da premier bet： Some strife, considerable friction within the side, a run of bad results and a boggling glut of off-field controversies seems to be what spurs Pakistan on
da aposte e ganhe： Osman Samiuddin in Karachi02-Jul-2008
Younis Khan has been at the heart of Pakistan’s last three big wins overIndia and twice he has organised chases over 300 © AFP
What is it that makes the Pakistani cricketer tick? In this sport, it isamong the most compelling questions, unanswered till now and probablynever to be fully resolved. If you didn’t know any better you’d think,from various results over the years, some strife, considerable frictionwithin the side, a run of bad results and a boggling glut of off-fieldcontroversies spurs them on.Pakistan had no business winning today and that too chasing 300-plus;perhaps this is precisely why they won. They have been poor in thistournament thus far, their bowling without sting, their batting uncertain.The future of at least one from captain and coach has been on the line.The latter has been intent on making matters worse for himself. The formerpulled out at the last minute, in typically tragi-comic circumstancesafter a rare public announcement yesterday had confirmed his place in theplaying XI; not that he has been particularly inspirational. But it was inthe air yesterday at Pakistan’s practice, this vague feeling thatsomething might happen, even with this depleted side. Nobody could reallyarticulate it, but it hung in the air.It is a well-worn cliché, but Imran Khan was on to something when he spokeof cornered tigers. This is not quite the same stage but Pakistan’sposition in the tournament is as perilous. Their progress is still inother hands: if India wins against Sri Lanka tomorrow, Pakistan are out. However, if India loses, Pakistan will go through to the final if they beat Bangladesh.One thing that makes sense is that Younis Khan was at the centre of thiswin, for he well represents Pakistan’s mood swings. He is a difficult manto decipher: brave, committed, but also impulsive and tempestuous, hisnext move as difficult to predict as his last. One day he is magnificent,the next as frustrating. One day he wants the captaincy, the next hedoesn’t. But when he clicks Pakistan does too, as Misbah-ul-Haq pointedout later. He has been at the heart of Pakistan’s last three big wins overIndia and twice he has organised chases over 300.Significantly, a fresh debate will also begin now on Misbah’s role. Asdisenchantment grows with Shoaib Malik’s leadership, eyes move to thedeputy and an emphatic triumph over India in trying circumstances is asure way to speed up and heat up the debate. It is unwise to judgeMisbah’s leadership on one match alone, though understandably he waselated. “I enjoyed it a lot. The pressure is always there as aprofessional cricketer and you just have to face these difficulties.”And it was no surprise that the first question asked of him later,mischievously, was what the future held for the man he replaced. “Malikhas performed well in this tournament and his place remains,” Misbahstraight-batted back, albeit after everyone had their laugh. “He will keepplaying where he has played.”Though careful to say what was needed about Malik, Misbah said that he hadtried to change mood as well as tactics. “I just focused on certainthings. We were looking a little negative and I told the players to justbe positive. We played with a different strategy. We have kept wickets inhand in previous matches and tried to up the tempo later, but this time wechanged that. We had two stroke-playing openers and I just told them toplay their own game.”More important than even what Misbah did as captain is what he did asbatsman. Tonight he did what he is meant to do, what he has been so closeto doing so many times before. He finished a match, even hitting thewinning runs. “It gave me great pleasure to do that,” he said. “Sometimesyou get close but it doesn’t happen, but when you don’t do it, youshouldn’t take pressure from it. You just try and finish the next one.Today was very good in that sense.”Today very good, tomorrow it might not matter. Beyond themorrow, some will begin to argue however, this result assumes greaterimportance. But beyond even that, where the query as to what motivatesPakistan on such days resides? That riddle we are no nearer tounravelling.