Story Passion for Pakistan: A Journey to the top? 1st ODI: *10 Over Update**

[Highlander999]

We spell it differently in Scotland

 

[Bounce]

Before this update, I always thought that the Comic Sans MS as a font sucks. You proved me wrong.
Amazing presentation.

Quite surprised on the inclusion of Badri and Vijay in the squad.

 

[Dr. Pepper]

I heard you do a lot of things differently up there.

 

[Gorro_124]

A great story has taken birth!! I bet this will reach great heights!! With such a great start to this story, it is looking promising!! But in this Indo-Pak one, I think India gonna win!!! Good luck!

 

[Aditya]

Sreesanth, RP and Pathan back to the Indian side!!! :happy If they perform well then the Indian bowling attack can be a lot stronger. Pathan can contribute with the bat as well and that's a good thing for India. Pakistan on other hand have some young but very talented players. Both the sides are good but in my opinion Indian side is a bit stronger. But this is cricket and any thing can happen in cricket.

Nice presentation Tom.

 

[Varun]

"ICC Spirit of Cricket Tour"

Just reminds me of that Gambhir and Afridi spat.:laugh

Just like your last story, this one rocks. I guess this will be the only story I'll be following.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

The presentation is good. Best of luck for this, time has come to revive this story section.

 

[Aussie Team]

Good Luck mate! India should have dropped Tendulkar. :P

 

[Highlander999]

1st ODI of the ICC "Spirit of Cricket" Series
Location: Kolkata
Time: 10:30am


So the 1st ODI of the inaugural ICC Spirit of Cricket series was looming. Throughout the cricketing world but especially in Asia, the only thing everyone was talking about was this first ODI. Ever since the two squads had been announced all people wanted to know was who would be playing and could they make their country proud. Rumour's were circulating everywhere about what was going to happen, with apparently a massive firework display planned for the end of the match.

Meanwhile the players in the Pakistani camp were just trying to focus on their training and fitness practice's. The day before the 1st ODI, a friendly practice match took place within the squad and it appeared to the media at the ground that morale within the team was very good as a lot of good natured joking took place with the players seeming very happy around skipper Shahid Afridi

Pakistan train hard, but also have time for a laugh or two.​

So as the day dawned and the spectators hurried about Kolkata by bus, scooter, car or on foot, the tension was so high you felt you could touch it. There was an equal amount of Pakistani to Indian fans, but you also couldn't miss the heightened security around the ground. The Indian police were making sure nothing bad was happening on this historic day and credit to them, nothing did. It took people a while to get through the checkpoints but no one complained and there was a good atmosphere within the ground.

Out in the middle Sir Ian Botham was doing his pitch report for all the viewers throughout the world. The pitch prepared certainly promised some action. Due to the extreme heat over the past weeks, it had been totally baked and cracks were all over it. It certainly would give assistance to the bowlers, who would be made to sweat it out in these conditions with not even a cloud in the sky to block the sun. Still seeing the pitch they would have cheered up, knowing what lay in store for them.

Out in the middle Afridi won the toss for Pakistan and elected to bat first which was always going to be the best option on such a pitch everyone finally got to learn who would be proudly representing their countries.


For India, MS Dhoni caused a bit of a stir with his bowling line-up, because whilst he had the seam trio of Pathan, Sreesanth and RP Singh available to him, he decided to stick with Nehra and Kumar who had been performing decently enough for India over the recent months. The young all-round spinner Jadeja also got a game with Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan rounding up the frontline bowlers. There were no major surprises with the batting line-up:

Indian XI

1. V. Sehwag
2. SR. Tendulkar
3. G. Gambhir
4. Sk. Raina
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. MS. Dhoni (C) (wk)
7. R. Jadeja
8. Harbhajan Singh
9. Zaheer Khan
10. P. Kumar
11. A. Nehra

12th Man: IK. Pathan​

Afridi also named his XI for the match, much to the excitment of the large Pakistani contingent which had packed out one half of the stadium. As expected it was quite a young side which Afridi and Waqar Younis had decided to go for, highlighting how Pakistan are building for the future. Still, India would be foolish to under-estimate this XI as it does have ability:

Pakistani XI

1. Salman Butt
2. Imran Farhat
3. Kamran Akmal (wk)
4. Umar Akmal
5. Umar Amin
6. Shoaib Malik
7. Shahid Afridi (C)
8. Shoaib Akhtar
9. Mohammad Aamer
10. Umar Gul
11. Saeed Ajmal

12th Man: Tanvir Ahmed​

The pace trio of Akhtar, Aamer and Gul would certainly cause the Indian batsmen a few problems, however, it would be the Pakistani top order which would be coming under scrutiny first. Salman Butt and Imran Farhat certainly have ability with the bat, and hopefully in this high pressure situation they would perform.

It was time though. The Indian fielders were walking out just ahead of the Pakistani batsmen and history was about to be made...

 

[Dr. Pepper]

Good pitch to win the toss on. It's a young side so the senior players need to really step up and lead by example.

 

[harrisb]

Wow, amazing writing and great presentation combine to make this story an immediate hit. The idea is great, although is the story just going to be for this series, or will you continue to lead Pakistan to glory.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

Superb writing as always. Can improve in one area is that the font in Pitch report as well as if possible toss image.

Rest all

 

[Highlander999]

Cheers for the comments

Wow, amazing writing and great presentation combine to make this story an immediate hit. The idea is great, although is the story just going to be for this series, or will you continue to lead Pakistan to glory.

It will continue on past this series, once I decide where Pakistan will tour next. Either England or Australia I expect

Superb writing as always. Can improve in one area is that the font in Pitch report as well as if possible toss image.

Rest all

All opinions are welcome so what font would you recommend? Thanks for the feedback

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

Oh!! I mentioned font, sorry, I was supposed to say Color in the Pitch Report.

Orange color really is not looking good. May be some other color.

Sorry for font thing actually was into photoshop a lot that made me write

 

[BKB1991]

This looks pretty interesting. Definetly following.