148, setting ourself an easy target. The chase began in emphatic fashion with the openers putting on a brisk 28 runs in the first 4 overs, before the spinners came on. The next 8 overs saw the entire top and middle order collapse. At drinks, we were 55-6 of 12 overs. The match was all but lost, and the whole of ACE was sitting with their heads in their hands.
Play resumed after drinks and the two batsmen at the crease slowly started building the innings, playing with caution and picking up singles and doubles against the spin dominated attack. I started paying attention to the match again after the 17th over, when 76 runs were required of 8 overs. 10 an over on a cement pitch is manageable even with ones and twos. The batsmen were doing exactly that, and I started thinking of a turnaround. Just when I got up from the background and sat next to the boundary line, we lost another wicket - with 7 overs left, 69 runs were required with only 3 wickets in hand.
The next couple of overs saw some mighty blows - a couple of 4s and a huge 6, but a wicket fell on the 20th over, leaving 56 to win of 5 overs with the final 2 wickets left.
The number 10 batsman, Bilal Sulaiman walked in, as the captain from the boundary said "we can do it with 1s and 2s". Bilal replied "56 of 5, let me play". Bilal and Ali Abbas, who had been at the crease since the fall of the 6th wicket, continued the innings. They got a single or a double of every ball, a couple of boundaries, a six each, and the required score dropped to 44 of 4 overs, 36 of 3, 28 of 2, and 16 of the final 6 balls of the match.
The final over of the innings started, ACE gathered around the boundary line hoping for a miracle, the first ball was delivered, Bilal drove to long on, ran the first one hard, Ali turned for the second, Bilal refused, and in attempt to return back to his crease, Ali was Run Out. The last man, Omer Rizvi walked out amid silence – 5 balls remaining, 15 to get, and only 1 wicket left. Omer was beaten of the 2nd delivery, but managed a single of the 3rd getting Bilal back on strike. 14 of 3. "3 fours" screamed a guy. "2 sixes and a four" screamed another.
What went down over the final 3 deliveries of the match is what dreams are made of. Every young Pakistani boy dreams of doing a "Miandad", even if it is in a tape-ball game in his back yard and Bilal Sulaiman lived that dream on Friday. The 4th delivery was thundered for a 6 right over the bowler's head, the 5th was sent soaring for 6 over midwicket, and the final delivery driven over extra cover for the winning 2 runs.
We had won by 1 wicket of the final delivery of the match. The scenes after that were unbelievable.
During our practices we talk about having the 'Australian Attitude' - our first victory was very much Australian, but this last Friday, it was a very Pakistani win!
This was by far the most tense and exciting cricket match I have ever been involved in over the last 15 years! And the experience was worth sharing with all of you. Here's the brief scorecard.
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