India had winner146;s instincts

It8217;s a moment to cherish for the country. India has come back from a deficit and claimed a historic series in Pakistan. They have every...

It8217;s a moment to cherish for the country. India has come back from a deficit and claimed a historic series in Pakistan. They have every reason to rejoice while Pakistan can8217;t blame themselves enough. They had a handy lead but lost the plot completely in Lahore. India showed the instinct of a winner in seizing upon that little opening and walked away as champions.

It wasn8217;t a bad decision by Inzamam to put India; his bowlers for once showed discipline. Towards the end, though, they were back to their erratic ways and a score of around 250 in 47 overs was allowed to swell to 293.

Shoaib had an excellent first spell but his final two overs were docked for 25 runs by the unlikely pair of Irfan Pathan and Laxmipathy Balaji. You can8217;t allow a good start to go to waste by being smacked around for fours and sixes by tailenders.

The Indian innings was largely built around VVS Laxman, who played a high-quality knock. The stylish batsman didn8217;t allow himself to be affected by previous failures and was highly responsible and mature. He wasn8217;t tentative as he was in previous games and didn8217;t allow negative thoughts to overwhelm his admirable talent. He played some sizzling strokes and kept himself going till the end overs.

Well as India played, some of Pakistan8217;s field placements were baffling. Time and again, Indian batsmen were able to steer fours in the third man region.

Inzamam-ul Haq was too keen to give protection to his bowlers for bad bowling and in doing so he forgot the time-tested adage of the game 8212; you can8217;t set a field for bad bowling. It was for his bowlers to bowl to the set field and keep their discipline going. By giving them a cover rather than ask them to stick to the basics, Inzamam played into the hands of Indian batsmen.

If it was Laxman who held the centrestage in India8217;s batting, Irfan Pathan8217;s critical strikes at the start of Pakistan innings swung the game decisively India8217;s way. His strength was his discipline and he kept himself going on a fine line and length and swung the ball either way. His movement either way didn8217;t allow Pakistan batsman to be expansive at the start of their innings.

Story continues below this ad

He has been a critical difference for India in the last three games. Like in previous games, he provided India with breakthroughs which had a telling effect in the outcome of the match.

Still, you can8217;t help but feel that Pakistan didn8217;t bat well in their innings. Yasir Hameed was too casual in the way he approached his batting. You can8217;t be inconsistent at this level of the game and hope for a long run. His early dismissal set Pakistan back a long way for he had been a good performer for his team in previous games.

It was also pleasing to see an Indian fielder at last hit the stumps and effect a run-out. Yuvraj Singh made a fine dash in the closing stages and his well-directed stumps caught Shoaib Akhtar short of crease. A good team scripts its success on such half chances.

Cricket News