Umar Akmal
The mighty Australian dream run of winning 34 consecutive world cup matches finally ended in their last group match of this ongoing electrifying world cup. Pakistan had got all of their basics in the right place at the right time to sabotage the mighty Aussies and gained the upper hand in group standings.
Ricky Ponting won the crucial toss and opted to bat first in a seamer assist Colombo track. The main setback plunged in when the in-form Shane Watson was cleaned up with a swinging delivery from Umar Gul taking the inside edge. Punter’s prolonged resistance was ended by the part-timer Hafeez after the skipper edged to the keeper. Haddin was patiently knocking around before he fell as a victim for the young Riaz. With the middle order exhaustion in the form of Clarke,White and Hussey, the astounding pressure plunged to stimulate and penetrate deep in the well. Pakistani bowlers acknowledged their behemothic supporters by snapping up the wagging tail with an essence of flamboyance to conk out the kangaroos for a mere 176.The vengeance was on when Brett Lee was all fired up and got rid of the top four Pakistani batsmen. But some sensible batting display from the blossoming Umar Akmal ensured a 4 wicket win and earned him a man of the match award.
The most anticipated match of the morning between the Dhaka warriors (they did not even put up a fight,phew!) and the Proteas was a pretty one sided affair as the high expectations of million people took the home side away too far out of this world cup. The Proteas left de Villiers, Steyn and Morkel and still managed a 206 run victory with Kallis back on track and Peterson spun the web claiming four wickets. The Bangladesh captain top scored with 30 leaving him the only player to score double figures in their horrendous batting scorecard. Now India will face the Windies tomorrow at Chepauk and a win will set up the quarter final clash against the Aussies and a loss just gears India up against the Lankans and with that loss England will face Pakistan and West Indies will battle out the Australia. The 4th quarter final that’s decisive until now is between South Africa and the Kiwis.
So the group stages wraps up by tomorrow and the only 5 out of eight quarter finalists were known until today’s matches were over. Still the clash of titans is yet to be decided and that’s the outcome this electrifying world cup has ever produced till now. There is no 6 sixes or 4 successive wickets but the group stage has enclosed some herculean comebacks, swashbuckling centuries, some ingenious field placing, enigmatic decision reviews exceeding “2.5” percent success rate and a tie to set up things even Stevens and the highlight being that every quarter finalist have tasted a loss at least once now.
Tags: Asad Shafiq, Australia, Brett Lee, Cricket, Pakistan, Umar Akmal, World Cup
