Pakistan vs England: Preview

The Pakistan vs England series is all set to commence on Tuesday, 17th Jan. 2012,  with first Test Match at Dubai. The series has mostly been controversial, especially in the last half decade or so. As England is the No. 1 test team and keeping Pakistan’s current form in mind, the series has been evenly poised.

The controversies goes back to 1987 when on Pakistan’s tour, Mike Gatting was furious about umpiring decisions and pointed a finger at the umpire Shakoor Rana in the second test at Faisalabad.

That moment when Mike Gatting threatened the umpire.

The controversies didn't end and they hit back in 2000, when the Karachi Test continued till it became dark and England was able to win. Then comes 2006 when England had taken an unassailable lead of 2-0 and on the fourth day of last test, the Australian umpire Darryl Hair, accused Pakistani bowlers of Ball Tampering. After the lunch break, the then Captain of Pakistani Team, Inzimam ul Haq, refused to lead the team out on field as protest while the batsmen and umpire were waiting in the middle. After a few discussions, the umpire called the match off and England were declared winners.

The controversies of 2006 series were finally forgotten when another one struck in 2010. Aamir had bowled the spell of his life when at the close of play, the tabloid News Of The World revealed that he has bowled No Balls along with Mohammad Asif, deliberately. As almost everyone know it now, they are now in prison along with Salman Butt, who was the mastermind behind all this.

Jail sentence for all the culprits

Controversies aside, Pakistan vs England have been a great contest nevertheless. They both have met 21 times in Test series since 1954 with England winning 10 of them while Pakistan has only managed to win 5. England has the upper hand on ODI series too, winning 6 while Pakistan have managed just 2 out of 11 played overall.
The high scoring matches in early 70s, Abdul Qadir's 8 wickets in an innings, the Doosras of Saqlain Mushtaq and Googlies of Mushtaq Ahmed, finishing innings of Graham Thorpe, Inzimam and Yousuf, the heroics of Umar Gul and batting of Trott and Staruss, the series has ever been evenly matched.

Although the English team is the No.1 ranked team in the world, but keeping Pakistan's recent form in mind, both team's winning the highest number of Test matches in 2011, the series will be an epic one and let's just all pray that it remains controversy free :)

Good luck to Pakistan Cricket team, lets just show England that we are better than them.

Be Green. Feel Green. Live Green. Bleed Green. :)