The World Cup Final 1999 - A Preview

It is going to be a long night here in the US.
But after the final ball has been bowled ``Inshallah`` Pakistan will carry the day.
May the best team win the World Cup of Cricket
in 1999.

Ras

It is Pakistan all the way !
IMHO, cold logic suggests it.

On a head to head, Pakistan definitely holds the edge.
The palpable extra 5 mph coupled with the laser guided yorkers put Shoaib way ahead of his counterpart McGrath, even if the `record` (WC stats) may suggest parity.
Marvellous Wasim is well Wasim. Followed by his two able support bowlers Azhar Mahmood and Razzaq definitely outgun Reifel, Fleming and the 5th Aussie bowler (definite weak link). With AM and Razzaq being rock-steady consitent yet brilliant in flashes, they throw things in Pak`s favour (better Aussie top order notwithstanding)
If turn plays a factor then the magician with the off spinner action will definitely balance any advantage the Aussies might hope to gain with the resurgent Shane. Plus, I feel, sub-continent batsman are at home with spinners, at least compared to how comfortable the Aussies will be against Saqlain. Saqlain just needs to go back to his attacking mould and give the ball more flight and loop. He has been bowling them in straight and fastish which lends his bowling a defensive `containing` flavour. Maybe, he has been instructed to `contain` and steady the final overs while the Shoaib and Wasim go for the kill.

In terms of batting, in Mark/Steve Waugh, Ponting and Bevan Aussies have a formidable top order. But, after Moody, Warne, Fleming, Reifel, McGrath constitute a long tail which could be the weak link.
Pakistan batting stranghts are matched, albeit in a different order. They have a lethal late middle order in Moin (despite that broken finger he has valiantly carried throughout the tournamen !!), AM, Afridi, Akram. The top order is weak, but if the classy Anwar fires, OR if the brilliant Inzamam doesn`t make any school boyish mistakes OR the clubber Ijaz lagaoos some nice hard lusty agricultural heaves to rest the initiative from Oz, then Pakistan have no batting problems.
THe Pakistani late middle order will go after the 5th Oz bowler. It will be interesting to see Waughs bowling changes to negate this definite advantage.

Should Pakistan play Youhana to strenghten the batting ? I think Wasti has shown good technique and sound temperament and promises a good inning.
No point risking Youhana. If the hamstring acts up again I could bet Steve Waugh would not allow him a runner, the Hansie did. No point risking it. Plus this leaves Afridi to go after the 5th bowler.

Good luck to Wasim. Overcome it all (diabetes, Oz, nerves, etc, etc.) one more time and let the Ozzies know that `common sense` suggests that their `fateful` and determined 6 match winning streak, that began with the required calculated bludgeoning of Bangladeshi bowlers, has to come to an end.

The final will be a biggie ! Foremost reason for this being that both Pak and Aussies have made enough money through their respective huge upsets that they have made their ``dehari`` (you know the bookie stuff). Now they`ll fight for the cup and fight dirty .. Boy .. will it be a BRAWL !

Zeemax

Re:

What a splendid performance by Australia. Looks like they are giving a drubbing to the Pakistanis.

A really pathetic performance by Pakistan. Australia deserve to be World Champions. The
better team certainly won today.

Ras

At least NOW you people will agree that cricket sux, cricket should be banned and that the Pakistani as well as Indian cricket teams, add to that the Sri Lankan cricket team, should all be sent on a one-way visa to Bangladesh, where they should stay forever.

Right?

Re:

Good game by Australia. On a divergent note, i have a rather relevant anecdote thats worth sharing. A friend of mine (christian) lives

in a city in southern tamil nadu in India. This city is as far removed from Pakistan both physically and emotionally from Pakistan. The people are from a different race and follow different cultures from the hindi heartland. They dress differently, they eat differently and they don`t understand Hindi or Urdu. A sizeable section of this state are muslims while the majority are Hindus . However these Hindus do not pray to the same gods as the North Indians do. And their version of Hinduism is markedly different. They have had no sense of kinship with the people from the North .In fact, people from this region always had a marked hatred towards anything Hindi. None of the indo-pak wars or even independance has affected

this part of the country where hinduism or brahminism is despised. The ruling parties of this state have almost always been propagating atheism and anti-hinduism and infact the leading father figure of these parties (the dravidian movement)had once made a garland of slippers and put it on an idol of Ram. And all

this was not very long back. Only just a few years ago.

This is what my friend emailed me about Sunday the 20th of July.

``in the entire city was filled with the dhamaka of fire crackers the moment the winning shot was hit. N u could find the youth (hindus, muslims

christians) out in the streets like they normally do on the eve of new yr. People were so happy

they distributed sweets and rejoiced. The local Muslim biriyani shop distributed free sweets and biriyani was half rate. Even my mother who never cares about cricket let alone pakistan was very happy. I don`t think even the Australians

would have celebrated so much ``

A very sorry state indeed. The India I knew was never like this. Actually the same city rejoiced in Pakistan`s previous world cup victory just because they played well and because Imran Khan as a cricketer was very popular. And not

a few days back, the entire stadium in Madras (the state capital) gave a standing ovation to Akram and his boys when they defeated the Indians despite Sachin`s brave knock.

Reflecting on what my friend said, is`nt it an irony that Pakistan ended up uniting india by trying to divide it.

Rishi

re: rishi

``is`nt it an irony that Pakistan ended up uniting india by trying to
divide it``

could be a line from any nationalistic government`s propaganda. unity in hatred is what fascists are good at.

Dear Mofeez,

just a note to say your articles have been wonderful during the world-cup and thank you for the time and effort required to write these down for us. This article is just as good as the ones before and quite enlightening for people like me.

I did not mind the fact that Pakistan lost but the way they did. They just lost their verve and their nerve both at the same time. The biased umpiring from Sheppard was sad to see in a World Cup final, and it unfortunately made the final very short as well. I shudder to think what a hoo haa there would have been if the same decision had been made against an Australian.

a final note is that perhaps the Aussies were the team most hungry for the win.

Re: BG

Nice to see you in these pages after quite some time. Yes, I agree could be a line from any nationalistic propaganda. All i am trying to point out is that this kind of thing was earlier only possible in Pakistan. Indians were never united in their hatred for pakistan the way the pakistanis were (that is quite a wild guess. could be a matter of perception too). I am just trying to point out how times are changing and the causes behind them. don`t mean to belittle anyone or is this propaganda.

rishi

Re: BG.

And it need not always be hatred. It could be fear, despair and also a reaction to hatred.

It could be a nationalistic govt`s propaganda, but then the fact remains that it is`nt atleast here. But then you should be more familiar to such unity having experienced it over all these years almost first hand, would`nt you ?

Rishi

re rishi

``But then you should be more familiar to such unity having experienced it over all these years almost first hand, would`nt you ? ``

i have seen it in pakistan, yes. whether i am united with the hate mongers is quite another question.

let me share something with you. a white american friend was travelling in iraq during the gulf war while iraq was being bombarded daily by the us and its allies. on a bus trip to the south, the guy forgot to take his passport and papers along as required. when the military started checking everyone`s papers, he realized his grave mistake. when the soldier came up to him and he admitted he was travelling without papers, the iraqis -- peasants, women, old men -- came to his rescue and told the soldier to let him be. they were friendly and told my friend that they realized the destruction of their country was a result of the us govt`s decisions, not his. meanwhile in the us, brown people who were suspected of being arab (an indian friend of mine included) were being harassed on college campuses, workplaces, streets, etc. the iraqis could distinguish between americans and their govt even though the americans could not.

i reiterate that fascists forge unity in hatred because they have no other vision. that is what pakistani governments have done forever and the indian govt has done forever. it is sad indeed when ordinary folks buy it and you mention it without assigning responsiblity to all guilty.

Re: bg, rishi

I know we are on a tangent to the main topic.

Unity in itself is no virtue, and I donot imply that either of you mean that. However, such unity ,I am afraid, will harden the opinion in both countries, and will, therefore, will make it more difficult to arrive at any workable solution. Lately, there was some sign in both countries of openly discussing & considering various alternatives. This unfortunately will be shelved, and more rigid postures will hold sway.

We got thumped! The batting totally let us down. But I have faith the team will recover; given the youth in the side.

Re: Feroz``I`m too frigging cool for cricket``k

For someone who thinks cricket is a giant waste of time, you sure do spend a lot of time posting to these articles. Also, Oliver North making movies?; your knowledge of cinema seems to rival your appreciation of true sport. :)

Re: Saima Shah

I agree that Shep made some horrible decisions. I don`t think it was biased, but he does desrve criticism. Javed Akhtar made a very bad decision in the India-England game, and the media would not let it go. And if Shep did make a mistake in giving two crucial Pakistan batsman out(and mind you it was the final), then damnit I sure as heck am going to criticize him (even if he is a fat and jolly harmless Englishman)

Re: Rishi

What an endearing story. I`m glad that one team`s misfortune has helped to bring your country together.

....waiting for football season

Faraz

Re: Saima Shah

[``...The biased umpiring from Sheppard ... in a World Cup final, and it ...made the final very short ... what a hoo haa there would have been if the same decision had been made against an Australian...``]

This statement from you, Saima, of all people, was a real surprise for me. You are one of the most balanced and enlightened ones in these murky waters.

I, of course, didn`t see (nor cared for) the play you refer to as unfairly adjudicated, but from reading your reference I assume that a white umpire rendered a judgement against a Paki player.

The troubling thing is that Pakistanis are particularly prone to this mentality where they interpret any judgement which is not in their team`s favor as `bias`. This is most unfortunate. I remember 1972 Olympic hockey match against Germany when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto almost broke off diplomatic relations with Argentina because their umpire was `bias` against the Paki team. Why don`t we ever hear about anyone being biased against, say, Japan, or China, or Russia or a European team? Could it be that they don`t suffer from the same collective sense of persecution mania like we do?

Sadly its always poor little banana republics that do such immature things as go to war over football matches. This is really tragic. And see what this madness of crowds does: it even effects clear headed individuals such as yourself. I`m talking about a mind-set. A mind-set that gets totally consumed by the mass hysteria of a stupid sporting event (damned be the threat of nuclear war or economic collapse -- we are into escapism) and then tries to manufacture ficticious enemies to explain away failure.

It is this very national mentality that finds an Indian spy under every bed, a CIA agent in every closet and a KGB plot behind every national fiasco. Its always the Zionists, or communists, or capitalistic imperialists, or Hindu fascists, or Bengali trators, or Drug, or free Sex, or Rock-n-roll that causes all of our social ailments. We, of course, are perfect and do no wrong. And yes, just because we are paranoid, doesn`t mean they are not really out to get us.

...SR

PS: I hope you will not take a personal affront, you know I am being silly...but, really, I am also half serious about the gist of it.

Re: SR # 15

Thanks for identifying the ``mind set``, which takes any normal situation and turns it into an anti-Pakistan conspiracy.

I am being sarcastic here, but maybe we should ask Oliver North to make a movie about the all anti-Pakistan conspiracies and then share in the box-office profits with him and use that money to pay the interests on our external debts!

As to the finals, all I have to say on that is: lets sing ``you will come a waltzing Matilda with me`` and put some shrimp on the barbe!