Sydney: As the quarter-finals are held on successive days, very often one lands up travelling with the team or former cricketers turned commentators or even the umpires . While travelling from Adelaide to Sydney, I happened to be in the same flight with former India captain Sourav Ganguly, former England captain Mike Atherton and umpire Billy Bowden.
At the security check, the man at the x-ray machine was an Indian and immediately recognized Ganguly; so he was more than eager to greet him with a handshake. Passengers, instead of picking their bags after the security clearance, were more keen to have their selfies taken with Ganguly and Bowden.
So friendly is Bowden that when a family requested him to pose with his raised crooked finger like he does while giving a batsman out, he readily agreed. He asked them to pose the same way as well and had a great laugh with them. The little child in the family stood a little bewildered with the strange pose his parents had at that time!
With Pakistan losing the match to Australia, they became the target for many of the jokes and sarcastic comments. Pakistan’s two dropped catches, attributed as the main reason behind their defeat, led to a scribe remarking that “in a quarter-final or semi-final, if you don’t take the catches, you can be sure of catching the next available flight to their country.” Another chipped in with a comment he saw trending on a twitter: “Wonder if Pakistan will catch at least the flight on time for Islamabad.”
Misbah-ul-Haq’s lucky escape from being bowled despite the ball brushing the stumps off a Jason Hazlewood delivery made many recall UAE’s allrounder Amjad Javed’s fate. In UAE’s match against Ireland Ed Joyce too escaped being bowled despite Javed’s delivery hitting the stumps and the bails not coming off. It seems the Zing bails with flashing lights are heavier than the traditional wooden ones, hence unlike in the past, with these bails being costlier as well, they are no pushovers either!
The last two press conferences I attended were also farewells from two gentlemen of the game - Kumara Sangakkara and Misbah. When I lined up to convey my best wishes along with other scribes, Misbah shook hands with me and thanked me with a smile. Heavily criticised for not setting an aggressive field in the past, will Misbah now be critcised for placing fielders exactly where catches were meant to be taken?
Shahid Afridi’s candid comment on his team during one of his interviews after retiring from one-day cricket created a chuckle among all. He said: “Pakistan is one team which can beat any team and can lose to any team, and it has been like this for several years.”
Pakistan pacer Wahab Riaz, who bowled brilliantly against Australia, was in tears after his team lost. One photographer who snapped him wiping away his tears put out a caption “No need to explain this picture.” Riaz’s one-man effort resulted in a sarcastic comment floating around: “Riaz will attempt to qualify for 2019 World Cup on his own.”
Mitchell Starc was the star attraction at the Adelaide Oval against Pakistan on Friday. While this deadly pacer is flying high because of his unplayable deliveries, his brother Brandon Starc is also jumping high to fame.
A local newspaper carried an interesting feature on 21-year-old Brandon clearing 2.30m in high jump, the highest by an Australian since Tim Forsyth did it more than 17 years ago.
