Indians Colts slip on the Greens

Be it the Under-19s or the seniors, some things remain just the same. The strength of the this Indian side was its batting — a bit dep...

Be it the Under-19s or the seniors, some things remain just the same. The strength of the this Indian side was its batting — a bit depleted today because of Ambati Rayudus’ suspension — and the strength of the Pakistanis was their bowling. The difference today, however, was that the Pakistani strength proved stronger than that of India.

As for as the match result, Pakistan eventually chased down the Indian target of 170 with five wickets and four-and-a-half over to spare. Pakistan thus reach the final and the Indians go back home to lick their wounds.

The Pakistan fast bowling pair of Riaz Afridi and Ali Imran Pasha was expected to be a real threat. But instead it was the spin trio — Tariq Mahmood, Salman Qadir and Mansoor Amjad — which stole the show and bottled up the Indians.

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The threesome, especially Amjad and Mahmood, could easily walk into the starting XI of one of the non-sub continental senior teams. Amjad, on the other hand, is the classical leg-spinner with a straightforward action, but fair turn in both directions and a decent flipper. Compared to them the Indian spinners — Abhishek Sharma and Praveen Gupta — looked quite pedestrian today.

If one particular wicket is to be picked up for special mention, it has to be Amjad bowling all-rounder Sunny Singh when Singh was looking a bit dangerous at 25. It was a classical dismissal brought about over three deliveries. Amjad spun the first two away from the left-hander after drawing him forward and then produced the perfect leg-break that cramped Singh for room and clipped the top of his off stump.

If the Indian performance today can be attributed to one reason, it would probably be the team’s obsession with the Rayudu suspension. The suspension announced on Saturday morning, albeit controversial, was irreversible and therefore one that the Indians should have taken on their chin. But even today, at the start of the match, when this correspondent approached a few players, they were still muttering about Ambati. A team management directive prevents them from speaking to the media before a match but they did, off the record obviously, and most of it concerned the unfairness of the ICC decision.

Just to put things in perspective, an ICC official today clarified that the Rayudu suspension had less to do with the fact that India had bowled just eight overs in the first session (they had made up for the deficit by the end of the match) and more to do with the fact that it was unsporting behaviour aimed at gaining an unfair advantage that ‘‘went against the spirit of the game and brought the game into disrepute’’.

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Pakistan, on the other hand, stuck to their task and despite losing the top order cheaply, managed to grind it out for the win. Totally different from the Indian batting, which seemed to flounder after star batter Shikhar Dhawan went early. No one else, bar Robin Uthappa and Sunny Singh, stuck to their basics, and Pakistan’s job was made easy as batsman after batsman gifted their wickets away. And in the end, it was a virtual canter for the Pakistanis as they rattled up the necessary runs via a competent partnership of 88 runs between Fawad Alam (45) and Tariq Mahmood (43).

Mahmood, for his two wickets and 43 runs, was awarded the man-of-the-match prize

Brief scores

India: 169 (Uthappa 33, Solanki 21, Raina 17, S Singh 25, A Sharma 21 no; Riaz Afridi 2/31, Ali Imran 2/38, Mansoor Amjad Salman Qadir 2/27, Tariq Mahmood 2/33).

Pakistan: 171 (Salman Qadir 24, Tariq Mahmood 45 no; Fawad Alam 43 no; Singh 2/25).