‘I know what you’re thinking … ‘Did he fire 6 shots or only 5. Well, to tell you the truth I kind of lost track myself in all this excitement. As this the 44 magnum the most powerful handgun in the world and will blow your head clean off, you could ask yourself a question, Do I feel lucky?’
That’s what Clint Eastwood had said in the famous Dirty Harry film, but nearly 40 years later, it fits the Pakistan cricket team the most. They don’t know whether they have lost more matches or won, were unable to hold on to catches in league and Super 8 matches and, in all this excitement, failed to access what went wrong with their performance. All they can think is … Do We Feel Lucky?
There could not be a luckier side than Shahid Afridi’s men who dreamt of getting eliminated from the Twenty20 World Cup gracefully only to find themselves on the plane to the semi finals. They won the thriller against Bangladesh, lost miserably to the Aussies, were defeated by England, managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory against New Zealand before getting their act right and knocking out the mighty South Africans to qualify for the last 4.
But it hasn’t been a smooth sailing for the men in green. Their batting has failed miserably during the tournament with no batsmen besides openers Kamran Akmal and Salman Butt crossing the 100-mark in their 5 innings. Misbah ul Haq, who very nearly won the inaugural trophy for Pakistan, might find himself on the bench if Pakistan wins and qualifies for the final, because another failure will be the last nail in his career.
Pakistan must move Abdur Razzaq up in the order and drop the failures of the event Mohammad Hafeez and Khalid Latif. The duo scored amazingly quick and astoundingly huge in local Twenty20 tournaments in Pakistan but their performance so far in the mega event has failed to justify their selection. The men in green must also depend on Umar Akmal whose timely return to form helped them qualify for the final, and if he blasts the likes of Mitchell Johnson, Dirk Nannes and Shaun Tait in the semis, Pakistan might become the first team ever to reach three consecutive finals of the Twenty20 World Cup.
The other failure for Pakistan has been their fielding, especially the glove work of Kamran ‘the bungling’ Akmal who seems to have no idea about his surroundings or what damage his idiosyncrasies do. Same is the case with Saeed Ajmal who dropped three catches against England and made a name for himself, in a bad way. The rest of the side did try hard against South Africa and won the match but in order to beat Australia on Friday, the greenshirts will have to just try harder.
Yet it is their bowling that has helped them reach the semi final of the Twenty20 World Cup for the third consecutive time. Saeed Ajmal is the best bowler in the Pakistan outfit and is supported by the accurate Abdur Rehman, the amazing Mohammad Aamir, the erratic Mohammad Sami, the dependable Abdur Razzaq and the spin of Shahid Afridi who has to lift his game if they are to win the semi final. Ajmal took 4 wickets in the crucial game against South Africa and has so far taken 10 wickets for Pakistan. If Pakistan is to reach the final of the mega event, they must play as a fighting unit than as 11 players playing as Pakistan, and not for Pakistan!
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