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Pak breeze to Pepsi Cup win

There was no dearth of emotional baggage going into the finals of the Pepsi Cup, in Bangalore.

For the last three days, all concerned have been inundated with reminiscences of the previous meeting between the two teams at this venue -- the World Cup quarterfinal in 1996, in which India pulled off a dramatic win.

This match, for Akram and his Pakistan team, was supposed to be the revenge game. And for India, a chance to maintain its edge at the venue.

The pitch at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore proved to be a nice, flat little batting-beauty. There was no live grass on the track, the groundsman having settled for rolling some dead grass into the track to bind the soil together.

The ball, given the conditions, was bound to come onto the bat quite nicely, especially in the first innings, and Wasim Akram did his team a good turn by calling right and promptly electing to bat first.

The composition of the two teams had one point worth noting. Pakistan went in with three spinners in Saqlain Mushtaq, Arshad Khan and Shahid Afridi, while India opted for a seam-centric attack with Srinath, Prasad and Agarkar bolstered by Robin Singh and the part-time seam-up stuff of Saurav Ganguly. A preview, perhaps, of the kind of attack India might want for the World Cup, but not exactly the right prescription in the prevailing batting conditions. Assuming that Robin has booked his berth to England, the selectors -- who were present at the venue in order to pick the teams for the Sharjah triseries and for the World Cup -- could to better effect have opted to play Hrishikesh Kanitkar in the middle, giving India an extra spin option to bolster the seam attack.

An interesting aspect of the first ten overs was that even as Anwar and Afridi, from the outset, signalled aggressive intent, the bowling was equally aggressive. Stand-in skipper Ajay Jadeja gave Venkatesh Prasad the first over with the new ball, perhaps in a bid to capitalise on the edge the seam bowler appears to have over the left-hander.

And sure enough, it worked. In his second over, Prasad produced a late inswinger to the left hander, pitching off and seaming in to middle off a very full length. Anwar, who had been playing off-to-leg, went across the line again, was beaten for movement and trapped plumb in front. Anwar seemed surprised at the decision, but umpire Parthasarathy got that one right.

Ijaz Ahmed is at his most vulnerable early in his innings -- 9 ducks, no less than 65 dismissals under 10, a further 36 times under 20 indicate how nervous a starter he is. Srinath took optimum advantage, beating Ijaz with a few that left him late, then produced the classic breakback -- the ball pitching a full length outside off and cutting back rapidly off the seam. Ijaz, conditioned for the ball going away, covered up, let it through and looked shocked as it broke back to take out the off peg.

Srinath's quicker pace, however, was to the liking of Shahid Afridi, who on a pitch of even bounce went on the front foot and swung through the line of everything around the off stump region, to get off to a cracking start. Prasad however compensated for his partner's prodigality, with a superb first spell that saw him give away just 22 (of the 56 on the board at that point) in his first spell of 6 overs.

Agarkar took over from Prasad, and was distinctly unlucky not to get Afridi declared LBW in the 14th over. A late inswinger on a very full length had the batsman flicking hard across the line, to be beaten for movement and rapped bang in front of middle stump. Umpire Parthasarathy, however, surprisingly ruled against the bowler.

With Inzamam going for his shots from the outset and Afridi batting in the only fashion he knows how, the loss of two quick wickets didn't keep Pakistan from cantering away to 75/2 at the end of 15, and to 116/2 at the end of 20.

In between, there was scope for comedy as well. Inzamam, going for a second run to the arm of Javagal Srinath from the deep, dived into his crease even as the ball was settling into Mongia's gloves. The umpire on the field played safe and called in the third umpire -- an untried gentleman by the name of M R Singh. Who, after viewing a replay that showed Inzamam well home, went right ahead and pressed the red button.

Inzy stood at the wicket in a state of shock, even Mongia and the Indian fielders looked perplexed by the decision. And we had the truly ludicrous sight of the umpire on the field hastily getting in touch with the third umpire and telling him the right button to hit!

Singh then hit the green button and the game went ahead. However, that one has to count as a close shave, and another indicator of the folly the BCCI regularly commits in home tournaments, of naming untried, unqualified umpires for big games.

Robin Singh, on a nice flat batting track, vanished for 24 in his first 2 overs. Jadeja, with no options left, called on Saurav Ganguly, and the 'man with the golden arm' produced another miracle. A straight, flat ball -- an absolute 'nothing' delivery -- saw Afridi, then coasting on 65 off 61 and fresh from having carted Robin over the straight field for a huge six, having a swipe at the delivery only to flat-bat it, from outside off, into the hands of Jadeja at a slightly wide mid on. That dismissal was pure adrenalin overdose at work, and it happened just when a century seemed to be Afridi's for the asking.

The dismissal also helped India get back into the game to a certain extent, just when the Inzy-Afridi partnership threatened to take complete charge. In his first outing, against India in the Madras Test, Yousuf Youhanna had set about taunting the Indian bowlers but thus far, it is the latter who have have had the last laugh.

Coming back into the side here, he was under pressure (and would have been more so, had Jadeja kept a slip for Agarkar coming back for a second spell, the bowler beating the batsman with a lovely away swinger, and finding an edge only for the ball to race through to the vacant third man). With Youhanna taking his time to settle down, and Inzamam -- seemingly aware that it was now up to him to help Pakistan to capitalise on the good start -- quietening down somewhat, the frenetic pace of run-getting came down a touch.

Youhanna's bad run against the Indians continued, as he lashed out at a well-disguised slower one from Ganguly only to find Kumble at long on.

That brought Moin Khan, ahead of Azhar Mahmood, to the wicket. Inzamam, by now at his fluent best, got to a fine 50 and together, the two of them picked it up again, with the bowling -- barring Ganguly, who at that point had bowled 4-0-17-2 -- unable to make any headway on this track.

With Moin in his usual innovative mode and Inzamam settling down to the long haul, Pakistan got to 168/4 at the 30 over mark, a healthy run rate of 5.6. During this phase, an interesting aspect was Inzamam's running between wickets -- with Moin pushing him, the normally lethargic batsman, who appears to have shed a few kilos since we first saw him on the Indian tour, pushed himself and revealed a surprising turn of speed between wickets.

Jadeja finally brought Prasad back into the attack, and the medium pacer struck in his first over. The batsman tried to give Prasad the charge, and was beaten when the bowler dragged the ball down, going short and making it climb into him. Off the very next ball, Moin elected to stay back and try the drive, only for a late away-seamer, the kind Prasad appears to have a patent on, to take the edge through to Mongia to end a 63-run partnership for the 5th wicket at a healthy 5.48 rpo.

While on Prasad, one incident in the 40th over, being bowled by Srinath, indicated that his recovery from shoulder problems is now complete. Racing around the backward point boundary to field, he whipped in a flat, fast return that thudded into the keeper's gloves -- a contrast to Srinath, whose suspect throwing has meant that pretty much any batsman who plays the ball to him in the deep goes for the second run.

223/5 in 40 overs meant that Pakistan, going into the slog, had the upper hand. Jadeja gave Prasad an extended run, looking for wickets rather than saving the economical bowler for the end. Agarkar, by contrast, was a touch disappointing. He likes bowling with the new ball, which is when he tends to strike -- and those strikes balance his tendency to be expensive. Coming in at first change, he seemed at sea and even when he came back in the slog, tended to try too hard for that wicket, ending up straying and giving away easy hits.

The onus was on Azhar Mahmood to step on the accelerator while Inzamam played through -- but the all-rounder did not seem in the best of touch, with the result that pressure mounted on his partner. And pressure, in turn, produced the run out -- Azhar Mahmood getting the inner edge to Kumble, Inzamam coming way down the track pleading for the run, only to be sent back too late to beat Jadeja's throw back to the keeper.

Inzamam's innings at Mohali had been a bit on the patchy side, but the one here was sheer class, perfect shot selection matched with a willingness -- almost eagerness -- to push hard in the running between wickets. The big man, who played such a vital part in Pakistan's 1992 World Cup win, seems to be running back into form of late, and that is good news for the brittle-seeming Pakistan middle order.

Following Inzamam's departure, Mahmood finally began going for his shots -- and pulled off a few good ones mixed up with some innovative chips and nudges, before falling to Ajit Agarkar, ironically off the very last ball of his quota. This was a ball of fullish length, not in the slot for the slog over the fielders on the on, and Mahmood managed only to club it to the fielder at midwicket.

Prasad's rediscovered throwing arm then came into play in a run out that was way above the usual standards set by Indians in the field. Saqlain Mushtaq pushed to mid on, Amay Khurasia fumbled badly and only managed to boot the ball sideways. The batsmen took one, went back for the second and Prasad, racing across from mid off, picked up, swerved his throw past the body of the batsman charging to the keeper's end, and took out middle stump -- this, when Saqlain was doing his damndest to get between the throw and the stumps.

Ganguly, whose 27 runs in six overs seemed to indicate that Jadeja could with profit have used him a bit more in place of the expensive Agarkar, came on to bowl the last over and, after being clubbed for a huge six off the first ball by Akram, showed his utility with a tight line just around off to the Pakistan captain, giving him no room for the free hit. Two dot balls, followed by two singles, was a great comeback. And he capped it with a yorker off the last ball which Akram could only pat back to the bowler -- a great final over that.

Akram, throwing his bat around, came up with a cameo and Pakistan ended with 291/8. For those who have been following the hype centering on the World Cup quarterfinals of 1996, where on this venue India defeated Pakistan in a cracker, the interesting trivia is that on that occasion, India made 287 batting first, which proved a winning total.

Pakistan topped that, in the process putting up the highest total at this venue, and setting India, with Tendulkar and Azharuddin still on the out-patients' list, a near impossible ask. It also provided a chance for the likes of Sadagopan Ramesh and Amay Khurasia -- with Azhar and the national selectors, on the verge of picking the teams both for the Sharjah tri-series and the World Cup, watching -- a chance to play out of their skins against a well-balanced Pakistan bowling lineup. If they wanted to book their tickets to England, the stage was ready.

Ganguly and Prasad were the pick of the bowlers on a track that really had little in it for bowlers. Even the normally parsimonious Kumble went big, while Robin Singh proved a passenger -- as he tends to do on easy, flat tracks, where his straight line and lack of variety invites big punishment.

In passing, India can consider itself lucky that despite overshooting its allotted time by about 20 minutes, it was not penalised for the slow over rate.

The other day, Pakistan went a good 57 minutes over and got docked just three overs. And this sort of thing brings with it a thought -- if the ICC doesn't have the will to implement its own laws, why on earth does it have them? Why waste money on a match referee?

The Indian run chase

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