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The fact that the Pakistani cricket team hasn't won a test match in the last 4 years is not that shocking. In the Pakistan cricket team there always have been favorites instead of people who cannot perform. For example, Misbah Ul Haq. His performance in the game has failed to impress anyone for the last 2 years and yet he was included in the test team against Australia. Same goes for Kamran akmal; the wicketkeeper who drops more catches than the fielders. Although some fresh blood has been introduced to the team over the past year who made quite an impact [Mohammad Aamir, and Umar Akmal,] but it's the senior players that always seem to find a way to mess up. Make it Salman Butt, Muhammad Yousaf, Kamran Akmal, or even Faisal Iqbal. We need more people like Umar Gul, who do what they have to do on the field and not come to the press room with a big mouth. Also Muhammad Yousaf should stop trying to put the blame on other people and bring the team together in terms of performance. That way he'll be atleast half the captain Younus was. It's very unfortunate to say that the failure of the Pakistani cricket team is caused by no one but themselves.
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 ImagesJust when i thought Pakistan had barely any chance of winning the Twenty20 World Cup they end up beating one of the best teams in the tournament; New Zealand. New Zealand only lost one match and that was to South Africa (The only team in the tournament that is undefeated) and by only one run. Pakistan returns to it's normal stage of being unpredictable. We can pull off the greatest upsets and yet lose to the crappiest teams [We got knocked out the world cup by Ireland back in 2007]. Anyway the stats for Pakistan in the game were awesome. Umar Gul took 5 wickets [yes 5!] which is the first in Twenty2o and also only gave away 6 runs in the 3 overs he bowled [which is damn good!]. Rebel Adbul Razzaq makes a great debut back in the international stage [after leaving ICL] by taking NZ's most important wickets and bowling a maiden [rare in Twenty20]. Newcomer Shahzaib Hasan made 35 runs in 28 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes [great for a new guy]. And last but not least, Shahid Afridi suprises the world with his batting by scoring 29 runs in only 18 balls and he remained not out, he also did very good in bowling by taking 1 wicket and only gave 17 runs in 4 overs. If Pakistan continues to give power-packed performances like this, than we just might win the damn tournament!
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.
Yesterday Pakistan smashed Australia in their first and only twenty20 against them! Seeing the upcoming twenty20 world cup this is excellent news. We beat them by 7 wickets and 22 balls remaining. Australia batted first and made a poor 108 runs in 20 overs with Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi ripping the Aussies apart with 4 and 3 wickets each. Then Pakistan batted with Kamran Akmal scoring 59 runs [not out], Misbah-ul-Haq scored 24 runs, 17 year old Ahmed Shehzad scoring a poor 4 runs off of 12 balls, and Shoaib Malik facing only one ball made 0 runs [not out]. Pakistan is very good in T20 and made it to the last T20 world cup final back in 2007 facing rival India. We we're unlucky and lost by only 5 runs, but we have a very good chance of taking the trophy home this year. Inshallah victory will be ours =]
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