Rare chance for Pakistan to salvage some pride - Part 1 - Opinion
Historically, Pakistan have been the under dogs whenever they clashed against Australia in any format. The early 1990s however, saw some of the fiercest battles, which had taken place between these two talented teams. Australia was known for its strong
work ethic, discipline on the field and ruthlessness which is equivalent to Kangaroos boxing their opponents with impunity. On the other hand, Pakistan was a team which oozed with talent flare and had the ability to topple any opposition on their day. Both
these sides had been ranked consistently as the best outfits in the world. In fact, after the 1999 Cricket World Cup, Pakistan was considered to be the only team worthy of beating the Australians comprehensively.
Since the 2003 Cricket World Cup however, Pakistan’s record against Australia has been abysmal to say the least. Under the captaincy of Inzamam Ul Haq and later on, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 had won only a handful of games against
the Kangaroos, of which the bulk were in conditions which they were accustomed to. Perhaps the 2011 Cricket World Cup fixture at Colombo between these two sides was the most comprehensive victory that Pakistan managed to notch up against a team that had traditionally
been superior to them. Prior to that encounter, Australia had never lost a World Cup game since the 1999 Group Fixture at Headingley, which was also against Pakistan. The South Asian side is thus a team that Australia has been wary about due to their largely
unpredictable nature, and ability to take their opposition to the sword when it is their day.
Today’s clash between Pakistan and Australia at Sharjah will point at quite a few things that Pakistan would need to achieve against Australia. The team, which historically has oozed with talent, has come close to beating Australia in a bilateral or trilateral
series, but had lacked the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Neil-Killeen-c79132 instinct to do it on a consistent basis. Of late, with the Australian team witnessing an almost dramatic decline, Pakistan will start off as favourites to win the Cool and Cool Cup after their devastating performance in the
second ODI.
The manner in which Pakistan thrashed Australia at Abu Dhabi, (thanks to the efforts of the cool and composed http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nasir-Jamshed-c78752 and the magician Saeed Ajmal), it is plausible to believe that this team could replicate their performance and have it materialize
on the field again. In relative terms, Pakistan is a far stronger side than Australia on paper, where the latter lacks the star studded players which managed to beat the side into submission. The likes of players such as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shane-Keith-Warne-c89672 and Adam
Gilchrist had deserted Australia a long time ago. The present Pakistan team on the other hand, has genuine match winners such as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482, who will now be available after wrestling with a back injury for the third ODI. In contrast,
Australia heavily relies on players like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DA-Warner-c1301 to fire.
Australia has also looked surprisingly, ragged. The fact that many of their players got dehydrated and were complacent in the manner in which they have taken on Pakistan, is not characteristic of a champion side. Historically, touring sides to the Emirates
would acknowledge that playing Pakistan in the desert heat is a tedious and cumbersome task, and in light of this, they would prepare accordingly. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 on the other hand, looked over confident, buoyed by their past victories against Pakistan, and could
only register one victory in the series which came in the Sharjah heat.
Continued in Part 2...
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