Karachi: A senior Pakistani journalist, recalling India's tour of Pakistan in 1983, revealed how he had walked into Mohinder Amarnath's room in the evening for an interview and saw red marks and swellings all over his body.

"Imran Khan had bowled one of his fastest spells on a lively Gadaffi Stadium pitch. Mohinder took blows on his body but would not give in. Those bruises told the tale. What courage!" he said.

The Indians did not display similar commitment in the final Test. And a feeling of intense disappointment swept through the Indian ranks as a dream faded with the evening sun here on Wednesday.

Found wanting

It is in trying situations that a celebrated line-up has to prove its mettle. The Indians were found wanting. Those immortal Indian second innings fightbacks of the '70s and '80s seem a mirage.

Virender Sehwag and V.V.S. Laxman had their middle-stumps uprooted. Sachin Tendulkar lost his off-stump; this has been a series where Tendulkar appeared a shadow of his former self.

Rahul Dravid, technically best equipped to play the kind of innings demanded by the situation, walked back after a combination of a mean away swinger from Shoaib Akhtar and a doubtful caught behind decision did him in.

The Indians compromised on the opening slot at the beginning of the series. Dravid's decision to open was forced upon him by the compulsions of the team composition.

On a pitch that did more than the surfaces for the first two Tests, India required a specialist opener and Dravid at No. 3.Except for Yuvraj Singh's fighting century, India struggled to handle a pace attack that was a mix of speed, subtlety and movement. Sourav Ganguly promised but could not consolidate on starts.

The National Stadium pitch had eased out by the time the Indians batted a second time but there was still enough in the pitch for pacemen who could hit the deck hard. The deviation achieved by Mohammad Asif is a case in point.

Asif's strengths

Mohammad Asif is a tremendous prospect for Pakistan. He bowls in the right areas and extracts good bounce. Crucially for Pakistan, Asif's probing ways enabled the side to maintain pressure from both ends with the new ball.

In Lahore Shoaib Akhtar whipped up a hostile opening burst but Rana Naved-ul-Hasan was taken for runs at the other end. Asif opened with Akhtar in Faisalabad and the Pakistan new ball attack was better directed.

On a more conducive surface in Karachi, Akhtar and Asif inflicted major damage. Akhtar's pace, as stand-in captain Younis Khan pointed out, softens the opposition psychologically. And the 23-year-old Asif posed searching questions to the Indians on the technical front, with his strong wrist action and the ability to swing and seam.

It was not an easy decision for the Pakistanis to pick Abdul Razzaq ahead of Rana Naved-ul-Hasan.

The team-management banked on Razzaq's experience and his knack of hitting the seam consistently. Razzaq bent his back in the Test, something that cannot be said of the Indian pacemen.

In the discipline of the Pakistani bowlers, the Bob Woolmer hand is visible. How well the wily coach has orchestrated the turnaround!

Chappell optimistic

Despite the crushing defeat in the final Test, Greg Chappell said the Indian team looked forward to the five-match ODI series with optimism. "We are obviously disappointed, but the morale is still high."

He expected the one-dayers to be high scoring contests. "Whichever team minimises the damage while bowling will win."

Chappell singled out Asif for praise. "He is a very exciting prospect for Pakistan and world cricket."

On his views about Shoaib Akhtar's action to a television channel, Chappell said the gist of what he said was, "Because the Pakistani paceman had a different action, youngsters should not try to bowl like him since it put an enormous strain on the body. It was nothing more than that."

About India's defeat in the Test series, Chappell said, "The conditions were extremely hard. They were designed to make it tough for us. I think we coped with the conditions far better than most sides would have. We were under enormous pressure in the second Test but came out of it strongly."

He felt the result of the series would have been different had India won the toss in one of the first two Tests. "They put up huge scores. We fought back extremely well but psychologically the pressure of having to catch up all the time had an impact."

Asked about India's batting collapse on the fourth day of the third Test, Chappell said, "It was disappointing, but under the circumstances, not very surprising. Cricket history tells us much about fourth innings chases. History was against us."

Chappell elaborated on the aspect of mental fatigue. "We ended up bowling around 600 overs, which is twice as many as the Pakistanis sent down. It is never easy to bat after fielding for so many overs. Test cricket is as much a test of mind as talent," he said.

Brave effort

Chappell said the Indian batsmen had responded bravely for most part in the series but finally succumbed under the strain. Turning his attention to the question of specialist openers, he said, "In future we will have to look at specialists. Rahul (Dravid) opening is obviously not a long-term option."

The "battling hundreds from Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh and the evolution of Irfan Pathan as an all-rounder" were the positives from the series, he said.

The quicker Pakistani pacemen extracted a lot more purchase than their Indian counterparts in the final Test, but Chappell was not willing to let his bowlers down. "Under the circumstances, they tried very hard."

He was generally pleased about the side's fielding and catching. On Dravid's captaincy, Chappell said, "It was not easy for him to field for nearly two days and open. It was a tough series and I think he did well."

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