The Hindu : Don't count India out

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 21, 2004

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Don't count India out

By Anil Kumble

It is a do-or-die situation for the Indian team in the Samsung Cup after Pakistan moved ahead with a four-wicket victory at Peshawar. But one certainly cannot count this Indian team out as we have lived up to the challenges before when faced with similar situations.

Pakistani bowlers, especially Shabbir Ahmed, made use of the early morning conditions to peg our batsmen back. Yuvraj Singh played a mature knock and was well supported by the lower order batsmen. L. Balaji was a revelation with the bat in the final overs. Irfan Pathan too looks an improved batsman, every time I see him.

With the ball, Pathan started off successfully by bringing one back into Afridi. He also effected a well-planned Yousuf Youhana's dismissal. Yasir Hameed looked a class act, playing some delectable cover drives and the experienced duo of Moin Khan and Abdul Razzaq took the Pakistanis home to register a comfortable victory in the end.

The contests so far in this series have been well-fought and really close and, considering the fact that the earlier tour match with Pakistan `A' at Lahore was a high-scoring drama, one can look forward to another run-feast.

Our batsmen ought to go after the Pakistani spinners in the middle overs. Our batsmen have not been able to upset the bowling patterns adopted by Inzamam-ul Haq in the middle overs, more so in the last two matches.

India will also have to come up with a plan to restrict Razzaq. He has been in great form since his devastation of the Kiwis in the final overs during their tour of Pakistan recently. His batting revolves mainly around creating enough room to swing his bat freely.

With the exception of Inzamam and Youhana, the rest of the Pakistani batsmen seem to love to play inside out and I believe if our bowlers bowl consistently in areas to cramp them for room, we would have a better chance of restricting them.

One hopes that the Indians would be able to raise their game and provide entertainment and joy to millions of followers. — PTI

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