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

[thegreatkhan]

Good League going here CB12! Keep It Up!

 

[Highlander999]

Now Pakistan have a bit of a reputation for choking when it comes to the old batting. Bowling, they are fine. Their seamers can run through opposition line-up's pretty easily and could push for a place in any of the bowling line-up's in international cricket. Unfortunately for Pakistan though, today was another day where the batting had not fired and to make matters worse, the tail decided that they didn't fancy hanging around either with Umar Akmal to see what sort of score they could crawl themselves up to.

At the drinks break Pakistan were 189/7 and with 10 overs still to go, they would have been hoping for at least 225. If they could get that, they would have a chance. Unfortunately for Pakistan, Zaheer Khan had other ideas and ripped the tail to shreds.

First he quickly snapped up the young Mohammad Aamer for only 5 runs. A short ball rising sharply towards Aamer's chin had the youngster swinging wildly with the bat whilst he stared up at the sky. The ball flew up into the air and Zaheer had enough time to settle himself underneath it and take it no problems.

Umar Gul then went just 2 balls later having a wild swing outside his off-stump where he feathered an edge into the waiting buckets of Dhoni. That left Umar Akmal stranded with the number 11 Saeed Ajmal. Ajmal managed to survive the final balls of Zaheer's over which gave Akmal the chance to score some big runs off the young spinner, Jadeja. He did manage to pinch one boundary away, but went for one shot too many, and got a thick outside edge after coming down the track. The ball flew away to be caught well by Sehwag at short third man, to wrap things up for the Pakistani innings.

Yes! I know the text is wrong in the image​

Only Umar Akmal and Imran Farhat had put up any resistance for Pakistan. Yes, it was a tough pitch to score on, but when 6 of your top 7 batsmen make it into double figures and only 1 makes it past 50, you need to take a long hard look at the commitment of the batsmen and why they are getting out after making starts. Unusually for India, it was the seamers who had been the stand out bowlers for them, with Zaheer Khan and Nehra being the pick of the bowlers with very good figures. Harbhajan and Jadeja had backed these two up well though and the spin during the middle overs had ended up strangling the Pakistani batsmen for runs which is what led to some rash shots being played, coupled with some poor decision making.

Pakistan really would struggle to defend 201, even on this pitch, and with the likes of Sehwag, Tendulkar, Gambhir and Dhoni to bat for India, things didn't look too bright for the Pakistan fans in the stadium. The Pakistan seam trio of Aamer, Akhtar and Gul would have to be on the top of their game to win this match now, and be backed up well by the spinners.

Coming up next is the "Twelfth Man" show during the innings break. Be sure to join us then

 

[Dr. Pepper]

You're ████ and you know you are!

 

[Aditya]

If Indian team bat well then 201 should be a really easy total to be chased down. But we should not forget that Pakistani bowling attack is really good and they won't let India to win that easily. If Pakistan manages to get some early wickets then we may see a surprises in this match. Would be interesting to see how Pakistani bowlers bowl and Indian batsmen bat.

 

[BKB1991]

India to win from this stage. Pakistan bowling Vs Indian Batting would be a great show, but the Pakistani batsmen just havent given the bowlers much to play for.

 

[Pakistani Army]

201 is a poor score and was not expected by Pakistan in this tense match against their rivals. A great effort was in vain by Umar Akmal as he continues his strokefilled career with yet another half-century. It is unfortunate that there were a couple of soft dismissals that brought starts achieved by some of the top-order crashing down.

Credit must be given to all of the Indian bowlers for being economical as a bowling unit aswell as being accurate around that off-stump channel which as known and proven now, Pakistan struggle against. Waqar must really teach the youngsters such as Umar Amin and co to deal with tight bowling in that off-stump region in order for them to suceed in their next game. I thought Zaheer and Nehra did briliantly with the new ball and pegged Pakistan down with the early wicket of Salman Butt which I thought was crucial.

My verdict is that unless Shoaib and Aamer bowl out of their skins, India are to win by 6-5 wickets.

 

[Varun]

India should win this easily.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

Poor score by Pakistan India to in this

 

[nitish99]

201 is a very poor score. Unless the Pakistanis bowl very well and pick up some quick wickets they have no chance to win. Brilliant writing Tom and keenly looking forward for the outcome of this match.

I predict India to win by 1 or 2 wickets and the match will go down to the wire.

 

[Highlander999]

1st ODI of the ICC "Spirit of Cricket" Series
Location: Kolkata
Period of Play: End of Pakistani Innings

Welcome to the lunch time interval show, "Twelfth Man". I'm joined today by Sir Ian Botham, Mike Atherton and Rameez Raja. Welcome gentlemen.

Well we can certainly agree this first ODI in the ICC "Spirit of Cricket" series has certainly proved to be an interesting one.

Undoubtedly so, David. It is nice to see pitches being prepared in the sub-continent which actually provide a bit of assistance for the bowlers. We were shown this morning by the likes of Nehra and Zaheer Khan, that India do have good seam bowlers available to them, but they are constantly struggling on pitches keyed up for the batsmen.

Yes, Sir Ian, that has been a problem with cricket in Asia for a few years now. I was talking to Dhoni before the match and he was saying how his seamers felt dis-heartned with some of the pitches being made available to them, so it really is a massive plus to see a pitch which creates a good all-round game. Runs can be scored on it, but batsmen need to work hard for them.

Well, Pakistan certainly had to work hard for their runs today. What do you make of the way that they played Rameez?

I think the batsmen will be pretty disappointed with themselves. As was pointed out at the end of the innings, 6 of the top 7 batsmen made it into double figures, yet only Umar Akmal made it past 50. You do have to give credit to Zaheer Khan and Nehra though, they really bowled superbly at the beginning of the innings and built up a lot of pressure on the Pakistani top order who eventually bottled it.

Yes, Nehra was the stand out bowler for India, what did you make of that 7 over spell by him, Ian, from a bowling perspective?

Well the thing Nehra did very well today, was that he bowled a very consistent line and length. He didn't put any wayward deliveries down there and the batsmen had difficulty scoring off him. If we look at his pitch-map......

.....we see that especially to the left handers, he really kept the ball right on that off-stump line and with a hint of movement away from them, they were always going to be struggling. The wicket of Salman Butt proved this. He built up the pressure on Salman and as you can see from the blue dot which is Salman Butt's wicket, he put it just slightly wider, Butt had a go at it only getting an edge on it, and Dhoni did the rest of the work. Textbook pace bowling from him, fabulous stuff.

Yes, it truly was superb bowling to watch. From a batsman's perspective Mike, how could Pakistan have improved their batting this innings?

Well, I think as has already been pointed out, it was a hard pitch to score runs on and as Ian said at the pitch report, 225 would be a par score. However, I think the shot selection from the batsmen was rather poor. Everyone except Umar Amin had managed to get their eye in, and instead of being patient and waiting for the bad ball, they went after deliveries they shouldn't have. The wickets of Butt, Kamran Akmal and Imran Farhat are good examples of that. Patience was the key, and Waqar Younis will need to work on the mental side of the game with his batsmen if they are to improve, because the ability is certainly there.

That's a good point. In recent years, the Pakistani batting collapse has almost come to be expected and today was no exception. That is the major thing the team will need to work on and hopefully some of the youngsters like Umar Amin, Azhar Ali and Umar Akmal can improve their game over the coming months and reduce the chances of this happening again.

So we've discussed what went wrong in the Pakistani innings, but what do you gents think was the turning point, because at one stage Pakistan were going along at a rather good rate.

Indeed. Kamran Akmal and Imran Farhat had put on a rather nice second wicket partnership after the departure of Salman Butt. I think in my opinion though, the dismissal of Imran Farhat was probably the turning point. With Farhat batting with Umar Akmal, Pakistan were still in a strong position. Farhat was looking well set in the 40's and had the ability to go on and make a big score and as Akmal proved with his inning's, he was always going to contribute. But with Farhat throwing his wicket away, with an un-needed shot, it turned the whole innings, and put the pressure on the Pakistani middle order.

Maybe the ball was sliding down leg-side, but as you said Sir Ian, the actual shot played by Farhat was totally un-needed. The fact the bat flew out of his hands show how hard he was trying to hit the ball, and as we all know, timing is the key factor for ball speed off the bat. Throwing the kitchen sink at the ball won't achieve anything except losing your wicket. From there on in, Pakistan were in trouble.

How do you all see this match panning out?

It's got to be India's for the taking. With the likes of Sehwag, Tendulkar, Gambhir, Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh batting, I really shouldn't see any problems with them knocking off this score. Yes, the pitch has a bit of life to it, but this is the best batting line-up in world cricket.

Whilst I agree with Michael that I think India will win, I don't think it will be as easy as you say. Pakistan have a good bowling attack and if they have quick wickets, it might put the likes of Raina, Yuvraj and Jadeja under pressure towards the middle to late part of the innings, but I think India will probably do it.

I'm going to be optimistic and say I think Pakistan will win this. I have a lot of confidence in Aamer, Akhtar and Gul with the ball and think that they will find a lot of assistance on this pitch and if they get the ball in the right area's, they will get their just reward, so I think Pakistan will win by 20 or so runs.

Well that is 2-1 Pakistan and sorry Rameez, but I'm going with Ian and Michael here and think India have this one today

Well that's the end of the show, I hope you enjoyed it today, don't forget to enter into the Sky Sports Prediction Contest to win a fabulous prize.....

Who do you think will top score for India?

A) Sehwag
B) Tendulkar
C) Gambhir
D) Raina
E) Dhoni
F) Yuvraj Singh
G) Jadeja
H) Other

The fabulous prize for the winner(s) is 4 million vCash split amongst them. Good luck

 

[Dutchmen]

India are on high positive. Its lower score by Pakistan, They could win easily. They need to strike early if they want to win the match. And the act is exceptional

My answer for your question (B)

 

[Varun]

My pick is (D) Raina.

Pakistani bowling attack can be dangerous but I don't think it is more dangerous than the Indian batting attack.:laugh

 

[Aussie Team]

I'm gonna for B) Tendulkar.

 

[BKB1991]

I will go with Sehwag

 

[Aditya]

Nice update Tom.

As far as prediction contest is concern I'll go for f. Yuvraj Singh.