Over recent months, Australia’s southernmost capital city has barely
experienced a drop of rain; indeed, the past three years have brought
some areas around Hobart their lowest amount of rainfall on record
John Polack21-Jan-2000Over recent months, Australia’s southernmost capital city has barely
experienced a drop of rain; indeed, the past three years have brought
some areas around Hobart their lowest amount of rainfall on record. So
it was probably fitting, then, that India’s extraordinary drought in
international matches in Australia this season should come to its
zenith here today, with a 32 run loss to Pakistan leaving its players
all but condemned to the prospect of catching an early flight home in
a little over a week.Essentially, this seventh match of the Carlton and United Series (at
the Bellerive Oval) was another emphatic personal triumph for
Pakistani allrounder Abdur Razzaq (70* and 5/48). For it was he who
not only had a large part to play in setting an imposing total for the
Indians to chase, but also captured five crucial wickets with the ball
to throw his rivals completely off the scent of already unlikely
success.Notwithstanding the fact that India’s two outstanding top order
players, Sachin Tendulkar (93) and Sourav Ganguly (43), were able to
mount a brave opening partnership of 99 to afford their team an
outside chance of overhauling their opponents’ 7/262, neither they nor
their teammates could overcome the rapidly maturing 20-year-old. When
he induced Ganguly to leading edge a ball to Shahid Afridi at cover in
the 19th over, he precipitated what became an irreversible
slide. Another ten balls later into his sublime exhibition of
predominantly outswing bowling, he induced a struggling VVS Laxman (7)
to nervously edge an attempted cover drive through to wicketkeeper
Moin Khan. That suddenly rendered India 2/111, and undid much of the
excellent work that Tendulkar’s classical strokeplay all around the
wicket and Ganguly’s serial driving through the off side had effected.Razzaq also dismissed Anil Kumble (14) and Javagal Srinath (2) later
in the innings when they committed the similar sin of playing down the
wrong line to him. That the Lahore-based allrounder in between bowled
the jewel in the crown, Tendulkar, for the second time in successive
meetings with a superb delivery spoke volumes in itself about the
quality of his performance. Moreover, it was interesting to note
that, by the time that India was eventually dismissed for 230, he had
even nearly enjoyed the almost inconceivable distinction of recording
his highest score and his best bowling figures in the one day in this
form of the game.Earlier in the day, Razzaq had also been at the forefront of a fine
all round batting effort from his team after they had lost the
toss. On a morning on which the temperature did not rise nearly as
high as the quality of the play of Razzaq, Ijaz Ahmed (67), Yousuf
Youhana (45) and Saeed Anwar (43), the Pakistanis were indeed pretty
much always in command throughout the early going. Shahid Afridi (12),
again recalled to the line-up as his team continued its so far
fruitless search for a productive opening partner for Anwar, was
dismissed in just the sixth over, but there were few tremors after
that. Even two wickets from successive deliveries to Venkatesh Prasad
in the 37th over did not significantly alter the balance.After Saeed had set the early tone with some sublime strokes through
the off side, Ijaz was the man mainly responsible for setting the
platform for his team’s imposing total. He was at his brutal best
today in a performance in which the Pakistan top order as a whole
belied their collectively dismal start to the
series. Characteristically, he was strong through the off side;
several shots slammed over and through the covers as he vented his
rage upon anything even vaguely errant in width.And then, toward the end, came another innings of raw power and timing
from Razzaq. A player who, with the bat at least, is completely
reinventing himself from the one who played so many fine sheet anchor
innings whilst amassing 170 runs from 392 balls during the 1999 World
Cup, his innings was sublime in both execution and effect. As he
carted shots all over the ground from most members of the attack, he
raced to his half century from a mere 36 deliveries and afforded the
Indians no mercy as they rotated their attack in a vain attempt to
contain him.For the Indians themselves, it was a tough day and a shattered Sachin
Tendulkar’s demeanour after the loss was revealing. Doubtless they
discovered less menace in the pitch than they had been expecting after
winning the toss, and their bowlers and fieldsmen appeared to labour
under the misconception that matters would be easier than they became.Nevertheless, leg spinner Kumble (1/25 off ten overs) bowled possibly
his best spell of the entire tour and Prasad (2/41 off his ten)
likewise toiled manfully. Wicketkeeper Sameer Dighe also effected two
brilliant dismissals while standing up to the stumps for a time to the
medium pace of Ganguly.Ultimately, it would have been better for the Indians had the
unusually threatening clouds hovering over Hobart at the start of the
day transformed themselves into rain-bearing ones. But the likelihood
of that was about as remote as their chances now appear of doing
anything to disrupt their two opponents’ path to the finals of this
triangular tournament.
