Cricket Update: Batting collapse helps South Africa to win the first ODI against Pakistan
If South Africa has to thank anyone for their first win over Pakistan in the first ODI it has to be Pakistan. After all, one doesn’t see such batting collapses very often. One wonders what happened after such a solid start to Pakistan innings. Pakistan won
the toss and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 chose to bat first, on what looked to be a high scoring pitch. Pakistan started slowly but steadily by hitting boundaries in every second over. For Pakistan, it has become a bit frustrating to find a reliable opening pair as in the
past 3 to 4 years they have experimented with many players at top of the innings. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 opted for Asad Shafiq, a right hand batsman from Karachi, who did look promising for a moment but did not last long. In the seventh over, he gave an easy catch to Amla
of the bowling of Tsotsobe, he scored 19 runs of 36 balls.
The start of Pakistan innings was an average one with a run rate of 4.50 per over. After the dismissal of Asad Shafiq came a much awaited Younis khan. There were lot of expectations out of him and he was sure in a mood to deliver them. The good thing about
Pakistan start was that they were trying to build a partnership and a solid innings. Though, they did play some rash shots but overall did show some discipline that was lacking in their batting most of the times.
Pakistan were 26-1 in the seventh over and were scoring less than 4 runs per over. For Pakistan, a steady partnership came from Younis and Hafeez. Hafeez had a lot to prove that he can build a good innings after getting a start. Hafeez did just that he was
slow in his approach but as over’s passed by he began to gain confidence and started to score more freely. Younis khan who was playing after nine months looked in good touch as he worked the ball for singles and played some lovely drives through covers. Soon
both the Batsmen were able to score more freely and managed boundaries more frequently. The run rate per over also grew from three and half per over to 4.50 or 5.00 per over. It was a much needed partnership for Pakistan as they needed their top batsmen to
score runs. Hafeez started to build his innings at a steady pace with some classy cuts and 7 boundaries in his innings of 68. Hafeez was dismissed in the 30th over when he gave an easy catch to Langeveldt at point of the bowling of Botha. Hafeez
and Younis had a 114 run partnership between them and it did give a solid foundation to the other batsmen to build a concrete total. Pakistan was 140-2 and one imagined they could easily make minimum 250 runs. But things were planned in a total opposite direction.
In the 37th over Younis khan was trapped before the wicket of the bowling of Botha he managed a disciplined innings of 54. Then the real collapse began for Pakistan as they lost 6 wickets for just 37 runs. It was hard to believe for their fans
as one moment they were scoring almost 5 runs per over and looked to build a big innings and the second moment they were limping under batting friendly environment. Misbah ul Haq played an unimpressive innings of 14 of 25 balls with no boundaries. His form
and slow batting has placed many questions in front of the selectors. Soon after Afridi and Razzaaq were dismissed by Tsotsobe, as both of them failed to add much of a total on the scoreboard. Afridi was dismissed on 1 by Tsotsobe when he was caught by Smith
and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Razzaq-c84421 contributed only three runs to the total as he was caught by de Villiers of the bowling of Tsotsobe in the 39th over. Pakistan were suddenly restricted to 177 for 6 in the 39th over and were in danger of being bowled out for
a low total as there was no specialist batsman to follow after wards. There were some expectations out of Fawad Alam but when he was bowled for 9 in the 40th over all the hopes of a reasonable total were gone with him. In the end, Pakistan managed
a meagre total of 203.
South Africa as expected started confidently as there was no pressure on them of chasing a big total. Both the openers were steady in their approach and were able to play the ball with ease. Smith was looking good but got injured in the 5th over
after being hit by a short ball from Shoaib. Amla looked in superb form and managed 35 runs of just 29 balls by playing some quality shots. He hit 3 fours and one six before being trapped leg before of the bowling of Afridi in the 12th over. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 managed
a steady run rate in their innings as they scored with a run rate of around 5 runs per over. De Villiers and Kallis played a responsible knock under hot conditions as both of them worked the ball beautifully in the spaces to come close to the Pakistan’s total.
Saaed Ajmal and Afridi did bowl some decent middle over’s and did stop the batsmen of hitting boundaries more frequently. The total was not a challenging one and it did lift pressure from the batsman. De Villiers was caught and bowl by Ajmal in the 28th
over but it was too late for Pakistan to create an upset. When South Africa were 188-2 Kallis got a painful cramp in his right foot and was immediately taken off the field. It was the first time that two players have retired hurt in a match and did not manage
to comeback. Ingram and Duminy easily managed to chase the remaining runs with hardly 1 runs per over required. Ajmal was the only wicket taker for Pakistan and there was no other major contribution from other Pakistani bowlers. Tsotsobe had the best figures
of his career with the figures of 4-27 of his 10 over’s and was named Man of the Match.
For Pakistan, it was yet another batting collapse but this time it was their middle order which failed to provide any substantial contribution to the total. One has to consider that how long this trend would continue for Pakistan as these batting collapses
have now become a routine for Pakistan and it seems their fans cannot be sure that even after getting a good start their side would be able to post a respected total with wickets in hand.
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