Asif and the Zone

How does one bowler get consistently more seam movement with the new ball than any body else? Ask Mohammad Asif, because nobody else knows the answer. When Asif bowls, the ball invariable lands on the seam, the others are lucky if they get even two out of six deliveries to land on the seam. We have heard about batsmen being in the zone, and this guy has just hit the bowler’s equivalent. He bowled another brilliant spell in the first one dayer at Peshawar, and his match figures of 3-30 on a batting paradise is nothing short of incredible. Gentle loosener; what is that? The first ball he bowled in the match was a ripper and Sehwag had no chance of surviving. It swung in and seamed away. The only way Sehwag could have avoided the edge was if he had dropped the bat. The next man in was Irfan Pathan and he just couldn’t touch the ball as Asif repeatedly beat his bat. In Asif’s second over 5 balls went past the outside edge. Phew, what a bowler!

Mohammad Asif definitely has the wood over the Indian batsmen and if India are to win this one day series they have to either attack him and shred his confidence or take the more sensible option and cautiously play him out like Sachin Tendulkar did. Sehwag will definitely try to attack him, because that is the only way he plays, and it is going to be a great battle between the two for the rest of the series. The left handed Pathan survived, and even shimmied down the pitch and smote Asif over cover. Thus, attack is possible. Asif bowls a more dangerous line to the right hander, so maybe the left handed Suresh Raina, a SuperSub for this game, should be sent up the order?

Irfan Pathan is an allrounder, there is not even a doubt about that any more. His batting was once again feisty and defiant. When the team is in trouble he seems to thrive with the bat and he was certainly pumped up for the occasion. After Pathan's departure Dhoni was sent in to utilize the power plays, and he certainly did. Dhoni's batting has to be watched just for the swagger with which he orchestrates his innings. He started off with a streaky edged four off Razzaq, but by the end of the over he had added three more boundaries. Dhoni continued the assault that Pathan had begun and they both batted around Sachin Tendulkar's methodical accumulation of runs. Sachin’s appetite for the battle hasn’t dimmed a bit as he eased his way to his 39th century and went past 14000 career runs. Staggering numbers! The dichotomy with his performance and India’s performance are mere indications of the fact that the Indian team success has thankfully moved well beyond one man’s role. Sachin was unfortunately declared LBW while reverse sweeping when he had gloved the ball, but the dismissal that really set India back was the LBW dismissal of Rahul Dravid. It was an inswinging yorker from Rana Naved and it looked to have done too much and would have missed leg stump. The batting collapsed after that in the frenetic chase for runs, and India stuttered to 328 all out in the final over.

Sreesanth impressed early on with his pace and late movement but was expensive as he steamed in with the eagerness of a young man making his India-Pak debut. Salman Butt and the in form Kamran Akmal provided Pakistan a rousing start. India pulled things back after Akmal was dismissed, but Shoaib Malik loves the Indian bowling and he waited patiently, accumulating runs with some swift running between the wickets before exploding after reaching his fifty. He destroyed Mural Karthik with 3 huge hits for six and the under pressure left armer began bowling wides outside leg stump when coming around the wicket. Agarkar lost his head trying to bounce Malik and was smashed for three fours in one over. Malik ensured that Pakistan was well ahead of the Indian rate and above the Duckworth/Lewis requirements. India got an unexpected opening with the dismissal of Butt as his tired lofted drive didn’t clear Dravid at cover. Shahid Afridi was sent in to continue the mayhem in his hometown and Malik and he were doing just that before Malik threw it away by clipping Zahir Khan to Dravid at midwicket. Mohammad Kaif’s brilliant fielding got rid of Afridi, and bizzarely enough people began leaving the stadium after Afridi’s run out. They didn’t come to see Pakistan, they came to see their local bomber Shahid Afridi.

Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam were taking the game away from India when he took Dravid’s bait of men in the circle and pulled one to mid on. Dravid knew the game was running away and his smart captaincy brought India back in to the game. He shuffled his bowlers and brought in his fielders to tempt the Pakistani’s. Dravid is a proactive captain if there ever was one, and he pretty much brought India back into the game. Suresh Raina, who was simply outstanding in the field, saving at least 15 runs, at mid off spotted Inzamam trotting out of his crease, and quickly lobbed the ball back to stumps and Inzamam in his moment of clarity knocked the ball back with a classical backfoot off drive. The Indians appealed and of course Inzi was out obstructing the field, because he was way outside the crease. Inzi immediately protested to the umpires because in the last series against England he had been wrongly adjudged run out when he had tried to avoid the ball, so this time he felt he did the right thing by knocking the ball away. What was even more bizarre was at the post match interview he huffed and puffed and said that he doesn’t understand the laws. The Pakistan captain doesn’t understand the laws, even after going back to the dressing room and coming out after the match was over!! Probably everybody stayed clear of the fuming gentle giant of Pakistan cricket.

The light was fading fast and Dravid resorted to spinners so that umpires would let the play go on. Only Younis Khan and the tail was left, when the umpires finally offered the light to the batsmen and they gladly accepted knowing that they were ahead of India on the D/L scale. It was an unfortunate end to the match, but it probably was the correct result as Pakistan deserved to win the match.

Dravid will be left pondering his toothless bowling attack and how to counter Mohammad Asif, while Inzi will be studying MCC’s Laws of Cricket, the Spirit part he has already got down pat. It promises to be an enthralling series.