Well well well as precdicted Pakistan won the game but having said that it is bad to make predictions in a TWENTY20 match. Surprisingly and strangely M.asif was left out in favour of M.sami who is not at all consistent performer and at times can turn out to be a great gamble to play but anyhow Shahid afridi had the confidence on him and he thought he would be more useful than M.asif.
Winning the toss and batting first was the obvious decision that afridi had to made. Salman butt for me was the surprise of the day, having hit the very first ball of his innings with power towards extra cover was a signal of something really special coming up from him. Both the opener’s intent was clear; just go after the bowlers yet sensibly.
Both aggressed regularly but with thought. Akmal's stance was predictable, almost immediately trying to set the agenda. A bold statement was made against left-arm spin - Bangladesh's most potent weapon - straight away, as he twice swept away Abdur Razzak in the second over. Akmal was the who taking risks was and it paid off when a mis cued pull shot was bluffed by M.ashraful. Bangladesh was made it pay for that chance and akmal started to open his shoulders. On the other hand, salman butt played intelligently, hitting boundary in almost every over. Surprisingly for everyone in the word watching him play, he scored his fifty in just 29 balls.
Akmal got out in the 16th over, then came the boom boom afridi. Pakistan could not capitalize on the perfect start given by their openers and they managed 30 runs in last 26 deliveries.
Pakistan camp seemed pretty satisfied with 172 runs as at the toss, Afridi said anything above 150 would be good.
Amir gave Pakistan the perfect start, getting rid of kayes in the very first over. M.ashraful and Shakib ul hasan played brilliantly well and at one time it seemed like they might even take the game away from Pakistan. With 5 overs remaining and 52 to get with 8 wickets remaining, the match was almost evenly poised.
Afridi game turned to sami, i personally thought it was a bad move as sami can go for plenty but it was the captain’s faith on him, he didn’t disappoint his captain and he got 2 wickets in that over and the match virtually over at that time, with ashraful going out in the next over. Pakistan was safe. Ajmal bowled a superb last over and eventually Pakistan won the match by 21 runs.
There are some positives that Pakistan can take from this match. Salman butt’s inning was special, their opening stand of 142, amir,ajmal and sami bowling pretty well but still there are some aspects of the game on which Pakistan still has to work on. I think their running between the wickets were poor, their boundary riders could not prevent doubles and afridi really has to find a place for ajmal because he is not a quick mover and therefore cannot prevent singles by fielding in the inner ring nor does he has the strongest of arms to field at boundary.
Overall a fine display by Pakistan, yet they can improve. Bangladesh will take many positives out of this game. Tomorrow there will be a cracker of a game between Australia and Pakistan so c yaaaaaa.....
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