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Pakistan wins ODI against Australia
Trapped by India, now Australia is further down
India is annoyed that Pakistan defeated its strategic partner
-By Dr. Abdul ruff Colachal
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As expected, Pakistan has overpowered the Australia in ODI played on 22 April in Dubai as Australia, with a view to appeasing a strategic partner India, declined to play in Pakistan citing security reason. India has already crushed Australia so badly with match-fixed games looking like joint cricket exercises that now Australia is unable to recover for quit some time now. South Africans have recently demoralized the once champions so badly that the Aussies outfits have lost their way and are yet to remerge as a coherent team.
The devastation caused by Shahid Afridi's career-best 6 for 38 had all but shut Australia out of the match before the halfway stage of their innings. With very little cricket interaction outside world in recent times, Pakistan’s victory in Dubai is considered significant even by India though it openly does not concede, because any victory by Pakistan in any field is considered by Indian strategists-cum media lords a threat to the Indians. Shahid Afridi returned a career-best haul of six wickets and a good stint of bating to guide Pakistan to a comfortable four-wicket win over Australian in the first of five one-day internationals in Dubai on 22 April, even as the Hyderabad Deccan won the IPL Indian show with highest score points. Afridi got the ball and the crowd to dance to his tunes, even while the Indians were literally crying loud. A strong Pakistan stuttered, rebuilt, stumbled again and a late push by Afridi, contributing an adrenalin-filled yet brief 24, pushed them towards a win. After packing off the Aussies in 38.5 overs for 168 runs, Pakistan went on to fight back to reach the target in 44.1 overs jumping to 171 runs with a mi9ghty four from Umar Gul.
Skipper Younis Khan was unable to score any good runs but did guide the team to victory. Khan began by getting rid of the most well-set batsman, Brad Haddin, for a brisk 40, tamely chipping a flighted delivery to short cover. Michael Clarke's struggles against the spin trio of Paul Harris, Roelof van der Merwe and Johan Botha in South Africa were well documented and the nightmare didn't end with the move to another country. He was flummoxed by an Ajmal doosra and edged behind before Afridi worked his magic. Pakistan made hard work of reaching a modest target before sealing victory in the 45th over with Misbah-ul Haq finishing on 30 not out. Australia looked on course for a decent total when Brad Haddin and Shane Watson, who each made 40, took the score to 95 in the 19th over but the spinners triggered a dramatic collapse.
With Afridi striking at regular intervals and young off-spinner Saeed Ajmal repeatedly beating the batsmen, Australia lost eight wickets for the addition of just 27 runs. James Hope (48 not out) and Ben Hilfenhaus (four) added 46 for the last wicket to bring some respectability to the Australian score. Safe catching helped Pakistan and Misbah-ul-Haq showed his sharp reflexes to cling onto Callum Ferguson's edge to remove one of Australia's few in-form batsmen. Hauritz completely misjudged Ajmal's line, shouldered arms and lost his stumps. The experienced leg-spinner, subtly varying his pace on a slow turning wicket, Shahid Afridi ripped through the Australian middle order as the visitors collapsed to 168 all out after a solid start. Afridi completed figures of six for 38, the best by a Pakistan bowler against Australia. Pakistan built their innings around Kamran Akmal (48), Shoaib Malik (24) and Misba-ul Haq but it was Afridi who eased the pressure, hammering a quickfire 24 off 16 balls to set up the world champions' 10th defeat in 15 one-day internationals this year.
Showcasing the fact that only companionship makes a fellow batsman score better, Shoaib Malik though contributed only 12 in a stand of 48 with Akmal, content to let his partner hog the strike. Malik took Pakistan within 31 of the target before mishitting one to mid-on. The chase thereafter was scratchy, with Misbah holding fort as Pakistan got home with 35 balls to spare. It wasn't the most convincing of chases but good enough to prove a point. Moreover, they played with a hunger to win against a team used by India to showcase its “power” to the world. Salman Butt, considered by India as “dangerous”, was trapped lbw for 5 in the seven-over period before the dinner break before a fidgety Younis Khan holed out to midwicket. The Australian seamers failed, thanks to India tactics, to get enough early breakthroughs to cause a serious “flutter” in the Pakistan camp. A team desperate to erase painful recent memories as the anti-Islamc cricket world with India playing the main villain’s role to down Pakistan’s stature and image, immediately settled in at their new, adopted venue, with a four-wicket win against a struggling Australian side in Dubai. A late recovery pushed them to 168 but it wasn't enough to seriously challenge an unpredictable Pakistan outfit.
Australia's stand-in captain Michael Clarke praised Pakistan's performance. "Full credit to Pakistan for playing really well," he said. "Our batting was again a bit disappointing and we need to work hard in this area if we aim to do well in the series." Pakistan captain Younis Khan told reporters. that the Australian bowlers did make things difficult, but we had some good partnerships out there and that swung the match in our favor," The score suddenly read a shocking 110 for 7 and it brought back bad memories of their collapse at Centurion very recently. The spinners sensed a weak link and exploited it with clinical efficiency. Afridi proved too much for the tailenders Stuart Clark and Nathan Bracken as he collected his best ODI figures and Pakistan's best figures against Australia. James Hopes enjoyed a free swing of the arms in the third Power-play with an unbeaten 48 to push the score to 168, a big improvement from a hopeless 122 for 9, but the momentum was still with Pakistan.
Some say the ultimate difference between the two sides was spin. While Pakistan's pair of Afridi and Ajmal shared eight wickets, Australia's Nathan Hauritz bowled four overs and failed to pick up a wicket. It wouldn't be fair to blame Australia's lone specialist spinner for the defeat. It was a collective failure of their middle order to read the spinners who mercilessly ran through the batting and effected a top and middle-order crumbling to the tune of 8 for 27. Spin was introduced in the 13th over but Hauritz couldn't extract the same turn and bite that Afridi and Ajmal managed against his batsmen. He over-pitched too often and that allowed Akmal to get forward and drive through the line. He used his feet well and chipped down the track to bisect the gaps in the infield.
Indian outfits would be glad that Australian outfit’s rapid demise was a reflection of their ordinary recent one-day form. A collapse of this magnitude exposed a weakness against spin which was also on show in South Africa, even with a number of familiar returning faces in the ranks. With the ball gripping and turning, Afridi's mixture of googlies and top-spinners caused most of the problems, but the relatively inexperienced Ajmal offered little respite with his doosras. One does know if Australia would thank or hit back India for the pathetic turn of events for them.
Post-script
The Pak-Aus series was moved out of Pakistan due to security concerns cried out by both India and Pakistan, while the Sri Lanka cricketers were attacked, along with Muslims there, by alleged Indian terrorists in Pakistan to show Indian anger against Sri Lanka sending the team to Pakistan ignoring the warning and “Indian threat perceptions”. Coming so soon after its crushing defeat against South Africa in South Africa, this trend of carrying hidden baggage of India is likely to continue haunting the Aussies for some more time until Australia plays with India to revise its strategies in a natural manner. But then the cricketers require permission of the state agencies for that.
India considers, one does not know why, a victory for Pakistan is an automatic defeat for the Indians and the maiden defeat of Australia at the hands of the Pakistani team cannot be fruit-salad or ice-cream for India. There was a pin-drop silence in all Indian towns with not even a tiny cracker was fired even by mistake by the anti-Islamic forces operating in India. Indians wanted to blast semi-explosives hoping defeat of Pakistan and the Indian media outfits just pretended that there was any match in Dubai at all. That is India and its dirty mindset. Australian outfit has been thrashed by Islamabad right at the entry point. Obviously, India cannot be expected to be pleased with the reality of Pakistan playing international cricket in the first place and worse, is wining matches against Australia. That Indian mindset is fanatic in nature and it media clearly showcase without any sense of shame.
To begin with, Pakistan has indeed has done marvelous in international cricket even though it is denied access to it by external factors, including Indian state terrorism. It would be better if when deciding the preference for bating/bowling Younus should not opt for fielding right away as a usual policy, but should consider the merits or other wise of each side at a given point of time as has been the international practice. Also, Pakistanis and other Muslim nations should avoid plying on Fridays especially during the Juma hours. That would send a good message ot the world.
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Yours Sincerely,
Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal
Columnist & Independent Researcher in World Affairs, The only Indian to have gone through entire India
South Asia.
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