Pakistan have won the toss and elected to bat first this is what the pundits were advising, it will be the third match played on this surface, there will be no early movement it will behave like a typical Subcontinent pitch. Traditionally Centurion pitch eases up in the second half and becomes a batsman’s paradise the pitch does not provide any assistance to the spinners but this pitch is all dried up and the spinnners will get a lot of turn, Younis Khan’s move to bat first has been approved by all the pundits.
In my opinion when Imran Nazir got out early YK should have sent Rana Naved to take advantage of the power plays.
The match is about to begin Pakistan has made one change, Younis is coming back in place of Misbah a move which might not change Pakistan’s fortunes as Younis khan is also out of form he is playing with an injured finger.
Indian team has been hit with injuries they will be missing Sehwag, Zaheer and Yuvraj. But the good news is that there coach found a new way to be aggressive and raise the teams testosterone levels.
Here’s what he said:
“From a psychological (body) perspective having sex increases testosterone levels, which causes in an increase in strength, energy, aggression and competitiveness.
“Conversely, not having sex for a few months causes a significant drop in testosterone level in both males and females with the corresponding passiveness and decrease in aggression,” the document said.
The document, jointly prepared by Kirsten and mental conditioning expert Paddy Upton, advice the cricketers ‘to go solo’ if they didn’t have any partner.
Since most of the Indian players are travelling without their girl friends or wives so the probability of going “SOLO” must have increased. If that’s the case then there will be no hand shakes between the two teams.
Indian players might appear lethargic after playing with their own life with their own hands. If India loses this match the blame should squarely be laid on Gary.
Pakistan’s chances of winning this match again depend upon their batting, they must score 300. Indian batting line up is still quite strong.
The wicket is lifeless for pacers, last time when India played Pakistan Rana Naved gave away 92 runs from 8.4 overs. Pakistan’s chances will depend a lot on how Aamer and Rana bowl on this pitch.
Pakistan are 51/1 after 7 overs, Imran Nazir committed suicide in his usual fashion after playing a brief cameo of 20 runs. Pakistan would want Kamran Akmal too play a big innings today.
India’s will depend a lot on Nehra and Harbhajan.
Update:
Nehra has already taken two wickets, Pakistan is going through that dreadful phase where they stall for no apparent reason and continue to build pressure on the lower order batsmen. Ishaant just bowled two back to back maidens. In last 5 over Pakistan scored only 3 runs.
Younis and Malik will have to score runs. Younis and Malik are playing as if they are doing net practice the drama has begun they have brought down the run rate from 7 an over to less than 5.
YK and Malik has wasted this bowling power play they didn’t came down the wicket to make the bowlers change their length they are just content on wasting deliveries. Younis Khan is out, poked on one outside the off stump had no foot work. As I said Misbah or Younis it doesn’t make any difference both are out of form. The worst thing is that he killed the momentum stayed for 33 balls and hardly tried to go after the bowling.
On a dead pitch these mother fuckers are playing a test match in last 10 overs only 20 runs have been scored Malik has played 26 balls and scored only 8 runs.
Even Virat Kohlis gentle Medium pace could not bring Yousaf and Malik out of their shell.
A message has been delivered to Malik by the 12th man.
The first 50 came in 42 balls and the second in 99. I don’t know what the plan is but not going after part timers shows that Pakistan team does not want to win this match.
Those 10 overs in which runs were scored @ 2 an over will prove to be fatal. Malik can accelerate and I think he is determined to score a 100 but it won’t do Pakistan any good if it comes at a strike rate lower than 90 on this pitch.
Pakistan should look for a boundary every over now. Yousaf is getting in his grove, Malik should share the burden of scoring boundaries with him.
Its 154/3 after 33 overs, the pitch is offering some spin in second innings it will offer even more Ajmal and Afridi can prove to be dangerous for India. But any score below 275 will be quite easy to chase for India.
Both Malik and Yousaf have reached their 50′s, well played Yousaf and Malik still has to redeem himself.
Ishaant is ordinary in Odi’s looks too ordinary and single dimensional.
183/3 from 36 overs. Malik came out of his shell and scored three boundaries off Ishaant’s last over. But I think Pakistan is still not out of trouble.
Pakistan are 200/3 after 38 overs. If Pakistan is able to score 100 in 12 overs they will be in a strong position. I think Kamran Abbasi’s article has awakened Mohammad Yousaf.
Malik has almost redeemed himself but his job is not finished yet he has to make sure that Pakistan reach 300.
Pakistan are 261/3 malik scored his 7th Odi 100 in the end he completed his 100 at almost run a ball but he was a bit too slow in the first 10 overs of his innings blocked too many balls and that might hurt Pakistan eventually. The wicket looks a lot easier the spinners are not getting much assistance as it was anticipated, the pacers are also not getting any movement. A score of 300 is good but Pakistan will have to bowl and field really wll to defend the score.
Afridi is the new man in 4 overs to go, Nehra took his third wicket but Yousaf did his job 87 off just 88 balls. Lets see if Pakistan is able to take advantage of the last four overs.
Pakistan has set India a target of 303, too many wickets tumbled in the last three overs and pakistan failed to take advantage of the last power play. But it’s a good target Aamer and Rana will be the key bowlers for Pakistan if they bowl well and get a few early breaks for their team India will come under pressure.
For India Gambhir and Sachin hold the key with Dravid plying the role of an anchor, Pakistani bowlers will have to take out at least two of them early on.
I have to go now I will not be updating the second innings as I have a flight to catch.
Good Luck Pakistan.
Wasim,
Yes, if Malik could only be more consistent then we’d get the same feeling from him as we used to from the likes of Inzi. You just knew when Inzi came in you’d get a 50.
Kamran Abassi did get it wrong. I firmly believe that Yousuf has a place in the ODI team. The guys is the classiest batsmen in world cricket and one of the best. Yesterdays match showed that ODI throw up different challenges to t20s so the likes of Yousuf still have a major role to play….as does ODI cricket itself as a format.
Sachin’s wicket was crucial and it was just written that Aamer would get it. It was an awesome delivery similar to the one he got Pathan with.
Scorpi
Gambhir played his role, I think Dravid failed to accelerate like Malik and Yousaf and got run out just before the batting power play. But India lost the match because of it’s bowling and un imaginitive captain.
Dhoni allowed the partnership between Malik and Yousaf to flourish he realized his mistake very late, in the beginning he was quite satisfied with the slow run rate and was expecting that they will get out when they will try to accelerate that is why he used part timers in the middle and kept his regular bowlers for later.
Dhoni also failed to cover the third man region where the Pakistan scored the bulk of their boundaries, I think that was just plain stupidity. He didn’t gave enough cover to Harbhajan and Pathan.
But with this kind of bowling India will struggle in the tournament, Ishaant and RP Singh were below average.
Good match Wasim. India stopped short of Gambhir’s foreplay. Saw Ajmal closely for the first time… Got good skills.
Congratulations to you too Stani.
Malik was awesome, he gave me an early scare when he was batting with a SR of 42 as he rarely converts his cautious start into a big knock. I think half of his innings he played like Dravid and the second half like young Tendulkar it was a classic innings one of the best I have seen in a long time. Yousaf was his usual self I think Kamran’s Abbasi’s call to drop him has awakened him.
In the match against WestIndies both players looked in form but unfortuantely couldn’t bat for long.
In my preview I picked Aamer and Rana as the key players. I always had faith in Afridi and Ajmal. Fom Inidia’s side I picked Gautam, Nehra, Sachin and Dravid.
I knew if Pakistan got Sachin and Gautam early we will be able to defend 300.
India’s bowling is shit in the absence of Zaheer.
Pakistan now will have a good chance to move into the finals as in semis they are going to face either England or Newzealand.
Conratulations Wasim!
Awesome innings from Malik. Credit to Yousuf, Aamer, Afridi and Ajmal for very good performances.