Pakistan should go beyond 20Twenty -Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) November 16, 2009 -- Pakistan should go beyond 20Twenty
-Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal


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India has skillfully reduced the chances of Pakistan playing international cricket, by creating terrorism horrors in Pakistan and pressuring other teams not to play cricket in Pakistan for a couple of years now. Yet, Pakistan have now won 7 consecutive T20Is - Equaling the record held by South Africa. Pakistan overcame a spirited New Zealand fightback to sweep the Twenty20s 2-0 at the Dubai Sports City. New Zealand focused on keeping wickets in hand, but unfortunately though, they left a little too much to do in the end as Pakistan sneaked home by seven runs.

After a disappointing loss in both last ODIs, Pakistan bounced back strongly and won both the T20I matches, dominating the match from the outset. A clinical Pakistan maintained their perfect Twenty20 record against New Zealand by strolling to a 49-run victory in first T20 on 12 Nov and again another 7 runs victory in the second 20/20 on Nov 13. The difference between the two teams was the top-order batting. Pakistan moved swiftly. The worms couldn't have looked more different after two overs: Pakistan were 3 for 0, New Zealand were 29 for 1. After seven, it read: Pakistan 53 for 1, New Zealand 44 for 4. Pakistan kept their wickets intact. New Zealand lacked the sort of effort that Nazir turned in earlier in the evening.

Pakistan has lived up to their reputation of being called World T20 Champs with a clinical bowling performance to clinch a thriller on 13 Nov. NZ got off to a disastrous start, but McCullum and Styris got them back. Ajmal's spell turned out to be the turning point in the match, his wicket of McCullum turned the scales in their favour. Once he was gone, it was all over for the Kiwis who fall 7 runs short in the end. Pak win the series 2-0. Pakistan looks really good with Afridi as skipper and their bowling and fielding look pretty sharp. The batting though still has its problems that should be sorted out on the field. In the first T20, Imran Nazir smashed his first half-century in limited-overs since returning from the ICL and some swinging from the lower order pushed the target to a tough 162. Against the Twenty20 world champions, New Zealand's chances were slim, given the long list of unfit players. The biggest blow was the loss of captain Daniel Vettori to a head injury picked up during the one-dayers. After electing to bat, Pakistan squandered away a good start and managed to reach 153/5 at the end of 20 overs. New Zealand never really looked in the chase and kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. The required run-rate kept on increasing and the pressure kept showing on the batsmen. However, Brendon McCullum and Scott Styris staged late fightback with a nicely-built 66-run stand. Towards the end, however, NZ was almost on the top, but Pakistan quickly removed the last batsmen at the crease for 20 overs.