Wins in Multan and Faisalabad for Pakistan

Wickets on Return
By SS
September 12 2003

Pakistan secured 2 easy victories against Bangladesh in Multan and Faisalabad. The batting led by Yasir Hameed in the first game who scored his first one day century was too hot for Bangladesh and Yousuf Youhana scored another one day century in game 2.

Two matches and two easy victories for Inzamam led Pakistan. Firstly the match in Multan produced a magnificent batting performance and 323 for 3 was never going to be a target that Bangladesh were realistically going to threaten.

Yasir Hameed produced the highest individual total in the Pakistan innings with 116, but the onslaught by Younis Khan and Inzamam at the end of the innings took the match away from the Bengalis. Inzi and Younis shared a breathtaking partnership of 112 in 11 overs as the Bangladesh bowlers and fielders buckled under the pressure.

Once again Pakistan demonstrated that at the end of the innings if they have wickets in hand, they are capable of inflicting a lot of damage to opposition bowling attacks.

The Bengalis in their lost regular wickets and it was only a last wicket partnership of 46 runs that enabled them to reach a semi respectable score of 186. Abdul Razzaq and Mohamed Hafeez both took three wickets for the home team. One thing of note was the overall quality of the ground fielding which carried on to the second match in Faisalabad too.

The second match in Rameez Rajas home city of Faisalabad proved to be less embarrassing for the Bengalis but must have been equally as demoralizing. Once again Pakistan won the toss and batted first, but this time managing to score 80 runs less than the first match. One must congratulate the Bengali bowlers who bowled with a lot more discipline second time round, but one must also lament the Pakistani batsmen for some rather ordinary and careless strokeplay.

It was left to Mr Elegance, Yousuf Youhana to steer Pakistan to the score of 243 as he scored a wonderful 106 from 126 balls. Yousuf was at the crease for 39 overs during the Pakistani innings. Inzamam ul Haq scored 41 and Kamran Akmal scored 26 off 28 balls.

The total set by Pakistan was of course not an impossible one and the Khaled Mahmud led Bengalis must have sniffed a chance. Early wickets were the key for the Pak bowlers. At 87 for 1 from 18 overs there must have been some butterflies amongst Pakistani supporters, but once Habibul Bashar departed there was a regular flow of wickets. Rajin Saleh scored his first fifty in one dayers and only Alok Kapali could support him with 37 off 49 balls.

Shoaib Malik bowled well and took 3 wickets and also Junaid Zia picked up 3 late wickets. Again, Abdul Razzaq was economical and picked up 2 wickets to add to his 3 in the first match.

Overall I would say that the Pakistan team deserve a 7 out of 10 rating for their performances in the first 2 games. There are still too many players playing loose shots early in their innings which creates pressure. The middle order trio of Younis Khan, Abdul Razzaq and Shoaib Malik were poor today and Mohamed Hafeez needs to capitalize on the starts that he is getting.

The number of wides and no balls must be a concern, with 8 wides and 6 no balls bowled today, compared with 15 wides and 8 no balls at Multan. Shoaib Malik took a wicket off a no ball today and it is an area that must be improved upon.

The fielding has looked sharp and there seems to be a lot of enthusiasm and togetherness in the squad. As far as individual performances go, Yasir, Inzamam, Yousuf Youhana and Younis Khan in the first match have looked good and it must be great news for all involved in Pakistan cricket to see Abdul Razzaq looking hungry and taking wickets again.

The roadshow moves onto Lahore for the first of 3 day nighters. Mohamed Sami is back in the squad and will be raring to go at the Bengalis.