Karachi ODI, Pakistani Prospective
Toss
It all started under this unprecedented hype and Ian Chappel made a valid point when he said that its a pressure situation by all means and in such situations you gotta let your batsmen take charge of the situation no matter how good your bowling is. Imran khan added that Indian bowling was pulverized from that Pakistan 'A' match, they were short of confidence and they should have been bowling but All i can make of it that Inzimam was being hospitable. Probably the moisture in the pitch prompted Inzimam's decision to bowl first but it was always gonna dry within 15 overs.
Team Selection
Going on belter of a pitch with two specialist and three all rounders was always going to be a bad decisions. More so when Razzaq is no where his best. Rest of the team was fine and most of them pick themselves. Team mangement opted for experience of Younis Khan instead of Afridi.
Bowling
Pakistani bowlers, rather than backing thier captain's decisions, sprayed the ball over all while over stepping. Results were flurry of boundaries off no balls. Shoaib and Sami got appreciative movement in the beginning but good balls were rare and Sehwag-Sachin combo was in full punishing mode and that they did. Luck favoured them as Sehwag was dropped and sachin was caught off a no ball. Shoaib got sachin with the help of a good catch from Naveed but with the arrival of Ganguly,Sehwag went berzerk and younger bowlers couldnt cope with the pressue. In the end thier wides and no balls were the telling factor in the match.
-Shoaib Akhtar bowled with fire but he too was culprit of too many extras in the beginning. But he was unlukcy in the sense that Sehwag was dropped by Shoaib Malik in the third over and in fifth over , Sachin was caught off a no ball. In the end he was impressive and didnt let indians score off him that much.
-Sami was really disappoinging from the start, he beat the bat on rare occassions but didnt stick to one line and length and was culprit of too many extras. He bowled horribly except for the last two overs when he got those yourkers working for him.
-Rana naveed, the rookie all rounder was greeted with 32 runs off his 2 overs which included a lot of no balls. He got it back in the end with three top wickets but the damage was done in the beginning. Nonetheless good effort by him.
-For me pick of the bowlers was Shoaib Malik. He controlled the middle of the innings and was the least expensive of the bowlers.
-Razzaq was horrible with the ball, and his body language was lethargic to say the least.
Fielding
Generally, the fielding was sharp and pakistani fielders saved quite a few runs in the outfield but they could have done better specially Sehwag's catch was a crucial drop by Shoaib Malik, generally a better fielder.
Batting
Pakistan have shrugged off the labal of notoriuos chasers in past few series and today they proved why thier chasing has become this brilliant. Today pakistan batting had method, approach and common sense. Running between the wickets was awesome. Partnership between Youhana and Inzi and later on between Inzi and Younis were methodical and aggressive.
-Imran Farhat played few nice shots and looked in quite a good touch but he should have gone on on this batting paradise.
-Yasir Hameed playd and missed quite a few and his timing was out. Soon he was on his way.
-Youhana was awesome, initially he concentrated on singles and doubles with occassional boundaries but later on he started playing big shots and duly deleivered. Too bad he got out at a critical juncture. But he gave innings the required impetus when it needed most.
-If youhana was awesome, then inzimam was doubly impressive. The way he took the burden on his shoulders and nearly won the match for us was unbeilvable. Just before he got out, he was toying with Indian bowling and was hitting them wherever he wanted with utter disdain. He ran hard and made ones into twos. One of the best ODI innings while chasing.
-Younis Khan had a big question mark on his question career and today he played an intelligent innings, he hit boundaries when needed but mostly gave strike to Inzimam. By doing so, he made sure that dropping him would take a lot of courage from now on.
-Razzaq, Moin and Shoaib Malik tried thier best., Razzaq specially was at his hitting best. Thats why its hard to drop this guy, he is a match winner down the order. Moin couldnt win it for us but him and malik made sure pakistan takes the fight to the last over. Rana Naveeds struggled through inexperience though.
Captaincy
Inzimam was looking as unintersted in the field as one can get and he misses the tricks too many times in the field. His field placings are conventional though he deserve credit for his innovation tht got rid of Sachin Tendulkar. In the end, he should have opted for more experienced hitters like Shoaib Akhtar instead of Rana Naveed. But when he was batting, he seemed like a born captain, takign the team with him and staying till the end. He should be more invovled in the field too, after all he is the captain.
Conclusion
We have witnessed one of the greatest ODIs of all time and this historical series could not have started on a better note. Had pakistan controlled thier extras, it could have been all different and we would have created a world record but that did not happen and in the end it was the deciding factor. Lots of thought is needed to accomodate a sixth bowler because any bowler can have a bad day. And they have options of dropping one of the openers and bringing back Afridi but that would require deep thought. Shabbir will be back too and hopefully he will give the required depth in bowling. Pakistan will feel that with a bit of control in bowling department should be enough for them to chase a decent score or defend a good target -- even on pitches like these.
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. What an innings by Inzi..superb, didnt ever look like he was going to get out..but I think being there..batting for 2 hours or so took its toll on him. I was however impressed by the Indian bowling the first 5, and in the last 4 overs...but Inzimam, he even hit a four..on a yorker, just too good 8D
