Originally appeared in Dunya Opinion
The year 2017 is never going to fade from the memory of a Pakistani cricket fan. It is our 1992 World Cup. Pakistan finally clinched another major 50-over international title by winning the ICC Champions Trophy in England. Overall, this was a successful year for a team which is in a state of transition after the retirement of veterans like Misbah ul Haq and Younis Khan.
The year started with our third consecutive Test defeat in Australia completing the whitewash. Misbah led the team in a Test series for the last time during Pakistan’s visit of West Indies - a country where we had never won a Test series before. The expectations were high and the tour started on a high note as well with Pakistan winning the first Test by 7 wickets. However, West Indies bounced back to win the second match by 220 runs. The last match - now considered one of the most famous victories in Pakistan’s history - when Yasir Shah took the last wicket with his last ball of the match to win the series, was a fitting farewell to Pakistan’s most successful captain and highest run scorer.
In the second half of the year a feisty and animated Sarfraz led Pakistan and hosted Sri Lanka for a two match series which seemed like a straightforward affair but the Lankans surprised everyone by putting their poor form behind them and winning both Test matches, thus conjuring our fortress and ending the unbeaten home streak. This was Sri Lanka’s first away win since 2014 and second series win since 2000. This was Pakistan’s first series defeat at UAE and first home defeat since South Africa won 1-0 in Pakistan in 2007-08.
Pakistan tasted success in the shortest format of the game winning 8 out of 10 T20Is. This included a 3-1 away series win in West Indies, a 2-1 home series win against the visiting World XI and a 3-0 whitewash against Sri Lanka. The matches against World XI were more than just T20Is; they marked the return of international cricket to Pakistan for the first time since 2009, barring a short tour by Zimbabwe in 2015. This definitely helped Pakistan’s image as a safe country and it was further boosted by Sri Lanka’s visit for the final T20I match of the series. One can hope that we will get to see more matches in the coming year, the PSL semifinals and final will further help the cause.
2017 will always be remembered by Pakistan’s success in the 50 over game. Pakistan started off the year in a disappointing manner with a 1-4 away loss to Australia. Pakistan won the next away series 2-1 in West Indies and reached England for ICC Champions Trophy as the lowest (8th) ranked team in the tournament.
Pakistan started the tournament with the much hyped Indo-Pak clash and lost by a huge margin of 124 runs. The next match was against the much fancied South Africans and everyone was ready for yet another early exit from the only tournament which had eluded Pakistan so far. But with changes in the team combination and dropping out of form players, Pakistan bounced back by restricting South Africa’s explosive batting line up to a mediocre score, a pattern the team followed in the remaining tournament. Sarfraz led Pakistan to victory against Sri Lanka in next match while the bowlers restricted undefeated and tournament favourite English team to a below par 211. Pakistan chased down the score at the loss of 2 wickets and entered final in high spirits against arch rivals India, and rest is nothing short of a die-hard fan’s dream.
Boosted by a strong opening partnership, Pakistan ended up with the highest total of the tournament and then Amir led the attack by removing Rohit, Kohli and Dhawan in quick succession to set up Pakistan’s victory. Pakistan won the final by 180 runs and cemented their place in World Cup 2019.
In 2017 Pakistan played 18 ODIs this year, winning 12 including a 5-0 whitewash against Srilanka. The youngsters were the revelation of the year; Babar Azam scored 872 runs with 4 hundreds in ODIs and 352 runs in T20Is at average 39. With 45 wickets in ODIs, Hasan Ali became the first Pakistani fast bowler since 1996 to reach the number 1 spot in ICC bowling rankings. Shadab excelled in the limited overs format and continues to improve. In Tests, Yasir Shah continued his impressive performance with 43 wickets with 5 five-for while Muhammad Abbas impressed in his first year at the highest level of game.
With the young team and an energetic captain, Pakistan enters 2018 with some unfamiliar confidence. The Test team will take some time to settle down and the upcoming New Zealand tour will be a good learning experience. The limited international team is quite settled down and if we can keep up this spirit, we might be lifting another trophy in England 2019.
x
Comments
Post a Comment