Pakistan progress as English sledging spurs on Gohar

Joy Chakravarty 09:53 25/02/2014
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  • Pakistan hero Zafar Gohar said the eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation and sledging from some of England’s players motivated him to give his best in his team’s thrilling three wicket win in Dubai yesterday.

    Gohar (37 not out) joined hands with No9 Amad Butt (26 not out) after England reduced Pakistan to 142-7 in the 37th over chasing a target of 205 in the first semi-final of the ICC Under-19 World Cup.

    With their tails up, the England players singled out Gohar and gave him a fiery welcome to the crease. Rob Jones gave him a earful as he was walking out, and then paceman Matthew Fisher had some more to say before staring at the batsman after he slashed and missed one of his deliveries.

    The 19-year-old from Lahore said: “The fact that they came at me, it just gave me some extra energy. I was more focused after that and I was motivated to do well.

    “I thought if they are this aggressive, we must not lose the match to them. The best way to answer would be by winning the match.

    “There wasn’t anything in particular. We have played a lot against England recently – in England and then a tri-nation series in the UAE (in December). Most of the boys have become good friends.

    “We have managed to beat them in almost every match and I think they got a bit aggressive and excited because they had a chance to finally win against us.

    “But it happens on the field and it wasn’t anything serious.”

    After smashing the winning boundary and his own celebrations, Gohar showed a lot of class in returning to the pitch and shaking hands and embracing the dejected members of the England team.

    The one bad piece of news for Pakistan was the hamstring injury sustained by opener Imam-ul Haq, the most successful batsman in the tournament with 370 runs in the five matches.

    Captain Sami Aslam added: “Our doctor will have a look at Imam and we will come to know the extent of his injury. The good thing is that we have four days before the final, so he will get some time to rest and hopefully, be fit for Saturday.”

    Pakistan will face the winners of tomorrow’s second semi-final between South Africa and Australia, with the losers then taking on England in the third/fourth-place playoff.

    England captain Will Rhodes said: “We’re still pretty positive. We’ve still got one game to go and we want to win it.

    “It could be the last game we play together for a long while so we want to leave on a high and come third in the tournament. I think that would surpass our expectations that we had at the start.

    “I think we can all hold our heads up high. We’ve done fantastically well to get where we have.”

    Elsewhere in Dubai, Deepak Hooda turned in an all-round performance as India salvaged some pride by recording a 76-run victory over Sri Lanka in a fifth-place play-off match at the ICC U-19 World Cup yesterday.

    Hooda first smashed an unbeaten 76 off 57 balls and then claimed three wickets for 31 in 10 overs with his off-breaks. In the absence of skipper Vijay Zol, who was banned for breaching ICC’s Code of Conduct, the Sanju Samson-led side raked up 291 for seven in 50 overs and then dismissed Sri Lanka for 215 in 48.1 overs.

    Hooda, who hit seven fours and four huge sixes added 81 runs in only 8.5 overs with Kuldeep Yadav (19 not out) for the eighth wicket.

    Earlier, openers Akhil Herwadkar (23) and Ankush Bains (29) laid the platform for a big total with a 57-run partnership, while Shreyas Iyer (59) and Samson (40) raised 87 runs for the third wicket.

    Sri Lanka were never in the game as only opener Sadeera Samarawickrama (58) and Priyamal Perera (47) made notable contributions as Hooda and left-arm orthodox Karan Kalia (2/39 in 10 overs) snared five wickets between them for only 70 runs in 20 overs.

    Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav was expensive, but had his share of success claiming two wickets. Yadav continues to lead the wicket-takers list with 13 scalps from five matches.

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