Mohammad Hafeez & Ravi Rampaul: West Indies v Pakistan – Highlights: Part 1
The West Indies side had put on a brave show against Pakistan in the 4th One Day International of the five match ODI series to salvage some pride. The Men in Green had already claimed the series following three solid wins in the opening three
matches before the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 managed to pull one back.
With the series at 3-1 in Pakistan’s favour, there was only pride on the line for the home side to win and for the Pakistani team, it was an opportunity to experiment and introduce a few youngsters to the world of competitive international cricket. As with
every match played at this level, there were a few standout performers for both sides.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Hafeez-c76898: Pakistan’s new Mr. Consistent
Pakistan seems to have found their solution to their opening batsman dilemma as Mohammad Hafeez has really come into his own in the tour of the Caribbean. Scoring the highest individual total by any player in the series so far (121 runs from 138 deliveries)
and finishing just behind West Indies batsman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/LMP-Simmons-c1843 by a margin of 12 runs as the highest run scorer overall, Hafeez has been Pakistan’s most consistent batsman so far.
Hafeez further solidified his position as the Men in Green’s star batsmen with a sublime 55-run knock in the final ODI of the series. Amazingly, it was only one of just three innings that reached the double figure mark in the match with Umar Akmal’s 24 and
Mohammad Salman’s 19 being the other two.
Taking his time and staying on the crease until the 29th over and forming five partnerships in the process, Hafeez was the only batsman who showed any spark in a lacklustre Pakistan batting performance. Taking 66 deliveries to get to his half
century, Hafeez would last another 17 deliveries before he was dismissed by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DJG-Sammy-c1382.
What makes Hafeez’s knock so crucial was the fact that Pakistan eventually collapsed to a 139 run total and the six boundaries Hafeez hit were perhaps the only entertainment for the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 fans.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/R-Rampaul-c2233’s four wicket haul
The Pakistan batting collapse was not just because of poor batting but due to some truly inspirational bowling by the Windies as well. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RD-Shah-c2298 Rampaul was the pick of the bowlers as he finished with the best figures in the match. Taking an impressive four wickets
that tore through the Pakistan batting line like, the age old cliché of, ‘a hot knife through butter’.
Dismissing http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482, for just 9 runs. That was, however, after he had taken the crucial wicket of the ever present threat of
the explosive http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Umar-Akmal-c94595 in the 31st over.
The importance of the three wickets cannot be stressed enough as each player had the capability to make any opposition bowling attack suffer on their day. Tidying things up later on, Rampaul took his fourth wicket in the 33rd over as he sent Wahab
Riaz packing for no run.
Rampaul seemed to have found his form and while it did not change the outcome of the series, it provided plenty of entertainment for the fans and set up a morale boosting win as the sides prepare for the forthcoming Test series.
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