Cricket Tournaments

Misbah-Ul-Haq played Captain’s knock and remained unbeaten on 48 runs off 38 balls with a six and three fours asPakistanwon the Twenty20 match against Sri Lanka.

Misbah-Ul-Haq

The only T20 was played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, on November 25, 2011.

The Lankan Lions set a target of 142 runs for victory to Pakistan on a placid wicket.

They started their innings with their regular openers Mohammad Hafeez and Imran Farhat as Tillakaratne Dilshan tossed up the ball to Lasith Malinga.

Farhat was severe on the bowlers from the word go and smashed three fours to Malinga in his first over.

The duo produced 31 runs for the first wicket when Hafeez was adjudged leg before wicket off Thisara Perera on the last ball of the fourth over.

Hafeez lost his wicket after scoring 13 runs and Farhat followed him with the addition of just five runs in the total.

The young gun Umar Akmal added the worries forPakistanas he was dismissed without opening his account.

The third wicket was lost at 44 runs in 6.3 overs when Misbah-Ul-Haq came to the crease and joined Asad Shafiq.

They put their heads down, consolidated the innings with occasional boundaries every now and added 46 runs for the fourth wicket.

Asad lost his wicket after scoring 33 runs of even balls when Shahid Afridi entered on the field.

They shared a valuable partnership of 43 runs and Afridi contributed 22 runs off 15 balls which included two sixes in the 19^th over.

Pakistanachieved the target on the third ball of the 19^th over, thanks to an overthrow on the first ball of the 20^th over.

Earlier Sri Lanka won the toss, elected to bat on a perfect batting wicket while the innings was opened by Upul Tharanga and Captain Tillakaratne Dilshan.

Pakistan started attack with the seasoned Umar Gul who bowled two consecutive wide balls but recovered well by ending up the over while conceding just four runs.

Sohail Tanvir started off the over in the identical fashion following Gul by delivering two wides and was punished by Dilshan for 16 runs including two fours.

Tharanga took charge from the other end by rolling the ball twice over boundry and scored 10 runs off Gul.

Aizaz Cheema was given the charge of bowling in the fourth over and he bowled Tharanga on the second ball after he had scored 12 runs.

Young Dinesh Chandimal came in next, joined Dilshan and the tempo of scoring was lifted by the duo.

Sohail was punished again in the fifth over for 15 runs and fifty of the innings was achieved as well.

Misbah-Ul-Haq brought in magical off spinner Saeed Ajmal to control the game and he got the important wicket of Dilshan who was caught smartly at short midwicket by the skipper for 28 runs off 15 balls which included 4 fours.

The second wicket fell at 61 runs in 5.3 overs which was a good going for Sri Lanka when Kumar Sangakkara appeared on scene.

Sangakkara could not perform well and went back to the pavilion after scoring nine runs and Pakistan never looked back from there.

Chandimal showed some resistance to the lethal bowling attack of Pakistan by smashing 56 runs off 44 balls with 6 fours as the middle order and tail vanished, the whole Sri Lankan team was bowled out at 141 runs off 19.3 overs.

Cheema was the star performer for Pakistan by grabbing four wickets, Gul claimed two while Ajmal and Mohammad Hafeez shared one wicket each.

Pakistan won the nail biter by five wickets with three balls to spare and Cheema was declared ‘Player of the match’.

Australia went into the series on a high after a not dominating but convincing display against the West- Indies. Another toss to Ponting and predictably Australia chose to bat. Australia amassed a massive 454 in good time with the top 6 all contributing.

“The nearly man” (Watson) was again nearly there (century) but missed out again due to some lack luster running falling for 93. Ponting set up an aggressive declaration at 454 keeping in mind the abilities of his bowlers. Pakistan in their first innings were bundled out for 258 barely avoiding the follow on.

They struggled to build regular partnerships not just through the match but throughout the series. In Australia’s second innings the inevitable finally happened Watson got to a century all be it after being dropped on 99; nevertheless he did.

He was the only contributor in the Australian innings and Ponting declared at 225 thus setting up Pakistan 422 to win.

Pakistan were off to a decent start and ended day 4 at 170 for 3 with Skipper Mohd Yousuf at the crease along with young gun Umar Akmal. They were just 252 away from what seemed the impossible—and so it turned out to be as Mitchell Johnson ripped the heart out of the Pakistan batting order by getting rid of Umar Akmal and Misbah-ul haq.

Pakistan were reeling at 170 for 5. Nathan Hauritz made quick work of it and mopped up the tail with his first five-for.

Australia didn’t put a foot wrong throughout the test match. They had won convincingly again by a 170 runs.

Australia VS Pakistan: 2nd test Match

New Year Test and Ponting had won the toss and chosen to bat on an overcast morning at the SCG. It was a gamble which didn’t pay off. Mohd Asif had surely woken up the right side of the bed that morning. Australia were bowled out for a 127 in under 45 Overs. Asif had 6.

In their first innings Pakistan managed 333 with their top 5 all making sizeable contributions. Australia displayed a much better effort in their second innings making 381. At the end of day 3 it was Pakistan’s game.

Australia resumed day 4 at 286 for 8 with Siddle and Hussey at the crease. The duo put on 123 for the 9th wicket giving the Aussie bowlers 176 runs to play with. Australia had fought back—but it was still to be Pakistan, rite?

If you give Australia an inch—they will grab it, and so they did! In a small run chase Pakistan were off to a good start at 34 for no loss. Bollinger got the first break through—Farhat had gone. Iqbal and Butt followed suit as Johnson knocked off to in an over—one of ‘em brilliantly taken by Brad Haddin.

Nathan Hauritz took a splendid return catch of Yousuf. Umar Akmal too tried to hoick at one only to be caught by Johnson. That was indeed the final nail in the coffin. Australia had again come out on top.

Truly, it was a combination of Pakistan failure and Australian brilliance.

Quite a few days have passed since the Sydney debacle. However, the backlash from Pakistan continues unabated. And expectedly so, as the Pakistan cricket team made a mockery of the Test at Sydney. This was not the first time they had committed hara-kiri of such magnitude, and definitely won’t be the last.

But, it was among the worst chasing efforts ever in the history of Test cricket, that too against the weakest Aussie side of the last two decades. What should have been golden chance for Pakistan turned out to be yet another missed opportunity. The loss has not only hurt Pakistani fans, but cricket lovers the world over, since all expected a tough contest between the two teams.

While the Sydney hurt will stay with the Pakistanis for some time to come, they have to try and look forward to putting up an improved showing at Hobart. The series may be lost, but they have a lot to play for. Avoiding a clean sweep – they have been blanked on the last three occasions – will be an achievement in itself.

Keeping that in view, expect a few changes. For one, Sarfraz Ahmed, who has been sent a SOS, will definitely replace Kamran Akmal, who might not be seen in whites for a long time following his schoolboyish effort at Sydney. Non-performers like Faisal Iqbal and Misbah-ul-Haq too need to go.

Even as the changes are mandatory, the team and the management need to do more than just shuffle around their players. Sadly for Pakistan, they do not get to play Test cricket at home these days due to the constant terror threat in their country. But, that is something beyond their control and they need to try and focus on the job at hand, which they clearly haven’t been doing on current evidence.

First and foremost, their new skipper Mohammad Yousuf needs to get his act right. He has been doing reasonably well with the bat, but his captaincy has been far from inspirational. The manner in which he allowed Australia to get away on the final day at Sydney was baffling. Agreed, he is still learning the tricks of leading the side.

However, he has enough experience to at least decipher how to react to a situation. Instead, Yousuf was prepared to sit back and watch. Pakistan would do well to resolve their inner conflicts and get back their first choice skipper Younis Khan as soon as possible.

That said, one can’t entirely blame the loss on Yousuf’s negative captaincy. As he rightly pointed out, both prior to and after the disaster at Sydney, the younger generation seems keen only on T20. And as if to add credence to their skipper’s comments, the team went out and batted like they were playing a 20-over game.

They way they crumbed made one wonder whether these players can survive even 20 overs in the shorter format. Clearly, this is a dangerous sign for Pakistan cricket and unless they are willing to learn from their mistakes, there is a bumpy ride ahead for Pakistan cricket.

The Boxing Day Test between Australia and Pakistan was disappointingly a dampener with one side – Australia – being completely in control and the other – Pakistan – always catching up, but only lagging behind.

It was hardly surprising then that the Asian side looked completely disillusioned in the match. While, it is true that the Pakistanis are fielding a rather inexperienced outfit, it is also a fact that this is not the greatest Australian side and hence Pakistan has a great chance of upsetting the Ausssie applecart.

Sadly, they blew away the opportunity rather deplorably at Melbourne and Australia had plenty to capitalize on.

There were a number of star performances from players of the home team, but none better than Shane Watson. The all-rounder, who finally found his feet in international cricket last year, was sensational with the bat in both the innings.

He was unlucky to miss out on a well-deserved ton in the first innings, getting run out in the 90s. But he did not repeat his mistake in the second essay and was the one who set up the victory path for Australia with his maiden Test century.

The beauty of Australia’s batting was that everyone contributed in the first innings to help their side put up a huge total.

Like Watson, his opening partner Simon Katich also fell in the 90s. However, the dismissals of the openers did not dispirit the middle-order.

They were only encouraged to carry on the good work. And they did exactly that with their skipper Ricky Ponting contributing an impressive half-century and Michael Hussey scoring 82.

To add insult to injury, Nathan Hauritz came in and registered a handy 75 to put Australia in a commanding position.

If the batters did their job, the bowlers weren’t far behind. Left-arm seamer Mitchell Johnson dealt the Pakistanis with some major blows at the top and in the middle, while the ever-improving Doug Bollinger took care of the lower-middle order as Pakistan collapsed in the first innings.

While Peter Siddle and Nathan Hauritz were not equally successful, they did a great job to back up the efforts of Johnson and Bollinger.

The bowlers continued their exceptional work in the second essay as well with Hauritz being particularly impressive, scalping his maiden five-for and ensuring that Pakistan’s late fightback was nullified.

On the contrary, Pakistan need to do some genuine soul-searching going into the Sydney Test. And for this their seniors need to put their hands up and show some fight.

The most disappointing aspect of Pakistan’s batting was that no one went on get a hundred in either of the innings. Misbah-Ul-Haq registered the highest score of the match for Pakistan – 65 not out.

He was unfortunate to be left stranded at the end of the first innings, with not much support from the lower order. Salman Butt and Imran Farhat have been around the international arena for a while now, bur have yet not learnt the art of constructing an innings, not a healthy sign for the future.

A lot was expected of Mohammad Yousuf. And while he did contribute in both the innings, it wasn’t big enough. For a change Umar Akmal could not capitalize on his start.

But the team did not worry about him as he has proved his mettle in his short yet feisty international stint. Ironically, it is up to the more experienced guys to follow the rookie’s act.

Pakistan, loosing finalists of last year’s T20 WC competition came closer to booking a Semi Finals spot with a convincing 39 runs victory over Ireland. With the Kiwis having injury worries ahead of their crucial encounter against SriLanka, the only way for Pakistan to be knocked out of the competition is through a comprehensive New Zealand victory over Sri Lanka. This looks highly unlikely as the Lankans have been the in form team in the competition thus far.

The Pakistanis decided to bat after winning the toss and looked comfortable while piling up 159 runs by just loosing five wickets against the Irish bowlers. Kamran Akmal took the experienced Irish bowler Trent Johnson, to the cleaners by smashing 20 runs of his second over of the match. The only Irish bowler to have troubled the Pakistani batsman was Boyd Rankin. His steepling bounce caused a lot of anxiety for the Pakistani openers and kept them under leash. The Pakistani batsman looked in control thereafter with notable contributions from Kamran Akmal (57 runs), Shahzaib Hasan (23 runs), Sahid Afridi (quick fire 24 runs), and Misbah-ul-Haq (20 runs) to take the score past 150 and set a challenging total for the Irishmen.

The target 0f 160 seemed to be a long distance away for Ireland with a lethal Pakistani bowling attack going full throttle against them. Saeed Ajmal spun a web around the Irish batsman with his 4-wicket haul thereby spinning Ireland out of the match. Umer Gul joined the party with a 2-wicket haul to leave Ireland 39 runs short of the target. The Ireland batsman never looked in control during the run chase as wickets tumbled on a regular interval throughout the match.

Pakistan thus ended the Super 8 stage of the competition with two consecutive victories to come close to a Semi Final spot from group F. A win for Sri Lanka against New Zealand would ensure that both the Sub continental teams reach the Semi finals from this group. Things could change with a win for New Zealand, which would force the Semi Finalists selection based on run rate, thereby leaving the Semi Final door open for all the three teams in this group.

The T20 Cricket has it roots in England where it was introduced for the first time in professional county cricket tournament. The shortened version of oneday cricket played for only 20 over each side has drawn audiences worldwide and is extremely popular as compared to other versions of cricket. This form of cricket was to provide a short version of the game to worldwide audiences. It was never meant to replace or degrade other forms like oneday and test match cricket. However, to ICC’s surprise, the governing body found that this form of cricket can help introduce the game to many more nations across the world.

The first International T20 match featured the likes of Australia and New Zealand played at the scenic Eden Park stadium in Auckland. The game has made rapid strides since then with the inaugural T20 World Cup Men’s competition being held in South Africa during September 2007. The competition played over duration of two weeks show very entertaining cricket from all the teams. It was the first time that T20 had made it this big and all the teams were uncertain about their performance in the tournament. The first bowl out in the history of T20 cricket was played between India and Pakistan in Durban after the teams were tied in the mandatory 20 over’s period.

Bangladesh proved once again that they are no longer the minnows in World Cricket with their shock defeat of the West Indies; Zimbabwe had also contributed their bit to make the tournament exciting by defeating the Australians in Cape Town. The group stages itself had laid the foundation for the tournament ahead. A young Indian team led by their inspirational captain MS Dhoni, steam rolled over England, South Africa, and title favorites Australia to set up the summit clash against arch rivals Pakistan. The final was an exciting affair with Misbah Ul Haq almost ensuring victory for Pakistan with a big six in the last over of the tournament. However, his miscalculated shot helped India achieve a dramatic 5-run victory over Pakistan and be crowned the T20 champions of the World.

The highlight of the tournament was an over in which Yuvraj Singh of India hammered Englishman Stuart Broad for six sixes of consecutive balls in that over. The most number of runs in the tournament was scored by Gautam Gambhir of India, while Umer Gul of Pakistan snapped up the maximum number of wickets. The Highest strike rate of 183.68 was achieved by Yuvraj Singh and the highest score in a T20 match was 117 scored by Chris Gayle of West Indies against South Africa. Daniel Vettori of New Zealand had the best economy rate amongst the bowlers conceding only 5.28 runs per over in a competition that favored the batsman. The highest score in a T20 match of the tournament was achieved by Sri Lanka when they amassed 260 against the minnows Kenya.

The second edition of the T20 World Cup is currently underway in England with 12 teams making it to the Men’s competition. The tournament is scheduled to be conducted after every two years except for West Indies hosting the tournament in 2010. The matches are being played in locations such as Lord’s, Trent Bridge, The Oval, and Taunton. The group stages have recently finished with Ireland and Netherlands being the surprise package of the tournament. The Dutch had raised their hopes of qualification into the Super 8 round of the tournament with an emphatic victory over England in one of the group games. However, Pakistan steam rolled them and ended all their dreams in the competition.

Ireland has been constantly improving since they first entered the big stage, a memorable win against Pakistan in the Oneday International World Cup held in West Indies, they also went on to beat Bangladesh to qualify for the Super 8 round of the competition. The in form teams of this tournament South Africa and Sri Lanka are playing solid cricket to keep their hopes alive of a summit clash, but West Indies, Pakistan, and New Zealand along with the Defending champions India will not make things easy for them. The last half of the tournament promises to be as exciting as the first half, which will throw many surprises and entertain the audiences with display of exciting cricket.