Even 330 wouldn’t have been enough to beat India

Conditions could not have been more even for both teams, irrespective of which side batted when, and given all that, there can be absolutely no doubt that the better team won. Yet again, India chased a reasonable target and got there with such comfort and with so much in the tank to spare that perhaps even a score of 330 may not have been enough to hold them back.

I thought 273 was a good score and certainly Wasim Akram’s body language, as he left the field after a very productive final over, seemed to suggest that he thought so too. It was a better score than any Pakistan have made in this World Cup or in recent one-dayers and it was rather more than we have come to expect from them, so there was every reason to be satisfied with the batting effort.

But it had not been entirely fluent and the run-out of Inzamam perhaps put Pakistan back by 25 runs. In fact, although Pakistan batted better than they have in the recent past, it seemed that they managed to lose a wicket just when they were poised to wrest the initiative.

Saeed Anwar’s effort deserves every praise for it was a great effort, both mental and physical. It got Pakistan off for once to a decent start although much of the advantage of that decent start was lost through a very laboured innings by Razzaq, batting at number three, which never looked like getting anywhere; one felt that Pakistan needed someone with much greater authority to be playing at that position.

The Indian innings was of a different quality and calibre altogether. They came out to dominate the bowling and did exactly that – and it was not only Tendulkar. Everyone batted with complete confidence and it seemed as if the question of not reaching the target had not even entered their minds.

Tendulkar played an innings of outstanding brilliance and it may be a long time before one sees anything approaching this level of awesome mastery. Shoaib’s bold statement that he would be ‘looking after’ Tendulkar dissolved pretty quickly into thin air as the Indian maestro clobbered the Rawalpindi Express for 18 in his first over. Shoaib did not seem to know what had hit him and although he got his revenge in the end, the game had long since been lost by Pakistan.

Pakistan had a brief look-in when Waqar Younis struck twice in as many balls to remove Sehwag and Ganguly, but it did not seem to make any impression on Tendulkar. Razzaq’s dropping of him soon after was a turning point and the game may have taken a very different course if that catch had been held.

But it was not, although it was certainly catchable and, by the twelfth over, Tendulkar had taken the game completely away from Pakistan. By the time he was went, he had left a target of just about a hundred runs at barely 4.3 per over and all that India needed to do was to push the ball in the gaps which, with a widespread field, there were plenty of.