2 February 1999
A match to remember
Tawfiq Aziz Khan
Pakistan snatched a sensational victory from India at Chennai. For
India it was a miss between the cup and the lip. For four days the
spectators at Chidambaram Stadium and millions of TV viewers sat on
the edge of their seats biting nails as the men in flannels fought
out a ding-dong battle for supremacy. The traditional rivalry between
these two neighbours in every aspect of life touched the dizzy
heights Sunday as members of both the teams were hell-bent to wrench
victory. The competition was so fierce that neither side asked for
quarters as they knew no quarters would be given.
As it is, the normal rivalry or attempts to come out on top in any
sporting contest between these two countries draws tremendous
interest and attention of people all over the sub-continent. And a
cricket match between the two in either country is the apex of their
dream. For four eventful days all eyes were glued to the Chennai
stadium (once known as Chepauk), where the Pakistanis first played
against India in the 1952-53 series under Abdul Hafiz Kardar and
almost brought about their second Test victory had not rain
intervened. But the experts who predicted a lot many runs on this
wicket and harped on winning a 'good toss' were soon proved wrong to
the extent that the help the bowlers got from the surface made life
miserable for the batsmen. This was no batsman's paradise. Except for
the second session of the fourth day, the picture was different, the
context too. Almost 12 years have passed since Pakistan played their
last Test on Indian soil, that at Bangalore when they won by a narrow
margin of 16 runs.
Proving the pundits wrong, the match took an interesting turn right
from the first day. Tendulkar and Mongia toiled hard for survival and
refused to be intimidated as bowlers held the whiphand. The contest
was very dramatic and, at times so uneven, that only 1036 runs were
scored in four days at a cost of 40 wickets. So, the pitch was no
featherbed.
In the first session Anil Kumble, who can hardly turn the ball,
became unplayable. Saqlain Mushtaq, dubbed by experts as arguably the
finest off-spinner in the game today, used his skill and wit
accounting for half the Indian side that included the little master
Tendulkar in both innings. When everything looked rosy in the garden,
Venkatesh Prasad, an unseemly customer, upset the Pakistan applecart.
Even a quickfire century by Shahid Afridi, his first in two Tests,
could not take Pakistan past 300. As the target remained within grasp
of a strong Indian batting lineup, the contest became fierce. A
'wounded' Waqar Younis spat venom and quickly removed the Indian
openers. But Sachin and Dravid survived some torrid moments against
the Pakistani 'speed duo', the two W's.
Those who saw the fourth day dawning with Wasim Akram bowling to
Dravid and Tendulkar must consider themselves extremely lucky,
because they, in near future, may not see such masterly pace bowling
in any form of the game. Only Dravid and Tendulkar can vouch for the
brilliance, the bite, the variety and the hostility of the spell.
With luck Tendulkar survived but Dravid perished. He was bowled by a
delivery that clipped his off-stump through bat and pad - a delivery
all pacemen will dream of but hardly able to serve. Sunil Gavaskar
was right when he reminded the viewers that Sir Don Bradman saw the
reflection of his younger days in Sachin Tendulkar and considered
Wasim Akram as the best left-arm bowler in the game. And we were
lucky to be watching these two against each other in a fierce
contest. Tendulkar survived but not by merit alone. The morning
session must have been a scintillating experience for the players as
well as the viewers and spectators. Pakistan's sensational collapse
after tea on the third day almost negated all the good work done by
young Afridi, Inzamam, Youhana and Malik. Prasad returned with his
career-best bowling figures and India were comfortably placed to
achieve a win in more than two days. A sudden rush of blood saw both
Mongia and Tendulkar committing grave mistakes and the rejuvenated
Pakistanis picked up the last four wickets for only four runs. A
historic win for the spirited Pakistanis after their dismal showing
in recent Tests against Zimbabwe and Australia.
Gavaskar looked distraught after the match. His piece of advice was
indirectly aimed at Sachin Tendulkar, who had left the field with
pain in the back. He left the crease at a crucial time when his team
needed only 16 runs with four wickets in hand. He had done his job
extremely well. How should he know his teammates will fail to achieve
such a small target? But that is the beauty of cricket. Gavaskar must
have been remembering his own innings at Bangalore as he was caught
at slips from an innocuous delivery only four short of which could
have been one of his best Test hundreds. India lost that Test by 16
runs. Gavaskar should have won it for India.
Most of us had seen may Test matches in our lifetime but I can hardly
recount one which was so poorly supervised. The umpires, specially
Steve Dunn from New Zealand, proved more than once, how inane he was.
Ejaz Ahmed's clean caught and bowled and Saurav Ganguly's catch by
Moin Khan, apart from a number of controversial leg-before decisions,
are examples that can be cited here. Azharuddin, Saqlain, Inzamam,
Ejaz and Saeed are all victims of poor judgment. The other umpire was
no angel either but he was more consistent in his decisions. The
umpires were responsible for spoiling this Test match and it is hoped
we will not see them at Delhi.
I shall be failing in my job if I do not congratulate the crowd at
Chennai. Once again they have proved that spectators are the heart
and soul of any game and a good crowd can take a game to the point of
unblemished entertainment.
It was a match to remember.
Source :: The Bangladesh Daily Star (https://www.dailystarnews.com)