A series of unexpected and expected events - MIGs match report First ODI Pak Va Aus (Dubai)

The stadium

It’s a fantastic arena with facilities to die for! The only problem is that a lot of the surrounding area is still under construction so a lot of walking in the sand and in sun.

And there is a bit of Pakistan in the way things happen – as an example, I noticed huge queues of ordinary Pakistanis, snaking through the harsh April sun, trying their best to get in but not fully understanding the need for security. “its just a cricket match” remarked one pleasant chap. His remarks were then followed by a surge of frustrated ticket holders (and presumably fans) who tried to force their way into the stadium gates – only to be beaten back with threats from local policemen ( and somewhere in those threats must have been an idea of being deported to their homelands) – whatever it was, it worked and order was restored amongst the unruly lot. As for me, well I was fortunate to be in a stand where the queues were shorter and pleasant and where staff treated you like the royals – I am ashamed to say that Money talks ƒ¼

The Celebs

3 that I saw:

Imran Khan – looked totally disinterested in cricket - a man with many other things on his mind

Faisal Bhanja Iqbal – looked very interested in cricket but sadly, no one was interested in him - he sat with a few unknowns and tried to look around for recognition ( good that I was there ) but no one else really took notice

Waqar Younis who would come down from the Comm box once in a while to be with wife and 3 children – I shook his hand and said Salam and he replied politely – no air and graces in his body language

Mr. Chapal ( The senior one ) - the man who is making all this happen - good on him!

As for the game itself, I am not going to bore you with blow by blow commentary of events, but to me the day was defined by the following types of events

The Unexpected

What could be more stranger than a game of cricket, meant for the lush greens of England, being played in the middle of desert in an arena which is so far ahead of its time, it might as well be from a Sci Fi movie ! As if this was nothing, in the evening break a troupe of Emirati (men from UAE) dancers danced a traditional dance that pretty much left all of us in a trance of sorts. Mind you, it did give the proceedings some local colour but I am sure the gents involved in the dance must have been wondering about us in the same way.

In a more cricketing sense, the series of unexpected events kicked off with what can only be described as a bizarre event as far as Pakistani ground fielding goes – I refer to the first Australian wicket to fall to, wait for it, a run out? Yes, a Pakistani fielder ran out an Australian opener .No amount of fast bowling from Shoaib ( and we will come to that in a moment) or Gul could budge the Aussie openers but what opened the pandoras box was a brilliant bit of fielding which pretty much came out of the blue.

And then the strange events went into overdrive – Akmal took a catch - the crowd went wild and people hugged and threw flowers at each other – well not exactly but you get the drift, don’t you?


The Expected

Cynics amongst the followers of Pakistani cricket have come to expect a few things and we were right on the money.

Lets start with Shoaib Akhtar – we all know the story with his fitness ( or lack thereof) and he did not disappoint. After bowling a marathon opening spell of 6 (or 7 ) overs, where he threatened to break out of his old malaise, he did what we expected him to do. For the rest of the innings, and maybe the cameras didn’t catch this but he limped and looked forlorn and tired. Yasir Arafat stood around the boundary rope with a towel and water to service Akhtar but the man looked spent - This was not a cricketer at the peak of his fitness – there is much more work to be done though he did look a little leaner than his usual puffed up self. He also managed to drop a catch ( how simple or difficult it was is moot – he called for it and didn’t take it ) – that act alone endeared him with the crowd. A gentleman sitting next to me casually remarked about how he had seen Shoaib in a night club 2 days ago at 2:00am. Another chatted in the back with his friends about how Shoaib should have retired ages ago and so on - totally expected reactions and nothing new there.

And another thing we fans have come to expect is the hype around Afridi. But, the fair minded amongst us have always argued that the guy can bowl but when it comes to batting – well he proved us wrong today. His bowling and the reaction that followed a wicket was a sight to behold – you REALLY had to be there to experience it in the air. Majestic is the only word that describes it. There he stood, as wicket after wicket fell, amongst his subjects with a poignant finger pointing to the sky – proclaiming himself as the Number One !

His batting was another story. The roar that followed his arrival to the field could be heard in Burj Dubai and the roar that followed every one of his scoring shots could be heard on the Moon ! Dubai was up on their seats and refusing to sit down, lest this dream end. The dream did end but not before Afridi retained his most favourite son status in Dubai.

There were some other performance as well – Ajmal was amazing Guls Yorkers looked good and Pakistani ground fielding was above par (our par). For the Aussies, their spin attack looked toothless but their pace attack will keep YK and Friends up all night. They will also need to look at why they were clueless in front of Afridi and Ajmal – if they don’t come up with a method to counter this threat, Pakistan will be walking off with a Ozwash….

Back to Pakistan, well we made a meal of this chase – could have been the result of some outstanding bowling by the Aussies – who knows or was it just the fear of losing – whatever the reason, we seemed to take an eternity to get to our target with a nervy, jittery type performance.

Apart from Akmal and Malik and Afridi, all others looked like succumbing to the Oz headlock – one wonders what the outcome of this match would have been, had Australia put on another 50 runs!

While on the subject of hypotheticals, it did occur to me that presence of Ponting and Johnson in this match could have made a huge impact to the result but that’s neither here nor there. The fact is, we won. Its not the greatest victory ever but it means a lot to us and especially to Afridi – was this the day when the legendary warrior finally woke up to his old potential ? The answers to that question will be coming up soon.

For the moment, YK and Friends can sit pretty and enjoy the admiration of fans - They must know their weaknesses in batting and should think of improving themselves - in any case - Well done to Team Pakistan – Pakistan Zindabad !