Twelve fours were hit, 75 runs were scored, three wickets were taken, three catches were dropped -- even in the frenzied realm of one day cricket, the first hour of play in the third ODI of the series, at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, was cricket powered by lunacy.
Team India clearly has a great deal of faith in Sreeshanth. They brought him back as soon as he had recovered from injury and here, gave him a third slip here as early as the second over of the innings. By the time he was done with his first spell, the young right arm fast bowler must have lost any faith he had in Team India, though.
In his second over, he made one kick off length, a knack he seems to possess; Shahid Afridi went hard at it, got the high edge and Mohammad Kaif, in the unaccustomed position of third slip, flubbed the overhead take (Pakistan 4/1, Afridi 1). Sreeshanth applauded, hands overhead, as bowlers do when they want to encourage their fielder rather than make him feel like dirt.
In his third over, he produced a quick delivery that swung in the air onto line of off, then went the other way off the seam to find Kamran Akmal's edge. The ball ballooned, and dipped down onto Dravid's boot -- and India's most reliable slip fielder grassed the simplest of chances. This time, Sreeshanth merely winced.
His 5th over, and Sreeshanth one ball after being hit on the up through cover, produced another beauty, fullish in length and seaming away late. Malik went for the drive, got the edge, and Gambhir at second slip wrapped both hands around the long, hard edge, and flubbed it. This time, Sreeshanth kicked the turf, then looked up at the heavens. And why not -- when his first spell ended, his figures read 6-0-37-0 when by rights it should have been 3/14 or so. (In the 48th over, he forced Razzaq to mishit and RP Singh stood back and took it on the bounce -- probably deciding he didn't want to be the one to drop a fourth catch off the unfortunate bowler.
Despite India's prodigal mood after winning the toss and sending the opposition in under overcast skies on a slightly moist deck, Pakistan managed to lose three wickets, thanks in part to good deliveries and part to the batsmen's lack of thought.
Salman Butt, the first to go, was taken out by a beauty -- Irfan Pathan, in the second ball of his opening over, again got the ball to curve in to the left-hander, hit just back of length and seam away. Butt played his typically hard-handed defensive push, the thick outer edge flew to Gambhir at second slip and the fielder fumbled, then clutched on at the second attempt (0/1 Pakistan).
Someone needs to tell Shahid Afridi that hitting Irfan Pathan out of the attack does not win his team a match. Through his brief tenure -- they say he has some problem with his rib, which begs the question why he was sent out to crack the game open at the top -- he kept swinging away without really connecting well. He faced only two deliveries of Pathan's in the bowler's first two overs. The first ball of Pathan's third over saw the batsman, for the second time in two matches, heave at a delivery that wasn't in the slot for the slog over midwicket; the leading edge flared high, and Kaif made amends by holding the skier at cover (39/2 in 6.1, Afridi 19 off 1 .
Kamran Akmal started off with a couple of superb drives through the covers; Dravid promptly introduced a short cover backed up by a regular cover and shut the area down, forcing the batsman to look to other parts of the ground for his runs, without much success. He had managed 20 off 34, when RP Singh took over from Sreeshanth. Ball one was wide outside off and carved over point for four; the second was wide of off and this time, hammered past point for another four; the fourth was a half volley driven through cover point for a third four and the batsman was motoring.
In his next over, Singh pitched one on leg, Akmal looked to push it to square leg, closed the bat face too early, and saw the leading edge lob to mid off. RP Singh celebrated -- and Sreeshanth, who had bowled far better deliveries, was one of the first to rush over and join the celebrations (75/3 in 14.6, Akmal 34/47).
Good bowling by Singh got Yousuf out early. His first two deliveries to the batsman angled across, hit the deck outside off then seamed back in. The third landed in more or less the same shot, but straightened on the angle; Yousuf blasted a drive at a ball he figured was coming in, managed only to get the edge and Dhoni held (82/4 in 16.4, Yousuf 1 off 2 balls).
Inzamam came out to try and repair the damage; tight bowling especially from Ajit Agarkar, and great ground fielding that saved at least four certain fours choked the batsman down and forced him to struggle. His first, and only, boundary came off the 20th ball he faced; shortly thereafter, facing Sachin bowling seam up, he tried to run a ball down to third man from very close to the stumps and, exactly as Sachin did in the previous game, managed only to run it off the face of the bat to Dhoni standing up (5/128 in 27.3; Inzy 16/2.
Younis Khan came out looking good, driving through the covers with a great deal of fluidity -- and then fell to the Sachin-Inzy virus. RP Singh banged one down hard mid-pitch, Younis looked to open the bat face and run it down to the third man region, the ball bounced higher than he thought it would, and the edge off the high part of the bat went to Dhoni (6/158 in 32.3; Younis 16/23).
If Pakistan avoided absolute shambles, all credit to Shoaib Malik. Reprieved on 12, the batsman -- whose first 20 runs came off 5 fours -- dropped anchor as he saw wickets tumble at the other end; the next 30 runs that took him to his third successive 50 in the series did not contain a single four. Clever placements and good running ensured that runs kept coming at his end -- it was only after Razzaq came out to join him that Malik opened his shoulders and began playing aggressor (the 50 of their partnership came off just 51 deliveries). It was not the prettiest innings he has played, nor even the most stroke-filled; it was, though, a mature knock that restored some order to Pakistan's chaos.
Having twice gotten into the 90s, Malik went the distance this time, first top edging Zaheer Khan to the third man fence, then creaming him smoothly through midwicket to get to his century (103 off 114 with -- and this is the really key stat in his innings -- 45 singles and 4 twos to go with his 11 fours and one six at that point).
Just when Malik seemed ready to really open out, Pathan, in the 46th over, struck with a very well disguised slower delivery. The batsman came down the track, making room to leg to loft straight. Deceived by the change down, he hit a fraction too early, and Dravid at a deepish mid-off took the skier (244/7 Pakistan in 45.3; Malik 108/120; 6th wicket partnership 86 runs at a tick over 6 an over; 54 dot balls, 50 singles, 4 twos, 11 fours and 1 six).
Razzaq is most dangerous at the death, where he doesn't have to do any innings-building stuff but can step to leg to pretty much anything, free his arms, and swing for glory. Here, once Malik went, Razzaq produced a little blinder, shimmying down to Pathan in the 49th over to waft him over long on for six, then hoiking him over midwicket for another six to bring up his 55 off just 52 deliveries.
Rana Naved, needing to get Razzaq on strike, stroked the first ball of the 50th straight to cover, took off for the single, and RP Singh threw down the stumps from an almost impossible straight angle (Sreeshanth celebrated wildly, obviously pleased to have had a hand, at least, in one dismissal).
Thanks almost entirely to his efforts, Pakistan made 89 runs in the last 10 overs -- and ended with 288/8, a score they could not have dreamt of at 119/4 in 25, of 166/6 or even 199/6 at the start of the slog.
On the day, India's bowlers in the main did well. Pathan looked as assured, especially in his first spell, as he did in 'Pindi. Sreeshanth was the fastest of the lot, consistently bowling at 86 and better against Pathan's 76-79 mph range.
Agarkar, coming in at first change, bowled with good control, keeping the lid on Pakistan at a key point in the game. Singh was wayward, but managed to take wickets at crucial times, and Sachin Tendulkar, opting this time for seam up, bowled with very good control to ensure the 'fifth bowler' didn't go for too many.
Zaheer Khan, coming in for Agarkar after the latter had done his back a bit of no good, bowled a very ordinary spell that allowed Malik and Razzaq to free their arms and blast fours on either side of the track. 77 runs came between overs 35-45 -- and Zaheer gave away 30 of those in his first three overs (4-0-36-0 as replacement for Agarkar, who went 6-1-21-0 before his injury forced him off). That spell also broke the shackles, allowing the batting side to step up the gears and get the momentum back on its side.
The ground fielding has been the most consistent feature of this side in the three ODIs thus far -- and today's performance was the best of the lot with great saves inside the circle, where Dravid regularly kept six fielders or better, and some amazing dives in the deep to cut off boundaries.
Pakistan has a competitive total up on the board; on the other hand, the wicket has eased off, and India with 10 straight wins on the chase, should fancy its chances to extend that streak. With Sehwag not there to power the chase at the top, you'd expect to see either Dhoni or Pathan in early, likely at number three – India's best hope is to crack the game open early, then take it home with sensible batting. |
