It was a treat for a Pakistani fan to watch such a great match which is won by Pakistan on the fourth day. Only first hour of first session on the very first day of the match belonged to India when Pathan did a hat-trick and Pakistan were 39 for 6. But once there came Kamran Akmal and Abdul Razaq to play, Pakistan dominated in batting and bowling department over India. Kamran Akmal is declared Man of the Match for his match winning innings. Whole of the Match belonged to Pakistan and the only thing to cheer about for an Indian fan was the fabulous hat-trick by Pathan. But Pathan might never be considering this performance as the best one of his carrier as it proved to be unfruitful at the end.
Today, 4th day of the test match which eventually proved to be the final day, Pakistan made quick 89 runs in first one and half hour and offered India to Bat. Pakistan had made 599 runs and gave a target of 607 runs for India to win. India had to make a World Record to chase this massive total.
It was thought that now pitch has got easier for batting and a team like India having a deep and strong batting line up can sail through at least for a draw at this stage. But Shoaib got the big man Rahul Dravid in his very first over on the fifth ball. After Dravid, pressure on the Indian team multiplied with a large factor. No doubt Dravid was the only key and hope for India. Sehwag has never performed well in second innings, has made no century in 2nd innings.
Muhammad Asif has proved his selection in this match. He bowled awesome deliveries. Youngster performing extraordinarily in his third test got the big men Sehwag, VVS Laxman and Tendulkar. All of those were clean bowled on unplayable deliveries. After a very long time stumps were blown in the air thrice reminding the era of Wasim and Waqar. Those were no doubt enjoyable moments when Tendulkar was bowled. Tendulkar was stunned on the fabulous deliver hitting off stump.
Again in 2nd innings, Ganguly and Yuvraj offered some resistance. When India was 74 for 4, a feeling was that India might not be able to do 200 even but they seen through the remaining post lunch session adding 103 runs with their partnership to the total.
Ganguly had to go back to dressing room on the very first ball after tea delivered by Razaq. This dismissal was very similar to that of Salman Butt on Ganguly’s delivery. After the former captain went to pavilion, no one could offer reasonable resistance and got out one after the other from one end.
Yuvraj was the only person to play well. He completed his second test century. His first was also against Pakistan made 2 years back in Lahore and important point here is that India lost that match too. Any way this effort by Yuvraj secured India from Heaviest defeat.
Razaq was on fire after tea and bowled a magical spell getting four wickets. Danish Kaneria, on the other end, also got 2 wickets by turning ball a lot. It was the same pitch where Indian Bowlers failed to get wickets in 2nd innings rather they were hit heavily by almost every batsman. Tendulkar, whose stats were better yesterday, was hit almost 20 runs in a single over. But Pakistani Bowlers bowled with passion and spirit and got the Indians under pressure throughout the game.
A proof of good bowling is that again Pakistani Bowlers had to deliver almost 13 deliveries to get 10 batsmen out. Poor and sloppy fielding was responsible for this. Again Pakistanis dropped some very easy catches. Fielding has always been a problem for Pakistan and they have not only given runs but have dropped catches in abundance. And keep in mind that dropping a catch may result in a dropping the match. So Pakistan need to improve it and Boob Woolmer has to work very hard on it as he mentioned in his interview to Dean Jones after the presentation ceremony. Fielding plays very important role in one day matches.
Pakistan has won a test series after 19 years and so congratulations to whole nation, team, coach and specially Inzamam-ul-Haq for such a stunning victory over India. People of Karachi must be happy on having a test match after a very long interval. Surely they deserve praise for their discipline and sporting the both teams in the ground. Match was played peacefully with out any sort of contention or trouble so there is no reason for any team not to playing in Karachi. Test Matches should be played there in every series.
Umpiring was accurate and consistent in the series and specially Simon Taufel was perfect in decisions about LBWs. Taufel is no doubt one of the best Umpires at this time and is a part of Elite Panel.