Re: India/Pakistan series - Daily Diary
Lahori Munda's review of 3rd test, day 4:
What an emphatic victory for Pakistan to silence all their critics talking about our negative tactics. I wrote yesterday that Pakistan should declare a little before lunch and that’s what they did, I also wrote that the pitch I not as flat as Pakistani batsmen made it look like and if the bowlers bowl in the right areas they is still something in it for them. That is precisely what Pakistani bowlers did when it was our turn to bowl and the celebrated Indian lineup crumbled under pressure and intensity of the Pakistani attack and was bowled out for less then 300 for the second time around in the match. I really think the credit should be given where it’s due. Pakistani batsmen played responsibly in the 2nd innings to set up a mammoth total for India, the Indian coach said so that the bowlers and fielders did a good job but there was nothing in the pitch for them. Maybe Greg Chappell can start admitting when his team is not playing well and his tactics are not working. Indian bowlers did not do a good job, the pitch was not as flat as they made it look like, and I also do agree with one of the cricinfo authors that Irfan Pathan should be questioned about the sudden loss of chunks of pace. One day he bowls in the lower to mid 80 mph, the next he cant even touch 80 mph. What exactly happens to him, why does he loose paces mysteriously in the middle of a game.
Pakistan started the day with an audacious assault at the Indian bowling this morning, much to the dislike of almost all “experts” commenting on the game. They wanted Pakistan to declare right away so our bowlers can have more time to get the Indians out but I totally agreed with the tactics of Younis. He first made sure that if Indians were flirting with any ideas of going for the runs they get that thought out of their head. The “experts” need to take everything in account before they start judging the captain and a team. It was an India-Pakistan game, of course we wanted to win it but we also wanted to make sure that after the strong position we were in we don’t give Indians a chance to go for our total. Arun Lal insisted that by not declaring Pakistani is making a statement that they are scared of the mighty Indian batting line up. We surely looked scared when we came out to bowl didn’t we?
It was a sweet victory from a team that lost the first three wickets in this game without having a single run on board but they fought back and what a come back. This team has developed into a fighting unit with a never say die attitude. When we were down and out Kamran Akmal, Razzaq and Akhtar bailed us out. Then the bowlers took the challenge head on and bowled India out cheaply. The second time around the batsmen took the responsibility to setting up a daunting total; every single batsman played his part. Then the bowlers came and bowled they hearts out to achieve what many expected we would achieve anyway but not as quickly.
It was a team effort, Kamran Akmal set up the game nicely with his heroic century in the first innings, the pacers (Shoaib, Asif and Razzaq) did their job to dismiss India cheaply twice and all the batsmen played responsibly in the 2nd innings to put the Indian batsmen under tremendous pressure. Kamran was declared man of the match and deserved it since he was the one who bailed his team out when they were completely out classed in the first innings. The gutsy wicketkeeper has made some bold statements with his bat in the last season and this season so far and he is surely someone who will have a long and prosperous career ahead of him. It was also nice to see Razzaq performing well with the ball after a long time. Mohammad Asif was the find of the series for Pakistan, he was picked ahead of Rana and Sami and he justified the faith and bowled beautifully. He bowls at a lively pace and moves the ball both ways and bowls at an excellent line to keep the batsmen guessing all the time. Pakistan takes another step forward in the test rankings, we might not have gained a spot but we are moving closer to India and England. The way this team is gelling together it won’t be too long before we start asking Australia some difficult questions as well. Well played Pakistan and hopefully we’ll continue the good run in the ODI’s as well.