Sankhya Krishnan, CricInfo - 4-8 February 1999
CricInfo report
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India vs Pakistan: Second Test at Delhi Sankhya Krishnan, CricInfo - 4-8 February 1999 CricInfo report |
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With Pakistan beating India 4-3 in the first game of the hockey series yesterday and Leander Paes taking on Aisam Quereshi in the quarters of the ATP Challenger in Calcutta, there is suddenly no dearth of India-Pakistan sporting encounters as the cricket series resumed at the Ferozeshah Kotla. The Prime Minister made an appearance at the ground before the start and was introduced to both teams. Azhar won the toss and elected to bat with both sides having replaced a spinner each- Mushtaq Ahmed came in for Nadeem Khan who'd gone wicketless in Chennai while Harbhajan Singh replaced Sunil Joshi who'd done slightly better with one wicket.
Akram and Waqar opened from the Baba and Fort ends respectively. Ramesh got the first boundary of the day in Waqar's first over hanging his bat out and with negligible footwork caressing it to the point boundary. He followed it up in the same over by leaning into a drive for another four through cover. It was apparent early on that there was nothing in the wicket for the fast bowlers and the uneven bounce in the wicket was highlighted when Akram bowled a squatter to Ramesh in the seventh over of the day. The pitch was playing low and slow and the batsmen were able to get onto the front foot against the quickies. But with the ball not coming onto the bat they were struggling to time their shots.
In the tenth over, by Waqar, the ball again skidded through and eluded Moin to go for four byes. Akram brought on Mushtaq from the Baba end after bowling five overs and he was able to generate some turn straightaway. Laxman got to the pitch of the ball and on-drove him for four in his first over and followed it up with a straight-drive for another boundary in Mushy's next over. In between, Waqar had a loud shout against Ramesh, the ball striking him in line with the stumps and not deviating all that much. Ramesh was lucky to survive that appeal. Laxman almost gave Mushtaq a caught and bowled chance, but Mushy had gone the other way and his desperate effort came when the ball had already gone past him. India managed to go to lunch with all their wickets intact having made 86 off 27 overs.
Akram got Laxman in his first over after lunch. He'd just bowled a ball which came back into him and straightened out, hitting him in line and below the roll of the pad, but Bucknor was unmoved. Off the next ball, he bowled a similar delivery which went through the gate and created a row in the timberyard. Ramesh brought up his maiden test 50 off 107 balls by driving Saqlain hard and straight to wide mid-off and scrambling through for a single as the fielder had a shy at the stumps. In the next over Dravid brought up the 100 of the innings with a single to third man.
Ramesh stepped out and drove Saqlain off his legs to deep midwicket the ball being stopped just before the rope, but the fielder picked it up with his foot behind the boundary line and the third umpire signalled four even though the batsman had run just two. Saqlain got his first wicket when Ramesh after playing a late cut for four, tried a heave across the line off the next ball which didn't rise as much as expected and he lost his off stump. Tendulkar turned Waqar to backward of square for four but in the next over by Saqlain, he tried to paddle him and missed with the ball going down the leg side and straightening up as it hit him. Umpire Jayaprakash reckoned it would have hit leg stump but with Saqlain bowling from wide of the crease and the ball hitting him on the outside of the pad, it seemed a dubious decision.
Off the last ball of the second session, Azhar pulled a short one from Mushtaq into the crowd at midwicket as India finished at 169 for 3. Saqlain was going to start the proceedings after Tea and had handed over his sweater and cap to the umpire before the umpires realised that Saqlain having spent some time off the field before Tea would have to wait his chance to get the ball. He had to make way for Afridi.
Mushtaq's first delivery after Tea was driven straight back by Azhar, but the simple knee high return catch was grassed. Dravid pulled a short one from Saqlain, when he returned to the attack, for four to midwicket and in Mushtaq's next over he played a similar looking shot for four more. Just when he seemed to be gaining in confidence, Saqlain had him playing back and missing to be trapped plumb in front.
Azhar brought up his 50 with a flowing cover drive off Mushtaq for four. Inzamam, who was teased by the crowd with shouts of 'Aloo.. Aloo.. Aloo..', left the field after taking the brunt off a scorching square drive by Azhar. India's fifth wicket fell at 231 when a Mushy leg break pitching on off stump and turning, hit Ganguly low on the front pad. With Ganguly playing well forward, it seemed to be missing the stumps. Bucknor took his time before lifting his finger.
In the next over Saqlain rapped Azhar one got the ball to bounce taking Azhar by surprise as he played back and catching his glove en route to Ijaz at first slip. Azhar had top-scored with 67.
Ijaz then failed to hold on to an edge from Kumble off Saqlain lunging to his right and getting a hand to it. But it didn't prove costly as Kumble's poor run with the bat continued when he gave a simple catch to Youhana at forward short leg. On the last ball of the day, Srinath tamely got out rapped in line with the stumps on his backfoot.
India had started well but floundered completely in the second and third sessions but full credit to exceptionally good bowling by Saqlain Mushtaq, who was ably assisted by Mushtaq Ahmed. Saqlain has now taken 4 successive 5-wicket haul and looks to have more in store for him in the subsequent days.
Pakistan needed just two overs to clean up the Indian tail aided by some suicidal running between the wickets by the Indians. Prasad played Saqlain to backward point and Afridi ran out Mongia with a direct hit as they scrambled for a single. Mongia surprisingly ran across the pitch rather than straight down, which contributed to his downfall. Harbhajan was then run out by Akram when Prasad played to him at silly mid-off and called. The last 6 Indian wickets had fallen for just 21 runs as the innings folded up for 252.
Anwar's poor run with the bat continued as Prasad got him in his first over. Prasad, having brought one back into Anwar and seeing the appeal for LBW negatived, followed it up with the away seamer and Anwar playing away from his body nicked to Mongia. Afridi and Ijaz had a fair partnership going with Ijaz picking three boundaries including a hook off Srinath to fine leg. Afridi, after a quiet start, opened out when Kumble was introduced into the attack.
Kumble's first ball was sent over the sightscreen for a six and the last ball of that very over was given the same treatment. But in the next over from Harbhajan, with the partnership worth 53, Afridi tried an ambitious heave across the line to a ball that was pitched far too up for such a shot and had his middle stump rattled. Ijaz follwed in the very next over when Kumble got the ball to turn and bounce and Ijaz could only glove it to the silly point, in a manner reminiscent of Azhar's dismissal yesterday.
Pakistan, which went into lunch at 59/3 lost a wicket in the first over after the break, when Youhana failed to come to the pitch of the ball as he spooned it back to the left of Kumble who lunged and pulled off a brilliant left-handed catch. Azhar surprisingly brought Srinath back but he was replaced by Harbhajan after two overs. Malik broke free of Kumble's shackles when he played a beautiful off-drive wide of mid-off for four. Then there was another curious incident reminiscent of Ganguly's escape in the first innings of the first test. Malik got a bottom edge onto his toe off Harbhajan and the ball bounced up to silly-point, but Umpire Jayaprakash remained unmoved, apparently feeling that it may have hit the ground at the same time.
Runs then began to flow freely with Malik opening the face of the bat and guiding Kumble past the slip to the vacant third man for a four. Inzamam then took on Harbhajan, belting him for three fours in one over, first with a forcing shot off the back foot to the mid-wicket, then stepping down the pitch to drive him between the legs of Malik through mid-on and finally lofting him over mid-on. Harbhajan had given away more runs in this over than in all of his previous ten overs which produced only ten runs. Azhar brought back Prasad from the Baba end instead of Kumble who was then switched to the Fort end. Inzamam and Malik had put on 54 and were handling the bowlers with assurance when Kumble struck against the run of play. Inzamam played all over a quicker one that went through bat and pad to knock back the leg stump.
Moin began with a flourish hitting two boundaries off a Kumble over, first rocking onto the backfoot and cutting him to backward point and then bisecting cover and mid-off for the second. Malik fell to Prasad shortly after, getting an inside edge onto the pad to Azhar at short extracover. Bucknor nodded at first giving Malik the opportunity to walk before raising his finger. Akram got his first boundary when he swept Kumble and Laxman at forward shortleg, taking evasive action, came in the way. But, Tendulkar, at short extracover, having fielded the rebound conceded four overthrows as he fired it back at the stumps.
Srinath was brought back from the Fort end and he struck rightaway with his first ball which pitched short of a length but failed to rise, hitting Moin below the knee on the back leg as he played across the line. Srinath was bowling round the wicket, running in behind the umpire so that the batsman could see him only at the last moment, but it wasn't helping his rhythm as he conceded no balls.
Pakistan went into tea at 151/7 and Kumble and Harbhajan started the proceedings immediately after from the Fort and Baba ends respectively. Azhar was ringing in quick bowling changes, bringing on Prasad for a short spell and then switching ends for Kumble and Harbhajan. Akram took the aerial route against Kumble and the ball fell just to the right of Prasad at deep backward square.
But after the partnership had mounted a useful 28, Harbhajan got the breakthrough dislodging Mushtaq through a bat pad catch by Laxman at forward shortleg. Harbhajan struck again in his next over trapping Akram right in front as he played back. Kumble wrapped up the innings with a haul of 4/75, with a ball that didn't bounce much and hit Saqlain on the foot, Bucknor reckoning it was in line with leg stump.
India finished with a substantial lead of 80 and they had 20 overs to play out by the end of the day. Akram opened from the Baba end and rapped Ramesh on the pads with the first ball of the innings which was swinging towards leg, but Umpire Jayaprakash thought it was doing too much to hit leg stump. Ramesh got himself and India off the mark in the third over as he played Akram on the up and through the line for a straight driven four. Laxman then picked Younis off his legs to deep squareleg to get off the mark with boundary just like Ramesh. He repeated the shot in the same over with the ball swinging into him for similar results.
Akram got Laxman in identical fashion to his first innings dismissal, by slipping the ball through the gap between bat and pad with an inswinger and uprooting the off-stump. Ramesh got another boundary when he guided a widish delivery from Younis to third man with a flick of his wrist. Saqlain was brought on after nine overs and Dravid went for a full-blooded sweep off his first ball and missed, the ball hitting his front pad which was thrust forward and going for four leg byes. Saqlain went round the wicket to Ramesh and in his second over, Ramesh waited for the ball to turn and cut it past between slips and backward point for four. Saqlain then bowled a squatter that beat Ramesh and went through Moin's legs for four byes.
Akram took himself after a seven over spell and introduced a double spin attack with Mushtaq. In the last over of the day, Mushtaq surrounded Ramesh with three fielders around the bat on the off side, but he responded with a straight driven four between the non-striker and the umpire. With Ramesh and Dravid playing out the day watchfully, India finished at 46/1 and an overall lead of 126, a comfortable position from which to force a victory.
Ravi Shastri in his pitch report before the start of play, indicated that the batsmen would need tremendous luck to survive on this pitch in addition to abundant patience. He thought the sub-soil wasn't hard enough at some places and this would lead to uneven bounce. Some deliveries would tend to squat like the one that got Saqlain yesterday while others would have unexpected bounce like the one that got Ijaz.
Saqlain opened the attack from the Fort end and in the fifth over of the day Dravid stepped out and got to the pitch of the ball to drive him through mid-on for four. Akram was getting the ball to swing both ways as usual but after bowling three overs he left the field and Moin brought on Waqar. Pakistan were having three substitutes in the field at his point, Mohd. Naveed for Akram, and Shoaib Akthar and Nadeem Khan for Ijaz and Malik.
Ramesh stepped down the pitch and drove Saqlain through cover in his characteristic style with his left foot pointing towards square leg and a sloppy piece of fielding by Afridi gave him four. Younis in his second over gifted Ramesh with a full toss and he put it away in the gap between cover and mid-off for another boundary. Off the next ball, Younis hit Ramesh below the knee roll in front of middle stump as he played forward to the inswinger but Umpire Jayaprakash wasn't impressed by the appeal.
Mushtaq came on for Waqar but conceded ten runs in his first over. First Ramesh rocked onto the backfoot and pierced the covers, there being no sweeper. Then, Dravid stepped out and drove him through the off-side finding the gap between extra-cover and mid-off. Ramesh brought up his fifty in Mushtaq's next over with a cover-driven four. Mushy then decided to come round the wicket and Ramesh guided him past slip to pick up a couple to third man and bring up the hundred of the innings. Most of the boundaries so far had come on the off-side with the batsmen playing through the line and not against it, a sensible choice on this pitch.
But, just after the drinks interval, with Dravid and Ramesh having put on 85, Dravid who'd played very straight until then picked Saqlain from outside off-stump for a sweep across the line to the one that went straight on and top-edged to Ijaz at first slip. And so the Tendulkar-Saqlain confrontation was renewed. Saqlain had Tendulkar paddling and missing again early on and Tendulkar must have had his heart in his mouth as Bucknor shook his head. Tendulkar seemed ultra cautious to begin with as he took 26 deliveries to get off the mark.
Ramesh moved past his highest score in Test cricket with his tenth boundary, picking the large gap on the leg side to the vacant mid-wicket region. Tendulkar finally exorcised Saqlain's ghost as he pushed off the backfoot to bisect mid-on and mid-wicket for four (it was poor fielding by both of them, either should have stopped it) and followed it up next ball with a paddle which he connected this time off the meat of the bat for another four.
India went into lunch in a solid position at 126/2, having scored 80 runs in 30 overs in the first session. The pitch had begun to ease giving the batsmen enough time to read the ball after pitching and make the necessary adjustment to their shots. So India would have looked to stretch their lead to about 350 to put the match beyond Pakistan's reach.
Younis and Afridi opened the proceedings after lunch but runs flowed freely forcing Akram to bring on Saqlain and then Mushtaq. Mushtaq had a vociferous shout against Tendulkar turned down by Jayaprakash to a ball that hit him at ankle height as he played defensively well forward. Tendulkar was wearing a thick strap around his waist to protect his back. Mushtaq however got his man in the following over when he tossed one up to Tendulkar who came to the pitch of the ball and tried to hit it over mid-on. But, the bat turned in his hand as he played it, changing the angle of the shot and he miscued it straight to Akram at mid-on.
But Ramesh was unperturbed by Tendulkar's departure as he cut a Mushy wrong'un past slip to vacant third man for four and then played Saqlain off his legs to find the gap between mid-on and mid-wicket taking his score to 95. Azhar took a boundary off Mushtaq with a straight drive but two balls later Ramesh, on 96, struck a full toss straight back to Mushy who had come round the wicket to the left-hander. Ramesh couldn't believe his luck or the lack of it. His disappointment was palpable as he stood rooted to the crease for an instant before trudging off very slowly.
In the next two overs, Mushy gave away 14 runs including two boundaries, with Ganguly square driving elegantly off the backfoot and Azhar getting to the pitch of the ball and driving one back past the bowler to the long on fence. This prompted Akram to bring himself on from the Baba end with immediate success. The first ball was well wide of the off stump and Azhar attempted to cut and dragged the ball on to his stumps as he is wont to do so often. The very next ball, Mongia was LBW to a ball that swung in and rapped him on the pads in line with the off stump. Kumble came in with Akram on a hat-trick. Akram bowled the perfect ball for the occasion, a yorker pitched bang in the block hole and had Kumble in all sorts of trouble trying to get his feet out of the way. In the process, he managed to bring his bat down so hard to dig out the yorker, that the ball raced to the long off fence watched by a flabbergasted Akram.
Akram had his tail up a bowled a very good spell but without much success. Saqlain continued to keep the other end quiet except for the one ball that Ganguly used his feet to, and lifted cleanly over the bowler very deep into the crowd. Kumble was being very cautious and stood outside the crease and stretched well forward to every ball. His caution stood him in good stead with the umpire turning down a couple of LBW appeals, one of which was quite clearly an inside edge on to the pad.
Saqlain was keeping Kumble guessing with a couple of balls turning the other way. One ball from Saqlain kicked and spun viciously from off to leg, beating Kumble and Moin too who was blinded by the batsman, resulting in four byes. The next ball drifted away from Kumble who attempted to cut and only managed to send it straight to Ijaz at first slip who took a good low catch. The partnership between Ganguly and Kumble had yielded a useful 32 runs with lead now standing at 301.
Akram and Saqlain continued to bowl from the Baba and Fort ends respectively with Akram getting the ball to swing quite a bit. Akram bowled one which moved away from Ganguly and got him to edge it. A diving Moin got his left hand to it but couldn't manage to hold on. Runs were trickling in steadily through singles and in one over from Saqlain, Srinath's natural aggresion surfaced with two boundaries, one past a diving Akram at cover and another swung, one bounce, into the square leg fence. In the same over, there was a bat pad chance with a loud appeal, but Bucknor didn't seem interested. Saqlain was visibly frustrated after also getting one to turn the other way and beating the outside edge and Akram had to come and calm him down.
Both Ganguly and Srinath gradually began to gain in confidence and picked up singles very well to keep the scoreboard ticking. The ball was turning quite a bit but the batsmen were able to read it well and waited for the ball to turn before playing their shots. 96 overs had been bowled and the new ball could have been taken, but Akram preferred to continue with the old one and replaced Saqlain with Waqar who had only bowled 8 overs so far in the entire second innings. Waqar didn't trouble the batsmen much though and wasn't able to generate as much swing as Akram either. The lead began to mount gradually and crossed the 350 mark.
Ganguly brought up his 50 in an over from Mushtaq with two boundaries, making room and square driving one off the back foot and stroking another through Inzamam at covers. The batsmen seemed to be in no trouble at all and the fielding was also beginning to get lax. Afridi came in to replace Mushtaq from the Baba end and Saqlain replaced Waqar from the Fort end. In the third over of Afridi's spell, Srinath drove one very hard back to Afridi who got both hands to it but couldn't hold on. The runs now continued to flow in and India ended the day very well placed with the lead standing at 404. The unbroken partnership for the eighth wicket, had yielded an invaluable 91 runs.
So the series was squared as Anil Kumble was well-nigh unplayable on a pitch tailor-made for him although that should not detract from his final figures of 10-74 in the 2nd innings as he became only the second man in Test history and the first in over 42 years to take all 10 in an innings. Pakistan had looked like making a match of it as Anwar and Afridi knocked 90 runs off the target at 41/2 runs an over in the morning session. But they collapsed spectacularly after lunch before you could say Anil Kumble. Of course they got a couple of rough umpiring decisions - the first two in fact. This should spark off a debate over whether home umpires should figure in Tests. It seems a pretty archaic practice and should be reevaluated just so that visiting teams don't feel intentionally done in and any mistake can be attributed purely to error.
India, resuming at 324/7 lost their last three wickets for 15 runs. In the third over of the day, Srinath after having put on exactly hundred for the 8th wicket with Ganguly, was dismissed one short of his 50 when Saqlain got some turn and bounce to induce an edge to Ijaz at first slip who caught it on the second attempt. Prasad drove Saqlain off the backfoot through the covers first ball for a boundary but Saqlain came back in his next over to polish off the tail bowling Prasad and Harbhajan in successive balls to get his fourth five wicket haul in a row- this one being the most expensive at 5 for 122.
Readers can tell us when was the last instance of a bowler taking five wickets in four successive innings in test cricket.
The victory target was 420 and Pakistan was playing for a place in history, this being the highest ever winning fourth innings total if they managed it. Pakistan's previous highest winning fourth innings total was 315/9, four years ago against the Aussies at Karachi. Pakistan started with a flurry of boundaries with Afridi and Anwar hitting Srinath for two straight driven fours on either side of the bowler in the third over of the innings and in the following over from Prasad, Afridi picked two more boundaries to mid-wicket, one hit in the air and the other going all along the ground. Azhar responded by bringing on Kumble from the Fort end for Prasad.
Anwar got two more boundaries in Srinath's sixth over, the first off his legs between mid-on and mid-wicket and the second between point and cover. Kumble was turning the ball appreciably and he caught the edge of Afridi's bat but Azhar, diving to his right at slip could only get his fingertips to it. Harbhajan was brought on from the Baba end for Srinath, but he couldn't stop the run-riot. Three overs later Prasad was brought back into the attack for Kumble and started off with a maiden, the first of the innings. But, Kumble had been taken off merely to switch ends with Harbhajan as they bowled one over each before lunch from the Baba and Fort ends respectively.
Pakistan went into lunch having scored 90/0 in 20 overs at 4.5 an over and with 15 boundaries. The Indians may have been guilty of being just a little complacent in the morning, believing in the inevitability of the result since history was on their side. But after the first session they must have realised that losing a won game can be the easiest thing to do and done some serious rethinking during the interval to try something different, by perhaps giving Tendulkar the ball. After all, it needed just one wicket to open the flood gates.
As it happened Kumble and Harbhajan resumed after lunch and the first ball after lunch by Kumble was guided by Anwar through Azhar's legs at first slip for four-another missed chance as Azhar was late to react.Off the next ball Anwar brought up his fifty with another four wide of mid-on. In the third over after lunch, the partnership realised a hundred with the second fifty of it taking just 63 balls as against 74 for the first.
However, disaster was lurking round the corner for Pakistan. With the score on 101, Kumble struck twice in two balls although there was an element of controversy over both the decisions. Afridi played and missed outside the off-stump and the Indians appealed for an edge to the keeper. But he had apparently brushed the top of the pad with his bat and Umpire Jayaprakash hearing the sound raised his finger. The next ball from Kumble hit Ijaz on the front foot almost on the full as he played forward and seemed to be drifting down leg but Umpire Jayaprakash believed it would have taken leg stump. Pakistan which was coasting along merrily lost all momentum after the loss of those two wickets. The Indians were appealing for everything, some of which bordered on the farcical. Kumble picked up two more wickets in his next over but one. First, Inzamam played on getting an inside edge onto the ground and then crashing into off-stump. Two balls later, Youhana playing forward was hit below the knee-roll in front of middle stump - not much doubt about this one.
Anwar was still there untouched by all the mayhem happening around him. He had an escape when Dravid at sillypoint got his right hand under the ball as Anwar tried to keep it down, but it didn't stick. That was the closest Harbhajan or anyone else for that matter came to taking a wicket in the innings. Moin had come in at the fall of the fourth wicket since Malik having been off the field the whole of yesterday could come in only after the fall of the fifth wicket. Kumble got his fifth wicket of the innings with one that bounced and caught Moin's glove on its way to Ganguly at first slip, who did well to stretch low to his right to bring off a good catch. Afridi was back on the field as Malik's runner, but Anwar's patient vigil finally came to an end when Kumble's bounce defeated him as he could only glove it off his body into forward shortleg.
Pakistan got five byes when a Harbhajan off-break bowled down the legside went through Mongia's legs and hit the helmet behind him. The helmet was taken off the field immediately! Akram went after Harbhajan picking him for three boundaries in an over with the field up. Malik and Akram had come together on a last ditch stand for Pakistan and put on an unbroken 45 as Pakistan went into tea at 173/6. The partnership was worth 58 when Kumble deceived Malik with a short one that hurried off the pitch as Malik shaped to pull and hit the top of the stumps. Despite Pakistan being 7 down, Azhar was adopting an ultra cautious approach with Srinath bowling without a slip.
Kumble struck another double blow when he had Mushtaq gloving to Dravid at gully off a ball that bounced wickedly and then getting Saqlain LBW first ball by firing in a quicker one. Srinath bowled the next over wide of the stumps patently in order to help Kumble get his tenth wicket and two of his balls were called wide by Bucknor. Kumble needed just two balls to dismiss Akram as the ball caught the inside edge of the bat and ricocheted to Laxman at forward shortleg. Kumble had become the second man after Laker to take all ten in an innings with figures of 10-74 and match figures of 14-149.The margin of victory was 212 precisely 200 more than that in Chennai the previous week.
Kumble predictably got the man of the match award and Saqlain the man of the series. There was a comical epilogue when Shastri interviewed Saqlain in Hindi asking him, ``kya aap ne apne chances fancy kiya?'' The Pakistanis were gracious in defeat with Akram congratulating Kumble, saying it was his own dream to take all ten. And Azhar too didn't forget to thank the Pakistanis for coming to play in India. As the two captains held the trophy together it symbolised ths spirit in which the series was played.