It was not a super Sunday

Australia vs South Africa and India vs Pakistan. The battles suggest of something cracking and nerve-jangling. There will be high dramas on offer and the spectators will be left biting their nails with acute anxiety. And if the match schedules are on a Sunday then it’s ‘yummy’ without a second thought. These matches, as mentioned above, were scheduled on Sunday and it was the World T20’s Super Eights encounter. Gee! I was expecting a super Sunday. But at the end of the day the encounters were far far from being nerve wrecking and thrilling – they were heavily one sided.

The South Africans are worse than the minnows

In the ICC events, the Proteas choked again. After a receiving sudden shock from Pakistan the Proteas were being mauled mercilessly by the Australians. The Aussie bowlers strangle hold the Prpteas batsmen and then devastated their much celebrated pace attack with an exhibition of superb T20 batting. The Proteas were handed a heavy defeat by eight wickets.

With so many able customers in all the departments, surprisingly, the Proteas gifted the world one of the most frustrating shows ever. Their batsmen were sedated easily while the bowlers lost their tempo in crunch situations. Again, AB de Villiers as a captain was poor. A captain must lead from the front. In the limited-overs version AB is his team’s best batsman and rather than coming lower down the order he should’ve come earlier to face the music.

I must say, the Proteas are worse than the minnows in the ICC events. The minnows consist of one or two superstars amid of mediocre players and for which they cut a sorry figure. But despite having so many stars in all the departments, the Proteas continue to choke again, again, again and again – a matter of frustration for the followers indeed.

Superb Australia

As my fellow friend Aziz ul Qadir has stated that the Australians are taking this new format quite seriously and with their performance so far, they have proved it immensely. But the Australian middle-order, though steady, has not been tested yet. The Australians are riding on the muscular powers of Warner and Watson. But, with plenty of firepower in the batting lineup, it’s unlikely that they’ll be tested. I would like to give the Aussie bowlers more credit, especially the pacers. Despite having unhelpful conditions the pacers exhibited strict discipline and tempo to keep the opposition reeling. And again, their fielding has been spot on. Overall, the Australians are looking too good to get their hands on the trophy until and unless they discover themselves against an opposition to surprise them suddenly.

India vs Pakistan – So boring!

Like the world, Sunday is not a holiday in Bangladesh. I was returning home from the hospital. Usually it takes one and half hours to reach home from my hospital due to a chaotic traffic. But yesterday was different. I reached home within 20 minutes! Dhaka traffic was not chaotic in the peak hours! Was it a magic? Not at all. But it was the effect of the IndoPak clash. The heat of the competition was so immense that it had also gripped the people of Bangladesh.

With a cup of tea, chocolate cakes and biscuits, I started to watch the match with a serious look. My sister and father were laughing looking at my face. But that serious look began to disappear slowly as the match was heading towards a foregone conclusion – India again thrashed Pakistan in a World Cup match to keep the legacy intact. There wasn’t any competition at all.

Superb India

India recovered steadily from their last match defeat against Australia and came out all guns blazing against their arch rivals, Pakistan. The Pakistanis did give a promising start, but the men in blue stormed back to steal the momentum and gave Pakistan the killer punch from which they never recovered. Once Irfan Pathan had nailed Imran Nazir, Balaji continued his romance with Pakistan by unleashing a cheeky but effective spell to keep Pakistan at bay while Yuvraj Singh simply broke the backbone of the Pakistan batting by claiming two wickets in one over – the Pakistanis were booked for 128 and it was merely a cake walk for the Indian batting. Sehwag and Kohli sealed a much needed win for the Indians.

Frustrating Pakistan, frustrating Hafeez

After sealing a mind blowing win from no where against the Proteas in their previous match, the Pakistanis were the overwhelming favorites against India yesterday. But they surrendered towards pressure. The batsmen capitulated easily while on helpful conditions the bowlers were surprisingly unresponsive. I blame Hafeez’s captaincy. No matter what the total is, a captain must never stop attacking. I didn’t understand why Hafeez operated his bowlers without the slips. Pakistani bowlers are naturally attacking and when you offer them to deliver defensive stuffs then it’s obvious that they’ll lose their natural rhythm. Pakistan was boring and irritating and so was the same their captain. It’s better Hafeez learns from his mistakes.

The Dhoni critics must shut up

Ravi Shastri advised to keep Yuvraj Singh out of the final XI and thankfully none heard him. How critical he was yesterday. With his teasing off-spin, he literally jolted the Pakistani batting line up. It was good to see Sehwag back in the side and it indicates that MSD is learning from his mistakes. For the perfect occasion he made the right selections. Now, what will the harsh critics of Dhoni say? We, the subcontinental cricket followers are pathetic. We have a very fragile memory. We only support our heroes when they dish out victories, but in their lean patches we don’t stop slicing them brutally. Dhoni is an Indian hero. It’s not easy to lead a team like India. Failures and mistakes are a part of the captaincy. If a captain learns from his mistakes then it’s better and mind you Dhoni is learning from his mistakes. I would like to advise Dhoni’s critics to remain shut up and let the Indian maestro work according to his plans.

Lastly

Both Pakistan and South Africa made the Sunday boring. Yes, there has been a Watson juggernaut, a Balaji-Yuvraj-Sehwag-Kohli exquisite show; but to this cricket follower nothing is more delicious than a contest which put shivers down the spine, which makes the heart racing fast. Sadly, it was not a super Sunday.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar