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Younis Drops The Trophy
By Tabrez Janjua for Stani Army in International Cricket, Pakistan Cricket
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Umar Akmal does Sajda after reaching his 50
New Zealand turned up to the semi-final of the Champions Trophy and did exactly what you should do against a Pakistan side which is to stick in there, not force the pace and allow Pakistan to implode. They only made one mistake in the field that I can recall and never allowed themselves to get above their station, cruising home comfortably in the end.
Though the scars of our bowling performance will be fresh, it was the batsmen that cost us again I’m afraid. Many may argue the total was a defendable one, but it was by the bats of our bowlers that we were spared embarrassment and got to such a total in the end. Shoaib Malik and Shaid Afridi went off the same high risk shot, trying to cut fine instead of playing straight. When you’re 50 not out, you can play delicate shots but not when you just got in.
Umar Akmal played another encouraging knock (55) and was very unlucky to be given out lbw by Simon Taufel after sweeping the ball off the middle of his bat and onto his pads. Taufel is an excellent umpire who very rarely makes mistakes but this one was crucial I’m afraid and ended up costing Pakistan dearly. Had it not been for the 35 run last wicket partnership between Ajmal and Aamer then this match would have been over at the half way stage.
The bowlers, though they tried to attack, were largely ineffective due to some stubborn resistance from the Kiwi batsmen and a couple of ball changes that didn’t allow them to work on the ball. Aamer was the pick of the bowlers (1 for 32) and would have got two wickets had his captain knew how to catch. It was the simplest of chances which looped to Younis who for someone reason decided to go onto his knees and catch with his fingers pointing up. He was going to do only one thing and that was to knock the ball into the ground. Grant Elliot was on 42 at the time and he went on to make another 33 which included an over of 16 off Umar Gul. Elliot finished on a match winning 75 not out.
After the game, Younis said: “We won the World Twenty20 and reached the semi-finals here. We are improving day by day.”, but I’m afraid I saw no improvement today. The same poor shots, the same wides and no-balls and the same poor fielding. The excuses need to stop Younis, and grown men need to act like so.
Good on New Zealand for making the most of their talent. If Pakistan could only do the same they’d be the best in the world.
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October 3rd, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Pakistan have lost against New Zealand in the semi final, a heart breaking time to depart for any side. As a passionate and patriotic Pakistani supporter I’m disappointed but also all congratulatory to New Zealand who simply were the better side overall.
Nonetheless I oppose YK’s decision to bat first considering the statistical results of doing do at the venue. Also I will have to name and shame the influential “sitter” he dropped. He appears the centre of fame when ditching.
Looking ahead to the final I can only back Australia’s depth and style to be the difference.
October 4th, 2009 at 5:50 am
How does the Pak players get their hair so shiny and bouncy?
October 4th, 2009 at 6:05 am
How is a semi-final loss after a World Cup win an improvement? I love it when captains try so hard to look for these so called positives, they make fools of themselves by saying something completely incoherent.
Bon, they use eggs. They shave their head when they are little and put egg yolk on the scalp. I’m serious!
October 4th, 2009 at 7:49 am
They may have lost but they are a young team and a very powerful team.
October 5th, 2009 at 12:18 am
Maz,
Agree Maz, New Zealand played better on the day and deserved to win. Interestingly it’s the two teams who finished top in their groups that have made it to the final. I have to say that Pakistan were a credit to the tournament and were involved in the more exciting games.
I too questioned the logic of batting first when our bowlers could have made use of the newwer pitch, making in-roads into New Zealand who would have been on the back foot early on.
Bon,
Are you serious? It’s not their doing….well half of it is. They use hair oil and coupled with the South African air, it makes their hair all nice, “shiny and bouncy”. Don’t listen to Purna; she just has to mention food when talking about anything.
You make a good point about the potential of the Pakistan side as they are still young.
Purn,
He’s making silly excuses to lessen the criticism they’ll get when they fly home. We should be beating New Zealand really, especially when they were so weakened through injury.
October 5th, 2009 at 9:00 am
great picture
October 5th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
It was a strange strange defeat. It was like a gentle game and a gentle victory. Umar Akmal is quite a find (the other being Rana’s hair). One of the turning points of the game however was also him losing his wicket(quite unfortunately) at that crucial time, and Afridi following him like a crazed stalker into the dressing room.
NZ are 18/1 after 9 overs right now!!! Unbelievable! Grow a pair and start hitting around already!
October 5th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Do you think Pak batsmen were over-cautious and did not put any pressure on the NZ bowlers? Look at when Umar Akmal was batting. NZ did not have an answer. Same when Mohammad Aamer was blasting away in the end.
October 5th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
MTJAG,
You’re right about the strangeness of the game but I suppose it’s credit to New Zealand as they never really let us get into the game.
You’re not the only ones jealous of Rana’s hair but back off, he’s ours.
Rayden,
Absolutely spot on. Especially Nazir who didn’t play his natural game and paid the price. That pitch was definitely better than our top order made it seem.
October 7th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
The catch dropped by Younis was crucial but was not the single factor due to which we lost the match and honestly at that stage the damage was already done.
1-Pakistan’s whole planning was defensive, they didn’t gave Akmal and Nazir a licensce to kill which was quite visible in their batting.
I understand the kiwi bowlers were bowling at an accurate line and length and were quite hostile with the bounce they were extracting from the pitch. But the pitch had no movement in it, all they had to do was to either stand out of their crease or make room outside the offstump and hit the ball, this is what Akmal and Nazir do very often but strangely they were in a defensive mode.
2- Shoaib Malik just opened the face of the bat and send an easy catch to the slip. Wasn’t he aware that their was a slip in place the ball didn’t move he opened the face of the bat. Why?
Why was he sent at number three when Younis was playing.
3- Just because Osman Sami and some other prominent journalists from Karachi have been supporting Younis Khan all along for captaincy nobody notices his underperformance, this guy can get away with murder.
I challenge all of you guys quote me one ICC tournament where Younis performed with the bat consistently, start from 2003 World cup till now, you will be surprised.
He shouldn’t have rested Aamer in the match against Australia if Pakistan were serious in winning the match.
He shouldnt have played Misbah at a higher # than Umar Akmal in the match against Australia especially when Misbah was going to be sitting out in the semis.
He should not have batted first against New Zealand, they were totally depleted as far as batting was concerned batting first would have put enormous pressure on them and at least Pakistan could have pursued their chase sytematically with a target in mind.
Why Younis didn’t took the power play when Afridi came in to bat? He is not that stupid and if he is then I think the people who worship him are even more stupid. Quote me one match where he could utilize the power plays.
Why did he bowled Aamer seven straight overs, especially when th kiwis were just seeing him off, and why he didn’t kept his overs for the power plays. He was the best bowler from Pakistan side in the match Younis saw earlier Rana and Gul were unable to trouble the Kiwi batsmen.
Younis failed to curtail the singles as Vettori did he kept people like Malik and Nazir and Akmal on the boundary and kept on giving easy singles to the kiwis.
Shahid Afridi didn’t bowled the way he usually does their were no sliders, no wrong ones, and no faster ones he threw away his wicket in a strange fashion.
I couldn’t understand first Pakistani batsmen were reluctant to hit a boundary and then later on they were trying to hit boundaries on every ball, we all know when they want to win they play differently. It was an un professional display, If aamer and Ajmal can hit boundaries easily the top batsmen could also have done that.
Umpiring was inconsistent but was not the main cause of Pakistan’s loss, the umpires gave were inconsistent in giving wides when the kiwis were bowling at times it seemed as if a different set of rules is being applied to the two innings, wrong noballs were given against Pakistan and at least two close Lbw’s were not given out, Umar Akmal’s lbw was the turning point.
I think Younis Khan’s poor captaincy and the under performance of some senior players cost us the trophy. Umar Gul and Rana both bowl different lengths when Pakistan wins and when Pakistan loses.
Did anybody noticed all the young players performed well, why can’t we get rid of these big names and give chance to young players.
October 7th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Oh I forgot one thing, Hats off to Vettori and his team for such a disciplined and spirited performance. Congrats to all the New Zealanders.
October 7th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
http://www.cricinfo.com/zimbabwe/content/story/428684.html
I’ve been bragging on about this chap for a long time and finally he gets his chance ………… what a mouth-watering prospect.
October 7th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Wasim,
I think that wicket of Elliot could have been crucial as our attack is usually lethal againt the tale and that one wicket could have triggered a collapse.
The plan with Nazir and Akmal just didn’t work. When will they realise that if they pick Nazir, they have to let him play his natural game otherwise there is no point. I absolutely agree that Malik should not have been sent that high. I had the exact same thought as soon as I saw him walk in.
I was also dumbfounded that he chose to bat first.
Gul’s performance was the most frustrating. He strikes me as lacking cricketing intelligence. After his impressive performances in the t20 World Cup, he hasn’t really done anything of note when he is supposed to be our main bowler. How you can repeatedly bowl no-balls as a professional I cannot understand.
Maz,
Is that Ghumman or Qadir?
October 8th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
That is Usman Qadir. The son of the legendary Abdul. Could u also define what “stani” means. Is it something associated with our beloved home land ?
October 8th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Stani,who were ur favourite cricketers ?
Mine were Imran Khan,Mushy and Kumble. I also and still really like Rana Naved.
October 8th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
As regards to good Pakistani commentator it would be Aamer Sohail or Wasim Akram. What would u say ?
Imran Khan’s opinions and analysis are always gr8 but obviously due to political commitments he doesn’t get to contribute as much.
October 9th, 2009 at 1:00 am
Maz,
Yes, ‘Stani’ comes from ‘Pakistani’. Have a look at the ‘About’ page and everything will be explained.
What does Qadir junior bowl?
My favourite cricketer of all time has to be Wasim Akram. I liked various others such as Imran, Lara, Mcgrath, Steve Waugh, Waqar, Saqlain, Mushy, Cairns, Ambrose, Rhodes, Azharuddin, DeSilva, Jimmy Adams etc etc, but Akram sits top.
I agree with your views on Imran and commentary. On the few occasions I have heard him commentate, he demanded as much respect there as he did on the field.
I also agree that Akram and Sohail are our two best commentators and I like them both for different reasons. The good thing about Sohail is he cannot hold back his frustrations and calls it how he sees it and some of his English is hilarious especially his pluralisation of names e.g. Glen McGraths.
Akram, if you listen carefully has a very astute and clever cricketing brain. Rambo Ramiz Raja has to be the worst with his continuous backside kissing of the opposition. There’s being neutral and then there’s Ramiz who’s bias for the opposition!
My all round favourite commentator is Danny Morrison.