Post tournament Asia Cup – Analysis – Pakistan the worthy winners – Part 3
The final was another tantalizing affair going down to the wire, after which the Men In Green were finally crowned as the new Asia Cup winners. In a dazzling display from both sides, it was the bowling that triumphed, while batsmen from either camp failed
to hold their nerves in crunch situations.
Pakistan were sent into bat by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 also vanquished in the first 15 overs.
Hafeez grinded out an 87-ball 40 before a rush of blood helped spinner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Umar-Akmal-c94595 and Hammad Azam contributed well made 30’s but fell in back to back overs to leave their sides in plenty of bother at 133 for 6.
Having been out of form (with both bat and ball) for the best part of the tournament, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sarfraz-Ahmed-c88818 (who ended up unbeaten with a precious 46), to adjust to the pace
of the track and also helped Pakistan to add some valuable runs in quick time.
Afridi’s departure in the 42nd over meant that the tail still had plenty of overs to play and thankfully they did – with the final over going for 19 as the Men In Green posted a reasonable 236 on the board.
Out came to bat the local team and managed to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Nasir-Hossain-c77146 (28
off 63) sluggishly paced their innings, leaving the asking rate to creep up significantly.
Shakib however, again rose to the task with an effortless 68 to help his side keep parity with the Men In Green. However, his departure in the 44th over left the game equally balanced.
The last five overs were nerve wracking as the Bengali’s held their breath. They had scored enough runs of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Aizaz-Cheema-c961, might lead to arguably of their biggest coup in recent times.
With 4 needed of two balls, Cheema cleaned up Razzak before bowling a precious dot ball to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahadat-Hossain-c2480 – helping his side to conjure up a 2 run win.
While http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 showed class and discipline in the death overs, their opponents were simply gutted in terms of losing by such a narrow margin. The fans were in utter disbelief, and the players dejected at missing out on what could have been their biggest
accomplishment.
Nonetheless, the team showed exceptional self-belief and ability while gave a full proof examination of the work they have done under http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Stuart-Grant-Law-c91460 – their Australian Head Coach. Law at the end of game was all praises for his side, claiming that they all
can hold their heads up high.
“We played a very consistent and professional brand of cricket. It's only that we didn't get a historic victory," Law said. "I can hold my head up high for the way the boys played their socks off in the last three games. [They] have proved we have the talent
to beat any team in the world."
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