Indo-Pak A Dramatic Finish

India and Pakistan played out a thrilling tie at the ICC World Twenty20. Pakistan won the toss and chose to field mainly because of overnight rain with slow outfield and there will some movement for fast bowlers.

India open the batting with Gautam Gambhir and comeback man Sehwag. Asif's bowling reminded the great Glenn McGrath. Gautam Gambhir was brilliantly caught on the follow through at the second attempt, while Sehwag was sorted out as he so often has been of late, inside-edging one back on to his stumps. Sehwag's weakness has been totally exposed. I don't know how he is going to get back to his best. Everybody including the fans except him knows his weakness.

Uthappa got going with a great flick off his pads for four, and a splendid lofted on-drive off Gul showed that he meant business. But there was little support at the other end, with Yuvraj Singh miscuing one off the leading edge to mid-off. At that stage India desperately needed Yuvraj to continue. Dinesh Karthik briefly alleviated the gloom with two glorious strokes off Asif, making room and lofting through the off side, but when the extra bounce induced another inside edge, Pakistan were right on top. Asif as always been vulnerable with new ball, even the best batsman cannot take him out.

Pakistan allowed Asif to complete his full quota which was the right decision and he proved it with four wickets in four overs. Asif's exit gave Uthappa and Dhoni the chance to resurrect the innings. Uthappa thumped Arafat for a straight six and then lofted him way into the stands at midwicket, but both batsmen struggled to work out the left-arm medium pace of Sohail Tanvir, who bowled off the wrong out a la Mike Proctor. Sohail Tanvir has an interesting bowling action with his run up similar to Irfan Pathan but his delivery stride like a spinner. He uses both his hands like a spinner and moves the ball completely away from right handed batsman. He bowled a tidy spell in his first international match, a great prospect.

Afridi's introduction didn't stem the Indian momentum either, with Uthappa cutting and driving for fours, but a brief rain delay after he had reached 50 made all the difference. A thin edge through to Akmal gave Tanvir a first wicket, and brought Pathan to the crease.

A fascinating little tussle with Afridi followed. Two huge sixes over midwicket had the Indian fans cheering themselves hoarse, but Afridi had the last word with a quicker delivery that crashed into the leg stump. Harbhajan Singh as always using his brain brilliantly by taking a single of last ball and denying Dhoni the strike. In the end he played a terrible shot to get out.

Dhoni clubbed Arafat for a straight four and then swung him over fine leg for six, but the promised late explosion never came. Agarkar luckily got two short deliveries from Gul, which he cut for boundaries. Once Dhoni skied one to Younis at deep cover, India were left to limp to the finish. Dhoni's innings was far from impressive. Ever since he is made the captain of T20 he hasn't done well in the One Dayers or any format. Here the situation demanded him to stay on which he did. He should have stayed till the last ball and given some big blows to get India to 150. The way he got out was terrible, i don't know which boundary he was aiming at.

Pakistan opened with Imran Nazir and Salman Butt. Rudra Pratap Singh had given India the perfect start, cleaning up the reckless Imran Nazir, and both he and Sreesanth kept the runs down to increase the pressure on Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal. Sreesanth eventhough not atgood when it comes to bowling to left handers, but still he didn't gave too many runs. It was Butt that finally succumbed to it, edging Ajit Agarkar's second delivery behind the stumps. That evened the scales somewhat, but after a fairytale comeback over from Pathan, it was India that were right on top.

A misunderstanding with Younis Khan sent Akmal packing off the first ball, and when Younis then gloved one back on to the stumps, a Pakistani victory was no longer a formality. The wicket maiden from Pathan brought India right back and pulled out Scotland's hopes completely of making it to second round. A partnership was needed, and Misbah and Shoaib Malik built one, concentrating mainly on singles and the odd clever thump over the field.

Malik's patience finally snapped in Pathan's final over, with Harbhajan Singh taking the skier in the circle, and Pakistan needed almost two off every ball when Afridi walked to the middle. Afridi shouldn't bat this low down the order he should be batting up the order. He was dropped by Agarkar of his own bowling. He never got going either, but instead of the death-knell, his departure sparked a stunning finish.

Pakistan needed 39 of 14 balls with Afridi gone India was going to pull an amazing victory. Harbhajan's otherwise immaculate spell was ruined by a six and a four from Misbah, when the sardar became complacent. When the woefully off-radar Agarkar was clouted by Yasir Arafat and Misbah for 17 in the penultimate over, Pakistan needed just 12 from six. Agarkar is playing for India for nine years, i still don't know why he is still in the team. During the penultimate over he was bowling length deliveries instead of yorkers. He could have at least bowl low full tosses, which would have made things difficult for batsman. Instead he made things easy for batsman. Had they played good shots i wouldn't have been disappointed.

Misbah placed one beautifully over cover and then thumped one straight down the ground. With 1 run needed off 2 balls Pakistan was looking pretty thanks to Agarkar. Sreesanth didn't loose his cool and bowled a short delivery outside off stump coming from around the wicket at a speed of 141 kmph. It was a dot ball. With one run needed of 1 ball still Pakistan can make it all the fielders came inside the circle. Everyone expecting a yorker including the batsman, but Sreesanth came and bowled a short ball outside the off stump that Misbah could only parry to silly mid-off. Robin Uthappa with the throw and Sreesanth grabbed the ball cleanly and whipped the bails off, Misbah had no chance of completing the single.
With Misbah-ul-Haq run out off the last ball of the match it was a tie. Indian players celebrated but Pakistanis were extremely disappointed. But the tournament rules didn't allow for the ponits to be shared, and it was India that prevailed in the bowl-out. Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Robin Uthappa were Dirty Harry-accurate, while Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi all missed by a fair distance as a sell-out crowd celebrated an enthralling finale.

The 33-year-old Misbah, who made a magnificent 53 from just 35 balls, had been an unlikely hero for Pakistan after Shahid Afridi's dismissal, with 39 needed from 14 balls, had left them in a seemingly hopeless situation. He needed just one run from the last two balls of the innings, but Sreesanth came round the wicket and had the last laugh.

India then fielded with great energy and bowled superbly to defend the total but Pakistan stormed back in the final three overs. They might however reflect on the batting order, with the destructive Afridi having come to the crease when the situation was almost beyond salvage.
It was great match with India and Pakistan coming back from situations which were totally against. Dhoni in his first match as captain handled his bowlers well. Pakistan shouldn't be totally disappointed because they played really well. India were really lucky. India should immediately replace Agarkar with somebody else. Man of the match Mohammed Asif for his fantastic bowling. Irfan Pathan made a very good comeback. If he can continue his form India has got a very good all rounder.