The fight for the King of Cricket in Asia has started . The first match was between the ever predictable Sri Lanka and the never predictable Pakistan.This match marked the entry of the Rawalpindi Express for the n'th time and ofcourse Mr.Sania Mirza, oops Shoaib Malik.Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat.Murali was back into the team after getting his groin repaired ;).The SriLankan innings was yet another boring encounter.Shoaib Akthar was the star of the innings for Pakistan as he picked 3 wickets giving away 41 runs in his quota of 10.He has to definitely improve on his fitness . You could see him limping after bowling 7 odd overs. Jaya scored yet another classy half century before getting out to a bad decision. Mathews anchored the innings till the end and got a half century to his credit . Nothing else worth mentioning . Pakistan had to chase down 243, which was kinda tricky target on the snail slow Dambulla pitch. Hasan and Butt took strike for Pakistan. It seemed like they had no idea about the target . Their scoring was slower the cricket pitch. They were struggling to the bolwers away . They were in deep shit as the third wicket fell with just 32 on board after 13 overs. Enter Afridi. The match turned upside down.He started smacking the ball left right and centre.All his sixers were clean. SCREAMERS!!. He played a magical knock.It was a single man battle as the other players kept falling .Cramps were holding him, but he kept on going . Reminded me of Fat Smith :).He deserved a century and got it in style . Finally Murali got the better of him and it ended one of the best innings of Boom Boom . It was a very mature knock.Razzaq was holding the the team after afridi's departure until Slinga Malinga came and wrapped up the innings in a jiffy. Pakistan lost by 16 runs . Malinga with his unplayable swingers and Afridi with his clean hitting were the real stars of the night :).The Man of the Match was undoubtedly Boom Boom.
Next up is the Indo-Bangla encounter.Considering the form of both the teams , I suggest the Punters to place the money on Bangladesh. Aint it Obvious! :)
P.S- 1 )Can some tell me if its Mohammed Aamer/Amir/Aamir/Ameer ?Why are the names in Pakistan so complicated ?
2) How do Umar Akmal manage to get sunscreen matching the jersey ? Is it Custom made ?:P
Trivia- Afridi successfully ran out both the brothers < Umar and Kamran Akmal>
LOL. I thought Afridi's knock was full of drama. Lankans were surely safe with 240+ on the board, thanks to Mathews.
ReplyDeleteMd. Aamer puzzle we have solved earlier right here on Wah! Cricket. It's all due to complex conversions (Urdu-->Eng).
U.Akmal's lip gloss is sign of his patriotism. ;)