India, Pakistan to clash in teen cricket final

When Sachin Tendulkar said recently that there was a lot of young cricketing talent coming up in the country, he must have, at least in a corner of his mind, had the India Under-15 team in mind.

The teen cricketers, now doing duty for the country in the Lom- bard World Challenge one-day cricket competition in England, have progressed to the final after remaining unbeaten in the prelim- inary league and then registering a fine win over the favoured South African outfit in the semis.

And now - in a reprise of the rivalry between the two nations that lights up the senior level of the game - the Indians await the Pakistan team in the final of the event, to be played at Lord`s later on Tuesday.

The brainchild of Peter English, creater of the England Schools Cricket Association, the Lombard tournament though unoffi- cial, is the first such tournament in internation- al cricket. And the organisers, in concert with sponsors Lombard, have plans to make this a once-in-four-years event, on the lines of the senior World Cup.

On paper, the Pakistan outfit looks the stronger of the two. And its pedigree, in particular, is exceptional - cap- taining the side is no less than Faisal Iqbal, nephew of legen- dary Pakistan Test star Javed Miandad. The leading batsman in the team is Bazid Khan, son of former Pakistan Test opener Majid Khan. And the spearhead of the bowling is a leg-spinner with a bouncy, bubbly action and almost unplayable turn, name of Imran Qadir - whose father just happens to be ace Pakis- tan leggie Abdul Qadir.

Against this the Indian side - which incidentally was picked on the basis of performances in the domestic inter- schools tournament for the C K Nayadu tournament - is a solid, profes- sional side with a good grasp of the basics of one day cricket.

Starring with bat and ball has been skipper Ritender Singh Sodhi, who was the most economical and successful bowler against South Africa before going on to fashion India`s win in that match with a fluent 67.

Joining him in the stellar category are the likes of Pradeep Chawla (62 vs S`Africa) and Mohammad Kaif, whose onslaught on the bowling in the middle and end overs has been a feature of the Indian display in the tournament. Kaif, who rat- tled up 54 off only 32 balls in the semifinal against S`Africa, has already compiled 166 runs from four in- nings thus far and, given a reasonably good showing in the fi- nal, looks a cert to bag the man of the series award.

Though the stars have hogged the limelight, the Indian juniors have, unlike their seniors during the tour of England under Azharuddin earlier this summer, proved to be a team well versed in the fundamentals of the one-day game. They fielded well throughout, bringing off the sort of sliding stops their seniors have never really managed on the field of play, bowled close to the stumps and with enough swing and seam to trouble all op- posing batsmen, the spinners got turn and the bowlers, in gen- eral, gave away very few no-balls, wides, and other freebies.

And much to the surprise of the observers, the cricket has been of anything but schoolboy variety. As no less than former England bowler Paul Allott admitted in a media column this weekend, "All misconceptions that this tournament would be played out between naive and immature teams were dispelled after the first semifinal between India and South Africa. You could not have wished for a more competi- tive, highly exciting and skilful game of cricket..."

Add to this obvious skill the needle that inevitably enters into any sporting encounter between India and Pakistan, at what- ever level, and Tuesday`s final between the two teams could turn out to be a humdinger...

Besides, of course, providing the first real look at the probable stars of the senior World Cup of, say, 2004 AD?