Man of many roles finally plays the star

He may not be as electrifying as Shahid Afridi but the Indians will take some time to recover from the high-voltage cricket of Shoaib Malik....

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He may not be as electrifying as Shahid Afridi but the Indians will take some time to recover from the high-voltage cricket of Shoaib Malik. Man of the match in Sunday’s series-decider, Malik was a sublime blend of temperament, stamina, improvisation and aggression.

Coming in at number three is always a tough ask but full credit to him for having achieved amazing consistency without compromising on the team’s demands.

After having lost an early wicket, Malik had to put his head down on an untested Kotla track and still maintain the tempo set by Afridi.

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One of the outstanding characteristics of his 72 run knock was his ability to pace his innings nicely and realizing the need of the hour that demanded cashing in after getting a start.

The 131-minute knock could be easily categorized in two phases — his partnership with Afridi, and his partnerships with Youhana and Inzamam.

The initial phase was spent as understudy, the all-rounder keen on watching the fun from other end as afridi went on his mini-rampage, periodically joining in and play his strokes.

His neat on-drives and flicks off the pad were matched by fluent cover-drives.

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Barring a half-chance to Dinesh Mongia at square-leg, Malik couldn’t have got it better as the visitors raced to 68 in nine overs before Afridi was dismissed.

As India got back into the game, and the fielding restrictions were lifted, Malik got down to playing with ones and twos.

Despite the Delhi heat and improved fielding performance by the home side, Malik never shied away from the sharp singles.

Quite content to play spinners with the turn, he ran hard for his runs, realizing that big shots on this slow wicket has high risk factors.

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All this while, he kept the run rate above the five mark even though his eight boundaries came in long intervals.