Great Win at Mirpur - India beat Pak chasing 330

India Pakistan Match is any day a hype – today it was touted to be Match between Indian batsmen Vs Pakistan Bowlers.   When Pak won the toss and chose to bat, another poor performance by Indian bowlers virtually gave the match on a platter – India had never chased 330 before.. for that matter not many teams could think of that !

Praveen Kumar 77 off 10; Irfan Pathan 69 off 10; Dinda 47 off 8; Yusuf Pathan 30 off 5; Ashwin 56 off 10 and India had a disastrous start in the most unusual way.  Tendulkar walked with Gambhir, who took the strike – the bowler was part-timer Mohammed Hafeez – the second ball a tossed one went on to strike Gambhir in front and it was the inauspicious 0 for 1.  Not many fancied India’s chances

Way back in 18^th Jan 1998 in the Silver Jubilee Independence Cup played at Dhaka,  India chased Pak’s 315 and won with 1 ball to spare.  Sourav Ganguly scored 124 with 11 hits to the fence and one over it to get the Man of the Match and would India repeat that ?  

Ardent fans know of the  2008 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was held in Malaysia.  The final was played between India and South Africa, which India won. Indians were all out for 159 but the target by DL method was 116 – SA got 103 in their allotted overs.  Many from that tournament went on to play for their Nation.  Prominent among them being : Philip Hughes, James Pattinson, Steve Smith (Aus); Steven Finn, Stuart Meaker, James Taylor (Eng); Ahmed Shehzad, Junaid Khan, Umar Amin, Umar Akmal (Pak); Tim Southee, Kane Williamson, Trent Boult (NZ); Wayne Parnell (SA); Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne and Thisara Perera(Lanka);  Adrian Barath, Darren Bravo, Kieran Powell, Devon Thomas (WI)

And for the Indians, Saurabh Tiwary, Abhinav Mukund, Ravindra Jadeja and the man of today’s fame Virat Kohli.  Infact Virat was the Captain in that tournament.  In the Semi finals against NZ, Kohli was the Man of the Match scoring 43 and taking 2 wickets.   In the group match against West Indies,  Kohli scored a century off 74 balls.  I must confess that I have not been a great admirer of his batting or  his antics but today perhaps changed me.   He made that flamboyant 133* at Hobart making the impossible almost happen – won that match in great style.  Here against Lanka he made 108; followed with 66 against Bangladesh and today it is not only the epic 183 he made but the style and flamboyance with which it was made ensured the highest run chase for India fruitful. 

With exactly 60 balls to go India required 83 – Rohit made runs but was slumbering – RR was claiming casting doubts – Umar Gul came on to bowl – 4^th went for a four through mid off and 5^th went for the maximum over long off.  The next over there 3 fours in a row – 2 classic legside shots and one beautifully carved in off.  Sunil Gavaskar immediately commented that ‘we are witnessing the future of India’ in a bid to eulogise  Rohit Sharma also but clearly Virat Kohli was ruling the roost and has come to stay. 

A great innings and though he was out in the end, Raina eased with a six and Dhoni completed with a nonchalant scoring shot. Exhilarating match and happy to watch India chase 330 with 13 balls remainingl !! – the centuries of Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed went waste.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar