PESHAWAR, 20 March 2004 — Experience in the death overs proved the crucial difference in yet another close contest at the Arbab Niaz Stadium yesterday, as Pakistan gained the psychological advantage after beating India by four wickets with 16 balls to spare. India made 244 for 9, while Pakistan replied with 247 for 6.
The initiative swung each way after an extraordinary opening here as the hosts took a 2-1 lead in the five match ODI series with two more to be played, both in Lahore.
But the key factor that differentiated the teams yesterday was experience in handling the last ten overs.
After India were rocked early with a super burst of pace from Pakistan bowlers, they managed to recover largely due to some solid middle order batting and a later flurry. But the dash was not paced perfectly.
In contrast, Pakistan too had their share of hiccups, but experience told in the end. Abdul Razzaq and Moin Khan, both veteran campaigners, tackled the Indian attack surely and sedately to take Pakistan home.
The day’s heroes were Yasir Hameed, who made 98, and Abdul Razzaq, hitting an unbeaten 53, who made sure that all the hard work done by their bowlers were not undone.
Pakistan captain Inzamam ul-Haq, who won the toss and like the first match in Karachi, asked India to bat first and his bowlers responded superbly.
The Peshawar wicket, different from the ones in Karachi and Rawalpindi that were full of runs, had some grass on it as well as moisture.
This promised some help to the bowlers and these factors must have prompted Inzamam to once again gamble with his fast bowlers.
Lanky seamer Shabbir Ahmad bowled extremely well, except for the first three overs when he sprayed the ball all over, conceding some eight wides and no balls.
But when he found his line and length he rattled the Indian top order, accounting for Sachin Tendulkar (0), Virender Sehwag (13) and VVS Laxman (3) within a span of eight overs. This was Tendulkar’s fourth duck in ODIs against Pakistan.
India were reduced to 37 for 3 and were in serious trouble when skipper Saurav Ganguly and his deputy, Rahul Dravid, took up the reconstruction of the innings.
The two added 68 runs for the 4th wicket when Razzaq removed the Indian skipper for 39.
The visitos’ innings would have been in a worse state had Inzamam and Yasir Hameed held on to their chances. Inzamam dropped Sehwag in the first over off Shoaib Akhtar and Yasir let off Laxman in Shabbir’s fourth over.
Stylish left-hander Yuvraj Singh came to the team’s rescue. He and Laxmipathy Balaji played with confidence, adding 39 valuable runs for the eighth- wicket partnership when Yuvraj was dismissed by Mohammad Sami after adding an useful 65 which included 7 fours and a six.
Pakistan too lost early wickets, and at one stage four wickets were down for 65.
Irfan Pathan, who came into the side after Ashish Nehra had to sit out due to injury sustained during the Rawalpindi match, claimed the wickets of Shahid Afridi and vice-captain Yousuf Youhana to put Pakistan on the back foot.
Just when Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik started to consolidate the Pakistan innings misfortune struck.
A straight drive played by Malik hit the stumps at the non-striker’s end after grazing the bowlers fingers, with Younis out his crease after backing up. Malik, who has been off-color in this series, did not last long.
But Yasir kept his cool and along with Inzamam slowly built the innings.
But Inzamam fell lbw with the total at 156 to a cruel decision. TV replays showed that the ball was pitched outside the off stump and was drifting away.
Inzamam’s departure brought India back once again in the game. Then man of the match Yasir, needing two runs for what would have been a well-deserved century, was brilliantly caught by Yuvraj Singh to give Irfan his third wicket.
Pakistan still needed 72 runs from 15 overs as Moin joined Razzaq. Both played sensibly to steer their team to what turned to be a keenly contested victory. Razzaq scored a well-deserved unbeaten 53 off 52 balls while Moin was 22 not out.
“A hundred against India is always special for any Pakistani player but I just lost my concentration for a moment,” Hameed said. “The pitch was conducive for the bowlers and it seamed a bit. It was not a flat batting track. But I had decided to play my natural game and not hold back on my strokes.”
“They bowled well but they could not extract the sort of support from it as our bowlers did,” he added.
