-->The year started with Pakistan's tour of South Africa.
- The series started with a defeat for Pakistan as we lost the first test at Centurion.They managed to win the 2nd test at Port Elizabeth thanks to the powerful come-back of Rawalpindi Express, Shoaib Akhter- an ankle injury to Umar Gul making way for him.
- Akhter injured his hamstring during the match after which he had a quarrel with the (Late Bob Woolmer) which was captured by the TV cameras.Bob suspected that Akhter was faking the injury but after the scan reports, Bob was proved wrong who then apologised to Akhter.South Africa then won the 3rd and final test at Cape Town.
- Pakistan lost its first international twenty20 match heavily by 10 wickets.They lost the 5-match ODI series 3-1 with 1 match being abandoned.The only win came at Durban due to the heroics of Imran Nazir who was making a come-back,Younus who made 93,Yousuf who scored an unbeaten century and Boom Boom Afridi who smashed 77 off 54 balls.
--> On 17th February, Pakistan's trainer for the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and a key member of the staff that Bob Woolmer brought to Pakistan, Grant Compton resigned from his post following differences with the PCB over his contract negotiations.
--> Then came the biggest though quite forgettable event of the year- The WORLD CUP 2007 at the Carribean.
- Pakistan's World Cup campaign began with a whimper – a 54 run loss against the host West Indies when we should have really won.
- Then came the 17th of March. This was the day of Pakistan's encounter with the Irish. As fans whined and criticised Pakistan's lack lustre display so far, none of them had the slightest inkling as to what would unfold in the next 24 hours.The match began and Pakistan got bowled out at a small total of 132. Ireland chased the target nicely though Mohammed Sami looked like the saviour, but that did not happen.What happened was Pakistan's loss to Ireland and an ignominious exit from the World Cup.
- In a few hours' time, the news came of the "collapse of Bob Woolmer" in his hotel room. Found dead, alone in a cheap Jamaican hotel room, the coach so lovingly referred to as Chacha Bob is no more.
- In the next couple of days, Pakistan's cricketers were subjected to the worst media scrutiny possible – ranging from match fixing to involvement with Al Qaida.
- Later Inzamam announced his retirement from the ODI's and played his last ODI against Zimbabwe-a meaningless match in the fateful World Cup. Pakistan won the match thanks to Imran Nazir's knock of 160 runs and paid tribute to their beloved coach, Bob Woolmer.
-->PCB had to take the big decision of the future captain.
- PCB offered captaincy to Younus Khan who flatly refused angering everyone from the PCB to the former cricketers. Shoaib Malik was then, rightfully the automatic choice to be the captain of Pakistan team and take it to its revival. Mohammed Asif was named the vice captain.
- The selection committee was sacked too and replaced by a new one comprising of Salahuddin Ahmed as the Chairman, Saleem Jaffer and Shafqat Rana. This panel was greeted nicely by the fans as well as most of the former cricketers as Salahuddin is known for his cricket knowledge and his ability to pick true talent.
-->The new captain, Shoaib Malik's first assignment was the ODI series against SriLanka at Abu Dhabi in May.
- This period saw the revival of cricket in Pakistan as Pakistan won the series comfortably losing only 1 match finally something to cheer for.The last match saw two new faces (something that had not been seen since quite a long time): Fawad Alam and Najaf Shah who were creating waves in the domestic circuit. Shoaib Malik's skills as captain were appreciated very much.
-->Pakistan's next assignment was at Scotland where Pakistan had to play 2 matches: one against Scotland, the other against England.However, both the matches were washed out.
-->Then came the big event- The first Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa.
- Salman Butt was appointed as Malik's deputy.
- Though Pakistan lost the T 20 World Cup, but for the first time there was no criticism on team.Nobody expected Pakistan to even reach the semi final of the event! Who got the most appreciation was obviously Misbah who had silenced all his critics. Sohail Tanvir and Yasir Arafat got into limelight too.
Mohammed Yousuf(rest) and Abdul Razzaq (lack of fitness and poor fielding), previously permanent members of the team were dropped by the new panel of selectors because 'twenty20 required young,fresh blood'.
Misbah-ul-Haq replaced Mohammed Yousuf and Yasir Arafat replaced Abdul Razzaq. Misbah's selection was greeted with wide criticism because of his age (33 yrs).
People had little hopes from the Pakistan team.These hopes were further reduced when Shoaib Akhter engaged himself in yet another controversy: hitting Mohammad Asif with a bat! He was immediately sent back to Pakistan by the team management. He was then banned for 13 international matches and fined Rs 3.4 million. At this point emerged yet another new face, Sohail Tanvir. Nobody knew this guy but the selectors had faith in him as they sent him to replace Akhter.The selectors were once again subjected to strong criticism.But two men were optimistic- Wasim Akram and Aqib Javed (the NCA chief coach).It was actually Wasim who spotted this young all rounder in a camp set for bowlers and persuaded the selectors to keep him in the Pakistan A side,playing for which he had given some very good performances. Pakistan began with a win against Scotland where Yasir Arafat made his debut,perhaps because of his big hitting and death bowling ability.
Their next match was against archrivals, India. It was the most thrilling match in the entire tournament. Sohail looked very good too especially with his unusual action confusing the batsmen.Pakistan was chasing the target and it seemed that they would lose easily as they required 40 runs from 13 balls. But then, there appeared a hero who nearly snatched the match from the opposition's throats with some support from Yasir Arafat.This was Misbah- the same Misbah whose selection had been greeted with great criticism.Pakistan needed 1 run on the last ball of the match when unfortunately Misbah got run out.The match was tied after which a bowl out took place where India won the match. Pakistan qualified for the next stage where they had to face SriLanka, Bangladesh and the mighty Australians. They had to win atleast two matches to qualify for the semis. The match against SriLanka was very important and Pakistan won it easily. Next was the match against the mighty Aussies.By then, Pakistan looked like a young, fierce unit.Pakistan team exceeded all expectations when they outclassed the Aussies and won the match so easily. Once again, Misbah was the hero with support from the skipper, Malik. Then Pakistan registered a win against Bangladesh. Pakistan's semi final match was against New Zealand.Surprisingly, Pakistan debuted Fawad Alam replacing Yasir Arafat. This came as a surprise because the guy hadn't had any international exposure and was being introduced in an important match like semi final. The simple reason given by Malik for Fawad's selection was that the opposition had Vettori and Fawad was a good batsman against spin bowling.Pakistan won this one easily with the heroics of Imran Nazir who got a groin injury during his batting and had the skipper, Malik as his runner. Misbah and Malik then took Pakistan to the final smoothly! Then came the big day! The final of the first ever twenty20 World Cup between Pakistan and India. Another very thrilling game!Pakistan looked like losing when again came Misbah in action! He nearly got us the World Cup. Pakistan required 13 runs off the last over. Joginder Sharma was the bowler.His first ball was a wide, second was hit for a 6 by Misbah and the third one got Misbah paddle sweeping a slow ball right into the hands of Sreesanth! Shahid Afridi got the man of the tournament award for his outstanding bowling throughout the tournament.Umar Gul was fantastic with the bball throughout the tournament especially with his accurate yorkers.
-->Next in line was some big challenge for Shoaib Malik, the series against South Africa.
- Pakistan lost the Test series 1-0 (lost 1, drawn 1) and the ODI series 3-2. Then came the criticism over Shoaib Malik largely because of his own failure in batting.The critics forgot all his form and leadership skills that they had seen earlier from the same Malik.
- Abdur Rehman made his test debut and Sohail Tanvir made his ODI debut in the same series.
- Younus Khan was appointed the vice captain. Pakistan lost its pace duo: Asif and Gul due to injuries. However, Shoaib Akhter was making a comeback after his ban. Pakistan lost the ODI series 3-2. The win at Mohali was a very exciting one. Pakistan's second win was at Jaipur where the team's big guns were all rested and new players were given a chance to play. Younus Khan,Shoaib Akhter,Kamran Akmal all were rested. Fawad Alam, Yasir Hameed, Sarfaraz Ahmed replaced them.Both the new players succeeded to impress everyone. Pakistan lost the first test at Delhi heavily. Before the second test match at Kolkata, Pakistan was struck with big blows when almost all the players of the team were either injured or suffering from viral flu. The skipper, Malik himself was injured. Younus Khan was to lead the team in the Kolkata test but he refused.However, he later agreed and led the team in the Kolkata and Banglore tests, both of which ended in draw. Once again, Pakistan's man-of-crisis had been Misbah.
- The team got criticised heavily with the exception of Misbah who collected praises from everywhere. There was strong criticism from all sides on Shoaib Malik, questioning his ability to captain the team as well as his own place in the test XI.
Sohail Tanvir and Yasir Arafat made their test debuts.Sohail Tanvir was good in patches and showed that he needs to work on his inswinger while Yasir Arafat,despite his lack of stamina was very impressive bagging 7 wickets in the match.
-->However, PCB has decided to stick with Malik and pronounced him captain of the Pakistan team till December 2008. His deputy is yet to be announced.
2007 was the worst year for Pakistan cricket team. There came more defeats than wins. The only thing to cheer for the T20 World Cup.
Still, there were some positive aspects as well in the form of some new players.
* The foremost being Misbah-ul-Haq as the man-of-crisis rightly replacing Inzamam. His calm and cool nature and his ability to handle pressure is definitely a positive point.
* Then next being the discovery of Sohail Tanvir.The guy has a lot of potential and is good prospect for the future.The only thing he needs to do is to work on his inswinger.
* Another positive came in the shape of Yasir Arafat. For a long time, Pakistan had been whining about the need of a good all rounder who can be played at the test level especially because of the declining form of Abdul Razzaq.With some work by David Dwyer (Pakistan's trainer), Yasir Arafat will certainly prove to be one considering his beautiful inswingers, deadly yorkers and reverse swings.
* Other positive came in the form of Fawad Alam and Sarfaraz Ahmed. Both showed their skills in the last ODI against India at Jaipur. Fawad Alam, known as the 'Domestic Hero' in the domestic circuit did very good batting against the Indian bowlers.His cheeky singles,good running between the wickets,urgency in the field and crafty bowling got lot of appreciation from the commentators, especially Ian Bishop. Sarafaraz too showed his quickness behind the stumps and also his motivating words keeping the team alive. He showed that Kamran Akmal wasn't the only wicket keeper in Pakistan.There is someone who is at Kamran's level or perhaps even better. The team management needs to give them both an extended run.
* Abdur Rehman is another one. He can fill the long lived vacuum of a genuine left arm spinner in the Pakistan team. He just needs to know how to stop the flow of runs.
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