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Mercurial they remain

CRICINFO, undated
What is it that makes the Pakistani cricketer tick? In this sport, it is among the most compelling questions, unanswered till now and probably never to be fully resolved. If you didn't know any better you'd think, from various results over the years, some strife, considerable friction within the side, a run of bad results and a boggling glut of off-field controversies spurs them on.
Pakistan had no business winning Wednesday and that too chasing 300-plus; perhaps this is precisely why they won. They have been poor in this tournament thus far, their bowling without sting, their batting uncertain. The future of at least one from captain and coach has been on the line.
The latter has been intent on making matters worse for himself. The former pulled out at the last minute, in typically tragi-comlc circumstances after a rare public announcement on Tuesday had confirmed his place in the playing XI; not that he has been particularly inspirational. But it was in the air on Tuesday at Pakistan's practice, this vague feeling that something might happen, even with this depleted side. Nobody could really articulate it, but it hung in the air.
It is a well-worn cliche, but Imran Khan was on to something when he spoke of cornered ligers. This is not quite the same stage but Pakistan's position in the tournament is as perilous. Their progress is still in other hands: if India wins against Sri Lanka on Thursday, Pakistan are out. However, if India loses, Pakistan will go through to the final if they beat Bangladesh.
One thing that makes sense is that Younis Khan was at the centre of this win, for he well represents Pakistan's mood swings. He is a difficult man to decipher: brave, committed, but also impulsive and tempestuous, his next move as difficult to predict as his last. One day he is magnificent, the next as frustrating. One day he wants die captaincy, the next he doesn’t. But when he clicks Pakistan does too, as Misbahul Haq pointed out later. He has been at the heart of Pakistan's last three big wins over India and twice he has organised chases over 300.
Significandy, a fresh debate will also begin now on Misbah’s role. As disenchantment grows with Shoaib Malik's leadership, eyes move to the deputy and an emphatic triumph over India in trying circumstances is a sure way to speed up and heat up the debate. It is unwise to judge Misbah’s leadership on one match alone, though understandably he was elated. "I enjoyed it a lot. The pressure is always there as a professional cricketer and you just have to face these difficulties."
And it was no surprise that the first question asked of him later, mischievously, was what the future held for the man he replaced. "Malik has performed well in this tournament and his place remains," Misbali straight-batted back, albeit after everyone had their laugh. "He will keep playing where he has played."
Though careful to say what was needed about Malik, Misbah said that he had tried to change mood as well as tactics. "I just focused on certain things. We were looking a little negative and I told the players to just be positive. We played with a different strategy. We have kept wickets in hand in previous matches and tried to up the tempo later, but this time we changed that. We had two stroke-playing openers and 1 just told them to play their own game."
More important than even what Misbah did as captain is what he did as batsman. Tonight he did what he is meant to do, what he has been so close to doing so many times before. He finished a match, even hitting the winning runs. "It gave me great pleasure to do that," he said. "Sometimes you get close but it doesn't happen, but when you don't do it, you shouldn't take pressure from it. You just try and finish the next one. Today (Wednesday) was very good in that sense."
Today was very good, tomorrow it might not matter. Beyond the morrow, some will begin to argue however, this result assumes greater importance. But beyond even that, where the query as to what motivates Pakistan on such days resides? That riddle we are no nearer to unravelling
SCOREBOARD
Scoreboard in the Pakistan and India Asia Cup Super League match at the National Stadium in Karachi on Wednesday:
INDIA: 308 for 7 in 50 overs (Dhoni 76, Rohit 58, Sehwag 49, Pathan 38 not out, Yuvraj 37, Gambhir 35; Iftikhar 3-51, Rauf2-66) PAKISTAN
Butt run out 36
Jamshed retired hurt 53
Younisnotout 123
Yousuf b Chawla 20
Misbah not out 70
Extras: (b-1, lb-l,w-2,nb-3) 7
Total: (For2 wkts in 45.3 overs) 309
Fall of wickets: 1-65,2-165
Bowler O M R W
Kumar 8.3 1 61 0
Irfan 10 0 68 0
Ishant 10 1 63 0
Yusuf 4 0 29 0
Chawla 8 0 53 1
Sehwag 5 0 33 0
Result: Pakistan won by eight wickets.
Man-of-the-match: Younis Khan. Toss: India.
Umpires: Ian Gould andTony Hill.