Wednesday, January 19, 2011

On the 4th innings marvel that is YK and eternal whiners

The fact that Pakistan won their first test series in almost 4 and half years didn’t prevent some rather immature fans from whining about the result of the 2nd test. The whiners complained that Pakistan teams approach to the target was gutless, tame, and what they called “phattu mentality” of the captain and coach robbed us from clean sweeping the miserable Kiwis.

Some of them would rather have Pakistan lose and draw the test series then to DRAW a test match from a winning position so shamelessly. The legacy of the cornered tigers they say has been disgraced by the utter nonchalance Misbah ul Haq displayed in the afternoon session chasing 274.
Maybe my fellow fans are forgetting that this is test match cricket and this team is still a work in progress. The team only has one world class batsman in the shape of Younis Khan (when he was on the crease the chase was still on) who can be expected to chase down totals in excess of 250 on a 5th day wicket.  I didn’t expect them to chase down the total after we were in trouble at 43/3 and risked losing the match. Considering how much turn a part-timer like Mohammad Hafeez was getting on the 4th day it was always going to be a challenge for the sometimes brittle Pakistani batting lineup to go for the win.
Image Courtesy: Marty Melville/Getty Images

Only 3 things are certain in life, taxes, death and a Pakistan batting collapse. Could the team think tank really risk losing a series, that too after 4 long years just to win one test match? Would you have done the same, considering that only a keeper who is playing his 4th test match and the tailenders were left behind?
This is exactly what has been ailing Pakistan cricket for the past 4 years, the disability to look at the bigger picture, the incapacity to stick on the wicket and tough it out.
Younis - Pak Crickets hottest commodity

Sure we all want some entertainment out of it, but this is REAL TEST CRICKET. The still relatively inexperienced team cannot slog their way out to a win when they do not have the necessary experience to deal with a collapse. This is test cricket we are talking about folks, not a gulli danda T20 slog-fest.
To sum it up, I think Misbah ul Haq and his men made a brave choice when they gave more importance to a long awaited series win rather than a senseless chance at glory.

Speaking of Younis Khan, has Pakistan ever produced a batsman more capable of handling the pressure of the 4th innings the way he does? Well the stats definitely say a big NO to that. The man is a class above everyone who is playing test cricket for Pakistan right now, a true winner.
The incomparable Khan from Mardan has been there more often than not when the team is in crisis. It was absolutely cruel of the PCB and his fellow players (who rebelled against his captaincy) to keep him out of the test side for almost 2 years.
Here are some amazing stats of Younis Khan in the 4th Innings of a test match. Oh, and Cricinfo tells me that he is second only to The Great Don Bradman in 4th innings batting average.
Younis Khan 4th Innings Stats
Matches – 23 | Innings 21 | Not Out 6 | Runs 887 | Highest 131 | Average 59.13 | 100’s 4 | 50’s 4

11 comments:

  1. Agreed man. And yes, YK is a LEGEND. Mighty Aragorn.

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  2. @ Zeeshan: Whiners make me sick man after such a glorious day.

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  3. Do I still need a reason to love him ??? haha ;)

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  4. @ DN: No my friend, you don't.

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  5. Formidable 4th innings stats, thanks for sharing that.

    Top article AA.

    Congratulations all.

    An excellent achievement.

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  6. Loved it. Fitting tribute to the King.

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  7. he is the only capable batsmen after yousaf and for me he is the captain for world cup

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  8. To hell with everyone who think we played boring cricket, or better only if you got the skills to last the entire day on a 5th day pitch let alone thrash an international side albiet down on their form but still getting enough purchase from the wicket, knowing in doing so you risk a series win, and would rather go down as idiots who had it in the bag and let the kitties out !! coz you were short sighted to realise that you are dum enough to throw it away coz your testies do all the thinking for you.. well even then you arent allowed to whinge and whine.. stop watching Test cricket if its so boring to you, go watch something you are tempramentally able to do so.

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  9. i really like the YK its amazing pic,
    thanks to share, and i hope that you will keep it up
    the world cup is coming and we hope that YK khan will do great performence as he done,thanks
    live cricket

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