Review of Pakistan’s performance in the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 World T20 2012 – Part Two
Continued from the previous part…
In their second Super 8 encounter against the arch-rivals, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750, the Green Shirts were rated as favourites on current form. However, Pakistan’s batsmen succumbed under pressure and failed to get going against a relatively weak bowling
line-up, just managing 128 runs before being dismissed in the innings’ last over.
Pakistan opened the bowling with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/V-Sehwag-c2739 consolidated the innings for their side.
Kohli, who played an unbelievable knock of 183 against Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2012, continued to show his dominance over the Green Shirts, remaining unbeaten on 78, to be named as the Player of the Match.
A defeat against India is always destructive for Pakistan’s confidence but http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Hafeez-c76898 was able to extract the best out of his team in their ‘do or die’ fixture against Australia.
Thanks to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 a stiff target of 150 runs on a slow and turning track. Pakistan’s bowlers rose to the occasion and scripted a comprehensive victory by 32 runs, which
enhanced their net run-rate and helped them qualify for the semi-finals.
The positive thing for the Green Shirts in that pressure match was the performance of two youngsters, Jamshed and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hasan-c61990. The latter was named as the Player of the Match for an outstanding spell of spin bowling, picking up two crucial
wickets in his four overs, after giving away just 14 runs.
Hafeez’s men faced the hosts (Sri Lanka) in the first semi-final of the tournament at Colombo. On an extremely low and double-paced pitch, the home team won a vital toss, having no hesitation in opting to bat first.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Saeed-Ajmal-c87859, did not have the best of the matches, giving away 33 runs in his four overs for his only
wicket; otherwise, the situation could have been much worse for the Islanders.
However, quite surprisingly, the track deteriorated further in the second innings, making things extremely tough for the Pakistan batsmen, who did not enjoy the ball coming on to the bat. Pakistan’s middle-order crumbled under pressure
once again, falling short of Sri Lanka’s total by 16 runs.
The skipper scored 42 runs with the help of four boundaries and a huge six but even he struggled to get going in the power-play overs, putting additional pressure on the middle-order batsmen.
Interestingly, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/HMRKB-Herath-c1559 in the playing-11, looking to exploit Pakistan’s weakness against left-arm spin. The ploy worked in the semi-final, with the seasoned spinner picking up three scalps, having conceded
25 runs in his quota of four overs.
While expressing his disappointment in the post-match presentation ceremony, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755’s captain said that he was happy with the side’s effort and was heartened by the performance of the youngsters.
"Every person gave 100%. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Jamshed-c66276 and Raza have been the positives for us in this tournament. We were much in the game but the middle order collapsed. I thank the fans who came here to support us. We really wanted to do something for
them," said the opening batsman.
Pakistan team can consider themselves a touch unlucky as their unpredictable batting line-up had to play on the tournament’s worst pitch in such a crucial fixture.
To be continued...
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