Pakistan Cricket team shows signs of improvement
They might have been knocked out of the race for the final, before their incredible annihilation against Bangladesh in the Asia cup, yet even in their failures in the first two matches Pakistan has shown real signs of improvement and look to have united under the leadership of Shahid Afridi who showed what consistency with the bat can do for the fortunes of Pakistan team.
In the opening match, the man affectionately known as ‘Boom Boom’ for his mesmerizing batting abilities produced an innings that will go down in the annals of one-day cricket as perhaps the best ever in a losing cause.
Pakistan was down and out for the count tottering at 32 for 4 with the ball seaming all over the place at the Rangiri Dambulla International stadium, when Afridi decided it was the time to show the world what he actually is capable of.
The captain of Pakistan produced a breadth taking hundred that came off only 76 balls and included seven monstrous sixes, five of them against the champion Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.
Despites his heroics Pakistan lost due to an extremely limp performance by the rest of the batsmen, sans Umar Akmal and Abdur Razzaq.
In the second match of the tournament for Pakistan, they came across their traditional rivals India and both teams were taking the field for an International for the first time after their thrilling encounter in the champions trophy held in South Africa last September.
Pakistani batsmen led by Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal helped post a fighting first innings total of 267 runs, Afridi played another cameo making 32 runs.
The Indians started their innings at a leisurely pace and soon got into the driving seat through the pugnacious Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni, the duo almost took the match away from Pakistan with a 98 runs stand for the third wicket and it seemed that India was on course for a comfortable win.
But there is hardly anything comfortable in an Indo-Pak encounter, and from a seemingly impregnable position India collapsed as Afridi’s men produced a brilliant spell, that was shell shocked the opposition.
At this juncture the match was well with in Pakistan’s reach and only a dramatic fight back by off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina helped the Indians sneak through to an incredible win in the last over of the match.
Despite the twin defeats, Pakistan showed that they have the talent and ability to comeback from difficult situations and make the opposition sweat and toil for a win.
The composition of the limited overs team looks to be a balanced one and the inclusion of youngsters like Shahzeb Hasan and Umar Amin has only helped in adding another dimension to the men in green.
After their Sri Lankan sojourn, Pakistan heads to England to take part in a T20 and test match series against Australia, which will be followed by five ODI and four test match series against England.
The summer in England is going to be an acid test of the development of the Pakistani team in the wake of their disastrous performances in Australia that resulted in all h**l being broken loose in Pakistani cricketing ranks.
However, under Afridi they look set to turn a new corner, and let us all keep our fingers crossed that the team stays united and perform to the best of their abilities, since when they do they are an absolute treat to watch.
Pakistan has to ensure that their media supports the team in the present tough times, since this team has it in them to reward them with a big win soon.
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