I was really excited to finally watch a test match. Its always fun and interesting to see Australia lose. (even if its against pakistan!!). So, I got under my 'razai', found a good link(to a website) to watch what I hoped for a Paki voctory over the OZ's. But, it was Pakistan, after all. They have not won till they have won (and they have not lost till they have lost. Martin Crowe will testify that. Remember WC 92!!).
Mohd. Yousuf said "We lost the match because of me. My shot was pathetic" after the match. Well, I am not sure about the second part, I concur with the first part though. For me, Pakistan started loosing the match the moment they put 8 fielders on the boundary to Hussey. You have arguably the best bowling attackin the world, here is the opposition, which is effectively 50 for 8, you have one batsman who is struggling for confidence, was almost dropped form the team, was dropped 3 times by your tiny, squeaky wicket-keeper the previous day, before the start of the series, is averaging below 30 in this series and a tailender with you him and have all but the bowler and keeper on the fence??
This is where, I feel, Pakistan lost the match. Not only did it allow Hussey to control the game, it boosted Australia's confidence and degraded Pakistan's. Cricket (most sport in fact) is 50% about confidence and momentum and Pakistan had neither at the end of their innings. (If only you could combine New Zealand's efficiency with Pak's talent!!)
They made bowlers like Hauritz look unplayable. Fine, Hauritz is a decent bowler who can pick you the odd wicket, but Nathan Hauritz is no Murali and thats what pakistan made him look like.
Phrases like snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, sidhuisms like "bicycle stand. You push one and they will all tumble down.", my old class teacher's saying of "kulhadi pe pair maarna" started coming to my mind. Ponting's decision of batting first seemed to have been vindicated and his theory of scoring more runs in the first innings than the opposition's last innings was made to look good.
("I backed us at the start of the game to make more runs in the first innings than what I thought Pakistan could make in the last innings," he said. "As it turns out we got 120-odd and bowled them out for 139 in the last innings of the game.")
And now, they want Younis Khan to catch the next flight to Hobart. Well, it wont be surprising if he does. If a team can changed its skipper 6 times in the last 12 months, surely one more change wont make a difference!!
