India beats Pakistan in thrilling encounter

Rahul Dravid 61 and skipper Mohammed Azharuddin 59, who plodded on till the final slog overs, struck fifties, but India never recovered from the big jolt they suffered when star batsman Sachin Tendulkar 45 fell in the 21st over.

The Indian batsmen made a hash of their innings in the middle overs, with poor running between the wickets and lack of urgency, before Azharuddin hit some vintage shots in the final overs to push India past the 220-mark and set Pakistan an asking rate of 4.56 an over.

Electing to bat on a good wicket in a tie they had to win to hold any remote chance of making the semi-final, India somewhat overcame a major setback when Saurav Ganguly was ruled out with a bruised right knee.

Tendulkar struggled to play in tandem with Sadagopan Ramesh 20 and looked tentative early on, but came into his own in a lively 58-run second wicket stand with Rahul Dravid.

The two ran brilliantly between the wickets and forced several misfields as India reached 90 after 20 overs for a perfect launchpad to attack the slowly fading attack.

But Tendulkar failed to get behind the line of a widish ball from seamer Azhar Mahmood, hitting straight to Saqlain Mushtaq at deep widish mid-off, and the Indian innings simply lost its way to finish far below the 260-270 it promised at the master batsman8217;s fall.

With the in-form Ganguly ruled out due to the knee injury he suffered two days ago, the onus was on the Indian batsmen to notch up a big score as they would also be missing his effective seam bowling.

Only 34 runs came in the first 10 overs and Ramesh was gone in the 12th when he played all over an Abdul Razzaq delivery to be bowled comprehensively for 20.

But Dravid eased the pressure off Tendulkar, who played and missed a few times against Wasim Akram at the outset, and the two neatly built the innings.

Tendulkar pulled paceman Shoaib Akhtar through midwicket for his first four and then hit Azhar Mahmood and Razzaq for two more each. The pressure seemed to be telling on Pakistan fielders when the star batsman fell.

He stepped out to Mehmood, but could not get his full power behind an uppish shot and Saqlain did not make a mistake in taking the catch.

Ajay Jadeja, who hit an unbeaten 100 against Aussies, went before he could get settled, fending a lifter from Mahmood and lone slip Inzamam-ul-Haq took a brilliant diving catch.

But Azhar, who took 16 balls to get off the mark, looked totally out of sorts and struggled to rotate the strike as the Indian innings completely lost its momentum.

Runs came in a trickle with only 51 coming in their stand lasting 15.2 overs. Dravid reached a well-deserved fifty, but under pressure to accelerate hit Akram straight to Shahid Afridi at extra cover.

But the Indian skipper slowly began attacking and put on 60 runs with Robin Singh in only nine overs which lifted the innings towards the end.

Azhar took on off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq with a couple of fours and struck two boundaries off Shoaib Akhtar in the 48th over to pull India past the 200-run mark, which at one stage looked doubtful.

Robin Singh8217;s lone show of all-out aggression was hoisting Saqlain deep into the stands over midwicket, but he ran aggressively to keep the score ticking before falling off the last ball of the innings.

Pakistan, who made two changes by including attacking opener Shahid Afridi for Wajahatullah Wasti and veteran Salim Malik for injured Yousuf Youhana, suffered quite a few casualties on the field.

Saeed Anwar twisted his left ankle while fielding and was off for a while for treatment and Inzamam cut his left forefinger taking the catch to dismiss Jadeja. He sported a bandage and did not field for the rest of the innings.

Saqlain Mushtaq was limping with a leg injury even as he went through his last couple of overs and Abdul Razzaq also seemed to be in some pain after a bad fall in the last over trying to make a stop.

Skipper Wasim Akram led the bowling honours taking two for 27 in his full quota while Azhar Mahmood once again showed his mettle to return 2 for 35. Saqlain, however, went for 67 runs without taking a wicket.

The jam-packed crowd created an electric atmosphere at the ground, but there were no problems in the stands, closely under observation by police and community leaders.

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