Pakistan impresses with fine win over world champions

Prem Panicker

To my mind, what impressed most about Pakistan's performance in the second league match of the Independence Cup quadrangular, at the Roop Singh Stadium in Gwalior was how, despite the absence of three stellar performers in Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Mushtaq Ahmed, despite being faced by a full strength Sri Lankan outfit, despite going in to the game as the underdogs, they kept the pressure right on the world champions from the first ball to the last.

It was a large hearted performance - and a large heart, on the sporting field, often makes up for any perceived lack of strength.

It wasn't that the Lankans bowled badly, or fielded badly, or batted badly - just that the Pakistanis did everything that little bit better... hung in there that little bit more tenaciously... and walked out deserving winners.

For this game, the groundstaff produced a beauty - a hard, dry wicket of even bounce, and an outfield so evenly mown that the ball, struck with a modicum of timing and power, fled to the fence like the devil were after it. It was a pitch meant for big totals - more so as the two opposing teams boasted world class batting line-ups.

The Sri Lankan side had just one glaring difference from the one that won the world cup - Marvan Attapattu, for Asanka Gurusinghe. True, Sajeeva D'Silva had taken over from the likes of Ravindra Pushpakumara and Pramodaya Wickremasinghe as Chaminda Vaas's new ball partner, but there really is nothing much to choose between the three - so we had a full strength Lankan outfit here.

For Pakistan, one change was mandatory from the side that went down to New Zealand the other evening at Mohali - the wayward Mohammad Razzaq made place for Azhar Mahmood, as Aaqib Jaaved's new ball partner. And Rameez Raja, on winning the toss, this time opted for first strike - a brave decision, as it meant using a largely untried bowling lineup to contain a side that has the deserved reputation of being masters of the chase.

Rameez Raja may have been put down to open with Saeed Anwar - but on a batting pitch like this one, it was difficult to see anyone but Shahid Afridi walking out for first strike. And Afridi proved yet again what a dangerous striker of the ball he could be, with a spectacular assault that netted him 52 off just 29 deliveries, with nine fours and two huge sixes - a blitz that rocketed Pakistan off to the kind of start that puts a fillip in the entire side.

With Saeed Anwar slightly more circumspect but still playing his strokes when opportunity afforded, Afridi went totally berserk in the normally economical Vaas's 5th over, clubbing two huge sixes over mid off and mid on, the hits interspersed with a lovely on driven four by Anwar. In the next over, however, Sajeeva D'Silva angled one across, Afridia was trapped in that no man's land between assault and defense, and the faintest of edges was snapped up by Kaluwitharana to have Pakistan 74/1.

Rameez Raja, playing with freedom, took on the burden of strokeplay while Anwar preferred to rotate strike - till, that is, Muralitharan produced a beauty that spun, beat Anwar in the flight, and took the edge and gave Kalu a choice of dismissals - caught, or stumped. Classic bowling from a very good bowler, and Pakistan 112/2, Anwar going for 36 off 60 with five fours.

75/1 in 10, 96/1 in 15... the platform looked rock solid - till Muralitharan and Dharmasena took up the bowling, and applied the breaks at a time when it seemed Pakistan was headed for 300+. Even at that stage of the innings, it took the Pakistan batsmen two overs and a bit to go from 96 to 100, and with the Lankans fielding like inspired men, a turnaround looked on the cards.

If it didn't happen, credit goes to professionalism. Against tight bowling and superb fielding, Ijaz and Rameez played percentage cricket, constantly keeping the scoreboard moving, till with the score at 158, Ijaz drove Jayasuriya into what he thought was a gap between the bowler and wide mid off. Roshan Mahanama dived a long way and, still airborne, picked up the kind of catch you take once in a lifetime if you are very, very good, sending back the dangerous Ijaz for 29 off 45 with two fours and a huge clubbed straight six off Muralitharan.

The interesting thing about this innings was that there were no mini collapses - every partnership put on runs in good time, the batsmen coming out and, on the lovely wicket and with the confidence of a good start behind them, overcoming both the tight bowling and outstanding ground fielding. Rameez drove at a slanted delivery from Sajeeva D'Silva to find Aravinda D'Silva at point - 49/63 with five fours, Pak 190/4, Inzamam ul Haq was bowled trying a big hit off a straight one from D'Silva (22 off 21 with one four and two sixes), but by then, the innings was well into the slog overs. And Moin Khan, in his usual blustery tip and run style, with 23 off 21 with just one four, and Mohammad Hussain with a bludgeoning 17 off 10 with a four and a six off the penultimate ball of the innings, took Pakistan to a healthy 289/6 in the allotted 50 overs.

For Sri Lanka, the only bowler to really impress, on a track where bowlers will always struggle to make a mark, was Muralitharan. Bowling with lovely control and extracting turn even out of this hard surface, Murali returned figures of 10-1-39-1 - remarkable when you consider that the phenomenally accurate Vaas was clubbed to the tune of 71 runs in his 10 overs, one of which was a maiden.

While on bowling, it surprised me somewhat that Ranatunga, never a captain to allow players to settle down, did not use the services of Aravinda D'Silva, who has always in the past chipped in with 5, 6 overs of very controlled spin. Wonder why?

For Sri Lanka, a chase of 290 on this wicket should have presented an interesting exercise in controlled batting. If, instead, it presented every appearance of a nightmare, credit goes to a bowler who, thanks to selectorial prejudice, has spent more time out in the cold than he deserved to.

Aaqib Jaaved struck with the very first ball of the innings - a lovely inswinger that slammed into Sanath Jayasuriya's pads in front of off stump. Attapattu is a player who loves to play strokes - but why he choose to play that slash at one from Jaaved, four balls later, just outside off and seaming in we'll never know. In the event, the catch went straight to Ijaz at point, and Sri Lanka were 2/0 without a run on the board.

Aravinda D'Silva came out, and for a while it looked as though he had figured, yet again, on winning a match off his own bat. The demise of Kaluwitharana - bowled by one from Aaqib Jaaved (his 150th ODI wicket) that swung late, then straightened on off stump to defeat the attempted flick to leg, reducing SL to 25/3, had no sobering effect on D'Silva as he first blasted two fours off the accurate, and pacy, Ahzar Mahmood (a qualitative improvement over Razzak) and then cover drove Jaaved spectacularly for another four. D'Silva had, however, been chancing his luck a bit, an attempted pull ballooning in the air and dropping behind the keeper on one occasion. He aimed another cover drive at Jaaved, the ball moved a bit more than he anticipated, and the slash-drive was picked off easily by Ijaz, again at point, to have Lanka losing its fourth batsman (and arguably its best) with the score on 59/4 in 10.1 overs. D'Silva's blitz had yielded 33 off 32 balls, with 6 fours.

The biggest advantage of the Sri Lankans is, however, that they bat so deep. The first four wickets going down inside of 11 overs would have spelt finis for any other side - the belligerent Ranatunga and a cautious Tillekeratne, however, put on 75 runs for the 5th wicket, while keeping well in touch with the run rate. Till, that is, Ranatunga aimed a huge pull at a straight ball on off stump from Salim Malik, for Azhar Mahmood to hold at midwicket. The Lankan captain, normally a subdued second fiddle to the classy D'Silva, this time produced his own brand of fireworks with 58 runs coming off 60 balls, with 7 fours and one six - a remarkable effort, given the context of the game when he came in to bat.

Tillekaratne (29/52 with 2 fours) was watching that mistimed pull from the non-striker's end. Having crossed over while the ball was in the air, he presumably figured he could do better than his captain - another pull, off another innocuous Malik off spinner, saw Inzamam, no less, run in off the midwicket fence and dive forward to take one inches off the turf. SL 134/6, and out of the game for all practical purposes.

Then again, not! Dharmasena is no tailender - in fact, his batting is straight out of a copybook. And Roshan Mahanama is a classy batsman in his own right, his low place in the order no reflection of his skills. The two, mixing attack and defence, kept the score moving and when the Lankan 200 came up in the 39th over, it looked like the game would have yet another turnaround.

At which point, more artificial excitement was injected into proceedings, the power supply failing over Gwalior for a good 10 minutes - much needed rest for the players, fun and games time for mashaal-wielding spectators and a public embarassment for Madhavrao Scindia, the local princeling, who just a moment ago was seen signing autograph books with the panache of a Gavaskar.

The lights came back on. So too did Saqlain Mushtaq, who had thus far bowled only four overs, Rameez Raja preferring to hold him back for the end. Off the second ball of the 40th over, Dharmasena went for the sweep, was wrapped on the pad, and out he went for a well made 28 off 33 balls. The batsman looked a tad unhappy - but there seemed not a thing wrong with the decision as made.

Chaminda Vaas is no bunny either, and a brisk 15 off 23 took the score along to 229 before Aaqib Jaaved claimed his fifth wicket of the match with a nice swinging yorker that the batsman played all over.

True, Mahanama was still there and batting beautifully, but when he tried to further accelerate, Saqlain held one back to get him miscuing an attempted straight hit for Ijaz to hold comfortably, Mahanama scoring 54 off 67 with two fours and two sixes, SL at that stage 243/9.

Down, and out, but Sajeeva D'Silva and Muralitharan still raised a cheer with brisk little cameos of 13 not out off 7 balls with a four and a six to the former, and 7 off 14 for the latter, before Murali tried one big hit too many and holed out to Azhar Mahmood off Saqlain, to end the innings with Lanka on 259, 30 short of the Pakistan total.

For Pakistan, two bowlers were outstanding - Jaaved, with 5/35 and Saqlain, yet again, coming in during the last ten overs to pick up three key wickets to return analysis of 3/43 in 9.5.

A fine win for Pakistan. Two points chalked up, to take it level with New Zealand. But most important of all - and I suspect the impact of this match will be felt when the teams for the final are to be decided - the batting performance gave its run rate a healthy boost - and with a game still to go against India, this should put Pakistan in a good frame of mind to go for broke.

Scoreboard