The green shirts stormed into semi-final of the cricket showpiece event by thrashing the Carrabin nation on Wednesday, and are on the course to a possible clash with arch rival India in the semis at Mohali.
If anyone had told you some two months ago that the green shirts will book a place in the last four, crushing Aussies, Sir Lanka and West Indies, definitely you would have though that he/she is joking.
Deprived of international matches at home on security concerns, grappling with off the filed controversies and with the last year spot-fixing scandal that rocked Pakistani cricket that ultimately deprived the green shirts two of their world’s finest and dangerous pacer, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, besides Salman But, and the confusion over selection of Pakistan’s skipper– Pakistan cricket was in disarray.
But what resilience the Afridi eleven has demonstrated is incredible. They simply raised from ashes by facing all odds to get them counted among the hot favorites of the tournament.
Afridi has been so far tremendous with the ball and as a leader too, leading the side from the front. He has been leading wickets’ taker so far with 21 wickets in just seven encounters and has been instrumental in Pakistan victories.
Just as Imran Khan had unified a World Cup-winning Pakistan team in 1992, when they were lucky to scrape into the semi-finals after emerging victorious in only one of their first five matches, Afridi is proving to be an inspirational leader.
In what fashion the Pakistani team thrashed the Caribbean on Wednesday at Mirpur, Dkaha, they have set the alarm bell ringing in the dressing rooms of cricket pundits’ favorites outfits.
Till now, the major headache the coach and skipper was grappling with was the opening pair, that was not clicking. But at the right time on Wednesday, Hafeez and Akmal’s pair provided Pakistan a 100 plus stand against West Indies that is a good omen for the green shirts. Hafeez has been superb both with the ball and bat against West Indies.
All the indicators show that the Afridi eleven is going to repeat the history of 1992. Â And the nation badly needed it. By Israr Ahmed
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