Bowlers as expected did quite well on the opening day of the Ghazi Amanullah List A tournament. Two regional sides met in the contest where bowlers from either side dominated the proceedings with aplomb.
Grassy wickets offered a tricky surface to bat
The wicket was full of grass although it was not completely green from the top. Faster bowlers were able to get some movement in the power play. Although Saleem got a couple of initial breakthroughs, he wasn’t able to maintain a tight line spraying on both sides of the wicket. The pitch was doing a bit of a trick but the way betters were approaching their innings raises doubt about their senseless application.
Wrong strategy by Mis-e-Ainak to include five specialist bowlers
After the power play was done, Ijaz Ahmadzai and the spinners took charge of the proceedings by grabbing wickets at regular intervals. It has to be said that all the Mis-e-Ainak batters were disappointing apart from their skipper Shahid Kamal who tried to stick around for a while. More than the bowlers, batters committed errors one after the other. And this happened with both sides. Additionally, the Mis-e-Ainak squad was stacked up with five specialist bowlers who didn’t have any ability to bat. Modern cricket demands inclusion of all rounders. Playing too many unidimensional players runs the risk of having a longer tail incapable of accumulating runs.
Apart from Kamal, none of the Ainak batters applied themselves
Kamal didn’t get the support of any other batter. Rahmanullah Zadran somehow is not capitalizing opportunities to impress the selectors. I don’t really feel that players like Khalid Zahedi deserve to play these regional tournaments. Somehow I am also not convinced with the technique of Asghar Atal in spite of his innings of 23. Besides, he had a forgettable first class season where he couldn’t even impress with a solitary innings. His opening partner Yousuf Shah also looked clueless against the movement that Saleem was extracting. Majeed Alam too didn’t impress at all.
Likely changes inevitable for the Ainaks
Today’s outcome will probably bring Ihsan Janat back to the top order and Barakatullah Ibrahimzai in the middle. There is no point in playing three pacers as none of them has any ability to bat. Naveed Zadran and HPC product Samiullah Sarmast looked like a potent threat in the power play. Kamran Hotak must make into the playing eleven as an allrounder to provide stability in both aspects of the game. Zia Akbar bowled beautifully as he was immaculate with his line and lengths. Although he ended up on the losing side, the spell of 3/11 from 7 is an impressive return.
HPC product Samiullah looked impressive
The team got all out for a paltry 102 runs in the 26th over which is not a good sign at all. The target was way below par and one expected the chasing team to stroll easily towards victory. Still the pitch had something for the bowlers. Samiullah was keeping things extremely tight from one end while Naveed didn’t look as lethal as he was in the Oman tour. However, Naveed got the first breakthrough when Abdul Malik flicked an angling delivery straight into the hands of square leg. Sarmast got the better of Juma when the latter nicked a hard length outswing straight into the hands of the keeper.
Abdul Wasi controlled the chase after a quick middle order collapse
In spite of these early dismissals, the Amo innings was rolling quite smoothly towards the target but the sudden lbw of Imran Mir changed the equation. Allah Noor who was anchoring the innings until then perished through an unnecessary second run which never existed. Abdul Hadi, Hayatullah and Ijaz played poorly and threw their wickets without applying themselves. Nevertheless Abdul Wasi got hold of the proceedings and calmly brought the team over the line with the support from Saleem Safi. With two wickets for nine runs already under his kitty, Abdul Wasi deservingly adjudicated player of the match for his all-round show.