The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Fielding made all the difference

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 24, 2006

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Sport - Cricket

Fielding made all the difference

Inzamam-ul-Haq

I start my wrap-up column by congratulating the Pakistan under-19 team for making history by becoming the first team to retain the World Cup. It was a performance that brought a few smiles back to our faces after our below-par performance against India in the one-day series in general and the last game in particular.

The way the boys crawled their way from the depths of despair is a lesson for everyone. They reminded us that any score is defendable if the desire for glory, zest, commitment and passion is there. Their achievement once again proves that there is no dearth of talent in our part of the world despite our limited resources, inadequate facilities and infrastructure.

We have and will continue to stun the world by producing high quality and exceptionally talented cricketers out of nowhere. Well done boys, we are proud of you!

Terrible lapses

I believe the major difference between the two teams was fielding. We were poor at times and atrocious most of the time. So much so that when our pride was at stake in Karachi, we showed too much generosity by conceding plenty of boundaries through misfields or overthrows, failed to convert half-chances and could not even throw down the stumps from point-blank range. On the contrary, the Indians were sharp and athletic throughout.

Although our batting and bowling are being bitterly criticised, I believe that despite the regular top order failures, we managed to post decent scores in four of the five games and also succeeded in picking up a couple of early wickets in almost every game. But the fielding let us down and in the end helped the critics portray a horrifying picture of the Pakistan side.

To me, the turning point of the one-day series was the first hour of the Rawalpindi one-dayer where we lost four quick wickets. The Indian fielders then compounded our problems by making four run-outs that prevented us from reaching 300.

No matter what the detractors may say and feel, I still believe there are no clouds of concern. After all, it is the same team that had been winning almost everything in the last 12 months. The bottomline is that we have to accept that we played poorly and need to learn from our mistakes quick and fast.

I hate to give excuses, but just want the critics to remember that we played six Tests and 10 one-dayers in less than four months which, I think, was extremely taxing and strenuous for the players. — PTI

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