I am a very relaxed person may be my writing gives another impression to the readers, but trust me I am very cool. I still insist that Afridi should have got the best all-rounder award for T20.

In today’s match against England, this was expected, I mean Pakistan’s defeat was expected, especially when their top three players are regularly not scoring. And, much before the match started I told one of my friends that Eoin Morgan will destroy Pakistan’s weak bowling attack and he did. And, Malik’s captaincy was just as bad as Yousuf’s. He must be personally very happy to be the top scorer but, that is not what is expected from a captain.

Imran Nazir should be given one more chance tomorrow and if he fails, I guess his career is over. Scoring 2, 3 is not even worth the selection in the squad, Imran Farhat should not be in ANY squad. And, I don’t understand why Khalid Latif is playing? Is he Rashid Latif’s brother? If yes, then this BhaiBandagi and Bhai Chaaploosi must end. Perhaps in tomorrow’s match with Afridi’s inclusion things might change! Lets see.

Whereas, Afridi played well in the semis and final and in both matches he got player of the match award, in fact he played 3 consecutive matches very well i.e., against New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka in the final. He scored 176 with an average of 37 runs and took 11 wickets with the leading wicket taker of the tournament Umar Gul, who took 13 wickets.

Once again they will bring the ball chewing incident (which has no relation to this) to find an excuse and award it Dilshan or Gayle for their high scores in one match and ignoring the ZERO when it mattered most. So, how can you call him the best player of the tournament when he could not deliver it when needed? Dilshan has taken zero wickets Afridi has taken 11, even if you count one wicket = 20 runs, it is 220 and his score of 176 runs makes 396 as opposed to Dilshan’s 317. Dilshan took 3 catches in the tournament and so did Shahid Afridi, he also took 3 catches and his catch to dismiss Styris was unmatchable by any player. To me if this was not the case of discrimination, it was definitely favourtism and nepotism.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/cricket/08-optimistic-akhtar-eyes-pakistan-captaincy-ts-01

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/sport/12-coaches-and-captaincy-miandad%2C-wasim-discuss-options-820–bi-07

Yes, I had reasons to believe they could draw because the pitch was good if batsmen concentrated and Zaheer was not bowling. Anyhow, SA batsmen except Amla did not had the power of concentration. Amla looks so composed at the crease, nothing disturbs him. I believe he is also a very religious man and his meditation powers must be helping him concentrate his mind and keep a level head. It’s good to see that he does not wear it on his sleeve by exposing in public.

I would say Indians just about managed to escape, and lot remains unanswered by Dhoni’s safety first approach captaincy. But now that they won no one will question it.

This is how one’s perception changes when he sees the full picture. A while ago you were disappointed that nothing is happening and the test will end in a draw. But, things changed and came so close to an exciting finish and in the end India prevailed. Credit goes to Amla for his superb batting form. He is miles ahead of others in this series at least in terms of averages (average of 281 runs and, the second highest on both sides is in 90′s). He was twice not out, one in double hundred and again this century 123*, total three centuries great form, he deserved the MOM & POS award.

Somehow I had a feeling that in the end SA will crumble and they did, only Amla defended till the very end. If he had saved it, he would have become an immortal figure in SA cricket. And, that would have dented India’s psyche. It is also a good thing that Amla has been retained for the ODI’s as well, otherwise they had labeled him as a test player only. JP Duminy’s form is just like Mohammad Ashraful of BD, both are scoring in single digits, totally hopeless these days………….. Anyways, congratulations to you on India’s win and leveling the series.

Last pair hung on for over an hour and with just two overs to go India picks last wicket to win the test.

Classic.