None can match up to this one
was one of those matches you could die for - one that, for once, made you want only pro-Pakistan and not at all because you may be part of the "anyone-but-Australia" brigade.
One fell for Pakistan solely because of the way their players rose to the occasion - from a pit of darkness, they conquered fear, shedding their limitations and even setting standards for Clarke and Co. They played like true champions, putting the Aussies, for the first time in this tournament, into a desperate, desperate struggle for survival.
Such was the display of force with the Pakistani bat, that Michael Clarke said later that he had kind of given up - "May be 15-20 runs too many I thought," he said. And, of course, by the time it was the last over he was too nervous to be a witness - he had chewed up his nails and then retired to the dressing room. "I was way too nervous I could not stay and watch it," he said.
For Michael Hussey, the man who got it all back for the Australians, "It is all such a blur. I don't know how I did it but this was the best performance of my career," he said.
A broken Shahid Afridi just could not make it to the Press conference where his visibly dejected coach Waqar Younus could barely answer queries. Even the journalists were strangely sad and quiet, still to get over the head-turner in the middle.
"What can I say to them (the squad). I can only look at them and smile helplessly," he said. And he is so right. It was Pakistan’s match all the way through and still they lost, giving wind to the belief that, indeed, God can sometimes be too cruel. No one better than the fans would know that. The Pakistani fans were torn to shreds, some crying, some deadly silent and still others just gaping at what had killed them in the last over. The Aussies, too, were stunned but not silent, going high on volume though equally in disbelief.
One doesn’t really know how the Pakistani team will come out of this one, or how Ajmal, the bowler whom Hussey hammered in the last over for the required 22 runs, will get back into action, but this was not something the Pakistanis deserved.
And how much everyone wanted them to win will be aptly depicted by the way their nation will behave back home. For once, there won't be slogan-shouting, reprisals or even a remote hint of criticism. Even the worst critic of Pakistan will have to admit that in this one, Shahid Afridi and his men were perfect to a fault.
Imagine a T20 match in which the entire 38 overs are going the way of one team and then they lose everything in just two overs! For me, and many others struggling to meet a past midnight deadline in India, it was excruciating that the entire tenor of the story, almost ready to go to Press, suddenly had to be overturned, overhauled, all opinion reversed and worse still, all this and much more to be done in utter disbelief.
But if one gets over the Pakistanis and their predicament, one will realize that it was a fantastic fightback by the Australians too and that it was a fightback only the Australians can manage.
Outsmarted in their unbreachable bastion — their quicks — and facing a huge 191 on board, anyone lesser would have wilted. They did too, but even with 34 to make in two overs, they managed by picking up their game when it mattered most. For this one, it was Hussey who did it for them and that’s way beyond laudable. But one needs to note that it was not just Hussey but the indomitable DNA of the Aussies that was their messiah.
Source: Published in Sunday Pioneer, May 16, 2010
One fell for Pakistan solely because of the way their players rose to the occasion - from a pit of darkness, they conquered fear, shedding their limitations and even setting standards for Clarke and Co. They played like true champions, putting the Aussies, for the first time in this tournament, into a desperate, desperate struggle for survival.
Such was the display of force with the Pakistani bat, that Michael Clarke said later that he had kind of given up - "May be 15-20 runs too many I thought," he said. And, of course, by the time it was the last over he was too nervous to be a witness - he had chewed up his nails and then retired to the dressing room. "I was way too nervous I could not stay and watch it," he said.
For Michael Hussey, the man who got it all back for the Australians, "It is all such a blur. I don't know how I did it but this was the best performance of my career," he said.
A broken Shahid Afridi just could not make it to the Press conference where his visibly dejected coach Waqar Younus could barely answer queries. Even the journalists were strangely sad and quiet, still to get over the head-turner in the middle.
"What can I say to them (the squad). I can only look at them and smile helplessly," he said. And he is so right. It was Pakistan’s match all the way through and still they lost, giving wind to the belief that, indeed, God can sometimes be too cruel. No one better than the fans would know that. The Pakistani fans were torn to shreds, some crying, some deadly silent and still others just gaping at what had killed them in the last over. The Aussies, too, were stunned but not silent, going high on volume though equally in disbelief.
One doesn’t really know how the Pakistani team will come out of this one, or how Ajmal, the bowler whom Hussey hammered in the last over for the required 22 runs, will get back into action, but this was not something the Pakistanis deserved.
And how much everyone wanted them to win will be aptly depicted by the way their nation will behave back home. For once, there won't be slogan-shouting, reprisals or even a remote hint of criticism. Even the worst critic of Pakistan will have to admit that in this one, Shahid Afridi and his men were perfect to a fault.
Imagine a T20 match in which the entire 38 overs are going the way of one team and then they lose everything in just two overs! For me, and many others struggling to meet a past midnight deadline in India, it was excruciating that the entire tenor of the story, almost ready to go to Press, suddenly had to be overturned, overhauled, all opinion reversed and worse still, all this and much more to be done in utter disbelief.
But if one gets over the Pakistanis and their predicament, one will realize that it was a fantastic fightback by the Australians too and that it was a fightback only the Australians can manage.
Outsmarted in their unbreachable bastion — their quicks — and facing a huge 191 on board, anyone lesser would have wilted. They did too, but even with 34 to make in two overs, they managed by picking up their game when it mattered most. For this one, it was Hussey who did it for them and that’s way beyond laudable. But one needs to note that it was not just Hussey but the indomitable DNA of the Aussies that was their messiah.
Source: Published in Sunday Pioneer, May 16, 2010
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