The World’s Most Entertaining Team Vs The World’s Best

Team Pakistan are half-way through to avenging the 3-0 whitewash that they were subjected to earlier this year, half-way across the world, but in all honesty, I was hardly surprised by how easily we completed the win against the top side in Test Cricket. No, I am not bluffing, neither am I trying to sound classy. It is just that I have grown accustomed to the patterns of unpredictability Team Pakistan exhibits. What do you say? That I am actually saying Pakistan have become predictable? Hardly. All I am saying is that I can now try and predict where the world’s most entertaining side are going to surprise me. Not with a 100% success rate, of course, but I try.

Apparently, the boys in Green are very averse to the theory of ‘records being made to be broken’. Instead, they think that records, once established, need to be kept intact for as long a time as possible, and hence, commit to the task wholeheartedly. Take the example of losing to India in World Cups. Despite meeting India 5 times in World Cups in the last 10 years, Pakistan have made sure they lose each of those matches to keep the record unbroken. So is the case with Pakistan’s record in UAE. When Pakistan adopted the desert as its home away from home in 2010, the team drew its first series against the South Africans before proceeding to beat Srilanka, and then whitewashed the then top Test side, England. The Emirates is Pakistan’s fortress now, and the Proteas, who swept Pakistan aside with some ease not long ago, have come to know it the hard way.

South Africa were the No.1 team in Test Cricket coming to this series. Even if they lose 2-0, they will remain at the summit. Maybe if there were more matches in the series, the Proteas would have cause for trouble. But for now, South Africa can concentrate on the second test, make the best of whatever they can achieve from it, and move on to the ODIs. There will be lots of net practice, hours of discussion and video-watching, and Smith and Co. will be looking to prove a point when they get on the field in Dubai. They have been labelled as a side which can pull itself through hard times with the ultimate resilience. That is how they have stretched their lead so much at the top of the rankings. They will be playing to defend that label by leveling the series. They will be playing for the win.

For Pakistan, victory is as important, if not more. Pakistan’s lone ranger, Misbah-ul-Haq, promised a result-oriented pitch after the first match, and Younis Khan talked about ‘a lot of people waiting for us to win’. Khan is right. Expectations among fans are high as they look ahead to the second test, with memories of the 3-0 whitewash of England still fresh in their memory. They will be imagining something similar, even more so, considering the fact that South Africa are without their best batsman, Amla. But most of all, they will be hoping for a win because two dash zero against the World’s best Test side might finally cover the blushes from that humiliating defeat at Harare. Here’s to hope. And amnesia!