Yes you read it right. It was the Pakistani senior pro Younis Khan who helped India to topple Pakistan. The usually agile Younis Khan dropped Gambhir twice in the slips to fritter away the early advantage for Pakistan. Khan’s Lapse in concentration, Akmal grassing Viru, some off colour bowling, uninspiring captaincy and sluggish in fielders, meant that India won by a huge margin.
Batting first, Viru and Gambhir made use of the early advantage, continuing their good form in the IPL. Gambhir, though lived dangerously, repeatedly stepping down the track, without much success. But he had nothing to worry, as he had the comforting presence of Y Khan’s butter fingers at the slips. Viru began in a subdued style, showing some signs of rare maturity. But that obviously didn’t last long. Soon Viru began a ferocious onslaught. The Indians were never below 6 per over most of the time. Yuvi continued from where the openers left and that meant India posted a mammoth target.
Facing a Herculean task, Pakistan virtually surrendered, Praveen Kumar making merry trapping the top three Pakistanis. The difference between the two teams was there for everyone to see especially when Rohit Sharma plucked a catch out of thin air to send a bewildered Salman Butt to the pavilion. Akmal and Misbah tried to wrestle back some momentum. Akmal especially was severe on anything short and wide. But he played one shot too many and that signaled the end of the Pakistani resistance. Malik’s face saving innings was more a proof to himself of his skills. Chawla completed the formalities for India. It was a total team effort by India.
Pakistanis managed to bury themselves in a self dug grave. With a captain who was hesitant to think out of the box and fielders who were hesitant to throw themselves around, the bowlers had no choice but to endure the stick. That stopped their winning streak of 12 matches which was mostly against the minnows. Hopefully the Pakistanis would get back to where they belong for the sake of some interest in this series.
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