It was a memorable day for India. Pakistan did not bowl badly, but the Indians batted well to take control of the match. They put together some productive partnerships, but the Pakistanis did not. Good bowling partnerships can be as effective as long batting partnerships, and Pakistan lagged behind in that regard. If a bowler was troubling the batsmen at one end, his teammate was dishing out loose deliveries at the other end, much to the batsmen’s relief and delight. Shoaib was unlucky to get injured at a time when he was looking menacing. Some umpiring decisions also went against the bowlers, but then, that is part of the game.
Dravid once again showed why he is considered the most technically accomplished batsman in the Indian team. His innings has taken his side within striking distance of victory. Laxman lived up to his reputation. Sachin Tendulkar must be ruing his luck for getting the best ball of the match. Parthiv Patel may have scored a half-century, but I would still say that it was a mistake to make him open the innings. However, full credit to him for getting his team off to a good start.
The Pakistani batsmen are not far behind their opponents in terms of talent, but they need to put in a lot of work in the nets with their coach Javed Miandad. When the ball starts swinging, the batsmen display a tendency to fall over, as was seen on the first day of the Test. They have all the shots in the book, but they do not have their feet in the right place and also do not seem to know where their off-stump is. Javed has to work on the balance of his batsmen.
The only way Pakistan can come back into the game is by striking early on the third day and restricting India’s lead to 150-160. However, given the way Dravid and Ganguly batted, and with the in-form Yuvraj still to come, that seems unlikely. But you never know.
We are coming to the end of the ‘Friendship’ series. I believe the players of both sides took the ‘friendship’ a little too far. Hopefully there will be a lot more aggression on the field when the teams play each other next.
I hope this series was just the first of many regular cricketing battles between the traditional rivals. If that happens, we will give the ‘Ashes’ an inferiority complex!
