He lumbered in without rhythm from midway between the 30-yard circle and the sightscreen, he limped back to the mark, he panted, he struggled, he took about five minutes to finish each over, but somehow he bowled consistently around 90mph, taking a wicket for 11 runs in his first four overs. In his later spells, he struggled more, he seemed out of breath, he bowled off shorter runs, but he bowled smartly, taking two more wickets.
Yes, Shoaib Akhtar is back. Around him, the Pakistan back-up bowlers did their job, the fielders, bar Kamran Akmal and Salman Butt, took all the chances that came their way, and despite fighting fifties from Mahela Jayawardene and Angelo Mathews, Sri Lanka didn't have too healthy a total to defend in the Asia Cup opener.Between them Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik bowled 21 overs for 84 runs and effected three timely breakthroughs. Like Shoaib, two of whose wickets came of ordinary deliveries, the other bowlers too benefited from the pressure he created. Bowling with the wind, on a pitch that didn't offer much, he pushed Sri Lanka into rebuilding mode with the aggressive and accurate opening spell.
He was almost always just back of a length and close to the stumps, negating most of the shots. That control, more than the speed, was what frustrated the batsmen. From the other end, with Mohammad Asif bowling into the stiff wind, they got their runs easily. In the seventh over, Shoaib got Upul Tharanga with arguably the worst ball of the spell. It was short and wide, Tharanga perhaps saw release there, went for it without feet, and the thick edge was snared by Butt who stood fairly deep at first slip.
Those four overs, though, seemed to have taken a lot out of Shoaib, leaving a question mark over how intense he would be for his later spells, and in later matches. Asif, meanwhile, got a change of ends, and a change of luck. The first ball he bowled in his second spell accounted for Tillakaratne Dilshan through a superb catch from debutant Uman Amin at point. After that Asif showed he relished that end, and so did the overall figures. In the first 10 overs, 15 runs came for the end the wind blew from, and 35 from the other.
Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara weathered that early storm in an 85-run stand for the third wicket, during which the wind started blowing across the ground. During that partnership Jayawardene survived a half chance thanks to Kamran. He was also given not out to an lbw shout where inside-edge-onto-pad v front-pad-onto-back could not be resolved. Thanks to the breeze and the slightly slow pitch, stroke-making was difficult, but Jayawardene and Sangakkara started manoeuvring the fields with chips and smartly placed shots. Thirty five risk-free runs came between the 21st and 25th over.
Just when it seemed Sri Lanka were coming back into the game, Sangakkara's attempted chip off Afridi found Umar Akmal. Jayawardene's luck soon ran out, and Malik got him lbw off an inside edge. Razzaq's accuracy consumed Thilan Samaraweera, and Afridi, who bowled Shoaib's remaining overs in two-over spells, brought the main man back.
The first wicket then was fortuitous, with Chamara Kapugedera cutting straight to Umar Akmal at point, but the second was a beauty. Off a short run, he bowled back of a length, outside off, getting it to hold its line, and taking Farveez Maharoof's edge. He then smiled the smile of a man who knew he had owned the batsman.
119 for 2 had become 168 for 7 in the 37th over, after which Angelo Mathews and the Powerplay held the key. Mathews asked for the field restrictions in the 45th over, Shoaib came back for his final spell, and his fine mix of yorkers, bouncers and slower ones went for just 11 in two overs, including an edged four.
The ever-improving Mathews was not done yet, though. His cricketing sense and his talent shone through in how he batted with the tail, taking calculated risks, and was the difference between a score of 200 and what they eventually got.
