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The Indian 'chase'

The Indian innings got off to a ripping start, thanks to the Pakistan pacemen.

Both Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akthar looked on fire, going flat out and bowling at top speed. It was a wonderful exhibition -- a demonstration of what pure pace could achieve even on conditions that are not really conducive.

Akthar in particular was stretching for pure pace -- and the results were spectacular. Time and again, both Ganguly and Ramesh found the ball flashing past before they had time to get their bats into line. Ramesh finally succumbed. With feet anchored in place, he attempted to guide a ball through to third man. The ball was angled across him, and left him at speed to take the edge and go through to the keeper.

In the same over, Rahul Dravid could consider himself distinctly lucky to survive an LBW shout. Again, the Akthar delivery was lightning quick, beating the batsman for pure pace on a very full length, darting in off the seam to strike the batsman in front of middle and leg. Umpire Parthasarathy turned the appeal down, and I'm afraid he got that dead wrong.

The pace barrage appeared to have rattled Saurav Ganguly. Akram helped the good work along by nearly taking his head off with a blinder. And the pressure showed in some very erratic running between wickets. Ganguly nearly fell, twice, in identical fashion -- Dravid playing towards point and yelling 'No' loud enough to be heard in Lahore, and Ganguly charging down regardless, both times only managing to make his ground because the direct throws didn't connect with the timber.

Besides the running, the squeeze also seemed to impact on Ganguly's batting. Unable to find the length and angles for his trademark off drives, Ganguly compensated by stepping away from the stumps and slashing Akram through cover. A while later, he tried that again -- only to be beaten by pace and extra bounce, and snicking through to the keeper. It was a strange dismissal for someone who has played international cricket long enough to have learnt to keep his cool -- Ganguly needed to ride out the opening blitz, but ended up surrendering his wicket.

If Dravid was lucky to survive an LBW shout, Amay Khurasia was unlucky to get on the wrong end of one. Again, it was Akthar doing the damage, with his extra pace beating the batsman's attempt to play off his pads. The strike, however, was way high, the ball would have sailed over the top of the stumps, but Parthasarathy thought otherwise. As Geoffrey Boycott said a while later, "If I were on the ground now, I would appeal even if the ball didn't touch the pad -- you never know when this man will put his finger up!"

The Bangalore crowd, as early as the 10th over, began saying it with bottles, Akram getting close to a couple of such misguided missiles while fielding on the line at third man. He promptly pulled his players into the centre of the pitch, and drinks came on prematurely.

Pakistan had made 54/2 in 10, India were 48/3 at the same point. But there was a huge difference between the two sides -- India's batting lineup was that the batting lineup was already as good as over. Both Jadeja and Robin Singh are classic finishers, at their very best in the end overs, but here the former was already in before the 10th over. And Robin came out soon after, with Azhar Mahmood doing the damage.

After his let off on that LBW shout, Dravid had settled down to play very well, and looked increasingly assured against the pace of both Akthar and Akram, even producing a classic square drive against the former. To Mahmood, Dravid made the mistake of going on the back foot to a ball not short enough for it -- he was looking to flick through the midwicket region, but the slower pace had him missing the line and being trapped bang in front of his stumps.

They say that Wilfred Rhodes and Vinoo Mankad are the only players in the history of the game to have batted at all positions from one to eleven. Robin should be getting close, I would think -- I recall him coming in at three, and at eight, and pretty much everywhere in between. But he's never, barring one instance, looked really comfortable playing the early overs.

Akram, with wickets going down and a huge total to aim at, attacked him with a slip even to the slower pace of Mahmood. And Robin predictably fell to what is his bread and butter shot in the end overs -- to a ball slanting across him and seaming further away from him, Robin pushed with bat away from body, looking to run it down, and got the edge.

Half the side was back in the hut, Ajit Agarkar had preceeded Mongia to the middle, and the crowd produced another bottle-storm. In Calcutta, during the first ATC Test against Pakistan, the near riot that resulted when Sachin Tendulkar was run out in unfortunate circumstances was explained by the gestures players like Youhanna made to the public. There was no such excuse here. Sure, there is disappointment, frustration, when your team is losing -- but hey, the same crowd cheered themselves hoarse in course of the World Cup quarterfinal win against Pakistan, and if you can cheer at a win, you need to learn to accept defeat, to take it in your stride.

Equally, it seems a pity that increasingly, a spectator capable of admiring a classic shot by a Tendulkar or a Dravid or Ganguly or whoever, is not capable of appreciating superlative bowling by an Akram or an Akthar -- and there was much in today's display, by both those bowlers, that merited unstinted admiration.

Having said that, one peripheral point needs to be made. At the fag end, when Venkatesh Prasad -- much to the irritation of the Pakistan team -- hung in there, weathering a fierce burst by Shoaib Akthar, and some wily bowling by Saqlain, the crowd cheered him to the echo.

That makes you realise one thing -- more than defeats, what angers the local crowd is abject capitulation, without a semblance of a fight. While I don't think throwing things at the opposition is the way to express it, I can't find it in me to hold their angst against them.

Play resumed, and immediately, a flowing cover drive by Agarkar saw Arshad Khan chasing it to the boundary -- only to be stopped in his tracks by nearly full water bottles being thrown at him. On this evidence, the officials can't be blamed if they decide to rusticate Bangalore, to keep from staging international matches there for a salutary period of time.

The Jadeja-Agarkar partnership -- with the latter batting in a manner that reminded you of why he was rated a good batsman during his early days -- hinted at the possible. Agarkar looked solid with the bat, but fell trying to match Jadeja in running between wickets. A flick to square leg saw him failing to beat Ijaz Ahmed's left-handed (Ijaz, who bats right handed, seems to favour the left for fielding and throwing) direct hit at the non-striker's end.

Jadeja, who like Inzamam seems to be running into form at just about the right time, put his head down to play the long innings. Given the rapidity with which wickets fell early on, there was no way he could author a win, but to his credit, he put a premium on his wicket, and stayed out there, in a patent bid to reduce the margin of victory. And that showed commendable attitude.

While both Pakistan spinners, Arshad Khan and Saqlain Mushtaq, got turn on this track, the ball came through at a nice, even bounce and presented few problems. A spinner's utility on this track was going to be in the containment area -- which meant that had the earlier batsmen kept their nerve, the home side could have made a realistic bid for a win once the heat was off. Put that down in that increasing list of it-might-have-beens that dot the story of Indian cricket in recent times.

The most impressive aspect of Pakistan's cricket in the second half was its fielding -- in fact, through the course of this tournament, the Pakistan fielders have looked sharp in the field. One thing that indicates is that there is no such thing as a really poor fielding side -- an appellation that has been applied to both India and Pakistan. There are only sides that want to put in their best in all departments of the game, and other sides that prefer to look for glory with bat or ball but are content to coast in the field, in preference to doing any really hard work. India, unfortunately, belongs to the latter category, and this is another reason why the side will lose more matches than it wins -- not because it can't field well, but because it won't make the effort, with any consistency.

Jadeja's patience finally ended when he aimed a wild slash at an Azhar Mahmood delivery, playing with bat well away from the body to a delivery that started outside off and kept going further away. Moin held the inevitable edge.

Anil Kumble, one of the batting stars of the 1996 World Cup quarterfinal win on his home ground, didn't raise any visions of even attempting an encore. Azhar Mahmood slipped one in quicker, Kumble jumped like he'd seen a snake, attempted to then jab down on it, and was a lifetime too late to keep the ball from castling him.

Kumble's partner in arms in 1996 was Javagal Srinath -- who lasted exactly one ball, Mahmood producing a fuller length delivery that beat the batsman and caught him plumb in front.

Venkatesh Prasad saved the hat-trick. But the game as a contest had ended long before the last wicket was taken, and Pakistan -- which, throughout this tournament had looked the best of the three participating nations -- wrapped up a well deserved win with ludicrous ease.

Defeats are disappointing in themselves. But the real downer on this one was that with the World Cup coming nearer by the day, the likes of Ramesh and Khurasiya (the latter for no fault of his, actually) failed to grab the chance to get good, morale-boosting knocks under their bet.

Overall, India in recent matches presents a picture of disarray. It can be argued that Sachin Tendulkar being absent has a huge impact on performance -- but to think that way reinforces the impression that India can win big only when Tendulkar is in the lineup. A line of thought that will only serve to increase the pressure on that batsman, as and when he makes a comeback to the side.

From the Pakistan point of view, they will end the series with a niggling doubt about Anwar's form. And much relief on many other counts: Inzamam seems back in form, Moin is very consistent with the bat and the gloves, Afridi's kamikaze forays to the middle are coming off more often than not, Akram and Akthar have a lethal look to them at the head of the bowling attack, Saqlain Mushtaq (with one added weapon in his armoury -- in this series, he consistently used the width of the crease as well as he uses its length, at times bowling a good yard or two behind the crease, and once incredibly from two feet behind the umpire, to pose fresh questions to the batsman) looks on top form, Azhar Mahmood's touch with the ball has come right back, and above all, it is now looking a very good fielding side.

That's a fair lot of entries in the credit side of the Pakistan ledger. For now, we won't attempt a similar exercise with this Indian team -- for fear that finding pluses will involve more imagination than factual reportage.

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