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| March 2, 2003 | Sunday | Zul Hijjah 28, 1423 |
India outclass Pakistan
CENTURION, March 1: Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar’s marvellous 98 overshadowed Saeed Anwar’s magnificent century to maintain India’s dominance over Pakistan in the World Cup with a convincing six-wicket triumph at Super Sports Park on Saturday.
It was India’s fourth success against their arch-rivals in the World Cup in as many meetings and the ease with which Saurav Ganguly’s men achieved the stiff target makes one wonder how and when Pakistan will be able to change that trend in the game’s biggest show.
An Australian victory — over England on Sunday — will offer yet another chance for Pakistan to squeeze into Super Six on a better run-rate. But to achieve the impossible, they have to beat Zimbabwe by a wide margin on Tuesday.
Pakistan batsmen, thanks largely to classy Saeed, for the first time in the competition, provided their bowlers a challenging target of 274. Even Pakistan’s 273, the highest by them in the competition, proved insufficient as India cruised to 276 for four with 26 deliveries to spare.
For the third time in the tournament, Pakistan’s overrated pace attack looked anything but menacing. First Tendulkar (98), the Man-of-the-Match, smashed Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar and Waqar Younis to all parts of the ground with an array of majestic strokes to take the match away from Pakistan.
Showman Shoaib was put in his place as the Rawalpindi Express was ravaged for 72 runs for a paltry return of one wicket. His performance in the tournament has been the biggest disappointment after the millions of rupees spent on him by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
Shoaib’s opening over cost 18 runs and that forced Waqar to take him off. The fast bowler never recovered from the hammering he took, especially from Tendulkar.
Alas, it was not to be Pakistan’s day. Tendulkar’s truly memorable 75-ball innings was spiced with 12 fours and one six. The Little Master was also lucky to survive two chances. On 32, Abdul Razzaq failed to hold a lofted on-drive off Wasim and later, on 86, Shahid Afridi failed to grasp a return catch.
Handicapped by a bout of cramps, Tendulkar departed two short of a century, when he failed to keep down a brute of a delivery from Shoaib, and was superbly caught by Younis Khan who dived forward at point.
After Tendulkar’s departure, it was left to Rahul Dravid (44) and Yuvraj Singh (50) to see India home. The fifth-wicket pair added 99 to cross Pakistan’s total in 45.4 overs.
Earlier, Saeed Anwar’s chanceless 101 laid the platform for an impressive total of 273 for seven after Waqar won the toss and opted to bat first under perfect conditions.
The left-hander, in scoring his 20th one-day hundred and his first since September 2000, showed that he was not a spent force after falling in the 20s in previous three games.
Only fatigue caused Saeed’s downfall as he played on to an Ashish Nehra’s full length delivery. He struck seven sweetly-timed fours and faced 126 deliveries.
Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana once let the team down. Inzamam hit the first ball he received for four while scoring six runs off three balls before getting himself run out. Youhana was never in command and got out to a nothing shot.
At one stage it appeared Pakistan were well on the road to posting a much bigger total but for Younis Khan’s inability to force the pace in the last 10 overs.
Birthday boy Shahid Afridi, given another chance at the expense of Saqlain Mushtaq, disappointed when the situation was ideal for an explosive innings from him. He holed out to Anil Kumble off part-time spinner Dinesh Mongia for nine.
It was then left to seasoned campaigner Rashid Latif to provide the innings the impetuous with a perky unbeaten 29 off 25 balls.
Pakistan batsmen also failed to utilize the 10 overs shared by India’s three part-timers. It was a nightmare day for Nehra, the destroyer of England in the last match, as he was all over the place and conceded 74 runs in his 10 overs.
Scoreboard
PAKISTAN:
Saeed Anwar b Nehra 101
Taufiq Umar b Zaheer 22
Abdul Razzaq c Dravid b Nehra 12
Inzamam-ul-Haq run out 6
Yousuf Youhana c Zaheer b Srinath 25
Younis Khan c Mongia b Zaheer 32
Shahid Afridi c Kumble b Mongia 9
Rashid Latif not out 24
Wasim Akram not out 0
EXTRAS (B-2, LB-7, W-11, NB-7) 27
TOTAL (for seven wkts, 50 overs) 273
FALL OF WKTS: 1-58, 2-90, 3-98, 4-171, 5-195, 6-208, 7-256.
DID NOT BAT: Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar.
BOWLING: Zaheer Khan 10-0-46-2 (5nb, 5w); Srinath 10-0-41-1 (1nb, 1w); Nehra 10-0-74-2 (2w); Kumble 10-0-51-0 (1w); Ganguly 3-0-14-0; Sehwag 4-0-19-0 (1w); Mongia 3-0-19-1.
INDIA:
S.R. Tendulkar c Younis Khan b Shoaib 98
V. Sehwag c Shahid b Waqar 21
S.C. Ganguly lbw b Waqar 0
Mohammad Kaif b Shahid 35
R.S. Dravid not out 44
Yuvraj Singh not out 50
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-3, W-19, NB-5) 28
TOTAL (for four wkts, 45.4 overs) 276
FALL OF WKTS: 1-53, 2-53, 3-155, 4-177.
DID NOT BAT: D. Mongia, A.R. Kumble, Zaheer Khan, J. Srinath, A. Nehra.
BOWLING: Wasim Akram 10-0-48-0 (3nb, 1w); Shoaib Akhtar 10-0-72-1 (7w); Waqar Younis 8.4-0-71-2 (2w); Shahid Afridi 9-0-45-1; Abdul Razzaq 8-0-36-0 (2nb, 1w).
RESULT: India won by six wickets.
UMPIRES: R.E. Koertzen (South Africa) and D.R. Shepherd (England).
TV UMPIRE: B.F. Bowden (New Zealand).
MATCH REFEREE: M.J. Procter (South Africa).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Sachin Tendulkar.
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