South Africa whitewash Pakistan in two match T20 series
After despicable batting by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 on a pitch which was clearly a batsman’s paradise, everyone including the Pakistani skipper and coach were hoping that they will get even with South Africa in the second T20 match.
But just after 24 hours, Pakistan repeated exactly the same show as last night. Pakistan’s batting improving by just one run and put on a total of 120 runs for the Proteas to chase as compared to last night’s total of 119 runs.
Pakistan again won the toss and the Pakistani skipper Shahid Afridi chose to bat again, hoping to put up a huge total for the Proteas to go after. But things never seemed to go according to plan for the Pakistani squad and again the South Africans managed
to get an early break by taking the wicket of opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahzaib-Hasan-c2488(6 runs) by Lonwao Tsotsobe.
Then came the turn of Imran Farhat, who had just made nine runs after facing twelve balls, Farhat didn’t even seem like looking at the ball when he played his shot off Lonwabo Tsotsobe’s slowish off cutter, resulting in the loss of his leg stump.
Farhat getting out on a pitch that was relatively slow is beyond anyone’s comprehension. Perhaps last night’s experience wasn’t bad enough for the young Pakistani opener.
Then on came the struggling middle order batsman Mohammad Hafeez. But he failed to justify his selection by scoring just fourteen runs off nine balls. If his distasteful performance doesn’t encourage Pakistani selectors to look for another middle order batsman,
nothing will. He was the victim of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Morne-Morkel-c77722, who has been phenomenal with the ball for South Africa.
The inspiring T20 sensation Umar Akmal didn’t have his game face on and was cheaply run out, by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AB-de-Villiers-c887 off Lonwabo Tsotsobe’s bowling. Akmal managed to score just five runs off four deliveries which is just too low for a player of his natural flair.
Skipper Afridi wasn’t near as impressive as he was last night and went back to the pavilion after scoring just three runs, it was clearly panic time for Pakistan as wickets were falling like candles on ice.
Pakistan in 7.4 overs were 40 for 5, if this isn’t a wakeup call for the Pakistani management then what is? The burden of the match was again on the shoulders of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 and Abdul Razzaq, both veteran batsmen brought some stability in the batting,
but were unable to launch a batting onslaught, which was needed at this point in time.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Razzaq-c84421 gave away his wicket by trying to hit Albie Morkel for a six but ended up a little short from crossing the boundary in the hands of Rusty Theron, after scoring 25 runs off 29 balls.
After Razzaq’s dismissal it was probably curtains for Pakistan. However, Zulqarnain Haider did try his best to tackle the Proteas bowling, but the task was just too much for the young inexperienced wicket keeper.
In the eighteenth over Pakistan managed to put on a hundred runs on the board, improving their own record of the slowest T20 100 ever made by them last night.
Misbah-ul-Haq, who was most criticised for being selected in the twenty20 format of the game, just like last night came out as the highest scorer in the two match T20 series from Pakistan’s side. The middle order batsman scored 33 runs off 38 balls. Misbah’s
wicket was a complete replay of the final match of the first T20 World cup, failing to get it across the man at the short fine leg.
Here on Pakistan were just hoping to finish the allotted twenty overs. Again putting the pressure on the players, who are bowlers and not batsmen, to do all the run scoring at the most crucial juncture.
Alas Pakistan’s batting trauma was over and the team managed to pull just 120 runs, giving the Proteas 121 to win.
Pakistan were again in the same mess putting all hopes on their bowlers to pull off a miracle on a pitch that was clearly not doing much for the bowlers. Experienced Shoaib Akhtar opened the bowling with a magnificent over, not giving
away runs.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 this time started off better and in ten overs were 57 for 1. Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez and Saeed Ajmal all shared one wicket each, which was clearly not enough and the Proteas won the match with utter
ease.
This T20 series has clearly left the Pakistan side in complete disarray. It is high time for Pakistan to reconsider their T20 options, as clearly this is not the formidable playing eleven they hoped for. It’s time to ponder over mistakes
as a skipper for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 as well.
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