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India take the Sahara Cup 3-0

Prem Panicker

Arrogance? Sheer carelessness? Or just another one of those things that makes cricket sometimes produce the craziest of results?

I keep looking at the Pakistan card. Replaying in my mind the dismissals. And wondering just which of the above it was, that produced a situation where a team chasing 182 on a wicket that had eased off and become good to bat on, collapses to lose its last seven wickets for 61 runs after looking at one time likely to finish it all off in 25 overs or less.

Was it, perhaps, that? A feeling, among the Pakistan batsmen, that they wanted to not just win, but win big? Wipe out the first two defeats? I mean, I can really see no excuse - or other explanation - for the kind of strokeplay they indulged in. And what will really hurt them tonight, as they sit back and contemplate the result, is that in this game, the breaks went all their way and, almost till the very end, they looked at all times like they had the game safely sewn up.

Here is how it all happened.

The toss was going to be very crucial, always - given that it rained the previous day, the wicket was going to be all juiced up early on, with lots in it for the seamers. And given that it was very bright and sunny, it also meant that the moisture would dry up and batting would become considerably easier as the day wore on.

In other words, the kind of pitch where the captain winning the toss has to be majorly dumb to bat first on - and Ramiz Raja not only called it right, but got it right when he inserted India. For Pakistan, Ramiz Raja came back into the side after sitting Wednesday's abandoned game out with back strain. For India, meanwhile, there were no changes - after all, why tinker with a winning team?

I am not quite sure what the point of opening with Saba Karim is. Is it to pinch hit? Doesn't look like it because I am yet to see him play - or rather, attempt - a stroke in anger. Is it then to save the captain from being prised out early in adverse conditions? In that case, Rahul Dravid would be a better option to open with. So why Karim?

Pakistan bowlers - and this time, Raja opted for Azhar Mahmood over Akram, to partner Aqib Javed - were somewhat guilty of wasting the advantage and bowling too many wides. For the life of me I can't figure it out - it wasn't like the ball was moving wide after pitching, really. Most times, the bowler was just slinging it wide - and that is rank bad tactics and remarkable indiscipline on the bowler's part.

Javed, however, was at his experienced, canny best, keeping the ball just three quarters, on or around off, and letting the pitch do his work for him. And on the day, he came close to being unplayable. He may have got just one wicket, but the pressure of facing him was so intense that batsmen tended to relax fractionally at the other end, and paid the price.

Ganguly (caught Ijaz bowled Azhar Mahmood, 2 off 20) was the first to go, making the mistake of trying to square drive a ball on middle which he could have played straight in the V. Ganguly, on the day, was finding his feet rather leaden, not getting to the pitch of the ball at all, and the shot that got him out was one of frustration than anything else. India 1/12.

Karim (caught Moin Khan bowled Aqib Javed 2 off 16) can count himself unlucky - if only because the ball that got him was good enough to take out pretty near any batsman. Perfect length to draw the batsman forward, the ball seamed away late and feathered the edge on the way through to the keeper, a classic seam bowler's dismissal and India reduced to 12/2.

Tendulkar (caught Moin bowled Mohammad Akram 0 off 10) seemed determined to hang in there and ride the rough weather out - but in the event, Akram produced a nasty lifter close enough to draw Tendulkar into the push and take the edge, India at that stage 23/2 and in all kinds of trouble.

I wonder just how Rahul Dravid (caught Anwar bowled Salim Malik 25 off 79) will judge his innings of today. To put it in perspective, the wicket was doing things, the bowling - barring the wides - was spot on, the fielders up and on their toes, so batting was never going to be easy. But having said that, one gets the suspicion that when Dravid plays the way he did today, remaining rooted to the batting end for too many deliveries without managing to work the singles, he takes away the momentum of an innings. Ideally, the anchor not only has to be able to hold one end up, but should also be able to rotate strike and let the batsmen at the other end get on with the job - and it is here that Dravid seems to be failing these days. In the event, after having done all the hard work, he really didn't need to play an ugly heave at a ball from Malik turning from middle to outside leg, to spoon the ball high in the air for square leg to hold with comfort. India 89/4.

Ajay Jadeja (caught Moin Khan bowled Akram 20 off 33 with two sixes) can be a very very dangerous batsman in the late middle overs, partly because he is such a busy player, working singles and responding well to his partner, but mainly because he has this knack of hitting clean, hard, and long. Over number 38 proved it yet again when, out of nowhere, he suddenly poked his foot down the track, got to the pitch of a tossed up one from Salim Malik and lofted it right out of the stadium. On that occasion, they lost the ball and had to get a replacement. An over later, he did it again - identical shot, and almost identical result except that this time, they found the ball. Neither of them was a slog, and that is Jadeja's great strength, that he gets results with authentic cricketing shots. Akram finally did him with a lifter on middle and leg that he swished at, to touch it to the keeper and reduce India to 133/2.

Mohammad Azharuddin (caught Azhar Mahmood bowled Saqlain Mushtaq 67 off 110 with four fours), ever since his comeback for the Asia Cup, has been batting like a man with a point or three to prove - and he did it again here, when he played to the situation, getting the singles when he needed them, producing four crisp boundaries when occasion offered, and keeping his head end going almost to the very end. His great strength is that it is almost impossible to keep him quiet - no matter what line and length you bowl or what field you set, those tensile wrists and quick footwork combine to convert the ball into what he wants it to be. And here again, he produced a supreme demonstration of batting under adverse conditions to really make the difference between a pathetic total, and a fighting one. India 164/6.

Robin Singh, after an indifferent start, shifted gears right at the very end and a clean, effortless hit for six off Saqlain was quickly followed by a swept four in an innings of 29 deliveries that produced 32 runs, including two fours and two huge sixes. And India, going out at 182/6 in the allotted fifty overs, must have considered itself lucky to have got that far given the kind of start it had.

33 extras including 19 wides does not speak much of the bowling side (and it is even more ironic when you consider the margin of victory here). But in the event, Aqib Javed (10-4-17-1) and Saqlain (10-0-48-1 bowling from over number 31 right through to the end) were outstanding, while Malik (6-1-26-1) got surprising turn to cause problems for the batsmen. Akram did well to get 2 for 28 off 10, but he as also Azhar Mahmood were guilty of being too prodigal with their wides, and in the ultimate analysis, contributed to letting India off the hook to a considerable degree.

182 was a fighting total - but only if the Indian bowlers could keep Pakistan from getting off to a flier. Afridi came out, however, seemingly determined to hit every ball out of sight - and though beaten enough times by both Kuruvilla and Mohanty, he kept to his positive style of play and produced enough strokes of stunning power to rocket Pakistan into a dream start. And having Saeed Anwar back to his silken touch helped the effort, with the result that the first 50 came off just 53 deliveries.

At that stage, Pakistan had knocked a sizeable chunk out of the target and with all ten wickets standing, the most optimistic of fans would have thought long and hard before laying a shirt button, let alone his last shirt, on the fielding side. But just when it looked like a mere matter of completing the formalities, Anwar (caught Dravid bowled Mohanty 22 off 32 with two fours and a six) fell to Mohanty, who is becoming, in this series, something of a bogeyman for the left-hander. And again, Mohanty got his wicket in a fashion identical to game two - after a series of deliveries on or around off, he produced one on leg stump, cutting in to the batsman off the seam, Anwar flicked, the ball went hard and straight to square leg and Pakistan had lost its first wicket for 52.

Afridi, though, just kept blazing away - and in the 11th over, smacked Harvinder for three stunning fours that had the young bowler standing in his tracks, dismay on his face. However, well as Afridi bats, you can't help feeling that he could be a better batsman if he had more gears than just the top - it's great stuff when you start swinging and keep swinging, but if Afridi could temper his aggression with a little commonsense and maybe a modicum less adrenalin, he would do even better. Here, he rather needlessly tried to loft Kuruvilla straight down the ground - a shot that was not on given that the ball was of fuller length and therefore the batsman couldn't really get under it. Result, the ball went right up in the air and down Tendulkar's throat at mid on, Afridi gone for 44 off 38 with six stunning fours, Pakistan 79/2.

Ramiz Raja is the kind of batsman who works the ball around, takes his time, never seems in any real rush to get anyplace. Which is why today's performance came as a surprise - it was almost like he wanted to outscore Afridi, or some such. And Harvinder, who paid a heavy price for pitching too short too often, finally got some consolation for the 41 runs he gave off just five overs when Raja (11 off 9 with two fours) tried to hit a perfectly straight delivery over extra cover and ended up slogging it straight to Ganguly. Pakistan 87/3.

Ramiz Raja and Salim Malik, easily the most experienced of the Pakistan batsmen, got together at this stage and even at this point, with just one hundred to get, it was still Pakistan's game. And then Ganguly came on to bowl - interestingly, getting the ball even ahead of Robin Singh. And promptly, the insanity began.

Salim Malik (6 off 16 with one four), who as throughout this tournament looked in easy touch, was foxed by a slower ball on off stump, drove too early, and was gratefully taken by Tendulkar at mid on, Pakistan at that stage 103/4.

Hasan Raza (0 off 8) really had no excuse - except maybe his age, or lack of it perhaps? - for the huge, ungainly heave he played to a ball on off, cutting in. There was no room for the slog over point, no percentage in the shot, and no possible result other than the inevitable - a swirling catch high in the air to Jadeja, who snags those in his sleep. Pakistan 103/5.

And from that point, the game had swung totally to the fielding side - for when you haul yourself back after a battering of the kind India took from Afridi and Anwar, you develop a momentum in the field that is pretty near unstoppable. The story of the rest of the innings, thus, is the story of the Indian bowlers putting their heads down and concentrating on bowling wicket to wicket, the fielders backing them up to the maximum - and the Pakistani batsmen inventing ever sillier ways of getting themselves out.

To put the innings, post the Anwar-Afridi stand, in perspective, all you have to keep in mind was that if Pakistan had got just 2.5 runs an over from that point, they would have won handily with overs to spare. So why was every single batsman dismissed trying to hit the ball in the air? Ijaz Ahmed (13 off 43) should with his experience really have known better than to waft at a ball from Ganguly on middle and leg - all he managed to do was get under it and present Vinod Kambli, subsituting on the backward square fence, an opportunity to pick up a well judged catch. Pakistan 116/6.

Two runs later, Moin Khan (11 off 23 with one four) got foxed by yet another slow inswinger from Ganguly and hit him straight to cover, where Robin took it clean and low down in front of him, Pakistan 118/7.

Azhar Mahmood (6 off 18 with one four) waved rather languidly at one from Mohanty pitching middle and leg and seaming away from the right hander, to feather an edge to Karim and reduce Pakistan to 126/8.

Aqib Javed came out and with little science, slogged the first two balls he got from Mohanty to the fence for fours. After the first four, Saqlain was seen gesticulating angrily to his partner to put his head down and play steady - a request that was met with another slog. And then Javed, to rub it in, played a very copybook forward defensive stroke and made a parody of looking at his partner for applause - and frankly, I thought the jest was ill timed. His partner was obviously determined to fight it out and Javed, who had done so brilliantly with the ball, owed it to himself and his team to hang around there. Instead, there he went for yet another slog, and Ganguly got his fifth wicket of the innings, Kuruvilla taking it well at third man, Javed going for 11 off 9 with two fours. So just what was his hurry anyway? Pakistan 141/9.

That seemed to rattle Saqlain who, till then, had batted in a fashion that should have given a few pointers to his seniors in the dressing room. Running out of partners, Saqlain finally tried to get it in fours, and ended up caught Mohanty off Kuruvilla for 11 off 23 with one four, Pakistan all out in 148 in 36.5 overs, India winners by 34 runs and the audience, quite frankly, rubbing its collective eyes in disbelief.

For India, Kuruvilla (26/2 in 8.5), Mohanty (2/43 in 8) and Robin (5-1-16-0) provided ideal backup for the star of the day. And Nilesh Kulkarni didn't even need to bowl, ironically enough. But it was Ganguly, merely through the virtues of bowling to his field and keeping it wicket to wicket, letting the movement both ways off the seam create doubt in the mind of the batsmen, who really put the skids under the batting side with a 10-3-16-5 bowling performance that neither he nor, I suspect, his captain, will forget in a hurry.

Ganguly thus acquired his second man of the match award - and if the first was for an all round effort with bat and ball, this one was for bowling alone. And frankly, if this doesn't ensure that Ganguly is used as a regular bowler in ODIs, there's going to be quite a few million eyebrows going skywards.

So that's it, then, India taking the Sahara Cup 3-0, with two games to follow. They do say that when you are on a roll, you can't do much wrong even if you try, and India seemed to epitomise that tenet today, barring the hiccup with the bat. And while it has to be said that Pakistan's batting was - there really is only one word for it - shocking, India deserves credit for not, as per its usual habit, letting its collective head drop in the middle of the Afridi hurricane. Tendulkar attacked throughout, keeping at least one slip in place and more often, two, having his fielders inside the circle rather than patrolling the boundaries - and it paid off in the catches that were taken, all but two being held within the 30-yard-circle.

Brings up an interesting thought to close with. Three up and two games to go, wouldn't it be an idea for Sachin to maybe rest himself, Dravid and a couple of others and let the ones on the bench, notably Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Vinod Kambli, get a taste of being out there? There is not much pressure on the side now, which makes the conditions ideal for the reserve strength to flex its muscles a bit, see what they can do, and get into match-readiness.

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