Amalgamating confidence, composure and authority Rahul Dravid, known in his country as 'Wall', and Mohammad Kaif capped a splendid effort to take India to a five-wicket triumph when everything seemed lost and looked in favour of Pakistan in the fourth one-dayer at the Qadhafi Stadium of Lahore.
The recovery from 94 for four or 162 for five was fabulous, if not impossible, and when the target, not an easy one, was reached with a drive by Kaif the Indian supporters, among whom were film celebrities and business tycoons, were emotionally overwhelmed and gave vent to their feelings of delight by vociferous cheers. Both the Indian and Pakistani fans must be waiting for a fitting finale on Wednesday.
In the latter part of the Indian knock the wicket had become dead as a dodo but the main difficulty with the Pakistan attack was that the bowlers were sending too many bad, pathetically inaccurate balls; the wides and no-balls too continued rather irrationally to the discomfiture of the Pakistani fans as well as captain Inzamam who held at least two of them but the umpire gave some other verdict.
The Pakistani seamers had started well enough, Shoaib Akhtar showing terrifying pace that forced Sachin Tendulkar to give a catch behind the stumps. The master batsman had been overthrown.
Then it was the turn of Laxman, coming from a successful tour of Australia, to be bowled neck and heels. Sehwag too was caught smartly by Younis Khan at third slip as soon as Mohammad Sami ran into length.
The Indians were in real trouble when Moin Khan smartly held a catch or half catch to send back Ganguly off a beauty from Razzaq.
Yuvraj Singh and Dravid gave some semblance of respectability to the innings, Dravid playing with principled technique, Yuvraj making runs even with crooked bat. It were runs that mattered and he made 36. In company with Dravid he added 68 for the fifth wicket.
India were not yet out of the woods when Yuvraj was brilliantly caught by Youhana at square leg off a Sami delivery that swung in sharply. Still 131 runs were required and almost all the Indian top order had been polished off.
Dravid never lost his cool. There was determination, resolution and adeptness in his batting. No wrong stroke came out of his bat. Kaif, fighting to retain his place in the squad, played without a shadow of a mistake, never driving uppishly, picking out the right ball for a safe hit.
Inzamam was ringing bowling changes but the Dravid-Kaif combination went on their way serenely and giving signs of durability to the regret of an understanding gathering that thought that Pakistan had still a chance when the wheel was swinging to the other side.
A 132-run sixth wicket Dravid-Kaif partnership set a new Indian record that bettered the previous one of 127 made by Ajay Sharma and Azharuddin against New Zealand in 1988.
Certainly the Indians deserved the victory by assured batsmanship by Dravid and Kaif when it was needed and Pakistan was not allowed to get on top.
Kaif has turned out to be one of the quickest fielders in the Indian bunch, particularly his catching of Razzaq and Shoaib Akhtar near the boundary reminded the old-timers of Gul Mohammad and Agha Saadat, running and making no mistake in taking catches.
Pakistan, once Afridi was sent back by this tormentor, Irfan Pathan, as in Peshawar, got the shock later by the same bowler when Youhana was leg before. They took time to-settle down. A dreary hundred came in 23.5 overs, in 25 overs only 106 runs were recorded for the loss of three wickets.
This was a suicidal approach which cost the home side the match despite a second century in the series by Inzamam and Razzaq again lifting up the scoring rate and the hearts of the connoisseurs.
Pakistan's fielding is too ponderous compared to the Indians' rapidity on the ground. Their bowlers also bowl to the field. The sundries have not yet been cut; the Pakistani trundlers are bowling like millionaires. They think their reputation would shake the Indian batsmen.
The bowling has to be tidied up if Pakistan wants to clinch the series when it is deadlocked at 2-2.
One also wants to make a plea for off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq to take the place of Shoaib Malik who was more or less ineffective on Sunday. Then what was Malik's contribution in batting?
Let us hope the best performance is put up by both the sides in this last of the goodwill one-dayer. Pakistan should rediscover its winning ways if it wishes to prove better than the Indians in the 'decider.'
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