Ladies and Gentlemen , The quarter finals are here and no better way to start this series of matches than to have Pakistan playing the West Indies. This is one of those Ravi Shastri moments before the start of the QFs and so I assume. The team that has won almost all the matches that they were supposed to win ( West Indies ) is playing the team which has won every match convincingly except one which was a convincing loss ( Pakistan ). Pakistan has been clinical in their performances which has been least expected since they are the team which were supposed to be unpredictable in every sense. The match against NZ was the only off day in a series of good bowling performances which proves the point that to go further in the World Cup , you need to make full use of your bowling resources. The bowling variety makes the captain spoilt for choice and the fact that Ajmal is still on the bench tells you a lot of the other team players and their performances. Only their middle order batting has still not been super good but has done enough to win them the matches. Asad Shafiq has compensated for the lack of form of Younis and Misbah and since they have not been threatened by huge totals , they have lasted the distance by and large.
West Indies in contrast have been poor against stronger opponents and again it is their batting which has failed time & again and not surprisingly on the mental front. The WI teams of the yore had the habit of always winning and lost it in the mid 80s. They have not got it back yet despite some off and on heroics from one BC Lara. The team was angry and hurt that they were rated below Bangladesh in the ICC ratings and that was only fair as they had lost almost everything in sight and not beaten a team ranked above them at all. Statistics lie is the often repeated quote but nothing better than disproving it with your performances . West Indies under two names who never made it big ,Otis Gibson and Darren Sammy will be desperate to do and reach what and where their illustrious predecessors like Lara and Hooper couldn’t. They would be happy to assume that they are 1 match away from a semi final and as it happens in the knock out matches , you could have a blinder from a batsman like Pollard or a dream spell from Roach which makes the impossible happen.
Lets wait and see which Pakistan and which West Indies make their appearance today. Positivity helps and no better people to set the right tone than Chris Gayle with his batting or Umar Gul with one of his magical spells. It pays to be positive and doubly rewarding if it is a World cup semi final place at stake.
2 comments:
Unfortunately, West Indies are already struggling by the time I put my comments here. They were not prepared for Gayle & Bravo succumbing so early. I hope they win this one by some miracle! WI cricket needs a boost and I hope they regain their glorious days soon!
It was indeed very sad...the way the WI lost. Its true that Pak has been looking very dominant from teh start of the WC. I knew in their first game that they will go very far.
"The bowling variety makes the captain spoilt for choice and the fact that Ajmal is still on the bench tells you a lot of the other team players and their performances."....How true and so well put!
I am going to write a post sometime on how mad u make people at home with your cricket stories!! :)
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