Archive for ‘June 21st, 2009’

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Jun21

Bring the trophy home

by wasim on June 21st, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

A lot of emotional stuff has been written by Pakistani journalists and bloggers to motivate Pakistan team and to lift their spirit. So I won’t repeat what has already been said.

The match is going to start in just two hours, and like any other jittery fan the following questions are haunting my mind.

Can Pakistan team do it? Will they bring the cup home?

Will they be able to repeat the intensity level of the Semi finals? 

Will they be able to overcome Dishan and Jayasuriya?

Will they be able to overcome the triple Ms?

Can Afridi repeat his performance of the semi finals?

We will find  out the answers to the above questions in about five hours from now.

The last time these two teams met SriLanka beat Pakistan quite comfortably, I watched the replay of that match all night and made a few interesting observations.

Pakistan fell short of the target by 20 runs and they gave the same number of runs in extras. Sohail Tanvir was the main culprit and he will not be playing today.

Sohail Tanvir gave 29 runs in his two overs and Umar Gul gave away 23 runs in his first two overs. Gul was not that effective against the Lankans.

Sri Lankan openers especially Jayasuriya like pace on the ball,  he is struggling to hit the ball when the bowlers are taking the pace off the ball. Hopefully Razzak will mix his pace and will also guide Young Aamer.

Shoaib Malik was the most economical bowler against SriLanka he gave just five runs in two overs. Afridi and Ajmal were the most lethal against them. Pakistan’s spin trio managed to strangle the SriLankans but the inital damage was already done.

Only the top four SriLankan bowlers managed to score in double figures.

From SriLanka the two M’s which caused the most damage to Pakistan were not Mendis and Murali they were Mathews and Malinga. Pakistan should watch out for Mathews.

Again the opening bowlers should mix the pace against Sri Lankan openers and should bowl a tight line and length and the openers should give a reasonably good start. That’s the only recipie for Pakistan’s success in my opinion.

Team Pakistan ! Zindabad.

Younis Khan! zindabad

Boom Boom Afridi! zindabad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Younis Khan said “he wants to win the world cup for Bob Woolmer”. 

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Jun21

Pakistan wins the World cup

by wasim on June 21st, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pakistan have won the T20 world cup by defeating Srilanka by 8 wickets. Congratulations to all the fans of Pakistan team.

Before the match this is what I wrote ” the opening bowlers should mix the pace against Sri Lankan openers and should bowl a tight line and length and the openers should give a reasonably good start. That’s the only recipie for Pakistan’s success in my opinion.

Pakistan team did exactly that with clinical perfection.

Mohammad Aamer tested Dilshan with vicious short pitch deliveries and removed him in his first over and sealed the match for Pakistan, Dilshan “ the man of the tournament” was Sri Lanka’s only hope.

After Aamer’s super over, Razzaq completely annihilated the Sri Lankan’s taking three quick wickets and sending the Sri lankan top order back in pavillion, Pakistan won the match right at that moment the rest was just a formality.

Sangakara played a defiant innings of 64 and Mathews played an aggressive knock of 34 down the order and lifted Sri Lankan total to 138, it was a decent total but given the depth in Pakistan’s batting line up it was not enough.

Sri Lanka desperately needed early wickets but Kamran Akmal and Shazaib gave Pakistan a 48 runs opening stand, Shahzaib was visibly looking nervous but Kamran Akmal played some big shots he made his intentions clear when he struck the first ball he faced for a huge six, Sangakara desperately in need of wickets had to bring Malinga earlier on but Pakistan’s openers played sensibly and made sure that they don’t lose any wickets.

Sangakara kept on rotating his strike bowlers, he brought in Murali in the 5th and Mendis in the 6th over but to no avail, finally Pakistan lost their first wicket when Akmal got stumped by Sangakara on the bowling of Jayasuriya.

That paved way for the entry of Pakistan’s real hero for the tournament Boom Boom Afridi!

The openers had set the platform and Afridi’s job was to keep the momentum going but he not only kept the momentum going but also finished the match. After this match Afridi has totally redeemed himself for all the heartbreaks he has matured as a batsman and has become a monster of an all rounder somebody whose name will send chills in the opposition camp for quite some time to come.

BOOM BOOM ! You are the man.

Malik again played the role of an anchor and played unselfishly and kept on giving the strike to Afridi, many will not realize the importance of his innings but then some people have a cricket IQ of a 5 year old.

Younis Khan said in his post match interview that he is bringing home this trophy as gift to the nation.

Truly it has been a great gift for a nation which has become accustomed to only hear bad news and have not gotten anything to cherish in sports since the 1992 World cup.

Thank You team Pakistan!

Thank You Younis Khan!

We are proud of you.

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