It’s official: This isn’t a team of chokers

Can the Indians be called ‘chokers’ any longer? No way. Certainly not after the way they held their collective nerve to pull off t...

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Can the Indians be called ‘chokers’ any longer? No way. Certainly not after the way they held their collective nerve to pull off the Karachi Conquest. They have proved that they have learnt, albeit the hard way, to battle their way out of choke-worthy situations.

And what an occasion they chose to make their point! A thriller to beat the best of Alfred Hitchcock, a cliffhanger to beat all cliffhangers. And the way the match turned out promises great things for the remainder of this historic series.

As for the Pakistanis, it was a case of so near and yet so far. How else does one describe their fantastic effort to run the mammoth Indian total of 349 so close? It was made possible, primarily, because the captain — Inzamam-ul Haq — played the best knock I have seen him play in all these years.

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His captaincy was uninventive, and the decision to field can be panned as critically incorrect. His bowlers had let him down, as did his opening batsmen. Despite all this, and the passionate home crowd, he managed what he did. A terrific effort by any yardstick.

On the other hand, Saurav Ganguly proved that he is maturing into a great captain with each passing day. I can see that the tour of Australia has taught him quite a bit, especially getting the best out of each member of his team. An intelligent man anyway, Saurav relies on his instinct in crunch situations, making for a dangerous combination.

Keeping Nehra for the last over also turned out to be a masterstroke, as with just nine left to get off the six balls, and with Moin Khan brandishing his willow, anything could have happened. Despite the anticipative roar from the Karachi crowd, Nehra kept his cool and bowled probably the best six balls of his career.

Evidently, the talented Irfan Pathan was left out simply because of Nehra’s superior guts. As is the case with Mohammed Kaif, who was brought in for his contributory batting and superb ability in the field. What a catch the youngster took! Shoaib Malik was providing great support to Moin at the time, and in a sense, that catch might have turned the tide in India’s favour.

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Now the juggernaut rolls into Rawalpindi, where the late evening dew factor will play a part as we are talking about a day-nighter. It might serve to dampen the spirits of the bowlers further as they won’t be able to get a good enough grip on the wet ball. But in any case, with their bats blazing and the bowlers expected to be confident after winning the Karachi match, India should be the stronger of the two teams. There is no question of taking the match lightly of course, but well begun is half the job done, and India will remain ahead on that count.