I second Samir Chopra’s take on Mohammed Aamer, this 20-something wunderkind. It’s not just that he knows how to swing the ball both ways, and can do so at decent pace. (Exhibits A and B are those two deliveries post-Tea on Day 1 to dismiss S. Smith and M. Johnson.) But this guy is also really, really smart — Exhibit C is the delivery that got rid of M. Hussey on Day 3. Aamer delivered a scrambled-seam ball, but he did so, as Michael Holding said, almost like a spin bowler — the ball, rotating as if on leg spin, landed on the seam and bounced more, taking Hussey’s edge to the slip cordon.
Now, Chopra also says that if Pakistan cannot win from here — needing about 40 more runs with 7 wickets in hand — they might as well join with Bangladesh, for old time’s sake. Maybe — but I join a much older line of thought that has suggested that the perfect cricket team would combine Pakistan’s uncanny ability to produce great bowlers with India’s arrogant, thoroughly deserving and imperious batsmen (this Sri Lanka Test excepted). A fool’s dream, of course.