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PrintIf you are the sort who believes in such things, then Pakistan’s tournament seems to be following something of a script.
Here was a team struggling to win ODI matches at home and away. Its only recent win of note against a Test playing nation came in a practice game against a struggling English side. Aside from security issues at home, the team was recovering from various scandals and injuries that had resulted in the loss of talents such as Mohammad Asif, Mohammed Amir, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Gul and Junaid Khan to name a few – all players Pakistan had heavily invested in.
The replacements were men such as Wahab Riaz, a fast bowler who had shown sparks of genius so rarely that readers chortled at my suggestion that he could prove to be a match winning all-rounder.
Others included Sohail Khan, Yasir Shah, Rahat Ali, Ehsan Adil, Sarfraz Ahmed, and Sohaib Maqsood; all of them cricketers who, in the World Cup, were playing the first major tournament of their careers.
Still others, such as Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal, and Mohammad Irfan were yet to live up to their promise. Meanwhile the best player in the team was an ageing captain often steering the ship on his own.
This team did not have the ingredients of someone destined for the quarterfinals. Yet, fate seems to have designed their path to the next round almost on purpose to propel a suicidal unit to the peak of self-confidence.
Also read: We have the momentum to go all the way: Misbah
Pakistan predictably lost its first game against India, and then having hit rock bottom, were buried underground by the West Indies. It now needed to win all of its last four games to reach the knockout stage, with each contest effectively a knockout match. Had the next match been against the dangerous South Africans, Pakistan would have surely met the same fate as England, but thankfully, the writers placed Zimbabwe in their path.
By barely edging Zimbabwe, the bowlers finally showed the innate ability we all hoped they carried. The win also set spark to a Pakistani candle after it had stood through a thunderstorm. If the win against Zimbabwe lit the bowlers, the triumph against UAE – who inexplicably fielded first – allowed the batsmen to gorge like the starving at a buffet.
Aside from instilling confidence, the victories also gave the players a taste of pressure. When the South African lions came to play, our Asian tigers had already beaten a couple of hyenas.
Sarfraz omission likely just a tactical error
While Pakistan’s performance against Ireland today wasn’t flawless, they showed enough potential in all departments to pose a threat to Australia in the quarterfinals. Their advantage is in that they will challenge the hosts in Adelaide, where the conditions are less alien.
Pakistan’s most welcome new asset is an in-form Sarfraz Ahmed. The management’s decision to keep him out was criticised heavily by fans and critics alike, who didn’t seem to realise that the Karachi-based player was given every chance in Australia and New Zealand, but was finding it impossible to hold catches, stump batsmen, and score runs.
