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Blog Entry -
Blog
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Monday, 05 November 2007 13:03 |
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Contributed by holdingwilley
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(1058 views) |
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In a match that was as cut-and-dry and clinical as you could get, India played a somewhat out-of-character game to slowly and steadily dismantle Pakistan, and take a lead in the series.
If Pakistan's fortunes have to take an upward swing they will need to start getting regular and significant contributions from batsmen other than Mohammad Yousuf (83 off 88) in the middle order. Yousuf is the fulcrum of a Pakistani batting wheel where the rest of the cogs seem unable to move too much , and there is only so far that such a wheel can go. Statistically, Yousuf contributes most to the Pakistani batting line up, with an average (41) 10 points higher than the team's averge (31). The problem Pakistan are facing is that none of the other batsmen are moving towards evening the balance. Reinforcements will need to arrive quickly to boost their batting arsenal, and Salman Butt (with a stroke filled 50 off 57 balls) looks best set to provide that.
Pakistan, with 239 for 7 off 50 overs, set India 240 to win, a total that wasn't match winning, but one that would always give the bowlers a shoe-in. India denied the opposition bowlers any further leeway into the match by blocking them out at two levels. Opening wickets were important to allow Afridi and Rehman to prey on an under-pressure middle order. Ganguly (39 off 55) and Gambhir (44 for 51) got together and along with some ineffective bowling by a huffing-puffing, bloated Shoaib (2 for 52 off 8 overs), thwarted anything on those lines. A second major conquest for the Indians was scoring 50 off Iftikhar Anjum's 8 overs. Anjum was one of Pakistan's key bowlers against South Africa, with a career economy rate of barely 4.5 runs per over. Scoring at over 6 off him without giving him any wickets eased a great deal of pressure off the Indians.
With almost every Indian batsmen scoring more than the team average of 32, victory wasn't going to be difficult. To come back in the series, Pakistan will need to show more zing and bite, with the abstract and vague nature of the terms 'zing' and 'bite' and how to go about finding them not helping matters much.
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