Pakistan beat India by 6 wickets
Manik Banerjee in Dhaka
Pakistan bounced back into the reckoning after
defeating India by six wickets in the second of the three-match
final of the Independence Cup at the National
Stadium on Friday.
Some fine spin bowling, specially by Mohammad Hussain who
played his first match of the tournament today, helped Pakistan bundle India out
for 189 in 49.5 overs. Their batsmen then raced to 193 losing only four wickets with 18.3 overs to spare.
Mohammad Azharuddin won the toss and decided to bat on a slower wicket.
India received a severe blow when Sachin Tendulkar was out in the second
over of the day with India's total at five. He played on to his
wicket as an Azhar Mahmood delivery took the inner edge of his bat.
Sachin, who scored 67 and 95 in the two earlier matches against
Pakistan, made only one off six balls.
India never recovered from that shock and lost wickets at regular intervals.
After Tendulkar left, Azhar and Saurav Ganguly added 77 runs for the second wicket. But just as the duo raised Indian hopes,
Pakistan captain Rashid Latif brought in Mohammad
Hussain in the 18th over, a move that immediately met
with success.
After Azhar completed his half century, driving Hussain for a four in the first ball of the over, the spinner caught Saurav off the last delivery. The southpaw made
26 off 43 balls and included two bounderies.
Navjot Singh Sidhu, usually a good player of spin, did not last long. After being bogged down at the wicket, failing to negotiate the guiles of off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq and
Hussain, Sidhu went in for a big hit and was caught by Azhar Mahmood off Hussain at long off. He had scored six off 21 balls.
The skipper was the next to go and with him vanished India's hope
of reaching a big total. Azza, trying to speed up the proceedings,
lofted Hussain, only to be caught by Aaqib Javed for 66 off 88 balls.
Thereafter, it was only vice-captain Ajay Jadeja who
put up some resistance. He scored a gritty 34 before he was caught and bowled by Aaqib in the 45th over. All-rounder Robin Singh and wicket keeper Nayan Mongia cut sorry figures, scoring just 5 and 10 runs respectively. Robin
was caught by Shahid Afridi to give Hussain his fourth wicket,
while Mongia fell to Saqlain, caught by Aamir Sohail
at short mid wicket.
Man of the Match Hussain took four wickets for 33 runs, while Saqlain
took three wickets for 36.
Though Pakistan lost Afridi in the third over, Saeed Anwar and he
had posted 31 runs in just 18 balls. Afridi scored 21 off 13 balls hitting a six and
a four.
Sohail, the next man in, and Anwar smashed the Indian bowling to every corner of the ground, taking Pakistan to 100 in just 13.1 overs. Anwar was out at 105, trying to hit Harvinder Singh for a six. Caught by Saurav he scored a cavalier 51 off
40 balls, that included 8 fours and a mighty six.
The deficiency in the Indian spin attack came to the fore when leg-spinner Sairaj Bahutule, the only specialist spinner in the side, was brought into the attack in the tenth over. Both Anwar and Sohail were merciless on the Bombay boy, hitting him
for 22 runs in his first two overs.
Later in the innings, the leggie was even more savagely treated by Inzamam-ul Haq who hit him for three sixes.
Bahutule gave away 53 runs during his five over spell.
Sohail was smartly caught by Azhar in the covers, but not before he had scored 56 runs off 56 balls with 3 fours. Inzamam and Ejaz Ahmed,
perhaps inspired by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief's presence in the pavilion, then sent the Indians on a leatherhunt.
After equalling the Indian total, Inzi was brilliantly caught by Sidhu for 40 off 40 balls, with three sixes and four fours.
Robin Singh was the most economical among the Indian
bowlers, bagging two wickets for 24 runs in nine overs. Tendulkar, who took three
wickets against Pakistan in Wednesday's match was brought to bowl only towards the end. He contained the Pakistani
pinchhitters and returned figures of 3.3.-0-17-0.
India and Pakistan will meet on Sunday to decide the winners of the Independence Cup. With Friday's win, Pakistan have registered their 38th one-day victory
over India.
Azhar blamed the Indian batsmen's lack of application for Friday's loss.
The skipper said it was a good batting wicket and a score
of 250 plus would have been a competitive total. He hoped his
players would rise to the occasion in Sunday's game.
''We do not want to pressurise ourselves about the last match,''
he said. "We will play with an open mind.''
Rashid Latif said the Pakistan brains trust had done a lot of homework to get Ganguly and Tendulkar early. The Pakistan skipper had special praise for Hussain. "He has played
club cricket in Dhaka and is quite familiar with local conditions and the crowds,'' Latif said.
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