''A Disappointing end to THE MOTHER OF ALL SERIES'. Review on India Pakistan Test Series 2006

A long waited series ended at a disappointing note for all the Indian cricket fans who had expected the Indian team to repeat the performance of 2004 tour of Pakistan. It was a special series for me since it was Dravid’s first test series overseas as a captain; however he has not been instrumental in winning his team the series in Pakistan this time. The matches at Lahore and Faisalabad can surely be considered as practice matches for both the teams and hence the series had to be decided at the final venue i.e. Karachi. Pakistan outplayed India in almost every part of the game; let’s have a closer look at each aspect of the game.

1. Pakistan Batting: Even if we exclude the first two test matches that have been played on two flatter than flattest tracks, Pakistan batting has been outstanding in every match of the series. It was led by their vice captain Younis Khan who deserved every bit of “Man of the series”. Any team’s batting strength can simply be adjudged from the fact that they come up very hard in the second inning of a match with a mammoth score of 599/7 when they were 39/6 at one stage in first inning of the same match. Younis Khan got good support from Mohammd Yousuf, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal and the other batsmen at different times. Kamran Akmal is probably the best wicket keeper batsman that Pakistan has ever produced, and hence their batting line up becomes stronger.

This was the first time in test match history when every single batsman of the first 7 score passed 50 runs in the same inning.

2. Pakistan Bowling: Winning a test match simply means taking 20 wickets; any team who is capable of taking 20 wickets in 5 days can win a test match. Pakistan just did that to India; they claimed 20 wickets and won the match. Shoaib Akhtar was most impressive among the all; though he didn’t get as many wickets as he should have got. There should be any talk on Danish Kaneria, since the pitch was not suitable for him. Razzak did a good job with the ball too and picked up some crucial wickets in a crucial test match. But the pick of the bowlers in the deciding test was Mohammad Asif. Yeah he bowled well but its very unfair that some former Pakistani cricketers have started comparing him with Glenn Mc’Grath. Mc’Grath has earned his spot in world cricket by performing consistently against all the teams and against all the odds. No one can be in comparison with him by just giving one match winning performance. But if you remember India’s last tour to Pakistan, Javed Miandad had quoted that “Pathan jaise bowler hamare yahan har gali mohalle mein hote hai” and then what Pathan did to Pak is known to all of us.

3. India Batting: No matter how many centuries you score in a test match, which is destined to be a draw. Your performance matters a lot when you win a match for your country. Indian batting line up looked completely scattered in the third test. Sehwag showed the signs of great inconsistency and so did Laxman. Dravid played well in first two tests but failed to perform in the most important one. Well I can’t blame Dravid alone, since he is not the only batsman to be blamed. Yuvraj was again inconsistent and Ganguly was probably trying to find his place in the team by some small knocks. It is not possible to replace Dhoni at this point of time and he played one match saving knock too in second test. The biggest disappointment in the batting was Sachin Tendulkar, I don’t say that he should start planning his retirement right now, but he should think about scoring more runs now. Pathan managed to get some good scores but again the scores that win you a match are memorable.

The saddest part of the last match was India did not have a proper plan for chasing a target of 607 and they were bowled out on day 4 only. I would have been happy, had they given some fight before loosing the match. It boosts a team's confidence.

4. India bowling: We will not talk about bowling on those flatter than flattest tracks of Lahore and Faisalabad. India also had to claim those 20 wickets for winning the third test match and they didn’t. Bowling performance was just too disappointing except the first session’s good show on day 1 where Pathan took a hat-trick and Zaheen Khan picked up a couple. Any team from 39/6 in first inning to win a test match by huge margin can do the magical only with the help of opposition’s bowlers. Kumble couldn’t have done anything extra ordinary there, but managed to pick few wickets. He still has some cricket left in him. Rest of the pace attack was helpless for almost full match time. This bowling performance can be said as disastrous.

5. Pitches and grounds: First two wickets were as flat as they could have been and resulted in two drawn test matches and that was very predictable. The third pitch had many grass patches all over it and hence was helpful for fast bowlers and hence produced a result (though not in favor of India). The outfield for all the grounds was a typical sub continental outfield and was very quick and resulted in quite a number of boundaries.

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