Pakistan blown away by the Tendulkar whirlwind

The match against India brought out every possible emotion from a Pakistani cricket fan - absolute jubilation during Pakistan's batting to utter despair at the end of the game. Their performance, similar to the emotions experienced by the fans, was a mixed bag. The bowling, which has been our source of pride for so long, let us down at the crunch time.

However, I shall put my hand up and acknowledge the brilliance of Sachin Tendulkar's knock. The world has rarely seen such an innings played under immense pressure, and the beauty of it lay in the fact that it was an array of classical strokes, not mindless slogging. The Indian team looked a side with a mission, playing like a unit and their huddles at the fall of each Pakistani wicket, proved how committed they were.

The Pakistani team did not lack commitment either, but there was a lack of common sense. The fans in Pakistan should not be over critical of the team's performance it was almost as if they were too passionately involved to think logically. As far as I am concerned the team gave it their best shot and fought in a manner they have not in the recent past. We simply have to acknowledge the fact that the better side won at the end of the day.

Pakistan's batting was far above anyone's expectations. Pakistan won the toss, made the right move to bat first, and piled up a total that on other days would have been easily safe. Saeed Anwar returned to form in brilliant fashion answering all his critics in grand style. He showed tremendous composure during his innings, and kept his concentration despite being highly fatigued during the latter half of his knock. Inzamam's body language when he walked out to the center was outstanding, and the "slumbering giant" looked more pumped up than I have ever seen him since the World Cup in 1992. His run-out was a tragedy, but such things are part and parcel of the game. Younis Khan looked very good, thoroughly warranting his inclusion, while Youhana looked in terrific touch as well. At the end of the day 273 was a tremendous score keeping our recent form in mind, and only a very harsh critic would find faults with the batting performance.

The performance on the field, commenced awkwardly when Rashid Latif could not make it onto the field after he had been hit a blow on his helmet while batting, leaving Taufeeq Umar with the huge task under immense pressure. Taufeeq Umar deserves tremendous praise for his effort, with the bat and the gloves, as he pulled of some saves that professional keepers would have been proud of. Keeping wicket to an erratic pace attack is no easy task, and I really feel that Taufeeq Umar should be groomed for this task after the World Cup. If he can put in a bit of effort and practice, he can be a useful wicket keeper in ODI's and would lend tremendous balance to the team.

The Pakistani bowlers, touted as the best pace attack in the world were smashed to all corners of the park by Tendulkar, who played like a man possessed. While the bowling at him may have been a bit of a mixed bag, he played some unbelievable strokes. Fortune favoured him when Razzaq got his fingertips to a catch offered early on, but failed to latch on. The Pakistan plan of blasting out the opposition backfired badly, as they tried to knock over the stumps on each ball, rather than looking to peg away on a line and length and frustrate the opposition. The bowling was governed more by the heart than mind, and although Waqar got early wickets, he was one of the culprits too.

Shoaib Akhtar's performance is hard to describe, where he bowled a couple of beauties along with a majority of highly wayward deliveries. The idea of giving him the new ball has brought little for Pakistan, and its time to get him back to first change, even after the World Cup. The new ball deserves to be taken by bowlers who can genuinely swing it, and Waqar, Akram and Sami fit that bill.

The game was always going to drift away after the swashbuckling start by India, and Pakistan managed to make a good fist of it anyway. Full marks to the fielders for putting in great effort though the overthrows were disappointing. To summarise the fielding effort, it was good to see the Pakistanis throw themselves around for a change, and produce some direct hits, which were unfortunately of no use in the end.

At the end of the day, it leaves a nation in misery and a cricket team that has slim chances of progressing to the next round. England will have to lose to the Aussies, and Pakistan win by a huge margin against Zimbabwe, but even if they do manage to progress to the Super Six (which will be nothing short of a miracle), the Pakistan cricket fans will not be satisfied at heart. I would strongly urge Pakistani fans to refrain from over-reacting to this loss and not resort to ugly demonstration of their disappointment. The team fought bravely and that was the maximum they could offer. Someone had to lose, and fate had Pakistan on the losing end.

This may be the last occasion we get to see the greats like Akram, Waqar and Anwar clash against India, and it is sad that it had to end this way.

Ed: If readers wish to correspond with the author, please email Taha Noor