Pick your choice

Horses, originally uploaded by Sarfraaz.

India had already won the series and this last match was only of statistical importance. But, if its a match between India and Pakistan, the spirits are never less than a war cry. India rested Sachin for this match to give its other young players a chance. Except Dravid, and the comparatively more experienced Yuvraj and Zaheer, the Indian team was a full blown team of youngsters, given a chance to prove their mettle on Pakistani soil, at Karachi.

Pakistan's opening pair Akmal and Imran Farhat gave them a very good start. But Sreesanth was on song this day, and he took 4 wickets to rock the Pakistani top order. A late surge from Mohammed Yousuf, helped Pakistan pile up a score of 287 runs.

Chasing a score close to 300 is always not easy. But, India had successfully chased in the past 12 matches already, and had won all of the matches in this series while chasing. Dravid opened with Gambhir, and gave India a very good start. Pakistani fielders were all over the place, squandering the ball. Dravid was playing very cautiously, and after the dismissal of a rather reclusive Gambhir, arrived the in-form Yuvraj. Watching Yuvraj was a treat. He made batting look so easy !!! He was top notch form, and was in great nick with the kind of timing and placement he had in his strokes. The match was getting interesting and Indians were in complete command.

Just then, while surfing the channels, I came across another live match happening in Sri Lanka. It was the Under 19 World Cup Finals match between India and Pakistan again !!! Indian bowlers, especially the spinners, bowled extremely well to bowl out Pakistan for 107 runs. It was indeed a very lackluster batting from Pakistan, and the result of the match was a given, until ....

I couldnt believe what i was seeing on TV. Jamshaid Ahmed, the Wasim Akram look alike, left arm bowler, bowled a beauty and knocked off the bails off the very first ball !!! The over was full of great swing owling. Huffs and puffs all over the place with the ball miraculously missing the bat, the batsman and the stumps. In the next over, Anwar Ali, started off with a no ball. The next ball swung in deep and the batsman was caught plumb LBW. India were 2 down for 5 runs. Next 2 balls were again noballs. And then came a ball, which was like a fast bowler bowling offspin !!! The ball pitches some 3 feet outside the off stump and crashes into the stumps !!! With such great in-swinging, that too in the second innings of the match, it was not at all surprising that India were 4 wickets down for the score of 8 runs after 2 overs !!! This match was getting over really fast. The next over by Jamshed was just like watching Wasim Akram bowl. All beautiful late out swingers, just beating the bat. And the last ball, was a decieving inswinger, knocking off the bail on the off stump. The batsman was caught unaware, and was trapped well. The next over saw another Indian wicket falling in 3 balls [ one ball was another Anwar Ali no ball, but i am sure the pakistanis wont mind those no balls ]. India were 6 down with just 9 runs on board !!! It was a disaster, you could hardly have expected in any match.

Luckily for India, the umpires called in for lunch !!! Otherwise, the match would have ended in another 10 minutes. After this disastrous start, which usually happens in low scoring matches, it was no suprise that India lost the final :( I definately wanted India to get over with this low scoring match and win the finals, but the superb bowling, especially from Jamshed, really made it a treat to watch. Even, Dhoni and Yuvraj's great shots, didnt generate that much sizzle as this great bowling did. Sometimes, its just not the hard hitting batsmen, but also some really good inspiring swinging bowling, that make cricket such a wonderful sport to watch.

It really was tough choosing which of these 2 simulataneously running matches to watch.