India won the second one-dayer in grand style to level the one-day series one-all. It was a crucial win, for if Pakistan had gone two up then it would have been very tough for India to come back from that deficit. The win also broke a winning sequence for Pakistan, which had begun with the Test win at Karachi and once a sequence is broken it also creates doubts in the minds of the losing team.
It was a blessing in disguise that India lost the toss for it allowed its seam bowlers to make use of the moisture under the surface and pick early wickets and put Pakistan on the back foot. In our part of the world, the early starts at this time of the year always help the good seam bowlers and that’s what happened. India once again went in with four seam bowlers, perhaps due to the little grass that was visible and it worked for them this time, though it’s not the ideal attack for a one-dayer.
Pakistan recovered, thanks to fine knocks by Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan, which along with some help down the order got them to a decent total. They probably would not have even got there but for the Indians not appealing against Malik when he seemed to have obstructed the field when he was in his forties.
Malik’s and Younis’ innings gave the Pakistanis something to defend, but even that was made to look insufficient by the assault from Sehwag and Tendulkar that gave India just the platform it needed.
Tendulkar’s was a soft dismissal trying to steer a ball, for he should only be out to peach deliveries or trying for a big shot, especially in this version of the game. Sehwag found his touch at last and when he does that there’s an air of relaxation in the dressing room, for he makes it look so simple.
What was needed after such a start was good commonsense batting and who better to provide that than the captain. He along with Yuvraj made sure that the issue was safe and in doing so would have definitely dented Pakistan’s confidence.
The win makes the series more intense as both teams will now try their utmost to take the lead at Lahore and we could be in for a feast of big hitting.
