Stani Army

Something is going on with Pakistan’s catching. Having dropped seven in one Test against New Zealand, here against the Australians, they’ve started where they left off. The first dropped catch, which flew to Umar Akmal, was travelling at pace but should have been grasped at this level. The second, a superb, mesmerizing doosra from Saeed Ajmal to Shane Watson was even easier, dropped by Misbah at slip after taking a touch off the keeper’s gloves.

Catching's not easy when you can't see properly

It is a serious issue and Pakistan are beginning to pay the price for not taking these chances. Though they do have their new fielding and bowling coach Waqar Younis with them, it may have been better to have asked an optician to have accompanied the team to Australia. I think an eyesight test now has to be a must for each player, seriously.

You have to feel for the bowlers. Not only do dropped catches give the batsmen extra chances but they demoralise the bowlers and put the rest of the field under pressure. What a start to 17 year old Aamer’s first Test in Australia it would have been had Akmal held onto that catch? The last team in the world you should be giving opportunities to are the Australians. Katich was on 8* when he was drooped, Watson on 43*, they went on to make 98 and 93 respectively. It would not be too early to suggest that those two drops look to already have cost Pakistan the Test with Australia now in such a commanding position.

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So what was wrong with the Pakistan team that reached the Semi-finals of the Champions Trophy? For some reason, when the squads were named for the New Zealand games, there were some surprising names in there. But it didn’t stop there. Changes were made to the team also and the team taking the field in each of the three ODIs against New Zealand was a different one.

There was no Shoaib Malik or Rana Naved in the first ODI (not to mention Imran Nazir who wasn’t even in the squad). In the second ODI, Umar Akmal was dropped and Shoaib Malik was brought in. For today’s game, Mohammad Yousuf made way and back came Umar Akmal. Ask most Pakistan fans and very few would say we went in with our best side in any of these three ODIs.

Consistency in selection usually results in consistency in performance so why the need to make changes? These changes have basically all come about because of the conundrum that Pakistan are having with their openers. Khalid Latif, one of the openers brought in, has done very well averaging 43. His partner on the other hand, Salman Butt

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Well that doesn’t quite do this absorbing encounter justice. Even at the half way point Pakistan looked the likely losers after scraping to a total of 205 for 6. With the Australian innings starting off well, Indian fans all over the world who were watching the Pakistan match must have started to turn their TV sets off as Australia cruised to 140 for 2. News must have got through to MS Dhoni in the Indian game who in a strange move, whipped off his wicket keeping gloves and brought himself onto to bowl. Though he did take a wicket, he cost his side boundaries which at the time seemed insignificant. But then came the superb Pakistan fight back and Australia found themselves in trouble at 187 for 8. All of a sudden there was hope for India.

The chief protagonists in the fight back for Pakistan were Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Asif and Rana Naved who bowled maidens in both the 45th and 47th overs of the Australian innings. This meant that not only had the Aussies have to worry about wickets but also the number of balls remaining.

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This eagerly anticipated contest didn’t disappoint, at least from the Pakistani point of view. And they say the Australia England rivalry is bigger in cricket? I don’t think so.

Pakistan’s victory was set up due to a brilliant partnership of 206 between Mohammad Yousuf (87) and man of the match, Shoaib Malik (128). The pacing of the partnership left MS Dhoni scratching his head but you have to feel for the guy as only Ashish Nehra and Yusuf Pathan did anything of note with the ball for them.

It is a well held belief that if Pakistan’s batsmen fired then they’d be a force to be reckoned with as the bowling usually takes care of itself. Unfortunately for India, their bowling was their weak link and many of their bowlers looked devoid of ideas and played into Pakistan’s hands. The most frustrating of them for Indian fans must be Ishant Sharma. After bursting onto the scene he has flattered to deceive even though he posses all the attributes you’d need to be a top quality fast bowler. India’s main selection conundrum is the bowling all rounder spot. It means that their bowlers have to do their job and their batsmen likewise. If either fails, then it becomes difficult for them to make it up.

Of Pakistan’s bowlers, the normally reliable Umar Gul had a surprisingly off day giving many extras and conceding 55 of his 6 overs. It must be said that Younis should have dragged him

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Rana Naved was recently awarded a central contract by the PCB after he turned his back on the ICL. He was placed into category C of the contracts, which would see him earn 100,000 Rupees a month. Since most of the ICL players were wholly blamed for joining the unofficial league and criticised for it; here we’ll take a look at what the Pakistan players are earning and whether this is enough to stop their heads turning.

Below is a list of the value of the contract in each category and it makes for some interesting reading

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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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With an emphatic win over Ireland, Pakistan do not now have to worry about run rates becoming a factor in qualification for the semi-finals.

Batting first, it was a weird kind of innings with Pakistan always threatening to charge but not quite getting away. Credit must go to the Irish bowlers, in particular big Boyd Rankin who gave a measly 11 runs off his four overs.

Kamran Akmal had another brilliant game both with the bat and with the gloves. With his 57 off 51 balls, it was the perfect innings for the batsmen coming in at the other end to have a go. Afridis 24 off just 13 balls was probably the other valuable innings because of his strike rate.

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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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