Cricket Update: Pakistan vs. South Africa ODI in Abu Dhabi- Pakistan Win Nail-Biter Thanks To Huge-Hitting http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Razzaq-c84421
When Pakistan finally lost a toss for the first time in the series today and were asked to field by stand-in South African captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Johan-Botha-c67173. Having lost the last three games (the two T20s and the 1st ODI) after winning the toss on all three occasions,
Shahid Afridi must have hoped it was a sign that things were changing.
After their dismal batting display in the first game, Pakistan opted not to change their batting line-up, in the bowling department Umar Gul was left out in favour of left-arm quick Wahab Riaz. South Africa on the other hand were forced to make their two
changes, captain Graeme Smith left out due to bruising on his finger where he was hit by Shoaib Akhtar, and Kallis rested due to heat exhaustion. Robin Peterson and Albie Morkel came in to replace the two.
Pakistani bowlers might have thought that their tasks had become much easier considering the exclusion of South Africa’s two most experienced batsmen, and Robin Peterson’s dismissal by Abdul Razzaq for only 6 runs must have heartened them even more. Hashim
Amla and Colin Ingram had other ideas though; they came together for an 84 run partnership for the second wicket and guided South Africa to 108. The partnership was broken by Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi in the 21st over when he trapped Amla lbw,
but that was not before Amla had bagged another substantial score of 65 continuing his phenomenal run in 2010.
In came AB de Villiers at the fall of the wicket, another man who has been in marvellous form for his country this year, currently holding 4th place in the table for most ODI runs scored in 2010. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AB-de-Villiers-c887 played a slow innings of 29 off
43 balls, but the partnership had amassed 86 runs and had gotten South Africa to a commanding 194, when Afridi bowled him in the 37th over. Colin Ingram had continued on his merry way though and brought up his 100 off 118 balls before he was trapped
lbw by Wahab Riaz in the 41st over with the score at 216.
Pakistan made a comeback of sorts in the latter part of the innings, getting Miller and Morkel out cheaply courtesy Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Hafeez respectively. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 must have
been eyeing a target in excess of 300, when Ingram and de Villiers were on the crease but a flurry of wickets down the order meant they had to settle for 286 for 8, which was nevertheless always going to be a tough total for Pakistan to chase notwithstanding
the batting friendly conditions at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755’s batting thankfully did not turn out to be the usual sorry display that Pakistani fans have come to expect almost every time the team walks out to bat lately, despite early signs suggesting it would be exactly the same. When Asad Shafiq fell in
the 3rd over for just 1 run from 10 balls, the onus to score and to do so quickly was all on Pakistan’s upper middle order. Younis and Misbah, although they got off to good starts but were not able to capitalize and by the time they had both gotten
out, Pakistan were reeling at 58 for 3, Mohammad Hafeez after looking good for his 30, followed soon after compounding Pakistan’s misery.
With the score at 70 for 4 in the 19th over, in walked http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482, and predictably Pakistan had motored along to 136 in the 30th over, when he got out for 49 off 40 balls that included 2 sixes. The scoring rate would have been much
higher had Fawad Alam tried to match his captain, but he remained his usual slow and composed self. Nevertheless, despite the Afridi blitz Pakistan were still in deep trouble requiring 151 off 20 overs with only 5 wickets remaining. Abdul Razzaq and Fawad
Alam then combined in an 81 run partnership that took Pakistan to 217, but when Fawad Alam got out in the 42nd over almost all Pakistani fans would have lost all hope.
That is just when Abdul Razzaq decided to take matters in his own hand, while wickets continued to tumble at the other end, with Zulqarnain going 6, Wahab Riaz for 0 and Saeed Ajmal for 1, Razzaq kept on striking the ball far and wide. Playing perhaps the
best innings of his life, the man even managed to score 32 runs in 2.2 overs in the last wicket partnership with Shoaib Akhtar who did not even score a run. Razzaq hit an amazing 10 sixes and 7 fours in his smash fest of an innings of a 72-ball 109 not out,
winning Pakistan the match (with one wicket to spare) with a four of the penultimate ball of the last over in which he scored a total of 16 runs.
Razzaq’s inning, which was the finest display of clean hitting under pressure for a long time, must have given the team a massive lift, it is to be hoped that making this performance a base Pakistan can put together a string of good performances in the upcoming
games. He sure proved to be a hero for the whole nation, with his outstanding performance.
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