ICC Champions Trophy 2013

Before the start of ICC Champions Trophy 2013, Pakistan Team was being considered as the strong contender for the title. But all expectations have proved wrong and all their efforts and plans went in vain. After losing their first match to West Indies by 2 wickets, Pakistan lost their 2^nd and 3^rd match to South Africa and arch-rivals India respectively and eliminated from the tournament with null performance. Senior batsmen like Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal and Imran Farhat were seemed struggling throughout the event. Pakistan team didn’t manage to pass the total score of 170 runs in any match of the tournament.

Champions Trophy 2013 is being played in England and Wales. As the conditions are difficult for Pakistan, they had a training camp in Abbotabad with similar conditions as in England and Wales. They also played two One Day Internationals with Scotland and Ireland before Champions Trophy. But after all these efforts, the performance of our national team was very shameful. Bowlers did the fantastic job by limiting opponent teams to a small total however batting was totally flop. In all three group matches, only captain Misbah ul Haq and Nasir Jamshed were able to do job with the bat. Except both of them, whole batting line up of Pakistan was considered as totally flop.

Opener Imran Farhat Dismisal in ICC Champions Trophy

Captain Misbah ul Haq was very disappointed with his team’s performance. Keeping in mind he is the top scorer from Pakistan throughout the tournament.

“Disappointing performance again with the bat, the weather also played a part as it was difficult to get in and out so many times. In this sort of format, it is too short for the teams because you have one bad day at the start of the tournament; you are almost out of it,” said Misbah at the presentation ceremony.

Former cricketers and other sports journalists have also criticized Pakistan team on their performance. They said that either Pakistan team is lacking talent or skills or they have problems with confidence, temperament and self-belief. They made demand with to groom the youngster and bring big changes in the team. Wasim Akram said,

"I don't know if there is lack of ability in our players or there's some psychological problem, but drastic steps should be taken."

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President Trophy: Another Title for Misbah as Captain

After the announcement of long awaited President Trophy Grade-I Final by PCB, final was played between teams of Habib Bank Limited (HBL) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL). It was played on 14 January 2012 to 18 January 2013 at National Stadium, Karachi. These teams also included many stars of Pakistan national team including Misbah ul Haq, Younis Khan, Umar Gul, Umar Akmal, Adnan Akmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq and others.

Captain Misbah ul Haq

               SNGPL team was led by Pakistan’s national team's skipper Misbah ul Haq and Younis Khan led HBL team. HBL won the toss and invite SNGPL to bat first. Misbah led from the front from the very first day of final match. As SNGPL loses 3 wickets for only 49 runs, 38 years old give a strong support to his team by making unbeaten 85 runs and take team total to 283 runs. Inform batsman Ali Waqas also contributed 83 runs. Fahad Masood of HBL clinched 5 wickets for 67 runs.

Misbah ul Haq playing shot

               In their first innings, HBL batsmen were struggling throughout the whole innings. They bowled out for the total of only 137 runs. Ahmed Shahzad played a good knock of 79 for his team. Mohammad Hafeez took 4 wickets for only 16 runs.

               SNGPL was leading with 146 runs. In their 2^nd innings, SNGPL batting line up failed to establish against the good pace bowling of Umar Gul. Umar Gul’s Hat-Trick destabilized SNGPL batting line and they were dismissed only for 182 runs. Umar Akmal was the highest scorer for SNGPL who scored 76 runs. Umar Gul bowling figures were 6-67.

Umar Gul Celebrating after taking wicket

               Chasing the target of 329 runs, HBL started the innings and finished day 4 on the score of 159 for 6. At the start of final day of the final match, Imran Farhat was the only hope for HBL to lead their team towards the victory. But no one succeeded to have victory for HBL. Remaining 4 batsmen dismissed at the total score of 253 and lose the match.

Imran Farhat

               At last, Mr Patient Misbah ul Haq snatched the President Trophy title for his team by 75 runs after beating Younis Khan’s side. He has been continuing his victorious journey in different national and international tournament as captain since 2001, winning different national and international titles for his team, including defeat to World Cup holders in recent bilateral ODI series.

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