Pakistan vs. Australia: Home Away from Home
Pakistan won its first T20 against Australia on Monday in a thrilling match at a jam-packed Birmingham stadium. Pakistan will once again lock horns with Australia in second T20 game of the MCC Spirit of Cricket Series which starts on Tuesday, the 6th of July.
This is a home series for Pakistan which is being played in England because of security threats in Pakistan. The English Cricket Board has been very generous for facilitating Pakistan as many international tournaments have gone away from the country. A part from the financial losses, the games popularity has dropped as well. However, this home away from home has suited Pakistan on a number of instances. No one on the planet would have guessed that the match was not played in Pakistan courtesy of some extra-ordinary support from the Pakistani-immigrant population of England. The Edgbaston stadium was a sea of green with people from all walks of life cheering on for the men in green. Rows were filled with supporters of the Pakistani team as Edgbaston showered their love and praise. Television cameras could only manage to find one group of kangaroo supporters while the rest of the crowd belonged to Pakistan.
Chants in support of “Boom Boom” Afridi filled the horizon as the sound of horns roared across the stadium. The Pakistani players would have surely taken it as a morale booster. As a result, Pakistan crushed the Australian team in the first match by a margin of 23 runs.
Unfortunately for Pakistan, the country has not hosted any international cricket since the horrific incidents of Lahore. Many thought and believed that Pakistan cricket had reached to an unrecoverable position, but the support they got from the Edgbaston crowd proved their critics wrong. Edgbaston is located in Birmingham, which has a huge Asian majority. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 came in this match with a record of 13 consecutive victories against Pakistan in all formats of the game. But with the support from the crowd; Pakistan successfully turned the table upside down.
Australian captain was completely surprised with the massive Pakistani support and he thought that the kangaroos were playing in Pakistan and wondered if there will be any English crowd in stadium once Pakistan faced England after they are done with the Australian series. Clarke told reporters, “It would be amazing to see Pakistan versus England out here; you wouldn't get many England supporters. It was full of Pakistan supporters. I think it's great for Pakistan cricket, I think it's really encouraging we are still getting the chance to play against them and the support http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 received has been fantastic. Hopefully, a few more Aussies will turn out on Tuesday”.
This support from crowd will add some freshness in the Pakistani team and will be a source of motivation for the troubled Pakistani cricketers. One wonders that in test matches, players might even get more support from the crowd than what they would have received in Pakistan since Test cricket is popular in England. On the other hand, stadiums are usually empty in Pakistan during test matches unless it is a Pakistan-India clash. The crowd in Edgbaston reminded of the great T20 victory that Pakistan achieved in the ICC T20 World Cup in 2009 in England. When Pakistan lifted that trophy, some of the cities in Pakistan came to a complete standstill because of the massive celebrations in support of their revered cricketers.
Clarke will hope for more support in the days to come. The Australian Captain and his team will have to come up with a superb performance in order to gather the support of this Pakistani crowd. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 showed a lot disappointment with his teams’ performance in the first T20 match as he thought that the kangaroos could have fared better. Clarke praised the quality cricket of the Pakistan team when he said, “We were a little bit disappointing with the bat and Umar Gul bowled really well at the death and Ajmal is always hard at the death as well, he spins the ball both ways”.
“Hopefully we can build a few more partnerships earlier on in Tuesday's game and when the spinners come on we've got batters who are in. That might put a bit more pressure on the spinners and it might make the bowl Umar Gul a little bit earlier as well. We lost wickets at crucial times”.
Afridi on the other hand must be pleased not only with crowd but the kind of performance his team came out with. The Pakistan team is sensing a change in momentum with the crowd backing them up. Consequently, Pakistan fancies a series victory against Australia, at least in the two T20’s. Whatever the results may be, one thing is for sure, Pakistan will not lack support from the local crowd. With slogans of “Boom Boom Afridi” in the air, Pakistan players will surely have a feeling of playing at “home which is far but similar to home”.
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