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Pak take it 4-1

For the final game of the Sahara Cup, circa 1998, the script was written by both captains during the post-toss briefing.

"We are looking to take it 4-1," said Sohail.

"We are looking to make it 3-2 and salvage some pride," said Azhar.

They had a brand new pitch for it, too. Flat, hard, indicative of bounce and turn and also, lots of runs. And Azhar, for the fifth time running, won the toss.

Unlike the first four times, however, Azhar chose to bat first. This, despite a delayed start due to overnight rain and the possibility of juice in the wicket -- his reasons for bowling first in the previous outings. The reason this time? "We have Sachin back in the side," Azhar said -- an indication of the enormous lift the team apparently gets when the little opener is in the ranks.

Going into the game, the two sides had a dead even scoresheet in Toronto, India and Pakistan having won seven apiece at the venue, with one no-result.

India made some changes -- Sanjay Raul coming in for Hrishikesh Kanitkar, presumably because the latter was not seen to be contributing with the bat. And Tendulkar for Dravid, with Sidhu being pushed down to number three. Dravid's failures in this tournament invited the axe, and Sidhu probably made the side on the strength of his 60-something in the previous game. However, Sidhu at three has always tended to be a bit of a liability -- he does not run between wickets, he is tentative at the start, all of which made his inclusion somewhat iffy.

Another point of debate would be the picking of the raw Sanjay Raul for this game, ahead of Kanitkar. India would need a good ten overs from either of the two, and it was going to be dicey to entrust the job to a raw young lad.

For India, it was back to the regular opening pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly. A pair that has done very well in the period of their association -- but here, Sachin was less than 24 hours off the flight to Toronto, having all but flown round the world in the last five days. Further, he was running a temperature going into the game. And Ganguly has been struggling a bit, in the last three games, both with his foot movement and his timing.

In the first ten overs, the Pakistan bowlers -- Azhar Mahmood and Aqib Javed -- concentrated on bowling the three quarter length, letting the outswinger do all the work. Sachin looked completely off colour, his feet were static, his timing completely off. When this happens, generally, Saurav starts firing and takes the pressure off -- but here, he was having problems of his own. Indicative of the batting at this stage were the successive maidens bowled by Mahmood, first to Sachin, then to Ganguly -- an unusual enough occurence.

Thus, a very quiet start. 10/0 in 5; 29/0 in 10. A four off the first ball of the innings, to Ganguly, off a misfield -- and not one single boundary for the next 9.5 overs -- very very unusual for this particular pair, and indicative of just how much they were struggling to come to terms, as much with themselves as with the bowling.

And then, a mini disaster. Ganguly attempted to hit his way out of trouble, drove at a ball from Mahmood wide of off stump, his feet were nowhere in line and the edge was well snaffled by Inzamam at slip, the fielder getting low down remarkably quickly for a man of his size. And a ball later, Sidhu with both feet static -- a trademark of Sidhu's batting early on -- tried to play across the line to a straighter one from Mahmood, misread the ball completely, played all over it and was out LBW.

Suddenly, India were 35/2 in 11.2. And looking in all kinds of trouble. And then came the turnaround. Tendulkar had, slowly but steadily, been playing himself in, shaking off the effects of his flight, getting his feet moving, getting the ball back into the middle of the bat. The key was going to be how he would play Mohammad Zahid -- before his injury, rated the fastest in the world and even now, no slouch.

Zahid started with a maiden to Sachin. But finally, in the 19th over, Tendulkar changed gears. A fierce pull off Zahid was followed by a glide onto the front foot and a rasping extra cover drive over the infield and, a ball later, the batsman stayed back to cut with ferocity. Three fours, and the ball game had suddenly changed.

India, 46/2 in 15, 71/2 in 20. And then Azharuddin and Tendulkar -- who, between them, have over 15,000 runs in ODIs, brought that enormous experience into play. Both are superb judges of a single, and it was this that allowed them to move the score along smooth and easy, only occasionally going for the big one. The progression tells the tale, India going to 103/2 in 25, 130/2 in 30.

Sachin's 50 had come off 81 balls -- a slow rate for him, but given the conditions, given too the fact of his long flight here, this was one of his best innings, a tribute to his ability to hang in there, to play uncharacteristically if need be, but not give it away. Around this point, he began suffering cramps in the forearm, necessitating treatment on the field. And ever since then, after every ball, he was seen bending, stretching his hands, fighting to combat the cramp.

The 100 of the partnership came off 118, Azhar's 50 came off 68, the 150 came in the 33rd over and Saqlain Mushtaq -- brought on much earlier than in the previous games, in a bid to check the run-scoring -- found his edge blunted by delicate sweeps and glances by both batsmen.

The turnaround came in the fifth ball of the 35th. Sachin, who had been in discomfort ever since his score touched 62 (the point at which he sought treatment) was looking to get as much as possible before his hand cramped too badly, and here he went down on one knee to sweep-pull Sohail. However, he failed to get the elevation he needed, lacking the power in the arm to clear the field, and ended up hitting down Inzamam's throat at midwicket.

Sohail's reaction would have done credit to a tyro who, in one punch, had knocked out the reigning world champion. A bit excessive? Perhaps, until you remember the Lady Diana Memorial match at Lord's earlier this year, when Sohail, coming on to bowl, was savaged by Sachin to the tune of 35 in just two overs.

For Ajay Jadeja, it was the optimum moment to come out -- 15.1 overs left in the innings. But Jadeja has been off colour ever since his wonderful run against Australia at home, and the situation was no different here. A tortured existence ended when he slashed at a ball from Afridi outside off, the ball coming off the inside edge onto off stump (a reprise, really, of his dismissal in the previous game, to Saqlain).

The progression till that point: 156/3 in 35, 175/4 in 40.

After the departure of Tendulkar, it was all Azhar. After a quiet start, the Indian skipper had begun flowing just as Tendulkar was beginning to slow down with cramp, and once the opener went off, Azhar took complete charge, with a superb display of batting. The wristwork was fluid as always, interspersed with drives, cuts, and a few delicate glances to fine leg especially off Saqlain, who was never allowed to settle.

Mongia, who had come in at the fall of Jadeja's wicket, was doing his job, rotating the strike around, but as the overs wound down, he decided to go for his shots -- making, however, the mistake of trying to sweep Saqlain from outside off, ending up with the top edge which ballooned to backward square leg, Afridi, almost on the boundary line. The wicket fell in the 46th over, India having gone on to 205/4 in 45.

The last 15 overs of the innings were bowled by spinners -- mainly because Sohail realised that time was running out and he could end up getting penalised for noth completing the overs on time. In fact, the bowlers were racing to their marks to such an extent that Afridi managed to complete one over in 90 seconds.

From the 46th over, it was all drama. Azhar, having crossed during the Mongia sweep, lashed Saqlain back over his head for a big six to bring up his century and, off the very next ball, attempted to turn a floater to leg, only to get the leading edge for Saqlain to hold on the follow through. A rather anticlimactic end to a wonderful innings, and when it was over, Azhar had got 8484 runs in ODIs -- just 164 short of Desmond Haynes' world record of 8648.

One ball later, Sanjay Raul was walking back. Saqlain bowled the arm ball, Raul played from the crease, misreading the ball and playing down the wrong line to get hit on the back pad, bang in front of the stumps, and three wickets had collapsed in a heap to have India at 213/6 in 46.

A quiet over from Sohail and then Saqlain back. Srinath, who has been having a good run with the bat, promptly slammed him for two successive fours. Next ball, he wanted to run it down to third man, the ball passed the edge, Moin took, and Srinath was rather surprised to see the umpire's finger going up.

In came Joshi, and two clean strikes -- over long on off the first ball he faced, then a sweep over midwicket, and two more fours as Saqlain -- rated one of the best bowlers at the death -- came in for unprecedented stick (67 runs were to come off his 10 overs, though he ended up adding 4 more to his already considerable haul in ODIs).

Then came the last over, and complete mayhem. Ajit Agarkar, who played very fluently in the previous game, gave further evidence of his striking abilities with a clean six over long on off the first ball, stepping away from off. Then Joshi got back on strike, and off the fifth ball, Saqlain went for six more, this one over long on, hitting against the turn. Joshi went for a repeat off the last ball, only to hole out this time to wide long on -- but by then, he had done the damage, scoring 19 off just 7 balls. 29 runs came off ten deliveries during this final stage, and for the first time, India went on to a decent score, 256/9 in 50 overs.

For Pakistan, the start was disastrous. Afridi stood tall and attempted to cut Srinath, the ball climbed on him and beat him for pace, hitting the inner edge and ricocheting onto the stumps.

That brought former opening partners Sohail and Anwar together, and the two, in contrasting styles, turned the game for Pakistan.

Anwar batted with his wonted fluency, shrugging off an incident early on when Srinath, going round the wicket, made one stand on him and gave his shoulder an almighty thump. Visibly restraining himself from going across to off as he likes to do -- a technique that got him out twice in the last two matches -- Anwar played to his strengths, using the drive and the delicate flicks off the pads to get the bulk of his runs.

At the other end, Sohail was visibly off form, getting more than his share of edges and slicing quite a few over the point/slips region. However, Sohail -- who in this tournament has had a wonderful run as captain -- gritted his teeth and kept going in an attritive battle that scored 100/100 for sheer grit and determination. It was almost like Sohail had decided he wanted to see the side home to the win.

For India, Srinath again produced a superb first spell. And again, he found support completely lacking at the other end. Ganguly, leading the side because Azhar was nursing a finger injury, opened with Prasad and the tall medium pacer was, as he has been through this tournament, wayward. There is something wrong with Prasad, physically -- it is become ever more apparent with every successive outing, and raises memories of his trip to Sri Lanka last year, when he bowled through the tour with a shoulder injury.

The Pakistan progression tells its own tale: 21/0 in 5, 52/1 in 10, 76/1 in 15, 99/1 in 20, 130/1 in 25, 149/1 in 30.

A major problem for India around this period was its support bowling. Sanjay Raul came on and predictably, disappeared. Ganguly was forced to bowl himself and even give Jadeja a bowl, in a bid to finish the fifth bowler's quota. And when you combine that with the fact that both Prasad and Agarkar were spraying them around, what it boiled down to was that Ganguly had just Srinath, and Joshi, to rely on -- and that leaves the bowling side a good 30 overs short of reliable options.

Compounding the confusion was the fact that India, on the field, were about 25 per cent. Tendulkar and Azharuddin, two reliable performers, were both off -- the first with fever, the second with the finger injury. And in their absence, barring Jadeja, the fielding was mediocre. In the space of two overs, fielders thrice let the ball through for fours where there were only singles to be had, and that kind of fielding rarely, if ever, wins matches.

Then came a phase, between overs 30 and 35, when India pulled itself right back into the match. Agarkar, returning for a second spell, actually triggered it off with a fiery over in which he first rapped Anwar on the helmet with one that kicked, then, off the very next ball, made one stand up and thud into the batsman's chest. The second hit winded Anwar, who collapsed to the ground and needed attention.

In the very next over, Joshi curled one in on Anwar who, apparently rattled by the previous over, went for a wild pull, missed and was trapped plumb in front. Inzamam came out and, first ball, going back to one from Joshi, played down the wrong line and walked back, LBW, leaving Joshi on a hat-trick which Malik duly averted.

Pak then went from 181/3 in 35, to 201/3 in 40, and at that stage, it looked all over bar the shouting.

Then came more sensation. Srinath, who has had a great tour if you look at his bowling and forget the entries in the last column of his analysis, came on for his last spell and without warning, slipped the leash. This must be the fastest he has bowled in this tournament, and close to his top pace -- and at that level, he was close to unplayable.

Malik was the first to go, attempting to break Srinath's shackles, aiming a wild swing over midwicket and ending up with the ball flaring off the bat, for Agarkar, running a long way back from mid off, to bring off a beauty. Ijaz Ahmed came out and clubbed two boundaries in two balls, both yorker length deliveries that the batsman adjusted to and flicked off the pads. Next ball, he attempted to run Srinath down to third man, found the edge, and Mongia made no mistake.

That was in the 44th over. In the 46th -- the last of Srinath's spell -- Moin Khan, facing a run a ball situation, attempted to pull, was beaten for pace and played too early and Sairaj Bahutule, one of the substitutes on the field, was painfully slow off the blocks at backward square leg with the result that the ball bounced in front of him. The very next ball, Moin went for the shot again, was yet again beaten for pace and bounce, top-edged, the ball ballooned high, three fielders converged under it behind the batsman, Mongia was allowed to take the catch and, as it happened, he let it go through his gloves.

In the very next over, Aamir Sohail and Moin Khan had a little yes-no waltz that ended with Sohail stranded three quarters of the way up the pitch. Bahutule, this time in the covers, came up with a wild throw and Sohail ambled home to safety.

Joshi and Srinath, the pick of the bowlers, had finished their quota. India did not have Tendulkar to call on at any stage. Sanjay Raul had given enough indication of his inexperience during his short stint with the ball. So Ganguly, his resources stretched to the maximum, took the ball himself -- and Sohail, in one final do or die effort, took the game out of India's hands with two clubbed sixes, one over midwicket and the next, straight back over the bowler's head.

India lost, the finishing touches coming in the second ball of the 48th over. And given its performance in the field, the defeat was eminently deserved -- this must rank among the worst fielding performances in recent memory.

For Pakistan, it was first Anwar, then Sohail. And to my mind, the man of the game, today, was Sohail (as it turned out, the adjudicator, former ICC chairman Sir Clyde Walcott, thought so too) -- for sheer grit and determination, this innings of his is was a classic. And finally, it was Sohail who, with the runs to balls ratio going neck to neck, took the game home with those two bold hits. The kind of innings that defines "captain's knock", and the icing on the cake for a very good tournament for Sohail in his first full outing as captain.

For India, besides the bowling of Srinath and Joshi, the only noteworthy performance was that of Ganguly as captain. He was steady throughout, and brilliant in parts -- one instance being how, at the fall of Anwar's wicket, he promptly brought in three fielders -- slip, silly point, very short mid on -- round Inzamam's bat, piling on the pressure, forcing that bit of extra caution that saw Inzy go on the back foot and lose his wicket.

There were other moments like this, and cumulatively, Ganguly stood revealed as a captain with an aggressive bent of mind, the kind whose captaincy theory is not limited to scattering his fielders along the boundary, but who believes in aggressive field placings, in attacking at every opportunity.

Something for the selectors to keep their eyes on, when it finally comes time for Azhar to hand over the reins.

During the post-match team meeting tonight, in Toronto, the Indian team will probably discuss many things. I wonder if there will be, on that agenda, a discussion of the sloppy fielding right at the very outset, not to mention some atrocious catching. 12 runs gifted in boundaries, a catch not attempted, one dropped, a run out fluffed -- the script for defeat, right there.

During the presentation ceremony, Sohail also made a point worth noting. Asked how he felt when Anwar and Inzy left in the space of two balls, Sohail said that the plan then was to stay in there and keep going. "We knew that at the end, India would have to bowl three, four overs with the non-regular bowlers, so we thought we would get our chance then."

As it happened, that is precisely how it turned out -- a tribute to perfect planning and execution of the chase. An indication, too, of the real reason behind India's 4-1 defeat in the Sahara Cup this year: despite having its best trio of pace bowlers bowling together, despite having Sunil Joshi bowling at peak form, India's bowling resources here were painfully thin.

Somewhere in Bangalore, a certain Anil Kumble must have been watching the mayhem...

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