And Pakistan cricket is marching On…! 

Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

On 23 Sept Pakistan won by 5 wickets the ICC Champions Trophy against West Indies thanks to both their neatly structured, offensive bowling and efficient, highly defensive bating by all players to go that opportunity bat. It also seems there was plenty in the pitch for the fast bowlers, and Pakistan’s trio - Mohammad Aamer, Naved-ul-Hasan and Umar Gul - exploited the conditions wonderfully. They sliced through West Indies to leave them tottering at 47 for 7. Certainly, Pakistan faltered very badly after removing 7 important batsmen for just paltry 47 runs, when they offered 80 plus runs to the last three tail batsmen who would have in the normal course got not more 30 runs.  But it must be in this favor that the team did a marvellous job with bat. Look at the way Afridi bated. He faced 25 balls and got 17 runs and he could withstand all external pressures and internal temptations for his usual big (4 or 6) shots that might have got him out of the match without scoring even 17.

That is indeed fantastic maturity Afridi has displayed when it was warranted the most and also the entire team achieved recently. As for as bowling is concerned both Aamir and Umar Gul did exemplarily well by taking three wickets each, but it is beyond one’s comprehension why they could not contain the weak batsmen at the tail end when they could just throw the best pretty early and very meticulously. Equally heartening will be the young Umar Akmal's display. He showed an ability to adapt his game according to the situation, leaving plenty of deliveries during Gavin Tonge's spell. There were no ducks as every batsman got at least single digit. Winning with nearly 20 overs to spare will also boost their net run-rate, something which could be a factor in deciding which team progresses from Group A.

Umar Akmal is the Man of the Match. True, from the depths of 76 for 5, almost threatening Pakistan, Umar Akmal steered Pakistan to a five-wicket win over West Indies in Johannesburg. Fall of Afridi would have shattered the Pakistani hopes and destabilised the confidence. It would indeed have been un-Afridian if he would have been satisfied with just one FOUR.  But he chose that and rightly so.

Initially, Pakistan was initially in trouble, slipping to 64 or 3, after the experienced pair of Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf failed to get going. Opener Kamran revived Pakistan by continuing to score at a brisk pace, and they went on to a massive score after Misbah-ul-Haq and highly rated youngster Umar Akmal made half-centuries. Kamran Akmal hit 82 off 78 balls and Naved-ul-Hasan took 5 for 41 as Pakistan eased to a 108-run victory against Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka was struggling at 83 for 5 by the 23rd over. Mahela Jayawardene had called on the top order to fire last week, but it flopped in the face of a daunting target of 307. However, Pakistan should keep in mind that South Africa laid down an early marker as they piled up 388 for 4 against West Indies at Potchefstroom.

Earlier, it seemed Pakistan has played one of the most sensible matches on 18 September against a friendly Sri Lanka. For Pakistan every thing that ended well also brought them the first victory for the ICC Champions Trophy warm-up between Pakistan and Sri-Lanka at Benoni, Willowmoore Park, South Africa. This satisfying win by 108 runs for Pakistan can be only the beginning and they would win the trophy, provided they play displaying their skills and talent as well as few tricks in the forthcoming matches. Otherwise, it would be presumed that Sri Lanka just Ramadan-gifted an easy win for a friendly Pakistan to woo them probably to lose eventually. A fluke win is no good for the world Champions of twenty20. Now the lose of SA to Sri Lanka on 24 Sept has altered that opinion, if any. Today on 25 Sept South Africans thrashed NZ very badly. It appears the stronger teams now are Pakistan, SA and Sri Lanka.

It must be cautioned right here India is already panicky now because Pakistan has won both the matches it played so far while India lost the one it played. Both these traditional opponents are going to meet soon and Pakistan’s victory is a foregone conclusion and the shameless official Indian media (private FMs and IST AIR stations) are already are ignoring the message from South Africa. One still fails to understand the mere logic as to  why Hindu India is so badly ill-focused on Islamic Pakistan even in cricket and what will they lose they report the victory of Pakistan against West Indians- after all west Indians are not Hindu Indians. As a regional state terrorist (RST), India claims superiority even in sports over Pakistan and other regional powers.

Of course, for Pakistan the first victories are not enough and has to surge ahead to clinch the series and take home the ICC Trophy in style. For this they need a lot of concentration as they had at twenty20.

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- Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

Specialist on State Terrorism

Independent Researcher in International Affairs, the only Indian to have gone through entire India, a fraud and terror nation in South Asia.