It is three wins out of three for Pakistan versus India since the new season began and this time it meant goodbye to India from the ICC Champions Trophy. The timing of the event has made the toss crucial, for the weather is not only getting colder and unpredictable but its causing the pitches to be loaded heavily for the team bowling first. The time the matches start also hasn’t helped, for while One-Day games usually begin at 10.45 in England, for this event they are starting half an hour earlier which makes it even harder for the team batting first.
There was also the strange inexplicable leakage of water from the covers on the pitch and the game had to be started 15 minutes later to allow a spot at one end of the ground to dry sufficiently and it was quite a sight to see the groundsman drying it with a hair drier. Though the spot did not cause any awkward deliveries, it must have created some doubt in the minds of the batsmen and certainly the manner in which India’s captain and in-form batsman played at the few deliveries he faced, it looked as if he was conscious of it. His wicket in the first over itself was a huge boost to the Pakistanis and when India lost their first three wickets before the field restrictions were removed, it meant that they were on the back foot straightaway.
Virender Sehwag’s bad patch continued as he clipped a delivery from his pads straight to the fielder at square leg and was out. When he is in form that ball would have gone like a bullet to the boundary, but like I had written yesterday, when things are going well for you like for Flintoff, then catches are dropped, but when it’s a lean trot, then catches are taken or you get a bad decision or something unlucky happens. That’s why the old timers advise that when the runs are coming, don’t chuck your wicket away for in cricket, one never knows when a bad patch is round the corner.
India’s losses have also come at the same time as Sehwag’s trot and shows that when he scores then India put up a score that is defendable and when he doesn’t then they struggle. The innings was in a shambles at 73 for 5 wickets and it was steadied by a partnership between Dravid and Rohan and after the latter’s dismissal, the much-maligned Agarkar played a bold innings full of quality strokes and along with the ice-cool Dravid took the team to a total that looked virtually impossible in the 20th over when the top five were out.
No praise can be too high for the manner in which the ICC’s Player of the Year, Rahul Dravid marshaled the innings and it will be worth looking at him coming back to No. 3 to steady the innings, especially as it is faltering quite regularly now. At least with him at that number, there will be less of a rush of wickets as its been happening now.
Due credit has to be given to the Pakistanis for the way they exploited the wicket and the disciplined way they bowled. Yes, there were some wides but that’s expected in a team with quick bowlers, but the Pakistanis never released the pressure and never allowed the Indians to counter-attack. The counter punch came when Pathan, using the conditions beautifully took three early wickets to rock the Pakistani batting and give the Indian supporters hope that there could be a turnaround in the fortunes of their team.
For that to happen though, India needed to prise out the Pakistani captain and vice-captain, who are not only hugely talented but vastly experienced as well. Both of them knew that their first task was to see off Pathan and once that was achieved, they began to look for the singles and twos because the big shots were far too risky in that situation and the way the ball was moving. They were aware too, that with India being dismissed for 200, the asking rate was never going to go up to an insurmountable level and so they could afford to play a few quiet overs. Though Inzamam was out to an uncharacteristic shot, trying to nudge a ball to third-man in spite of a slip being in position, Youhana carried on building small partnerships and taking his team closer to their target.
When Afridi came to bat, the match was delicately poised, but he knows only one way to bat and it was his day to do just enough to get his side to a winning position. The two sixes off Pathan were almost as if he had set out to take apart the one bowler who had created problems for his team in the first place. Those two blows took the fight away from the Indians and though Afridi was out soon after, Youhana, in spite of cramping badly, steered his team into the semifinals. They meet the West Indies who scored a pretty easy win over the South Africans and it means two of the most naturally talented and fairly unpredictable teams will contest what promises to be an exciting semifinals. The other semis is one eagerly looked forward to in England, who would want to see for themselves if their side’s improvement is a reality or simply a mirage. It does look like an exciting few days ahead.
