Shokaib
14th March 2007, 22:28
By Rameez Raja Former Pakistan cricket captain
KINGSTON, Jamaica: The first game has just finished, the West Indies having had the better of Pakistan because they had a better strategy. They showed emotion, passion and wanted to win more than Pakistan did — it at least did appear that way from a distance.
After winning the toss, electing to field first was an interesting choice (for Pakistan), even though on appearance the pitch did look very, very dry. But Inzamam-ul-Haq would have liked to chase a target of around 240 — 241 on this pitch shouldn’t have been a difficult target to chase.
Everyone wanted to see how the Sabina Park pitch will play and clearly there was a balance between bat and ball. It spun for the spinners, it had some movement for the medium-pacers and when you were willing to play strokes you could do that also. Pakistan lost their way in the last ten overs when 80-odd runs were given by them — 57 in the last five — and even though 241 was a gettable target, it was enough to keep them on the edge.
Then it was a repeat telecast of what has been happening in the past. The openers lost their way; Imran Nazir played a poor shot and then Younis Khan was also a disastrous exit, trying a hook shot, failing to connect and he was caught behind. The pressure was straight away on Inzamam and Mohammad Yousuf.
It was a strange kind of a partnership between Inzamam and Yousuf. It was slow going — 60 runs off 110 balls — and the partnership didn’t have any tempo. They were over-cautious at times, probably thinking there was not enough fuel in the tank after them. They took this cautious approach and it didn’t work.
Inzamam needed to bat higher up the order. Yousuf played a strange innings. He is normally a free-flowing player, but the pressure got the better of him and in the end when both had consumed plenty of balls they succumbed to the pressure that was created by Brian Lara. Shoaib Malik played a good, handy innings and there is a possibility that he may bat up the order come the other matches because he has looked in good touch. The ideal situation for Pakistan would be to bat Yousuf at No. 3 and bring down Younis to No. 5 — Inzamam needs to bat at No. 4.
Pakistan were under pressure all the time chasing a relatively easy target. Credit to Lara and his team because the victory was based on young shoulders. Their fast bowlers did a fine job, especially Daren Powell, who picked up two wickets and bowled consistently well. It was a long spell and he finished with ten overs, 2 for 42.
The man of the match was Dwayne Smith — what an important innings he played today (Tuesday). As a batsman he was absolutely merciless. He scored 30-odd runs at a very crucial time. He had a ball with the ball, picked up three wickets and he was inspirational in the field. Pakistan missed a trick when they took the leg-spinner (Danish Kaneria) off when Smith had just come in to bat. They re-introduced pace and he did play the pace really well.
Inzamam needs to use Kaneria more effectively and more aggressively. Today, Kaneria was made to stop the flow of runs and wasn’t allowed by Inzamam to pick up wickets. His role has got to be the aggressor in the middle part of the innings. With Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif missing out of the attack, Kaneria becomes an important player when it comes to picking up wickets and Inzamam didn’t use him to his fullest potential.
At the end of the day, credit to Lara — it was a 360-degree turnaround. They were mauled by India in the practice game, being shot out for 85. Today they had the support of the crowd and the team wanted to do well and prove a point. They are off the mark with a bright victory.
Pakistan, on the other hand, must not feel too dejected even though they need to up the tempo. They need to make a few adjustments and fine-tune the combinations. No team has gone on to win the World Cup without suffering losses and this is the message Inzamam needs to tell his boys — it was a poor day but not all is lost.
There will be times when they’ll have good days, so he has got to make sure they get this game out of their system as quickly as possible and look to concentrate on what is to come. It is going to be difficult but they are here to compete and compete they must.
KINGSTON, Jamaica: The first game has just finished, the West Indies having had the better of Pakistan because they had a better strategy. They showed emotion, passion and wanted to win more than Pakistan did — it at least did appear that way from a distance.
After winning the toss, electing to field first was an interesting choice (for Pakistan), even though on appearance the pitch did look very, very dry. But Inzamam-ul-Haq would have liked to chase a target of around 240 — 241 on this pitch shouldn’t have been a difficult target to chase.
Everyone wanted to see how the Sabina Park pitch will play and clearly there was a balance between bat and ball. It spun for the spinners, it had some movement for the medium-pacers and when you were willing to play strokes you could do that also. Pakistan lost their way in the last ten overs when 80-odd runs were given by them — 57 in the last five — and even though 241 was a gettable target, it was enough to keep them on the edge.
Then it was a repeat telecast of what has been happening in the past. The openers lost their way; Imran Nazir played a poor shot and then Younis Khan was also a disastrous exit, trying a hook shot, failing to connect and he was caught behind. The pressure was straight away on Inzamam and Mohammad Yousuf.
It was a strange kind of a partnership between Inzamam and Yousuf. It was slow going — 60 runs off 110 balls — and the partnership didn’t have any tempo. They were over-cautious at times, probably thinking there was not enough fuel in the tank after them. They took this cautious approach and it didn’t work.
Inzamam needed to bat higher up the order. Yousuf played a strange innings. He is normally a free-flowing player, but the pressure got the better of him and in the end when both had consumed plenty of balls they succumbed to the pressure that was created by Brian Lara. Shoaib Malik played a good, handy innings and there is a possibility that he may bat up the order come the other matches because he has looked in good touch. The ideal situation for Pakistan would be to bat Yousuf at No. 3 and bring down Younis to No. 5 — Inzamam needs to bat at No. 4.
Pakistan were under pressure all the time chasing a relatively easy target. Credit to Lara and his team because the victory was based on young shoulders. Their fast bowlers did a fine job, especially Daren Powell, who picked up two wickets and bowled consistently well. It was a long spell and he finished with ten overs, 2 for 42.
The man of the match was Dwayne Smith — what an important innings he played today (Tuesday). As a batsman he was absolutely merciless. He scored 30-odd runs at a very crucial time. He had a ball with the ball, picked up three wickets and he was inspirational in the field. Pakistan missed a trick when they took the leg-spinner (Danish Kaneria) off when Smith had just come in to bat. They re-introduced pace and he did play the pace really well.
Inzamam needs to use Kaneria more effectively and more aggressively. Today, Kaneria was made to stop the flow of runs and wasn’t allowed by Inzamam to pick up wickets. His role has got to be the aggressor in the middle part of the innings. With Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif missing out of the attack, Kaneria becomes an important player when it comes to picking up wickets and Inzamam didn’t use him to his fullest potential.
At the end of the day, credit to Lara — it was a 360-degree turnaround. They were mauled by India in the practice game, being shot out for 85. Today they had the support of the crowd and the team wanted to do well and prove a point. They are off the mark with a bright victory.
Pakistan, on the other hand, must not feel too dejected even though they need to up the tempo. They need to make a few adjustments and fine-tune the combinations. No team has gone on to win the World Cup without suffering losses and this is the message Inzamam needs to tell his boys — it was a poor day but not all is lost.
There will be times when they’ll have good days, so he has got to make sure they get this game out of their system as quickly as possible and look to concentrate on what is to come. It is going to be difficult but they are here to compete and compete they must.