da marjack bet： India and Pakistan have played a lot of exciting games in bothversions of the game
da betobet： Woorkheri Raman24-Mar-2000India and Pakistan have played a lot of exciting games in bothversions of the game. At the same time, both these teams can be asunpredictable as the English weather. The talent in both the sides isimmense yet sometimes the scorecards suggest that both these teamshardly play to their full potential. It was one of those kind of gamesat Sharjah with India making heavy weather of chasing a lowscore. Eventually the target was achieved after losing half the side,which was not convincing by any standards.Srinath, who has had very ordinary games on his return after a breakwas left out, which would help him in sorting out his problems. Thedecision deserves to be appreciated, as it is an indication that thecurrent form overrides either an individual?s reputation or pastdeeds. One can only hope that this criterion is followed consistentlyin order to produce the required results. Prasad replacing Srinathprovided the breakthrough by dismissing the dangerous Afridi whileAgarkar got rid of the talented Razzak. It has been a while since anearly breakthrough was achieved and the heartening thing is that theinitiative gained was not squandered away.The young opener Imran Nazir played with pluck and in the company ofInzamam looked like putting Pakistan in sight of a big total. He hitKumble over the top for boundaries with elan before his inexperienceled to his downfall when he played across the line to Joshi. Muchdepended on Youhana and Inzamam but a comedy of errors resulted inYouhana being adjudged run out. Yet another coincidence where Inzamamwas involved in a run out but at least on this occasion he was not atfault. Robin Singh had Inzamam snapped smartly by Karim behind thewicket who had a very good match.The lower order did not offer many problems despite some consciouseffort by Moin Khan and Wasim Akram. The low total of Pakistan canonly be attributed to their under par batting and some very ordinaryrunning between the wickets.Ganguly and Tendulkar had to get off to a decent start to ensure thatnothing untoward happened during the chase. Ganguly played a crispinnings and the departure of both the openers in quick successionprovided a glimmer of hope to the Pakistanis. Dravid and Azharuddinbatted resolutely as the required rate was not a demandingfactor. Akhtar worked up real pace even on a slowish track but he wasnegotiated safely by both Azharuddin and Dravid. Just as the matchwas petering to a dull finish the Indians lost quick wickets to evokesome interest in the proceedings.The target was achieved much later than expected and also by a lessernumber of wickets. The trio of Akram, Akhtar and Younis tried veryhard and it was due to their efforts that the match lasted as long asit did. The Indians will not grumble with the result but they have totry and work out a formula to gain and maintain overall consistency.This victory has given the Indians the advantage of knowing what isrequired of them before they get into their next round of leaguematches. It remains to be seen if Pakistan can make the tournamentwide open by winning against South Africa.
