Ok guys! Do you want to make your predictions for tomorrow’s result in Pakistan versus Australia Test match?
For soccer lovers, the cricket match is currently poised at a situation like this: Chasing what would be a record breaking total of 440, Pakistan needs 326 more runs to win with 9 wickets in hand. Two long English summer days are left to be played and possibly 188 overs to be bowled.
So now the question is: ‘ye ooNt kis karwat bethe ga?’ (what will be the result?)
I’ll make the first prediction to get the ball rolling. My heart says Pakistan will be able to pull it through because they are currently well poised at 114 for 1. But! and there is a ‘But’ – which is Salman But – who is currently not out at 58, meiN samajhta hooN ke (my mind says) it will be difficult. Most likely Pakistan will do good for 200 or more runs and then as the target will start to appear within reach, a sudden batting collapse may happen – sounds familiar? Some of my friends may call me ‘kaali zubaan’ for predicting as such but to them I want to recite a couplet from a famous ghazal:
ar raahbar-e-kamil chalne ko tayyaar to hooN par yaad rahe
os waqt mujhe bhatkaa dena jab saamnay manzil aa jaaye
AOA,
A clear loss by 200+ runs.
This is what a Zaheer Abbas, a Javed Miandad, an Asif Iqbal could have pulled off. Not these guys.
If Pakistan walks in tomorrow, thinking it’s the start of their innings and they need 326 runs to win, there is a chance they can come closer. The other way is to simply play for the sessions instead of focusing on the target, and they’ll come close to it without realizing they are chasing it. It’s all a mental game from here on wards and how much is the desire to write your name in history.
The odds are clearly in Australia’s favor. But that is what makes this a great game. Here is the reason why Test cricket is still teh real TEST!
A good friend of mine, who is a PhD (that makes his opinion count more than mine :)) has just sent me an email that chances for Pak victory are only 5% unless Umar Akmal plays THE innings of his life.