On day one the honours are held firmly with NZ who are in a driving commanding seat position. The platform to seal a victory to bid Ian’O Brien a fond farewell and win a compelling test series victory has been set up nicely. With the exception of Imran Farhat’s ton which came at a time in which he had to click gave as a positive along with some gutsy lower order contributions to get Pakistan to something respective from 51/5 which must have inevitably been a gloomy patch in the away Napier ground dressing room.
The failure of the middle order speaks volumes and kind of summarises Pakistan’s amazing capability to collapse under the spotlight. The ducks came from MY, Umar and Misbah. We can forgive Umar because he has been splendid and adorable during the series and must have just been an “off day” for him. But what has Misbah’s return brought thus far? Many a man will say Jack all. One really has to question PCBs decision to bring him back to the fame when he was virtually ditched. He is already a tried and tested player. My preference would have been a younger batsmen player, even Safraz Ahmed. Why are we going back to Mr Medicore? This just highlights the ridiculous mindset and planning of the PCB selection committee. They are too indecisive in decision making. If u have dropped Misbah you just stick with it. He had a long enough run to prove himself as a player and was clearly inconsistent and just “hanging around in the set-up”- not respectable.
Pakistan had a chance to redeem themselves with the ball and restore some pride and hope before they departed to the hotels overnight. However, they were wicketless as the NZ openers played cautiously and sensibly to accomplish NZ situation for the day. Therefore, I would like to conclude by saying I’m a disappointed supporter with what the scorecard speaks today for Pak.
Misbah is the culprit whereas today’s heroes are Farhat and O Brien. He of course will be renown for his swash buckling explosive bowling action which resulted in the flourish of skid pace which was able to defeat the very best in the business such as Dravid, Vaughan and Yousuf. But also for his blogging credentials, being one of the few players that had the time to do such things.
Oz special
14 years ago
2 comments:
So far both the Pakistani openers are playing really well and have added 128 runs to reduce the deficit from 258 to 120, but NZ are still in a driving position to take away this test match, Pakistan will need to get a lead of at least 200 runs to get back in this game, the only need another 320 runs from now on to get to that target of 200, then they need to repeat the heroics of the previous test match where Asif rattled the Kiwis for less then a 100. We can always trust our bowlers to get wickets but it will be the Batsmen who holds the key for this match. My suggestion will be to go out there and play some positive cricket till the end of the day & come back on day 5 bat for 10 overs give your bowlers 80 overs & 250 runs & they will do the job for Pakistan. No matter how easy the pitch is chasing 250 on Day 5 under overcast skies against the Pakistani attack is never easy.
I agree with u HR. There is still plenty of work to be done but batting in the 4th innings against an attack of the calibre of Pakistan is never straightforward.
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