One good thrashing deserves another

If they lose heavily to Sri Lanka tomorrow and miss out on a place in Sunday's Asia Cup final, India will look back on this game and wonder how they lost it after lashing 88 in the first 10 overs.

Even then, 308 wasn't exactly a paltry score, but with memories of India's romp to 300 still fresh in Pakistani minds, Younis Khan exacted a measure of retribution with a fabulously paced century.

Once again, India's bowling was insipid and bereft of ideas, even accounting for a pitch that had as much life as an Egyptian mummy.

With a huge difference in the run rates of the two sides, Pakistan must have imagined their Asia Cup was over once Virender Sehwag started to go ballistic in the first Powerplay. But with Umar Gul having succumbed to injury, Misbah-ul-Haq, standing in for the indisposed Shoaib Malik, had an unknown bowling option up his green sleeves.

Abdur Rauf can hardly be classified as an exciting new prospect. He made his first-class debut nearly a decade ago, and is now 29. Thus far though, he had enjoyed just a lone one-day outing against Zimbabwe as reward for 375 first-class wickets. Tall and strapping, he bowls at lively pace, and with Sohail Tanvir having a wretched outing, it was left to him and Rao Iftikhar to haul Pakistan back into the game.

Rao struck first, getting Gautam Gambhir to miscue a drive, but it was Rauf's intervention that was absolutely critical. First Sehwag, who had rampaged to 49 from 32 balls, edged one behind, and then Suresh Raina, the man in prime form, found the fielder in the deep with a hook. The scoreboard read 91 for 3, and the early impetus would never quite be regained.

It might have been had Yuvraj Singh contributed more than a cameo, but though Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rohit Sharma added 112, neither could carve up the attack as Sehwag had done earlier, and Younis would later. Dhoni faced 96 balls for his 76, while Rohit's 58 spanned 71 deliveries. But for a late flurry of strokes from Irfan Pathan, India might have struggled to even reach 300.

The other bowling hero was a 30-year-old offspinner making his international debut. Saeed Ajmal varied his flight and line cleverly and wasn't averse to using the doosra and the quicker one either. No Indian batsman mastered him, and he conceded just 47 from a tidy spell that also fetched him the wicket of Yusuf Pathan.

The importance of his composure on debut became apparent only later, as India's slow bowlers were coshed to all parts by Younis and Misbah. The listless pace bowlers had suffered earlier, with Salman Butt and Nasir Jamshed almost matching the Indian start. But for an attack of cramps, Jamshed would have finished with a lot more than 53 from 43 balls.

As it was, Pakistan didn't even need him to limp out again. Piyush Chawla bowled MOhammad Yousuf behind the legs - more poor shot than Ball of the Century - but there was little else to cheer on a day when Younis drove, cut, pulled and reverse-swept with all the confidence of a man who makes runs for fun against India. So full of beans even at the end, Younis had time to complete a couple of push-ups after bringing up his century.

If India beat Sri Lanka on Thursday, Pakistan will go out, but if Mahela Jayawardene's men do the hosts a favour, the identity of the second finalist will be decided by net run rate. With Younis and Misbah in this type of form and Bangladesh's bowlers hardly having set the tournament alight, that's not a scenario that India will fancy.

Comments

[Indian Cricket]

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[Homer]

Rusty,

Could it be because you spend way too much time watching the English :).. Jokes apart, from India's point of view, our focus has to be more on getting our bowling and fielding acts together - if, in that process, we actually win the tournament, so much the better.

But getting our act together now will stand us in good stead for the Champions Trophy and more importantly, the World CUp.

And, at the end of the day, that is all that matters isnt it?

Cheers

[Adarsh D]

Even if Srilanka defeat India & Pakistan defeat Bangladesh, NRR does not come into play. According to the tournament rules, if teams tied on points, more no. of wins in Super Four decides who goes through which will be Pakistan

[Som]

I think the bowling has been more or less brain-dead. Ishant is in some kind of hallucination that he is still in Australia and he's bowling the same length. Praveen Kumar minus swing is as good as Boycott's mum and I've no clue about Irfan Pathan. For all his foibles, Harbhajan is being sorely missed.

[RSN]

Pakistan's travails are the stuff of a Jerry Seinfeld stand up act (..and what's the deal with Pakistan?). I agree the bowlers won them this game--restricting India to something chasable on that pitch was, in Ramiz Raja's words, a majestic effort. But this is the third bowling attack in as many games, and bizzarely enough Rao Iftikhar has been Pakistan's most reliable bowler (his bowling, if not his appearance, is average at best). And to call Rauf and Ajmal the next Asif and Saqlain would be pushing it, just a bit. For the first time in years, Pakistan's bowling looks less stable than the batting--and frankly, the batting ain't exactly top of the line.
Whatever the case, a Pakistan supporter can no longer feel comfortable with a victory. Not only is the team's fate in the hands of what will probably be Sri Lanka's second string attack, but today's result says nothing of future prospects. I find mysef replaying youtube highlights to revel in this brief, sweet glory. But for some reason, I have a feeling some Bangladeshi will get stuck in, score a double ton, and kick us out of the tournament. And trust me, that's not a good feeling.
P.S. Dileep, why does the following cricinfo article claim that net run rate won't be a factor in determing the finalist: http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/asiacup/content/current/story/359418.html

[Rusty]

What a complacent little sot you are, Homer. Why does the Indian perspective so often remind me of the standard posture the English adapt to their rivals ?

[Homer]

I wouldn't read too much into this result Dileep.

The only lesson for us here is for our bowlers to learn to bowl in different ( and difficult) conditions - if they can learn from this outing ( and from the previous games of the Asia Cup and the Kitply Cup), we will be so much the better in the long run.

Batting wise , we are pretty okay, bowling and fielding is a little iffy but not so bad that it cannot be rectified.

From this tournaments perspective, all India needs to do is put 300 runs on the board tomorrow. And unless Sri Lanka puts together a miracle chase and win in like 35 overs, we are more or less assured of making it to the finals.

Cheers,