da betsul： Sharjah, March 26: When it comes to India-Pakistan matches, it allboils down the ability of a team to psyche themselves up to thechallenge on that day
Viren Varma27-Mar-2000Sharjah, March 26: When it comes to India-Pakistan matches, it allboils down the ability of a team to psyche themselves up to thechallenge on that day. The two are pretty sentimental sides and henceprone to cracking under pressure.Pakistan made no such mistake on Sunday and applied themselves muchbetter to the task at hand with experienced Inzamam-ul-Haq leadingtheir batting revival with a blistering century just when it matteredmost.They badly needed to win the match to stay in the hunt – and they didin style, beating an indifferent India by 98 runs to record theirfirst victory in three matches in the Sharjah Cup triangular series.Berated for inept batting for a long, Pakistani batsmen came good on awicket sympathetic towards batsmen, scoring a handsome 272 for three,rattling up a brisk 93 in the last 10 overs – certainly one of thehigh-points of their innings.Then their bowlers, spearheaded by Waqar Younis, suffocated India’shopes with lively spells. India needed a flying start to make a matchof it. But it didn’t happen.Waqar, who returned with a haul of five wickets for 31 runs, set thetone of their dreadful start as early as in the fourth over when heremoved Saurav Ganguly for just seven and then Wasim Akram claimed theprized wicket of Sachin Tendulkar (10) with an inswinging deliverythat slipped through the bat and pad on to the stumps in the very nextover.The fall of the openers, on whom India rely heavily, by the fifth overcompletely unsettled them as rest of the batsmen just failed toretrieve India from a desperate position.Sunil Joshi, promoted up the order, too fell quickly to Waqar and adefeat began staring at the Indians.It was all over for India when Rahul Dravid and Mohammad Azharuddin,who began shaping well, fell in quick succession, reducing India to 90for five in 25 overs.Dravid (29) chased a wide delivery from Shoaib Akhtar while Azharsnicked to Moin Khan off Waqar, who is now just one wicket short ofjoining the exclusive 300-club.Rest of the batsmen only tended to delay the inevitable.There is no excuse for India, who surprisingly just didn’t bat well onthis wicket.Earlier Pakistan were not off to a flyer, but paced their inningsquite well, opening up in the last 10 overs when Inzamam and Youhanatoyed with the Indian attack.Given a reasonably good start by Shahid Afridi and Younis Khan afterthe early fall of Imran Nazir, Pakistan consolidated their gainsrather step by step.Afridi and Younis, curbing their instinct to go for full-bloodedshots, took time to have their eyes in.They took the score to 44 by the 13th over when Afridi, going for abig one, missed the line and was stumped by Saba Karim, an untidyeffort though, off Anil Kumble for 28 off 41 balls with four fours.In came Inzamam and Pakistan innings began to gather pace gradually.Inzamam also took time to get into the groove and built his inningswith occasional four and six.Pakistan needed a good stand at this moment and Inzamam, in thecompany of Younis Khan, did just that, putting on good 66 runs whenYounis was brilliantly caught by Azharuddin off Joshi for a well-made44 off 66 balls with three fours and a six.With Pakistan three down for 121 by the 29th over, things looked wellin control for India, but Pakistan were in different mood.Inzamam, in particular, had done his home work well. With YousufYouhana, a solid batsman, Inzamam took the score to 179 for three bythe 40th over when they launched the pyrotechnics.It all began in the 43rd over, bowled by Anil Kumble, when Inzamamsmashed the leg-spinner for two sixes off successive balls to reel of18 runs in that over.Youhana, who was keeping quite for a well, suddenly exploded,executing strokes all-round the wicket almost with the ease ofInzamam.With the ball travelling all over the place, the Indian bowlers simplyhad no clue how to stop the brisk flow of runs. Inzamam duly completedhis century in the 47th over – his seventh and first against India in212 one-day internationals – with seven fours and five sixes in 97balls.At the one end, Youhana also reached his 50 in 60 balls with fourfours and one six. And when Pakistan ended their innings the score hadshot up to 272 and it was primarily thanks to a record unbeaten fourthwicket stand of 151 runs of just 132 balls between Inzamam andYouhana.They beat the previous best of 111 against India set up by Imran Khanand Javed Miandad in Gujranwala in 1992.Indian skipper Ganguly felt: “We are not batting well here. In fact,it was Waqar’s spell that took the match away from.”Moin attributed the victory to ‘team effort.’ He said: “Everyone did agood job, but Waqar and Inzamam were outstanding. The victory haslifted our morale and we will be a different team, not the one whichlost seven straight matches.”