Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan

They say that before a great battle commences, the subtle march of thousands towards the battlefield, producing a humming sound, vibrating the grounds, enters the ears of the brigade already waiting to meet their end. And up above the higher grounds, a vision of the armies of the foe beyond the horizon becomes “before the horizon” and intensifies the nerves of those in the higher grounds who although are resting on firm grounds feel the shiver of the moments to engulve them soon. The earth knows it when the battle will commence and signals the sky red. And what bloodier venue for a blood striken sky than the plains of Africa, home of the lions, the predators at pray which at sunset render the sky bloody red.

We shall go down south where Pakistan awaits India tomorrow. Who’s the predator and who’s the pray is a matter of context. Both have been ruthless, both have been mighty hungry as their recent downfall in the Carribeans thrusted their thirsts for the coming bloody battle that awaits us tomorrow dusk. So who shall be the king of the jungle tommorrow at the inaugral World twenty20 Cup?

Nature has its own rules and devoid of our intervention, it was about due time in the world of cricket that the penultimate matchup is made for the greatest storybook tale of the game, India Pakistan WorldCup final, although the rules of the game have been changed but nonetheless every team came up to Africa hoping to reign supreme but all faltered by the underdogs now turned lions, the Pakistanis and the Indians.

There was a glimpse of the battle to come very early during this African festival when both teams had drawn. The result only to be decided by a freak of nature, the ‘bowl-out’ where India succeeded. But was it any considerable setback for Pakistan after the fact that Pakistan toppled the top two favorites of the contest, Australia and SriLanka? I guess not. Their bowling had been their inspiration early on with likes of Asif with his seem bowling consistently teased the batsmen, Tanveer with his confusing action and skidding deliveries, Gul with his perfect yorkers and sharp bouncers at the end, Hafeez whose miserly bowls restricts run leakage and Afridi, the sensation of them all, with his gentle leg spin but varied in pace that made him leading wicket taker of the tournament.

But on the other hand, Indian bowlers had been scripted pretty ordinary but nature has funny rules and the rise of RP Singh at the front caused shocking damage to the opposition. Some unusual yorkers from Harbajhan Singh has been a result of the bend of rules this tournament introduced, there r only 20 overs at stake and the Indian bowlers did the magic acts well. But more than bowling has been the Indian batting, underdogs in the tournament, their older lions resting at dens back home, younger cubs going out for a hunt, caught good prays, the best of which were the mighty South Africans, the third favorite team to lift the trophy by many. But who can forget the battle they had enroute to the final battle ground at Johanusburg when they ousted Australia with just 30 bowls by Yuvraj Singh, the Gaama Pahlwaan of India who was pretty terrifying to look at from miles away. Punjab da Puttar fond of Paraathaas and Lassis was all for muscle and flicks when he teared the Aussie balling apart. Much to the credit of Indian batting have been Guatam Gambhir who is in sublime form at the top and cameos from wk skipper MS Dhoni and Robin Uthappa make them a very strong batting lineup. But compared to their final rivals, their batting doesnot go deep so Pakistan will try to get them early, Asif going for four? Deja Vu anyone?

But the surprise package for me is the Pakistani batting line up, with Misbah Ul Haq and Shoaib Malik among the top run scorers of the tournament and getting good support from Hafeez and Younis. Luckily for Pakistan, Imran has riped in form at the right time and who can avoid Afridi, boy if he goes buzurk…

All in all, its a good fight coming up and fight to the d…. (dug-out ) between these two teams tomorrow. Some interesting mini battles worth watching will be between Asif and Sehwag, early on, Yuvraj vs Afridi and Gul later on. I’d rather see Afridi coming one down after Hafeez and Nazir. Malik, Misbah and Younis can float around. Kamran can bat lower down.

As for cricket, in the words of Ravi Shastri, there couldn’t be a better script in the making. Both underdogs living the finals, both have scores to settle for their WorldCup demise early this year and both arch rivals, one of the most celebrated rivarly in the game. Both shall give a tough fight and the winner although will be one for the trophy, for the crowds and the game itself they both are already! Best of luck to both, may the better team win.
picture courtesy of cricinfo.com

This article at Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan has been composed by Atif Abdul-Rahman.