There are times in the history of a national sport which represent a watershed moment. Basically an event which sparks off a critical change in thought approach and strategy. The Kerry packer series was such a watershed in cricket’s glorious past which gave birth to the ODI format for example.
Pakistan’s cricket has been suffering for a long time after the antics of mullah and co and the oval test. We have been insulted, browbeaten and disappointed to the extent that as fans we would give anything to see our team show some display of the past guts that have earned us what little respect we have left on the world stage.
The last test match against Sri Lanka that we played in National stadium Karachi to me represents such a watershed. When the new captain Yunis Khan put into place after the dismal failings of the recent past, instead of choosing to succumb to pressure that the mammoth first innings lankan total of over 600 represented, played like a leader. He made a total of 313 runs, and refused to give into the likes of Muruli and Mendis, even though on a featherbed, few teams would have been able to shrug of the pressure of such a huge target to emerge as Pakistan did. The team to all our combined delight rallied around the captain with the ex captain Malik and Kamran Akmal of all the people contributing with very useful knocks.
Such was the bravado on display by Team Pakistan that the stadium which had perhaps 50 watchers on the first and second day was almost packed by the last day. Pakistan declared with a lead of 150 or so having made 730 runs plus and then proceeded to rip the heart out of Sri Lankan batting by taking 5 wickets in the space of a few overs to leave them defending at the death for dear life at 140 0dd for 5. Yes the same team which made over 600 runs while batting first had to hang on and if given one more day at facing Pakistan’s attack would probably have lost the match.
This display of tenacity by our team was both hugely welcome and proved a point to the critics of Yunis Khan who led us like a lion. In fact i will go as far as to say that after Imran here is a man who if provided with adequate support can take us the distance. He has talent as well as the ability to lead from the front which is very useful for a setup like the PCB and our cricket. We need someone who can put his foot down and give us results instead of shame. The clincher for me was also that neither Shoaib nor Asif played in this match and our attack still looked good.
Whether we rise to our past glories once again is immaterial at this point, what counts is that we have started to fight once more.
Particularly poignant given the events of this morning.
i tend to disagree that younis can be compared to imran khan.. i dont think he can lead us the distance… yes his innings was remarkable but once we play on green tops, i dont know how good he is against short pitched eliveries.. plus as a person, he is not the same as imran.. remember he has resigned the captaincy previously on shoddy issues…
secondly, i disagree that our attacked looked good.. i personally think we have a terrible attack and it was evident in this series… we need more bowlers and much better bowlers.. only umar gul cannot do the job.. sohail khan and mohammad talha didnt impress me one bit and i would rather play afridi than kaneria… maybe rao iftikahar deserves a chance!!
I definitely agree with you on rao iftikhar where is sohail tanveer he looked quite good earlier in the year? Sohail tanveer and umar gul can spear head the attack? I do think Younis will prove to be a much better captain than malik and as for him playing against short pitched deliveries and on greentops he has signed onto one of the Australian counties i think so he will get plenty of greentop experience there.
Imran too by the way had issues with management several times, however he was mature enouhg not to resign over them lol i guess maturity comes with time but to strike a fighting innings in his first match shows us he is willing to lead by example nahi?
true that.. u have me convinced FK
I admire the brains you have to talk about a ‘future’ captain of our CRICKET team fellas.
BTW our new cap’s first ‘international’ tour to even ‘Bangladesh’ has been called off. I just know this much, didn’t want to know more to be honest.
Habiba this post and the comments on it have a date on them…its before the attack in lahore, its when our cricket “looked” like it could have a future.