Pakistan will be playing their first big match of the world cup against hosts SriLanka. Pakistani cricket fans are getting nervy, they do not have confidence in their team and fear loss before every encounter.
Team Pakistan and it’s fans should remember only one thing they have beaten Sri Lanka in each of their six encounters in the World Cups and have won their previous five games at the R Premadasa. The fans of Pakistan team and the cricket pundits have been a bit nervous regarding their bowling combination, the form of Shoaib Akhtar and the lack of pace of Abdul Razzaq has been the main concern.
The newly laid pitch at Premadasa stadium has so far been a bat first- low scoring track, the average score at this track has been 225. I think Pakistan still has enough fire power in their bowling even if they don’t make a change they should not drop a batsman against SriLanka as Srilanka is a good bowling side. They can play Riaz in place of Akhtar if he is not fully fit but thats about it.
Play the match like any other match no need to get nervous this match will have little or no consequences on Pakistan’s chances to qualify for the QF, so Afridi & CO should play their natural game and should not take any pressure at all for this match. The pundits might not respect Pakistan team but in my opinion this team has all the firepower to beat any team in this tournament.
All we need is that our key players should play the match with their natural flare. We lose matches when we take pressure and self implode. Pakistan has beaten this SriLankan team on many occasions, they will have a home advantage and a knowledge of the newly laid track to their advantage but if Afridi led the team calmly it will be tough for SriLanka to beat Pakistan team.
What Afridi should realize is that tough matches in the initial round develop or destroy the confidence of the teams, regardless of the result Afridi will have to show calmness as a leader and should continue to encourage his players through thick and thin , he will have to make his players believe that they are the best.
Pakistan (probable): 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Kamran Akmal (wk), 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq, 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Shahid Afridi (capt), 8 Abdul Razzaq, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Abdur Rehman, 11 Shoaib Akhtar
Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Chamara Kapugedera, 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Angelo Mathews, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Ajantha Mendis, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan
Pakistan ?? ????? ??? ???? ???? ?
I want to be a cricketer like afridy . I am 12 years old . I read in class 6 .
I like Afridy .
Afridy played well .
Only a tragic run out could have broken the partnership between Cusack and O’brien. Can the Irish players finish it off from here. Congratulations to O’bien on making the fastest century in the world cup. Take a bow O’bien.
Stani
Akhtar could have knocked down any batsman in the world with the delivery on which he got Mahela. And Silva has been playing like this since last two years. I was a bit surprised by the lack of intent shown by Sangakara but thats about it, I think if anything Pakistan gave SriLanka mutiple chances to claw back in the game otherwise the match would have been over much earlier.
That fixing story is just sour grapes from someone.
We gotta get rid of these minnows from the World Cup Wasim because records are starting to have no value. Malinga gets another hat-trick, this time against Kenya.
Jayawardene ‘changed the game’ against Pakistan: TV channel
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s former skipper Mahela Jayawardene is reportedly considering suing a state-run television network for hinting he may have helped fix a World Cup match against Pakistan.
Jayawardene, who lost his middle stump for just two runs in a game that Sri Lanka lost by 11 runs, was mulling legal action against the station for implying he was guilty of corruption, the BBC said.
Jayawardene’s manager told AFP on Tuesday that they were not commenting because “a formal process has been initiated.”
The state television commentary said a local businessman had placed an $18,000 bet on Sri Lanka losing the game.
The TV channel speculated over whether Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera, dismissed for one, had “changed the game” by getting out cheaply and said the outcome would have been different had the pair scored more runs.
Despite high hopes coming into the match, 1996 champions Sri Lanka fell short of Pakistan’s total of 277-7, leaving thousands at a packed R. Premadasa stadium in Colombo devastated.
Governing body Sri Lanka Cricket said they had not received a formal complaint from the two players.
“We are not aware of the issue,” Sri Lanka Cricket chief executive officer Ajith Jayasekera told AFP.
Earlier in the day I couldn’t watch the last two overs of the game, I thought India has won the match, never thought that Swann and Ajmal will be able to score 29 runs in last two overs, but while driving I was checking the commentary on my phone and when England scored 15 runs off that Chawla, I regretted my decision to leave the house.
England were supposed to win the match comfortably until they took the batting powerplay and pressed the panic button, perhaps they got over excited as they got close to victory.
Indian team has been over hyped by every single pundit, no doubt they have the home advantage and a dream batting line up but they have the worst bowling line up out of all the major cricketing nations, and I think this match has fully exposed this weakness. They will have to drop a batsman and play another specialist bowler if they want to win the cup.
I think Gul is a very good bowler, but he is not doing some of the basics right. I think he is trying to do too many variations rather than just keeping it simple. Riaz could replace Gul if this continues.
The point about Rehman was that Sangakarra was charging – so the wicket was more caused by poor batting (because of high required run rate) than good bowling. The reason I would prefer Ajmal is that he has more variations (off spinner, doosra, straighter one and pace variations) whereas Rehman doesn’t really vary his pace also and bowls it fairly quick. His last 6 overs went for 49 runs – because he became easier to read.
PCB
I think this wicket had something for the bowlers in it but there will be quite a few matches in this tournament where the track will be absolutely flat and thas where Razzaq will become a liability as a bowler, I think he bowled well in the last match and Afridi made a smart move to bowl Hafeez and Razzaq upfront.
So now you are agreeing with me on GUL. He has been my favorite player in Pakistan team for a while the criticism on him is just for his poor form, I know he can do much better, there is something wrong with him as I have noticed on many occasions his pace drops dramatically and he struggles to find reverse swing and as you said he has a tendency to bowl short, we can’t win this tournament if he doesn’t gets to the peak of his form. I agree with you Waqar and Aaqib haven’t done much with him their focus is more on Shoaib.
Afridi bowled only one over in the power plays whereas Rahman bowled two, he got Sangakara out twice but Akmal missed the stumping on both occasions, I think he did well. As regards Hafeez he was playing a sweep shot and his body swiveled naturally when he turned around Akmal was already standing next to him so I don’t think it was his fault.
Even if we want to play Razzaq lower down the order in main matches we should let him and Afridi bat higher against Zimbabwe and Canada to get him going and have some batting practice.
SriLanka had a strong batting line up against any other team they would have chased these runs easily I think, Afridi bowled superbly and the wicket of Jayawardne was a big blow for SriLanka from which they never recovered Shoaib Akhtar’s second spell was excellent.
I think the main problem with Ajmal is thathis stock ball which is the off spinner doesn’t turn that much because of which he is not as dagerous as Swann or Murali.
But I think the team management is going to keep Ajmal and Riaz for the later stages of the tournament.
My team for match against Canada. Rest Misbah and Akhtar.
1. Mohammed Hafeez
2. Ahmed Shehzad
3. Kamran Akmal
4. Umar Akmal
5. Younis Khan
6. Asad Shafiq
7. Shahid Afridi
8. Abdul Razzaq
9. Wahab Riaz
10. Umar Gul
11. Saeed Ajmal
Pushing Umar Akmal to 4 gives him a chance to get some more runs. Gul needs to regai form. Riaz can push for a place ahead of Gul.
I disgree that the pundits who wanted a third seamer in the team have been vindicated. We all know Razzaq will not get wickets up front – the reason he opens the bowling is a tactical move to get his overs through. Gul cannot open the bowling unless he tightens his line and length. Razzaq has very good line and length. He and Hafeez constrain very well and are very economical. It is up to the 4 front line bowlers (Afridi, Akhtar, Gul and Rehman) to pick up wickets. Gul is bowling short too often. All he needs to do is bowl full and straight. I am surprised this has not been picked up on by Waqar or Aqib.
I’m not sure on what grounds you are giving credit to Rehman. Even if he bowled in powerplay, so did Afridi, Murali, Herath and Hafeez, and they did very well. Rehman is not a wicket taking bowler – his bowling average of 50 proves this. Ajmal needs to be ahead of him.
The run out was Hafeez’s fault mainly. It was Akmal’s call and Hafeez should have been looking to set off. We can’t get too frustrated with Umar Akmal. He is only 19 and this investment will pay off.
All in all, it was a good performance. Shehzad, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul and Abdul Rehman need to improve. I would stick with Shehzad, Akmal and Gul – they are all fairly young and match winners. Ajmal needs to come in for Rehman.
34 runs required of just 18 balls. Unless England gets a big over the match belongs to India. Zaheer has saved a huge embarrassment for his country he has done it so many times in the past and has lifted India’s bowling on his shoulders. He has bowled out and in my opinion has done his job now the remaining job is dependent on Munaf.
India’s match against England is going down to the wire. England are getting nervous at the last stage of the match they were cruising along nicely now Zaheer has struck twice in two balls getting rid of Strauss and Ian Bell. Almost 8 runs per over are required England has six wickets in hand.
India scored a mammoth 338 runs in 50 overs, Sachin scored his 47th century, Gambhir and Yuvraj scored 50′s.
Englands response was solid and Strauss in particular played a classy innings of 158 off just 142 balls, India’s bowling looked toothless through out the match, a win for England will cause a huge upset as India was the unanimous favorite of all pundits and if they lose the match after scoring 338 then it will cause a huge dent in their confidence, but thanks to a magnificient over by Zaheer Khan India are back in the match.
England after taking the batting power play for some odd reason became edgy and tried to finish off the match in a hurry, Strauss and Bell through out their innings played proper cricketing shots and eliminated the risk out of their batting and the moment they tried to slog both lost their wickets, they just lost control over their nerves.
India is sensing a victory now as England has wasted three overs of their batting power play and has lost three wickets in the process. England require 54 off 33 balls Zaheer has one more left after this, unless England Prior or Yardy play out of their skins the match belongs to India at this stage.
Stani
It was the 43rd over,Mathews struck a boundary on the last ball and faced the first ball of the nezt over when he got out in that over I thought silva got out I even wrote it in my comments which later I fixed but never paid attention to really happened. I mean it has to be deliberate or else how dumb can one be not to remember we that they have to be on the other end. But iguess everybody was sleeping including the umpirea and the pakistani players.
I think it was Akmals mistake as Hafeez was playimg a sweep shot and couldnot help but to look at the ball by the time he looked Akmal was already on his end.
I think except for omar gul everybody else played really well.
I’m here Wasim, I’m here!
In a way, I think the fact that we almost threw it away will serve us well. Had we won this game as comfortably as we could….and maybe should have, then things would have gone too well, far too well. Better to have these hiccups now and iron them out.
The runout was Hafeez’s fault. He was looking at the ball when he should be looking at his partner whose call it was. I thought they were going to send Kamran back as he had left his ground. Hafeez did also leave but he came back.
Dont get me started on Umar’s batting. Flipping idiot. Still obvious that he has a long long way to go.
Today, Younis and Misbah put a smile on my face. Having two players like that in the middle is the worst feeling for any opposition. It’s usually been a signature of our side.
Do you think Sri Lanka deliberately cheated? Cant remember which over it was but I think it was Mathews, he faced the last ball of one over then took the strike the next over too even though there was no single or a three on the last ball. That could have cost us. They do look innocent but some of their players are real sly snakes.
No trouble, no in-fighting, no match-fixers and these are the results. As much as we may miss your class Amir and Asif, we’re better off without you.
England will face India tommorrow, India are clear favorites in the match but England will fight hard they have the batting to challenge India, there bowling attack is also well balanced. Tommorrows match will decide if there is any team which is going to challenge India’s supermacy in group B or they will be #1 team by default.
The key to English success will be how well they play Indian spinners. They have the bowling to contain Indian batsmen but do their batsmen have the skill to play the spinners in Indian conditions?
Pakistan’s next match is against Canada on March 3rd, no surprises are expected from that match, after canada’s match Pakistan will face NEw Zealand on march 8th, zimbabwe on march 14th and Australia on March 19th.
Pakistan has already beaten the best team in their group, they will face stiff competition from Australia but they should try to win all their matches because the winners of Group A will face off the fourth team in group B which is more likely to be Bangladesh or West Indies and if that happens the chances for Pakistan to qualify for the semis become much more bright. They will have to win against Australia to ensure the top position in Group A.
If they get the second position they will face the team in group B which will be most likely England.
I wanted the team to give it’s 100% and play it’s natural game without taking much pressure and thats exactly what they did, Afridi looked a bit nervous in the first 15 overs but from thereafter he got relaxed and never eased his grip on the match.
YK, Misbah, Afridi and Shoaib are all senior citizens in Pakistan cricket and all of them stepped up there game for Pakistan which was a good sign.
Srilanka missed the opportunity to take advantage on the bowling of Razzaq and Hafeez, they should have attacked both bowlers but probably they were too confident about their batting strength and kept on delaying the aggression.
Pakistan were completely written off by some of the pundits well they have announced themselves now a victory against Australia will really send chills down the spines of all of their opponent teams in the world cup.
Well done captain Boom Boom.
Pakistan won by 11 runs, didn’t liked the way the bowl in their last 5 overs, they should have really beaten SriLanka by at least 30 runs. Kulasakera scored 24 off just 14 balls and brought his team quite close to the target.
Now probably the SriLankans would think what if Sangakara and Silva had scored a bit faster in the middle overs specially Silva who was very slow early on in his innings. But all credit to Shahid Afridi, Rahman and Shoaib Akhtar they bowled beautifully and kept taking wickets and never allowed the Lankans to score freely.
SOn of a bitch what was the need to bowl a full toss at this stage, Hafeez should get flogged for his last delivery he just infused life back in SriLanka.
Shoaib Akhtar proved his critics once again wrong, once again Umar Gul had a poor game but nobody would talk about that. Akhtar except for his first few overs where he he couldn’t extract any movement was at his lethal best when the ball got a bt old. Great sign for Pakistan.
Shoaib Akhtar bowled a missle to Perera and knocked off his stumps. And Rahman finally got a wicket when Kamran Akmal decided not to mess up another stumping chance, Silva is gone and so are Srilankas chances to win the match.
SriLanka are still in the hunt they have to score 56 runs from 5 overs.
It wasn’t Silva, it was the dangerman Mathews, thats even better. Afridi has done his job and should get MOM award if Pakistan wins this match.
Yes he can! LPC Silwa goes trying to hit Afridi out of the park. Afridi gets his fourth wicket. He has taken 9 wickets in two matches. Great bowling, Pakistan couldn’t have asked for anything more from there captain.
Perara is at the crease he is also capable of hitting the ball long.
Pakistan needs to get one more wicket, SriLanka are getting dangerously close in this match. Afridi is bowling his last over, can he proovide us with one more break through?
Expensive over bY Rahman two consecutive boundaries, he has bowled well gave a few runs but considering the fact that he bowled during powerplays it wasn’t bad. Two stumping chances were missed off his bowling.
Afridi has bowled beautifully, 9 overs 3/27, he provided Pakistan with breakthroughs on all critical junctures of the match and was very difficult to score off. Great Bowling.
SriLanka needs exactly 100 from the last 10 overs without the power play, its a big ask but they have Mathews on the crease who has been their best power hitter in recent times. Pakistan on the other hand will have to improve their direct hitting they have missed atleast 6-7 run outs.
Afridi strikes, Sangakara is gone on 49. Just when SriLanka were clawing back into the match, Sangakara tried to hit Afridi out of the park and skied the ball straight to the fielder.
Srilanka are still in the match, Angelo Mathews comes in for Srilanka he can hit the ball a mile and has performed really well against Pakistan in recent times, he is the last hope for SriLanka. But the batting power play is out of the way. Required RR has climbed upto 9.08.
Watch Pakistan vs Srilanka Live
Expensive over by Gul, Srilanka have decided to go for it now, the two missed stumpings will they prove costly for Pakistan? The batting power play is almost over just one more over left.
Chamra silva so far is certainly playing for Pakistan, I have been watching him play for SriLanka. Fuck another sitter was dropped by Rahman but that was of Silva, good thinking.:))
SriLanka has taken the batting power play. Fuck Akmal missed Stumping chance once again of Sangakara. Pakistan should get Sanga during this power play.
Defensive approach by SriLanka so far in the match, those who have been criticizing Misbah should watch and learn, he batted superbly this is not a wicket where stroke play is easy the ball is holding up there is a bit of bounce and the spinners are getting turn off the track. I think both Younis and Misbah played superbly.
Akmal missed a stumping chance could have been curtains for Srilanka had he stumped Sanga kara. Pakistan also missed quite a few run out chances on direct throws.
The overs for the fifth bowler are already out of the way Razzaq and hafeez have bowled 9 overs between them. Afridi should bring in Rahman now for a few overs.
Thats what I wanted Shoaib castled Jayawardne with a beauty, one that nipped back sharply and Mahela missed it completely. Big blow for Srilanka, now they will be under pressure.
Shoaib Akhtar comes back into the attack he was quite economical in his first spell but needs to get wickets for Pakistan. He has lost all the movement and is dead flat these days.
PCB, Stani, Maaz where are you guys?
Boom Boom strikes the danger man Dilshan is gone, one more wicket and Pakistan will be back on top, Pakistan should not allow Jayawardne and Sangakara to forge a partnership here.
Poor bowling by Pakistan so far, the bowlers have been defensive in their approach and the captain is so nervous that he changes the field after every over, doesn’t allow the bowler to settle down.
Now that they have allowed Dilshan to settle down he will make Pakistan pay, the stance of most of the pundits got vindicated who wanted a third seamer in the team and Razzaq is not going to get you wickets upfront.
Hafeez has provided the first break through getting Tharanga out. Hopefully the spinners will get a couple more quick break throughs.
The run out of Hafeez was the crucial turning point in the game, Akmal and Hafeez were batting superbly, but the run out of Hafeez put breaks on Pakistan’s scoring rate, there is turn for the spinners, at least the SriLankan spinners turned the ball a lot, I think Younis and Misbah played very sensibly Herath and Murali were looking very dangerous and there introduction put breks on Pakistan.
Pakistan has three spinners hopefully Hafeez , Rahman and Afridi will be as effective as Murali and Herath. Pakistan should look to put pressure on SriLanka by striking early in their innings.
Srilankan bowlers bowled an excellently in the last 10 overs, they didn’t allowed Pakistani batsmen to get underneath the ball. Pakistan has posted a decent total 278 to win. Pakistan will have to bowl really well here.
Just two overs are left Pakistan needs another 25-30 runs.
Great shot by Afridi. Pakistan needs just one big over.
SrIlanka has done reasonably well in the last power play so far. 3 overs are left and Pakistan are 245/5.
Murali has been quite difficult to put away, there is quite a bit of turn in the pitch.
Six overs are remaining and Pakistan should accelerate now, Omar Akmal should rotate the strike and Misbah should take more risks. In my opinion Afridi should have come instead of Omar Akmal. The best run chase on this pitch has been 271. I think Pakistan will comfortably reach that score.
Omar Akmal is gone trying to hoick Murali.
Pakistan should look to score 70 more runs in last 9 overs.
Now PAK run is 172/3 . Also good that Misbah and Younus are in crease. I hope they will continue till 40 overs. Then Afridi or Razzak should come to enhance run rate. What are you thinking ?