Younis khan did everything as he was supposed to do except for giving that one over to Fawad and not using Gul’s full quota of four overs.
Afridi was the hero of the day everybody else played their bit and chipped in, Pakistan played aggressively as they were required, Kamran played an aggressive knock but I anticipated Shahzaib will get out early and I wanted Afridi or Razzaq to come at #3, thank god YK didn’t came himself and kept the momentum going, Malik played the role of an anchor and kept on giving the strike to Afridi who was smashing the ball around the park, Afridi got out soon after cmpleting his fifty but he had set the platform for a good total. Malik couldn’t strike the ball the way Afridi was ding he also soon got out after scoring 39, but those who think he played too slow don’t know a damn thing about cricket and have no idea about role play and anchoring an innings.
South Africa bowled a perfect line in the last 5 overs and YK and Razzak couldn’t hit even a single boundary and scored only 30 runs in last 5 overs, Pakistan were at least 10-15 runs short of their target score.
I have been saying all along Pakistan’s chances of winning this match were largely dependant on how Razzak and Aamer bowl, they did a fine job and didn’t allowed SA to get a flying start.
YK and Pakisani fans knew that Afridi, Ajmal and Gul won’t let the match slip away, all of them bowled well and in the end Pakistan are back into the finals of the T20 WC.
South Africa have choked again, Kallis played too slow and South Africa’s power hitters didn’t get enough balls to finish the job.
Smith might face criticism for holding back Morkel and Boucher for too long.
Today South Africa got stunned by the aggressiveness of the Pakistan team they couldn’t put up a fight and caved in to the pressure and choked in the end.
Pakistan are in the finals. congratulations to all Pakistan cricket fans.
Q
You are right Gul was bothered by the wind in the 18th over, so it means Younis just gave Fawad the over for fun bcz according to him T20 is a fun game:)
I think Younis was still a bit panicky because of Fawad’s over of 15 so forget about the fact that he needed to give Gul the next one. May be he thought it was Ajmal who had three left and Gul two instead of the other way round.
I think SA shoulda sent in Albie Morkel before Duminy. But we shoulda sent in Misbah earlier too.
I just hope Akmal doesn’t wear those sunglasses again. Sunglasses under the lights? What a joker!
Wasim,
Gul bowled the 14th over.. he was fine then.. no run up mishap..
Then YK bowled Alam the 15th.. which could have been his or Malik’s.
Then the 16th over, YK gave to Ajmal.. had he given it to Gul then Gul and Ajmal would have continued till the 20th and Gul would have bowled his full quota.
Gul bowled his 2nd, when he had the run up mishap and his 3rd from the same end.
So the 16th over did not make sense.
I thought YK would turn to Razzaq for the 20th.. but he surprised us all.
SP
You are right they were not choked they were stunned.
NC
Aamer has a habit of not coming back to the wickets he did it a couple of times before also in the tournament and he deserved a little admonishing, he was the #1 choice for the last over.
Q
You are right he did it in the second over but that’s when he gave the ball to Fawad. As regards Aamer I would also have bowled him rather than a spinner.
wasim…you are undervaluing pak’s outstanding effort by saying sa choked…
anyways…congrats…now its just a question of one more fine day at the office…
Wasim,
Didn’t Gul miss his run up 3-4 times in his 2nd over?
I don’t think it was the 1st…
Q, he bowled the 17 year old to give him a bollocking after that runout miss. That was a wild call, I wouldn’t have bowled him either. But in doing so, Younis Khan might just have played a wild card – see what that move will do for the kid’s confidence in the next game, more so if he runs through the top order. Anarchy!
Q
YK only tried to change his end as Gul missed his run up due to strong wind in the preceding over atleast four times, he could have given the ball to anyone but YK wanted to play with everybody’s nerve and threw the ball toward Fawad he not only toyed with the Saffers but also proved a point why he doesn’t use Fawad as a bowler.
I didn’t understand why Gul did not bowl his full quota.
Alam bowling was ok.. YK usually gives Malik 2 overs to complete the 1 over each that Aamir and Razzaq don’t bowl. Today he used Malik and Alam.. the problem came after that.. Had YK given Gul the 16th over then Gul and Ajmal would have bowled till the 20th:
16th: Gul
17th Ajmal
18th Guk
19th Ajmal
20th Gul
But instead YK gave the 16th to Ajmal, which meant Gul would end up bowling only 3. I wonder if it was a blunder or whether he intentionally did it thinking something that we didn’t.
I would have never trusted a 17 yr old with the final over, even if 30 runs were required.
Thanks NC.
Congrats Wasim!