Sunday, March 13, 2005

Man Of The Day And The Match - Kamran Akmal

Excellent effort by the young Pakistan keeper to help his team save the match - although comments such as "the second-best wicket-keeper batsman in the World" which I read somewhere in today's news are a bit premature. Why are we so excited about the "World's second best" thing anyway ??? India are aiming to be the World's second best team, Akmal is being touted as the World's second best keeper - is it that the whole World has given up on even the effort to be the best ??? That we are trying to find consolation in second best things !!

Anyway coming back to this match, the man of the day on Day 5 was indeed the Man Of The Match. Fair enough, I think. The man who made the most difference to the outcome of the game got it. It would be interesting to study if this kind of pattern follows in the rest of the series. Also 3 Pakistanis were Men Of The Day on the last 3 days while the 2 Indians took the honour on the first 2. Clearly reflects the pattern in which the Test flowed - which brings us back to that crucial turning point on Day 3 - when Tendulkar and the others through some brainwave decided to enter the by now famous "Tendulkar shell"

No comments: