Cricket World Cup: Un-Aussie Australia vs Un-Pakan, a mouth-watering duel | Cricket-world-cup News

Some moments not only take one back in time, but also recreate the exact emotions and passion of the Australia-Pakan rivalry. Eight years and two World Cups later. Wahab Riaz’s spell against Shane Watson reproduces the same cold dread, as though one is watching it for the first time.There are others of course, Javed Miandad waving his bat at Dennis Lillee, the latter fronting up, puffing his chest, the unbuttoned shirt and headband giving him a rowdy menace. Or Shoaib Akhtar tearing off like an airplane after nailing Steve Waugh with a devilish in-swinger in the 1999 World Cup league game.
There are stories of mythical nature too; of Richie Benaud deputing one of his players to sleep beside the pitch during the 1959 tour to Pakan so that no one tampers the pitch overnight; of coach Bob Simpson, angered the “dubious’ umpiring during the Pakan tour in 1988, threatening to abandon the series. Pakan players would complain of the same in their several trips to Down Under. Imran Khan once sarcastically said that the biggest positive from a tour to Australia was that his players “learned to sledge”. “It sort of battle-hardened them,” he once wrote.
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Thus, a mutual suspicion underlined their rivalry—Australia viewed reverse swing and doosra with mrust; Pakan considered Australia too arrogant and hostile. In soul and spirit, they seemed a world apart, more dant than the geographical dance between them. Both had produced legends, greats and characters, expanded the game’s skillset, directed some of the most thrilling games. There are some similar traits too—does not the same ice flow in the veins of Javed Miandad and Steve Waugh? Were not Shane Warne and Abdul Qadir the ultimate leg-break romantics?
Yet, for all their affinities, it’s the contrasts that embody their rivalry. Australia stands for structured, sustained excellence, of project players and coaching manuals. Pakan captures the raw beauty and thrill of unpredictability, as if the well-worn truism that cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties was designed for them. Players sprout from invisibility, from the streets and alleys, with crooked actions and wicked wrs, all real and untamed. One country chisels talents; the other lets them be. Unlike neighbours India, Pakan never aspired to be another Australia or enviously coveted their supremacy.

Given the contrasts and qualities, theirs is a rivalry that has not scaled its potential heights. But whenever they meet, even if they have not been at their healthiest best this World Cup, even if Australia is quite un-Australia and Pakan un-Pakan, context and anticipation automatically falls in place.
They have traversed the opposite routes this tournament—the only similar thread being their hands and heart burned India. Australia have ended their two-match losing streak and logged in their first points. Pakan’s two-match winning run had ended at the hands of India. One seeks momentum; the other wants to find the lost impetus.
So, Pat Cummins admitted his team is “in search of perfection”, in a sense still striving for their perfect outing so as to be called genuine contenders. Fast bowler Hasan Ali whipped up an apt and hilarious metaphor on their defeat. “Chalke chalke gaadi ruk gaya,,” he would say, “lekin kaafi dur chalna hai is gaadi ko,” he said, promising two points in each of the next six stops. leaving the room in splits. Pakan would seek to reclaim the lost momentum and put the wounds of India hammering behind them. “A defeat to India could make or break careers, but this is not the end of the world. There are more games to be played,” he said.
Though a long tournament offers the chance to regroup, Cummins is aware of extending the winning run. “I think what we’re seeing in this tournament is, it’s 10 really strong sides. It’s not sides that are just making up numbers. They’ve all qualified and they’re all here because they’ve earned their spot. So, there’s no easy games. Everything’s pretty full on,” he said.Most Read
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Both are flawed teams, imperfections running through them, fussing over the form of some of their talismans. Australia’s finest batsman, Steve Smith, had been quiet. He has not looked out of sorts, but he has not looked fluent either, his three innings combining only 65 runs. He vented out all his rage in the nets, cutting balls from stumps and chipping down the track and lofting the net bowlers flat over the heads. In all three games, none of Australia’s batsmen have looked utterly authoritative. But it could all change if Smith rediscovers his best touch, and suddenly everything will fall into place.
Similarly, Pakan have been fretting over the rhythm of Shaheen Shah Afridi. The left-arm tearaway has looked constrained, his pace reduced, his lengths off-kilter. It has exacerbated the absence of Naseem Shah. Ali pointed out that “only one bowler has changed.” What went unsaid is that he happened to be Pakan’s most influential bowler in this format. In a similar vein, both the spin stocks look thin. Though Adam Zampa bagged four wickets in Lucknow, he was far from his best. For Pakan, Shabad Khan and Mohammad Nawaz have looked horribly insufficient.
But for all the imperfections, a Pakan-Australia clash never fails to excite. To get into the mood, maybe you could rewatch the Riaz-Watson duel. Or maybe, another iconic moment is just around the corner of the MG Road.