No Gold for Pakistan Cricket in Asian Games 2010
As the Asian games were about to begin there were strong speculations in Pakistan that due to Indian Cricket tram’s absence in the event, the gold medal will be theirs for taking. While all other sports were being overlooked back
home, it was only men’s cricket that was getting all the attention.
However, to everyone’s amazement, Pakistan’s third string squad, under the captaincy of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Khalid-Latif-c71261, was pulverised by the Afghan underdogs in the semi-final. This comes as a major blow for Pakistan, which was by far the strongest
team in the Asian games.
This defeat has left everyone in Pakistan guessing, how a meagre team like Afghanistan that has not had any international exposure managed to defeat the strongest team of the event. If the future Pakistani players were not able
to handle the Afghans, then how on earth will they stand against the Australians and South Africans, if these players ever make it to the national squad.
The http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 Cricket Board has to be in disarray after such a bashing of its team. The board might have to rethink its future policies regarding the players who were in the squad against Afghanistan.
Pakistan, after winning the toss, invited Afghanistan to bat. The newcomers, under the captaincy of Mohammad Nabi, posted a score of 125 runs in 20 overs at a run rate of 6.25 runs per over. Although the total was not big enough,
but the run rate of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Raza-Hasan-c84407, who not only clinched two wickets, but also had a better economy rate
- 4.75 - than the rest of the bowlers. Along with Raza, it was http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lal-Kumar-c72135 who took two wickets each with an economy rate of 6.25 and 6.00.
Even with 125 runs on the board, it was still supposed to be an easy target for Pakistan against an immature bowling attack. However, the Afghan bowlers shocked the Pakistani batting line-up with some prolific bowling and restricted
the green caps to 103 runs. The Pakistani skipper was the highest scorer from his side with just twenty-six runs off thirty-two balls.
The Pakistani batsmen looked completely out of form in front of the young Afghans. Karim Sadiq and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hamid-Hassan-c1524 took two wickets each and were the most impressive while bowling for Afghanistan.
The young Afghan team is being coached by former Pakistani wicketkeeper and Captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rashid-Latif-c84084, and it seems that he has done an exceptional job with the emerging team. This win over Pakistan will definitely help cricket to nurture
in the war-ridden country. On the other hand, this is a point of reckoning for Pakistan. The selectors and management need to figure out what went wrong and how they lost to an immature side.
The Afghan skipper Mohammad Nabi said, “It’s a big win for Afghanistan. Every person there is watching the match and everybody is happy about the win. I am very satisfied because we have fantastic fitness levels and the boys have
worked very hard in every position, whether it’s fielding, bowling or batting.”
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