Pakistan make mockery of Indians8217; experimentation mantra

The Pakistanis, who had come here hoping for a memorable trip, would leave for home doubly-happy after their team8217;s total subjugation of a hapless Indian team in the concluding Pepsi Tri-Series league day-night limited overs match at the PCA Stadium here tonight.

As for their cricketers, they go into the tournament final at Bangalore on April 4 brimming with confidence, after their seven-wicket win over the Indians, whose lack of game-plan stemmed up from the team-management8217;s decision to bite more than they could actually chew. The experimentation mantra of the selectors failed and so did those on thesupposed trial.India needed a win here to keep the confidence level going, but instead returned with sullen faces. With a full-strength team it was very much possible but after yet another humiliating defeat against Pakistan, it is time for serious rethinking. The gains from the Pune victory over Sri Lanka seemed to have evaporated.

The comeback-man Venkatesh Prasad induced life into the match with three early strikes, just what the Indians needed, after their spineless batting earlier. Once his first spell 8-0-16-3 ended, India did not have enough bowling artillery to drive home the advantage.

With Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble resting8217; at home and Ajit Agarkar confined to the reserve bench for the game, the Pandeys, the Kanitkars and the Sehwags were dumb-struck bowling to the experienced Pakistan pair of Ijaz Ahmed and Inzamam-ul-Haq, who put on a record unfinished fourth-wicket partnership of 163 runs against India. The match simply meandered away from the Indians once the two decided to seizethe opportunity as a good build-up for the final.

If Ijaz and Inzamam revelled in the evening, the afternoon belonged to that gangling pace bowler, Shoaib Akhtar, who by now has a idea of how to exploit the age-old Indian weakness. He played havoc with the Indian top-order with his pace and remarkable consistency today. He first made Saurav Ganguly to retire hurt temporarily by hitting him in his rib-cage and then beat Rahul Dravid on the shuffle to force him to play an uppish flick for Shahid Afridi to pick up a gem at square leg. The Indian innings was in a shambles as a struggling Karim and a tentative stand-in skipper Ajay Jadeja did their team8217;s cause no good. India8217;s problems lay in the crawling start to their innings. If an opener needs 17 overs to score 18 runs in the modern-day limited overs cricket, there must be something drastically wrong with the team-management8217;s approach. Ganguly and Robin Singh once again showed the grit, but where was the support they needed? Another irksome factor of thematch was the slow over-rate from both the sides.

SCOREBOARD India

S Ganguly c Afridi b Nazir 4215;4, 90 balls, 140 min 57
gave himself room to hit over the covers, caught at deep point
S Karim c Ijaz b Mahmood 1215;4, 51b, 84m 18
sliced a cut to gully, caught on second attempt
R Dravid c Afridi b Akhtar 3b, 3 min 0
flicked one which bounced more, fielder caught diving full stretch to left
A Jadeja b Mahmood 1215;4, 44b, 72m 14
attempted drive without moving feet, played on
A Khurasia st Moin b Saqlain 1215;4, 7b, 14m 6
went for a drive with head up, beaten in air
R Singh run out Akram 1215;4, 67b, 139m 42
no response from striker, short mid-wicket threw to the bowler8217;s end
V Sehwag lbw b Akhtar 2b, 5m 1
played across a quick inswinger
H Kanitkar run out Anwar 1215;4, 15b, 23m 12
ran back to the dressing room without response from non-striker
LR Shukla c S Nazir b Saqlain 9b, 13m 5
ungainly slog ended in short mid-wicket8217;shands
G Pandey not out 9b, 10m 4
V Prasad st Moin b Saqlain 4 7b, 8m
bowler saw his a pre-determined move to lift and bowled slower
Extras: nb5, lb10, w17, b1 33
Total: all out in 49.5 overs 196
Fall of wickets: 1-16 Dravid; 4th over; 2-47 Karim; 16.4; 3-54 Jadeja; 4-72 Khurasia; 22; 5-145 Ganguly; 39.3; 6-150 Sehwag; 40.2; 7-172 Kanitkar; 44.1; 8-186 Shukla; 47.1; 9-186 Robin; 47
Bowling: Akram 10-0-32-0, Akhtar 10-1-18-2, Mahmood 10-0-31-1, S Nazir 10-0-45-1, Saqlain 9.5-0-49-3
PAKISTAN

S Anwar c Karim b Prasad 6b, 4m 0
hung his bat to a late outswinger
S Afridi c Dravid b Prasad 21b, 55m, 1215;4 16
mishit over mid-wicket, fielder ran from boundary to catch
I Nazir c Karim b Prasad 13b, 16m 4
incutter kissed the inside edge of his bat
I Ahmed not out 129b, 186m, 5215;4, 2215;6 89
I Haq not out 88b, 155m, 4215;4 63
Extras: b4, lb2, nb5, w14 25
Total: for three wickets in 42 overs 197
Fall of wickets: 1-0Anwar; 1st over, 2-14 Imran; 4.2; 3-34 Afridi; 10.1
Bowling: Prasad 10-2-27-3 2nb, Shukla 10-0-37-0 1nb, 7w, Robin Sr 7-0-24-0 1w Ganguly 5-0-26-0 2w, Pandey 3-0-21-0, Kanitkar 4-0-20-0, Sehwag 3-0-35-0 2nb, 4w
RESULT: Pakistan beat India by seven wickets

MAN OF THE MATCH: Ijaz Ahmed