Pak batsmen have a great fall as Kumble astounds them all

Obviously, it has not sunk in yet. Not for Kumble, not for the Indian team; and definitely not the Pakistanis who were chugging along at 101 for no loss 20 minutes into lunch, chasing a fourth innings target of 420. Then, the first wicket fell. Shahid Afridi, cursing his luck and the decision all the way back. Suddenly, the scorers — inactive for most of the morning — were struggling to keep pace with the Pakistani collapse. And all the while, Kumble just kept bowling straight, forcing the batsmen do the rest.

A hint of what might have emerged came after Mushtaq Ahmed was snapped up by Dravid to leave Pakistan at 198 for eight. When Saqlain fell next ball, everyone knew what to expect. Then came the climax.An eventful day had ended and there was nothing else on everyone’s lips, except those two magic words.

However, before the leg-spinner’s performance completely overshadowed everything else that happened on a Super Sunday, two uncomfortable questions propped up that might lead to a bigger debate in the days to come.

First was the manner in which the Indians let things drift in the morning when it appeared that they would allow Pakistan enough breathing space to notch an improbable win. Azharuddin’s handling of the field suggested that he was defending a total of 220 instead of 420. And sensing the mood, Afridi and Anwar rightly got stuck into the Indian attack, rattling up boundaries almost at will. A second slip was brought in only after 41 overs, with the onus being more on containing the batsmen rather than going for their throats. Till Kumble took over.

There were also some murmurs in the role played by umpire Jayaprakash’s index finger in the final analysis which showed three leg before wicketdecisions in India’s favour. Coming after the much-debated lbw against Sachin Tendulkar in the first innings, there was bound to be pressure on the former Karnataka Ranji captain this time. And, to complicate matters, Jayaprakash ended up handling Kumble’s 10-wicket third spell today.

Afridi’s dismissal sparked off a minor buzz, which grew as Ijaz Ahmed was given out to a ball that drifted to leg in the air from off-stump to land on his boot. Jayaprakash, known to be an umpire who makes up his mind fast and sticks to his decisions, wavered for a few seconds this time before the finger came up.

SCOREBOARD

INDIA (1 st inn) 252
pakistan (1st inn) 172
INDIA (2nd Inn) R B M 4/6
(overnight 324 for seven)
Ramesh c&b Mushtaq 96 227 271 15
(full toss drifted in from off, took leading edge from attempted on-drive)
Laxman b Akram 8 16 20 2
(Cut in sharply, squeezed through bat & pad to pluck out off-stump)
Dravid c Ijaz b Saqlain 29 72 121 2
(miscuedsweep from outside off, caught by 1st slip running around keeper Moin)
Tendulkar c Akram b Mushtaq 29 65 99 4
(mistimed on-drive took aerial route to mid on)
Azharuddin b Akram 14 24 52 2
(chopped incoming ball from outside off into stumps)
Ganguly (not out) 62 127 215 6/2
Mongia lbw Akram 0 1 1 0
(trapped in front of off-stump by a fast ball that swung in late)
Kumble c Ijaz b Saqlain 15 36 37 2
(withdrew to leg for forcing shot on off; ended up guiding a straight ball to 1st slip)
Srinath c Ijaz b Saqlain 49 116 132 6
(edged a squarecut off shortish ball that bounced high)
Prasad b Saqlain 6 6 8 1
(off-break stayed low, slipped in between bat and pad)
Harbhajan b Saqlain 0 1 1 0
(played down wrong line off an off-break that spun into leg-stump)
Extras (b 13, lb 9, nb 9) 31
Total (113.4 ov, 487m) 339
Fall of wickets: 1-15 (Laxman, 4.5 ov); 2-100 (Dravid, 33.1); 3-168 (Tendulkar, 59), 4-183 (Ramesh, 64.3); 5-199 (Azharuddin, 70.1); 6-199(Mongia, 70.2); 7-231 (Kumble, 79), 8-331 (Srinath, 111.5), 9-339 (Prasad, 113.3)

Bowling: Akram 21-3-43-3; Waqar 12-2-42-0; Saqlain 46.4-13-122-5; Mushtaq 26-4-86-2; Afridi 8-1-21-0.

Partnerships: India (2nd inn):
85 for 2nd wkt (Ramesh & Dravid)
68 for 3rd wkt (Ramesh & Tendulkar)
100 for 8th wkt (Ganguly & Srinath)
PAKISTAN (2nd inn) R B M 4/6
Anawar c Laxman b Kumble 69 128 157 12
(played outside line of leg break that hit his gloves & thigh on way to forward short leg)
Afridi c Mongia b Kumble 41 64 101 7
(pre-determined push without reaching to the pitch of the ball; faint outside edge)
Ijaz lbw Kumble 0 1 1 0
(ball drifted in from off, pitched on front foot boot in front of middle & leg stump)
Inzamam b Kumble 6 14 13 1
(chopped straight ball which kept low on to off stump)
Youhanna lbw Kumble 0 2 1 0
(pitched on middle and off, straightened, kept low and hit front foot)
Moin Khan c Ganguly b Kumble 3 20 27 0
(lleg-break took glove off forwardpush to 1st slip)
Malik b Kumble 15 59 57 3
(missed pull off fast, wrong’un which took leg-stump bail)
Akram c Laxman b Kumble 37 56 87 7
(tentative forward push, ball took inside edge to forward short leg)
Mushtaq c Dravid b Kumble 1 13 36 0
(couldn’t reach pitch of ball which hit top of bat & ballooned to 2nd slip)
Saqlain lbw Kumble 0 1 1 0
(straight one that hit front foot in front of middle stump)
Waqar (not out) 6 5 5 1
Extras (b 15, lb 2, nb 10, w 2) 29
Total (60.3 ov, 253m) 207
Fall of wickets: 1-101 (Afridi, 24.2); 2-101 (Ijaz, 24.3); 3-115 (Inzamam, 28.3), 4-115 (Youhanna, 28.5), 5-127 (Moin, 36.1), 6-128 (Anwar, 38.3), 7-186 (Malik, 54.1), 8-198 (Mushtaq, 58.5), 9-198 (Saqlain, 59)

Bowling: Srinath 12-2-50-0; Prasad 4-1-15-0; Kumble 26.3-9-74-10; Harbhajan 18-5-51-0

Partnerships: Pakistan 2nd inn
101 for 1st wkt (Anwar & Afridi)
58 for 7th wkt (Malik & Akram)
Result India bt Pakistan by 212 runs
Series Draw 1-1
Man of the Match: AnilKumble
Man of the Series Saqlain Mushtaq