da luck： It is true that one-day cricket frequently opens itself up toaccusations of being too formulaic and predictable
John Polack11-Jan-2000It is true that one-day cricket frequently opens itself up toaccusations of being too formulaic and predictable. But it isdifficult to imagine that any one of the more than fifty thousand fanswho came to the ‘Gabba ground in Brisbane over the course of the lastforty-eight hours would concur with that assessment; a stunning twowicket win to Pakistan in a tense, low scoring encounter withsubcontinental rivals India today coming hard on the heels of theirtumultuous triumph over Australia a day earlier.Sadly, there was only a moderate-sized crowd here to see thisparticular match on what was a working day in Brisbane. But those whowere able to attend witnessed a consistently entertaininggame. Moreover, they watched a tense, fluctuating struggle in idealconditions for a day-night match and in an atmosphere a long wayremoved from the one of sheer animosity that some commentators tend totry and anticipate when these two sides meet.Once again, the team which won the toss today (namely, India) electedto bat and once more, it initially looked the incorrectdecision. Around innings of great individual defiance from SouravGanguly (61) at the top of the order and Robin Singh (50) in themiddle, the Indians were indeed made to struggle for long periods intheir exhibition. Only eight runs came from the first six overs asthey battled laboriously against a significantly moving ball, andwickets fell thereafter with some regularity. Moreover, while Gangulyperformed a brilliant job in holding the innings together – powerfulstrokeplay through the off side the hallmark of his hand – it was amost unenviable task once Shoaib Akhtar (3/19 off eight overs) hadsparked another middle order collapse. Similarly, even though Singh’sserial working of the ball into the leg side added some much neededimpetus at the end, wickets fell too consistently around him for anymore than a mark of 195 to be reached. And while their opponentsdeprived themselves of an over in their chase by bowling too slowly,the Indians certainly looked in dreadful trouble at the break as aresult.Although the recalled Shahid Afridi (0) disappeared early, the notionwas then reinforced when Saeed Anwar (24) and Ijaz Ahmed (13) tookPakistan to the comfortable heights of in the over of theresponse. But then came a dramatic repetition of the events of theprevious night, as the scoring rate of the batting team was at firstpegged back before wickets came crashing down. Against someremorseless pace bowling from Javagal Srinath (4/49 off ten overs) andAjit Agarkar (2/39 off ten), the Pakistanis consistently surrenderedbatsmen at the most inopportune of moments. As their score crashed to6/71 at one point, they indeed seemed to be wilting under the sheerweight of the task suddenly confronting them.But there was still time – plenty of it, in fact – for gifted righthander Yousuf Youhana (63) to join with Pakistan’s redoubtable tailand prove emphatically to anyone who should doubt it that nothingshould ever be taken for granted in this form of the game. With hiseye and his flashing blade working in perfect harmony, man of thematch Youhana was able to transform what had hitherto appeared aminefield into a pitch upon which it was possible to play a beautifulvariety of attacking and defensive shots. Before being cleverlydismissed by a Srinath slower ball, Youhana afforded the situation aperfect temperament; not only guiding his team most of the way tovictory but also establishing a foundation from which heroic tailenders Saqlain Mushtaq (27*) and Waqar Younis (13*) were able tocomplete the triumph. Moreover, whilst many of the plaudits seemedultimately to go to Saqlain and Waqar (for their breathtakingassociation of forty-three runs which ended in them claiming victoryfrom the very last delivery of the match in scenes not dissimilar tothose in a certain World Cup Semi Final last year), it was Youhana towhom the lion’s share of the credit should be directed.In short, this was an engrossing contest throughout. And, while bothcaptains agreed at its end that the batting was probably not up to themark (for the second day in a row), the sheer intensity of thestruggle was a great credit to both teams. Similarly, the Pakistanis’sheer will to win made for a magnificent spectacle and their obviousdelight at the end of the night told of how collectively satisfyingthis win must have been for them. It is an unfortunate reality, ofcourse, that in contests like this, someone inevitably also has towalk away feeling cheated and deprived. But one senses that, if Indiacontinues to play with the pride and determination with which it alsodid today, spectacular successes of its own in this tournament canalso not be too far away.