Defiance

The world was at shock on May 14, 2010, when Pakistan lost to Australia even after making an outstanding 191 runs. Australia had to make 18 runs in 6 balls and Micheal Hussey did something that would go down in the record books and remain there forever; he scored 22 runs off of 4 balls and took Australia to the final. The score which is nearly impossible to make was made off of quite possibly Pakistan's best spinner: Saeed Ajmal. No one can blame Saeed Ajmal either. Throughout the whole match he was a strong bowler for Pakistan and the last over was just something out of his control. In his own words he stated: "The first delivery was perfect, it was what I had planned, it was a perfect yorker to Mitchell Johnson and it only went for a single, However, then the wind seemed to pick up and I was bowling into the wind which made me lose my line and length. I dragged the next delivery down and instead of bowling yorkers into the blockhole for the remaining deliveries as I tried to fire the ball in at the batsman, the deliveries ended up being quick and became length deliveries, which was what Hussey was hoping for. He was then able to get the elevation on the deliveries, instead of having to dig them out". Ajmal was heartbroken after the match, and still is, but has a great set of teammates and coaches by his side to publicly and personally console him: "Saeed is a magnificent competitor, a great bowler and someone who remains a match-winner, He has led Pakistan to many victories and I'm sure in future he will help us to many more victories." (Kamran Akmal). "It was an unbelievable innings; you just don't see many like that around. I can't really blame anyone. I thought we bowled pretty well and batted outstandingly" (Waqar Younis). For Australia it was a major victory and a shot at their very first t20 world cup, but for Pakistan, even though it may not seem like it; it was no less of a victory either. Even though they lost, they fell as a team. No one pointed fingers at any specific person or player (which is very unusual for a South Asian team) mainly because no one had a reason to; everyone gave it their best. For a team who has always been criticized for it's batting, Pakistan made 191 runs; which is a hard score to make in 20 overs and serves as a terrific middle finger to it's critics. For the team who was snubbed by the Indians in IPL and the world thought that for Pakistan it was a big disadvantage, it made it to the semifinals while it's counterpart (India) got out without a trace and later even blamed the same IPL for it's losses. For a team that has no international cricket in it's country for over a year now, Pakistan is the only international cricket team that made the semi finals of EVERY SINGLE ICC event since the 2007 world cup. So does the Pakistani cricket team have any reason to be sad or worrisome? NO. The fact is that we stand up against every discrimination made towards us by the international cricket community and make an impact wherever we go and whichever tournament we participate in. That is our defiance and we live by it.

[Image: © AFP]