Pakistan raced to victory in the third and the deciding one-dayer at the packed-to-capacity Qadhafi Stadium against India amidst a torrent of sixes and fours flowing from the torrid bat of Ejaz Ahmad.
The way he hammered the Indian bowling, it seemed that he was hungry for an early dinner at home before it got cold or, was the visiting side keen to see Lahore by night. Without detracting a bit from the wonderful willow-wielding feat by Ejaz one must put on record the shrewd captaincy of Saeed Anwar who master-minded a brilliant strategy for the convincing success. Right from his decision to put the Indians in after winning the toss to his fine field placing and handling of bowling resources on a perfect batting track, his leadership carried the stamp of class.
Shahid Afridi set the pace with power-packed strokes but Ejaz soon overpowered not only his younger partner but baffled the opponents who were dumb-struck by his lightning flashes. The day-and-night belonged to him and the rest of the proceedings were reduced to mere formality.
The Indian batsmen, with the exception of Ajay Jadeja who played a real professional innings according to the situation, all other top order Indian batsmen played reckless shots, including experienced Azharuddin, Robin Singh, Ganguly and of course, to some extent, Kambli. Tendulkar was out on a good outswinger from Aquib Javed when he played with open chest.
The Indians did not apply themselves as they had batted in the Hyderabad and Karachi matches. If Pakistan had batted in similar fashion people would have raised their eyebrows giving birth to all sorts or gossips.
Pakistan's fielding was definitely much better. In particular Mohammad Hussain's two catches at long off were a beauty. The one which he held diving full length to dismiss Chauhan off Saqlain was a world class catch and the other which he took to dismiss Ganguly was a perfect example for the youngsters to follow. It was a running catch and Mohammad Hussain never took his eyes off the ball while running sideways.
Inzamam also took a one-handed catch on the boundary to dismiss Jadeja who played brilliantly and was the man who gave responsibility to the Indian score along with Saba Karim and Chauhan. It was a real test of Jadeja's nerves as top Indian batsmen were back into the pavilion with just 75 runs.
The Pakistan team showed two changes, Mohammad Husain and Mohammad Waseem came in place of Saleem Elahi and Hasan Raza. It is a welcome decision but I still feel that Aamir Sohail and Saleem Malik are still aforce and no Pakistan team will be complete without them.
South Africans are very much here and the Board should not take them lightly. They are world class bunch of players and the easy win over India should not make us overconfident. Azhar Mahmood bowled well on a strip which was not favourable to quick bowlers. If he is taken care of, he will be a good support to Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram and Aquib Javed.