Pakistan wrap up ODI series

By ICF Staff
April 18 2005

On the back of an impressive team effort with bat, and some careless batting by the hosts, Pakistan take the ODI series 4-2 in Delhi.

Inzamam-ul-Haq won the toss and decided to bat, but it did not look too promising when Salman Butt departed after scoring 3, edging a Zaheer Khan delivery to Virender Sehwag at second slip.

Indeed, if Dinesh Mongia had taken an easy chance off Shoaib Malik when he was at 19, the result may have been different. Instead, he contributed a man-of-the-match winning 72 before being bowled by Agarkar, helping his team to set a difficult target on the slow Kotla pitch.

Shahid Afridi was once again in explosive mood as he punished Ashish Nehra in his first over for 22, first flicking him for three successive fours, then pulling him over mid-wicket for a six, and finally driving him through covers for another boundary.

Nehra had the last laugh, dismissing him caught behind off a slower ball, but by then Afridi had hit 44 off 23 balls and set a platform which Malik and Youhana used to put on 85 for the third wicket before Youhana was run out for 50.

Malik and Inzamam were the key to helping Pakistan build the challenging total of 303 off 50 overs. Inzamam's 68 off 69 ensured that Pakistan took full toll of the final 10 overs, off which they scored 91.

Paceman Ajit Agarkar, the pick of the Indian bowlers, made a return to the ODI team in this final match and his reverse swing eventually accounted for both batsmen, as well as clean bowling Kamran Akmal to end with 3 wickets for 58 runs.

Stand-in captain Rahul Dravid, substituting for Sourav Ganguly, wore a forlorn look as he watched the usual suspects dismantle the Indian bowling attack. The handling of bowlers left much to be desired, and the Indian team lacked the fight and spirit they've shown under the regular captain who is sidelined due to the last of many controversial penalties meted out on this tour by hawkish referee Chris Broad.

India started well enough, but when Sehwag was caught in slips off medium-pacer Rana Naved and Tendulkar bowled by Iftikhar Anjum off an inside-edge, India were on the back foot.

Dravid was dropped second ball by Iftikhar on his follow through, but he did not make it count when he was run out for 19 off a direct hit by Youhana. Yuvraj Singh perished to another smart Youhana throw at the sticks.

Mahendra Dhoni, who top scored with 24 was followed by Kaif and Mongia in the procession back to the pavilion as India were in dire straits at 94-7.

Agarkar and Harbhajan Singh salvaged a bit of pride with a stand of 36 for the eighth wicket. However Afridi returned with 2 late wickets to put the finishing touch on the innings which ended at 144 in 37 overs.

John Wright ended his career as India coach on a down note, with India losing the decider by a whopping 159 run margin. Losing 2-4 after being up 2-0 will hurt team morale more than anything else.

By comparison, Bob Woolmer's positive influence on Pakistani cricketers has been a godsend for team that was close to having the talent to match India, but never the professional coaching and discipline in the past. He molded the team, and got them to gel together as a unit.

It was a good comeback by Pakistan, and despite being dominated in the first half of the tour, will help partially wipe out memories of their stinging defeats to India last year at home in both Tests and ODIs.