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How they were out
Pakistan seem to have bitten another bullet. At the toss Younis Khan seemed relieved, almost trying to suppress laughter, when he called this a do-or-die match. It was as if he liked that there was no choice left, and his team showed they relished being in such a situation. On the evidence of the first innings, Younis' bowlers had put his team on the path of doing. Abdul Razzaq, formerly a pariah and now making a comeback to official cricket after two years, struck with the fourth ball he bowled, and then in his third over to skittle the New Zealand top order, which was followed by Umar Gul's destruction. Gul was on a hat-trick twice and also became the first bowler to take a five-for in Twenty20 internationals. Those two spells sandwiched a period when the spinners choked the life out of the middle order as a weakened New Zealand, missing Jesse Ryder and Ross, stumbled to a meagre total on a belter of a pitch at The Oval.
How Pakistan would want to thank BCCI for the "amnesty" they accorded the ICL players. For Pakistan had bowled yet another ordinary first over. The first and last balls, from Mohammad Aamer, were boundaries, in between there was poor fielding and no dot balls. Had even Razzaq got off to a poor start, Pakistan would have had to bring Gul on early, which is not their original game plan. But Razzaq got Brendon McCullum before he could cause severe damage, and then Martin Guptill with a trademark straight delivery that the batsman missed. He exulted with arms open, more of a reaction than you can usually draw from Razzaq. Welcome back, Pakistan cricket was poorer without Razzaq.
Razzaq's first wicket was the first dot ball of the innings, but by the time Aamer and Razzaq were done with their three-over spells, New Zealand had barely doubled their score at 1.3 overs. Time, then, for spinners to come on. For the first time, with the medium-pacers having put them in a favourable position. Time also it was for the fielders to raise their game, which they did. Diving saves, hustling fielders, and accurate bowling meant that Scott Styris and Jacob Oram struggled even to rotate the strike.
When it got too much for Oram, he stepped out to Shahid Afridi, in the 10th over, and skied a faster delivery. At the end of that over, Afridi's figures read 2-0-3-1. And because the opening bowlers did their job, Younis had Gul saved up for the last eight overs. At 72 for 4 after 12 overs, New Zealand had their task cut out, facing the yorkers from Gul and trying to accelerate.
Styris tried to put Gul off his rhythm right in his first over, and all he managed was a top edge to long-on. But this was Afridi's moment. He ran from mid-on, his eye on the ball falling over his head, his hands stretching out at the right moment and finishing the catch metres inside the boundary. Pakistan fielding had come a long way from being the laughing stocks of the tournament.
Following that dismissal, it was all Gul, his accuracy and his late swing. Peter McGlashan tried to paddle him next ball, but was undone by the in-dipper. James Franklin saved the hat-trick, but couldn't deny the irresistible Gul for long. With a change of ends, he cleaned up Nathan McCullum and Franklin with straight and fast bowling. Kyle Mills, though, fell to a slower one, giving Gul the five-for and another chance for a hat-trick. The hat-trick didn't come, but New Zealand managed just 27 since Gul's introduction to the attack. When the euphoria of this performance dies, Pakistan will thank a man returning to international cricket for allowing Pakistan to go ahead with their preferred bowling strategy.
Umar Gul Set New Record in T20 world cup against NZ
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