Match Report: 18th May 2007
If defeat has some sweetness I am sure that it would be the same that we feel in us at the moment. After the last two disasters it was very important for us to make a strong fightback and surely we did just that. Last time our bowling and fielding was nothing to write home about and this time it was very important for us to give a very good performance. And we did just that.
The day started in confusion about whether the match will take place or not, since in Kuwait nowadays the weather is very dusty and sometimes its so thick that the visibility is almost zero. The match did start though, although a couple hours of late.
Our bowling and fielding took 10 wickets today and packed the team for 159 runs. The special thing about it was that the other team was not a push over and it really felt good that for once we had an upper hand on the field and that too against a good all round team. As Anees Bhai says we kept our tail up ;) and restricted them to 159.
Junaid Bhai started with the first over and gave away 19 runs in it. The line was a bit incorrect and sometimes down the leg, I am sure he would improve on it. Anees Bhai bowled 4 on the trot and took 2 wickets for us. The captain decided to pursue with him since he was bowling a lethal line and length. As always I am a fan of watching a bold off his bowling. His second wicket came with a good and well judged catch on the boundary by Abdullah.
Wicky also bowled well and tried to stop the run flow and managed to do it to some extent.
I came in with the same idea of bowling wicket to wicket but this time was looking for a little more speed and bounce, which I finally manage to find it, thanks to a timely advice from my friend Mohsin for jerking my wrist with as much power as I can. I took 2 wickets one of them was a bold and one a caught behind. A bold is always special even if the batsman had decided to stay jammed in his crease and pull the ball. And oh yes bowled by first bouncer as well.
Anyways the pick of all bowlers was Nisar who took 4 wickets. His first over saw his first wicket when the batsman tried to hit him out of the ground only to whole it up in the air and Ahmed took a well judged and comfortable catch. It seemed to break the shackels for him and in his remaining overs he kept on looking for more wickets. He went on to take 3 more wickets which included a good catch from Rizwan. It is always difficult to take a catch on spin bowling. So well done Rizwan.
Abdullah bowled good off spin as well and took 2 wickets, with one wicket coming off a stumping from Rizwan. Hopefully this good performance by Rizwan will spark a new self belief in him and he would continue with the good work behind the wicket on spin bowlers as well.
A few words about our fielding. We took all the chances that we got and didn't give up any relief to the batsman. This just goes to show that if we take the chances that we get we can easily restrict the score to below average. A few fielders did horrible ground fielding, and they know who they are, so not necessary to mention the name. We are waiting for you to stop the ball. Khurram did well in the field and gave his 100%.
Our batting started miserably once again, with the Captain showing confidence in Ahmed to open with Nisar in the absence of Bilal. The idea possibly was to get some quick runs so as to put the fielding team on the back foot immediately. But that didn't work out and Ahmed was caught behind on the second ball he faced. Nisar also went early and he was clean bowled after hitting a strong boundary over the head of the point fielder.
In the absence of Bilal and Sameer Bhai we played two new players Abdullah and Masood. Both came on pitch and gave some sort of stability. Abdullah played well and confidently, Masood also was playing well but didn't look very comfortable and finally was out stumped. Abdullah continued in the same fashion and was joined in by Waqar. As the score was not that much therefore a good partnership was needed at that time. But as the law of averages goes, Waqar was out caught behind while trying to sweep. Rizwan came in next and played well along with Abdullah in an extreme pressure situation. That was a very critical partnership for us and both of them played exceptionally well, while keeping the required rate in check. The good thing about their batting was that they took minimum risk and kept the required scoring rate (which was fluctuating between 7-9) in check. Finally Rizwan got too tired and tried to go for a suicidal run and was run out. At that time the required runs were in 20s and as hind sight, it would have better if both Abdullah and Rizwan would have gone and finished the match for us. Abu Bakar came in next and after scoring a few runs was out caught. I came in and that time 10 runs were required off 7 balls.
Abdullah faced the first ball of the last over and was out caught on the boundary. I faced the next ball and was out caught on the boundary as well. I got a half volley but probably didn't how and where to hit that powerfully, so I chose a location which was the easiest but it went straight to the fielder. Anees Bhai faced the next ball and was out bowled on the first ball. Junaid Bhai came in next and we got a boundary off a fine edge and hence brought the runs required to 5 runs from 2 balls. In the next 2 balls we got 2 more runs and hence lost the match by just 2 runs. We were not all out so that was something which was good for us.
It was a good show from all of us and we did give a fighting performance. The score was not that much and it was expected from our batting to deliver today, but that was not to be. Hopefully we all can sit and do self analysis, since self analysis is the only way we can improve ourselves. And once we start doing that then sky is the limit.
If defeat has some sweetness I am sure that it would be the same that we feel in us at the moment. After the last two disasters it was very important for us to make a strong fightback and surely we did just that. Last time our bowling and fielding was nothing to write home about and this time it was very important for us to give a very good performance. And we did just that.
The day started in confusion about whether the match will take place or not, since in Kuwait nowadays the weather is very dusty and sometimes its so thick that the visibility is almost zero. The match did start though, although a couple hours of late.
Our bowling and fielding took 10 wickets today and packed the team for 159 runs. The special thing about it was that the other team was not a push over and it really felt good that for once we had an upper hand on the field and that too against a good all round team. As Anees Bhai says we kept our tail up ;) and restricted them to 159.
Junaid Bhai started with the first over and gave away 19 runs in it. The line was a bit incorrect and sometimes down the leg, I am sure he would improve on it. Anees Bhai bowled 4 on the trot and took 2 wickets for us. The captain decided to pursue with him since he was bowling a lethal line and length. As always I am a fan of watching a bold off his bowling. His second wicket came with a good and well judged catch on the boundary by Abdullah.
Wicky also bowled well and tried to stop the run flow and managed to do it to some extent.
I came in with the same idea of bowling wicket to wicket but this time was looking for a little more speed and bounce, which I finally manage to find it, thanks to a timely advice from my friend Mohsin for jerking my wrist with as much power as I can. I took 2 wickets one of them was a bold and one a caught behind. A bold is always special even if the batsman had decided to stay jammed in his crease and pull the ball. And oh yes bowled by first bouncer as well.
Anyways the pick of all bowlers was Nisar who took 4 wickets. His first over saw his first wicket when the batsman tried to hit him out of the ground only to whole it up in the air and Ahmed took a well judged and comfortable catch. It seemed to break the shackels for him and in his remaining overs he kept on looking for more wickets. He went on to take 3 more wickets which included a good catch from Rizwan. It is always difficult to take a catch on spin bowling. So well done Rizwan.
Abdullah bowled good off spin as well and took 2 wickets, with one wicket coming off a stumping from Rizwan. Hopefully this good performance by Rizwan will spark a new self belief in him and he would continue with the good work behind the wicket on spin bowlers as well.
A few words about our fielding. We took all the chances that we got and didn't give up any relief to the batsman. This just goes to show that if we take the chances that we get we can easily restrict the score to below average. A few fielders did horrible ground fielding, and they know who they are, so not necessary to mention the name. We are waiting for you to stop the ball. Khurram did well in the field and gave his 100%.
Our batting started miserably once again, with the Captain showing confidence in Ahmed to open with Nisar in the absence of Bilal. The idea possibly was to get some quick runs so as to put the fielding team on the back foot immediately. But that didn't work out and Ahmed was caught behind on the second ball he faced. Nisar also went early and he was clean bowled after hitting a strong boundary over the head of the point fielder.
In the absence of Bilal and Sameer Bhai we played two new players Abdullah and Masood. Both came on pitch and gave some sort of stability. Abdullah played well and confidently, Masood also was playing well but didn't look very comfortable and finally was out stumped. Abdullah continued in the same fashion and was joined in by Waqar. As the score was not that much therefore a good partnership was needed at that time. But as the law of averages goes, Waqar was out caught behind while trying to sweep. Rizwan came in next and played well along with Abdullah in an extreme pressure situation. That was a very critical partnership for us and both of them played exceptionally well, while keeping the required rate in check. The good thing about their batting was that they took minimum risk and kept the required scoring rate (which was fluctuating between 7-9) in check. Finally Rizwan got too tired and tried to go for a suicidal run and was run out. At that time the required runs were in 20s and as hind sight, it would have better if both Abdullah and Rizwan would have gone and finished the match for us. Abu Bakar came in next and after scoring a few runs was out caught. I came in and that time 10 runs were required off 7 balls.
Abdullah faced the first ball of the last over and was out caught on the boundary. I faced the next ball and was out caught on the boundary as well. I got a half volley but probably didn't how and where to hit that powerfully, so I chose a location which was the easiest but it went straight to the fielder. Anees Bhai faced the next ball and was out bowled on the first ball. Junaid Bhai came in next and we got a boundary off a fine edge and hence brought the runs required to 5 runs from 2 balls. In the next 2 balls we got 2 more runs and hence lost the match by just 2 runs. We were not all out so that was something which was good for us.
It was a good show from all of us and we did give a fighting performance. The score was not that much and it was expected from our batting to deliver today, but that was not to be. Hopefully we all can sit and do self analysis, since self analysis is the only way we can improve ourselves. And once we start doing that then sky is the limit.
1 comment:
The commitment level was high in this match, although a win would have been better.
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