An Abject Surrender

An inspired Pakistan relied on a combined effort toclinch a stunning come-from-behind one-day series win against arch rivals Indiawho surrendered meekly in the highly surcharged sixth and final tie today.

The Pakistanis outplayed the hosts in all thedepartments to record a thumping 159-run victory in the high-profilematch marred briefly by unruly crowd behaviour after a ceremonious start in the presenceof Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The visitors put up an awesome batting display torattle up 303 for eight overs and then never allowed the home team to recoverfrom the early jolts, skittling them out for a meagre 144 in 37 overs to recordone of the most lopsided matches of the series.

The Pakistanis, who were virtually written off as push-overs,when they crossed the border last month, made amends for the series defeat inPakistan last year by winning the one-day series with a comfortable 4-2 margin.

It was an abject surrender by the Indians who neverreally looked like giving even a semblance of a fightback at the FerozeshahKotla where the Delhi spectators tarnished the spirit of the friendshipseries by hurling bottles onto the ground.

Play was held up for about 16 minutes immediately afterthe dismissal of Mohammad Kaif as a section of the crowd hurled plastic bottlesonto the ground, forcing the players to return to the dressing room.

The security men and DDCA officials got into the act as they went about tryingto restore order in the galleries and play eventually resumed after security wastightened in the troubled galleries.

Nothing seemed to go right for the Indians since themorning when skipper Rahul Dravid lost the toss and Shahid Afridi plundered 22runs in the second over from Ashish Nehra.

Chasing a stiff target of 304, the hosts were neverreally in the hunt after they lost the dangerous Virender Sehwag (21) in theseventh over of the innings. The Indians needed a flying start from Sehwag andhis early dismissal virtually opened up the floodgates as wickets kept fallingat regular intervals.

Sehwag slammed three boundaries before he guided a Rana Naveed-ul Hasan delivery toAfridi in the slips much to the delight of the nearly 2000 Pakistani supporterswho thronged the Kotla and waved Pakistani flags.

Five runs later, the home team suffered another joltwhen Sachin Tendulkar (9) was bowled by a superb in-cutter by Rao Iftikhar andthe Indians were in dire straits at 36 for two in the eighth over.

Dravid looked to be in good touch as he produced someflowing shots but his aggression was short lived as he was run out trying tosteal a suicidal run.

The dismissal of Dravid virtually brought down thecurtains on the Indian run chase. The hosts only had themselves to blame for thedebacle after having led the series 2-0.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (24), Yuvraj Singh (13), Mohammad Kaif(13) and Dinesh Mongia (0) perished in quick succession as the Indians gave thematch on a platter to their arch rivals.

With most of the recognised batsmen back in thepavilion, it was a matter of time before the innings folded up.

Earlier, Pakistan paced their innings brilliantly withShoaib Malik (72) and Inzamam-ul Haq (68) steering the team to a healthy total afterAfridi set the tempo with a whirlwind 44.

The other top order batsmen also came up with usefulcontributions to leave the home team with an asking rate of over six runs tolevel the six-match series.

The in-form Afridi, who pulverised the Indians in the fifth match in Kanpur witha 46-ball 102, seemed to be in the same mood as he treated Nehra with disdain,starting his assault with three consecutive boundaries, then a six over long onand finished the over with another boundary.

But the hosts had better luck in the very next overwhen Zaheer Khan induced left-handed Salman Butt (3) to edge an outswinger toSehwag at second slip who latched on to a diving catch.

However, the early dismissal of Butt did not seem tohave any effect on the rampaging Afridi who continued to attack the Indianbowlers on what appeared to be a good batting track.

Both Afridi and Malik maintained a very brisk scoringrate of over seven runs in the early stages before the home teammanaged to get rid of the dangerous Afridi.

It was sweet revenge for Nehra as he evicted Afridiwith an away-going delivery with wicketkeeper Dhoni holding on tothe snick. Afridi's breezy 44 came off just 23 balls and contained sixboundaries and a six.

The scoring rate dropped quite a bit after Afridi'sdismissal as Malik and Yousuf Youhana were quite content in keeping thescoreboard moving with gentle nudges and pushes before opening up.

Malik got a reprieve when he was on 19 as Mongiafailed to latch on to a difficult chance at mid-wicket with Zaheerbeing the unlucky bowler.

Dravid brought in Ajit Agarkar in place of Zaheer whose first spell of six overs cost29 runs but the Mumbai bowler turned out to be far too expensive, going for 21runs in his first three overs.

With the track providing no assistance at all to thebowlers, Malik and Youhana had no difficulty in collecting the runs thoughDravid kept shuffling his bowlers to check the run flow.

Malik took a single off Tendulkar to notch uphis 14th half century in one-dayers and the sixth against India. A few minuteslater, it was Youhana's turn to complete his 42nd ODI fifty and the seventhagainst India.

The third wicket pair put on 85 runs before the Indianscould get the breakthough courtesy a controversial run out handed out by thirdumpire K. Hariharan which brought an end to Youhana's 59-ball 50.

Strokeplay seemed to become a little more difficult inthe later stages of the innings and the Indian spinners, particularly HarbhajanSingh, managed to check the run flow to some extent.

The off-spinner gave just 28 runs in his first spell ofeight overs.

Inzamam anchored the innings brilliantly as he notchedup his 80th ODI half century with a single of Zaheer and also take his teambeyond the 250-mark in the 45th over.

Nehra claimed the wickets of Younis Khan (40) and AbdulRazzaq off successive balls in the 48th over to bring about some drama for thecapacity crowd at the Kotla.

PTI