BOMBAY, 31 July 2004 — Whenever a contest runs close, we fall back on the trite saying that there is little to choose between the contestants. What has happened in the ongoing Asia Cup cricket in Sri Lanka is much more than just that saying. It is an absolute reality when one considers the ultimate fate that was attendant on the hapless Pakistani team.
The Inzamam ul-Haq-led side found itself rather strangely sidelined, as India clinched a cliff-hanger against Sri Lanka last Tuesday. Even a win and a bonus point in their last match against Bangladesh will be of no consequence, as Pakistan are already out of the reckoning. This has happened despite the fact that they had beaten India comprehensively the other day. What gave India the edge, as they squared up to the home team on was the invaluable bonus point that Pakistan had allowed them to earn.
In other words, Pakistan had themselves to blame for the predicament they found themselves in. They were completely in command of their match against India after scoring exactly 300 runs. Except for a brief moment early on, India were never in the hunt. For some strange reason, complacency crept into the Pakistani team’s approach and India, realized that they had something equally valuable as the elusive victory to play for - the bonus point. In the last few overs, Pakistan could not prevent India from achieving that goal. There was no excuse that Pakistan could offer for their poor fielding in the crunch situation, what with wicketkeeper Moin Khan missing the stumps, straight on, from just a few yards, as the Indian tail-enders ran like hares with the ball in Moin Khan’s gloves.
Pakistan got five points from their win over India, but the one bonus point which India earned put them in a situation where they had to just win their last league match against Sri Lanka. And what a way the victory came, with fortunes changing completely in just the last ten balls. All the members of the Pakistani team, watching the match on television from their hotel rooms, must have been on tenterhooks in those last pulsating moments when a certain Sri Lanka victory turned into a most unexpected defeat. In the end, it was not just this win over Sri Lanka, but the bonus point that they had snatched from Pakistan that helped India to make the final.
One can only say that, much as India pulled off victory against Sri Lanka, in as sensational a manner as they had stolen a bonus point in the earlier match, Pakistan did not deserve to be denied an entry into the final. The Pakistan team management has severely criticized the rules of the tournament and dubbed the system of awarding bonus point unfair. They feel peeved because they have now to miss the final of the Asia Cup. But the same thing could have happened to any of the other teams as well. It was indeed bad tactics and a lack of understanding of the rules in their match against India, rather than any bad ruling, that cost Pakistan a place in the final.
What really needs to be changed is the format of the whole tournament in which the big three are well ahead of the other three teams. The present format has seen India and Sri Lanka already clash twice and are now going to square up again in the final on Sunday. However well-contested, these clashes are getting monotonous.
The Indian team still look somewhat rusty after an almost three-month-long lay-off, following their remarkable tours of Australia and Pakistan, the latter a historic event in more ways than one. India had beaten Pakistan in the latter’s own backyard for the first time and had won both the Test and one-day series.
The long rest has surprisingly not helped some of the key players to recover from their injuries. Zaheer Khan is still struggling to strip a hundred percent fit and just about dawdled along in two of the four matches. It was, however, his tremendous tenacity that helped him to overcome his physical discomfort and turn in a sterling performance in the match against Sri Lanka. He bowled a fabulous last over by capturing an important wicket and conceding just four runs when Lanka needed 11 runs to win in the final over. Skipper Ganguly’s gamble in playing him, in preference to a fully-fit Ashish Nehra, paid off.
Will Ganguly’s tremendous run of luck continue to hold out in Sunday’s final against Sri Lanka? Well, he will need more than just good fortune to carry the Asia Cup home.
