Pakistan’s bowlers did a marvelous job by restricting the Aussie’s might well within 250. This was a great achievement given the fact that at one stage Australia looked like scoring in the range of 290 plus, especially when they were placed at 188 for 3. But then some good fielding and brilliant bowling did not let that happen and 237 looked like a getable target. One must however mention that Australian were quite lucky to reach even 237. Had Pakistan not missed some catches early on and had the umpires been more consistent and uniform in making their minds up for the LBW decisions, the outcome of the game might have been different. There were a couple of very good shouts from the Pakistani bowlers but umpires gave the benefit of doubt to the batsman, and why not, that’s how it should be.

But I was talking of consistency in umpiring and that element was missing from today’s final. When an early LB shout was made against Salman Butt, Billy Bowden’s crooked finger rose in a flash and sent the batsman back to pavilion. TV replays clearly established that if Salman was out, then there was no justification in ruling Andrew Symonds not out against Abdul Razzaq, as the Hawkeye on both occasions showed the same result! PCB should take a serious note of this, as of late, it has become a norm to give benefit of doubt to the bowling side in case the batsman happens to be from Pakistan. How many incidents can one quote? Many! LBW decisions against Inzamam and Youhana in the Videocon Cup, and then recently against Inzamam in the VB series matches are some of the examples where the norms of justice have been reversed to give the appealing side the benefit. For how long will the PCB keep silent on this issue? If ICC can reverse the decision of match referee against Ganguly the credit for that reversal goes to BCCI who made a timely and forceful appeal against the ruling. Somehow our cricketing bosses are either too friendly or too naive or both and fail to raise their voice at crucial times and the team and its followers keep on suffering.

Inspite of all this Pakistan made a brave attempt to reach the target which was virtually put out of their reach by some reckless and unexplainable shots from the top order batters. Inzi and Malik had a wonderful partnership going which gave Pakistan the opening but then Inzi’s departure and the stupid run out of Razzaq dashed all those hopes. It was heartening to see the lower order batters putting up a fight but it was probably too late and the matter was beyond them. I have always been a great admirer of the lower order batters’ efforts as it reflects team spirit and motivation, something which was quite glaringly absent from this side only a couple of weeks ago.

Normally the pattern in tri series finals in Australia has been quite straightforward. The team winning the first final usually wins the second and the need for third final arises very rarely. But then again, as I mentioned in my earlier articles, cricket is a funny game and any thing can happen at SCG on Sunday and Pakistan can bounce back! I strongly recommend the inclusion of Azhar Mehmood in the place of injured Khalil as it would not only strengthen our batting but would also fulfill the need for an experienced and line length bowler.

Finally one must admire the bravery and courage shown by Rana Naveed not only in bowling and batting but also at a personal level. We condole the sad demise of his father and once again praise him for showing extreme commitment to the side by deciding to play on under so much emotional and mental burden. May God rest his father’s soul in eternal peace (Amen).

(Article: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only.
Copyright © 2005 Naved Yazdani)