10
A Couple Of Gripes
By Tabrez Janjua for Stani Army in International Cricket, Pakistan Cricket
44 ViewsWas I the only one who thought Umar Gul was darn unlucky not to get the player of the tournament award? It went to Tillakaratne Dilshan for scoring the most runs in the tournament. But in a batsmen’s game, surely a bowlers achievements should be recognised more? Shorter outfields and flatter wickets; certainly it was easier to bat well than bowl well no?
Of course, Gul’s was not just any achievement but a record, a first ever 5-wicket haul in International Twenty20s with his spell of 5 for 6 in three overs against New Zealand. Maybe the ICC didn’t want a Pakistani clean sweep so decided to spread the awards out. It’s either that or Daniel Vettori must have been on the ICC judges panel.
The other issue I had was the fact that the next Twenty20 World Cup is going to be held in April 2010, meaning that we will not even hold the title for a year. I will not go over it in detail as to why as Q has done a fine job of this over at Well Pitched, but it all stems from the cancellation of the Champions trophy in Pakistan in 2008. I suppose it does make sense but it’s just sad we will probably be the shortest holders of the World T20 title. It’s first winners, India, held the honour for almost two years. I suppose whether it’s two years or two minutes, at least our name will be permanently engraved in the record books as Champions, 2009.
Now that I’ve got that off my chest, I would just like to give our two unsung heroes a mention. They were, in my opinion, Kamran Akmal and Shoaib Malik. Akmal showed his vastly improved glove work and gave us some lightning starts at the top of the order. Shoaib Malik, was probably our best in the field, taking two spectacular catches, one of them a vitally important pressure catch to dismiss Jacques Kallis in the semi-final. Yet, what was most impressive about Malik was his role in the two instances when Afridi performed with the bat. His cool headedness, composure and ability to pace the innings whilst keeping Boom Boom from going Bust Bust, was a critical element to our success in the semi-final and the final.
Overall, I was glad we defeated the two undefeated sides left in the competition (Souh Africa an Sri Lanka) to take the title because the haters would just not have let that one go.
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June 25th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
I was upset that Afridi did not get the player of the tournament.. 170 runs, 11 wickets, the catches.. his was the perfect T20 performance and he led the team to the title. It was as if it was pre-decided that no matter how badly Dilshan does in the final, and how well Afridi does, the player of the tournament will go to Dilshan..
I understand ur point abt Gul but there were other bowlers – Malinga, Mendis, and Ajmal who had the same number of wickets and had done well in a batsman’s game but to separate Gul from them would have been difficult.
Separating Dilshan from the other batsmen was easy. Separating Afridi from everyone was even easier..
Akmal and Malik deifnitely deserve praise.
Another person who has gone unnoticed is Abdul Razzaq. His return was just awesome! I will write on him soon..
June 25th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Q,
I see what you’re saying but I think you can separate Gul from the other bowlers because of his 5 for 6.
What Dilshan, Afridi, Malinga, Ajmal, Mendis did, will probably be achieved by someone in the near future. Gul’s 5 for 6 will take some beating. I’m not even sure it will be surpassed it was that good. To give just 6 runs and take 5 wickets in a T20 international?! That gets more unbelievable the more you think of it.
I think Gul did something unique and to show it was not a fluke on his behalf, his name dominates the top 10 of the best figures in T20 internationals. He should have been rewarded for that.
June 25th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Very unlucky indeed. The woes of being a bowler. I really hate this, but the batsman always gets favored.
June 25th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
No ones mentioned Parnell, he was also a worthy contender IMO.
June 26th, 2009 at 11:02 am
A biased decision. Only because T20 is a batsmen’s game. Seemingly they receive all the recognition.
Umar was invincible and deadly! Afridi bowled superbly throughout and clicked with the bat when it mattered most. He was also a worthy candidate up for serious contention.
Last time boom boom received it and everyone was wondering why. I wonder if they have some tendency of granting the honour to the losing finalist as a way of cheering them up. Well so far that appears to be the case!
June 26th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Abz, Wayne Parnell was never going to come into consideration. Simply because he wouldn’t be present to collect the reward.
A good bowler though.He has a big future ahead of him as long as he stays fit as has Van Der Merwe.
June 26th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Bon,
I suppose one good thing is that it makes bowlers try to think of new ways of getting batsmen out. It kind of forces evolution.
Abz,
I think if he didn’t start crying in the semis loss, he would have got it. Just kidding! He was top class. Had SA got to the final then he probably would have been 2nd….behind a batsman of course. The fact that SA didn’t get to the final kind of meant you couldn’t give their players a player of the tournament award because they didn’t last the complete tournament.
Maz,
Yes, I do get the feeling that the ICC like spreading the awards out but then that defies the awards purpose really. It’s the kind of thing teachers would do to little kids so as not to upset them.
Wayne Parnell and Mohammad Aamer need to start picking Wasim Akram’s brains. Maybe then we’ll see some of that wizardry that we haven’t seen since Akram.
June 26th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
LOL STANI
!
June 27th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Afridi deserved it more than anybody else, Gul performed well but so did Malinga, Parnell, and Mendis.
Afridi’s performance was the X factor in the semis and the finals.
June 27th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Wasim,
I think the way Gul brought the oppositions momentum to an almost hault, coming on after the 10th over was crucial in restricting targets. If not for him, we would have been chasing 200s at least a couple of times.