April 16 was the bleakest day in Pakistan's cricket history when India devastated this country to its worst defeat in a Test match by the whopping margin of an innings and 131 runs in over three days. To add insult to injury India carried away the series honours by 2-1 for the first time in the two nations' history of Test encounters.
The present Indian squad had the inputs of all-round cricket to blow out - rather comprehensively - whatever chances Pakistan had of foiling India's designs of realising its dream 49 years after the neighbouring country's full tour under the leadership of the legendary spinner and all-rounder Vinoo Mankad.
Nothing mirrors the dominance of the Indians than the margin of their victory on a wicket, looking seaming on the first day but sporting on the rest of the two-and-a-half days which may have favoured the lineup with better resilience, craft and toughness of nerves. That India projected these elements far more convincingly than their rivals throughout the duration of the match - whether bowling, batting and fielding - threw the home outfit in a web of crisis.
The team management and the board hierarchy may come out with lame excuses of injuries and illness to the key players but on their own venue and in their own country the selection should not have been a problem and a perfectly fit conglomeration should have been fielded. India had a surfeit of all-rounders and eight bowlers to put pressure on the Pakistan batsmen, most of them with minimal exposure to high-voltage international cricket. Inzamam initially had four bowlers to call into service but after the slip in follow-through of speedster Shoaib Akhtar he was left with only one spinner and two seamers with Fazle Akbar not above club level. This was the mode of the selection committee whose chief was recalled - on whose recommendation nobody knows - after having, bungled during last year's World Cup in South Africa. Among the officials of the board, which was supposed to give endorsement to the playing list the Chief Executive was busy in commentaries enhancing the mess in which cricket had fallen.
The Indian captain, Sourav Ganguly, was fortunate to have won the toss and at once decided to exploit the greenish surface, the breeze and humidity. The Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium was our own venue. Did the home batsmen display the correct skill, quick feet and competence to counter the Indian medium-paced bowling, which had three youngsters, having plenty of determination? Flawless length and direction by Irfan Pathan, Balaji and Nehra forced the Pakistani batsmen to concentrate while facing the deliveries, seldom was it safe to leave the ball alone. It was an attack that strained the nerves of the selected home batsmen. When on the first day eight Pakistani batsmen had perished for 200 the Indians were decidedly calling the shots. The next day the total reached a moderate 224 with the help of a fighting 49 by a tail-ender, his name Mohammad Sami, a fast bowler in the opinion of the scribes.
The next day the opposite happened when India batted, even though Virender Sehwag, the triple centurion of Multan, was sent back by Shoaib on his first ball. Parthir Patel, sent in as an opener, and Rahul Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly stroked in a confident vein. Shoaib, having slipped during his followthrough, bowled only 21.2 overs. A pacy cricket or a sporting one the Indians, Dravid in particular, batted like superb technicians giving enjoyment to the connoisseurs. A score of 600 in the first innings was high enough to give them victory. No doubt Pakistan were short of bowlers but the Indian batsmen, with flowing rhythmical movement, cut to smithereens whatever deliveries were hurled at them.
Pakistan again in the second venture suffered from the ailment of immobility of footwork due to kicking balls moving both ways. When the Pakistani batting will improve nobody knows? Then day by day rookie players are inducted into the team with deficiencies of technique and skill. How may players will decide to retire, nobody knows?
A batsman, who really scintillated on the morning of the fourth day, was left-hander Asim Kamal in a challenging hour - in fact in an hour of doom when disaster was awaiting the Pakistan outfit. But Asim stood in that hour of agony and grief with a gallant attitude and flawless technique. He could not pull the match to his side but his courage and boldness have to be appreciated.
There are so many weaknesses in the team that one does not know how to plug the loopholes. A full investigation, a judicial inquiry, into the terrible debacle against the Indians, is needed.
It is absurd that the PCB chairman has set up a medical panel to look into the cause of injury to Shoaib Akhtar. What about the generalised disease in the squad plus the wrong-doing in the selection of the lineup? The unconcern shown by the Chief Executive cannot be ignored. Let a judge of the apex court go into the causes of the stumble in the one-dayers and the Multan and Rawalpindi Tests.