Stani Army

As I watched Ijaz Butt, the Chairman of the PCB, stand at the after-match presentation ceremony, there was a discernible difference between his appearance after the first twenty20 against England and the second one. After the first one, you could see the worry on his face as he tried to both listen in on what the captains were saying whilst sifting through the many excuses in his head as to why Pakistan had not won a single match ten matches in a row. At the second presentation ceremony, he looked as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders as he stood there with his head held high.

Yes, Pakistan managed to win something eventually but this win must not paper over the cracks like wins such as this have done so in the past. The management, coaching and captaincy issues still remain, not to mention the fact that we still are yet to find a settled opening pair and a reliable middle order.

Abdul Razzaq: Single handedly stopped the run of Pakistan’s 10 straight losses in all forms

What was obvious in both Twenty20s was that they followed a pattern which has become synonymous with Pakistan’s recent performances in that they found themselves in winning positions only to relinquish their hold on the game. But for the brilliance of Abdul Razzaq in the second Twenty20, this pattern would have continued for eleven straight games. Once again, it would be easy to use this as an excuse that only a few tweaks are needed here and there but you don’t lose ten games in a row if your problems are small and easily fixed.

One interesting call which came from the guys at MTJAG, was to make Abdul Razzaq captain. Before you dismiss it, consider the fact that none of our current candidates are obviously suitable and the problems we have had in bringing back the same old faces to take over as captain in the past. Would a new face in the role be a better option? Certainly, he seems respected among the players and is increasingly becoming a vital cog in the Pakistan team since his return from the ICL. It was his call-up to the World Twenty20 team which coincided with Pakistan’s up-turn and eventually lead to us being crowned World Champions. Could Razzaq be the perfect candidate to build a new team around? Many of you may have noticed his reaction after he bludgeoned the ball for six to take Pakistan home in the second Twenty20. It was the reaction of a determined and hungry man as his after-match comments clearly showed: “I was telling Fawad we should win this one. I was saying ‘you can, you will’ and we did”. Certainly, we could do with more of that attitude from all of our players.

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With the emergence of Mohammad Aamer, would a fit Shoaib have a place in the Pakistan first team?

In the past, we’ve had to keep on going back to Shoaib because there was no one else fast or good enough to partner Umar Gul as the other of the two Pakistan pace spearheads. Maybe part of the reason for his bad behaviour was that he felt he brought something unique to the Pakistan attack so was thus indispensable and could do pretty much what he liked. His recent comment, “I am the fastest bowler in history and it’s not possible for everyone to bowl at 150 (kph)”, does give some indication of such a mindset. Yet now that we have Aamer, and due the reasons which we will now examine, I think Shoaib would find it very difficult to get a place in any of our sides.

His reverse swing and slower ball skills will not be missed as Gul has demonstrated that he is one of the very best exploiters of these qualities. His pace will not also be a miss as both Gul and Aamer are adequately fast enough. In most of our sides, barring injury, we will probably go with three main fast bowlers due to the strength of our all rounders and spinners. With Gul and Aamer a certainty, this leaves one place

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I’m not sure if anyone else remembers reading cricinfo’s bulletin for the Super 8s match Pakistan played against New Zealand, but there were parts of it that made me wonder. It was written by Sidarth Monga who, in the past, has been accused by various fans of his obvious bias. Here it was in regards to Pakistan being able to recall Abdul Razzaq after the ICL cancelled his contract. Have a read of his bulletin and see what you make of it.

Sidarth Monga:

“How Pakistan would want to thank BCCI for the “amnesty” it accorded the ICL players.”

“Once the euphoria of this performance dies, Pakistan will want to thank the man returning to international cricket for allowing them to go ahead with their preferred bowling strategy.”

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Pakistan have won the ICC World Twenty20 2009 and can now rightly claim to be the best national Twenty20 side in the world after reaching the final last time around and narrowly missing out. Yet, victory did not escape them this time with all this, in the words of their captain, being just a bit of “fun”. Can you imagine if they had taken it seriously?

Pakistan needed to pounce on the Sri Lankan openers early on and that’s exactly what Mohmmad Aamer and Abdul Razzaq did. Tillakaratne Dilshan was peppered with short balls from Amer and fell going for his trademark scoop shot. Had he heeded the warning of our fellow Stani Q at Well Pitched, then Dilshan would have known not to attempt that shot in the final. Before they knew it, Sri Lanka were 32 for 4, thanks mainly to Abdul Razzaq (3 for 20). There was also some very good captaincy from Younis Khan who crucially kept a slip in place, and slightly wide, for the wicket of Mahela Jayawardene, who had been in excellent touch. Though now in trouble, they were given a life line with captain Kumar Sangakkara making a steady 64, and constructing a crucial partnership with Angelo Mathews (35). The two had managed to drag their team off the floor and and set a very tricky 139 for Pakistan to get.

It was certain that Pakistan had to play the type of innings that they were not known for. Wickets had to be kept in hand whilst the run rate had to be steadily maintained. Kamran Akmal and Shahzaib Hasan duly obliged, knocking the ball around and getting boundaries at vital points. In the 8th over, Akmal fell and in came Shahid Afridi. He started off cautiously, having the youngster Shahzaib at the other end. Shahzaib hit two crucial fours off Mendis before he fell in the next over to bring Malik to the crease. The two men that did it for Pakistan in the semis were now at the crease as they went along steadily picking up singles. As Pakistan fell behind the rate, then came a crucial over in which Afridi decided to attack Murali, hitting him for a six, a four, and getting 14 off the over.

Nerves began to settle as Malik and Afridi went back to intelligently picking up the singles and not allowing the rate to rocket whilst keeping wickets in hand. As the rate began to increase once more, another big over was required and that man Afridi obliged once again. His victim this time, Udana

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In a semi-final that can’t have been any good to the health of Pakistani hearts, Pakistan have managed to beat South Africa and reach the final of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2009.

After getting off to a great start thanks to Kamran Akmal (23 off 12) and then Shahid Afridi (51 off 34), Pakistan were set for a total of 170 upwards. This did not happen as the South African bowlers, Parnell and Steyn in particular, reined Pakistan in, conceding just 29 runs off the last 5 overs. One thing Younis Khan could have done is send in Misbah Ul-Haq instead of himself as coming to the crease in the 13th over, Younis hit just one boundary in his innings of 24. Even sending Misbah in ahead of the rusty Razzaq would have been a good option. It was good that they sent Afridi at three yet this is one other place in which they could have been flexible with the line up. Misbah has a unique ability of finding the boundary from full pitched balls, something Younis and Razzaq struggled with.

We mustn’t underestimate the contribution of Shoiab Malik’s batting also. If you have a look at most decent Twenty20 totals, you will see they include at least one innings of 30+ which is around the run a ball rate. It’s a kind of stabiliser to the fast paced innings this form of the game requires in order for a large total to be set.

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Pakistan set the tournament alight with a brilliant victory over a very good New Zealand side.

The game marked the return of Abdul Razzaq to the international side and his breakthrough early in the New Zealand innings was vital in what was to follow and thus cannot be underestimated. He had a good day with the ball (2 for 17) although he didn’t get going with the bat; still not being able to play spinners the poor sod.

The star of the show was obviously Umar Gul with his record breaking figures of 5 for 6. It was the first time anyone has taken a 5-for in International Twenty20. Amazingly, he was on a hat-trick twice but never managed to convert either. In his interview after, he spoke of working on the yorkers and slower balls with coach Aqib Javed and said that he watched videos of Waqar and Wasim and boy did it show. Those figures will take some beating, and the fact that he is also number 3 and 7 on the Twenty20 best figures list, shows it wasn’t just luck.

Afridi was once again mesmeric with the ball and took, in our opinion, the best catch of the tournament so far.

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Pakistan came unstuck in their first game of the super 8 stage. The difference between the two teams was the manner in which each began their innings.

Pakistan’s pace men were guilty once again of giving the opposition and lightning start. Instead of going for glory, they need to bowl economically and not put pressure on their team mates. They should have been intelligent enough to realise the wicket taking role of our spinners in this tournament and thus complimented them by bowling tight and creating pressure. The Sri Lankan pace men, though slower, bowled excellent line and length and put our batsmen under pressure, causing wickets to fall. It made the difference in the end.

Though Gul did take two wickets, this was later in the innings when the ball was older. He should recognise this and bowl accordingly i.e. conservative new-ball first spell, attacking old-ball second. We must give credit to Aamer who showed the more experienced men how to bowl. With Razzaq back in contention

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Mohammad Yousuf and Abdul Razzaq have been brought back into the fold by the PCB after resigning from the ICL. This comes too late for either of them to participate in the T20 WC.

Having initially had Razzaq as one of the three ICL players they had picked in the initial T20 WC squad, had the PCB  not later withdrawn them then Razzaq would have been able to participate.

Many would not have Yousuf in their T20 squad but I am not one of them. Fall of wickets in the shorter form of the game does require stability in the batting order and he is the perfect man to do it. I have seen him play attacking also and he does it with as much grace as he does when constructing a Test century.

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