2009 ICC World T20
On 21 June 2009 Pakistan won the 2009 ICC World Twenty20, beating Sri Lanka in the final by eight wickets. Pakistan had begun the tournament slowly losing two of their first three matches but after dismissing New Zealand for 99 runs in the Super 8 stage they had a run of four consecutive wins including beating previously unbeaten South Africa, in the semi-final and Sri Lanka.
2011 Cricket World Cup
Pakistan started well in the ICC Cricket World Cup, which was held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, after beating Kenya, Sri Lanka(one of the tournament favourites) and narrowly beating Canada. After a huge loss against New Zealand, Pakistan defeated Zimbabwe by 7 wickets.'. One of the highlights of the tournament for Pakistan was when they beat Australia, who were led by 3 brilliant pace bowlers, Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson. However Pakistan defied the odds and defeated Australia, courtesy of a brilliant bowling display. In the Quarter-Finals they played West Indies. Pakistan were ruthless, as they emphatically beat the West Indies by 10 wickets, due to another brilliant bowling display. In the Semi-Finals on 30 March, Pakistan had a match with its fiercest rival, India. India, due to Tendulkar who was dropped several times, managed 260 after they batted first. Due to a slow chase, Pakistan were 29 runs short as India reached the final (India went on to win the final). Pakistan have never defeated India in an ODI World Cup match to date, losing in all 5 matches contested between the two sides.
2012 ICC World T20 Cricket
On 11 July 2012, Pakistan announced the provisional 30-man squad for the World Twenty20 and finally decided their 15-man squad by september.[28]. Pakistan won a match against South Africa and Australia in their Super-8s. The team was nearly knocked out of the tournament since it tied points with Team India, which also had two wins and one loss. Pakistan had to defeat Australia by a big margin to make sure their Net run rate (NRR) was good enough for the semi-finals, and set a target of 150 for Australia to chase. Australia made 112 and managed to qualify for the semi-finals. On the same day, team India managed to defeat South Africa (already eliminated before the match), but did not qualify for the semi-finals as they had to defeat South Africa by 31 runs (India won by 1 run). Pakistan met Sri Lanka in the semi-finals on October 4 and lost by 15 runs, getting knocked out of the tournament. The captain's decision to let Abdul Razzaq, and Asad Shafiq sit out of the match instead of Shahid Afridi (who scored 0 runs in the match) was heavily criticized by supporters. Criticism also came from letting out-of-form Umar Gul play every single match instead of Mohammad Sami. Pakistan is still the only team to have reached the semi-finals in all T20 tournaments.
The 2007 Cricket World Cup was one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history when Pakistan was knocked out of the competition in a shock defeat to Ireland, who were playing in their first competition. Pakistan, needing to win to qualify for the next stage after losing to the West Indies in their opening match, were put into bat by Ireland. They lost wickets regularly and only 4 batsmen scored double figures. In the end they were bowled out by the Irish for 132 runs. The Irish went on to win the match, afterNiall O'Brien scored 72 runs. This meant that Pakistan had been knocked out during the first round for the second consecutive World Cup.[14][15][16] Tragedy struck the team when coach Bob Woolmer died one day later on 18 March 2007 in a hospital inKingston, Jamaica. Jamaican police spokesman, Karl Angell, reported on 23 March 2007 that, "Mr Woolmer's death was due toasphyxiation as a result of manual strangulation" and that, "Mr Woolmer's death is now being treated by the Jamaica police as a case of murder."[17] Assistant coach Mushtaq Ahmed acted as temporary coach for the team's final group game of the tournament.[18] Subsequent to his team's defeat and the death of Woolmer, Inzamam-ul-Haq announced his resignation as captain of the team and his retirement from one-day cricket, stating that he would continue to take part in Test cricket but not as captain.[19] Shoaib Malik was announced as his successor.[20] Following his return to the squad, Salman Butt was appointed as vice-captain until December 2007.[21]On 23 March 2007, Pakistan players and officials were questioned by Jamaican police and submitted DNA samples along with fingerprints, as part of the routine enquiries in the investigation into Woolmer's murder.[22] Three days after leaving the West Indies for Pakistan, via London, the Pakistan team were ruled out as suspects. The deputy commissioner of Jamaican police. Mark Shields, the detective in charge of the investigation, announced, "It's fair to say they are now being treated as witnesses." "I have got no evidence to suggest it was anybody in the squad."[23] A memorial service was held in Sacred Heart Church, Lahore, for Bob Woolmer on 1 April 2007. Among the attendees were Pakistan players and dignitaries, including Inzamam-ul-Haq, who was quoted as saying, "After Woolmer's family, the Pakistan team was the most aggrieved by his death."[24] After the World Cup ended, serious doubts were raised about the investigation, with increasing speculation that Woolmer died of natural causes. This has now been accepted as fact, and the case has been closed.[25]On 20 April 2007, a PCB official announced that former Test cricketer Talat Ali would act as interim coach, in addition to his role as team manager, until a new coach had been appointed.[26] On 16 July 2007, Geoff Lawson, previously head coach of New South Wales, was appointed coach of the Pakistan for two years, becoming the third foreigner to take on the role.[27] In the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, Pakistan exceeded expectations to reach the final but ended as runners-up, after losing the final to India in a nail-biting finish. On 25 October 2008, Intikhab Alam was named as a national coach of the team by the PCB.
Team ColoursIn Test matches, the team wears cricket whites, with an optional sweater or sweater-vest with a green and gold V-neck for use in cold weather. The team's official sponsor's have been Pepsi since the 1990s with their logo displayed on the right side of the chest and sleeve with the Pakistan Cricket star deployed on the left in test cricket. Boom Boom Cricket signed a deal with Pakistan Cricket Board in April 2010 to become the kit sponsors of the Pakistan team, the deal ended on the end of 2012 Asia cup.[31]Pakistan's One Day and Twenty 20 kits vary from year to year with the team wearing its famous green color in various shades from kit to kit. For official ICC Tournament's 'Pakistan' is written on the front of the jersey in place of the sponsor logo, with the sponsor logo being placed on the sleeve. However for non ICC tournaments and matches the 'Pepsi' logo feature prominently on the front of the shirt. As always the Pakistan logo is placed on the left chest. An example of the different shades of green Pakistan wears from kit to kit can be seen in the example of the 2010–11 kit which was in the famous lime green color.[32][33] However for the World Cup a new jersey with a dark green to light green fade was introduced in February 2011.[34] The Kit For The World Cup Become Popular Around The World For Its New Design. Minor changes were made to the kit after the World Cup, 'Pakistan' across the shirt was replaced with the 'Pepsi' logo, whilst the World Cup logo was replaced by the 'Boom Boom' but the jersey did not look like as same as the cwc jersey even after only some small changes. logo.
1992 Cricket World Cup
Main article: 1992 Cricket World CupAt the 1992 World Cup Semi Final, having won the toss, New Zealand chose to bat first and ended with a total of 262 runs. Pakistan batted conservatively yet lost wickets at regular intervals. With the departure ofImran Khan and Saleem Malik shortly thereafter, Pakistan still required 115 runs at a rate of 7.67 runs per over with veteran Javed Miandad being the only known batsman remaining at the crease. A youngInzamam-ul-Haq, who had just turned 22 and was not a well-known player at the time, burst onto the international stage with a match-winning 60 off 37 balls. Once Inzamam got out, Pakistan required 36 runs from 30 balls, which wicketkeeper Moin Khan ended with a towering six over long off, followed by the winning boundary to midwicket. The match is seen as the emergence of Inzamam onto the international stage.[10][11][12]The 1992 Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand marked Pakistan's first World Cup victory. It is remembered for the comeback Pakistan made after losing key players such as Waqar Younis and Saeed Anwar and being led by an injured captain in Imran Khan. Pakistan lost 3 of their first 5 matches and were nearly eliminated in the first round of the tournament after being bowled out for 74 runs against England, until the match was declared as a "no result" due to rain. Imran Khan famously told the team to play as "cornered tigers", after which Pakistan won five successive matches, including, most famously, the semi-final against hosts New Zealand and the final against England
The Pakistan cricket team (Urdu: پاکستان کرکٹ ٹیم), nicknamed as Green Shirts, is the national cricketteam of Pakistan. Represented by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the team is a full member of theInternational Cricket Council, and participates in Test, ODI and Twenty20 International cricket matches. Currently Pakistan is ranked number four as per the ICC Test rankings.[1] Pakistan have played 777 ODIs, winning 417, losing 337, tying 6 and with 17 ending in no-result.[2] Pakistan were the 1992 World Cupchampions, and also came runners-up in the 1999 tournament and are the current Asian Champions. Pakistan, in conjunction with other countries on the Subcontinent, have hosted the 1987 & 1996, with the1996 final being hosted at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. The team has also played 64 Twenty20 Internationals, the most of any team, winning 38, losing 24 and tying 2.[3] Pakistan won the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and came runners-up in the inaugural tournament in 2007.
Pakistan have played 370 Test matches, with winning 115, losing 101 and drawing 154. The team has the 3rd-best win/loss ratio in Test cricket of 1.13, and the 5th-best overall win percentage of 31.33%.[4]Pakistan was given Test status on 28 July 1952, following a recommendation by India, and made its Test debut against India at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi, in October 1952, with India winning by an innings and 70 runs.[5] Previously, Pakistani cricketers had competed as a part of the British Indian national team before independence of Pakistan in 1947.
Pakistan's first Test match was played in Delhi in October 1952 as part of a five Test series which Indiawon 2–1. Pakistan made their first tour of England in 1954 and drew the series 1–1 after a memorable victory at The Oval in which fast bowler Fazal Mahmood took 12 wickets. Pakistan's first home Test match was in Dacca in January 1955 against India, after which four more Test matches were played inBahawalpur, Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi (all five matches in the series were drawn, the first such occurrence in test history[7]).
The team is considered a strong but unpredictable team. Traditionally Pakistani cricket has been filled with players of great talent but limited discipline, making them a team which could play inspirational cricket one day and then perform less than ordinarily another day. Over the years, competitions between India and Pakistan have always been emotionally charged and provide for intriguing contests, as talented teams and players from both sides of the border elevate their game to new levels to produce high-quality cricket. Pakistani contest with India in the Cricket World Cup have seen packed stadiums and elevated atmospheres no matter where the World Cup has been held.
1986 Austral-Asia Cup
The 1986 Austral-Asia Cup, played in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, is remembered as a famous last-ball victory for Pakistan against arch-rivals India, with Javed Miandad emerging as a national hero.[8]India batted first and set a target of 245 runs, leaving Pakistan with a required run rate of 4.92 runs per over.Javed Miandad came in to bat at number 3 and Pakistan lost wickets at regular intervals. Later recalling the match, Miandad stated that his main focus was to lose with dignity. With 31 runs needed in the last three overs, Miandad hit a string of boundaries while batting with his team's lower order, until four runs were required from the last delivery of the match. Miandad received a leg side full toss from Chetan Sharma, which he hit for six over the midwicket boundary.[8][9]
