Pakistan hustled by Hussey
What transpired in St.Lucia on Friday night can only be termed as a nightmare for Pakistan, or looking at the flip side a dream win for Australia. Who could have thought that it will end the way it did. Before the match Australia was odds on favourites, and Pakistan hoping to cause a major upset. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that during 90 % of the match it did look like Pakistan were well on their way to a 3rd consecutive T20 final. But little did they know that their former tormentor and chief, Michael Hussey would once again be there to sent them home with another haunting memory.
It makes one wonder, who writes these scripts, I mean looking back at Pakistan’s triumphs in 92 world cup and more recently the 2009 T20 win, was no less then a fairytale. A script straight out of a movie where underdog comes out from nowhere and wins the day. The important point is that things were not so different before this semi final, Pakistan all but out of the world cup, banking on probable’s like beating South Africans, and hoping that England would get them through to the last 4. One can call it a divine intervention that got them through.
Yet another fairytale looked certain to be in the making, a depleted team comes back reinvigorated, taking on the big boys. Again the first half of the match where Pakistan’s bating just looked too good to be true, the young line up proving their worth, playing like a dream against the most feared attack in the world of cricket. Pakistani held their ground against the most feared bowling line in the world up which rolled over anything that came their way. Pakistanis fought all the Aussie bowlers pound for pound. No one had ever imagined that the men from down under could be hammered to all corners like that. The writing looked to be on the wall, that yes an underdog is on its way up again.
Celebrations had already started half way through when Pakistan posted a mammoth score of 191, Kamran Akmal and his younger brother Umar Akmal had played innings of their life to get their team to that grand total.
The Aussie chase looked to be following the script, wickets falling at the right times, but heartbeats for men in green got faster once Cameron White started dealing in currency of sixes only. Once he left the pitch the game looked to be in the bag. Then there was the notorious final over, where 2 left hand batsmen and one of them being Michael Hussey were facing Pakistani bowling. Odds were slightly against Saeed Ajmal, who till that point had been unplayable, and maybe nerves got the better of him.
Being smashed for 3 sixes and a four, on a pitch which was assisting spinners, Ajmal went for the option of going for quicker flat deliveries rather then giving it air and loop. Hussey obliged with everything coming in his arc, and left all of Pakistan Stunned. It was unbelievable what was happening in those last minutes of the game, it all seemed in their grasp but a man known as Michel Hussey once again showed just why he is tagged as Mr.Cricket. He led the Australians and marched towards victories with his courageous boundaries smashing Pakistani bowler like club players. That was the turning point, which took Australia in the final of world T20, something they want more then anything right now, which they believe is their final frontier.
But Pakistan can still come back home with their heads held high, no matter they lost that too to an inhuman performance from the Aussies, and one can safely say that Pakistan could not have done anything more. Sometimes you just have to stand and applaud the champions who certainly are invincible.
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