Yes it is hope that keeps you going when the chips are down, when the going gets tough and when things can't get any worse. Hope that things would turn out the way you want them to. Hope that nothing will go wrong this time. Hope that sanity would return to the proceedings one day.
Sixteen months ago when Pakistan Cricket team left England, they were a tumultuous pack of poorly advised individuals. Still recovering from the cricketing exile and a dud tour of Australia amalgamated with vexatious media talks of deliberate under-performance and team disintegration, they lost their test captain, their bowling leader and their most outstanding pace prodigy to allegations of corruption and match-fixing. A couple of Ijaz Butt media rants (and apologies) and some 'Zulqarnanin Haider moments' later Pakistan Cricket found itself pushed further into the self-created hole of cricketing isolation and abasement. And such was the asperity of this hooligan-like show of Pakistan Cricket that by the time ICC met in October 2010, there were loud shouts from left right and centre that giving this once great cricket team 'a break' from International sport is the only way out of this ever-growing rowdiness.
And then again when all seemed lost, HOPE intervened. The same hope that won us the world cup in 1992. The same hope that helped us win test matches from disastrous scorelines of 26/6 at Kolkatta in 1999 and 39/6 at Karachi in 2006. The same hope that made match winners out of Javed Miandad at Sharjah in 1986 and Sarfraz Nawaz at Melbourne in 1979. The same hope that made us the t20 world champions in 2009. Hope that keeps you believing that everything would be like it used to be. Hope that one day Pakistan cricket team would rise from the cricketing ashes and once again show the world what they're capable of. Hope that they would be a force again in cricket.
And guess what! this time hope didn't let us down. The believers won and the pessimists lost. Pakistan cricket has come a long long way since then. In a space of one year we have unearthed world's best off spinner, world's best limited overs leg spinner, world's best off-spinning all rounder, the most productive test opening pair, world's best death bowler who keeps getting better, arguably the most effective left-arm spinner in cricket right now and last but not the least - the team spirit and unity that the Pakistani dressing room of the 90s could only dream of. That's what makes the Pakistan Cricket team of today as successful as it is.
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| Misbah - watchful as always!! |
And in the end let's again live through this mercurial fairy tale of Pakistan Cricket.
December 2009 - February 2010 :
It all started in Australia. After winning the t20 world cup in early 2009, Pakistan had two moderately successful tours of Sri Lanka and New Zealand. With leadership crisis fast emerging and deteriorating team spirit under the media radar, an Australian tour was the last thing Pakistan needed. The outcome was even worse than feared. Pakistan suffered white washes in test, ODI and t20 series and were thrashed 9-0. In the aftermath of this cricket disaster, several key members of the squad were accused of causing infighting and were handed over healthy bans.
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| Pakistan hit the rock bottom after getting thrashed 9-0 Down Under. |
In the middle of a potential series deciding Lord's test, three Pakistani cricketers were accused of spot fixing and were later banned from all sorts of cricket.
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| The tainted trio ! |
September 17-20 2010 :
Marred by spot-fixing allegations off-the-field and an array of defeats on the field, Pakistan sneaked out two consecutive wins at The Oval and Lord's to square the series 2-2. |
| Umar Gul's devastating spell of 6-42 still lives in the memory ! |
For me that's where it all started!! An under-confident Pakistan team takes on the second ranked South Africans and after conceding a t20 whitewash and tasting defeat in the first ODI, they're struggling at 217/6 chasing 286 with only Abdur Razzaq and a couple of tailenders left. Watch this to know what happened afterwards.
December 2010 - January 2011 :
New Zealand has always been a happy destination for Pakistan Cricket. Having not lost a test series there for the last decade and a half, a tour to New Zealand seemed to be the perfect recipe for Pakistan to get back to winning ways and they grabbed the opportunity with both hands by convincingly winning the test and ODI series.
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| after the series victory! |
March 2011 :
Although the world cup ended with a heartbreaking loss against India in the semi-final, the high point for me was the victory against Australia. The win not only ended Australia's 34 match winning streak in world cups (that started after a defeat against us in 1999) but also ended Ricky Ponting's 28 match unbeaten run as Australian captain. Also 176 all out was Australia's lowest score in their last 6 world cup appearances.
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| The demons of the disastrous Australian tour put to rest ! |
April - August 2011 :
The winning mentality was further strengthened after successful tours of West Indies, Ireland and Zimbabwe. Pakistan by now had not lost a test series for almost a year.
November 2011 :
Then came the biggest test for Misbah since he had taken over : a strong Sri Lankan side in familiar conditions. Pakistan however were upto the task as they registered series victories in tests, ODIs and t20. The Sri Lankan team could manage victory in only one out of 10 tour fixtures. This performance was a stunning reply to all those labelling Pakistan as minnow bullys.
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| A jubilant Pakistan team with the trophy |
December 2011 :
A brittle Bangladeshi side was thrashed by Pakistan 2-0 in tests, 3-0 in ODIs and 1-0 in t20.
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| Another trophy for the Men in Green ! |
And as I write Pakistan have already taken a 1-0 lead in the 3-match test series against world number one ranked England thanks to Saeed Ajmal's devastating 10 wicket haul. England were bundled out for under 200 in both innings and were beaten within 3 days by a hefty margin of 10 wickets. Irrespective of the series result, this performance has elevated Pakistan's status as one of the best test teams in the world right now. A series win would still be fantastic though!!
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| Umar Gul broke the back of English batting by dismissing top 4 English batsmen in their second innings. This, after Ajmal's breath-taking 7-55 destroyed England in the first innings. |
Pakistan cricket team haven't lost a single test series since the English tour 2010. They've played 13 test matches since August 2010, winning 7, drawing 5 and losing only 1 with a win percentage of 53.8%. Also in 42 ODIs played, Pakistan have won 33 and lost only 9 with a win percentage of 78.57%.
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