Hey Dude, Underdogs got Teeth to Bite!

Usually captains try to out smart their peers in the game with
their strategy of using their resources cost effectively, like
other day Ricky Ponting did with Waqar Younas and Stephen
Fleming did with Shaun Pollock, but today Waqar Younas managed
to out fox the whole cricketing world by dropping inform Saleem
Elahi. No need to mention that Pakistan is infamous for their
brittle batting so one would expect that the team management
will try to strengthen the batting line, right? *WRONG* they
opted to go for highly unreliable Afridi, who had a very
ordinary day against Aussies. This decision turned out to be a
very costly one.

Pakistan was chasing a total of 246, an easy and easily doable
task. Shahid Afridi, after hitting a, needless, mighty six to
Andrew Caddick in the 3rd over got carried away and went for a
strange shot on a very beautiful rising out swinger only to see
Alec Stewart taking an easy catch.

Shahid Afridi’s out laid the foundation for the Pakistani
batting collapse. Sending Inzi at one down was perhaps the only
good decision that Waqar made in the game but unfortunately he
got out, on the very first ball (an awesome out swinger) that
he faced. There was absolutely no footwork and he could not
read the line and movement of the ball and was caught in the
slips. Yousaf Youhanna was stunned by Jimmy Anderson’s briskly
paced yorker that dipped in very sharply and Youhanna, with a
high back lift, had no answer to the ball that shattered the
timber all over the place. Pakistan were 17/3 and pretty much
had lost the game.

During our pre Worldcup research we came to the conclusion that
this world cup, unlike the one in 1996, will not be won by the
sluggers rather one would need genuine regular batsmen who
could anchor there and provide a rock for the team to build on.
Shahid Afridi just does not belong high in the batting order
and in this Worldcup would be ideal to come late in the batting
order.

Waqar was under the impression that English bowling attack
lacked any bite, well I hope he must have discovered the
truthfulness of his statement by now. English bowlers had a
clear plan and the talent to bowl as per their plan. It was
obvious that they were trying to take advantage of Saeed’s
habit to come across the stumps and play the ball in the
midwicket or in the fine leg region, which he does every now
and then. Andrew Caddick and twenty years old Jimmy Anderson
came very close to get him out on few occasions. They kept on
bowling on this line and this persistence paid off in the 18th
over when Jimmy Anderson pitched a full length ball, right in
the line of middle stump, that managed to find Saeed’s pads, a
fully deserving and prized wicket. I am still unable to
understand why umpire did not give Saeed out on the 2nd ball of
the 12th over by the same bowler. The ball wasn’t moving at all
and hit his pads right in front of the middle stump, only a
blind umpire could judge it as not out.

Younas Khan, well I don’t know much about him and glad that I
don’t, got out to a rising ball by Flintoff in his unnecessary
attempt to dominate the bowling.
Late in the innings Shoaib Akhtar provided some fire works that
was best described by one of the commentators as “Well today
Shoaib is hitting every thing at 100 miles per hour”. Shoaib
Akhtar in his 2nd over’s last ball achieved the speed of 100
mph (it was actually 100.2 mph) I hope he will find his peace
and will shut up from now on and concentrate on getting some
wickets and bowling with a discipline. In my team I would
rather like to have a bowler who bowls at 80-85 miles per hour
and can out smart batsmen than having a big mouth who bowls at
100 mph and concede 7 runs per over.

In the Worldcup of 1992 Imran Khan came up with the philosophy
of not caring about no balls and wide balls as long as bowlers
are attacking and taking wickets. To date Pakistan seems to
follow the same strategy only that they don’t take wickets as
frequently as they should and bowl a plethora of no balls. This
can also be attributed to gutless bowling changes that Waqar
makes, but I think Pak bowlers must rethink their strategy.
They must bowl with discipline and try to get wickets, didn’t
English bowlers did just this?

Mike Vaughan and Paul Collingwood’s innings of 52 and 66 were
the highlights of the English batting and without any doubt
these were spectacular efforts. My only regret is that Akram
bowled a no ball on the ball that would have been his 500th
victim, for which he will wait till next game against Holland.

Pakistani fielding was, as usual, substandard and they let
English batters take 2s in place of 1s with ease. At one point
lethargic Inzmam was seen fielding on the boundary and an
athletic Shoaib was fielding inside the circle, that was
amusing and frustrating at the same time. Inzmam was at least
responsible for not getting one run out due to his bad, away
from the stumps throw. Late in the innings (45th over) Saqlain
was hit by Craig White high up in the air and to much of my
dismay Razzaq opted to not catch the ball that fell almost a
yard in front of him, this kind of fielding can only guarantee
an early flight for Pak team to Pakistan, but not any
respectable place in the world cup.

I think that the only reason Waqar plays in the team is that he
is captain otherwise I doubt he would have made it to the team.
He has lost any sting that he had in his bowling. Teams wait
for him to come so they can attack and accelerate their run
rate. South Africa’s Allan Donald has also been reduced to a
mere mortal as he has also lost speed, but in his repertoire he
never had deadly swinging yorkers traveling at ferocious speed
that Waqar was blessed with. Just like Allan Donald, Waqar has
also lost any speed in his bowling, but also is no longer
capable of bowling swinging deliveries. In the absence of these
weapons Waqar is like a toothless tiger, good for loud roars.

Pakistan team has dug themselves into an abysmal hole as they
are behind Australia, England, India and Zimbabwe in both
points and net run rate. They still have to face India in, a
much awaited, match who’s result a sane person wouldn’t try to
predict as its always a nail biting and always unpredictable
contest, worth the money.

Pakistan team needs to treat this situation on the emergency
basis and need to take bold decisions if they are serious about
getting into super six. I am sure that back home conspiracy
theorists must be trying to hold foul play and match fixing
responsible for such a below par performance. I have just this
to say to these people, “Shut the F*** up”. Pakistan was
outplayed and overpowered by an under rated English team in all
departments of the game and the better team won the game.

English team was thought to be an easy going for the “mighty
Pakistanies”, and Pakistani captain thought that they lack any
bite. What they discover is that these underdogs have mighty
strong teeth to inflict a long lasting wound.