Pakistan Day treat: Plucky Pakistan regroup to outwit Australia

Umar Akmal and bowlers combine to keep alive WorldT20 campaign.

KARACHI: Pakistan turned their fate around on Sunday with a gut-wrenching 16-run victory over Australia, putting back the smile on their fans after the disappointing loss against arch-foes India in their opening WorldTwenty20 match.

The win – which came as a Pakistan Day gift for fans  –  was largely built around a stellar batting performance by Umar Akmal who hit a career best knock of 94. The Lahore batsman later described his knock as possibly the best of his career.

Even in the match against India, Akmal had looked the best Pakistan player and it was his attacking approach that helped break the shackles against Australia on Sunday after a typically timid start by the openers.

His assault on the Aussie bowlers delighted fans, especially in light of the spineless show against India. The Australians, caught by the whirlwind of Akmal’s strokes, bore the brunt.

Finding an ideal foil in his elder sibling Kamran, Umar Akmal dazzled Mirpur’s spectators with some delightful drives, cuts and pull shots. The sixes that he smashed in the mid-wicket region were a treat.

The overall batting display was a vast improvement on the last game, as well as the warm-up disaster against South Africa in which Pakistan was bowled out for 71.

But it wasn’t the batting alone that would have  warmed the hearts of the team management, Pakistan had looked down and out after Glenn Maxwell had smashed the bowlers all-around the park in an audacious 74-run knock off 33 balls.

Not many teams have recovered after conceding 30 runs in an over in the history of limited overs cricket yet Pakistan somehow clawed back in the game after Bilawal Bhatti’s shocker in the eight over of the innings.

The potency of the spin bowlers Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi and Zulfiqar Babar was in question against the blazing Maxwell and Aaron Finch, yet their experience and expertise in delivering under intense pressure did wonders for Mohammad Hafeez’s calculations at the make-or-break time in the battle.

Pakistan fans must have noticed the spring in Umer Gul’s stride too! The pacer bowled brilliantly in the last two overs of his spell, conceding a mere 15 runs and accounting for the dangerous Brad Hodge and Nathan Coulter-Nile in the process.

The hero of the 2009 WorldT20 triumph bowled yorkers and full length deliveries consistently and now seems to be returning to his best in the death overs.

The win surely augurs well for the most consistent team in the format as they brace for their last two group games against Bangladesh and the West Indies.

Pakistan have had the wood over both, Bangladesh is yet to beat the men in green in T20 internationals while the reigning champions West Indies were blanked 2-0 in a two-match series played between the two teams in their own backyard last year.

Hafeez and company now have that much-needed momentum for the business end of the tournament; if they keep the bar high and stay focused they have the team to go all the way, though it is a long way away for now.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2014.