Miracle on a green pitch, the story of Pakistan's greatest ODI disaster

“Why are you trying to rub salt into my wounds?”, comes a bitter reply from Azhar Mehmood, one of the finest all rounders of the 21st century, as we discuss that fateful day of March 17, 2007.

Painfully remembered as the darkest day in Pakistan Cricket, it was the same day that brought down the curtains on Azhar’s otherwise celebrated career.

Ironically, it was Azhar’s slower ball that was picked early by Irish skipper Trent Johnston and he hit the ball high and handsome to foster some of the craziest celebrations in Irish Cricket history.



No wonder, this is one game Azhar never feels comfortable discussing.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Yousuf is quick to point out the grudge ICC had towards Pakistan as they did their part in assisting Ireland, “Green top wicket was deliberately prepared for our match”.

He was also cynical about the media trial that followed, “We can’t forget how media bashed us after that match, India lost to Bangladesh in the same World Cup but their media didn't give them the same treatment”.

Background



2007 was probably the darkest year in Pakistan cricket.

To start off with, they never had the ideal preparations walking into the Mega Event.

A 3-1 drubbing against the Protease on their home ground did little to boost their confidence.

That defeat was followed by another scratchy performance against the West-Indies in the tournament opener where Lara’s men handed them a 54 run defeat.

On the other side, a splendid century by Jeremy Bray helped Ireland fight out a thrilling tie against the much experienced Zimbabweans. Don’t forget, this was their first ever World Cup.

From there on, the stage was set for the Irish to step up and lock arms with the big boys. Their next obstruction was the Sub-continent giants, Pakistan.

With a reputation of always being ready for self destruction, they were just the kind of opponents the Irish needed to engineer the greatest upset in modern cricket.

Iceberg, right ahead!!!

This was not going to be Pakistan’s day, and that was evident with the first proceeding of the day when Johnston called correctly at the toss and sent Pakistan to bat on a grass top wicket.

It was also the Irish National holiday known as St. Patrick's Day and somehow the grass on the pitch matched the Irish shade of green, perhaps setting the right ingredients for a National Feast later in the day.

Years later, Irish Off spinner Kyle McCallan admitted he was shocked to see the green top wicket,“The pitch was absolutely green and that played into our hands as Irish players are used to such pitches whereas there are not many such wickets in Pakistan, so when Johnston won the Toss we could see an opportunity to exploit”.

The Pakistani camp knew it was not going to be an easy outing either. Their coach; the Late Bob Woolmer described the game as a “Serious banana skin fixture”.

The Irish had done their homework; it took Langford- Smith just six balls to find flaws in Hafiz’s technique when he made him edge an away swinger to the keeper.

That top order jolt was too much for the incoming batsmen and they kept leaving the field in haste, as if hot chicken biryani was being served in the dressing room.

Such was the accuracy in the Irish bowling and juice in the wicket that seven Pakistani batsmen failed to reach double figures.

Imran Nazir did little to stabilise things with 24 while Kamran Akmal resisted with a hard fought 27 to stretch the score to a miserable 132.

That done, Ireland had done half the job, but their smiles were cautious as they knew a treacherous ride awaited them ahead.

Captain Inspirational



132 was a small total, but suddenly started to look huge for the newcomers, it was their first such situation and no surprises that nervousness started trickling in.

The innings break was a tricky time and someone needed to spark their self belief.

It was time for Trent Johnston to give the Irish version of the Cornered Tigers speech, “Guys, we have a massive chance to make it to the super 8, you have a chance to stay in the West-Indies for another four weeks. I promise you it’s going to be very difficult out there, it’s up to each one of us to see how much we want to stay here.”

Andrew White has a big laugh remembering his words, “Do you want to stay here or go back to Dublin, waking up at 6 am Monday morning and deliver posts?”

“Score these runs and we will all be heroes,”…and heroes they became.

Pakistan fight back

“We knew we had to give it everything, because if we lost, our WC was over, and the only way to do that was to take early wickets”, recalls Azhar Mehmood.

And strike well they did with M. Sami generating lightening pace to get rid of Jeremy Bray and the current English Captain Eoin Morgan as Irish were licking their wounds at 15 for 2.



Ireland needed a hero to steady their ship and Niall O’Brian decided to place himself in the modern Irish folklore. In the tense chase his hard fought 72 took the game out of Pakistan’s hands.

Shoaib Malik did eventually get rid of him but the damage had been done.

Rao Iftikhar then struck twice in quick succession to put the Irish fans in doubt, but Kevin O Brian and ultimately Skipper Johnston made sure the fairly-tale ride doesn’t come to an abrupt end.

Things get uglier for Pakistan

Ireland became the story of the Cup; they went out to beat Bangladesh, proving to the world that the win against Pakistan was not just a fluke.

For Pakistan, all hell broke loose.

Sarfaraz Nawaz, who had already accused them for underperforming against the West-Indies, suggested the body language clearly indicated that they were not interested in winning.

The way Pakistan lost their wickets also raised many eyebrows, with some former cricketers smelling foulplay as all their 10 batsmen were out caught.

As if turning another chapter from an Alfred Hitchcock thriller, Bob-Woolmer was found dead in his room next morning.

The news was shocking and the reactions were mixed. Some felt he was a man of dignity and couldn’t digest the humiliation, others believed he was strangled by some match-fixing mafia fearing he might spill beans for them, the official word cited natural causes.

However, his death is shrouded in mystery till today.

Pakistan were forced out of the Cup while Inzamam called it a day.

But for Azhar and Yousuf, it was a matter of poor performance and basic mistakes. “We simply played bad cricket and it was not our day, I don’t see any reason to doubt the results”, Yousuf tries to put to rest any further probing questions.

Azhar is quick to add, “Ireland were a better team on that day, they played well and read the conditions. We fought back hard but an appeal against Neill was turned down and that took the game away”.

That was eight years ago, on Sunday things would be favoring Pakistan as the wicket at Adelaide Oval gives a sub-continent feeling and has produced interesting results in the two matches played in the Cup.

With both teams looking in good form and eyeing the third spot, fans can only expect a cliffhanger.