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The Pathan makes Hay while the Sun Shines |
Review of the 5th ODI between India & Pakistan at
Kanpur by
Karthik Narayan
This match assumed gigantic proportions as
the winner of this match would take the
advantage in the series and also get enough
confidence and dent the opposition to get hold
of the trophy. This was also the 100th ODI
between India and Pakistan. Overall it promised
to be a fantastic treat for the audience and
those watching from all around the world.
Toss: The toss was going to be crucial
in deciding the fate of this match. In the last
5 matches played at Kanpur, the team losing the
toss had gone on to win the match. Rahul Dravid
won the all important toss and elected to bat on
a pitch which had assistance for the spinners.
India brought in Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh
and Dinesh Mongia to replace Murali Karthik,
Ashish Nehra and Saurav Ganguly.
India:
India needed a good start from their star
batsmen Sachin and Sehwag. With Sachin getting
into the groove in the last game with a good
century, everyone expected the Dynamic Duo to
fire. But Naved-ul-Hasan had great plans in
store for the Indians. After a few swipes and
mishits, Sachin was out caught behind to a
beauty of a delivery from the balding bowler.
Rana had a rough ride in the previous game when
the Indians had some share of the run feast. But
today he was spot on length and line. By the
time the spectators had reached for their bags
of popcorn, Sachin and Sehwag were in the
pavilion with the scorecard reading 11-2.
India’s chances of getting a solid score now
rested on Dhoni, and Dravid. Naved once again
had the laugh over the Indian wickets as Dhoni
got out to a snorter to be caught by Younis Khan
at second slip.
With Yuvraj fiddling around, India managed to
get their team past the half-century. Yuvraj who
looked good to get a decent score was clean
bowled by Razzaq and at 59/4 and the Indians
were looking down the barrel. But then the tough
men stand up and deliver when it matters. Today
the tough men were Dravid and Kaif. Slowly they
consolidated bringing India past the hundred run
mark and moving them to an area of safety.
With sensible cricket knocking the singles
and twos and then once in a while getting the
boundaries, these two added over a hundred runs.
Kaif was out for a splendid 78 as he tried to
pull Razzaq out of the ground, but only managed
to find Hafeez at mid-wicket. Dravid carried on
the good work and in the company of Dinesh
Mongia made some quick runs towards the end of
the innings to take India to a respectable total
of 249.
Pakistan:
A target of 250 on the Green Park pitch was a
really competitive target and the Indians had
recovered well to reach that score. The Indians
were looking for quick wickets in the first
10-15 overs to put Pakistan on the backfoot, but
Mr.Afridi had other ideas. He had set his mind
like that of a bandit to rob India blind in
daylight. In the previous game, Afridi was
dismissed after a short yet damaging cameo.
Today he had set his eyes on a big one. The
Green Park Stadium had come to see some stunning
sixers and the fabulous fours from the Indians,
but Afridi wasn’t far behind. Sixers came
pouring in along with fantastic fours from
everywhere – the crowd was stunned in the first
few minutes. Afridi totally toyed with the
Indian bowlers and treated them like pure
retrievers! Blow after blow brought the runs
flowing like water from the Niagara Falls off
the blade of this powerful man. Pakistan blazed
over India by the end of the first fifteen overs
the match was over – well, Pakistan ran away
with it. While Afridi bulldozed his way this
end, at the other end, his partner Salman Butt
had a very negligible role to play.
Afridi’s fifty came off a mere 20 balls –
even the bowling changes of Kumble and Mongia
did not provide any real respite for the
Indians. The anguish on the Indian captain’s
face increased as they both went for over 20
runs in their first overs! Afridi made it a
no-match for India. Runs came from everywhere –
and the Indians had no clue as to what hit them.
It was a gale force that Afridi brought about –
and he stole the daylight from under India’s
eyes. Afridi played exceedingly well, with
impeccable timing and awesome power in his
shots. There were no brakes applied on him at
any stage, the only way that he might have
gotten out was by getting himself out.
He came in all guns blazing and while Afridi
was batting, I think the Indians might have
found the sun a tough less cooler – Afridi was
making it white hot for them! Afridi completed
what was the second fastest ODI century (he
holds the record for the fastest himself!) an
irony was that he fell to a defensive shot off
Harbhajan Singh, the ball rolling on the
dislodge the bails. It was a tame end to a
magnificent innings. This was also the fastest
century in ODIs by anybody against India.
His dismissal only delayed the inevitable
result – a Pakistani win by a big margin and
enough overs to spare. Salman Butt missed out on
the run carnage, but Youhana, Malik and Younis
Khan got some batting practice in this game.
Youhana was out to a brilliant backward running
catch from Kaif, but then, that was a mere
consolation. Kumble managed to comeback well
into the game, after going for plenty in his
first over. He finished with 2 wickets.
Pakistan wrapped up the game in the 42nd
over, and with this win, they have managed to
get a hat trick of wins over India. And their
comeback into this ODI series has been
tremendous, down 2-0, and coming back from that
deserves accolades. By the looks of what has
been happening in this series, Pakistan might
just push India aside in the last game at New
Delhi with the oozing confidence that they have
gained over India. And India with its battered
batting and bowling display must make themselves
mentally strong and really play out of their
skins in the last game to level this absorbing
series.
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