Saurav thinks he is playing Golf, Afridi thinks he is playing Baseball, Shoiab Malik thinks he is still playing 20Twenty & Dhoni is, most likely, going the Beckham way. Despite all this India managed to romp home to victory at the Nehru stadium in Guwahati with 18 balls still to spare & 5 wickets still in hand. Somehow the game seemed to lack the intensity normally associated with an India-Pakistan sporting encounter. While it most often lives up to its tag of being the ‘mother of all cricketing contests’, this seems to have just not reached that strata of sporting adrenaline. India always seemed in control & barring that mini-crisis of Sachin walking back to the hut early, there seemed to be no alarms for the hosts.
While Pakistan won the toss & decided to bat first & this is not at all surprising as they seem to wilt under the pressure of chasing. Pakistan’s two openers (Why do they fiddle around so much with their batting order is anyone’s guess) made a decent start before Zaheer & Irfan did just enough to keep the early momentum in check, with a strike each. Then India unleashed spin of Murali Karthik & Harbhajan Singh onto the visitors. While I still feel that Murali is a delight to watch with his constant variation in pace & a wonderful flight, Bhaji stole the show on the day with some precise bowling. This not only knocked of one of the Yo-Yo of Pakistan line up, but soon left them reeling at 104/3. While the score card didn’t look very bad at any point, there was never any impetus to the innings
Soon Sachin Tendulkar entered the stage. It amazes me to think that he probably is the best pure leg spinner India has produced in last 10 years or so. (Kumble is awesome but he is unorthodox). Sachin soon deceived Afridi with a flighted delivery that left the swinging bravado of Shahid all bamboozled. I still think in his heart Afridi believes he is playing baseball & so can swing free.
Sachin then went on to remove the Pakistani captain & soon their innings ended at 239 in 50 overs with some late momentum coming in the last 5 overs. While India started chasing a target that looked easy on paper, there was still a matter of Shoaib Akhtar, standing between India & victory. It was the first time in the match that the Nehru stadium had found its voice to the fullest. An electrifying contest was being served up on a platter. Speed merchant Shoaib vs. the batting genius of Sachin. Sachin tried to take him on & attempted a pull very early, something which did not come off as planned. Shoaib was operating brilliantly with two fast bouncers & then a slower ball. That did the trick as the little master was caught in front lbw. He departed for 4 as first blood had gone to Shoaib. It’s 1-0 to Akhtar as far. Let us see where this ends up.
Saurav was still there & he looked in ominous touch before he got himself run out for 30. It seems ‘Dada’ thinks he is playing golf; he hits the ball & then goes for a bit of a walk. Gautham Gambhir looked in good touch until Afridi did a ‘Warne’ to knock his poles off, around his legs. Gambhir made a very important 44 with an excellent strike rate on a track where scoring quickly was not very easy. Captain Dhoni & young stud Yuvraj walked in next & played very responsible knocks of 63 & 58 respectively to steer India close to victory. Both of them did their jobs to perfection, but maybe one of them should have stayed till the end. They produced an array of brutal & subtle strokes. They mixed raw power with delicate touch. Dhoni seems to be heading the Beckham way. Just get the feeling that we might see a ‘Mohican’ cut from him very soon.
I’m still amazed at Shoaib Malik’s captaincy. After Akhtar’s initial spell, which had both pace & venom, he was brought back into the attack too late to make any difference. Maybe Shoaib was thinking it was still 20Twenty & so thought Akhtar had only 4 overs to bowl! I understand the concept that someone as fast as Akhtar needs to be used in short decisive spells, but the gap was too long. In the end that might have proved to be the decisive reason for India’s victory. India looked a lot more professional & sharp on the field as an entire unit & Pakistan just lacked the passion that you normally tend to associate with them.
First of all Saurav scored 39 (not 30) and secondly it was outta 55 balls which is pretty decent. Its was a good partnership between gautam and Saurav.
