After drawing second test match of the series against New Zealand, Pakistan has won their first Test Cricket series after a gap of 11 Test Series spanned over a period of 4 years and 2 months. Bari der ki mehraan aate aate!
But I have a comment on today’s match. Can you imagine Pakistan going for a draw under Imran Khan from a position where 66 runs were needed off 11 overs (NZ actually end up bowling 14 overs) and 6 wickets were in hand.
Imran would have gone for a match result in such situations whereas Misbah chose the safe result of a draw today. Pakistan scored only 18 runs in the last 14 overs. It will definitely look good on Misbah’s resume’ and he may even get World Cup captaincy over from Shahid Afridi tomorrow.
Now I do want to give credit where its due. Misbah is still commendable to have scored 6 fifites in his last 6 innings (70*, 99, 62, 58*, 77 and 76*). Misbah and Younis Khan held the whole batting line together in this test match.
Pakistan’s last Test series win was against West Indies in December of 2006. Following is the summary of Test series results since Pakistan won it the last time.
(1) 2010-11 Pakistan v New Zealand in NZ (1-0) (Jan 19, 2011)
(2) 2010-11 Pakistan v South Africa in UAE (0-0)
(3) 2010 Pakistan v England in England (1-3)
(4) 2010 Pakistan v Australia in England (1-1)
(5) 2009-10 Pakistan v Australia in Australia (0-3)
(6) 2009-10 Pakistan v New Zealand in NZ (1-1)
(7) 2009 Pakistan v Sri Lanka in SL (0-2)
(8) 2008 Pakistan v Sri Lanka in Pakistan (0-0)
(9) 2007-08 Pakistan v India in India (0-1)
(10) 2007-08 Pakistan v South Africa in Pakistan (0-1)
(11) 2006-07 Pakistan v South Africa in South Africa (1-2)
(12) 2006-07 Pakistan v West Indies in Pakistan (2-0) (Dec 1, 2006)
Some comments from the ATP Facebook Page:
– “its greatttttttttttt….congrats”
– “we win”
– “Really great…. Congrats Pak”
Apart from stamina and perseverance, perhaps the most important factor in test cricket is what used to be called “Pressure Tactics”. Unfortunately, none of the players of current pakistani cricket team possesses the capability of handling this vital aspect of the game.
Kiwis have been under the weather for their poor performance for so long that New Zealand media taunted at the team management on booking a hotel for Wellington test for full five days and described it as wastage of tax payers’ money. Some others accused Kiwi batsmen of being obsessed by IPL auction on the day they had a desastrous collapse during Hamilton Test.
Jokes aside, what good the Pakistani team leadership is for if they can not capitalize on a demoralized competition.
Not only the final day, but the fourth day game also reflects that Pakistani bowlers were trying to keep Kiwi batsmen on the crease as long as possible, so that Pakistanis have to face the opposition bowling for minimum possible time. Almost from the tea on fourth day, Pakistani team leadership had made up their mind to prioritize “saving the game” over “going for a win”.
I wonder how can a group of skillful cricketers form a team without motivation for winning and ability to understand and use pressure tactics.
Owais, I think I have played too much mohalla cricket. Risking your wicket and your chappal (slippers) was part of the game.
Owais, actually I think we should have and could have. But I do understand why Misbah did not :-)
Sajjad Saheb, mein ne to pehle hi kaha tha :) I may not be Imran’s follower in Politics but him as a cricketer was the best thing for Pak. If Imran ever sensed victory – he used to go all out for it and go for the result (positive attitude) instead of draw (negative mindset in my opinion). One should go for a draw only when you are in sight of a loss (say 7 or 8 wk down)- not when 4 wickets were down and only 66 runs were left.
As I wrote in the post – 66 out of 11 overs with 6 wickets in hand was perfectly doable.