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Pak pull it back at Toronto

There's this story about cricket writer Martin Johnson. First time he was sent to cover a tour was the Ashes series in Australia. His first story began with the line, "There are only three things wrong with the English team -- can't bat, can't bowl, can't field".

As it happened, England won that series. So Johnson opened his end of series wrap piece with the line: "Can't bat, can't bowl, can't field. Right quote, wrong team!"

Sitting down to do the match report of the second game in the Sahara Cup series, I was reminded of that story. If I remember right, I think I mentioned at the outset of the match report of the first game, that India bowled, fielded and batted well. Today, same quote, different team.

Pakistan, completely lacking in focus the day before, was brimming with it today. There was an air of purpose to their play, they stayed committed right through the match, and not surprisingly, went out winners by 51 runs.

Apologists for India could point out, perhaps, that they were labouring under a major handicap. No, not the absence of Tendulkar, Jadeja, Singh, Kumble et al -- these things can't be used to excuse defeat. Rather, the real blow I thought was the absence of Saurav Ganguly. While the vice captain's hamstring is reportedly cured, the team management decided not to risk playing him today, preferring to rest him so that he could be completely fit for the remaining three games.

This meant that India's batting lineup was completely shorn of experience. Sidhu has not, for a while now, been a regular. Mongia is a stop gap opener. Azhar at three thus is the only experienced player. Then comes Dravid, on whom the pressure, thanks to his in-out-in tenure in the team, can be measured in kilotonnes. And after Dravid, you have a parade of young, inexperienced batsmen.

Again, this is no excuse, merely a point in passing -- where India lost the game was in the first 25 overs. And it was the bowlers who lost it for them.

There was a time not long ago when India positively loathed chasing. It's perhaps a measure of the changed attitude of the team in the recent past that insertion is becoming the order of the day -- Mohammad Azharuddin did it for the second time in two outings, inviting Pakistan to take first strike after calling right.

'There's a bit of moisture on the track,' said Azhar, referring to the dew, 'I think our bowlers will be able to use it well.'

In the first game, on Saturday, he had every reason to be pleased with the way his bowlers backed the decision. Today's performance, though, could call for some strong words in the post-match team meeting.

Srinath, yet again, bowled an outstanding first spell. Azhar gave the new ball to Prasad today, and the normally parsimonious bowler proved to be in prodigal mood. His length and line is his forte, but today, Prasad lost it completely in his first spell, pitching too short, too often, and undoing all the good work Srinath was doing at the other end. Agarkar, apparently influenced by Prasad's performance, was equally wayward in his first spell, with the result that Pakistan, having struggled for runs the day before, got off to a flier today.

While Afridi was unusually subdued at the outset -- one reason could be that he had to face quite a bit of Srinath at his best -- Anwar was on song, his timing back to mid-season form. A flicked six over long on off Prasad was the crown jewel in a lovely little cameo which ended when Srinath produced a beauty, pitching middle, seaming away, squaring the batsman up and taking the edge for Azhar to hold low in front of him at second slip.

Aamir Sohail, tentative in the first game, looked positive in this outing and once Srinath went off after his first spell of six overs, Afridi too began opening up. The progression, as always, tells the tale, Pakistan going from 28/1 in 5, to 54/1 in 10 and 88/2 in 15. That second wicket was, however, fortuitous: as in the first game, Sohail launched into a fierce pull at a ball not short enough, and was hit on the pad. Problem being, the ball was outside line of off when it struck the pad, and umpire Peter Michael of Sri Lanka got it horribly wrong.

By this stage, however, Afridi was in overdrive. Sohail nursed him along beautifully, restraining his impatience, time and again coming down the wicket to cool him down and get him to concentrate. As always, the streaky and the spectacular were mixed up in his play, and typically, the end came about through adrenalin overdose. Kanitkar came on, bowled a loosener as his first ball, short, and wide outside off, and Afridi, with acres of space to chose from, smashed it down the throat of sweeper cover.

The brothers in law, Salim Malik and Ijaz Ahmed, had played better than the earlier batsmen yesterday. Today, the former fell to very bad shot selection. With the team coasting, all he needed was to keep the score ticking over. Instead, he went for a needless sweep against the line at Kanitkar, managing only to get a top edge that ballooned to Mongia. Ijaz, for his part, was done in by a beauty from Sunil Joshi, who on the day had an excellent spell, the kind that brings a team back into the game. The ball was flighted, on off, three quarter length, just right to draw the batsman forward. Ijaz pushed at it, the ball turned, took the edge, and Mongia did the rest.

Again, the progression tells the tale: from being 88/2 in 15, Pakistan went to 119/3 in 20, 132/5 in 25. A good platform had been squandered by those needless wickets.

Moin Khan joined Inzamam at this point, and the two looked in good enough form to haul Pakistan back onto the rails. With Moin playing his usual cheeky game, and Inzy settling into some smooth strokeplay, Pakistan added 42 in the overs 26-35 -- but lost Inzamam to an Afridi-like rush of blood.

Azhar's big problem, given the way Prasad and Agarkar had been treated earlier and the absence of Ganguly, was in bowling resources. Thus, at a crucial stage, he was forced to try debutant Sanjay Raul, and the youngster, an off spinner, bowled flat and quick, on a run-denying length. Inzamam apparently decided to hit him off his line, came dancing down, failed to get to the pitch, went through with his heave and picked out long off -- a needless dismissal.

Raul in fact brought India back into the game at that stage, a wicket in his first over (the 33rd), a maiden in the next, just three in the third... his flat, fastish offspin may not threaten Saqlain Mushtaq's pre-eminence in the field, but in ODIs, it sure is a handy weapon.

Azhar Mahmood is rated highly -- and quite right, too -- as a batsman. He has, though, been extremely off colour thus far on this tour. From the way he batted, I suspect he is compounding his own problems by moving, in exaggerated fashion, across off stump and finding himself all squared up to anything in line of the stumps. Srinath exploited that beautifully, banging one in suddenly, leaving the batsman no option but to fend it away and Dravid, at square leg, ran in, dived forward, and took a blinder.

Prasad quickly disposed of Abdul Razzaq, Agarkar accounted for Mohammad Zahid. But at the other end, Moin Khan was at his innovative best. He is a dangerous one day batsman, the ideal number six, and today, he played a lone hand and quite literally swung the game into Pakistan's lap with his bat, especially through the final ten overs. One figure is all it takes to underline his contribution: at the 45 over mark, Pakistan were 210/8, India, in its turn, made 191/9. Runwise, not too much in it, but Moin at the end made the difference, keeping the strike going, working the singles, talking even Aqib Javed, one of the game's natural bunnies, into hanging in there and finally, taking on Srinath in the final over, and with spectacular innovation, finishing off with two great fours.

For India, Sunil Joshi was the standout performer with the ball, with help from Raul and Kanitkar. Srinath bowled nine superb overs and had his analysis spoilt at the very end. But Prasad and Agarkar were too wayward in the beginning, and that gave the game away -- 246, with the kind of batting lineup India had, and on a track where the ball does seam about, was always going to be an improbable ask.

There were, of course, the ifs -- if India got off to a good start, if the middle came good, if the youngsters played their shots...

Pakistan shut the door comprehensively on these probabilities with an outstanding bowling performance, razor-sharp fielding and good captaincy by Sohail. Using Azhar Mahmood to open the bowling was a good move to start with, since the slower bowler could concentrate on length and line and deny the batsmen the pace of the ball when they tried to clear the field.

Sidhu came out as the senior partner -- a position he is sadly unfitted for, today. For one thing, he has been more out than in the side. For another, he has been short even of net practise. And at his very best, he is not exactly an electric opener, his running between wickets -- or rather, his not running between wickets -- being a huge handicap.

Mongia, as always, played within his limitations and did very well for a stopgap opener. But Sidhu, conscious of the big ask, kept slamming at the ball, missing a good proportion of the time, and when he did get bat to ball, found the fielder more often than not, the pace of the shot and his own intrinsic slowness between wickets denying even the singles.

Mohammad Zahid put an end to his misery with a straight, fast ball outside off that Sidhu drove at without being in position and, for the second time in two games, the scoreboard read Sidhu bowled Zahid.

Azhar started off in unusual fashion, rising with a Zahid lifter, and tapping it in the manner of a tennis overhead, over the backward point fence for six. And he seemed to be in good touch with his flicks and another pulled six. But Mahmood, in a lovely second spell, did for the Indian skipper, beating him time and again with his leg cutters, finally inducing the edge to the keeper.

Dravid looked confident at the outset, working the ball around well, rotating the strike. Meanwhile Mongia, who had kept his head right through, and interspersed innovation with compact defence, finally lost it, having a big go at one from Mahmood that, aided by late seam movement, flared high off the bat, for Inzamam to hold a well judged catch at backward point.

In came Kanitkar, and out went Dravid. Sunny Gavaskar, one time, was talking of how, when things are going badly for you, it is downhill all the way. Bowlers bowl their best balls to you, fielders are extra sharp, edges that would go for fours when you are on song somehow snag in the hands of fielders... Dravid, today, will see the truth in that. Razzaq's ball was on off, Dravid went across to play off his pads through midwicket, the bat turned in his hands -- always a worrying sign in a top batsman -- and the bowler, on the follow through, got down remarkably quickly to take a superb return catch.

Jatin Paranjpe had impressed in the first game. He impressed again, here, with his attitude -- going for his strokes right from ball one and hitting cleanly, which is a Paranjpe trademark. What he lacked was longevity -- Salim Malik bowled a short one, Paranjpe's eyes lit up, he rocked back and slammed a savage pull at it, his eagerness proved his undoing and the ball went straight down the throat of sweeper midwicket.

That was the last gasp and from that point on, India was pretty much out of it. Debutant Sanjay Raul didn't give any indication, during his short tenure, that he is cut out for this level of the game. His play, like say that of Vikram Rathore's, is indicative of a batsman who sees the ball, and judges it, that fraction too late to really come good at the highest level, and his end -- touching a straight ball behind -- was inevitable. The rest -- Kanitkar, Joshi, Agarkar -- all succumbed more to the mounting run rate and the need to play strokes to every ball, the pressure of the situation and their own inexperience doing for them. Srinath enlivened the end with a crisp cameo, but India was never really in with any kind of chance.

For Pakistan, a lovely all round performance. Mahmood stood out with some outstanding seam bowling, Razzaq wasn't as sharp as he was yesterday but he stuck to his line and got his rewards, and Malik -- whose absence yesterday from the field deprived Sohail of a good weapon, struck vital blows with his seemingly innocuous seam up stuff.

Sohail, too, got his captaincy act right, today. Yesterday, his field placings tended towards the wierd, as when he had as many as 7 on the off and just two on the on side for the quick bowlers. Today, he got the balance between defence and attack just right, his bowling changes were spot on, and his team backed him up to the hilt.

Miandad, today, proved to be a proactive coach -- the defining moment of his hands-on approach coming when he walked onto the field with the Pakistan team after the interval, and walked over to draw a mark with his boot at the precise spot where he thought point should stand for Aqib Javed. In a sense, it was funny to see Malik turn towards the pavilion and ask Miandad if he was standing in the right spot, halfway through the first over -- but at another level, it could be an indication that the Pakistan team is putting the controversies behind it, and focussing on the task at hand.

A comprehensive win in the end, and that in turn sets it up for what should be a corker of a game on Wednesday, with the teams locked 1-1. With just the two pitches used in rotation, the bounce will get fractionally more uneven as the tournament goes on, run-making will be difficult for those who revel in sub-continental belters, and the games could get progressively tighter. Don't know how you feel, but to my mind, it's going to take a brave guy to call this particular series, either way, at this stage.

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