|
Review of the 6th ODI between India & Pakistan at
Delhi by
Karthik Narayan
A new day, a new stadium and a new pitch were
the setting for this old rivalry between the two
sub continent giants. This was the climax of
this engrossing series, with the Pakistanis
sitting pretty with a 3-2 lead and plenty of
positives in their minds. India on the other
hand were on a Do-or-Die position, with a must
win situation to level the series. India made 2
changes to their side – Kumble and Balaji were
replaced by Agarkar and Nehra. The Pakistanis
retained the same side as in the previous game.
The Pakistan President, General Musharraf and
the Indian Prime Minister, Dr.Manmohan Singh
were amongst the dignitaries in this game.
Toss: Even though the Pakistanis have
really disproved the theory of the Toss (that
the team which wins the toss wins the match) the
toss assumed mighty importance in this game.
There have been enough apprehensions on this
pitch, which was prepared rather hurriedly, and
by the looks of it, it seemed to be a slow
wicket that would assist the spinners as the
game progressed. Inzamam-ul-Haq won the toss on
the virgin Kotla pitch and elected to bat first.
Pakistan: The morning calm and the
cool breeze was soon unsettled by Afridi as soon
as he set foot into the ground carrying his bat.
In the jam-packed Feroz Shah Kotla, Afridi’s
heroics continued from the previous match where
he had belted the Indians out of the match.
Zaheer Khan and Nehra adopted middle and leg
line like they were offering free unlimited
biryani to Afridi, and he gladly accepted it.
The massacre of the cricket ball went on and on
with every passing delivery. Even as Pakistan
lost Butt early on, the runs came leaping in
boundaries.
Once again after a quick-fire knock (44 runs
of 23 balls) Afridi lost his wicket to a
defensive shot. It seems the only way to get
this guy out is make him defend the ball – which
he seems to have never practiced in his life!
Pakistan easily coasted past the hundred run
mark within the first 15 overs, as Malik and
Youhana batted with purpose and clear intent to
up the tempo. Runs were very easy to make,
except for a small period of play when the
Indian spinners pulled back things a bit, and
with the help of Ajit Agarkar’s reverse
swingers.
Malik once again made a fine knock against
the Indians; he does love this team for
eternity. A very useful knock by Youhana ended
when the TV umpire, Mr.Hariharan hit the wrong
button for a run out verdict. Indians after that
smiled a bit only when Agarkar swung one in to
Malik after a classy 72. After that it was the
day of the Big Man, to play in the big stage and
steer his team towards a commanding total.
Inzamam has played in testing conditions and has
come out trumps all through this series.
Inzamam clubbed the Indian bowlers, pulling
and middling the ball with his big bat. He
played a sterling effortless knock of 68 from
just 69 balls, and in the company of Younis Khan
brought the Pakistani fans to their feet.
Totally a super effort by Pakistan with the bat
– and their innings ended with 303-8 from 50
overs. For India, everyone went for runs
aplenty, Nehra in particular went for over 20
runs in his first over but late in the innings,
he and Agarkar picked up 3 wickets each.
India: The Indians needed to play out
of their skins to win this one, with the wicket
crumbling a bit and runs not coming easy towards
the latter part of the day. And well, Rana Naved
did it again, taking the wicket of Sehwag for
the 4th time in this series. Sehwag was troubled
early with some short-pitched balls and Naved
set him up to play a false stroke and eventually
making him steer the ball right into the hands
of a smiling happy Afridi at slip.
Sachin checked in with a wild slog attempt in
this innings, but he departed in the very next
over after Sehwag got out. An in-cutter from
Ifthikar Anjum Rao did the trick for Pakistan,
as Sachin once again failed to showcase his
talent under pressure. Dravid and Dhoni had to
do something special now to see India home.
Naturally the run rate rose as sharply as the
mercury. The Pakistani bowlers made full use of
the new ball to really seal the big three out of
contention – Dravid was out off the last ball of
the 13th over – thanks to a brilliant run out by
Youhana.
Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni weren’t really
expected to make a match of it unless they stood
together for a few overs – that wasn’t to happen
when Yuvraj tried to run a single all by himself
and found himself walking back run out. The
Pakistanis have had enough run outs and direct
hits and their fielding has been sharp – that
has made all the difference in this match.
With spinner Arshad Khan keeping things
quiet, it was quite natural for the Indian
keeper to try a few things. Sadly, his great run
with the bat did not continue in this ODI, his
lofted shot was well taken by Afridi at long on.
At 93-5 in the 22nd over, it was all over for
the Indians. Crowd trouble only delayed the
inevitable. With Kaif also getting dismissed,
there was no chance of the Indians even trying
for a win here. Harbhajan, Dinesh Mongia,
Agarkar and Zaheer Khan did not have the skills
to survive long at the crease and besides, the
match was over by then anyway. A great
disappointment for the home crowd that their
heroes gave up the game.
For Pakistan, Inzamam did not take the field
for a while, and it was Younis Khan who took the
initiative as stand in skipper, and he did very
well, marshalling his resources, kept the
pressure on the Indians with 6 fielders inside
the 30 yard circle, and stemmed the flow of
runs. He had a good time, taking catches, run
outs – it all happened for Pakistan. This was
the Indian coach, John Wright’s last game as
coach – the Indians couldn’t give their best
shot at the finals of this series for themselves
or for their coach who has been instrumental in
bringing this team up the rankings. Shoaib Malik
was named as the man of the match, and Rana
Naved, (15 wickets in this batsmen dominated
series) was named the man of the series.
With this win, Pakistan have beaten India in
the last four games, and this is a new record by
any team to come back so strongly after being
0-2 in the series. This brings us to the end of
what has been a fabulous series of grueling
cricket. The visitors deserve all the accolades
they are getting, because to win the series 4-2
after being 0-2 down is no mean effort. For
India, they need to rethink their strategies and
team compositions if they have any thoughts of
doing well in the forthcoming tours and series.
Top of the Page |
