Under
pressure Pakistan came good in all the three
departments of the game to upset a strong Indian
team in the big final of the Kitply Cup. India
made too many mistakes which included Captaincy
and batting blunders to lose the match which
looked to be under their control because of
their attractive batting line up. Pakistan had
set the match up with a grand total and it was
upto their bowlers to strike regularly with
wickets. Although India lost the game, there
were plenty of positives to take and one of them
was to take the match almost to the wire.
Pakistan set
the match up with a big total
Shoaib Malik and his team were very nervous
going into this game but they did have the
advantage of practicing very hard for the last
2-3 days. Malik won the toss and decided to bat
first with the only team change being Fawad Alam
in for Wahab Riaz. Dhoni also made just the one
change by getting back Ishant Sharma for RP
Singh. Openers Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal gave
a cautious start after the match had started 10
minutes late because of a short rain spell. The
two openers survived the new ball and just when
Akmal was looking to step up the gear came the
first breakthrough. Akmal (15 from 26 with 3
fours) got caught behind off Irfan Pathan as his
team were at a modest 34 for 1 in 9.3 overs.
Younis Khan, who came into this match with two
ducks started his innings in style with a first
ball-four. He raised his bat to the crowd for
getting his first runs of the tournament and
after that never looked back.
Younis
Khan was extremely calm and relaxed and his
confidence and experience helped Salman Butt to
consolidate in his sheet anchor's role. Both the
batsmen exposed the weaklings in the Indian
bowling which couldn't bowl many wicket taking
deliveries. Dhoni had to use as many as 8
bowlers but none of them really looked good to
dislodge this pair. As the spinners came on,
Younis and Butt were targeting a boundary an
over and mixing them up with ones and twos
sensibly. Pakistan's first two fifties took
quite some time but then later on accelerated
superbly through the big hitting off the slower
bowlers. The partnership had taken Pakistan from
what could have been a modest 230 total to
something close to 300. Both batsmen got their
respective hundreds as well in the process. For
Butt, it was his fifth one against India in just
18 innings and for Younis, his second one
against this team.
Pakistan piled up 315 for 3 on the board in
their allotted 50 overs. The feeling was that
the target was chaseable and that they had
fallen short by 15 runs or so. Salman Butt top
scored with 129 from 136 balls with 12 fours and
3 sixes before retiring hurt in the 46th over.
Butt was dropped early in his innings at short
point by Rohit Sharma which was a difficult
chance to his right. Younis Khan played an
energetic innings right from the start and ended
up with 108 from just 99 balls with 8 fours and
3 sixes which later gave him the Player of the
Match award. For India, Praveen Kumar got away
with tidy figures of 10-1-37-0 while Ishant was
trying too hard to get wickets on a flat track
to have figures of 10-0-57-0. Piyush Chawla had
a disastrous day as he went for 10-0-85-0!
Over
aggressiveness brings the downfall of Indian
batting
Despite putting up 315, Pakistan were feeling
nervous about the strong Indian batting line-up.
And their first confidence booster came when
Virender Sehwag (2 from 8) spooned a simple
catch to mid off after getting a leading edge
off Sohail Tanvir in the 2nd over itself. That
wicket pumped up the Pakistanis but Gautam
Gambhir was making sure that India didn't feel
the pinch of losing Viru early. The left hander
played some dazzling shots off Umar Gul and in
the company of Rohit Sharma was hitting back at
the fielding side with lot of force. India
coasted along beautifully through this
partnership and the only bowler who was looking
threatening - Sohail Tanvir was seen off as
well. The turning point came in the 11th over
when Rohit Sharma played a short arm jab off an
Umar Gul bouncer to hole out at fine leg. Rohit
threw his wicket away after looking so good for
his 24 from 27 with 5 fours. In his next over,
Umar Gul and substitute fielder Nasir Jamshed
combined again as Gautam Gambhir played an
uppish cut straight to third man! The
magnificent start to his innings was wasted by
his over aggressiveness and the stylish left
hander's damage was cut down to 40 from 33 balls
which had 4 fours and a six.
India were at 79 for 3 in the 13th over and
they just couldn't afford to make any mistakes.
Yuvraj and Yusuf Pathan, the no.4 were under
pressure to keep their wickets intact. The
asking rate was always under control but still
the tactics of going after the bowling was
maintained by the Indians. This certainly wasn't
required and what was needed was a sensible
partnership. Yusuf Pathan was just like Gambhir,
playing sensational shots but only throwing it
away too soon with a reckless shot. He got out
flicking one straight to short mid wicket having
got 25 from 25 with 4 fours. The next batsman
Suresh Raina showed good maturity and he batted
out sensibly with Yuvraj to steady the ship. The
runs were still coming thick and fast as Yuvraj
took calculated risks. An innocuous full toss
from left arm spinner Fawad Alam broke this
dangerous partnership as Raina (24 from 32 with
2 fours) heaved it straight into the hands of
Afridi in the deep. A few overs later, it was
match over as Yuvraj (56 from 59 balls with 5
fours and a six) got a nick behind after trying
to pull a quicker one from Afridi. India slipped
to 187 for 6 in about 32 overs.
It
appeared as if it was just a matter of time
before Pakistan bowled out India. But the
Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Irfan Pathan
had other ideas. They built a partnership
steadily and then when the crunch time came, the
big shots were unveiled to bring back life in
the match. However, during the final onslaught,
Irfan Pathan lost his touch to play out some dot
balls which made it very difficult for India.
Irfan Pathan (28 from 35 with a four and a six)
fell in the 44th over through a miscued hit to
leave everything on Dhoni at 247 for 7. Although
Dhoni was determined to give his best shot at
the difficult target, he had the big problem of
running out of partners. Domestic level all
rounders Praveen Kumar and Piyush Chawla failed
to give the support. And now India was left with
just the one wicket and with 32 needed from two
overs. Afridi bowling the penultimate over was
struck by a magical blow from MSD which flew
like a rocket into the second tier of the
stadium towards mid wicket. The next ball which
was slightly wide and full was lofted with a not
so straight bat and the result was a simple
catch at sweeper covers! That was the end of the
match but full credit had to be given to the
Indian Captain for playing a great knock which
went in vain. India got bowled out for 290 in
48.2 overs.
Dhoni had got 64 from 59 with 3 fours and 2
sixes as India went down fighting by 25 runs.
Umar Gul was the most successful bowler with
9-0-57-4 and he had comeback beautifully every
time he was taken to te cleaners. While the Man
of the Match was Younis Khan, the Player of the
Series surprisingly went to Salman Butt rather
than Gautam Gambhir!
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