http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 vs. Pakistan: Why o Why Misbah-ul-Haq!
The biggest match of the ongoing ICC World Cup 2011 finally took place in Mohali yesterday and the result was definitely not in favour of Pakistan, who for the fifth time in the mega event since 1992 were hammered another defeat by arch rivals India.
This was a match that had brought the two nations of the subcontinent to a standstill on Wednesday as everyone was busy wooing their side in a clash that would have ended one team’s World Cup dream and taken the other through to the final.
Pakistan, who have been marred by numerous on and off-field controversies, left everyone in awe by reaching the semi-final stage when most critics had written-them off. The resilient comeback of Pakistan and the consistently phenomenal form of the Indian
squad raised the stakes higher than any other match in the World Cup this year.
A lot was said before the match, players, governments and journalists all had a say in what was being labelled as the deadliest semi-final clash in the history of the World Cup. Once the game began it was the bat and the ball that did all the talking.
The belligerent Indian batting side was staggered by an impressive Pakistan bowling side which managed to restrict the Indians on a very achievable total of 260 runs, which by all means is no longer a formidable total in modern day cricket, considering the
fact that teams today are scoring more than 300 runs. Before the match, the Indian media had suggested a score higher than 300 which would include a 100th century by their ace batsman Sachin Tendulkar. However, the Afridi XI proved that wrong as
Sachin was dismissed before his could score his much awaited century.
Knowing the playing conditions in Mohali, no one had expected a team batting second to fail in successfully chasing a mediocre tally.
Pakistan’s in-form openers Mohammad Hafeez and wicketkeeper and batsman Kamran Akmal started off the innings in a confident manner, keeping the asking run rate well within reach. This was a time of utter bliss for coach Waqar Younis and skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482
as the batsmen seemed well set to take on the Indian bowling onslaught.
However, little did they know of what was about to come their way, because when a couple of top order wickets fell, the middle order batman Misbah-ul-Haq set foot on the field. Afridi not even in his wildest dreams could have imagined Misbah to play the
way he did as the mild mannered batsman clearly looked out of touch, he could barely middle the ball and after losing Younus http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Khan-c71319 he seemed completely under pressure.
With Umar Akmal as his partner he didn’t need to take risks. However, being a player of his calibre he should have gotten his eye in the middle, after a couple of overs, but today Misbah took the meaning of staying on the wicket to a whole new level when
he kept on wasting deliveries which in turn put pressure on his batting partners on the other end forcing them to look for boundaries.
Akmal who came after Misbah lost his wicket after scoring 29 runs while his senior partner Mr. Misbah was still standing on 8 runs off 24 deliveries. The way he played showed us all how not to bat in a limited overs cricket match. With the advent of Twenty20
cricket, batsmen these days have learned to accelerate their run rate, but Misbah, was perhaps under the false pretext of taking the match as a five-day game.
Leaving emotions aside, no one can call Misbah’s innings a well fought and properly calculated knock. When he came on the crease the asking rate was five an over and at the end of the game it was well above 12 an over.
Staying on the wicket does not mean that the batsman has the licence to knock the ball around without putting an effort to get a few runs in the over. Had he continued rotating strike, the asking run rate would never have crept beyond the point of no return.
Perhaps, pressure got the better of the middle-order batsman or lack of form with the bat never permitted him to go after the bowlers.
Misbah fans may argue that had other batsmen stayed on the wicket, Misbah would have scored freely and won the game but let’s be realistic here, the team slumped into this mess because of the ever rising run rate. Obviously, as a senior player, no one was
going to ask him to clobber the bowlers so the batsmen on the other end took it upon themselves to go for big shots and in doing so sacrificed their wicket. Umar Akmal’s face was very telling of the story of the pressure mounting with each dot ball that was
being faced by Haq.
This wasn’t a match winning or saving innings by any standards. After being in international cricket Misbah should have known better than to let the asking rate get out of hand. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972
proved to be an Achilles heel for a team that lifted itself from the ashes to earn a place in the semi-final. If anyone deserves a few plaudits it should be the left-arm pacer Wahab Riaz and opener Mohammad Hafeez for their performances that kept Pakistan
alive in the game.
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