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India v Pakistan / News
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India v Pakistan, 2nd ODI, Kolkata
Pakistan take series as India batting fails again
The Report by Abhishek Purohit
January 3, 2013
Pakistan 250 (Jamshed 106, Hafeez 76, Ishant 3-34, Jadeja 3-41) beat India 165 (Dhoni 54*, Ajmal 3-20, Junaid 3-39) by 85 runs
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India v Pakistan at Kolkata
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Pakistan tour of India
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They lost eight successive overseas Tests. They lost a home Test series. And now the ODI world champions have lost a home bilateral series for the first time in more than three years. They are in free fall, and continue to touch a newer nadir each time. The failure of the batsmen has been a common factor in all these reversals, and it was no different at Eden Gardens. Despite the bowlers taking ten wickets for 109 to keep Pakistan to 250, India crumbled without any fight, losing their top five batsmen before they had reached 100. The tail had collapsed before MS Dhoni could even think about improbables such as miracles.
Pakistan added to their record of being the only side, other than Australia, to inflict home ODI series defeats on India in the previous ten years. They also continued their impressive record at Eden Gardens, and have now won all their four ODIs against India at the ground. Nasir Jamshed, one of the finest young batsmen around, made his third successive ODI century against India, whose batsmen carried their struggles from Chennai to Kolkata.
Junaid Khan bowled his heart out in an opening spell of 7-1-18-2, taking out Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli. Umar Gul came in to remove a subdued and edgy Virender Sehwag, and followed it up with the dismissal of Yuvraj Singh. Suresh Raina was peppered with short balls before falling to Mohammad Hafeez's offspin. India went from 42 for 0 to 95 for 5. Dhoni was left battling alone, and again, he battled till the very end, refusing several singles with the last man Ishant Sharma and hitting the odd boundary, despite knowing that all of it was in vain, despite knowing that he was the only man in this line-up prepared to fight.
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Sehwag and Gambhir may have put on 42, but their partnership was full of plays-and-misses and inside edges eluding the stumps. And eight of those 42 runs came off two overthrows to the boundary, courtesy Hafeez.
The tall Mohammad Irfan continued to test India with his bounce, but Junaid's was the standout spell. Displaying superb control, Junaid beat the outside edge on numerous occasions, and also hit Sehwag on the pads a few times. It wasn't unusually good deliveries that got him his wickets, though it could be said he had persevered enough to earn some luck. Gambhir tried to drive a widish length ball, which moved in slightly for the batsman to play on. Kohli fell to an outstanding, leaping take by Kamran Akmal down the leg side.
There was nothing fortuitous about Sehwag's fall, Gul bending one back in sharply to strike the leaden-footed batsman in front of middle. The senior opener had had another poor outing, after averaging 21.70 in ODIs in 2012.
Yuvraj had a nervy stay as well, eventually edging an attempted pull off a Gul bouncer to the wicketkeeper. Raina had already been tested by the inevitable short balls, had escaped a run-out chance, and went stumped as he lunged to drive a Hafeez delivery.
The batsmen's meek capitulation meant the fightback from the bowlers, kickstarted by Ravindra Jadeja, was in vain. Pakistan had zoomed to 141 for 0 inside 24 overs before Jadeja, playing because Dhoni wanted an allrounder bowling instead of part-timers, broke the opening partnership by removing Hafeez, and later dismissed the centurion Nasir Jamshed and Kamran Akmal within three deliveries. Pakistan sputtered on a slightly uneven pitch, which seemed to get somewhat difficult for batting as the balls got older.
It all started with an ungainly sweep from Hafeez, who till then, had timed the ball beautifully in his fourth century stand with Jamshed in nine ODI innings. Suddenly, all momentum seemed to drain from the innings. Ishant gave nothing away, bowling a tight line from the other end. And things began to work for India.
In Jadeja's next over, Azhar Ali trotted out of his crease even as the bowler was appealing for lbw. MS Dhoni was alert enough to reach the ball and lob it back before Azhar could return. In the 35th over, just before the batting Powerplay was to be taken, fortune, and the sweep, struck for India. Younis Khan inside-edged Suresh Raina on to his pad, and was given leg-before. Pakistan were still strongly placed at 177 for 3, but after Misbah-ul-Haq departed lbw to R Ashwin in the first over of the batting Powerplay, they took just 26 off it.
Jamshed, struggling to time the ball now, still kept going. Jadeja was not done yet, though. First ball on his return in the 42nd over, he had Jamshed stranded way down the pitch for Dhoni to complete the stumping on the second attempt. Two balls later, he spun one away from Kamran Akmal for the thick-edged drive to fly to slip, a position Dhoni stuck to even at that late stage. Pakistan had soon lost ten wickets for 109 in 24.4 overs, scarcely believable numbers after their start.
Overcast Kolkata skies and his batsmen's capitulation in swinging Chennai conditions had made Dhoni ask Pakistan to bat. To his dismay, the promised, prodigious swing didn't show up. Dhoni's bowlers still managed to restrict Pakistan, but his batsmen proved thoroughly unreliable, for the umpteenth occasion in recent times.
Abhishek Purohit is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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Congrats Pakistan! Some posts have already suggested, Indian batsmen were highly exposed against top quality Pakistani bowling attack in sporting pitches. At the top of the innings, I was getting the feeling that Gambhir and Sehwag were totally clueless against the swing and pace of Junaid and Irfan. Their struggle at the top carried on to the next numbers Yuvi, Raina and so on. Kohli is not out of form as the earlier posts suggest, but he is playing loose shots to get out cheaply. He is appearing rusty and disinterested to fight it out alone as he was doing most of the times in 2012 and saved India. Dhoni was staging a lone battle and lacked support from all ends. I think we have seen the end of Gambhir and Sehwag at the top. Raina, Yuvi and Jadeja looked totally ill-equipped to offer any challenge in the middle order and their places are seriously questionable. Indian bowling is getting ineffective every passing game and Indian cricket is in dark woods needing total change.
Yet again it seems that the fast bowling factory, otherwise known as Pakistan, has produced another great bowler! Hopefully, young Junaid will continue to progress as he has started.
Congrats Pakistan.Well like many sensible fans have written it again and again that in all post World cup matches, whether its ODI, T20 or Tests that Indian batting has looked helpless whenever they face a World class bowling attack on sporting pitches.Indian team is dependent on Pujara and Kohli in Tests ,while Dhoni and Kohli have same role in ODIs,when these key players get out Indian team falls like pack of cards.There is no Dravid or Laxman in tests to absorb pressure in tests and there is no Sachin Tendulkar in ODIs to lead from-the front.Some serious work ahead for people running cricket in India.They should start with getting out non performing glamorous stars like Gambhir and Sehwag ,by giving chance to talented youngsters like Rahane,Chand,Aprajith,Sandeep Sharma,Harmeet Singh,Bishth,Jiwanjoth Singh, Mandeep singh,Shami Ahmed and many more like them and most important of all play more tests .
After Sachin's retirement, ODI cricket will never be same again. And these defeats will make the indians more disinterested than ever. Only two formats will survive in coming years, Test cricket as compulsion and T20 as entertainment. Critics of Sachin never know that its because of him ODI cricket had a magic that had transformed life of so many young cricketers. Just ask a kid playing street cricket in India, what he wants to be like? 99 percent of all will say. . . . . . . . Sachin.
Great victory for Pak. Indian team has so far struggled, I am sure they will improve in future however it may take couple of years now. I am not sure why Pak fans are so hell bent on getting rid of Misbah? He is a good captain and brings calm and stability within team which has been missing for past few years. He may not be a flashy player but at this stage Pak needs him and results especially in Test cricket and now in one day shows. Umar Akmal should only play T20 and should be asked to score few big centuries in first class before playing in one day and may be one day test again. Azhar Ali performed well even in one day before current series so he should keep on playing. However Pak need new middle order players to develop over next couple of years.
Take out Dinda and Sharma, they are absolutely useless and don't take wickets. Dinda bowls short so often and he can't control it. Ishant Sharma isn't bad however he doesn't seem to get wickets all that often. Take out Jadeja as well, he is clearly no use in the batting department. Put in Yadav, Zaheer, Aaron, Kumar and perhaps Shami Ahmed. If India can rotate these 4 bowlers well, we can have a pretty good attack. India also should take out Sehwag, sure some people see him as a 'threat', but nowadays he never performs and is useless especially since he still hasn't developed a technique. Rahane is much better and can also be attacking.
Props to Junaid Khan this guy is just bowling great at the moment and getting full support from irfan from the other side. Forget Ammir, he went to England and Australia to bag all those performences... Junaid is doing his thing in the SUB CONTINENT he has yet to step into the land of fast bowlers and he's shown just great control with the ball already against batsman like sehwag and sangakara and jayawardene considered to be the best batsman the sub continent has to offer.
Well played Pakistan. The only blot on this victory is that Junaid couldn't take the wickets with the balls that deserved them. What a find for Pakistan. Injuries, suspensions, bans retirements only presents an opportunity to unleash another outstanding potential Pakistani bowler. For India, if Yadav and Aaron are injured we left scratching our heads wondering where are wickets are going to come from. Have to accept our batting is now as bad as our bowling. Sehwag, Gambhir and Yuvraj just cannot handle pace. Why the selectors persist with them, only they can know. There 3 have to go back to zonal cricket and can be replaced with anyone. If we're going to lose and we are, better to lose with other new players. Kohli's form since the NZ series last August has been a real concern in spite of the century in last test against England last month.
@Harmony111- your replies to me and @JG2704 reveal the paranoia that underlays your approach. Being hostile to the fans of other countries - for example your going onto the England V South Africa forums during 2012 and bashing England fans is going to ensure that India fans are vilified. India fans ganged up on Australia when New Zealand beat them in Hobart. India fans had a crack at England fans when Pakistan washed them in 2012. India fans always have a poke at Sri Lanka fans given any opportunity. None of this has anything to do with India, yet these are the chief reasons why we are the most disliked group of fans in the world. No-one is talking about being sweet and nice. I can't remember anyone ever saying that any World Cup win "doesn't matter". I believe this is an excuse you are making to justify your approach. No-one is talking about being docile or pleasing other fans either - that is your gloss, yet another justification. I have given you a reasonable answer.
Posted by Harmony111 on (January 5, 2013, 22:37 GMT)@JG2704: Could not really understand why you LOL'd at the other part of my comment. What I said was a fact. It would be easy to see it was a fact. The SL and Eng fans have been exceedingly caustic, malignant, almost nefarious in their comments about Ind for a long time now. The Oz fans are their usual patronizing self while RoW is seldom seen here. The SL fans followed by Eng fans are the ones who always try to pull Ind down or to somehow link any piece of news to India/BCCI/IPL/Sachin and then shift the focus to bashing them. So your LOL was somewhat misplaced or perhaps you knew the whole thing and couldn't say anything else in a moment of epiphany?