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| Monday, 29 September 2003 |
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Pakistan seamers rip through India by Sa'adi Thawfeeq Pakistan's three-pronged seam attack ripped through the Indian batting to fashion out a comfortable 37-run win in the second match of the Videocon Asian Emerging teams tournament played at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday. In another low-scoring game where the batsmen struggled to come to terms with the seaming and rising deliveries, Pakistan sent into bat first were dismissed for 137 off 38.4 overs. India in reply, were bundled out for 100 in 22.5 overs. Pakistan collected a bonus point along with their win and now jointly head the standings with Sri Lanka whom they meet today at the same venue. Sri Lanka won the opening match of the tournament by defeating India by nine wickets on Saturday and also picked up a bonus point. Sri Lanka and Pakistan have six points each. Pakistan opener Baber Naeem's knock of 34 was the top score of the match. He faced 75 balls and hit a solitary boundary and his innings told the story of how difficult conditions were in the middle for the batsmen. At one stage of the innings Pakistan were well placed at 67-1 in the 20th over, following a 46-run second wicket partnership off eight overs between Naeem and Shahid Yousaf (19). But after left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan had broken the partnership by taking two wickets in successive balls in his fifth over, Pakistan lost their last nine wickets for 70 runs. Pathan ended up taking four for 22 in a spell of nine overs. Opening bowler Avishkar Salvi picked up three for 27 off seven. India began poorly losing two wickets for seven runs in the third over and their batting was dismantled initially by man-of-the-match Fahad Masood who took the first four wickets for 30 runs in six overs. Yasir Arafat and Junaid Zia destroyed the rest of the batting sharing six wickets between them. For the second time in two days, India was undone by seam and bounce. On Saturday they were bowled out for 136 by Sri Lanka. It seems that this type of tracks are going to be the order of the day throughout the tournament. It has been the seam bowlers who have had ascendancy over the batsmen so far. Lasitha Malinga, Tharanga Lakshitha and Nuwan Kulasekera took eight wickets between them in Sri Lanka's win over India on Saturday. Yesterday, Indian seamers Salvi and Pathan took seven and Pakistanis Masood, Zia and Arafat took all ten wickets. Pakistan coach Naveed Anjum said that he hoped for a better pitch for today's contest with Sri Lanka. "It was not a good one-day track. In the first 20-25 overs it is a real struggle for the batsmen," said Anjum. "In the end it was an easy win. We were quite confident of defending a total of 137 because the pitch was seaming a lot," he said. Anjum said that although India was their arch rival, it was just another game of cricket and played down the over enthusiasm of his players soon after the game ended, when they plucked the stumps and made their way to the pavilion. "They sometimes get carried away," said Anjum. Indian coach Lalchand Rajput said that they had been let down by their batting. "I am really disappointed with our batting. The batsmen must apply themselves and show more determination. We should have got those 137 runs. With due respect to the opposition they bowled very well," said Rajput. "We have a very experienced side with five of the players having represented India 'A'," he said. |
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