West Indies Vs Pakistan- 3rd Odi
on November 16th, 2008 at 7:20 pmPakistan scored 273/6 in 50 overs, Younis khan scored a brilliant 101and Misbah scored a defensive 79, Salman Butt failed again scoring a duck, Khurram Manzoor was dropped twice in his innings of 30 he added 84 runs with Younis Khan but the main partnership was between Younis and Misbah both added 103 runs at almost 5 runs an over, Kamran Akmal again played the role of the late order enforcer scored his brisk 22 of 11 balls took Pakistan’s score from 250 to 273.
West Indies started their run chase cautiously, Tanvir was the man to strike the first blow he removed Chatergoon when the score was 14, Gayle and Sarwan restored the innings, Gayle was dropped by Kamran Akmal in the 15th over on the bowling of Saeed Ajmal, he was again dropped by Saeed Ajmal.
Gayle capitalized on the two early dropped catches he was successfully steering his team toward the target along with Sarwan both took the score to 167/1 in 32 overs, just when West Indies were looking to win the match comfortably Rao Iftikhar bowled a devastating spell he took four wickets in a span of 3 overs, he removed Sarwan, Findlay, Marshall and ChanderPaul.
Rao had Gayle out twice in the 38th over but Umpire Mark Benson gave him not out. Benson’s decision could have cost Pakistan the match Gayle was batting at 99 and soon after he completed his century he cut loose.
| 38.5 | Iftikhar Anjum to Gayle, no run, short ball, dugs underneath, bat was high, and it appears ball might have toched the bat, but no one except Kamran appeal |
| 38.6 | Iftikhar Anjum to Gayle, no run, outside off stump, and looks like a clear edge to Kamran who took the catch and all pakistan players were celeberating and thought Gayle was walking, but he stood his ground and not given by umpire either |
It was a huge edge no way in the world an umpire could have given him not out even a blind man could have judged this one properly and shame on Gayle for not walking. He didn’t deserved to be the Man of the series award as he showed no sports man spirit.
Finally Umar Gul had him caught behind again it was a huge edge but the umpires referred the decision to the third umpire who gave him out, the fight back of West Indies led by Umpire Mark Benson ended and Pakistan rapped up the series 3-0 when Umar gul wiped of the tail in just two overs.
Pakistan were the dominant team in this series after their miraculous win in the first match they won the last two matches convincingly, West Indies came to this series with only three established batsmen they were no match for this Pakistan team.
Before the series a lot of negative things were said from different quarters on different management changes, Intikhab Alam and the new team management proved everybody wrong, they united the team in a short period of time the players looked happy, the team is playing like a unit something which was missing earlier, Lawson and Talat Ali Malik lacked this skill in fact they themselves were busy dividing the team.
Now the team will go back home to play the second round of Pentangular Cup, and In January they have a series against India at home if that takes place, stay tuned we will keep you posted.
LAHORE BADSHAHS V HYDERABAD HEROES
In another match involving a Pakistan team, Lahore Badshahs defeated Hyderabad heroes convincingly to win the title , Hyderabad batting first scored 158, Imran Nazir blasted 111 runs of just 44 balls it was perhaps one of the most entertaining innings I ever saw maybe Afridi’s innings at Kanpur can be rated higher than this one, his innings included 7 fours and 11 sixes he also won $10,000 for hitting the longest six, Badshahs reached the target in just 13.5 overs, Rana Naved was declared man of the series. Badshah’s won Rs 2 Crore which is about US $400,000 as prize money, now after 7 days they will take part in ICL champions league.
PCB will have to resolve the ICL issue it will be unfortunate for Pakistan cricket if players like Imran Nazir remained banned for life, Some of the players in the Badshahs team need a national recall. The bans are not in the interest of Pakistan cricket.
Thanks SB and Scorpi:
Pakistan will have to improve their fielding they missed a lot of run out chances and dropped too many catches, I think Nazir can be useful for Pakistan in the T20′s he is not ODI or test material, the boundaries in ICL are extremely small although he was hitting consistently 90 meter shots but hitting the lolly dolly bowlers in ICL and playing against quality teams where one good ball can send you back in the pavilion is completely different he was good in the T20 WC but at that time nobody had any Idea that a quick 20 or a quick 30 was as valuable as 50-60 runs in ODI he was criticized by the fans for his over aggressiveness and dropped from the team.
SB
Gayle could have shown some sports man spirit especially when he is the leader of the WestIndian team, Ajmal is good bowler but he will have to work extremely hard on his fielding if Mohammad Yousaf can be regarded as a liability in the field and dropped from T20 then he is just a new comer and his fielding was not even of club standard.
Looks like it is infectious… first symonds, then sehwag and now gayle. Great win for Pakistan… a double whammy with the ICL. Shame that nazir could have been very handy for Pakistan.
Poor cricket that from Gayle, worse from umps, but the worst will have to be Ajmal’s catching. He made the series look closer than it ever would have been…WI may not have crossed 100-125 in the last two matches.
Congratulations on both accounts (Abu Dhabi and ICL)!
Poor cricket that from Gayle, worse from umps, but the worst will have to be Ajmal’s catching. He made the series look closer than it ever would have been…WI may not have crossed 100-125 in the last two matches.