 Pakistan
were stunned in their last game by New Zealand despite going into the match as
favourites to win the encounter. The game was played at the newly constructed
Pallekele ground which was made near Kandy.
The star of the game was obviously Ross Taylor who made a sizzling century
after being dropped two times before he had even got to five.
His innings started with an edge off Shoaib Akhtar that the wicket-keeper Kamran
Akmal should have gone for, but let it go to through. This was followed by the
second ball after that he edged to Kamran but he dropped a sitter. Later, Akmal
was to drop another catch off the edge of Scott Styris, which meant that he
had missed five in two games.
Taylor went on take full toll of that. He was very slow to start off with but
in the last four overs of the innings, the Kiwis added 95 runs in the game.
This meant that the side had managed to get going with a lot more runs than
they had first thought they would.
In reply, the Pakistanis kept losing wickets at regular intervals and that
was the major reason for their collapse. Chasing 303 for the win, the side was
bowled out despite a cameo from Abdul Razzaq.
This means that Pakistan now have six points from four games. The Kiwis
also have the same number of points from as many games. On the other hand, Sri
Lanka have five points from four and Australia have five from three. The rest
of the sides are not in contention in the group.
Injury news:
There were a couple of injuries in recent times as well. For one, Kevin Pietersen
has been ruled out of the rest of the games thanks to his hernia issue. This
will mean that Eoin Morgan will come into the side in his place. To add to that,
even Stuart Broad has been ruled unfit for the game and that will mean that
Chris Tremlett could make his way into the English side.
For Australia, they have finally named a replacement for Doug Bollinger and
that has gone to Michael Hussey. It is a surprising change to have a batsman
come into the side in place of an injured bowler but the reason for this could
be the fact that the Aussie middle order is struggling a little and that would
help the team.
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