Swashbuckling is possibly too mild a word to express the sporting action in the last few days. Pakistan humbled England in what was a breathtaking test match performance; Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal came out on top of two epic semifinal encounters, while Real Madrid and Barcelona played out one of the most entertaining El-Clascios in recent memory. Plus there is the small matter of a Miami-Chicago encounter tonight.
TORMENTING THE BEST
If Pakistan made a mockery of England’s number one ranking during the first test match; they have made it a very patent butt of global ridicule for ages to come after the second. The only face saving that the English side can sermon is via the fact that their close rivals India were dumped in a washing machine Down Under themselves. Both these sides have been given a good old swab and would be left to dry for some time to come.
Watching England try and figure out our spinners was like watching clumsy baboons vying to solve 14th grade calculus. Abdur Rehman’s six wicket haul would make one and all forget about the same tally of his counterpart in the English ranks; and when it wasn’t Rehman, it was Ajmal – the acclaimed tormentor-in-chief – and if not him, it was Hafeez – the English batting was completely at odds against the best spinning repertoire in the game – by some distance. And some of their universally extolled batsmen would have made school kids look like Don Bradman for crying out loud!
Winning the match, and in turn the series, has completed a massive turnaround in fortunes for our side. We were mocked at, we were ridiculed, we were hauled over a wide gamut of coals not so long ago, and this is the answer of Pakistan cricket team – and the best one possible. Being deprived of cricket in our homeland, shrouded by all sorts of scandals, the target of global bias; we have been playing with a handicap for ages – some owing to our own mistakes and some because of blatant rose-tinted glasses. And to think that despite the odds being firmly stacked against us, we utterly humiliated the best in the world tells you everything you want to know about the current Pakistan team.
Broken record time; but the biggest share of credit goes to the skipper Misbah-ul-Haq, who has synthesised this ensemble of champions, by purging out the array of absurdity within the team, and letting the cricket do the talking. Only if we were to sort out the scores of chinks in out batting armour, we would be a tough nut to crack – against any one, in any conditions. Well done team Pakistan!
RAFA’S REVENGE
It was 6-0 in favour of Djokovic last year. 6-0 has a humbling connotation in tennis, but for Nadal it was the difference between conjuring up the greatest season in the history of tennis and watching Djokovic do the exact same. All six drubbings – and they were that – at the hands of Djokovic last year came in finals – two major finals and four ATP 1000 finals – and the Serbian clearly had a voodoo over Rafa throughout the year. Will the Spaniard be able to change that? That’s the question that encircles the Australian Open final today.
To get the better of Djokovic this time round, Nadal would have to show the same tenacity he showed from the 2nd set onwards against Berdych and then against Federer, and take it up many notches. He has to be more aggressive – that’s a given – and he would need to serve well and not let No-Djo stamp his authority on a rather vulnerable second serve of the Spaniard. What was common in all of Djokovic’s conquests against Nadal last year was that his serve was at its very best, and he didn’t give many looks on his second serve. Bolstering his service has been the final piece of jigsaw that has propelled the Serbian towards the apex of world tennis. However, Djokovic has been struggling with his serve in the last couple of rounds, and if that’s the case today, Nadal would have to ensure that he pounces at second serve opportunities – possibly the only relative weak link in the World Number One’s repertoire.
However, if matters on the court begin to bear a resemblance to their encounters from last year, Nadal might find it difficult to break Djokovic’s stranglehold. This is an intriguing moment in contemporary tennis, if Djokovic downs Nadal yet again, he would begin to stake a claim for all-time greatness – and of one-sided domination in possibly the most competitive epoch in the Open era. Au contraire, if Nadal stages an act of vengeance he would be staking his claim of gunning down Federer’s tally of 16 majors – most of which were won when the competition was like a Sunday afternoon stroll in the neighbourhood.
PULSATING EL-CLASICO
That’s that for El-Clasico for the next few months at least. Considering the frequency of El-Clasicos over the last year or so, a gap of a couple of months would be a massive oddity for the fixture, before the return match at Nou Camp in La Liga. However, we never know the Champions League might throw them together again and there could be a new record for El-Classico in a two year period – if that hasn’t already been tumbled. Nevertheless, the latest edition was one pulsating game! And it’s no coincidence that the most memorable Real-Barca matches in the Mourinho era have come when Real have had to chase games and have showcased an attacking intent. This was exactly the case in the second leg of the Copa Del Rey quarterfinal at Camp Nou, as Madrid knew that they needed a two goal clean sheet win or a triumph with a margin of three goals or more to go through to the semis – and they nearly pulled it off!
Fielding an attacking 4-2-3-1, Real made their intentions pretty conspicuous from the very onset. And with Madrid quick off the blocks, they simply overran Barcelona in the early skirmishes and throughout the 90 minutes they didn’t stop threatening Pinto’s goal. Madrid controlled everything barring the score count in the first 42 points, however with Pedro’s introduction around the 30 minute mark, owing to Iniesta’s injury, things began to tick for the home side which eventually culminated in the substitute putting a neat finish past Casillas to stamp the Catalan authority on the game against the run of play. Even so, while Madrid were busy mulling over how they were a goal down in lieu of being three goals to the good, Dani Alves struck the telling blow to give Barca a 4-1 lead on aggregate and put the tie to rest.
With nothing to lose in the second half, Mourinho threw on Benzema and Callejon for Higuain and Kaka, and what resulted was a truly vivacious second half. Ronaldo finished off a sublime Madrid move in the 68th minute to bring Madrid back in the game, even if not in the overall tie. Benzema’s goal in the 72nd minute seemed to give Madrid a lifeline but the match ended 2-2, with Mourinho famously claiming that, “It is impossible to win at the Nou Camp” – a not-so-indirect jibe at the officials.
BULLS TAKE ON HEAT
It’s the Big Three vs the Big One in tonight’s – or tomorrow morning in our part of the world – scrumptious clash between the two Eastern Conference powerhouses. Chicago Bulls and Miami heat have formulated the most marketable rivalry in NBA at the moment, and with the matchup being such a gargantuan game, the ratings are expected to follow suit and blow the lid off the roof. However, the two sides – Chicago especially – must realise that while a win over their closest rivals would be a major morale booster, it’s getting the better of the other side come May that would be more important. Take last year’s example, when Chicago swept Miami in the regular season, only to come unstuck in the playoffs with a cumbersome weight of expectation undoing the Bulls charge.
The worrisome aspect for Bulls fans is Derrick Rose’s lingering toe injury, which could linger on for the entire season, if not handled meticulously. Miami have their own injury concerns to be anxious about, with Dwayne Wade scheduled to make a return against the Bulls from an ankle injury. And with injuries to star players making the headlines, the magnitude of the game has somewhat diminished. This injury hullabaloo is a throwback to last season’s first clash at the United Center, when LeBron James missed the game, and Bulls duly complied with a 99-96 win.
In the other two Chicago wins, they didn’t let the Heat top the 90 point mark. All the same, the Heat paid back of all that in the playoffs – and with interest.
Sunday’s game would be the starting point of the road to redemption for the Bulls and they should treat it just like that: the launching pad for righting the wrongs from last season. It is understandable that Bulls would be all out for vengeance against the Heat, but they must realise that one game doesn’t make a season, and that their endeavour for reprisal should be flaunted during the entire season. They should focus on the bigger goal of topping the charts in the East, rather than funneling in their anger only in the encounter against Miami.
