Did Pakistan gain anything from the South Africa series?
Pakistan went down to South Africa in both the T-20 and ODI series, managing only a draw in the dull Test series. Pakistan last won an ODI series back in 2008 against the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 and have lost 6 consequent series.
The current T-20 champions started of their tour of UAE against South Africa with a disastrous 2-0 series loss in the 2 T-20 matches. The thrilling 5 match one day series was tightly contested and allowed both teams to draw some positives. The first match of the series was won by South Africa with 8 wickets while the Pakistan team won the second match with 1 wicket through a sensational performance by Abdul Razzaq. South Africa won the third match by 2 runs to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Pakistan came back into the series after yet another close encounter and equalized the series by 2-2. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 convincingly won the 5th and final match to clinch the series 3-1.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/United-Arab-Emirates-c3033 after wicket keeper/batsmen Zulqarnain Haider mysteriously went missing before the fifth match. Haider left Dubai for the United Kingdom after he claimed he received threatening messages from bookies. Haider left a message on his Facebook page that read: “leaving pakistan cricket because get bad msg fr 1 man fr lose the match in last game.” The fact that the team management allowed Haider to keep his passport on tour raised a lot of questions amongst bewildered on lookers. Cricket’s governing body the ICC has launched a probe into the matter.
Following the controversy and a less than satisfactory performance in the One Day series, Pakistan hoped to win the Test series. Pakistan headed into the test series with a new captain Misbah-ul-Haq; his appointment was heavily criticized back home. Both matches were played on a placid batting track which allowed batsmen from both sides to score plenty of runs in each innings.
The home side had to bat out on the 5th day of both matches to come back from a losing position. Younis Khan and Misbah scored 131* and 76* respectively, in the fourth innings of the first test to save the match. Younis earned praise for his match winning performance in his first match after his return to test cricket.
The second test began well for Pakistan when debutant fast bowler Tanvir Ahmed gave Pakistan 3 early wickets. Tanvir Ahmed was put into the side in place of the injured left arm pacer Wahab Riaz. South Africa fought back from the early scare to post a huge total of 584 in the first innings. Pakistan responded well and scored 434 in their first innings. The match ended in the same fashion as the first, with both captains mutually agreeing for a draw.
Pakistani batsmen performed well in the test series and captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 led from the front. However it has been argued that batting performance throughout the test series cannot be judged based on the high score. The pitches were blamed for being over friendly for the batsmen and high individual batting scores were inevitable.
Another positive aspect of the tour was the performance of fast bowlers Wahab Riaz, Tanveer Ahmed and spinner Abdur Rehman.
Pakistan will soon leave for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 and will be hoping to perform well. It is expected to be a tight series as lately both teams have had poor form.
Tags: