Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat on a pitch where the ball is gripping and not coming on to the bat, batting second on this pitch will not be easy as the ball will hold up and will turn.
India got off to a flying start in T/20 style, Gambhir and Sehwag started off from where they left in IPL, they made full use of three dropped catches and gave India their second highest opening stand in ODIS, Gambhir was dropped at 4 and 29, he went on to score 62 of 62 balls. Both the catches were dropped by Younis Khan who was included again in the team despite criticism, both catches were identical, it has become a special trait of Younis Khan to be helpful to the opposing side, he will throw away his wicket when he is needed the most by his team, he will get his well set partners run out, and now he has found a new way to help the other team by dropping easy catches.
He should have been dropped from the Odi team at least two years ago but our board and selection committee has always been spine less, they scumb to jingoistic pressures and can never tackle the player politics.
India could have been under pressure if the catches were taken, Shoaib Malik again preferred not to bowl on a pitch where the ball is gripping and spinners are getting turn and assistance, a clear indication for the selectors not to treat him as an all rounder any more, Afridi bowled well against the weak Bangladeshi team giving his fans a reason to defend him but against India he was expensive as I suggested in my previous post, lets hope that today he scores some runs which are long over due.
The match has resumed after the rain interruption India are 296/6.
Its 326/8 , the last over is being bowled by Younis Khan, the spine less Shoaib Malik can’t even ball one over what a fuckin loser he is, he lost today all my respect, an interesting situation arose in the 47th over when Wahab Riaz bowled his second delivery which was above waist the height as a result he couldn’t bowl any more he had 4 deliveries left in the over and Malik refused to bowl those 4 deliveries and gave the ball to Sohail tanvir and wasted two deliveries of his top bowler.
Its 330/8 after 50 overs its a mammoth total, poor feilding and captaincy by Malik, It was expected that Indian batsmen will come out aggressively against Pakistan bowlers and will make full use of their IPL experience, but ODI’s are a different ball game than T/20 a bowler can bowl 10 overs as opposed to 4 in T 20 boundaries are bigger, and we saw teams losing all of their wickets in 20 overs in order to score maximum runs, its not that easy to score at the same rate for 50 overs and not lose wickets, the score of 400+ is highly improbable in this format, It was poor handling of his bowlers by Malik which allowed India to post a huge total, he could have restricted India around 290.
Its high time that PCB and the selectors should take note of the performance pseudo all rounders in the team, these guys are neither good bowlers nor good batsmen, we bowled with five bowlers, just because Malik doesn’t want to bowl, we can never win against quality teams unless we have some flexibility in the bowling and batting.
Lawson predicted a 150 runs drubbing for India, the stage is all set for a 150 runs drubbing only its the other way around, Pakistan are 41/3, Salman Butt , Younis and Mohammed Yousuf are back in pavillion, all three wickets were taken by Praveen Kumar.
Salman Butt got out in his usual way trying to play an uppish cut and Sharma took a blinder, Younis Khan got his second duck in the series trying to work the ball towards third man and getting a faint edge to Dhoni, Mohammed Yousuf tried to play straight but the ball shaped in and missed the inside edge and caught him in front of wickets.
The top order is back in Pavillion, its 67/3 after 9.5 overs. Kamran Akmal is batting at 32 and Misbah is on 13. The last few overs have been good for Pakistan.
Its 82/4 Akmal just got out.
12.4 Kumar to Kamran Akmal, OUT, Done in by a full toss from round the stumps. It swung in a touch and Akmal swatted it to mid-on and he is livid with himself…. Pakistan lose their fourth wicket. Just when they were getting some momentum.
Malik is the new batsman on the crease, it seems Pakistan team will fold in 30 overs.
16.2 I Sharma to Misbah-ul-Haq, OUT, Ishant takes out Misbah. Probing delivery outside off that straightened off a length and Misbah stabbed it to Dhoni. He was trying to run it down to third man but …
Afridi is at the crease lets see how long he stays at the crease, I am having a cup of tea and I project by the time I finish it Afridi will be back in the pavillion.
Damn! my tea is almost finished and he is still at the crease, I forgot one thing before making the projection its a lost cause Pakistan can’t win so it will not harm to score.
I was off in my projection by three minutes.
22.5 Chawla to Shahid Afridi, OUT
26.6 Chawla to Sohail Tanvir, OUT, He’s got him this time. Another googly, better direction than the previous one, Tanvir tries to hit it against the spin, he closes the face too early and the resulting leading edge hands Chawla an easy return catch
25 runs are remaining with three wickets in hand, will Lawson’s team get a 150 run drubbing, thats the only point of interest left for me in the match.
29.4 Yuvraj Singh to Umar Gul, OUT, After two dot balls, Gul loses his patience. He tries to loft him over long-on but only manages to find Ishant Sharma in the deep. A smart catch from Ishant but he seems to have injured himself in the attempt.
12 runs required and two wickets in hand…
33.5 Chawla to Shoaib Malik, OUT
The spine less and gut less innings of Malik finally came to an end, 1 run required and 1 wicket is in hand .
Its 182/9, 150 run drubbing was not possible after all, I have no interest left in the match so I am signing off.
Unless Bangladesh defeats India, it will be a India- Pakistan final.
Hopefully PCB and the selectors will wake up from their dream run of 12 consecutive victories against the minnows and will start accepting reality, this team is not good enough to compete with the TOP teams. WE NEED CHANGE ………….
SP you are right about Malik he is not leading from the front, he should bat at #3 but continues to shift his batting order, he has given up bowling for some mysterious shoulder injury,but he is not the only problem in the team,
Pak team is a loose band of rogue players, where each senior player has his own agenda. Unless some of these guys are sent home with the captain the problem will never get solved.
they should get rid off malik asos…he is pathetically regressive captain at his best…the way he led pak yesterday needs no further proof of what i just said…
I am fine Scorpi thanks, the only thing Younis should consider is retirement, its a problem with Pakistani players they try to extend their career way beyond the expiry date.
hello wasim… ow r u doing… to me the highlight of pakistan’s bowling was younis khan… Have watched him bowl twice in a match and he was good in both… Maybe he should seriously consider.