India clinched the one-day series with a fine all-round performance and with some help from the tactically naive Inzamam ul-Haq. The Pakistani captain is a much-experienced player but a relatively new captain and it was his inexperience that allowed India to come through in the previous match. Here in the finals, he did not help his side’s cause by opting to field in what was the series deciding game where the pressure would be the greatest even to chase a modest total, leave aside the almost-300 total posted by India.
The other mistake, which was probably more to do with the Pakistani selectors than the captain, was to bring in Taufeeq Umar to replace Shahid Afridi and that too in the decider. That Taufeeq failed was no surprise, for he was under intense pressure especially after he dropped two catches, one of Laxman when he was just past his half-century. Afridi would have given Inzamam a bit more flexibility in the bowling and perhaps the kind of quick start that Pakistan needed to go after the Indian total. They got off to a poor one with the man in form Yasir Hameed falling to Balaji and Youhana unlucky to be given out lbw and when Taufeeq was consumed bowled behind his legs, Inzamam knew that only a captain’s knock from him could save Pakistan the blushes. Tendulkar may not have made a major contribution with the bat, but the catch he took to dismiss Inzamam definitely turned the match India’s way. Moin Khan then kept Pakistan in the hunt but the prey was simply too far up the mountain.
Pakistan did well to finally restrict India to 293 when at one stage it looked like they would go past 320. Tendulkar and Sehwag had got them off to a brisk start but both got off to soft dismissals, trying to run the ball down to third-man. When Rahul Dravid was yorked, Inzamam missed a trick by not bringing Shoaib back for Yuvraj and Kaif to try and blast them out. Full credit to Laxman, who took his time to settle down and then display the range of strokes that can make bowlers look silly. Irfan Pathan and Balaji too wielded the long handle to good effect and gave India a competitive total to defend. It was a terrific team-effort and everybody played his part well. In cricket, when all eleven have a single-mindedness that this team showed, then success is not too far away. The effort level was noteworthy for its fierce desire to win and that was infectious as each player tried to outdo the other.
The one-day victory and that too coming from behind in the series will be a great morale-booster and the return of the experienced Kumble, the energetic Ajit Agarkar and the phlegmatic opener Akash Chopra will only strengthen this Indian team, which will be high on confidence. Yes, Test matches are different, for bowlers look to take wickets rather than just restrict the runs and there will be a fairly liberal sprinkling of bouncers, but with all the top-order Indian batsmen among the runs in the one-day series, they will not be too worried about anything that comes their way.
The Pakistanis will be under pressure from their supporters to perform and seeing the mild panic they have shown in their choice of the final eleven, the Indians need to capitalize and do what past Indian teams have been unable to do and that is win a Test series in Pakistan!
