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 Rawalpindi, April 16: India added another
glorious chapter to their cricketing history when they trounced Pakistan
by an innings and 131 runs for their first ever Test series triumph in
this country. The magnificent win, which came on the fourth day of the
series-deciding Test, gave India a 2-1 victory in the series that has
been played in a spirit of exemplary goodwill and bonhomie. The Indians
could not have asked for a more fitting finish to a match which they
dominated right from the first session, as Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly
plucked last man Danish Kaneria off Sachin Tendulkar, much to the
delight of his euphoric teammates, waiting for this moment since this
morning.
The architects of the Indian win were
not one but many. But one cannot take away the credit from Rahul Dravid
who scored 270 to set up the huge first innings score of 600 and
Lakshmipathy Balaji who bowled his heart out to return figures of three
for 108. Balaji was also instrumental in bundling out Pakistan for 224
on the first day of the match itself, emerging as the highest wicket
taker with figures of four for 63. Trailing by 376 runs in the first
innings, Pakistan's batting collapsed for the second time as they were
packed off for 245 in 54 overs by the visitors about half an hour after
the lunch break today.
 The Indians thus completed their first
full-fledged tour of Pakistan in nearly 15 years on a happy note, having
also registered a 3-2 win in the preceding one-day series. It was the
first away series win in 11 years for India who had defeated Sri Lanka
1-0 in 1993. The victory also saw Ganguly making his own piece of
history as not only did he become the first captain to lead India to a
series win on Pakistani soil but also became the most successful skipper
ever with 15 Test wins, erasing Mohammad Azharuddin's record of 14 wins.
Having reduced Pakistan to 49 for two overnight, the Indians were
desperate to finish off the job and in their restlessness dropped as
many as five catches in the first half an hour of play.
However, they made up for the lapses
soon, snapping up five quick wickets including that of in-form captain
Inzamam-ul Haq to tighten the noose around the hosts in overcast
conditions. The hosts lost the wickets of Kamran Akmal (23), Yasir
Hameed (20), Haq (9), Yousuf Youhana (48) and Mohammad Sami (O) during
the extended pre-lunch session to allow the visitors to come within
sniffing distance of victory. The post-lunch session saw Indians take
the remaining three wickets, including that of Shoaib Akhtar who made a
cameo 28 off 14 balls.
The day did not start the way the
Indians had expected as they saw several chances going amiss. Night
watchman Akmal Kamal survived a chance when he edged between V V S
Laxman at second slip and Virender Sehwag at third slip in the very
first over from Balaji and then had another stroke of luck when Yuvraj
Singh floored a catch at short leg, Irfan Pathan being the unlucky
bowler. Akmal's luck, however, ran out in the third over of the morning
when Balaji knocked down his stumps with a beauty of a delivery which
beat the batsman all ends up. Then it was Tendulkar's turn to drop a
catch at point off Balaji, Hameed being the beneficiary when he was on
eight. The sequence of dropped catches continued for some more time and
Dravid also spilled Inzamam's edge at first slip off Pathan while Kumble
dropped the same batsman at gully off the same bowler.
 Finally, Nehra, who replaced Pathan
from the pavilion end, struck in his very first ball by removing Hameed
with young Parthiv Patel latching on to a brilliant catch, diving full
length to his left. The home team suffered a huge jolt a few minutes
later when the in-form Inzamam perished cheaply with the hard working
Balaji being the wicket taker. Inzamam pushed forward but only succeeded
in edging to Patel who took a low catch. Yousuf Youhana (48) and
top-scorer Asim Kamal (60 not out) tried to stem the rot as the two
batsmen launched a counter attack by going for their strokes. Though the
Indian pacers managed to exploit the overcast conditions and extract
some swing, they were also guilty of bowling some loose deliveries which
were promptly despatched to the boundary.
The right-handed Youhana played a
flurry of shots in a bid to unsettle the Indian bowlers while Kamal,
defying an elbow injury, not only gave him good support but also
unleashed some cracking shots. The sixth wicket pair put on 81 runs
before the seasoned Anil Kumble broke the partnership foxing Youhana who
failed to control his shot and offered a simple return catch to the
bowler. His breezy 48 came off 61 balls and contained nine boundaries.
Kumble then struck in the very first ball of his next over by sending
back Mohammad Sami for a duck, leaving the home team in dire straits.
With the spectre of defeat looming large at the lunch break, taken at
197 for seven, Shoaib Akhtar went for his shots and rattled up some
quick runs.
The fast bowler clobbered four
boundaries and two sixes but his belligerence proved shortlived as he
went for another ambitious shot off Kumble and Nehra held on to a
well-judged catch at the deep midwicket boundary. Kamal looked quite
comfortable in the middle and notched up his third Test half century in
style by spanking Kumble for a boundary. The leg spinner proved to be
very expensive as the Pakistani batsmen went after him. (Agencies)
Published: Friday, April 16, 2004
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