A view from the Gully (13 June 1999)
The slide down the hill triggered by babes Bangladesh that threw them into the vortex of uncertainty with three consecutive defeats, was reversed by a tremendous team effort that brought their star batsman a much needed hundred and their star spinner
13-Jun-1999
13 June 1999
A view from the Gully
Tawfiq Aziz Khan
Pakistan strode into the semifinals with aplomb
The slide down the hill triggered by babes Bangladesh that threw them
into the vortex of uncertainty with three consecutive defeats, was
reversed by a tremendous team effort that brought their star batsman
a much needed hundred and their star spinner a rare achievement - a
hattrick, the second in World Cup after Chetan Sharma's against New
Zealand in 1987. On the day Pakistan looked a totally transformed
team as they knew this was their last train to the next important
station. It was their streetcar named ambition which they could not
afford to miss.
The "crunch match" that Wasim Akram expected against Zimbabwe turned
out to be a cakewalk for the Pakistanis.
The Oval has been an important ground for Pakistan cricket since
1954. In that wet summer the Pakistanis on their first ever tour of
England wrote history by defeating the Englishmen under Len Hutton on
this ground - a feat which has not been surpassed by any cricketing
nation. And on Friday they won a crucial match of the '99 World Cup
that takes them to the last four stage of the tourney again on their
happy hunting ground. This time the chips were down and the stakes
were high.
Winning the toss helped alot and a right decision to back it up with
batting almost took the Pakistanis across the halfway mark. The
normally mediocre Zimbabwe attack was rendered further docile by the
sore arm of Neil Johnson, one of the stars of the competition and a
dropped catch by Campbell that gave Saeed Anwar a new lease of life
made Zimbabwe's task formidable. The normally dour-looking Wasti was
on a roll scoring freely proving his critics wrong. We may have a
case of a Pakistani Rahul Dravid on our hands.
Despite a healthy run-rate the middle order collapse was triggered by
the captain himself but Afridi, batting lower in the order, and
Saqlain Mushtaq took the score to a point where the Pakistanis could
feel safe. Anwar's ton came in the right time and this would instill
confidence in himself and in the ability of his team.
The writing on the wall appeared when Shoaib Akhtar ripped through
the defence of Andy Flower early in the innings. The rest was a
sombre story of meek surrender. But Johnson stood alone in the ruins
with another of his scintillating display of strokes. The bowling was
good but better was the fielding.
Saqlain Mushtaq, already in the top ten, brought off a spectacular
hattrick on his home ground (almost), the second in World Cup. His
first two victims fell identically to Moin Khan, whose tally of
scalps also improved and the last one was helped by Pommie Mbangwa
himself. This was a tremendous achievement by a spinner who is
acclaimed by experts as one of the best in the business today. Many
congratulations to Saqlain Mushtaq.
Source :: The Daily Star