The 2nd semi-final of the 2010 T20 World Cup is tomorrow. Pakistan will be playing Australia; the team that smacked Pakistan all this year in every single format of the game. Yet for some strange reason i believe Pakistan is going to win. Australia has won every single match in this tournament, but so did South Africa last year and Pakistan sent them running back home in the semi-finals. This is indeed a very hard match to predict as Australia is the only team that dominates Pakistan even when Pakistan is in form. But you can't leave the Pakistani side out of the picture, If the mood is right the green shirts could dominate the field. If Pakistan wins, they are going to face their 1992 world cup opponents who ironically are the only reason Pakistan are in the tournament. Pakistan would've been out if England hadn't beat New Zealand earlier. Which is also more weird as England did the same thing for Pakistan in the 1992 world cup and then later faced them in the final ( our first world cup :D ). Strictly by statistics Australia has everything on it's side but you never know; the green shirts can strike any time!
[Image: © AFP]
Pakistan made it to the semifinal!! After all hope was lost for the Pakistani cricket team when they lost the key match against New Zealand (by one run), they miraculously managed to get to the semi-finals. They overcame South Africa with the captain Shahid Afridi finally coming into form (30 runs off of 18 Balls), as well as Saeed Ajmal (4 wickets) and the Akmal brothers (Kamran and Umar made 37 and 51 respectfully) finally making their presence felt in this year's tournament. That wasn't all though; Their win would have been useless if England had not beaten New Zealand later on. If New Zealand had won, then Pakistan would have been taking the next flight home. It was nothing short of a miracle that Pakistan has everything going it's way. It's a blessing from a higher power that got the green shirts through. Being unpredictable, Pakistan's chances in the semis can't be determined but their performance throughout this year's tournament has been disappointing (winning 2 out of 5 matches). But as one can see, skill is not the only thing that is needed in cricket ;) God bless the Pakistani cricket team and God bless Pakistan. I wish them the best in the semis. =)
[Image: © AFP]
"The man of the hour" Abdul Razzaq saved Pakistan from utter embarrassment and leveled out the t20 series [of 2 matches]with England. He hit a miraculous and extraordinary 48 runs off of 18 balls [equal to 3 overs]. How did he do it? Well hitting 5 sixes really helps make that kind of score! With all the chaos surrounding the PCB [Pakistan Cricket Board] and the Pakistani team's failure in Australia [11 straight loses and no wins]; this win was heaven sent. Although, One may wonder what's in store for Pakistani cricket. With rumors that the national coach will be sacked, the captains will be replaced, and the recent axing of the vice captain from the series against England, one can just pray for the best.With the world cup coming up and the current form of the team, it just makes a die-hard Pakistan fan turn into a nervous wreck. I Hope we can clear all the problems out before the world cup and concentrate on another victorious campaign. But I will have to say that Younus Khan will be missed. His leadership and presence in the team always gave the fans a sense of relief. But no worries, Afridi is an excellent captain and should be able to run a very successful campaign.
[Image © PA Photos]
I was going through some Pakistani blogs and came across such an interesting post [link below] that it inspired my to write this . Although i have spent years of my life studying Pakistani history, lifestyle, and politics, i have always wanted to live there. I'm based in New York [the financial capital of the world] and whenever i tell someone that i want to shift to Pakistan they'll always give me a weird look and say: "why in the world would you wanna do that? there's nothing there!" I would just usually laugh at their statement because in the past years they probably visited or contacted their relatives in Pakistan much more often then i did. What i mean is; There's something about Pakistan that pulls us to it. It may be that it's our culture and religion that makes Pakistan so friendly for us to live in. Or it may also be the fact that as Pakistanis it is our home and no matter where we live in the world we live as Pakistanis; not as Americans or Brits or any other nationality we inherit by documents.Even though Pakistan may be behind most nations in almost every facility that can be offered, a person can live a much happier life in Pakistan. And I mean that in the most un-materialistic fashion. Communities in Pakistan thrive because they are very close [relatives most of the time] and every one eventually interacts with one another. In the western world, every searches for success and money and most of the important decisions they make in life they overpower materialistic goods [like money] over something that can give them everlasting happiness such as love. I'm not saying that doesn't happen in Pakistan but it happens much less. There you go ladies and gentlemen, These are my reasons to go back home; Thought of yours yet?
In the beginning of the tournament, making it to the semi-finals even seemed impossible for Pakistan. Losing both warm-up matches to India and South Africa, the journey ahead did not look bright for Pakistan. We lost our first match against England by 48 runs. Our losses were unexplainable. We had the best team on paper and yet our performances were shitty as hell. We didn't know what was wrong, all we knew was that we had to fix it. Next game we bounced back as we went against Netherlands [who has previously beaten England] and defeated them by a massive 82 runs! Although Netherlands is not much of a competition, our win was necessary or else we would've gotten kicked out the tournament. Then we faced Sri Lanka and lost to them by 19 runs. It seemed like whenever we faced a good team, we would find ourselves struggling. That started changing when Abdul Razzaq joined the squad after quitting the ICL. That did the magic and Pakistan defeated New Zealand who had only lost one match in the tournament so far [to undefeated South Africa and only by one run]. Pakistan came back to it's normal stage of being an unpredictable team who can suprise the world and even themselves when it comes to gametime! After the win, Pakistan sailed through Ireland and into the semis while Umar Gul takes 5 wickets in one match [a first in twenty20] and sets a world record. But the biggest match was yesterday. South Africa going through the whole tournament without even losing a single match would've scared any other team but not Pakistan! Pakistan did the impossible and added yet another upset to the list by being the first team to defeat South Africa in the whole tournament and making it to the World Cup Twenty20 Final. The win wasen't easy but with some brilliant batting from the whole team [Shahid Afridi Shined with 51 runs] and great bowling by Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal, the win had to belong to Pakistan. Today's semi-final between Sri Lanka and West Indies will decide who we will face in the Final, but i say that doesn't matter. As long as we play well and put up a fight, we are sure to win!
Getty ImagesYesterday was the first time i watched a full cricket game, and it was nothing more than a mere disappointment! Pakistan is a team that everyone expects so much from in this type of format [20 overs] and yet they lost to a team like England. Not to say England is bad but they are not up to our standards [they lost to Netherlands a couple of days ago!]. There is something missing from the Pakistani team and no one knows what that is. It may be Muhammad Yousaf or Shoaib Akhtar but whatever it is; it is affecting the Pakistani team a lot. Yesterday they played a 20 over match [for each side] like they were playing a ODI [50 overs for each team]. There was no sense of urgency and in neither the batting or bowling and the team's feilding might have cost them the game [they dropped atleast 2 important catches]. I don't know what to say anymore but one thing is sure; I'm not watching the next match! lol I'd rather just follow the coverage online. Once again, all the best to our team even though our chances of even going [forget about winning it] to the finals are very slim.
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