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Testing times for Pakistan and Shahid Afridi in the ICC World Cup 2011

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Testing times for Pakistan and Shahid Afridi in the ICC World Cup 2011
These are surely testing times for Pakistan’s skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 and pakistan. Afridi, who seemed to be at ease with his team and was cruising along nicely in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2011, has been baffled by the New Zealand team which clobbered Pakistan’s
best bowling attack on Tuesday to post a total of 302 runs. Ironically the last 139 runs came in the last 10 overs as the Black caps batted first.
Pakistan seemed uncomfortable right from the point where they lost the toss and were made to field first. It is confusing to understand why most Pakistan teams always feel they have lost the match the moment they lose the toss.
Losing the toss wasn’t the only bad thing that happened on that fateful day, a lot more was to come. Pakistan started off nicely but all h**l broke loose when New Zealand’s Ross Taylor was dropped twice in the same over bowled by the Rawalpindi Express,
Shoaib Akhtar. The easiest catches in the book were dropped by the only man wearing gloves on the fielding side. Yes it was none other than Kamran Akmal, the Pakistani wicketkeeper. Being dropped twice against Shoaib Akhtar was a perfect birthday present for
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915 who turned 27 on Tuesday.
Afridi’s fortunes turned at this instant and the skipper who was having a joyride leading the team was now in a spot of bother. On the field Afridi made a few bad calls but then again what could he do when the wicketkeeper was on a conquest of dropping the
most catches in a World Cup match behind the wickets.
Pakistan could have had a chance of successfully chasing the total had the batsmen batted sensibly. Owing to the moist conditions during night in the subcontinent, Pakistan just needed to save wickets and bat through the first half an hour. Batting conditions
would have become ideal later in the innings. However, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Green-c60723.
There was nothing that Afridi and all-rounder Abdul Razzaq could do to save the game later in the innings. It was obviously the prime responsibility of the top-order batsmen to carry the innings. The openers Mohammad Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad have been unimpressive
all through the tournament. According to Imran Khan, the openers lack technique which is a requirement for openers. This is a catch-22 situation for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 but leadership shines in troubled times. This situation needs Afridi to come out as a great leader.
Right now the team can collapse and fade away or they can go dig deep and go on to lift the World Cup. It all depends on how well Afridi takes the pressure of the tournament and manages to rally his players behind him.
Last week the Pakistan team manager, Intikhab Alam, said that Afridi was a kind of skipper who takes input from the coach and manager and doesn’t make decisions on his own. This is a good thing for the simple reason that he has two veterans to talk to before
taking a final decision. The experience of Waqar Younis and Alam will surely benefit Afridi.
The Pakistan skipper reacted wisely after the game against New Zealand and made it clear that this was not the time for him to scold the players because this might backfire, resulting in a further decline in the performance of the squad.
The remaining matches in the tournament will now show if Afridi is a skipper that Pakistan will remember or will the memories of his reign fade away with time.

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