Published: Feb 03, 2011, 12:26 PM (IST)
Edited: Jun 28, 2014, 12:26 AM (IST)
By Umair Qazi
The year gone by had the good, the bad, and the ugly moments. And for Pakistan cricket, there were plenty of ugly cricket moments in what has been the worst year in Pakistan cricket.
But let’s recall the cherished moments:
10. Six-for on Debut
Pakistan’s history is replete with quality young pacers unleashed on the cricketing world. Tanvir Ahmed, though, was an exception. At 32, he made a sensational Test debut against South Africa – six-for on a dead Abu Dhabi track. To get wickets in your first and second overs on Test debut and to scalp the likes of Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, and Hashim Amla in your first outing is simply awesome.
9. Kallis gets there – finally!
There are two performances that can qualify under this title, but Jacques Kallis’s double hundred deserves higher ranking because he had played over 140 Tests, batted over 240 times, scored over 11,000 runs, and hit 37 centuries in a career spanning 15 years before he hit his first double century! The celebration in the South African camp on Kallis reaching the milestone showed what the double ton meant to the batsman.
8. Gayle Force
Chris Gayle single-handedly demolished Sri Lanka with a brutal innings of 333 (437 balls, 34×4, 9×6). Gayle has played a number of whirlwind knocks in all formats of the game, but this is most memorable in my book.
7. When you can’t beat them, join them
Harbhajan Singh’s waning as a bowler marked the rise of Harbhajan the batsman. He decided it’s best to stop complaining about the batsman-friendly Indian tracks and assert himself as batsman. He scored 69 and 115 (his maiden Test hundred) against New Zealand in the first Test and followed up with 111 in the 2nd Test.
6. Three in Three on Day 1
Peter Siddle’s hat-trick on the first day of the Ashes series gave the home team a rare moment of joy against England. Returning to Tests after a back injury. Siddle snared a well-set Alastair Cook, Matt Prior and Stuart Broad in successive deliveries.
5. Total Knock Out
Michael Hussey‘s unbeaten 60 in the semis of the World T20 against Pakistan is the best-ever T20 innings in my book. Since the days of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, I have never seen anyone take a game away from a team the way Hussey did. When he came to the crease, Australia still required 87 to win in 7.3 overs with half the team back in the pavilion. It looked uphill even when 47 runs were required of the final three overs and, then, 18 in the final over. But Hussey proved that impossible is nothing! His 60 took a mere 24 deliveries.
4. Australia reduced to ashes
When England won the 4th Ashes Test at the MCG they did what no other English team had done in 24 years – win the Ashes on Australian soil. The post-Test celebrations will be etched in my mind for a long time to come.
3. Two Fat Ladies
No one could have imagined in their wildest dreams that Pakistan would beat Australia in a Test or bowl them out for 88. The Pakistan win over Australia in the 2nd Test at Leeds was one of the sweetest-ever as it came after 15 years.
2. 200 in ODI – at last!
Sanath Jayasuriya, Adam Gilchrist and Virender Sehwag were seen as the batsmen who were likely to be the first to score 200 in an ODI. I hoped Shahid Afridi would do it. But if anyone deserved to break Saeed Anwar‘s record, it is Sachin Tendulkar. It wasn’t a slog-fest, but rather a classical innings from the game’s greatest ever batsman. It came in the 2nd ODI against South Africa in. Truly unforgettable.
1. The Unbelievable One
Pakistan is bad at chasing totals. Nobody expects Pakistan to chase a low total, let alone 286. When Shahid Afridi got out to leaving Pakistan tottering at 136 for five in 29 overs, most people expected the inevitable. But Abdul Razzaq walked in the 30th over and hit an unbeaten 109 (off 72 balls, 10×6, 7×4) to take Pakistan to a one- wicket victory with 1 ball. In my opinion, the chase against South Africa in Abu Dhabi is the best-ever ODI chase in ODI history. The way Razzaq single-handedly took the game away from South Africa was quite unbelievable.
Many Pakistanis will say that 2010 was a cricket year they would like to forget but I believe that there were many – one of which ending 2010 on a victorious note with their largest ever win in a T20 game.
Here’s hoping to a better 2011 with many more victories for Pakistan, and many more memorable cricket performances all around the world.
(Umair Qazi, popularly known as Q in the world of cricket blogging, has been a passionate cricket fan over two decades. An eternal optimist when it comes to Pakistan cricket and since 2007 his optimism has been flowing in his posts on his cricket blog known as Well Pitched. Umair has worked in the consulting and investment banking world in the past and currently he is pursuing his MBA in Manchester)
