Bowlers save batters' blushes

A 136-run total should not win you too many Twenty20 games hence Pakistan must thank their lucky stars and more importantly their rich bowling stocks for the Harare jail-break on Sunday.

Batting first on a largely benign track, the opening pair of Ahmed Shehzad and Mukhtar Ahmed couldn’t cash in on arguably the most spineless attack in international cricket, the ‘daunting duo’ of Prosper Utseya and Chamu Chibhabha.

Utseya, the former captain now 30, was once an off-spinner who was handed a ban due to suspect bowling action (he can’t bowl the off-spinner anymore). He ambles in from a three-yard start and drops the ball in the good-length area, hoping that the batsman doesn’t send his generous offerings deep into the stands.

The fact that he is still bowling in international cricket (a solitary wicket in his last six T20Is, economy rate of 7.6) speaks more of the scant cricketing talent in Zimbabwe than his own credentials in the game.

PHOTO: AFP

Chibhaba, primarily an opening batsman, had only once bowled the entire four over quota in a T20I. Going into the game he had collected five wickets, without even a single two-for.

Like Utseya, his medium pacers are always reliant on the mood of the batsman at the batting end and how long and far he is aiming to hit him.

There is no sting, no swing or variety that should ruffle professional batsmen and absolutely none for batsmen representing one of the top-ranked international teams.

Yet in a spell of six deliveries, Chibhaba had castled Shehzad and Sohaib Maqsood and forced Mukhtar to hole out at long-on. Shehzad and Maqsood looked incredibly ungainly as their wild swishes missed the ball by the cricketing mile. Mukhtar like most batsmen of his cadre looks a million dollar when he bashes it far and long and hopelessly inept when he attempts a big hit with feet glued together.

Pakistan we know can fall to the most innocuous of bowlers, over the years Phil Simmons, Saurav Ganguly, Marcus North have left the batsmen bewildered, and Chibhaba is the latest entrant to the exalted club.

After the top-order carnage, Shoaib Malik dug in for the rescue act. Malik has been a revelation since his return to international cricket and once again looked in serene touch as batsmen around him returned to the dugout absolutely frazzled.

PHOTO: AFP

Mohammad Rizwan carried on after Malik left in between we saw another Umar Akmal implosion. Rizwan though struggled for timing against the Zimbabwean trundlers and only a little cameo by Imad Wasim helped Pakistan inch past the 130-run mark.

Midway, the match looked gone from Pakistan’s grip. The Zimbabwean batsmen though froze on the occasion, perhaps the prospects of a first ever T20 win against an opponent that they had lost to in each of their seven games, choked them in their effort.

Shahid Afridi who had chosen to cool his heels in the dugout as his batsmen stuttered in the middle, made a slick move by handing Imad the new ball.

Imad, also known as the Sobers of Islamabad, did his billing no harm in Harare. His four-wicket haul, the best return by a Pakistan left-armer in T20Is, the 19-run contribution and the run out of Richmond Mutumbami is the kind of impact the West Indian legend Gary Sobers used to have on the games he chose to dominate.

The icy cool 26-year-old is a product of the much maligned Pakistan domestic system. He has spent a decade honing his skills in various formats and has grabbed the opportunity of donning the green with both hands.

His six in the last over at Colombo is set to be permanently etched in the folklore of Pakistan cricket and the Harare exploits must have increased his confidence further.

PHOTO: AFP

Other than Imad, the left-arm pace bowling trio of Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir and the debutant Imran Khan Junior, all raised their games at crucial junctures of the Zimbabwean chase to strangle the hosts.

Imran who was carted around the park in his opening three overs, showed great composure and belief in the last over of the day, albeit Rizwan’s run out of Elton Chigumbura must have eased his frail nerves.

The Swat-born gained invaluable experience of the pressures of the international game; Afridi’s trust in him at the make or break stage of the game must also be commended.

Pakistan toiled harder than they would have expected considering the firepower in their ranks. The second game can be another baptism of fire if the batsmen don’t get their act together. The bowlers can’t throttle batsmen in the crash, bang and wallop format each time, Afridi and his willow wielders must realise that.