Test #1783

No words could do justice to the first over of this Test. Irfan Pathan, a 21-year-old newbie, shattered Pakistan's top order. The first three deliveries were dot balls. The next three fetched three wickets.

Pathan bowled a maiden hat-trick over. Here's the commentary.

Maiden over: No runs were scored.
Hat-trick: Three wickets with three straight deliveries.

Butt, Khan and Yousuf were the unlucky victims. In almost 60 years of Indian Test cricket, only one other bowler (Harbhajan Singh) has ever taken a hat-trick. Irfan Pathan just won the Man of the Match Award with the very first over of the Test. And Pakistan is in the deepest of holes.

It seems that the Pakistanis went from batting heavens to a bowling paradise. Shoaib Akthar should get some tremendous help from such a pitch. This match will definitely have a result.

Currently Pakistan is at 13/4 after only 6 overs and this time Inzi is not there to save the day. Farhat and Afridi are batting right now.

Update 2:40 PM ET
Kamran Akmal played the innings of his life by scoring a magnificent hundred. Akhtar scored a 60-ball 45 to rub it in. Pakistan was 245 all out.

Take four Pakistani batsmen:

• Salman Butt
• Mohammad Yousuf
• Younis Khan
• Shahid Afridi

These men scored 481 runs combined in the 1st innings of the 1st Test and 341 in the 2nd Test. Today, these four managed 10 runs between them. All those ten runs were managed by Afridi. That's right: Butt, Yousuf, and Khan all scored a big fat zero.

Take four Indian batsmen:

• Sehwag
• Dravid
• Tendulkar
• Laxman

These men scored 382 runs combined in the 1st innings of the 1st Test and 238 in the 2nd Test. Today, these four managed 50 runs between them.

Conclusion: The bowlers are having a feast in the Karachi Test.

Comments

[AbbaGav]

Is there a google translator somewhere that can convert this to English? I can tell it has something to do with sports, I think.

Is there a fantasy cricket movement like there is for other sports? The devotion seems to run deep, so I imagine it's possible.

[Isaac Schrödinger]

Google cricket translator? I don't think one exists. You would have to sit down and watch a few games with a knowledgeable person and ask questions. That's how I learned it.

Cricket for Indians and Pakistanis is like what basketball + baseball + football would be like to the Americans. The sheer number of people who watch cricket is only matched by those who follow soccer. Since cricket is not popular in most of the First World, the cricketers don't make big bucks relative to other sports.

I've been following the game on-and-off since 1991 and Pakistan won the World Cup in 1992. So their is a lot of pride involved; for a small moment in time, my countrymen were the best at something that didn't involve murder.

The next World Cup? Coming up in 2007. The big question: Will Australia, the two-time champions, be dethroned?