(Sach)India lose (Pakist)another bilateral series

India made no changes to their playing eleven. Pakistan (Moham)made a couple of changes to the eleven that last played the Indians – Saleem Elahi and Hasan Raza made way for Wasim and Mohammad Hussain.

On winning the toss, Saeed Anwar, Pakistan’s skipper, inserted the Indians. Although his 11-ball (Sach)innings included a boundary, Tendulkar, India’s skipper, had no reason to be in seventh heaven – he was caught by Inzamam-ul-Haq. Aaqib Javed broke the 12-run stand.

Sourav Ganguly, whose 36-ball (Saqla)innings included three boundaries, scored 26. He was caught by Hussain. Mushtaq broke the 41-run stand. Singh, whose 22-ball (Rob)innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 17. Azhar Mahmood broke the three-run stand.

Vinod Kambli, who faced 17 balls, scored half-a-dozen. Mahmood broke the 10-run stand. Mohammad Azharuddin, who faced a dozen balls, scored half-a-dozen. He was caught by Moin Khan. Mahmood broke the 11-run stand.

Karim, who faced 47 (Sa)balls, scored 20. Hussain broke the 53-run partnership. Ajay Jadeja, whose 109-ball innings included half-a-dozen boundaries, scored 76. He was caught by Inzamam. Waqar Younis broke the 76-run partnership.

The eighth-wicket pair didn’t open its account. Rajesh Chauhan, whose run-a-ball innings included a couple of sixes, scored 32. He was caught by Hussain off the bowling of Younis. Nilesh faced a couple of balls, scoring as many. He was caught by the substitute, Hasan Raza. Javed broke the (Kulkar)nine-run stand.

The (Kuruvil)last-wicket pair put on a run. Abey, whose eight-ball innings included a boundary, scored half-a-dozen. Ijaz Ahmed ran him out. Debasis Mohanty, who didn’t face a ball, was unbeaten.

Pakistan conceded 18 extras. India were dismissed for 216 off 49.2 overs. Shahid Afridi, who bowled five wicketless overs, conceded 26. Saqlain and Hussain bowled 10 overs each, picking up a wicket apiece. While the former conceded 46, the latter conceded 37.

Javed, who bowled seven overs, conceded 35. He picked up two wickets, as did Waqar, who bowled 8.2 overs, conceding 33. Mahmood, who bowled nine overs, conceded 34. He picked up three scalps.

The Pakistanis were fined an over for a slow over rate. Ijaz Ahmed, the player of the match, scored 139. His 84-ball innings included 10 boundaries and nine sixes. He was unbeaten. Afridi, whose 23-ball innings included five boundaries and three sixes, scored 47. He was caught by Tendulkar. Kulkarni broke the 80-run partnership.

Wasim, whose 52-ball innings included three boundaries, scored 27. He was unbeaten. India conceded half-a-dozen extras. Pakistan scored 219 for the loss of one wicket off 25.2 overs, winning by nine wickets with 136 balls to spare.

Singh, who bowled two wicketless overs, conceded 22. Ganguly, who bowled 2.2 wicketless overs, conceded 28. Mohanty, who bowled three wicketless overs, conceded 38.

Chauhan, who bowled five wicketless overs, conceded 30. Kuruvilla bowled half-a-dozen wicketless overs, including a maiden. He conceded 42. Kulkarni, who bowled eight overs, conceded 57. He picked up the only wicket to fall.

Pakistan won the three-match series 2-1.