Pakistan's triumph over South Africa is significant. If you look at it from SA's perspective they are visibly shattered by this loss keeping in mind that they have been tipped as one of the favorites to lift the World Cup. Going forward this loss must have dented their confidence. In a World Cup tournament teams have to evolve and quickly rectify their mistakes only then can they proceed to final stages. It remains to be seen if SA is capable of doing that or not.
As far as Pakistan are concerned it must be a great morale booster for them as they have been under fire after loosing to arch rivals India and putting up a dismal performance against West Indies. They toured SA in November 2014 and although they lost all three Test matches the One day series was heartning for them as they put up a good fight against a strong South African side. This must have lingered in the minds of South African players as they prepared for this important encounter today. Muhammad Irfan did well on that tour and today again he posed a significant challenge. Pakistan bowling was further strengthened by the likes of Wahab Riaz , Rahat Ali and Sohail Khan. All of them bold brilliantly exploiting in full the conditions under lights at Eden Park,Auckland (Pakistanis have fond memories of this ground from 1992 Semi Final). Misbah rallied them quite nicely and did make timely bowling changes, captaincy looks so much easier when things are going your way doesn't it? Earlier Misbah played a typical cautious knock ensuring that Pakistan reach some sort of a respectable total.Misbah is often criticized for his defensive batting but today his style of batting coincided well with what was required by Pakistan as late batting order proved to be too fragile loosing 5 wickets for just 10 runs!
This brings us to an important point of the ability of teams to 'play according to conditions'. As this tournament has progressed one aspect has become apparent and that is the importance of adjusting to conditions. Teams who have one-dimensional approach to their game would not be able to go very far in this competition. We have seen this happen in match between India and West Indies. Had someone from WI in the top order showed a bit of calmness and sense of responsibility they could easily have posted a competitive total on board. But they could not curb their hard hitting instinct, they did not respect a bowling friendly WACA wicket and paid a heavy price for it getting bundled out well within 50 overs. India on other hand played more sensibly with Dhoni in particular showing good match sense. Adjusting to conditions also means picking the right combination of players for the match on that particular day. Team planners would need to take into account the venue, opposition and weather conditions as well. Failing to do so can cost them dearly and that is why home teams NZ and AUS are at an advantage. Trend is that we have seen some high scoring games played on Australian pitches while a couple of low scoring thrillers have happened in New Zealand. This gives some clue to game planners for the games coming ahead.
As we approach knock-out stages teams have to quickly tie up the loose ends and strike the right combination otherwise they'll get steam-rolled in no time.
As far as Pakistan are concerned it must be a great morale booster for them as they have been under fire after loosing to arch rivals India and putting up a dismal performance against West Indies. They toured SA in November 2014 and although they lost all three Test matches the One day series was heartning for them as they put up a good fight against a strong South African side. This must have lingered in the minds of South African players as they prepared for this important encounter today. Muhammad Irfan did well on that tour and today again he posed a significant challenge. Pakistan bowling was further strengthened by the likes of Wahab Riaz , Rahat Ali and Sohail Khan. All of them bold brilliantly exploiting in full the conditions under lights at Eden Park,Auckland (Pakistanis have fond memories of this ground from 1992 Semi Final). Misbah rallied them quite nicely and did make timely bowling changes, captaincy looks so much easier when things are going your way doesn't it? Earlier Misbah played a typical cautious knock ensuring that Pakistan reach some sort of a respectable total.Misbah is often criticized for his defensive batting but today his style of batting coincided well with what was required by Pakistan as late batting order proved to be too fragile loosing 5 wickets for just 10 runs!
This brings us to an important point of the ability of teams to 'play according to conditions'. As this tournament has progressed one aspect has become apparent and that is the importance of adjusting to conditions. Teams who have one-dimensional approach to their game would not be able to go very far in this competition. We have seen this happen in match between India and West Indies. Had someone from WI in the top order showed a bit of calmness and sense of responsibility they could easily have posted a competitive total on board. But they could not curb their hard hitting instinct, they did not respect a bowling friendly WACA wicket and paid a heavy price for it getting bundled out well within 50 overs. India on other hand played more sensibly with Dhoni in particular showing good match sense. Adjusting to conditions also means picking the right combination of players for the match on that particular day. Team planners would need to take into account the venue, opposition and weather conditions as well. Failing to do so can cost them dearly and that is why home teams NZ and AUS are at an advantage. Trend is that we have seen some high scoring games played on Australian pitches while a couple of low scoring thrillers have happened in New Zealand. This gives some clue to game planners for the games coming ahead.
As we approach knock-out stages teams have to quickly tie up the loose ends and strike the right combination otherwise they'll get steam-rolled in no time.
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