What happened in St Lucia on the 14th of May 2010 will go down as the biggest comebacks in the history of cricket. Surprisingly, it wasn’t done by the king of comebacks, Pakistan, but was done against them.
One cannot find a match in cricketing history where a team reigns superior in 38 over’s out of the 40 played but still goes on to lose the match. Surprisingly it’s Pakistan who managed to accomplish the task yet again, like they did in the Sydney test against Australia. Ironically, it was the same man who stood in between Pakistan and victory and the very same man knocked the cornered tigers out of the T20 World Cup. Michael Hussy played the innings of his life to destroy the hopes of 160 million Pakistanis watching their team demolishing the mighty Aussies before he came to the crease.
It was arguably the best T20 match ever played in its short history. Pakistan showed a batting display that in recent history has eluded them. Confidence was oozing out of every shot that came of a Pakistani bat. The Australian pace battery was destroyed by Kamran Akmal, and then his younger brother finished the family butchering. A target of 191 was more than sufficient, given the spin attack Pakistan possessed, but they forgot what Australia possessed, the will to tell impossible that I am possible.
Australians were expected to fight till the end, but Pakistan came out with a purpose as well. After removing the dynamite Warner in the first over of the match, the Pakistani bowlers were making a mockery of the run chase. It was not until Cameron White entered the field that the Australians felt some hope of chasing the target. However, when Muhammad Aamir removed him in the 17th over of the match, it seemed that Pakistan had achieved what they had dreamt of.
What the Pakistani team forgot was the fact that they were up against the determination of Mr. Cricket himself, a person who does not know the word defeat. He smacked sixes like it was a stroll in the park. Under extreme pressure, he cleared the boundary as if it was a 30-metre circle. 48 runs were required by Australia of the last three overs. With so much pressure, it could only be a Hussey, combined with some thoughtless bowling that could have won it for the Aussies. Luckily for Australia, both were available.
Knowing that Hussey was favouring the boundary on the leg side, the Pakistani spinners kept on bowling on his pads, and that too from over the wicket. The ideal situation for Pakistan would have been to ball fuller length deliveries from around the wicket, so that the ball would go away from him rather than into his body. Saeed Ajmal and Aamir continuously bowled into his body rather than swinging it away from him and he kept on smacking the ball to all corners of the ground. A sense of disbelief also encompassed the Pakistani team who did not believe that the target was a gettable one. This was the biggest difference between the two teams. One believed that nothing is impossible, while the other thought it to be impossible.
Over all, the Pakistanis have handed over another match on a silver platter to the Australian team. When would they learn the phrase that ‘the game is not over till the last ball is bowled’? It’s this last ball that is hurting them the most.
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