England had come to Pakistan as a top-heavy favourite after their stunning success over the powerful Australians in the Ashes Test series but here in this country their euphoria was deflated by the home squad who played as a unit and whose body language was positive.
If the Multan win was by a slim difference of 22 runs and it was supposed to be a flash in the pan, Pakistan's triumph at the Qadhafi Stadium in the final Test by a whopping margin of an innings and 100 runs was emphatic and convincing which gave the series to the hosts by 2-0 with the Faisalabad match ending without a result.
There was little doubt about the superiority of the winners.
When Pakistan declared their innings at the huge score of 636 India had been given the daunting task of clearing the deficit of 348 runs in the second venture.
It was no doubt a tall order. They lost two wickets to the sudden penetration and hostility of the strongly-built speedster Shoaib Akhtar with a score of 121 on the fourth day. A tough resistance for a full three sessions was needed to save the sinking ship.
Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood were undefeated at lunch. At drinks the pair was settled and had knocked up 175 for a third-wicket stand. Perhaps they can rescue the team, thought the England supporters and their players in the dressing room.
Drama soon unfolded with the atmosphere at the Qadhafi Stadium turning into a carnival as Kaneria sent a magical leg-break to stun Collingwood at 205 with his personal score 80. Kevin Pietersen followed him to the pavilion at 212, bamboozled by Kaneria, the ball going into the safe hands of Hasan Raza in the slips.
However, the next ball of Kaneria that foxed Andrew Flintoff was a beauty; it was a perfect googly which could have beaten any skilful batsman in the crickiting world. Then came the turn of Shoaib Akhtar, who was waiting for his chance like a famishing tiger to assault the English batsmen and gulp them, sometimes with sheer lightning velocity, sometimes with a slower ball that surprised the visiting players. It was a wide range of the artifice of pace bowling.
That day Shoaib was a combination of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younus and Imran Khan, all legendary bowlers. His method was to make the ball move from the batsman from leg to off, in the air and off the pitch as also change the pace to hoodwink the players. Shoaib's bowling on the final day, along with the perplexing leg spin of Danish Kaneria, overwhelmed England. Their last eight wickets were flattened in 43 runs in just over an hour's carnage to give Pakistan, the underdogs before the series, a historic victory despite many biased umpiring verdicts.
Apart from Vaughan on the fourth evening, Liam Plunkett and Bell were the victims of Shoaib Akhtar's slower deliveries. The great moment on the last afternoon was the downfall of Bell who appeared set for a second century of the rubber. Kaneria ended the English innings by bowling Hoggard with a turner for a duck.
Perhaps two deliveries of Shoaib turned the wheel of the match towards Pakistan in England's second venture. They were not vehement or furious demonstration of fast bowling. In fact exact and accumate slower balls removed Vaughan and Bell. Kaneria's crafty and cunning spin of hypnotic flight performed the dispatch of Flintoff. The ball turned as much as it could and if landed a telling blow on England and perhaps it was one of the best deliveries of the match.
The triumph at Lahore could not have been possible without the responsible double hundred of Mohammad Yousuf, batting with extremely correct mode and method. His straight drives were majestic.
His stand of 269 with Kamran Akmal, a centurion, was the highest of Pakistan for the sixth wicket against any country. The partnership displayed power, audacity and daring on a wicket which appeared to be sleeping and Hoggard and Harmison held no terror to the batsmen.
Then Inzamam returned after being hurt on the writ initially to plunder 97 with plenty of dash and vigour. He was unfortunate to miss three-figures but joined the 8,000 run club and became the second Pakistani after the illustrious Javed Miandad to have done the feat. Inzamam is the 14th player to have made 8,000 or more runs in Tests. The list is headed by Brian Lara with a career aggregate of 11,214 runs. Inzamam, now in full form, may exceed his present total of 8052 during the Test skirmishes with India in January.
Yousuf, by hitting the highest score in the Lahore Test, was given the man of the Match award though many think Shoaib Akhtar or Kaneria may have been the better choice. No eyebrows have been raised over Inzamam being selected as player of the series.
Pakistan deservingly won the final Test and the series and proved superior to England in all departments of the game.
Inzamam described the success against England the "finest and biggest of his career". The England captain, Vaughan, thought that Shoaib Akhtar was "a massive threat in the match" which led to his team's debacle although Kaneria also played a stellar role in the outcome of the third Test and the series.
Pakistan have climbed some steps in the Test ratings, having being put fourth among the cricketing nations above South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and West Indies.
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