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West Indies won the toss and elected to bat, Shoaib Akhtar failed to pass the fitness test and Abdul Rauf was selected in his place. West Indian batsmen batted cautiously in the first 5 overs they scored only 11 runs in the sixth over Gayle decided to up the tempo he stepped outside the line of a delivery from Adbur Rauf and swung it over midwicket for six, 11 runs came from Rauf’s third over, his next over cost 17 runs, Gayle’s 50 took only 36 balls, in the 10th over Malik brought in his premier bowler Umar Gul into the attack Gul was pulled for two consecutive sixes by Gayle, Gul kept on bowling short in his first spell and failed to provide his skipper a breakthrough he was guilty of giving too much width and bowling too short he gave away 24 runs in his first three overs, it seemed as if the match was slipping away from Pakistan, Malik kept on rotating his fast bowlers hoping to get a break through but after 17 overs West Indies were 112/0, Rauf gave away 57 runs in his first 6 overs.

Malik was clueless and unimaginative on the field he should have brought on himself or Afridi earlier on to disrupt Gayle’s momentum, in the 17th over Malik came in to bowl himself he removed Chattergoon in his second over, the spinners were getting turn and the flow of runs was curtailed, Malik and Afridi gave away 82 runs in their 17 overs at the end of 34 overs West Indies were 194/1 they were poised to post a huge total, although the spin duo curtailed runs but failed to provide any further breakthroughs, Umar Gul was brought back into the attack in the 35th over , he dropped a simple catch of Gayle off his own bowling but two balls later he pitched one full to Gayle who clipped it straight to Afridi, Gayle scored 113 off 106 balls with 11 4′s and 5 sixes, Sarwan scored an effortless and classy 50 in 56 balls, he got out caught behind soon after he completed his 50 trying to work one on the fine leg.

Gul and Tanvir bowled perfectly in the death overs, I wonder why Gul couldn’t find his length earlier on, Sohail Tanvir was the pick of Pakistani bowlers finishing his quota of 10 with figures of 10-1-42-3 and Gul 10-0-66-3. West Indies which were all poised to score around 350 at one stage failed to continue their momentum and Pakistani bowlers bowled well in the last 20 overs. In the end West Indies managed 294/9 from 50 overs.

Pakistan has commenced their run chase, after 8 overs the score is 32/0, Salman Butt is finding it hard to time the ball, he has scored 5 from 25 balls, the newcomer Khurram Manzoor is playing on 18 from 24 balls, both batsmen are a bit unnerved by the pace of the Caribbean bowlers, Salman Butt is especially too cautious he needs to cut loose.

Earlier Pakistan played Fawad Alam instead of a regular batsman in place of Mohammad Yousuf , Fawad bowled only 1 over in which he gave 15 runs, he is a highly over rated bowler, Pakistan should have played Khalid Latif instead if they want to play Fawad solely as a batsman. In reality there is only one all-rounder in Pakistan team and that is Malik and that too only if he bowls.  Afridi and Fawad are all-rounders just on paper in the absence of Razzak, Rana Naveed and Azhar Mahmood  Pakistan’s bench has only two all-rounders Yasir Arafat and Mansoor Amjad, both are more of test match material rather than the shorter version of the game. The current all-rounders will remain impossible to replace if Pakistan doesn’t strengthen its bench.

Pakistan are 153/2 after 31 overs, Khurram Manzoor got out in last over after scoring a good 69 off 89 balls, earlier Salman Butt got out cheaply after making 24 off 53 balls he got two lives but could not capitalize on them, Butt likes to score his runs in boundaries his range of shots is limited, he wasted too many deliveries if he had focused on singles Pakistan could have managed another 20 to 30 runs in the first 15 overs.

Misbah Ul haq just got out playing a ridiculous reverse sweep shot there was no need for such a shot I fail to understand when Misbah can play power full strokes in front of wickets why he  risks his wicket by playing that pedal shot. Pakistan are in trouble now the asking rate has climbed up to 7.6 and Malik is at the crease he will have to play a master class innings to pull his team out of trouble, 133 runs are required from 17 overs.

Pakistan needs three big overs they need to bring the run rate down to 7 in the last 10 overs they should up the tempo, Younis khan should play in front of the wicket rather than running down the ball to third man and fine leg we need power hits from him at this stage.

Two back to back boundaries by Malik took Pakistan’s score to 200 this is what we require at this stage, Younis is still focusing on singles. At this stage both batsmen should attack. This has been the sorry story of Malik’s era as a captain, key players not backing him up and playing not according to the situation but only for themselves, Younis is well set he should have opened up. I knew he will get out after scoring 50 and he could have done better than that in the 47 runs partnership with Malik he contributed only 8 runs off 16 balls.

Afridi is the next man in, can he deliver he is in the team as an allrounder but these days when he walks on the crease nobody seems to have any confidence in his batting, he needs to improve his batting and play his full role if he wants to retain his place in the team, 79 runs from 56 balls are required required run rate has crept up to 8.8, If Afridi plays his cameo Pakistan will have a chance. Malik completes his 50 off 36 balls and thats his third consecutive 50.

Afridi is gone, had no idea of field placing and hits the ball staright to chanderpaul who took a good catch, again Malik received no help from his key player in crunch situation.

37 required off 22 balls, Fawad is finding it hard to play big shots, the rr is 10 it can be achieved, these guys should try and hit, Fawad is wasting deliveries missed a simple delivery, after wasting three deliveries he takes a single, now 34 required off 19 balls, can Malik hit a boundary. Required run rate is 11 now.

Big wicket! Shoaib Malik is out trying to hit a boundary pressure finally got to him. This is where Razzak used to be so good, none of these players are clean hitters of the ball. Kamran Akmal hits a six now its 23 required off 12 balls, can they do it?

Six runs came from Gayle’s over, now 17 required from the last over, huge task can Akmal & Fawad do it?

Its a six

Another one same ball same result, six

three runs and the score are level, wow what a cameo from Akmal he snatched the victory away from West Indies and spoiled their party.

Akmal shows Younis, Misbah, Fawad and Afridi how to hit the ball, this victory belongs to Akmal.

Who says ODI’s are boring?

Who says Pakistan cricket is dead?

The victory truly belongs to Malik and Kamran Akmal.