Pakistan's glorious victory over England - A review.

Pakistan has a genuine cause to celebrate its victory over England in the one day series because not only did the team perform well but also that the two sides had met after an awfully long break of 13 years. The triumph over a team that humbled the mighty Windies at home only a few weeks ago is likely to be a big source of pride and inspiration for the boys, bolstering their spirits for the oncoming test series. Not having tested the each other's mettle for a long time, Pakistan was quite apprehensive about the visitors' all round prowess and ability to brush aside the opponents. They did show a glimpse of it by zeroing Pakistan with a fabulous win at Karachi. The 2-1 victory in the one day match series has surely strengthened the Pakistan team's belief in itself to defeat England also in the tests.

Pakistan's shocking defeat in the 1st one dayer at Karachi after piling up a huge total of 305 runs that I labeled as 'harakiri by Pakistan' in an earlier article, came out to be the partial outcome of excessive dew at nightfall that wetted the field. Having committed the mistake of electing to bat first after winning the toss, Pakistan found to its horror that the fielders and bowlers were unable to hold the ball and throw it straight, what to speak of extracting swing or spin out of it.

By starting the match two hours early at Lahore the error was rectified and the team's shattered confidence restored. Both the sides had an even chance to perform with no handicaps. Unlike Karachi it was not England's day. Having suffered through the blind obsession for batting first, Moin Khan chose to field first after winning the toss and benefited from the decision. England was only able to score 211 runs, an easily manageable score unless a mishap was in the offing. Having studied England's vulnerability to quality spin, Pakistan recalled Shahid Afridi, the pinch hitter-cum-spinner to strengthen the spin duo of Mushtaq Ahmed and Saqlain Mushtaq. To the delight of his fans Afridi routed England with a magnificent haul of 5 for 40.

Chasing a moderate target of 212 runs, Pakistan batted at a slow and steady pace. Shahid Afridi distinguished with the bat also. With a sparkling 61, well supported by Saleem Elahi's 58 not out, Afridi emerged as the erstwhile architect of Pakistan's victory. The target having been achieved in 44 overs for the loss of only 2 wickets, Pakistan took sweet revenge by defeating England with a big margin. The series were squared with the Pakistan team's morale boosted up for the final push at Rawalpindi. The strategy of giving preponderance to spin also worked successfully.

The equalizer put the players, experts and observers of the game in a state of suspense. Both the teams having won a match each the sides looked evenly poised. Pakistan, besides enjoying the advantage of home environment also had the services of a distinguished spin trio, capable of taking their team to victory. Though the dew factor had been neutralized, the team fielding second was troubled by an attack from the swarms of bugs, insects and mosquitoes. Skipper Moin Khan was again lucky to take advantage of fielding first by winning the toss. Though the vital break through was achieved by the pace bowlers, the spinners took over to dominate the game fully and wiping out the visitors for a petty score of 158 runs in 42 overs. Nasser Hussain, adored by the fans in the jam packed stadium, was unfortunate in being adjudged leg before. Saqlain Mushtaq mesmerized the England batsmen by claiming 5 wickets for only 20 runs. It was perhaps the ghost of Pakistani spinners that haunted the batsmen who threw away wickets one after the other.

By losing the opening pair of Shahid Afridi and Imran Nazir for only 9 runs on the board Pakistan started shakily. They however, managed to hold their own by achieving the small target of 159 for the loss of 4 wickets in 43 overs thus defeating England by 6 wickets and clinching the series. With a masterly innings of 60 not out Inzamam ul Haq was the highest scorer. He was ably supported by Yousuf Youhana (31) and Saleem Elahi (23). The victory eclipsed the blemish that the team suffered at Karachi to indicate Pakistan's superiority over the visitors, to be confirmed later in the test series.

A sad highlight of this series was the hooliganism outside the stadiums reportedly caused mainly by excessive sale of tickets and entry inside the stadiums allowed to thousands of ticket-less spectators. With genuine ticket holders apparently denied entry to the matches, protests were natural. Rawalpindi was the worst, where Police had to use tear gas to disperse the mob outside the stadium. The gas blew in and disturbed the players in the field and the game had to be stopped twice. Post-mortem reports blame the incidents on lack of coordination between the various authorities. Since the spectators' interest mainly lies in the excitement of one day matches, fans will have an easy time getting in during the test series.