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Videocon
Cup : India Vs Pakistan, O.D.I # 1 at
Amstelveen
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Pakistan
crush India for a big win
August
21, 2004
Cricketfundas.com's
Highlights presented by Bhavya Kumar Vasudevan
Scorecard
A historic day for the Netherlands, who were about to host their first official One Day International tournament. A tournament comprising of arguably the top three teams in Australia, Pakistan and India. The first game of the competition being that of India and Pakistan promises to be a classic encounter between the arch rivals.
Flip Of the Coin
It was a gloomy morning at the VRA Cricket Club ground in Amstleveen. The Rain Gods decided not to allow the match to start, leaving the outfield soft and damp. But excellent draining facilities in this ground made sure that a 36 overs match was possible. Sourav Ganguly won the toss and chose to bowl first and that was the right decision as the team chasing would exactly know at what rate they have to score in a curtailed match. India received a jolt as they lost Tendukar (for the series) and Harbhajan, Nehra for this game.
Pakistan Batting
Pakistan opened with the dangerous Afridi with Yasir Hameed. Irfan Pathan and Agarkar bowled on a tight leash. However, Afridi was in no mood to watch out for the swing and went upon his usual slogging mode. One such slog was taken brilliantly by Kaif running backwards. Pakistan lost their first wicket at 23. Shoaib Malik, fresh from a brilliant century against India in the Asia Cup joined Hameed. The pair began to play steadily. In the 11th over Ganguly brought himself on and frustrated the batsman with his lack of pace. The frustration finally got to Hameed who went down charging Balaji and managed to get an outside edge. Balaji soon followed that up with the big wicket of Inzamam, who just scored 1. In the meanwhile Shoaib Malik was in great form, playing fluent cover drives and straight drives and made sure that Pakistan didn't fall back on the run rate. Rain intervened once again but this time, the delay was a short one but it forced the officials to deduct 3 overs and the match was reduced to a 33 overs each affair. Malik and Youhana began the innings after the interruption by playing intelligent cricket. In the 24th over Yousuf Youhana was run out by a direct hit from Sehwag. Pakistan were 122 for 4. Soon panic struck in the Pakistani dressing room when Malik (68) and Younis Khan were sent back to the pavilion. But Razzaq (37*) and Moin (27*), two of the best all-rounders in the world today took Pakistan to 192/6 in their quota of 33 overs. Ajit Agarkar's final over was the key as he was smacked for 20 runs by Razzaq. Balaji was the best bowler with 3/24 in his 7 overs. Whether this total was enough for the star studded batting line up of India was to be seen.
The Indian Chase
Sourav and Sehwag showed the right approach of scoring quickly with the field restrictions on. India were coasting with the two playing some spanking drives. Shabbir got the crucial break in the 4th over as Sehwag drove him straight into the hands of Malik at covers. Laxman joined Ganguly, and the scoring rate started to dip with Laxman unable to hit the fours. Laxman did get to hit one of his rare sixes in his career (a top edge hook shot), thanks only to Shoaib's 150 plus speed and the 63 metres straight boundary! As soon as the fielding restrictions were lifted and the fast bowlers were taken off things slowed up a little for India. Razzaq in his first over put pressure on Ganguly by not giving him anything to hit. Ganguly (25) after playing out a few dot balls went for a pull and only found Youhana at square leg. Rahul Dravid was run out in a tragic fashion, as Laxman left him no option but to run, even if the bowler Sami had dived in front of Dravid! India were on the edge at 70 for 3. Runs dried up and Laxman and Yuvraj couldn't find the ropes owing to the tight bowling and the slow outfield. Malik soon got Laxman (37) to play on, with the latter falling to the pressure of a one-day chase. Soon after Laxman's dismissal Yuvraj perished trying to play a sweep and missing the line of the delivery. India were tottering at 98 for 5. Rohan Gavaskar tried his best but unfortunately he fell in hitting the crucial fours and sixes. It was matter of time before the Indian innings folded up, India had even failed to clinch a bonus point. Pakistan won this game comfortably by 66 runs. Malik (3/18) and Afridi (4/20) were instrumental in winning this match. Shoaib Malik once again picked up the Man of the Match award.
This was Pakistan's second consecutive win against India. The Indians had themselves to blame for the loss. With each team playing one another just once in the league
stage, means that India have to beat Australia with a handsome margin to have any hope of playing in the finals. It was a professional performance by Pakistan and a disappointing one from India. It's a do or die match for India and they would have to lift themselves up to challenge the Aussies.
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