India’s fielding was poor against Pak at Centurion

With pace spearhead Zaheer Khan and match-winning all-rounder Yuvraj Singh missing because of injury, Pakistan's veteran batsmen Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik fully exposed the limitations of the suspect Indian attack to pile up 302 for nine in the Champions Trophy at The Centurion Park yesterday.

India's fielding was poor against Pak at Centurion

With explosive opening batsman Virender Sehwag missing, as well, India will have to bat out of their skins on a good wicket to win. At the time of going to press, India were 156 for four in 28 overs.u00a0

India did well in the first hour of play to snatch the initiative after the Pakistani openers started ominously. But, with Harbhajan Singh conspicuously off-colour and the rest, barring Ashish Nehra, remarkably ineffective, the brilliant Malik (128 off 126 balls) and Yousuf (87 off 88 balls) put on 206 scintillating runs.

Kamran Akmal and Imran Nazir got Pakistan off to a rollicking start, scoring at almost seven runs an over, after Younus Khan won the toss and, predictably, decided to bat on a flat deck.

Sachin Tendulkar watches in horror as Pak's Kamran Akmal holds on to an edge off the bowling of Mohd Aamir at Centurion on Saturday

Rusty

Nehra, manifestly still a little rusty at this level of international cricket, soon found his rhythm but his opening bowling partner RP Singh, as also Ishant Sharma, were profligate as regards line and length and offered the batsmen ample width which they gratefully exploited.

On a wicket on which the ball was coming on to the bat but not affording the bowlers any semblance of swing or seam, the batsmen pushed the score to 29 at a rate of 6.69 when Nazir miscued an attempted hook to mid-on where Harbhajan took a well-judged catch.

Nehra, who bowled a good line, next pushed the dangerous-looking Kamran on the back foot to have him slice the ball on to the stumps off the inside edge. Pakistan were now 53 for two off 8.5 overs.

Dhoni's tactic of switching RP Singh's end in place of Nehra soon bore fruit. 'RP' induced a faint snick from the Pakistani skipper, which his Indian counterpart snapped up joyously to reduce Pakistan to 65 for 3 off 14.4 overs.

All tickets for this greatly-awaited clash between the Asian neighbours had been sold out minutes after the sale of tickets commenced. There were reports of 70 rand (approx Rs 450) tickets selling for the equivalent of Rs 12,000.

Seats in the stands were now occupied to near capacity. The atmosphere was electric amid the waving of tricolours and Pakistani flags around the stadium, the decibel level often reached deafening proportions.

Rahul Dravid, at extra cover, and Singh, on his follow-through, failed to accept difficult catches but they would not have made any difference since the brilliant knocks by Malik and Yousuf were chanceless.

Super Pak

The introduction in the attack of Yusuf Pathan, who extracted prodigious spin from the wicket, initially made scoring a hazardous occupation for the experienced Pakistani pair.

Virat Kohli conceded 21 from his first three overs and Yusuf Pathan was scrooge-like at first, conceding just 21 from his first six overs, before the Pakistanis came to terms with him.

Once the pair took control of the proceedings in a masterly display of controlled aggression, the Indian bowling looked pathetic and the fielding downright ragged.

Yousuf fell at 271 in the 46 overs, his scintillating 87 coming off 88 deliveries. His innings confirmed his lofty standing in all forms of the game.

Pakistan's second-highest run scorer behind Inzamam ul Haq in ODIs with over 9,000 runs, Yousuf amassed a world-record 1,788 runs at an average of 99.33 in a calendar year in 2006 and also scored a record 405 runs during the ODI series in Zimbabwe in 2002.

Malik was finally consumed by Harbhajan Singh to give the off-spinner his 216th ODI wicket, ahead of Zaheer Khan (212) and behind Ajit Agarkar (288) and Kapil Dev (253).

Malik's resplendent knock of 128 came off 126 balls and was studded with 16 fours.

Nehra, who bagged four wickets for 55 in his 10 overs, was the only Indian bowler to bowl with any degree of respectability.

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