Sports
Sanath assault leaves General Musharraf stunned
by Rex Clementine
General Pervez Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008 died in a Dubai hospital on Sunday aged 79. He was a cricket buff, a friend of Sri Lanka and a visionary leader.
The 2008 Asia Cup was the last major cricket tournament that Pakistan organized. With India too participating in the event, security was paramount and General Musharraf didn’t take any chances. The teams travelled from hotel to ground with roads fully closed to the public and maximum security had been provided to the teams. Pakistan failed to make it to the finals. Yet, General Musharraf turned up for the game. Security was tight at the stadium. Nobody takes smoking seriously in Pakistan but that day with General Musharraf arriving bags were thoroughly checked and lighters, boxes of matches, and cigarettes were confiscated.
Briefly, after the game started, General Musharraf appeared waving his hands at the packed stadium. The people of Pakistan loved their military dictator.
The game itself was a bit of an anti-climax. India were running away with it as Sri Lanka slumped to 66 for four. M.S. Dhoni was calling the right shots, Sanga, MJ and Dilshan were all back in the pavilion without doing much damage.
Dhoni perhaps knew the job wasn’t done as his team had to still dismiss a certain Sanath Jayasuriya.
Sanath was past his prime at the age of 39 but he wasn’t going to go down without a fight. With fielding restrictions over and more gaps to find in the 30 yard circle, Sanath started picking up singles and then the boundaries followed. He finished on 125 off 114 balls with nine fours and five sixes. It was some hitting. Nevertheless, it didn’t fetch him the Man of the Match award. But why? Because this was Ajantha Mendis’ game. Destiny would have it that the rookie spinner bamboozle the famed batting line-up comprising Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa. Yuvraj wondering in disbelief after being bowled neck and crop is one of the best images in the sport. Mendis took six for 13 and Sri Lanka won by 103 runs to be crowned Asian Champions. Then, General Musharraf wanted to visit the Sri Lankan dressing room.
Our copies were delayed and the desk was screaming that we had failed to meet the deadline as the press conference was held up. This was before the WhatsApp era and you had to depend on IDD calls which were very expensive.
Pakistan’s leader spent a good half an hour with the Sri Lankan boys. This is where he famously told Sanath Jayasuriya that he had never seen anyone giving the Indians a good hiding like that. The military top brass who had accompanied the Pakistan President burst out laughing. The Sri Lankan players at that point didn’t understand what General Musharraf was trying to convey. Later they were told that Musharraf had fought two wars with India as a young soldier. Musharraf was born in Delhi in 1943 and moved to Pakistan at the time of partition.
In 1998, as Prime Minister Nawaz Sheriff had differences with the military, his close confidants recommended Army’s reigns to be handed over to Musharraf. Soon, he was made a four-star general and although he was third in command of succession, his academic brilliance and popularity among the public saw the PM elevating him to the top post of the army.
However, soon there were differences between the PM and the Army Chief. General Musharraf was in Colombo in 1998 to participate in Sri Lankan Army’s golden jubilee celebrations. When he returned home, the PM didn’t allow the aircraft carrying the Army Chief to land. Nawaz Sheriff did some moves to remove Musharraf as the Army chief. But Musharraf outsmarted the PM telling his generals to get hold of key strategic government institutions. Having gained control of the situation, his flight landed in Karachi and he went on to rule Pakistan for nine years.
General Musharraf fought Islam extremists and was a key ally of the US in their war against terror in Afghanistan. He is credited for modernizing Pakistan but his western allies were quick to criticize him for his human rights record. General Musharraf was a friend of Sri Lanka. During the height of the war, when the government felt the pinch unable to buy costly war equipment, he generously helped the Sri Lankan military. He was a maverick. A man ahead of his time. After losing power, he spent most of his time in Dubai where he passed away.
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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