Mind Speaks - South Africa sweep Pakistan 2-0 in the Cool-Cool T20 series at Abu Dhabi

Mind Speaks - South Africa sweep Pakistan 2-0 in the Cool-Cool T20 series

The two match Cool-Cool T-20 series between Pakistan and South Africa finished yesterday with South African side winning on a 2-0 margin.

Before the match, cricket lovers from all over had the expectation that Pakistan, with it’s fondness for the UAE grounds will give a tough fight. However, against all expectations, and with some un-imaginative batting and bowling display they proved otherwise. In the first match it was the captain Shahid Afridi with the bat whereas in the second it was Misbah-ul-Haq. Both the batsman, played shots which should be termed as turning point towards defeats. The remaining batsman in the team did not raise their individual game to the expectation. South African’s on the other hand displayed a disciplined effort with bat and ball. J Theron, R Theron and LL Tsotsobe  were excellent with their bowling and JP Duminy and CA Ingram played well on both the occasions. Bosman was not upto the mark but overall the team fielding was excellent that at times it was like Pakistan was playing against 18 players on field.

Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi is one of the most beautiful green ground currently available for international matches. Although the grass is thick, the outfield is short and fast. During this time of the year, there is a certain element of humidity and due factor making batting second difficult with the extra excellent lightings. There is also fair amount of air movement making accurate bowling and hitting high difficult. It is here that the batsman and bowlers have to show patience and skill and on both occasion South African players showed there superiority in adjusting better than the Pakistan team players who are more used to this condition than any others.

We hope they learn fast from the mistakes and adapt fast in the long version starting tomorrow or otherwise, the series will be of no interest by the time it moves to Dubai for the remaining matches. It looks like Afridi and company have to really aim for the stars to stay alive in the series in UAE.

Ramesh Menon

28.10.2010



photo courtesy: www.cricinfo.com