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Sahara CupSeptember 1997India v Pakistan
ODI # 1228 Match report:
A report from the CricInfo correspondents in Toronto (Arup Das and Krishna Kumar)Play started half an hour late on a slightly chilly, humid morning in Toronto. Both teams made one change each; Nilesh Kulkarni replaced Rajesh Chauhan for India and Kabir Khan replaced Mohammad Akram for Pakistan. The selection of Kabir over the wayward Akram seemed justified since being a left-armer, he might possibly pose more problems. To the surprise of many, Rameez elected to bat on winning the toss. Bad cricketing logic, we all muttered. Kuruvilla opened proceedings with a no-ball. A slashing square cut for 4 from the exciting Anwar raised prospects of Pakistan getting off to a good start. Our doubts at Rameez's decision to bat first proved well-founded however, as young Debashish Mohanty, fresh and raring to go after Saturday's impressive debut, struck early.Shahid Afridi, promoted as opener, presumably to have a go at the new ball, was bowled neck and crop, flailing hopelessly at a fuller length straight ball. Rameez then joined Anwar, pottered about for a bit, never once looking like the very good bat he once was. Encouraged by early success, but commendably not getting carried away, Mohanty continued to bowl intelligently keeping the ball on stumps and swinging the ball both ways. After beating a surprisingly hesitant Anwar with a few good outswingers, Mohanty had him caught at midon driving uppishly at a good length ball. Harvinder diving to snaffle a good catch. Driving off the front foot on this slowish pitch was always going to be a difficult proposition. India were thriving on the momentum of Saturday's win and Pakistan's batting - most of them coming off the off-season at home - looked woefully short of match practice. Ijaz came in and immediately looked like getting out. Beaten at least five times in a row off a very focussed-looking Kuruvilla, he finally edged one from Mohanty into the ever-safe hands of Azhar in the second slip. Pakistan looked shaky at 26/3 in 11.2 overs and Rameez and the newcomer Inzamam had to not only keep their wickets intact but also keep the scorecard moving which was not that easy a task against controlled Indian bowling on a seaming pitch. They added 15 runs in 6.4 overs before Rameez drove at one from a much-improved and persevering Robin Singh, without getting to the pitch of the ball, for Mohanty to take an easy catch at midoff. This was another instance of a batsman playing a shot too early . That century in Sri Lanka seemed to have done Robin Singh a whole lot of good, he looked much more confident, both when batting and bowling; much of cricket after all is played in the mind. Inzamam looking distinctly awkward in his new Gooch-like stance, nudged a few balls here and there before almost predictably edging Singh for Karim to take a good diving catch to his right. That a bit surprisingly, was the first catch by a wicketkeeper in the series. Perhaps, the ball was doing a bit too much. Meanwhile, Malik had come in, and almost straight away looked in silken touch. A few splendid, flowing drives later misfortune struck Pakistan in a big way. An agile Harvinder got one hand to a fluent straight drive from Malik, and deflected the ball onto the non-striker's stumps to catch poor Moin short. Moin is technically well-equipped to face the moving ball, and this wicket at a crucial juncture Pakistan could ill afford. Malik however, continued to blossom. After having done the hard work, Malik undid it all though, driving at a Ganguly ball a bit too early, and gave the exultant bowler a fairly easy return catch. Driving, we murmured sagely, in the press box, was always going to be hard on this pitch, unless of course the ball was really over-pitched. Pakistan was 91/7 at that stage and it was fairly clear that they were not going to give Indian anything more than 125 to chase. Saqlain as on Saturday looked much better than his other more accomplished teammates up the order. Azhar Mehmood joined Saqlain but he was struck a painful blow in the groin from the first ball he faced. Saqlain and Azhar Mehmood tried to bring a modicum of respectability to the Pakistan total. At 115 however, Mehmood trying to hit hard a ball that moved back into him, gave a simple catch to Azhar at midwicket off Ganguly. Ganguly been used properly in so many one-dayers past, we wondered. Here, admittedly on a seamers' pitch, he looked quite the part. The innings folded up quickly thereafter with Kuruvilla taking the last two wickets. Every one of the Indian bowlers had bowled well. Mohanty was the one who provided the thrust, the rest of them importantly kept up the pressure. Kuruvilla was a tad unlucky, Harvinder much improved from Saturday, Singh very persistent and accurate, Ganguly intelligent in his use of the conditions. Kulkarni was tight, without much discernible turn, although the view from the press box was more than a bit askew. He might do decently on bouncier pitches. Karim and Ganguly walked out to start India's chase of the paltry total. Tendulkar had a bit of a sore thumb from a dive at midoff. Although, later at the press conference he said that sending Karim to open was a part of the game plan and had nothing to do with his injury. Kabir went off after just 3 balls with a strained groin to further add to Pakistan's woes. Aquib bowled steadily without looking very penetrative. The sun had been out half a day now, and we wondered how much this contributed to the lack of pronounced movement. Ganguly and Karim played out the new ball quite competently. At 34, Mehmood beat and bowled Karim with one that kept a trifle low and came back into him. Dravid came out and immediately looked like a million bucks. Calm, composed, unruffled as ever, he is really a sight to behold. The score had got to 45/1, when the Inzamam incident occurred. We won't elaborate on this issue here, we all know it was very unfortunate. Cricket should never be tainted so. After the forced stoppage, Dravid continued to look good. However when the total score was 63 and Dravid's score was 14, Dravid was run out, ambling along a bit lazily, caught short by a direct hit from Mehmood. Dravid's one of those batsmen we brooded, who get out off the first slight mistake he makes. Not every batsman after all can be a Fowler. Ganguly looked solid till he got to face Saqlain against whom he was very reluctant to move his feet. Saqlain was getting huge turn, and bowled far better than on Saturday although he did get a haul of 5 then. After beating Ganguly on the forward push at least 5 embarrassing times, he finally got the edge for Inzamam to take a good diving catch at slip. This was a minor crisis point but Tendulkar and Azhar handled the situation very well. Mehmood bowled a nippy second spell which kept both Tendulkar and Azhar on their toes, and Aquib showed some heart and perhaps a bit of desperation as well in bouncing Tendulkar thrice. There were a few crisp backfoot drives from Tendulkar to show that all's well with the Indian skipper. Azhar has looked oh-so good ever after returning from the Independence Cup break. India went up 2-0 with Ganguly getting the Man of the Match award. India looked a fresh, young side which had put the disappointments of their Sri Lankan tour behind them. Pakistan we felt were short of match practice. Much of their batting also has this slightly old, familiar look to it. Perhaps, the injection of youth, in the form of the precocious Hasan Raza will add a bit of spring to their step. Pakistan bowled out for 116KARACHI, Sept 14: Pakistan were bowled out for 116 in the second match of the Sahara Cup in Toronto. Nine wickets were picked up by Indian pacemen who exploited the sub-standard wicket on which the ball behaved abnormally and seamed. Salim Malik was the top scorer with 36 while Saqlain Mushtaq scored 21. DS Mohanty (three) and Abey Kuruvilla, Saurav Ganguly and Harvinder Singh equally shared six wickets between them. Debashish Mohanty claimed openers Saeed Anwar and Shahid Afridi for a total of 12 runs and India left Pakistan reeling at 50 for five. Anwar was lost for 12 and Afridi for a duck after Pakistani captain Rameez Raja won the toss, and unlike on Saturday, decided to bat. But Raja was lost for eight to put Pakistan at 41 for four and the loss of Inzaman ul-Hag nine runs later had Pakistan in a crisis.Source:: Dawn (http://dawn.com/) Brawl mars second tie but India gallop to winBy Qamar AhmedTORONTO, Sept 15: India's seven-wicket win, their second in a row in the Sahara Cup being played at the Cricket, Skating and Curling Club was marred by an ugly incident which surely was not unprecedented but certainly most distressing for the Pakistan side the spectators and the organisers. Involved was a cricketer of the stature of Inzamam-ul-Haq, who has a reputation of being docile and disciplined , and a member of the public who was abusive and rowdy from the first day of this tournament. The outcome of that scuffle resulted in a ban for the next two matches on Inzamam a suspended sentence for a further match until Dec 31. The punishment was slapped on him immediately after India were home in the second match of the tournament chasing Pakistan's nominal 117 to win. Referee Jackie Hendricks who handed over the verdict, was seen in long conversation with the Chief Executive of the ICC, David Richards, who also happened to be there at the time of the incident. After a long session with the player involved and the Pakistan management on tour, Hendricks issued a statement saying, 'Inzamam-ul-Haq' of Pakistan was charged under item 2 of the ICC code of conduct, that is conduct unbecoming of an international cricket player and for bringing the game into disrepute. He was found to have breached this item of the code and consequently has been suspended for the next two one-day matches. The incident made the match itself insignificant which was held up for 37 minutes until calm was restored and also because of the fact that it became a rather one-horse race as Pakistan's batting failed miserably once again after Ramiz Raja had won the toss and in his own wisdom decided to take the first strike to be all out for only 116 in the 45th over against not a penetrating Indian attack. The incident occurred when India chasing a paltry target had reached 45 for the loss of their opener Saba Karim to Azhar Mahmood in the 17th over. In the drinks interval that followed that over, Inzamam was suddenly seen to have jumped the advertising hoardings into the stands with a bat to strike one of the spectators. The blow did not hit the man as Inzamam was restrained by a group of people in the crowd and later by security men and Canadian police on duty. Inzamam seemed shaken and in tears as he was led to the pavilion. The Pakistan fielders and the two Indian batsmen, Ganguly and Dravid, also followed him as the match was held up for 37 minutes. There was a lot of commotion in the stand which was full of Indian supporters and a handful of Pakistanis. In the furore that followed the Canadian police led away two men who had a tiff with the police. For the Indians it was not much of an effort when play resumed after the break. Inzamam also appeared in the field and stayed till India went past Pakistan's ungainly score of 116. It took India only 34.4 overs to do that as Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Azharuddin put on 54 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket stand making 25 and 21 respectively. Earlier Ganguly with 32 as an opener had laid the foundation for India's comfortable win. He was out to Saqlain Mushtaq when Inzamam caught him soon after Dravid was run out by Azhar Mahmood for 14. Inzamam, at the centre of the controversy, had contributed only 10 when earlier Pakistan had batted and were humiliated by the young and unknown Indian bowlers Debashish Mohanty and Harvinder Singh, Abbey Kuruvilla and Nilesh Kulkarni. With 3 for 15 in seven overs Mohanty, a lean and slim medium-pacer, had Pakistan in plenty of trouble. Kuruvilla, Robin Singh and Ganguly had taken two wickets each in a Pakistan innings in which Ramiz Raja, the captain, made 8 runs in 47 balls while batting at one wicket down and in which Salim Malik with 36 was once again the highest scorer and Saqlain Mushtaq's 21 was as much consoling. There is no doubt that the incident that involved Inzamam and the spectator, Shiv Singh of Jallundhar in India, took place under extreme provocation. Jeering and on a hand held onto megaphone, which was allowed on the ground and abusive language thrown at the players of Pakistan by a group of Indian supporters had been too noisy and disturbing. Salim Malik and other players had also complained about it to the organisers but notice was not taken. It does not mean that a player should have taken law into his own hand and risk his life and also injury while taking on a member of the public. A cool and good natured Inzamam must have lost his control in extreme provocative situation. It was not very clear who handed the bat to Inzamam to take it into the crowd. Some say it was given to him by one of the substitute fielders during the drinks interval. If this is the case then whether The Management of the Pakistan touring side were in the knowledge of this or not or whether the captain had the knowledge. In a similar incident in 1988 at Barbados when Abdul Qadir threw a punch at a member of the public after being deprived by a poor decision by umpire David Archer and was later abused, he had to dish out a 1000 dollars to the man in an out-of-court settlement. The ICC code of conduct then was not in practice. The latest incident once again involves a Pakistan player and that is very sad. Source:: Dawn (http://dawn.com/) Match scorecard | Series main page Note: Reports from external media sources are reproduced by CricInfo with permission. Copyright in these cases resides with the original sources, and reproduction by any other party is forbidden without permission of the copyright holders. CricInfo is not responsible for the content or accuracy of reports obtained from external sources. Date-stamped : 25 Feb1998 - 14:55 |
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