Dilshan, master spinners earn Sri Lanka a date in final with Pakistan

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Unlike the previous semifinal the previous day, the one at The Oval on June 19 followed the predictable course and Sri Lanka emerged triumphant over the West Indies by a comfortable margin of 57 runs to cruise into the final.

With Pakistan as their opponent in the final, the Sri Lankans must be aware of the fact that they can’t take any for granted although they remain the only unbeaten side in the competition now besides having downed them in their Super Eight clash.

Sri Lanka’s win over the West Indies in the semifinals has ensured one thing in particular. The final between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at Lord’s on June 21 is unlikely to be a one-sided affair now. It could have been a no-contest that the West Indians entered the final instead because the islanders from the Caribbean have a consistent record of failing against Pakistan for the last many years.

The Sri Lankans have proved themselves the strongest team to have entered the tournament but it remains to be seen if they would be able to overcome who always remain a threat even though they have lost a couple games on their way to entering the final.

Younis Khan, soon after the upset semifinal win over South Africa, had stated that it won’t matter to him or his team which ever team took on Pakistan in the final. It reflected arrogance more than anything else. 

Pakistan are the most difficult team to beat for every opponent because they have the knack of bringing about miracles. The Sri Lankans are playing wonderful cricket of late, having dominated all their rivals but would they be able to tame Pakistan in the final is a million dollar question.

The Sri Lankans, as expected, proved too good for the West Indies even though some of their top-order batsmen failed to fire on a pitch where it was not easy to blast every delivery. Tillakaratne Dilshan played the innings of his lifetime to guide his team to total they were also capable of defending successfully with the strong bowling line-up at their disposal.

Dilshan batted brilliantly and his unbeaten knock of 96 allowed Sri Lanka to reach of 159 in the allotted 20 overs. It was far too many under the circumstances and they had become the clear favourites when the West Indians began their reply.

Chris Gayle was the man the West Indians looked forward to for doing the impossible. But the task looked beyond him also to be honest from the outset. The Sri Lankan attack was always going to prove lethal and there was only one way the match could have gone.

Gayle carried his bat but he was unable to change the course of the proceedings. All the five bowlers were bang on target and there was not much he could do with wickets falling at regular intervals after the nightmarish start to their innings.

Medium-pacer Angelo Matthews jolted the West Indians with a triple strike in the very first over and then came the mysterious spinning duo of Ajantha Mendis and Mutiah Muralitharan who bamboozled the middle-order with another exhibition of magnificent bowling. 

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South Africa choke again to let Pakistan enter final

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

History repeated itself at Trent Bridge on June 18 when South Africa crashed in the semifinals of the ICC World Twenty20 and Pakistan lived to the reputation of bringing about the downfall of the team of the moment.

South Africa, with their terrific all-round performance, had proved themselves the team of the tournament. They had remained undefeated and there was very little chance of them biting the dust as far as this event was concerned.

Pakistan, on the other hand, were banking more on the divine help and the luck factor because on paper South Africa stood head and shoulders above them in every department of the game.

Pakistan had done it to many fancied outfits in the past and now it was the turn of South Africa to face the music. It doesn’t really matter how strong and well prepared you are when Pakistan are on song.

People well versed with the Pakistan cricket or for that matter any other sport, know are aware of the fact that this team can never be written off. Irrespective of their weaknesses or the lack of depth they can still conquer the world.

Shahid Afridi, who appeared to have lost his ability to clear the field at the start of the tournament, has suddenly become the batting hero once more. He was being talked about as someone who hits the ball after closing his eyes but he went on to play a match-winning knock against South Africa of all teams.

South Africa also had a jinx to overcome. They have become infamous for running out of steam in the crucial matches. They could have been better off confronting any side other than Pakistan.

It was amazing how the South Africans lost the script. They had performed so consistently in the earlier games but they just couldn’t put their acts together in the do-or-die encounter. They conceded far too many runs to Pakistan considering the variety and punch in their bowling.

The only phase of the match when the South Africans appeared to be in the process of pulling it back was in the closing overs of the Pakistan innings. Not a single boundary in the last five overs reflected great discipline in bowling backed by very agile fielding.

But as it turned out the damage had been done earlier and the Pakistan batsmen knew that they already had enough. Younis Khan and Abdul Razzaq didn’t take undue risks even in the final over because the idea seemed to be to get whatever runs that were available without thinking of big shots.

Graeme Smith, while returning to the dugout, looked a relieved man thinking as if his team would get to the target of 150 without much hassles. But he himself was found wanting in coming to terms with the Pakistan bowlers and so were the likes of Herschelle Gibbs and A B de Villiers.

Jacques Kallis and J P Duminy fought gallantly but the battle was won by the Pakistan spinners and the South Africans were thrown out of the tournament one more time just when looking set to lay hands at the trophy.

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Khurshid Hadi quits, Tariq Rasheed takes over

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

There is a change of guard at the Pakistan Bridge Federation (PBF) following the resignation of three-time President Khurshid Hadi and the appointment of Honorary Secretary Tariq Rasheed Khan as Acting President till his formal ratification by the Board at their next meeting.

It has been officially announced by the PBF informed that Tariq Rasheed, having taken over from Ashfaq Yousuf Tola as the Honorary Secretary of the PBF four years ago, will be the caretaker President and he is expected to convene a Board of Directors meeting in a couple of weeks time.

There is not much element of surprise behind the move. Khurshid Hadi was having a quiet time from his own high standards of late and his last tenure didn’t bring about the kind of turnaround that was being anticipated.

Khurshid Hadi has had the reputation of doing things on a fast track but for some reasons he was unable to make things happen as far as bridge was concerned in the recent past. He’s not one man who was going to hang around without making a worthwhile contribution.


In fact he had made it clear to one and all at the time of accepting the office of the President of the PBF for the third time that he will only continue if he was successful in getting things done in a big way.

Khurshid Hadi, in the official handout, has cited his responsibilities as head of the Mind Sports Association of Pakistan (MSAP) as his main focus of attention and that the PBF needed someone who could devote focus and single-minded effort to promote the game and monitor the organization.

Khurshid Hadi himself stressed that Tariq Rasheed is unquestionably the right man to succeed him and that the head of all regional associations had fully endorsed his decision.

The PBF spokesman has announced that the continued collaboration with the MSAP for the development of bridge at college levels would ensure Khurshid Hadi's active involvement in bridge activities.

Khurshid Hadi, the spokesman revealed, is to be voted as President Emeritus of the federation in recognition of his contribution to the sport of bridge in particular. He had first become the President of the PBF in 1998 after having organized the landmark Golden Jubilee Independence Day International Bridge Championship in 1997.

He was re-elected by consensus as the President of the federation following the resignation of Rehana Saigol soon after the BFAME Championship 2007 that was also very well organized.

Tariq Rasheed had earlier been appointed as the officiating President of the PBF last year in the absence of Khurshid Hadi, who remained abroad for quite a few months.

Tariq Rasheed has proved himself an outstanding bridge administrator in a very short span of time. His visionary project of the Pakistan Bridge University (PBU) has gone a long way in promoting the mind sport from the grassroots level. In fact the PBU has now become the lifeline for the Pakistan bridge.

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Dismal India squander yet another opportunity

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

It’s very difficult to describe or assess India’s dismal performance in the ICC World Twenty20 2009. The tournament will conclude with the final on June 21 but it’s all over for the defending champions who couldn’t even find their way into the semifinals.

It’s beyond my comprehension how the free-flowing Indian batsmen got so much entangled against the South African spinners while chasing a low score of 130. It should have been a cakewalk win for the Indians, particularly after the brilliant start provided by the opening pair of Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma.

There was a golden opportunity for the Indians to have finished the tournament on a winning note even after being out of the race for the semis. It would have been just a consolation but it might have comforted the millions of their depressed and disappointed followers back home.

Cricket is indeed a funny game and it can’t get funnier when the Indians are in the self-destructing mode. Can it be a mere coincidence that they only win the title when they are the no-hopers?

"Everyone was new to Twenty20 cricket internationally in 2007 and India just had a young and very explosive team while everyone was finding their feet," Gary Kirsten, the India coach, said after the debacle in England.

"I think what's happened now is that other teams have got clever, they've worked out what they need to do, and we've been matched in all departments. There are definite holes in our Twenty20 set up which we are exploring," the former South African opening batsman was quoted as saying.

"We were not 100%, our performance was not up to the international standard. Your key players have to be in form for a tournament like this. That never really happened for us," skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni believed.

"I am not consistently clearing the park that is for sure. I am here to admit that and I am working hard on it. I feel cricket is not only about hitting sixes because there are quite a few players in our team who have to play different roles in Twenty20 or the one-day format,” he admitted.

"Gautam Gambhir is doing the job at the top of the order, and I am supposed to do it in the late middle-order. That was the plan but it never worked throughout the tournament. I would like to get back to hitting sixes but I don't think my cricket stops at hitting sixes," Dhoni said.

Obviously just as no captain can set a field for poor bowling no management can plan a strategy if the executioners are shaky in approaching things. No tutor would be able to teach these highly-rated Indian batsmen if they are unwilling to meet the challenge themselves.

They were found wanting in tackling the short-pitched bowling of Fidel Edwards and Jerome Taylor in their first Super Eight fixture against the West Indies. They failed to cope with the swing bowling of Stuart Broad and Luke Wright against England and it was the spin duo of Johan Botha and Roelof van der Merwe who did the trick for South Africa.

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India knock themselves out

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Curse the excessive betting, blame the infighting or hold the board officials responsible it can’t hide the fact that the strongest outfit to have entered the competition has been knocked out in an unceremonious manner.

India stood head and shoulders above any other side in the shortest version of the game and probably it was a combination of too many factors that prompted their early exit against the run of play.

It was not for the first time that the Indians have been knocked over far too earlier than anticipated. They have perished this way more often than not whenever they were installed as the favourites or billed as the most potent side.

Cricket has the kind of following in India that’s unmatchable. The credit goes to their cricket enthusiasts for having learnt to be so patient over the years. May be they have become accustomed to watching their team slide when least expected to do so.

The manner in which India have surrendered to the West Indies and England in the Super Eight matches makes one feel bewildered. No cricket fan can easily digest the fact that India have knocked themselves out of the tournament by losing to these two teams in succession.

Didn’t it seem funny that England needed the gift of so many extras to reach a total that could be described as fighting? Harbhajan Singh, the most experienced bowler on either side, had become literally unplayable for the England batsmen who don’t come across such high quality of spin bowling in their domestic tournaments.

Harbhajan fired not one but two deliveries far too wide down the leg side in successive overs that meant the addition of 10 runs to the England total besides the opportunity of having a go at two extra deliveries. It can happen once but to have done it two times in as many overs was incredible to say the least.

His act looked all the more perplexing considering the fact that he had taken two wickets earlier in the over and the England batsmen were clueless. Why did he need to target way outside leg stump when a straighter one was more likely to the job is a question that would remain unanswered for eternity!

By the look of things, Yuvraj Singh, one of the best fielders in the world, appeared to have ensured by misfielding at short fine-leg that Harbhajan’s act of sending the wide was not wasted. Yes of all people it was Yuvraj who misfielded and allowed the boundary to take the England total past 150 that had earlier looked unlikely.

Everyone watching the action at the ground or on television in the comfort of their homes believed that India would still face no problems in chasing down the target of 154 in 20 overs in the must-win game for them.

But it became all too obvious only a few overs after the start of the Indian innings that something else was written on the wall. Nobody could dare changing the script. It was all over for India.

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Pakistan, India jolted

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Pakistan and India, the finalists of the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in 2007, had to bite the dust in their opening Super Eight fixtures at Lord’s on June 12. The weather and the settings were about perfect but both the sub-continental teams jeopardized their chances of making into the semifinals by crashing to defeat after being in dominating position for sometime.

India, the defending champions and the hot favourites, were brought down to earth by the West Indies while Pakistan, the runners-up in South Africa, were laid low by the rampaging Sri Lanka.

India lived up to the reputation of choking in a game when they were expected to win quite handsomely. With every member of the playing being a match-winner in his own right they should have encountered no problems in disposing of the West Indies whose fortunes have depended entirely on skipper Chris Gayle in the recent times. Nobody anticipated Dwayne Bravo to come up with a performance that would have made even Ian Botham and Imran Khan proud.

It was extraordinary to find the Indian batsmen struggling against a bowling attack so low in confidence. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni played out as many as 13 dot balls, a tactic that can be best described as mind-boggling.

He was not batting to save a Test match. Neither was he facing the likes of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Colin Croft and Joel Garner who didn’t let the batsmen to come on front foot, so hostile and accurate they were.

In the present scenario it are the Indian batsmen, not the West Indian fast bowlers, who are feared for their aggression and ruthlessness. Yuvraj Singh showed glimpses of his prowess as did Yousuf Pathan but the others just faded away. It were Harbhajan Singh’s three boundaries in the final over that the total past 150.

Harbhajan was also chiefly responsible for plotting the dismissal of Gayle, the danger man. At this stage the match looked in India’s pocket but Bravo, having wreaked havoc with the ball earlier, played the innings of his lifetime to change its complexion.

History had looked like repeating itself when Sri Lanka went into the self-destruction mode against Pakistan after a typically blazing start provided by Sanath Jayasuriya and Tillekeratne Dilshan.

Any team having collected 80 odd runs in less than nine overs without losing a wicket would be expected to finish around 200 in a T20 game. But the Sri Lankans, as they had done so many times against Pakistan in the past, played some horrible cricket to limit themselves to 150.

The momentum was with Pakistan when they went on to chase 151 and even the early loss of the opening pair didn’t bog them down. Skipper Younis Khan got the support from Shoaib Malik and Misbah-ul-Haq to create panic in the Sri Lankan camp.

Ajantha Mendis, supposed to be the most lethal spin bowler in the world, was hit out of the attack. How often would you see him not getting the full quota of four overs in a T20 game. The champion off-spinner Mutiah Muralitharan was also blunted but he pulled it back with wickets on successive deliveries in his final over.

But the match was turned decisively in Sri Lanka’s favour by the express pace of Lasith Malinga who picked the crucial wicket of Younis immediately after the Pakistan captain had reached his half century.

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New Zealand, South Africa off to flyer

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Both New Zealand and South Africa got off to a flying start to their Super Eight campaign in the ICC World Twenty20 2009 crushing Ireland and England respectively at Trent Bridge on June 11.

The victory in the opening Super Eight game provides the much needed insurance to New Zealand and South Africa ahead of the knockout stage of the competition. They can still force their way into the semifinals if they lose one of their next two games.

New Zealand in particular appear have their work cut out with the remaining matches being against the powerful Sri Lanka and the unpredictable Pakistan. They have had a terrible record against Pakistan over the years in bilateral series as well as in various tournaments.

Pakistan might fancy their chances of overcoming the New Zealanders once more on the basis of their reputation and past record even though the Black Caps have been in great form of late.

South Africa, on the other hand, would be feeling a bit more comfortable after having overpowered England. They are expected to have a tough contest with India but they should not face many problems in whacking the West Indies, provided they don’t let Chris Gayle stay at the crease for long.

England, not surprisingly, were unable to come to terms with the mighty South Africans, possessing a far more balanced outfit for the shortest version of the game.

South Africa’s performance against England was as clinical as one would have expected. Much to the disappointment of the crowd, the hosts never got an opportunity to stage a comeback into the contest after a nightmarish start.

England’s celebrated batsmen, having scored heaps of runs in the other forms of the game, were unable to produce the kind of innovation that was needed to force the pace against a lethal bowling attack.

It must have been shocking for their supporters to find them bowled out for 111 inside 20 overs. The pace duo of Dale Steyn and Wayne Parnell devastated the England top order and the spinners, Roelof van der Merwe and Johan Botha, proved equally dangerous.

Kevin Pietersen threatened briefly while Owais Shah’s long vigil hardly ever worried the South Africans who didn’t feel hurt by his 38 off 33 balls. Their brilliant fielding and catching didn’t allow England any escape route.

South Africa played with a cool head while chasing the small total and another gem of a knock from Jacques Kallis helped them reach the target without any fuss with 10 deliveries remaining.

New Zealand proved once more that they are a team of the equals. In fact it was one of the replacements, Aaron Redmond, who stole the limelight by blast 63 off 30 balls in the game against Ireland. He was drafted into the playing eleven primarily because of the injuries to the key players.

Scott Styris and Martin Guptill also got going to help their team post a commanding total. Then their bowlers took over to seal an emphatic 83-run victory even in the absence of skipper Daniel Vettori, Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor.

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Pakistan’s Super Eight entry threatens fancied teams

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

There were a lot of discussions and debates on whether or not Pakistan would be able to force their way into the Super Eight, after having succumbed to a humiliating defeat at the hands of hosts England in their opening game.

My reply to all the queries in this regard was simple and straightforward. I told everyone, on and off the record, that I would be surprised if Pakistan didn’t accomplish their goal. The assessment was not based on any cricketing knowledge or anything like that. It had to do something with history and past record.

People generally have short memory. The followers of the game conveniently forget the fact that Pakistan have achieved their objective more often than not in similar circumstances.

I had convinced the anxious supporters of the Pakistan team that they need not to worry because the lady luck was more likely to be on their side and not only the Netherlands but any other side would have had to face the music.

It was proved once more that Pakistan could never be written off no matter how terrible they may appear on the field or how much they might be lacking in depth or strength. Mind you if they are on song no team on earth can withstand them. They are the one team who defy logic more regularly than anyone else.

I had a gut feeling that the Netherlands stood very little chance of coming to terms with Pakistan although they had stunned England in their first game. Taming Pakistan is always the most difficult of propositions and the other fancied teams in the competition would soon get a feel of it.

Pakistan’s qualification in the Super Eight means a warning to all other seven teams. They have been drawn in the easier of two groups with Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Ireland. The other group is much stronger on paper with the quartet of India, South Africa, England and the West Indies making the cut.

If the past record has to serve as a reference again, Pakistan would be quite happy to be playing against Sri Lanka and New Zealand against who they have had exceptional record in all forms of the game.

Both Sri Lanka as well as New Zealand have been known for playing their worst cricket against Pakistan. Ireland, who had been instrumental in knocking Pakistan out of the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, will be required to overcome a lot of outside factors to do it again.

In the prevailing scenario it looks very unlikely that Pakistan would not reach the semifinals. Once they are there it would be a matter of just two more good days. They could, however, be tested in the semifinals and finals should they reach there.

It doesn’t really matter how seriously Younis Khan takes the T20 games once the Pakistan team gets into their grooves it’s almost next to impossible to derail them. That’s the special thing about the Pakistan cricket. They can conquer the world with any kind of ammunition and any type of leadership.

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