After being whitewashed in the tests, England have come back strongly in the ODIs as the pendulum of cricketing fortunes oscillates between the long and short formats of the game in the Middle East. Meanwhile Phil Mickelson owned Tiger Woods in Pebble Beach last weekend and Barcelona’s La Liga bid is evaporating.
COOKING A NEW CUISINE
What England have done and Pakistan have failed to do is change gears – and personnel – after the tour shifted from the tests to the limited overs format. There is a stark contrast between the test and ODI lineups of England, with a new captain, new approach and new ingredients, which all came together to form the recipe of success in the first two ODIs. Meanwhile, Pakistan have hardly changed anything in terms of approach, and with a tweak of two in personnel, it is virtually the same side that played the test matches; and is parading an aura of discomfort dealing with the fact that Ajmal can’t bowl 25 overs on the trot now and Younus Khan can’t take gazillion balls to get settled only to throw his wicket away.
At the time of writing the third ODI hasn’t as yet culminated, and whatever the result might be, the lack of adaptability – and possibly underestimating England – is what cost us the first two ODIs. In this day and age, you can’t have Younus, Azhar Ali and Misbah-ul-Haq in the same ODI team, that’s an overkill of ‘solidity’ in the middle order and the former two clearly look out of sorts when the need to up the ante in the run rate is required. How Younus Khan has managed to play 237 ODIs defies belief, and while the man is a truly world class test batsman, this column has given stats in the past showcasing that of the nearly 50 scores of 50 or more in his career, more than 20% have been against the teams outside the conventional top 8. Plus, he has never really cut it in a pressure cooker scenario, and always looks out of place when the required run rate is mounting. Azhar Ali again, is a dexterous test batsman, but is hardly the modern archetypal ODI player.
Evidently, it is Pakistan’s batting that is letting them down, and another façade that we’re lacking is the presence of a finisher, a la Abdul Razzaq. Umar Akmal is the one touted to fill those particular boots, but even though the talent has never been in doubt, the ability to display the mettle and show nerves of steel like Razzaq in clutch time, has been sadly missing. We need to sort out our batting, and locate the accelerator, if we want to make inroads into the limited-over series.
MICKELSON IS BACK
In the truly fascinating world of one Phil Mickelson, you just never know what you’re going to get. He is traversing a downward spiral and then he conjures up a staggering triumph, being a fan’s favourite that gets the hopes up left, right and center and after entering the spotlight, he manages to fade out when the spotlight is the most luminous. All the same, Phil Mickelson’s performance in last Sunday’s triumph at Pebble Beach was one of his very best in the recent past, and it would be an understatement, but the same could not be said of Tiger Wood’s – whose short putting was abysmal – showing, unfortunately. Mickelson’s conquest had blown the lid off expectations and he was already being considered as one of the top picks for Augusta – his recent performance in LA has recalled some sense of perspective, even though he finds himself in the lead as of Saturday.
Mickelson holed out for eagle from the eighth fairway and chipped in a picturesque birdie on the 16th to cling on to the lead on Friday, in a day that could at best be described as a ‘mixed bag’ for the left handed American. This pair of shots, coupled with three par saves with more than 10-feet putts, set him up for a lucrative day – at least on the scoreboard. Nevertheless, it was his breathtaking display last weekend that has had the golfing world stand up and take notice, as expectations soar for Mickelson in 2012; and this exactly when the wheels tend to come off. Phil Mickelson’s best, more often than not, resurfaces when no one is exactly expecting that to happen, and the only way that is going to happen is if Tiger Woods retraces one of his swaggering runs from his halcyon days, from now till the Augusta Masters.
BARCA’S HEGEMONY UNDER THREAT
Barcelona have slipped 10 points behind archenemy Real Madrid, as the latter threaten to end Barca’s hegemony over Spain and run away with the league title; and all this despite having been on the wrong end of hammerings against the Catalonians in a plethora of El-Classicos in different competitions. Barcelona’s relative struggles this year have been courtesy poor form away from home, even though Camp Nou still is a fortress for the Spanish champions, with 10 wins and a draw – scoring 45 and conceding merely three – from their 11 matches. Nevertheless, today’s visit of Valencia would further test Barcelona’s capacity of challenging Real for the title this year, after dropping points in two of their last three league games.
Valencia are third on the table, but were struggling for form after the turn of the year, before their 4-0 win over struggling Sporting Gijon last Sunday. Valencia have regularly proven to be a thorn for Barcelona at the Madrigal, but they haven’t come any way near matching that at Nou Camp – Barcelona haven’t dropped points at home against Valencia since 2006. Ever Banega, Victor Ruiz, Miguel and Robert Soldad were all rested against Stoke in the Europa League on Thursday and all of them should be recalled today.
The Blaugranas, meanwhile, have Gerard Pique and Xavi as injury doubts, but Pep Guardiola would be etching to have the duo in the lineup after Thiago Alcantara and Javier Mascherano put in below par performance in their loss against Osasuna. Guardiola’s team need to convincingly ward off the challenge of Valencia if they are to keep their diminishing hopes of retaining the league title alive.
