Cricket News: Pakistan dismal performance continues in T20
England cruised to 2-0 victory at Cardiff in 2nd T20 international, as Pakistan continued to perform badly. This victory was England’s seventh in a row, a record previously held by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 and Pakistan.
It looks like Pakistan’s off-the-field issues have haunted them on the field. Pakistan was dented by England’s discipline bowling. A target of 90 in 20-over cricket looked a walk in the park for England. Eoin Morgan and Michael Yardy had hardly any sweat, as they hit the winning runs on the last ball of the 14th over. Tim Bresnan guided the English attack, and bowled a brilliant spell of bowling. A match figures of 3/10 in 3.4 overs that ensured a Pakistan batting collapse, and England’s 2-0 victory in the series.
Pakistan at Cardiff registered their lowest ever total of 89. Kamran Akmal started the innings with a bang, hitting Ryan Sidebottom for 11 runs in the first over. It was all England at the start of the 2nd over. It was again the timely used short balls by English pacers, which brought the demise of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 batting. Tim Bresnan used it to perfection. He first dismissed Kamran Akmal by a short delivery, and then Mohammad Yousuf spooned it up to deep square leg. Stuart Broad followed the footsteps of Bresnan, as he dismissed Shahzaib Hassan and Shahid Afridi in the same over with the short delivery. Pakistan was left stranded at 22/4 in 5 overs.
Mohammad Hafeez playing his first match, after that T20 world cup looked rusty with the bat. He was anchoring the innings, as he was playing a test match. He scored his first 7 runs of 22 balls, eating a lot of deliveries, and wasn’t even rotating the strike. Hafeez ended his innings with a runout, making just 14 runs of 32 balls. Umar Akmal was deprived of strike early in his innings; he showed his talent with bat by hitting Swann for 2 sixes in Swann’s first two overs. Swann then got better of Umar Akmal, giving it more flight, sneaking it through Umar Akmal’s defense.
Abdul Razzak and Umar Gul showed some defiance with bat. Razzak, one of Pakistan’s top T20 batsmen worked hard for his 11runs of 20 balls. Abdul Razzak was shown the door by another short delivery by Sidebottom. Umar Gul showed some promise with the bat, scoring 16 runs of 13 balls. Bresnan in the 18th over cleaned up Shoaib Akhtar, and Pakistan was all-out for a dismal 89.
England started their innings with a bang. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Craig-Kieswetter-c51708 benefited from a free hit, and he hit Gul for cracking 6 over the extra cover followed by two boundaries. Gul was hit for 19 runs in his first over. Shoaib again, bowled with great fire power. He picked up an early wicket of Davies, and ended up with the match figures of 1/18 in fours overs.
Saeed Ajmal and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 were impressive in the middle overs. They both took a wicket each, but a target of 90 did not allow them to dictate terms.
England sailed easily to register a crushing win in 14 overs. Eoin Morgan and Michael Yardy were the men again to see England through. England dominated the T20 series, as they did the test series.
Pakistan team does have a few problems. Umar Gul, the best T20 bowler looked out of sorts. He mainly bowls at death, but due to pacer short he had to bowl with a new ball. Razzak’s role in the team is uncertain. Is he playing in the team as an all-rounder? If he is, then he should bowl his quota of four overs. Is he playing as a hard hitting batsman? Then he should be batting up the order.
Kamran Akmal has been a big worry. He has been dropping sitters, but they say he can bat. This hasn’t been the case from the last couple of months. Kamran has struggled with bat. Pakistan selectors should look for another wicket-keeper who can at least keep well.
Shahzaib Hassan, the so called devastating opener, is he good enough to play at the international level? He tries to hit every ball on the leg side. A short ball is enough to dismiss him. Mohammad Hafeez has been given enough chances. He performs well at the domestic level, but fails at the international.
Pakistan team definitely needs some definite changes prior to ODI series. The same team has been sorted out by England. A clean sweep is definitely on hands.
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