I am curious to know if Ricky Ponting regrets the early declaration. The thought of a Pakistani victory must be a scare ringing through the brain cell of the Aussie skipper overnight. The pitch is still good enough for batting and hasn’t deteriorated a great deal but ultimately the approach and positive intent didn’t really allow Australia to dominate their superior situation. Pakistan have shown determination and fight today which is a positive to take away into the next match regardless of what happens on the final day. I said it before the series that a victory would be a bonus. Hard fought action , moments of brilliance and positive intent should be our ultimate vision against the Aussies and Pakistan have shown many colourful glimpses of that in this test match.
If Pakistan pull off the further 252 runs required that would be heroic and historic. But that should be their goal. They should go for it. A draw is not going to happen. Pak have to go out there and build partnerships, play their shots and put up a real fight which is what they did today. They shouldn’t be put off by the mammoth requirement as records and there to be broken.
However, having said that all, Pakistan’s batting can collapse like a pack of domino cards. But as an optimist I back Pakistan to achieve the target. What drama that would be.
Oz special
14 years ago
2 comments:
Maz,
Ponting looks like a genius now. He should have declared earlier lol! He thinks we're better than we are.
I think we'll see quite a different team selection for the next Test, regardless of the pitch. We did not pick our best players for this Test.
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