Electric green

With admirable support from Rao Iftikhar Anjum, who bowled a suffocating new-ball spell, Naved curbed the Indians in the crucial first 15 overs. He won the kudos of both captains. 8216;8216;He has been good with the new ball8217;8217;, said Inzamam. 8216;8216;There was a bit of moisture early on and he got it in the right places.8217;8217;

Dravid echoed him: 8216;8216;When I say Afridi was the difference, I am not trying to undermine Rana8217;s efforts. He bowled really well.8217;8217; It8217;s cricketing logic that, when a bowler is in the middle of a devastating spell, it needs just discretion and commonsense to wait for the storm to pass. India lacked both.

Next, Yuvraj8217;s promotion ahead of Mohammad Kaif with three crucial wickets gone cheaply was baffling. With most of the dashers back in the dressing room, the Indian innings needed a quiet partnership that would see them through the middle overs at a healthy rate of 4-5 and then get 90-100 in the last 10 overs with some good hitters to follow.

India got just 77 with a tiring Dravid and Dinesh Mongia at the crease. Mongia batted for 28 of the final 48 deliveries and scored 33 off them with two sixes. That translates into 21 runs of the remaining 26 balls he faced in the slog overs.

Though he can8217;t really be blamed playing his first match after a long lay-off, a Dhoni or a Yuvraj onslaught would have taken the score closer to 300.

A total of 249 on a slow turner was no less an achievement, considering that India were down and out within the first 15 overs losing three quick wickets, but the rebuilding process stood merely as competitive, not match-winning.

Indeed, perhaps another 20-odd runs in the India total could have tilted the balance. Take away Afridi8217;s score from the Pakistan total and it becomes clear how difficult normal batting was on the pitch; Mongia and Younis Khan were the only others who managed to score at run a ball.

Which brings us to the final point: This may or may not be related to the absence of the regular captain but India lacked aggression while bowling. With Shahid Afridi batting like a man possessed, all the bowlers did was pitch it up and hope for Afridi to miss.

The only exception was Zaheer Khan, who greeted Afridi with a bouncer in his first delivery. But that was the only bouncer bowled to Afridi of the 46 balls he faced. Zaheer followed it up by varying the pace and forcing him on the back-foot a couple of times.

He went for 30 off the 23 balls that he bowled to Afridi, which might seem a lot till you see how the other bowlers fared: L Balaji: 26 of 8, Anil Kumble: 22 of 6, Dinesh Mongia: 19 of 6

Enough for India to work on while they recover their breath for the showdown at Kotla. For the moment, advantage Pakistan, who are serving for the match and the title.