ISLAMABAD - Professor M Hafeez and Umar Gul helped green shirts in registering eight-wicket victory over Sri Lanka and also gave Pakistan an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match One-day series.
It was awesome performance by the green shirts in all departments of the game. Ever since the arrival of Umar Gul in the side, Pakistan bowling looked a completely different outfit as before his arrival, wickets were very hard to get and Pakistan team was relying on run outs and spinners to get wickets, but Umar made the difference and gave the team timely wickets and that too very cheaply.
Had Pakistani fielders bucked up bowlers and not gave away unnecessary runs, Pakistan could have restricted Sri Lankans to well below 200 runs. Gul was exceptional in the start of the Sri Lankan innings and Saeed and Junaid provided the much-needed support in the middle and end of the innings to ensure Pakistan chase a modest target, which they duly obliged.
Pakistan skipper Misbah once again let opponents off the hook. When they were struggling at 3-36, Misbah should have gone all out for a kill but his defensive-minded approach allowed Lankans to get out of the hole and it was the crucial fourth-wicket stand between the debutant Priyanjan and experienced Sangakkara which almost took Sri Lankan team towards posting a decent total on the board.
Mathews once again batted well in the middle of the innings, but it was Saeed Ajmal who dictated terms and kept on taking wickets at regular intervals. Junaid bowled with too much venom and fire, but Misbah once again wasted Gul’s overs as he should have been given at least one or two overs in the middle of the innings, in which Misbah completely failed to utilise his premier bowler. Had Misbah brought back Gul earlier, the result could have far different.
Hafeez was awesome right from the start of the innings and looked all set to score another ton, which would have taken him to at par with Indian Shekar Dhawan who had scored five centuries in the calendar year, a feat which Hafeez managed to achieve with utmost ease and comfort. Hafeez never looked in trouble in his innings and played some lovely strokes.
Sharjeel Khan once again flopped miserably with the willow and this was for the third time when he just gifted his wicket to the opponent bowlers. It was pretty straight forward delivery which Sharjeel should have dealt with ease, but he just carved his bat at the last moment, which led to his downfall. Ahmed Shahzad should have kept in mind a slip fielder was very much posted by the Lankan captain and he committed a silly mistake by trying to give catch practice to the fielder. After playing so sensibly with a lot of authority, Ahmed just got carried away so he must learn how to prolong his innings just like Sohaib Maqsood did.
Now the first task of winning the series is accomplished and now the green shirts must not relax and should go straight forward to win the series 4-1. It is a golden opportunity for the men in green to stamp out their authority and impose a 4-1 bashing to the Lankans. Misbah and his men must be aware about complacency which can ruin the party, as the destiny is very much in the hands of the green shirts and no one else but they should will be blamed if they fail to achieve the task of inflicting 4-1 defeat.