How Akmals answered chin music queries

And offence they did mount from the start — the Pakistan openers put up a stand of 82 and the team scored 191,highest by any side against Australia in this edition.

Interestingly,the key to that approach came from a bowler,a fast bowler at that: Waqar Younis,the Pakistan coach and former ace of pace.

Before Friday’s tie,Waqar sat with the team and recalled his heyday,when he,too,terrified batsmen with his rattling pace and mean bouncers. Wearing his fast bowler’s hat,the Pakistan coach told his batsmen the kind of behaviour that would have upset a bowler like him.

Waqar then picked his three best players of cut and pull — Kamran Akmal,Salman Butt and Umar Akmal — and told them to move away from the leg-stump to make room and hit the ball over square by using the unconventional upper-cuts.

Attack’s the best defence

The motto — “be aggressive and bat positive” — was laid out in the team meeting and the batsmen were told to go for their shots right from the start,rather than seeing the new ball away.

The ploy worked,and even Australia skipper Michael Clarke admitted as much. “They batted really well against our faster bowlers,” he said,adding that he would have done just what the Pakistan batsmen did if he were to take on the Australian pacers.

“But having said that,conditions in Barbados would be different — there will be a lot more pace and bounce,” he said as a warning to England.

The bounce at Kensington Oval will afford aerial shots over the in-field and unconventional horizontal bat methods would hold the key to the final. And Pakistan’s approach might have given some clues to the English batsmen,who are more adept at playing the short deliveries.