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Pakistan were let down by their bowlers. It8217;s no good saying that you are the fastest bowler in the world. Allan Donald, Glenn McGrath ...

Pakistan were let down by their bowlers. It8217;s no good saying that you are the fastest bowler in the world. Allan Donald, Glenn McGrath and, more recently, Brett Lee all bowled fast but had so good control over their line and length. Shoaib Akhtar, in contrast, strayed too much down the leg-side. He claimed two wickets but gave away so many runs. Shabbir Ahmed too bowled so many wides. From Pakistan8217;s point of view, it was unacceptable.

No-balls cost Pakistan at least two wickets. VVS Laxman might have played a short innings but his 20 runs at that stage mattered a lot, for it gave India the right sort of momentum. Sourav Ganguly too got his 20 runs off only eight or nine balls. I was surprised no Pakistan bowler tried to come round the wicket and cut down the width for him. He kept getting his boundaries which was good for India.

It is clear Sachin Tendulkar is trying to come inside the line to fast bowlers and thus he is moving towards his off-stump. Clearly he is trying to be better prepared for short-pitched bowling even if it curtails his off-side options. But the Pakistan bowlers seem to be bowling well at least to him. As for VVS Laxman, his dismissal again demonstrated he needs to come forward at times. He has a good reach and he must make use of it.

Ganguly has a mental block with his batting and the sooner he sorts it out the better. He has a brilliant record but he8217;s currently expecting every ball to be bowled short to him. That8217;s why he is flashing at every delivery pitched up to him. He has the ability but this mental block is making him appear tentative. If he had not stayed put and come forward to Razzaq he could have easily left the ball alone rather than edge it to the wicketkeeper.

The Indian batting heroes were clearly Rahul Dravid and Mohammad Kaif. Dravid, who is under constant pressure because of his twin roles of wicketkeeping and batting, played a gem of a knock. Kaif, too, is an outstanding batsman and he ran well between the wickets. But he has to learn to be consistent. He can8217;t rest on his laurels if he wants to be counted among the greats of the game. These two batsmen lifted India out of a morass.

I felt the ball was coming on to the bat in the second innings because a little dew might have quickened up the wicket. During Pakistan8217;s innings, it was turning. Pakistan were lucky to reach 293 because they were around 110 in the first 25 overs and then the remaining 25 overs yielded 185 runs.

Inzamam played a classy knock, one of the best he has played. It was a real captain8217;s effort and he pulled Pakistan out of woods. These days he doesn8217;t play as aggressively as he used to. He sometimes seems tied down by spinners. But when he plays freely and comes out of crease, he really looks pleasing.

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Murali Kartik, brought back for this game, bowled well to Yasir Hameed and Abdur Razzaq in his first spell, tying them down on the leg-stump. But he faltered in his subsequent spells. Laxmipathy Balaji too bowled well but he needs improvement.

It was good to see Zaheer Khan trying to mix up his deliveries and it showed in his analysis. He bowled more slower deliveries and mixed them up well. The pick of Indian bowlers in my mind was Irfan Pathan, who made important breakthroughs in the first 15 overs.

But for those breakthroughs, Pakistan could have been 330-350 in their knock. The strength of Pathan is that he tries to bowl within the stumps, keeping it in and around the off-stump. He is also able to bring the ball in to batsmen.

I have a feeling Pakistan have brought themselves under pressure in this series and a lot of it has to do with their own inconsistent performance. India seems to have turned the corner in this one-day series. Pakistan would find it very difficult to stop India from carrying this momentum forward on Wednesday.

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