Pakistan (Azh)are beaten; India advance

India made just one change to their playing eleven – Hrishikesh Kanitkar made way for Harvinder Singh. Pakistan made three changes to the eleven that last played the Indians – Akhtar Sarfraz, Moin Khan and Wasim Akram made way for Aamer Sohail, Rashid Latif (who was leading the team for the first time) and One-day International debutant Fazl-e-

Akbar.

Early morning fog delayed the match, which was reduced to a 37-overs-a-side match. On winning the toss, Latif inserted the Indians. Sourav Ganguly, whose 17-ball innings included three boundaries, scored 13. Three overs into the match, he was caught by Inzamam-ul-Haq. Aaqib Javed broke the 14-run stand.

Tendulkar, whose 44-ball (Sach)innings included 11 boundaries, scored 67. Eighty-three balls later, he was stumped by Latif. Saqlain Mushtaq broke the 112-run stand. Navjot Singh Sidhu, whose 42-ball innings included three boundaries, scored 36. Eighty-seven balls later, he was caught by Azhar Mahmood, who broke the 89-run partnership.

Ajay Jadeja had no reason to be in seventh heaven – he scored half-a-dozen. Nineteen balls later, he was caught by Manzoor Akhtar. Mushtaq broke the 21-run stand. Robin Singh, who faced three balls, scored a run. Five balls later, he was caught by Saeed Anwar. Javed broke the three-run stand.

Sairaj Bahutule, who faced three balls, scored a run. Half-a-dozen balls later, he was caught by Afridi. Mushtaq broke the four-run stand. Mohammad Azharuddin, India’s skipper and the player of the match, scored 100. His 111-ball innings included seven boundaries. The next ball, he was caught by Mahmood off the bowling of Mushtaq.

Nayan Mongia, who faced a couple of balls, scored a run. He was unbeaten, as was Javagal Srinath, who faced a ball. He didn’t get off the mark. Pakistan conceded 20 extras. India scored 245 for the loss of seven wickets off 37 overs.

Sohail, who bowled a wicketless over, conceded nine. Fazl-e-Akbar, who bowled a couple of wicketless overs, conceded 19. Akhtar, who bowled five wicketless overs, conceded 30. Afridi, who bowled eight wicketless overs, conceded 38.

Mahmood, who bowled seven overs, conceded 65. He picked up a wicket. Javed, who bowled half-a-dozen overs, conceded 34. He picked up a couple of wickets. Mushtaq, who bowled eight overs, conceded 41. He picked up four wickets.

Afridi, whose six-ball innings included a boundary, scored five. Tendulkar had a reason to be in seventh heaven – he caught him. Debasis Mohanty broke the five-run stand. Ijaz Ahmed, whose 11-ball innings included three boundaries, scored 18. Twenty-seven balls later, Harvinder broke the 39-run stand.

Sohail, whose 20-ball innings included three boundaries, scored 19. (Srina)Three dot balls later, he was caught by Tendulkar off the bowling of the Karnataka pacer. Anwar, whose 11-ball innings included a boundary and a six, scored 13. Eighteen balls later, Harvinder broke the run-a-ball stand.

The fifth-wicket pair put on 84. Akhtar, whose 57-ball innings included a boundary, scored 39. A hundred and two balls later, Bahutule and Mongia ran him out. Inzamam, whose 69-ball innings included seven boundaries and three sixes, scored 77. Twenty-five balls later, he was caught by Tendulkar, who broke the 39-run stand.

Mahmood faced 16 balls, scoring as many. Nine balls later, he was caught by Tendulkar. This was his fourth catch. He equalled the Indian record for the most catches in an ODI [held by Sunil Gavaskar and Azharuddin (incidentally, against Pakistan). Harvinder broke the 12-run stand. Latif, who faced 18 balls, scored 14. He was unbeaten. Mushtaq, whose 10-ball innings included a boundary, scored 11. Seventeen balls later, Srinath broke the 17-run stand.

The ninth-wicket pair put on 13. Fazl-e-Akbar, who faced eight balls, had no reason to be in seventh heaven – fourteen balls later, Mongia ran him out. India conceded eight extras. Pakistan, who scored 227 for the loss of nine wickets off 37 overs, lost by 18 runs.

Ganguly bowled a wicketless over, conceding eight. Robin, who bowled half-a-dozen wicketless overs, conceded 20. Bahutule, who faced seven wicketless overs, conceded 53. Mohanty, who bowled three overs, conceded 31. He picked up a wicket.

Tendulkar, who bowled four overs, conceded 24. He picked up a wicket. Srinath, who bowled eight overs, conceded 40. He picked up a couple of wickets. Harvinder, who bowled eight overs, conceded 47. He picked up three scalps.

India advanced to the best-of-three finals.