Pakistan146;s fielding tactics are bizarre

The Indians seem to have rediscovered the winning formula. They have worked out that their best chance of beating Pakistan is with their bat...

The Indians seem to have rediscovered the winning formula. They have worked out that their best chance of beating Pakistan is with their batting. At Lahore, Tendulkar and Dravid laid a solid foundation, Yuvraj Singh batted superbly and Dhoni finished it off. India didn8217;t panic, and every player did what was expected of him.

However, it might bother them that the newcomers in the side haven8217;t spent a fair amount of time in the middle. Gautam Gambhir fell cheaply and Suresh Raina didn8217;t get to bat. It will be interesting to see how these batsmen fare if their seniors do not click in the next two games.

The home side hasn8217;t had a great one-day series. Their bowling has been hammered, and even their win in the first one-dayer wasn8217;t an outright one. That game at Peshawar could have gone either way had it lasted the distance. The Pakistani side does not quite look the team that did so well against England and won the Test series against India.

I thought their tactics in the field at Lahore were bizarre. When you amass a score as big as 288 in a one-day international, you should try and contain the batsmen rather than attack them. It is only when you have only 210-220 on the board that you should attack, for in that situation, you don8217;t really have an alternative. Pakistan should have concentrated on drying up the runs, for that would have put the Indians under pressure, and the wickets would have come automatically. In a nutshell, if you lose a match despite getting 288, then there is something wrong with you. There were several other factors responsible for the defeat, like the lack of coordination in the bowling department, and some dropped catches.

Both teams have been guilty of not grabbing the initiative in this series. India shouldn8217;t have let Pakistan escape to 288 after reducing them to 82-4 at one stage. Matters have reached a stage wherein no team will feel safe and secure if it bats first and scores 280-290, for the batsmen seem to be capable of anything.

There are injury concerns in both camps, but the Indians, who have lost the services of Sehwag, will feel a lot more comfortable than their opponents. Shahid Afridi has joined Shoaib Akhtar on the 8216;injured8217; list, and that8217;s not good news for the hosts. India will field first if they win the toss in the fourth one-dayer at Multan. They now know that their strength lies in chasing. I believe Pakistan should do likewise if Inzamam calls correctly.

PMG