|
At a time when India started to believe that they were the best in instant cricket came the defeat to Pakistan in the Kitply Cup in Bangladesh.
Pakistan once again proved that when it comes to determination, they are still ahead of their arch-rivals. Down in the dumps after a sound thrashing in the first match, they pulled off a remarkable victory in the final.
A final against Pakistan is more of a test of nerves than of the abilities of the players. It requires much more than planning.
Pakistan studied their first match defeat and realised that it was the Gautam Gambhir-Virender Sehwag's opening partnership that destroyed them and planned ahead.
When Pakistan began cautiously, India thought it was due to their inability to force the pace. Little did they realise that Younis Khan and Salman Butt were actually taking their time to settle down and launch the onslaught.
The wicket was such a flat one that any batsman who managed to stay would have been able to thrash the bowling.
In no hurry
The beauty of the Khan-Butt partnership was that they were never in a hurry; they accelerated slowly. They picked the right gaps rather than attempt hits in the air.
For India, however, most of their batsmen attempted the big shot and landed up being caught. This was followed by Dhoni's blunder of opting to come down the batting order when big hitting was the need of the hour. An India-Pakistan final cannot afford such blunders.
|
