10/10 for Pakistan

All-rounder Hafeezs 10-3-16-2,61 not out steamrolls West Indies in quarter-final.

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10/10 for Pakistan

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There arent many cricketers who get called professors in their career but Mohammad Hafeez has certainly managed to get himself that nickname within the Pakistan dressing room. Getting such a lofty moniker isnt the easiest of things in Pakistan where greats like Waqar Younis,Shahid Afridi,Younis Khan and others are lined-up,but his team mates unanimously pronounce that Hafeez is the best analyser of the game. Now,coach Waqar has played plenty of cricket in his life,but even he gets stumped wondering how his all-rounder manages to pack in so much into his routine cricketing day.

Ever the chameleon,Hafeez showed on Wednesday that he could pull out and don the hat of the opening bowler and batsman on this day. He is not the kind of player who pushes himself to put in effort in the nets but give him the ball,and he will somehow manage to get the job done for the captain. Its a mystery every team mate has now given up on solving. On Wednesday,when West Indies opted to bat first in their quarter-final,Hafeez was assigned the task of stopping Chris Gayle from launching an early assault. He plugged his end up and claimed opener Smith on the way. A spinner sharing the new ball with pace spearhead Umar Gul has been the trend this World Cup for Pakistan and they have been successful in stopping batsmen from taking advantage of the first ten overs.

It turned out to be a one-sided affair after West Indies were bundled out for 112 runs as openers Hafeez and Kamran Akmal cantered to the target with ease. Pakistan has booked their ticket for the semi-final to be played in Mohali,and in a team which has a bunch of all-rounders,Afridi seems to be getting all his plans right Hafeez happy to play the all-round ace.

After Chris Gayle was sent back by Umar Gul,Hafeez quietly did the job from the other end,finishing with impressive figures of 10-3-16-2 and later it was the spinners who continued to bowl from both ends. Pakistan knew that West Indies lacked the stomach to play spin and that is why none of the pacers bowled in tandem until the 36th over. The spinners managed to snare seven of the eight wickets before Afridi brought his two pacers Abdul Razzaq and Wahab Riyaz.

Waqar had words of appreciation for Hafeez,who later scored an unbeaten 61. I think only he knows how he gets his work done,but he surely has tremendous self belief. He is street-smart. He might do just enough in the nets but knows how to get his work done, Waqar said.

Opener Devon Smith looked to carry on his form but Hafeez had him trapped in front and just two balls later,Darren Bravo,too was given out after the ball landed on the off-stump and drifted towards leg. Ramnaresh Sarwan looked to build the innings with Shivnarine Chanderpaul but the right hander gave a simple catch at point off Afridi. The leg-spinner took charge of taking wickets and Kieron Pollard and Devon Thomas were out in two successive balls of Afridi. Next over,Saeed Ajmal got West Indies captain Darren Sammy and Devendra Bishoo,with the aid of the doosra which was tough to handle. Pakistan took a mere 21 overs to chase down the total with the professor in the forefront yet again.