Bookies had given them a rate of 8/3, cricketing pundits didn't leave any criticism bullet in their pistols unfired, taliban spoiled their reputation, many said 'no' to come to their home and playing, ICC snatched their hosts status for World Cup matches, ICL/PCB row destroyed their team composition, their board was held hostage to a dictators' buddy list for many years, their star players got involved in leagues and controversies, they were expelled from commercial league cricket forums and this list goes on forever.
Their opponents came to play with plans As, Bs, Cs all the way to Z, they left their dugout with just one plan to leave the corner and fight like a tiger who has suddenly forgot how to lose a game.
Can you push a nation who groomed the game of cricket for decades further than that? I hope not, why?, well one, because thats not how the Pakistanis play sports, and two, you have tried this tactic before and suffered, remember 92, 99 and many more. We love to play and compete in the ground but on and off we are pushed aside by different international tactics and domestic problems, so we have learned to bounce back, but sadly, yes you can push a cricketing legend to these limits.
Should you push a nation destined to rule the game of cricket for this long and this far? Well, being a student of history I would say if you want to win the game you don't annoy them, how can you even forget that in 92WC you were easily beating them around the ground till you did too much and the skipper called them to leave their corner and when they did that, could you stop from them from taking the World Cup home?
So everybody has to share the blame from bookies to taliban, you called them minnows, you used their name to quote inconsistency, you time and again raised fingers on their players, you took them too easy and thats when they had too much. The world for one last time has to realize and realize it very well, don't take the game of cricket outside the ground because for the Pakistani Nation, cricket, if not equal, is second to their religion.
I often think that what is it that makes our team, in specific, and nation, in general, full of surprises. I am never sure about the answer but my heart tends to agree with the fact that on every front our opponents try to suppress us to the point we don't deserve and then like the cornered tigers when we retaliate we only stop at the top.
This evening Pakistan almost did everything correct, apart from occasional fielding lapses. They read the pitch, ground and weather conditions perfectly and played the toss well by opting to bat first. From the word go when Akmal dispatched the ball over square for a ballistic four, the message was clear, there is no holding back, SA was told in the first over that we have left our corners and now we will come at you guns blazing. SAans, at their best, came back excellently dismissing newcomer Shahzaib for a duck, first ball next over.
The turning point of the game, for me, was Afridi coming to bat at No. 3. I thought that the bravest of captains would have had decided that it was time for plan B, going back on the defensive till batting consolidates (and for that you can send in Kungfu Panda but not Afridi) but Younis was surprising when he sent Afridi at 3. No doubt it was a brave decision and message to SA, it was a gamble, a gamble that turned well but had every chance of going otherwise and for me that was Younis' bravest move.
I wouldn't say South Africa choked, I believe thats a pundit-myth created and circulated to demoralize them as a team. From where I saw they played wonderful cricket they started off with pretty much expected short pitched balls cramping Pakistani batsmen and taking 2 wickets, they kind of lost it in the middle but fought back excellently towards the end and I wouldn't dare comment on SA's fielding till Oxford comes up with a superlative of the superlative 'excellent'. Later on, they started off well, a stable steady start, but looking at the previous pitches at Trent Bridge I had already said the pitch wouldn't be easy playing, specially second innings and 150 was a more than decent target. It looked less because Pakistan were well placed at 100+ in 12th over, they lost the momentum to excellent bowling by SA towards the end.
I would leave the luck out of the equation as well, there were no lucky chances for either sides, Pakistan outclassed South Africa with 2 Afridi wickets in 2 overs. They didn't see it coming, they, might be in an attempt to put him under pressure, under estimated his strength and effectiveness. With run-rate climbing, spinners bowling, pitch getting old and winds starting to blow across the ground South Africans had very little chance, they didn't choke, they took every opportunity they saw Alam's one over, Amir's inexperience, lazy fielding but the holes weren't enough for them to dig their boots in the ground. Playing on neutral venue crowd distribution wasn't fair either, Pakistani fans literally wiped out any visible existence of African fans.
All in all, for a nation where people commit suicide if their team loses a cricket match, for a nation deeply pushed into dark jungles of despair, for a nation that cherishes their victories in cricketing grounds and for a nation which so badly needs something to cheer in these difficult times, these 11 Maximuses of Pakistan made their nation proud when they went out and fought like tigers, they held their flag high enough for the nation to love them. When they entered the ground they had a lot to prove, they had a gigantic opponent in front of them, to everyone else it looked impossible but they knew what they had in themselves the belief and anger to prove everybody wrong and they precisely did that.
Because when the dust settled and the sun sent in its last pack of brightness towards Trent Bridge there was only one color that conquered the ground and their was only one voice that echoed, the color was of the green flag of Pakistan and the voice was 'Pakistan Zindabad'.
Its never the destination that matters its the journey that holds the essence, you have made us Proud Team Pakistan and we pray for your success at Lord's.
Beware Lords for the tigers are unleashing hell.
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