Pakistan in England - from ridiculous to sublime yet again
One notion that sums up Pakistan cricket is their ability to rise to dizzy heights and plummet to miserable lows in the next possible moment.
The billing has remained stuck to them ever since their miraculous comeback in the 1992 World Cup in Australia, when Imran Khan’s cornered tigers their way from elimination to win the most coveted prize in limited overs cricket.
Since that great triumph, cricket fanatics have been time and again given a dose of Pakistan’s unpredictability and the ability of being sublime to the ridiculous within moments and back all over again.
After surrendering absolutely ridiculously in the first two tests against England, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755’s youngsters gave a sublime performance against all odds to win the third test of the series at the Oval and liven-up a dead contest.
They did something similar in the test series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 that preceded the English series, winning the second match in Headingley Leeds after a woeful capitulation in the first test at Lords.
The test match saw the return of one of the finest batsmen to grace test cricket in recent years. Mohammad Yousuf came back from self imposed retirement, rescuing the bruised and battered Pakistani batting line that had caved in like a club side in the first two tests. Pakistan scored its lowest team totals against England in consecutive innings.
Yousuf’s presence brought the much needed calm and stability in Pakistani ranks.
However he sure proved his critics wrong with two immensely valuable innings which went a long way in ensuring that the series decider at Lords would be exciting to watch.
Other than Yousuf, it was a special team effort led by a brilliant bowling performance in both innings along with a solid 92 run contribution from Azhar Ali in Pakistan’s first innings that ensured that the visitors cross the 300 mark for the first time in the summer.
Debutant Wahab Riaz was the star in England’s first innings, making a stunning debut that saw him nip out five batsmen in a world class exhibition of pace and bounce with his quick-arm action that caught the English batsmen unaware.
It was a sensational effort by Mohammad Aamer in England’s second innings where he claimed five wickets when things looked like running away with the series.
He was ably assisted by Saeed Ajmal as the duo sparked a sensational collapse which saw the last seven wickets tumble for a mere 27 runs.
The collapse ensured that England’s lead was restricted to 147 runs and although the tourists stuttered in their chase on the fourth day, the top order led by Salman Butt, Imran Farhat and Yousuf had done enough to ensure an important win.
The momentum is now with Pakistan, yet they have to guard against complacency which afflicted their opponents.
As much as the hosts deny that complacency was a factor in their defeat at Oval, it was the lack of fight by the tourists in the first two test that made the English team believe that a win in the third test was a mere formality.
They made the mistake that so many other teams have made over the years, the mistake of taking the Pakistanis lightly.
The final test is set to be another absorbing battle provided the Pakistanis keep a close check on their unpredictability and don’t crash to ridiculous from the sublime that they were at Oval.
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