Shahid Afridi's Pakistan indulges in another brilliant comeback to topple
England at Lord's
Another impressive comeback by the Pakistani pace and spin attack helped the beleaguered men in green conjure up their second unexpected win in a row and keep alive the five match ODI series against England.
The 38 run win at Lord’s helped http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-c89347 Afridi’s men equal the five match series at 2-2, with the deciding game set to take place at the Rose Bowl in Southampton.
The series that has been clouded with spot and match fixing controversies that have dampened the spirits of both sets of players is set to go the distance now. Today’s game was another classic ODI match with constant ebbs and flows
that ended in favour of the tourists. The Pakistanis have gone from looking defeated to being rejuvenated with two stellar performances, and they surely now feel that they can take the series.
The Pakistani captain made the right call for the fourth time in a row at the toss and that helped him take the fight to the opposition. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 started brightly but then stalled, till some quickfire batting from Afridi and Umar
Akmal helped take the Pakistan score past 200. However, it was the final two overs where some real hard-hitting took place, as Abdur Razzaq embarked on a rampage with the bat.
The Lahore born hard hitter, who had a big role to play in the win at the Oval in the previous game set alight the home of cricket with a stunning assault on James Anderson and Tim Bresnan in the last two overs of the innings,
scoring 40-odd runs to propel Pakistan to what turned out to be a winning total of 265 runs.
Razzaq later claimed that his experience of English conditions and that he had recovered from back trouble were the reasons behind his brilliant man of the match performance.
Razzaq enthused, "I wasn't feeling well, I had a sore back and that's why I missed the first two matches. When you play county cricket in England you get experience and it really helps in these situations. We had a plan at the
end; I was waiting for those two overs."
Meanwhile the English team expressed bitter disappointment at their side’s inability to close out the game and the series despite a rollicking 113 run opening stand that at one time had given them a great chance of winning the
match and the series.
At the post match ceremony, Strauss said that it was a fantastic effort by the Pakistani bowlers that brought them back in the game and eventually fashioned out a comfortable win.
He also had words of praise for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Razzaq-c84421’s telling contribution at the end of the Pakistani innings.
"Razzaq played exceptionally well and gave them some real momentum. We looked like we had the game under control but we couldn't keep our momentum going and Pakistan bowled really well with the old ball. We've got to look at where
we went wrong, and we'll be doing that tomorrow. Pakistan have got a lot of match winners in their side, but it's important to remember its 2-2 and winner takes all at the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rose-c86842 Bowl."
The stunning English collapse for the second time in two matches must have raised alarm bells in their camp, as they have showed a real inability to counter the prodigious reverse swing of the Pakistani attack led by Umar Gul.
Gul, who after an extremely ordinary start to the series, has bagged ten wickets in the last two matches.
Even today he was the fore runner for the man of the match award yet the honour went to Razzaq who set up the game for his team with his blitz with the bat.
With the decider to take place in Southampton, one can only hope that all that is talked about that day are on-field issues.
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