India vs Pakistan : Sachin Tendulkar seals series for India

November 15, 2007

There was a slight touch of eeriness to it. Sachin Tendulkar batted in a trance for 97 runs and fell to a single show of mortality. It has happened before in this series, and four times before that since June.The blame has shifted from the stars to the nervous nineties; but the unfortunate part of his dismissals has been the injustice they’ve done to the knocks. On Thursday, there were 97 sublime runs before the inside-edge to the stumps.

Those runs won the match for India, which clinched the series 3-1, with a match to go on Sunday. For the record, Mohammed Yousuf was left stranded on an unbeaten 99, during Pakistan’s innings.

Brilliant knock

Tendulkar’s first fifty runs happened in a daze. Each shot was executed to outdo its predecessor. The roll of the wrists to the square-leg boundary was followed by the tiptoe punch through extra-cover. Then came the ruler-straight hit that nearly took the stumps with it, and the inside-out caress to point. The remaining forty-odd offered lessons on playing spin. Perfect cohesion of foot-work and hand-eye co-ordination, it was vintage Tendulkar.

Offered the best seat in the house, Virender Sehwag (who came in for Murali Kartik) was initially content in giving Tendulkar the strike. He soon came into his own, with the six over mid-wicket reminiscent of the shot that got him his Test triple-hundred.

Umar Gul brought forth his tendency to bowl his best only to Tendulkar in his nineties.Yuvraj Singh and captain M.S. Dhoni put together a partnership that assured all that Tendulkar’s efforts wouldn’t be wasted.

Both batted without compromising on the run-rate, and took India past Pakistan’s target with enough to spare. Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik had by then run out of options and was forced into using Salman Butt in the last over. India was the deserving winner. SCOREBOARD Pakistan Batting:

Salman Butt lbw b Rudra Pratap 0,

Shoaib Malik b Zaheer 31,

Younis Khan c and b Yuvraj 68,

Mohammad Yousuf (not out) 99,

Shahid Afridi lbw b Ganguly 1,

Misbah-ul-Haq b Pathan 40,

Sohail Tanvir lbw b Zaheer 6,

Kamran Akmal (not out) 2,

Extras (lb-6, w-2): 8;

Total (for six wkts. in 50 overs) 255.

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Butt), 2-78 (Malik), 3-129 (Younis), 4-134 (Afridi), 5-228 (Misbah), 6-243 (Tanvir).

India bowling: