Sachin & Younus Made the 2nd ODI ( Videos )

[chandoo]

Yet another India-Pakistan match, yet another thrilling finish. This has been a trend that goes for over 50 years. Nothing, I repeat, nothing can compare to an India vs Pakistan match. Chasing 322 for a victory, I would say Pakistan bounced back in spectacular fashion.

Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat first on a pitch that was going to assist the pace bowlers early on. Ganguly showed his intentions as he square cut Shoaib Akhtar to the boundary off the second ball of the innings. However that was short-lived as Shoaib had the last laugh in this short battle. Ganguly inside-edged to his stumps and India were 6-1. Not the start the wanted but what followed was arguably India’s best partnership of the day. Gautam Gambhir joined Sachin and the two smashed the bowling to pulp in a calculated run of play. Sachin batted like only he can. In fact, Gambhir was the slower of the two.

The run rate picked up from the 9th over when Umar Gul was spanked to all parts of the park. To Gul’s credit he came back strongly in a match defining spell later on. Sachin was at his dominant best. And since the England series, he has really made an effort to play like he has always had, without any extra burden of captaincy, or trying to anchor the innings. He knows that with the likes of Dhoni, Yuvraj and Uthappa in the middle order, he can play his natural game. And play he did. Shoaib tried to make fun of Sachin early on, but the little master let his bat do the talking.

In 2nd ODI Sachin Was At His Dominant Best ( Highlights )



It was unfortunate that he was dismissed on 99 yet again. He now holds the dubious distinction of the only ODI batsman to be dismissed on 99 three times. Sanath Jayasuriya has got himself out twice in that category. The match also saw Gautam Gambhir get his first 1000 runs in One Day Internationals. The young Delhi lad is fast becoming a reliable top-order batsman and is going to be a key part in India’s future line-up.

After Tendulkar departed on 99 - Gul’s first victim in his second spell - Gambhir followed soon after giving Gul and Pakistan two quick wickets of two batsmen who were really taking the match away from them. Sehwag, replacing Murali Karthik, and Yuvraj Singh then started to build another partnership. It was all looking hunky-dory when breakthroughman Shahid Afridi deceived Sehwag with a quick arm ball that shattered his stumps. Yuvraj followed soon after. And the famous Indian mini-collapse happened. From 239-3, India collapsed to 278-8. It was only due to Harbhajan’s pyrotechnics that India managed to get 321, a formidable total, yet 20-30 runs short of what they would have wanted.

Pakistan needed no excuse to rise to the occasion and despite being 105-3 at one stage, they managed to scrape through for a 4 wicket win off the penultimate ball of the match. Zaheer Khan ended up with 10-0-70-1, not the stats that a captain would want from his pace spearhead. And this is where India lost the match. They should have castled the top order in conditions that suited bowlers. RP Singh picked up a couple. Irfan was the most economical, finishing with 2 wickets at less than a run a ball.

Younis Khan's Century ( Highlights )



The innings of the match was Younis Khan’s century, his first against India, and a much needed one in a time of crisis. He ensured that his end was secure and that runs kept on coming. But had it not been for Afridi’s big hitting in the end, all would have been for a lost cause. Smashing 29 from only 14 balls, Afridi made sure that this time his team was not going to end up on the losing side.

The series is now well and truly ON. This is what the fans want. This is what the game of cricket wants. A healthy rivalry between arch-rivals that produces the best out of both sides. It is India’s time to respond back. How will they do it? We shall soon find out in a few days time.