Story Pakistan:- Agony & Ecstasy - ICC World T20 2009 [Day 5, Game 7]

[Pakistani Army]

So Pakistan will surely like to win the toss and bat first on this amazing batting turf! Nice write up there. Good presentation too. KIU and GL!

Hopefully, you will just have to wait and find out.
Thanks for the kind comments brother. Update coming very soon.

 

[Pakistani Army]

ICC World Twenty20 2009
Game 6: England vs Pakistan
LIVE! From the Brit Oval
8th June, 2009​

ESPN - Sky Sports Pre-Match Chat - Toss​

Welcome back to The Brit Oval where we are moments away from the start of this crucial Group B encounter between England and Pakistan. Before the game can begin, we must call the coin toss. Ravi Shastri is down there with both captains.

Thank you Harsha. It is a great atmosphere out here in the middle. With me are Paul Collingwood and Younus Khan both captains of their respective countries, aswell as ICC Match Referee Ranjan Madagalle with the mascot of today. Younus is to flip the coin. . .
P Collingwood:- Heads. . .
R Madagalle:- It is heads. . .

So Paul you have won the toss, what are you electing to do?
P Collingwood:- I think we are going to bat first. The surface looks fairly hard and to some extent flat aswell.

What would you think a competitive score would be on this wicket?
P Collingwood:- Well there is some moisture left over from the washout earlier today. I feel that 165 - 175 should be a competitive score.

You understand that this is a crucial game in terms of whether or not you make the next stage of the tournament. What is the mood like in the camp?
P Collingwood:- Erm, the guys are relaxed. We understand today is a must win game and therefore we can not afford to slip up. We are not fretting as then the boys will get worked up. We know that we can play at our best given the boys fire. We will just have to see what today brings.

Thanks for talking, and best of luck for today.
P Collingwood:- Cheers.

Younus, there is not that much pressure on your team heading into this game. You will be hoping to get off to a winning start though.
Younus:- Ya, we know we can knock out England if we win today. Boys thinking positively for today's game and we have some great T20 players like Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal. So we will just try and play our best.

Are you a bit disappointed about losing the toss?
Younus:- Well not really. We know that the bowling is our strong point and with the moisture on this wicket already there, we will be looking to the likes of Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir to get the ball to move around early on and take some wickets.

Thanks Younus.
Younus:- Thanks.

So that is the news from the middle, England have won the toss and elected to bat first.

Thanks Ravi. We also have confirmation of the teams for today's match.

England Line-up​

Pakistan Line-up​

What do you think of England's line-up David?

It looks a strong T20 unit on paper. I mean they have made a lot of changes from the previous starting eleven for the game against the Netherlands. I particularly like the inclusion of Samit Patel. He is a really good T20 player and has had a decent T20 career with Nottinghamshire up to this point.

Gentleman, thank you for your time. Well that is all from the pre-match chat. We will now take a quick break, and when we return we will be ready for the action LIVE! Only on ESPN Star Sports!

 

[Fenil]

Really good, man. I'll be reading this for sure.

 

[The Rock]

So it is England, whos won the toss. Why no Afridi and Collingwood pics in that pre-match toss presentation? Or is it only me who cant see it? TBH, Pakistan lineup looks far superior than that of England's. Waiting for the game to commence! GL!

 

[Pakistani Army]

Why no Afridi and Collingwood pics in that pre-match toss presentation? Waiting for the game to commence! GL!

Sorry bro. I could not find a decent picture.
Thanks very much for your kind comments once again.

 

[The Rock]

Thanks very much for your kind comments once again.

Good stories deserve comments. No need to thank me for that.

 

[Fenil]

Sorry bro. I could not find a decent picture.
Thanks very much for your kind comments once again.

The pleasure is all mine, pal. This is of the most entertaining stories.

 

[Pakistani Army]

ICC World Twenty20 2009
Game 6: England vs Pakistan
LIVE! From the Brit Oval
8th June, 2009​

Pakistan strike early!​

Openers James Foster and Joe Denly strode out to a rather electric atmosphere as The Oval was already using it's full capacity even at this early stage of the match. The crowd knew, the players knew, and even the Pakistani players knew that if they were to take a couple of early wickets and peg England back, their dream may be over.

Nevertheless, Younus Khan set a rather defensive field setting including one slip where Misbah-ul-Haq was situated. Younus was discussing thoroughly about the line he would like Sohail Tanvir to bowl to the right-handers as James Foster took a guard of middle stump.

Umpire Aleem Dar then raised his hand and called "PLAY" as Sohail Tanvir charged in with the opening ball of the innings which was angled away from Foster but was softly cut straight to Fawad Alam situated at Point. From the opening ball, it was obvious that Sohail was getting some away movement aswell as a good angle across the right-hander. Foster did eventually get off the mark the next ball as did Denly.

As the angle was going across Foster, there was an opportunity to beat Fawad Alam at Point and Abdul Razzaq at Wide Third Man if the ball short enough. As Tanvir came for his fourth ball, it was pitched a fraction shorter than the previous deliveries on a good length and angled across Foster. Foster saw the vacant space between Fawad and Razzaq and attempted to place it neatly in the gap for the first boundary of England's Innings. However, Foster did middle the ball and a loud shout of "CATCH IT" was heard on the stump by Kamran Akmal. Foster could sense what he had done wrong and started heading back towards the pavilion before Razzaq took a fairly simple catch at Wide Third Man close to the boundary.

The Pakistani contingent was ecstatic as they had picked up an early wicket. The majority of the crowd was silent as England were now 2/1 after only four balls being bowled. Foster departed and in came the dangerman who could rescue England. Kevin Pietersen. He started off with a usual aggressive cover drive push to get off the mark with a boundary aswell as hit the opening boundary of the England Innings.

Will England capitulate, or will Pakistan crumble in this pressure game?

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England:- 6/1 (1 Over)
*J Denly 1(1)
*K Pietersen 4(2) (1 Four)
Last Wicket:-
J Foster c. Abdul Razzaq b. Sohail Tanvir 1(3)

Sohail Tanvir 1-0-6-1

 

[Fenil]

Good start by Pakistan.

 

[The Rock]

So Pakistan are off to a flier in this game! Early wickets was what Pakistan needed as this pitch favours more of batsmen. KP has started off in style with a good boundary. Pakistan are one up in the game ATM but it is just the beginning. KP has the capability to tick the scoreboard in very short time and with other guys like Bell and Morgan yet to pad up, I feel nothing can be said about this game till the last ball is bowled!

Nice piece of writing, although I feel that the umpire saying 'Lets Play' or Kamran's 'Catch it', etc etc make the piece look a bit dragged. It looks good in short updates though. So will you be posting one over updates or the updates will be uneven? Anyways, GL with the future updates!

 

[Gaurav_7]

Nice piece of writing, although I feel that the umpire saying 'Lets Play' or Kamran's 'Catch it', etc etc make the piece look a bit dragged.

That's actually a pointless criticism.

 

[The Rock]

Well, everyone have thier own opinion..

 

[AsadAbrar]

Nice writeup, great story!
We need new updates!

 

[Paki007]

Dude i am fan of your Writing and Presentation KIU

GO Pakistan win it

 

[Pakistani Army]

ICC World Twenty20 2009
Game 6: England vs Pakistan
LIVE! From the Brit Oval
8th June, 2009​

Pakistan strike again, but England counter-attack​

Sharing the new ball with Sohail Tanvir was Abdul Razzaq. There had been numerous discussions about bowling Umar Gul alongside Sohail. However, Younus had delegated the opportunity for Razzaq to share the new ball.

The young Joe Denly knew that at Razzaq's pace, anything short or for that matter wide of the off-stump would be clattered away to the boundary. On Razzaq's second delivery, Pietersen did his usual "shimmy" down the wicket. Razzaq pitched it shorter, but on this hard pitch it rose to a easy height for Pietersen to clip away off the legs in the vacant mid-wicket area. Razzaq then changed his angles and bowled full, on a good length. However, Kevin Pietersen was the man in-form as a good length delivery from Razzaq was driven over Mid-On, handsomely in the air by Pietersen. Overall, Razzaq's over had cost 12 runs.

Denly, buoyed by the confidence of his partner Kevin Pietersen also showed why the England selectors called him up. With Sohail creating the angle going across Denly, he knew anything had to played would be offside and attempt to beat the cover region consisting of fielders such as Fawad Alam and Shoaib Malik. To his credit, Sohail had not bowled that bad a delivery even in his second over where only 2 runs were taken up until the fourth ball. Even the fourth ball was on the same length, angling across. Denly played the ball as late as possible and cut the ball into the solid practice pitches to beat a stretching Fawad Alam at point to attain his first boundary.

Younus then made a tactical change throwing Plan A of bringing Umar Gul on to bowl in the later stages of the Innings into the water. In the fourth over of the innings, he brought on Umar Gul, their lead strike bowler on to bowl. Even Denly and Pietersen were fairly surprised as they had a brief chat on how to approach him.

Umar Gul brought on to bowl in the fourth over. Is this a correct move by the captain, Younus?​

Despite all the hype, Pietersen caressed the ball towards the fence as a rank leg-stumps half-volley beat third man. Then, it was Denly's turn to attack. Gul was definitely struggling with his length, his line was fairly good. It was as though he was shocked to be bowling this early on. A fierce bouncer at 86mph was hooked away brilliantly by Denly as he was nearly late on the shot. Gul knew that Denly was looking rather uncomfortable against the shorter deliveries and planned ahead.

Gul again tested Denly out with the bouncer, only this time the ball did not bounce as much as the previous delivery. Denly was therefore early on the stroke and the ball took the bottom-edge of his Kookaburra bat. The ball had plenty of hang-time and it took an eternity for the ball to decend. The Pakistani fans and the players were fairly confident that the catch would be taken as Shoaib Malik steadied himself and took a difficult catch, but he however made it look easy. Denly walked off the field as England were 25/2 in the fourth over and to some extent struggling.

The dismissal brought Ian Bell to the crease. It was now England's most senior pair at the wicket. Pietersen was looking dangerous, and these two needed to rebuild the innings as a matter of urgency. Bell did just that as Gul was again hit for the third four of the over as Bell opened his account with exquisite cover drive aswell as adding two more fours off Sohail's third over.

Despite the wickets, England have scored at a rapid pace with the current run rate after 5 overs being 8.40 runs per over. It is just the question as to whether or not these two experienced batsman can continue this scoring rate when Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal come to bowl fairly soon.

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England:- 42/2 (5 Overs)
*K Pietersen 13(7) (3 Fours)
*I Bell *12(8) (3 Fours)
Last Wicket:-
J Denly c.Malik b.Gul 15(12)

Sohail 3-0-17-1
Razzaq 1-0-13-0
Gul 1-0-12-1