Men in green shine in a must-win contest!

By Nida Zahra.

Having lost their last four fixtures, men in green took field for the 2nd ODI in Abu Dhabi with hopes of overpowering Australian dominance. Australia won the toss and gave Misbah’s men an opportunity to prevent them from putting up a mammoth total.

Sohail Tanvir and Junaid Khan opened the attack for Pakistan. Just into the 2nd over, Umar Akmal dropped Wade (7)  off Junaid’s bowling, who chased a full and wide delivery outside off and dragged it to his stumps right on the next ball, becoming Pakistan’s first prey. Clarke n Warner’s confrontation took Australia from 10/1 after the 2nd over to 74/2 in the 20th over when Saeed Ajmal trapped a settled looking David Warner (24) right in front of the wickets.

Having bowled only one no ball in his career, Michael Hussey left Saeed Ajmal disgusted on the last ball of the 22nd over, when Hussey dispatched him out of the park for a huge six off a full toss. Spinners were yet again doing the magic for Pakistan in the middle overs, lead by Ajmal. Having played very well again for his 37 Michael Clarke became a victim of world’s number 1 bowler’s brilliance with the ball. Hafeez trapped Clarke off a spinning delivery, the decision when reviewed Left Australia in a dismal position with no reviews left following the dismissal of David Hussey for naught right in the next over who did not seem much happy with the decision. The hawk eye later confirmed it to be a top decision by Ahsan Raza, leaving Australia 89/4 after 24 overs.

Azhar Ali was given the ball in the 28th over and Sohail Tanvir was brought back into the attack. Runs started leaking from both the ends. Misbah realized it was time to go back to spin and brought Abdur Rehman in the 32nd over to counter M.Hussey and Bailey’s slow march towards a decent total. Just when Pakistan had to put the brakes on, they let Australia take the free ride. Bailey and Hussey purposefully kept building up nice momentum by rotating the strike and hitting odd boundaries. Australia marched to 144/4 after 35 overs.

Yet again, Misbah fell back on his spinners to bring Pakistan back into the game. Into the 38th over, A.Rehman tossed the ball up and Bailey (39) spooned it right back into A.Rehman’s waiting palms, leaving Australia half down for 155.

Maxwell had his intentions clear from the beginning and looked to attack and rattle Pakistan spinners, hitting Rehman for back to back sixes on last two balls of the 40th over, with pendulum swinging in Australia’s favor .

Hussey got into the action and banged Junaid Khan for another six on the first ball of his brand new over. Australia 186/5 after 41st over were heading towards a big score with run rate climbing up.

The crucial moment was in the 42nd over of the match when Asad Shafiq dropped the skier and Maxwell got another life, meanwhile Hussey completed his 30th half century.

Saeed Ajmal continued his magic with the ball without much support from the other end and clean bowled Hussey for 61, who missed a straight one from Ajmal on the first ball of the 46th over. Maxwell (28) was sent packing by Ajmal in the same over with assistance from Kamran Akmal behind the stumps, a fairly easy stumping, managed well by Akmal.

Sohail Tanvir continued having a bad outing in the park and kept leaking runs just before Junaid Khan claimed wickets of Christian and Johnson on successive deliveries. Australia managed 63 runs in the last 9 overs putting up a competitive score (249) for Pakistan to chase. 

Pakistan took off brilliantly in the pursuit of 249 runs, aiming to level the series. Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed bamboozled Australian bowlers with glorious hitting all over the park and managed 52/0 after 9 overs. 66 runs opening stand between Nasir and Hafeez was an exhibition of solid stroke play and good understanding between the wickets, which was brought to an end by Christian when Hafeez (23) pulled the ball into Michael Hussey’s hands on the first ball of 11th over.

Pakistan cruised along marvelously owing to some beautiful batting display by Nasir Jamshed who was supported at the other end by Azhar Ali. Nasir hit some picture perfect strokes all over the park and reached his 6th ODI fifty in just 59 balls. This innings by Jamshed was an affirmation of his immense talent.

Starc, Christian, Pattinson, Johnson all found it hard to grip the ball and could not stop the flow of runs from Jamshed’s bat and hence Clarke had to bring him Michael Hussey to bowl in the 23rd over (his first over after 2 years). Starc continued at the other end and Pakistan had managed 150/1 after 25 overs, needing 99 runs off 150 balls.  Azhar Ali joined the club by stroking a beautiful cut short off Johnson in the 26th over, who replaced Hussey. Just when Jamshed and Azhar reached their first 100 plus partnership, Jamshed started struggled with cramps and scooped the ball right into the hands of Starc off Johnson’s bowling, missing on what would have been a brilliant century.  Stellar performance from Jamshed consisted of 11 fours and 2 sixes with strike rate hovering around 100 for much of his innings.

Asad Shafiq made his way to the crease with Pakistan requiring 82 off 132 balls. These were testing times for both the batsmen as Pakistan team is known for making a match out of a nothing situation. Shafiq (9) was dismissed cheaply off a Pattinson delivery that cracked his middle stump bringing Misbah-ul-haq to crease with Pakistan requiring just 59 runs to win.

Two cracking shots by Misbah and Azhar respectively eased the nerves for Pakistan. Azhar Ali marched along patiently and reached his half century through a stylish boundary. Misbah and Azhar Ali dealt in singles afterwards to ensure Pakistan reached home safely, with no serious bumps in the road. The heat and humidity in the ground made progress hard for not only the bowlers but also the batsmen and runs almost dried up and finally winning shot came off Misbah’s bat and Pakistan won by 7 wickets.

Pakistan were clinical in their performance however they were helped by some undisciplined bowling by the Australians (26 extras) but wonderful performance by both Saeed Ajmal and Azhar Ali ensured Pakistan was through to victory. This win has now set up the stage for the series clincher in Sharjah on Monday.