Another match, another defeat for Indians

JANUARY 21: A razor-sharp Abdur Razzaq produced a magnificent all-round performance that exposed India's weaknesses in the One Day game an...

JANUARY 21: A razor-sharp Abdur Razzaq produced a magnificent all-round performance that exposed India8217;s weaknesses in the One Day game and virtually ended their chances of competing in the finals. India challenged for as long as Sachin Tendulkar was at the crease, playing at near his best form, but eventually even the little maestro fell to the skill of Razzaq the wrecker.

Having sent Pakistan in on a pitch that had some early life, Tendulkar must have been disappointed that his team was unable to contain Pakistan. Throughout the series Saeed Anwar has threatened a big score, but despite a bit of good fortune, he hasn8217;t been able to capitalise on some good starts. He was dropped twice before Samir Dighe took a brilliant leg-side catch standing up to the stumps. This was one wicket that should go to the keeper, as he was the one who initiated the move up to the stumps and despite Sourav Ganguly asking him to stand back he persisted and in the end both players benefited from the move.

There was further joy for both bowler and keeper when Dighe grabbed another catch, this time the important wicket of Inzamam Ul-Haq, off a thick outside edge. Dighe is an enthusiast behind the stumps and is the best glove man of the recent Indian keepers, but unfortunately his batting isn8217;t forceful enough for the One Day game.

By consistently taking wickets and breaking threatening partnerships, India manoeuvred into a good position, but the advent of Razzaq changed the momentum. Razzaq is an exciting young allrounder and he hit powerfully and sensibly, in a bold partnership with another talented player in Yousuf Youhana. Razzaq is strong and he mostly hits straight, so he8217;s a difficult customer to contain. At Youhana8217;s insistence he also added speed to his list of skills as the pair ran the Indian fielders ragged. India lacks a few strong arms in the outfield on the large Australian outfields and the Pakistan batsmen were able to pinch as many as twenty runs.

This deficiency really showed up once Youhana departed, because Razzaq was able to monopolise the strike by taking a lot of two8217;s. Youhana is the best of the young Pakistan batsmen and he makes the task look pretty easy with his elegant style and wristy timing. He8217;s often run a little casually between wickets, but at Bellerive he really pushed himself and his partners hard, a sign that he8217;s maturing and ready for more responsibility. Razzaq is a wholehearted cricketer and along with Andrew Symonds and Shane Lee, he8217;s among the new breed of exciting allrounders.

He boosted Pakistan8217;s total immensely and the worrying thing for India is that they lack a similar style of player in their lower order. Recognising this failing, Sachin Tendulkar had a few sighters and then went for the bowling in order to get the run rate up early. He also needed to make up for the two overs that India had been docked for being tardy, a bad habit that he needs to rectify.

In playing with such intent, Tendulkar re-discovered his best form, driving majestically through the off-side by hitting balls on the rise. Tendulkar seems to have been in a bit of a quandary about where to bat in both the Test series and the One Day internationals and hopefully this innings has convinced him that opening is his best spot in the shortened version of the game. Just as it appeared that the skipper would guide India to a much-needed victory, Razzaq struck the crucial blow, hitting Tendulkar8217;s off-stump with a good leg-cutter. Knowing the importance of this wicket, Wasim Akram embraced his allrounder in a congratulatory hug; a sure sign that he felt the match was won.

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His premonition proved to be true as India, with a weak lower order crumbled to be beaten quite comfortably in the end. When you see some of the other poor arms in the team it8217;s hard to rationalise Ajay Jadeja not being in the side, because at least he can push the scoring along in the late overs, a talent that is sadly missing at the moment. India has to find some new blood for the One Day side and a good starting point would be a search for a young allrounder like Razzaq.

PAKISTAN

Saeed Anwar c Dighe b Ganguly 43
Shahid Afridi c Tendulkar b Mohanty 12
Ijaz Ahmed b Prasad 67
Inzamam-ul Haq c Dighe b Ganguly 6
Yousuf Youhanna c Mohanty b Kumble 45
Moin Khan c Dighe b Prasad 0
Abdur Razzaq not out 70
Wasim Akram c Dighe b Mohanty 2
Waqar Younis not out 3
Extras: lb8, w4, nb2 14
Total for seven wickets in 50 overs 262
Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-82, 3-96, 4-156, 5-156, 6-223, 7-243

Bowling: Srinath 10-0-55-0, Mohanty 10-0-76-2, Prasad 10-0-41-2, Kumble 10-2-24-1, Ganguly 8-0-42-2, Robin Singh 1-0-10-0, Tendulkar 1-0-6-0

INDIA Max 48 overs

Sachin Tendulkar b Razzaq 93
Saurav Ganguly c Afridi b Razzaq 43
VVS Laxman c Moin b Razzaq 7
Rahul Dravid lbw Akram 15
Jacob Martin run out 16
Robin Singh c and b Shoaib 2
Sameer Dighe not out 11
Anil Kumble b Razzaq 14
Javagal Srinath b Razzaq 2
Venkatesh Prasad lbw Akram 5
Debashish Mohanty b Akram 0
Extras: lb5, nb4, w13 22
Total: 46.4 overs all out 230
Fall of wickets: 1-99, 2-111, 3-156, 4-177, 5-193, 6-194, 7-219, 8-221, 9-230

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Bowling: Akram 9.4-0-34-3, Shoaib 10-0-49-1, Saqlain 8-0-42-0, Razzaq 10-0-48-5, Younis 2-0-19-0, Afridi 7-0-33-0

Result: Pakistan won by 32 runs

Next match: Australia v Pakistan at Melbourne on Sunday

Sachin8217;s Landmark
Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, with his stupendous knock of 93 against Pakistan today, became the second highest run-getter in One-Day Internationals. Tendulkar, who now has an aggregate of 8690 runs from 233 matches at an average of 42.59, is only 420 runs behind his predecessor Mohd Azharuddin who heads the table with 9110 runs.