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Surprise, surprise, Pakistan win again

Day two of the Coca Cola Cup tournament in Sharjah saw the usual suspects back in business -- India taking on Pakistan on the second of two identical pitches prepared for this tournament.

India's record against its arch rivals at this venue is not a particularly happy one -- 15 defeats in 19 tries, the last of four wins coming as far back as 1996.

A temperature reading of 44 degree celsius meant that the captain winning the toss wasn't going to think too long before deciding to bat -- said captain would prefer that only two of his players fry at any given time.

The Indian team list wouldn't have disgraced the outpatient department of any decent hospital -- Agarkar, Chopra and Kambli all down with fever, Nayan Mongia running a temperature that matched the weather but playing anyway, Venkatesh Prasad not at his chirpiest but included in the lineup...

Consultant coach Bobby Simpson has flown down to be with the team -- strange, while he is rarely among those present when India is playing at home, this is the second time he has been spotted ringside in Sharjah.

Pakistan made only one change -- resting the extra batsman, Salim Malik, for the extra bowler, Arshad Khan. An indication that at this point in time, the Pakistan team management's confidence in the form of its top order batsmen is sky high.

Anwar, though, has been struggling a bit of late, thanks largely to the efforts of Prasad. This was a good time to get his own back -- the way Prasad walked back to his mark after every ball, in his very first over, indicated that he was struggling to find enough energy to, at the least, go through the motions of bowling.

But Anwar managed to get himself run out, pushing to mid on and racing a single that was always going to be very tight. Kumble came in very quickly, picked up, hit the sticks direct, and Anwar was gone by a yard.

That brought Ijaz to the wicket, and the mayhem began all over again. It also produced an instance of typically Australian humour. Ian Chappell's co-commentator at the time, Ramiz Raja, was talking of what a nervous starter Ijaz is. And the batsman chose that precise moment to get off the mark by swinging for glory, taking a delivery from Prasad from outside off and depositing it over the midwicket fence. "Was that a nervous twitch, Ramiz?" ad-libbed Chappelli.

Ijaz in this innings seemed to be 'twitching' on all cylinders. Setting himself four square on his hind legs, Ijaz just kept smacking at everything in sight. One of those hits, off the hapless Prasad, sent the ball outside the stadium. It was neck or nothing stuff from the in-form batsman -- the stance of a woodcutter allied to the mindset of a blacksmith, great fun for the delirious crowd.

Srinath bowled mostly within himself, being clocked around the 136 kmph mark (which, if you recall, was round about what Akram clocked yesterday) and just occasionally pushing the envelope, going for top pace. For the trivia-minded, his fastest ball today was timed at 144kmph.

One of those express deliveries squared Ijaz up and took his edge but Dravid, lunging low to his left at slip, grassed the catch after managing to get both hands to it.

Ijaz's premeditated slaughter meant Azharuddin had no option but to bring on Kumble in the 10th. And straightaway, the leggie struck -- a quicker, fuller length delivery saw Ijaz down on his knee, heaving and missing to be rapped on the back leg in front of the stumps.

By the time drinks came on, Mongia needed to go off to tend to his fever -- Dravid taking over the gloves till the 23rd over, when the keeper came back onto the field.

Afridi had been a surprisingly patient spectator while Ijaz was going for broke. Following the latter's departure, the opener decided it was his turn to party, set himself and clubbed a shorter one from Prasad for Kumble, at midwicket, to lunge to his left to hold a good two-handed catch, baseball-outfielder style.

The middle overs saw some good captaincy by Azharuddin, who had five inside the circle cutting off the singles and putting the squeeze on the batsmen. The support bowlers, Sunil Joshi in particular, bowled to the field and during this phase, as Pakistan struggled to up the momentum, India had the upper hand.

The bowling side would have been even better placed had Ramesh, substuting for one of India's walking wounded on the midwicket fence, been quicker to react to a hearty thump Inzamam launched at Kumble in the 38th over. The fielder appeared to have lost sight of the ball for a while -- by the time he picked up its flight, ran in and dived forward, it was too late.

Youhanna, in the middle of a rather ordinary run with the bat, gritted it out at the other end, keeping Inzamam valuable company, not showing signs of pressure though the run-rate, during the early to middle stages of their partnership, was just over the four an over mark. His 50, coming off 76 deliveries, was a model of patience, a calm, controlled knock under pressure.

India looked good going into the straight. But the problem was that the frontline bowlers were running out of overs by that stage. Azhar gambled, bringing Joshi on in the 43rd, and Inzamam promptly called the bluff, smashing the left arm spinner for two huge sixes, and ending up with 18 in the over.

Srinath had only two overs left, but Azhar had little option but to bowl him in place of Joshi. Off his very first ball, Srinath produced a late, reverse-swinging yorker to Youhanna, the batsman initially shaped to run it down to third man, then spotted the full length and changed to a defensive prod but too late to keep the ball from crashing into the base of off stump.

Inzamam by then had upped himself a gear, and got to his 100 off just 107 balls. It was a class innings -- unlike Ijaz the previous day, Inzamam's century was characterised by controlled batting, and fluent, graceful strokeplay -- the power of the man coming into play only on those occasions when he aimed to clear the field.

Srinath in the 47th, and Kumble in the 48th, ended their prescribed quotas, the former having gone for only 44, Kumble being even better, bowling a consistently full length and proving near impossible to get away -- just 31 came in his ten.

Akram, again upping himself in the order, and Inzamam then went for everything. The final over produced fun and games, Inzy driving on the up at Prasad for Azhar to hold superbly, diving forward at cover; then Moin Khan running himself out as he failed to beat Sunil Joshi's flat, hard throw from long on; Akram off the next ball swiping blindly only to drag one onto the stumps, and Azhar Mahmood managing to get himself run out off the last ball. Pakistan ended on 278/8.

Overall, the innings was a classic of pacing. Having rocketed away thanks to Ijaz's heroics, Pakistan went at over 5 an over till the advent of the slow bowlers pegged them back. By the 20th over (95/3) the run rate had dipped below 5, and the Indians kept it there right through to the 42nd over. The assault on Joshi in the 43rd hiked it back up above the 5 rpo mark, and from then on, the batsmen pulled away smoothly, demonstrating in the process the value of keeping wickets in hand towards the end.

Some time ago, Hansie Cronje on his homepage had rated his five favourite captains -- and Sachin Tendulkar's name was in the list. What was interesting was the reason Hansie cited: "When Tendulkar is around in the middle, he makes the other guys believe they can bat as well as he can!"

The truth of that statement -- and Tendulkar's real value to this side -- has never been as apparent as it was in the first part of the Indian chase. Shoaib Akthar went after Saurav Ganguly, with a stream of deliveries pitched short and lifting into the left-hander's ribs. And Ganguly danced the dance of the seven veils, ducking, weaving, and generally tying himself up into knots. And at the other end, Ramesh took his cue from his senior partner, and played as though both feet were anchored firmly in concrete.

There was, mind you, not much of lateral movement for either Akthar or Akram -- but the fear the former engendered meant both left-handers tended to back away towards leg, rather than coming across to off and moving into line.

This is where a Tendulkar comes in handy -- never the kind to let a bowling side dominate, he tends to counter-attack, and that has a double benefit: for one thing, the bowlers lose a bit of their aggression and for another, his partner takes heart from Tendulkar's own defiance.

Both Ramesh and Ganguly, in the event, were reduced to near strokelessness. And that meant Akthar, in particular, could go flat out on the attack -- even when he erred, the batsmen were too petrified to cash in (unlike, say, Alec Stewart yesterday, who creamed the bowler for two fluent fours on the trot when the bowler bowled the wrong line).

It wouldn't have mattered as much if they had managed to see off Akthar and Akram's opening spell -- but in the 10th over, Ramesh undid the hard work he had done till then, by standing in place and swatting at one from Akthar, going round the wicket and pitching short, only to hit it straight to Akram at midwicket.

One thing that needs mentioning about Akthar's bowling is that he doesn't seem shy of going flat out to intimidate the opposing batsman, using the bouncer to pin him on the back foot even at the risk of being no-balled for height. In that sense, he has added a lethal dimension to the Pakistan bowling attack, and the pressure he brings to bear at the beginning is so enormous that it actually makes the job of the bowlers to follow easier.

Kirti Azad -- a batsman, in his time, who embodied aggression -- made a point from the television box around this time that bears repeating. "Getting scared won't get you any place," he said. "You've got to go out there thinking, so what if you are the fastest bowler in the world, I have a bat in my hand too, and if I put bat to ball, you'll only disappear faster."

To do that, to counter aggression with aggression, Kirti argued, you need two things -- self-respect, and a sense of pride bordering on arrogance. "You've got to tell yourself I am an international player too, I am one of the best in the world, no way I'm going to roll over and play dead just because you are running in to bowl," Azhar said.

True words -- but who's listening?

Umpire Ian Robinson then got into the act with a strange decision. Saqlain was bowling round the wicket, going wide of the crease and angling from outside off towards leg. Ganguly, who looked visibly relieved once Akthar completed his first spell of 6 overs (12 runs and one wicket) took his bat out of line, and pushed his pad well forward in defense. The appeal was by rote and, to everyone's surprise, up went the umpire's finger.

Azhar came out, faced Azhar Mahmood, flirted a couple of times outside off in the first over, and was lucky to get away both times. An over later, he did the same again, this time the ball did enough to take the edge, and Moin Khan took a great catch as the ball faded in front of him.

Ajay Jadeja came in, and went out -- Mahmood bowled the quick one, the in-dipper, first up, and Jadeja, playing across the line, was trapped plumb. The game, thus, was effectively over by the end of the 17th over.

This Pakistan side increasingly looks on fire. They are razor-sharp in the field, the team spirit is palpable, the way they are playing these days it's like someone dunked them in a vat of adrenalin. And as the wins-count mounts, Akram's captaincy seems to get increasingly aggressive -- witness the two slips for Azhar Mahmood in the 19th over of the innings, backed by a gully, or the fact that at the same point, there was only one fielder outside the circle.

With no batting to follow, Rahul Dravid and Robin Singh appeared to have decided to get some net practise. Which, per se, wasn't a bad idea. Trouble was, their 'nets' seemed to be with a view to playing a Test match tomorrow, not an LOI. It was rather difficult to understand the thinking out there in the middle -- or back in the dressing room, where the think tank of captain, vice captain, coach, and consultant coach were interested observers.

Given that the team is having trouble against Akthar and Akram, given that Saqlain is a bowler capable of bothering -- or, at the least, bottling up -- the best, did it make sense for the Indians to play Azhar Mahmood as though he were the hottest thing to mark out his run up since cricket was first played? This is not to say that Mahmood didn't bowl well -- he has been doing a great job ever since he ran back into form on the Indian tour. But on that flat track, he is surely not a 10-overs-for-20-runs bowler?

Yet, there was no attempt to attack either Mahmood, or the other offie, Arshad Khan. Which makes you wonder -- does the team realise the implications of such performances? Every time they played the support bowlers with exaggerated care, they were adding to the confidence of those bowlers -- and at the same time, eroding their own confidence.

There was no way India could have won, after losing four wickets in short order. But there is a tremendous difference between going down fighting and simply rolling over -- and it is the latter that India is increasingly doing.

An immediate example was what happened in the England-Pakistan game the previous day. At no point, after losing those first three wickets early, did England look like it could win. Yet, at no point did they give up, at no point did they stop trying for runs, though their task was much more monumental than the one facing India.

And it is this, about the Indian side, that is inexplicable. You may find yourself in situations from where you cannot win -- but you can't stop trying because to do is is to lose all self-respect.

That brings to mind another recent example -- of the West Indies. The Lara-led side was defeated, humiliated in South Africa. Writers of the calibre of Tony Cozier, commentators of the calibre of Michael Holding, were calling for the captain's immediate incarceration in a psychiatric facility.

The story is told how Lara, finally, went up to Cozier and asked him what, in his opinion, the problem was. He didn't, please note, ask Tony Cozier how many Tests he had played. And Cozier sat Lara down, and for an hour and a half, explained to him the history of West Indies cricket, told him what the game means to the people of the Caribbean, told him of the pride Lara's predecessors took in going out into the field wearing the maroon.

Lara imbibed it all. And then produced two stunning performances that humbled the high-flying Australians.

That's what this team lacks most -- an awareness of the emotion this country of 950 million has invested in the game. An awareness of the concept of national pride.

Then again, maybe I shouldn't be writing all this -- after all, the latest fashion is to put India's defeats down to one simple reason.

'The media, by its writing, is damaging morale'.

Yeah, right. Bad performances don't damage this team's morale. Going down to defeats without putting up a semblance of a fight doesn't damage their morale. But if the media writes about it, if the media reports the way they played, ah, that is another story -- their morale is immediately shattered beyond repair.

Meanwhile, in all this, let's not take away due credit from this Pakistan side -- in a complete shambles a little over three months ago, they are at this present moment looking to be the hardest side in the world to beat. Every member of the side seems to know what he is out there to do. They back each other up the limit and beyond (Shoaib Akthar, after bowling five overs of blistering pace, was seen racing around the boundary and flinging himself into a headlong dive to stop a Dravid flick off Akram). And in Akram, they have a skipper who has shown the ability to mould a talented, but temperamental, side into a fighting team.

PS: There were three boundaries in the Indian innings (and 174 dot balls) at the end of 42 overs. Is that a record? (In passing, one of those fours came from Joshi, who later clubbed a six and then slashed a four off Afridi).

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