If ever proof was needed that Pakistan are world cricket's most
mercurial side, take this match as exhibit A. Bilawal Bhatti's first
over cost 30 runs, Pakistan dropped two catches in three balls, they
conceded an 18-ball half-century to Glenn Maxwell and in their own
innings stumbled to 25 for 2 in their fifth over. Oh, and they won.
Comfortably, in the end. So relaxed was Mohammad Hafeez by the end that
he trusted Bhatti with the final over, with Australia needing 23. They
managed six.
This really was a split personality of a game. The fielding from both
sides was poor, as was some of the bowling. But the striking from Umar
Akmal and Maxwell was breathtaking, and a couple of wonderful overs from
two of Pakistan's spinners, Zulfiqar Babar and Saeed Ajmal, meant more
than Bhatti's dirty 30-run over. Perhaps the most important feature of
the match was the lopsided nature of Australia's scorecard; nobody but
Maxwell and Aaron Finch reached double figures.
And yet while they were at the crease together, Australia rocketed into
favouritism. Chasing 192, they had come together at 8 for 2 at the end
of the first over, after Babar's quicker ball rattled David Warner's
stumps and his turner caught the edge of Shane Watson's bat on the way
through to Kamran Akmal. But from there, Maxwell and Finch lifted
Australia to 126 for 2 in the 12th over, a position from which they
could have and should have won.
Had Maxwell stayed there they would have. As he struck six after six
with conventional strokeplay, it was hard to work out why he had tried
to reverse-sweep Hafeez from the first ball of his innings. Nerves,
perhaps. But when he stood still and played the ball on its merits, he
was almost impossible to stop. He clubbed Hafeez over midwicket and
square leg for two sixes in an over and struck another as Shahid Afridi
leaked 15 in his first over.
Afridi seemed Scrooge-like compared to Bhatti, who was thumped for two
consecutive sixes that brought Maxwell his half-century, the equal
fastest in a T20 international by an Australia player. The record was
set by David Warner, who struck an 18-ball fifty against West Indies in
2009-10 at the SCG, where the Arizona Diamondbacks and the LA Dodgers
are playing Major League Baseball this week. Some of Maxwell's strikes
belonged there.
He was put down on 70 by Ajmal in the deep - two balls earlier Kamran
had failed to glove Finch's edge behind off Ajmal's doosra - but on 74
Maxwell fell when he picked out deep midwicket off the bowling of
Afridi. And magically, the runs dried up. The rest of the Australians
struggled to force the pace against Pakistan's spin; George Bailey was
bowled by Afridi for 4 off nine balls and after Brad Hodge was well
caught in the deep by Ajmal off Umar Gul, Ajmal got rid of the other
main danger, Finch.
Australia needed 31 off the final three overs when Ajmal was given his
last over, and it was a brilliant one. Finch, settled but still a little
scratchy, was bowled by an Ajmal straight ball for 65 off 54 balls, and
the over brought one run and one wicket. And, more or less, one
Pakistan victory. Because 30 off two overs was too much for Australia's
lower order; Gul and Bhatti picked up wickets and there was a run out,
and Australia were bowled out from the last ball for 175.
It meant that Umar Akmal's batting had not been in vain. That Pakistan
reached 191 for 5 was a remarkable effort given that they were
struggling at 25 for 2 in the fifth over. But the Akmal brothers
combined to give Bailey a headache for the next three quarters of an
hour.
They scored at 11.29 during their 96-run partnership and although Kamran
has an excellent record against Australia it was Umar who really did
the damage this time. Powerful through and over midwicket, especially
during an 18-run over from part-time spinner Finch, who was twice
dispatched dismissively over deep midwicket, Umar was also able to
rocket the ball down the ground straight back past the bowler Nathan
Coulter-Nile.
Kamran struck four fours during his run-a-ball 31 but the partnership
ended when he tried to lift a cut over deep point off Coulter-Nile but
was well taken by Warner running around on the boundary. Coulter-Nile
picked up a second wicket when he yorked Sohaib Maqsood for 5, but Umar
remained at the crease and seemed destined to become the first Pakistan
batsman to reach a century in a Twenty20 international.
That was not to be. In the final over of the innings, on 94 from 53
balls, he tried to clear the long-on boundary off Mitchell Starc and was
caught in the deep by Maxwell. A quick unbeaten 20 from Afridi helped
Pakistan to 191 for 5, but the Australians were left wondering what
could have been had they been a little less sloppy in the field.
Umar had been dropped on 22 when he lifted Coulter-Nile to deep square
leg and Brad Hogg put down a catch that was coming to him at pace, but
should have been taken comfortably. Afridi was also put down by Hodge at
point and Kamran was grassed by Doug Bollinger at short fine leg,
although the umpire called a no-ball against the bowler Shane Watson in
any case.
Bollinger's first international for two and a half years had started
more promisingly - he struck in the second over of the match when Ahmed
Shehzad top-edged a pull and was caught by Bollinger himself. When
Hafeez played on off Watson in the fifth over, Australia could dream of a
small chase. In their dreams
