If there was ever a game that matched the hype that preceded it, it was the opening one-dayer of the Samsung Cup in Karachi. Both India and Pakistan bring out the best in each other, and cricket as a sport is enriched when these traditional rivals meet.
Yesterday, a world record was established for the largest number of runs scored in a One-Day International, and this was proof that the subcontinental rivals can raise the bar for their own performance if they play each other more often.
Inzamam-ul Haq batted flawlessly to get his team heart-breakingly close to the target, but he must still take the blame for sending the Indians in to bat on a peach of a wicket. The Indian bowlers had been battered only a couple of days ago by a second-grade team. Their confidence would have been low, and the Pakistan batsmen could have added to the pressure if they took first strike on a flat wicket that made bowling really difficult from start to finish. To make matters worse he did not attack enough once he decided to let Shoaib and Sami have a go at the Indians.
He should have told his bowlers to bowl an off-stump line and employed a few more slips and a gully. Unfortunately, both his bowlers were so anxious to deny the Indians any width that they kept trying to cramp the Indians by bowling a middle and leg line. In the absence of any bounce this was fodder for the rampaging Indians, and to make matters worse, the duo kept striving for extra pace and ended up only adding to India's total through extras. I spoke to Shoaib after the match, and he was terribly disappointed with his first spell.
Perhaps the coming games will see an improved performance from him.
I don't think the Pakistanis would have been as expensive if they had bowled second. They would most probably have had a good total to defend and would not have been so pumped up and anxious.
Virender Sehwag was the opener who truly flourished after a lucky escape at the start of the innings. The crowds in Pakistan have not seen him before, and they were spell-bound by his strokeplay. While it's often hard to believe that Sehwag is a thinking cricketer, there does seem to be some method in his madness. He employs his quick eye to such good effect because he knows the spots that are vacant to him. He is adept on both sides of the wicket, and does not know the fear of getting out cheaply. This is what cost him his wicket finally, but by then the team was scoring at 10 an over.
The Indians kept up the momentum very well, though I think the Pakistanis pulled it back somewhat by only giving 71 runs in the last 10 overs economical bowling in the context of this match.
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The teams move to Rawalpindi with Pakistan needing to do all the hard work from here on. If they had beaten India yesterday, it would have created a dent in the visitors' confidence as they would be aware that they had not defended a 325-plus total twice in three days.
A win is a win, whether the margin is five runs or 50, and the Indians have earned themselves some breathing space.
Both 'Pindi and Peshawar are slower tracks and I don't see a run feast of this scale happening at either venue. The Karachi pitch is a beauty as is the wicket at Lahore. This means that the next two games will give some respite to the bowlers. Inzamam will have to use the next two days to get his bowling problems sorted out. Perhaps he should tell them to focus less on aggression and more on discipline in the coming games.
As chief executive, PCB, I was nervous in the morning. I thought the spectators would get impatient about queueing up for security checks before the game, and was praying that no disturbance occurred. Fortunately, the crowd did their city and their nation proud, and while the result was not the one they wanted, they were sporting enough to know that they had seen one great game.
Previous column: Karachi will be tough on the bowlers
Srinath's column: The game is too batsman friendly
Rashid Latif: Pakistan need a bowling coach
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