http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 - top performers in the T20 INT series (part 3)
Shoaib Akhtar
The man doesn’t need an introduction as he is the fastest bowler the world of cricket has ever known. The volume of his performances speak for themselves. His career is a classic example of quality over quantity.
It looked as though he was almost done, as far as his international career was concerned, especially after having a knee surgery at the age of 35. He certainly made a comeback in the Asia cup 2010, taking 3/41 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758. Since then, he has improved
his form and fitness with the ball. He came of age on the previous England tour as he took 8 wickets in 5 One-day internationals, at an average of 27.
In the recently concluded T20 series between South Africa and Pakistan, he was the best pace bowler at the show, though his figures might not reflect that fact. He scalped three South African wickets with his pace and skid through the surface.
In the first affair, the mercurial fast bowler really showed glimpses of his pleasant past as he devastated the opposition’s top order with breathtaking, genuinely fast deliveries. At first, he delivered the first punch as he sent the opener, Loots Bosman,
back in the hut with an away going length delivery as Bosman popped one straight to the extra cover.
Moreover, Shoaib bowled AB Devilliers with a 129 km/h short of a length delivery as AB went through early with his famous pull shot and was found baffled on the crease.
The 2nd outing wasn’t a bad one for the Rawalpindi express, but his numbers might not show the whole story. In addition, he bowled with genuine pace and extracted some bounce from the wicket. In doing so, he took match numbers of 1/36 in his four
overs.
However, he went for 19 in his 3 overs in which he wasn’t lucky enough to pick up a wicket or two. Pakistan in need of some quick wickets as Shoaib tried really hard to get his team back into the contest, but Colin Ingram had other ideas in mind as he took
16 runs of his final over. Shoaib, first missed a Yorker, which Colin swatted away over the long-on boundary. The 2nd delivery was right into the block hole, but the left hander, somehow managed to get an inside edge away to the fine-leg boundary.
Mohammad Hafeez
Mohammad Hafeez primarily plays as a proper batsman in the team. His job is to provide Pakistan with some quality scores, but he hasn’t been able to fire with the bat. He is averaging 20 in 53 ODIs and 16 in 18 T20 games. In the recent series, in the two
games Hafeez has played, he only managed a total of 24 runs with the willow.
Unexpectedly, it was with the ball that Hafeez gave his opponents a hard time in the contest. He bowls accurate off-spins and troubles the batsmen with his timely variations. The off-spin bowler has been one of the star performers for his team. He has troubled
the opponent’s batsmen with his accurate line and direction.
In the first match, he bowled three economical overs, taking match figures of 3/10. In doing so, he had a stranglehold on the Proteas batsmen, where he did slow down their scoring rate in order to give his team an outside chance, but it wasn’t to be in the
end, as South Africa stole the show in 19 overs with 6 wickets to spare.
In the second game Hafeez did the same thing as he broke the momentum of the opposition batsmen. Graeme Smith was again dumbfounded as he missed one to give Zulqarnain Haider his first stumping of his career. As a result, he gathered 1/19 in four precise
overs, but again Proteas did the rest in a similar manner.
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