Column

All credit to the way the Indian spinners made use of the conditions at the Green Park Stadium on Sunday.

Their batsmen had set the game up well having got to almost 300, but the bowlers needed to be both smart and spot on, which is exactly what they managed to do.

Harbhajan, in particular, was outstanding and he is such an experienced bowler that the moment he realized the pitch would get slower as the Pakistan innings went on, he adapted his approach.

The wily off-spinner may have got only one wicket, but the way he managed to slow down the Pakistan innings in the middle overs proved crucial in the 46-run win.

The Indians also managed to put in the shade an outstanding performance by Salman Butt.

He has always performed outstandingly against India, but this must rank as one of his best.

It is unfortunate that he received little or no support from the rest of the batsmen.

He loves the quicker bowlers and took heavy toll at both ends of the innings and I can only speculate about the result if only one more batsman other than Misbah-ul Haq had been around to lend Salman some support.

Shahid Afridi batting up the order is always something of a gamble because no one knows how many overs or even balls he will last.

There have been times his explosive batting has won games for Pakistan in next to no time, but on Sunday, the team would have been better served had he been held back for the later overs, as happened at Mohali.

His early fall meant the rest of the batting immediately came under pressure.

I thought Mahendra Singh Dhoni did very well with his bowling changes, especially after Pakistan started so well.

The wicket was always going to slow down, and the decision to bring Yuvraj Singh on was an inspired one.

Yuvraj had batted well and his confidence was high but it still needs imagination to take a gamble like that.

It paid off immediately with the wicket of the Pakistan captain as Shoaib Malik was just starting to look dangerous.

The win, which gives the Indians a 2-1 lead in the series, also put to shade some very fine fast bowling from Sohail Tanvir.

Not only is he a wrong-footed bowler, he is also left-handed, which is a very awkward combination for right-handed batsmen in particular.

It was thanks to his efforts that a good start by India was broken and he added the quality wickets of Tendulkar and Ganguly to his bag, which is very creditable.

He is young and a quick learner and I see a good future for him in Pakistan colours.
A word about the pitches we have seen in the series so far.

The one at Guwahati was disappointing, very dusty and two-paced.

The Mohali pitch was a cracker and we saw a top-class cricket match. The track at Kanpur held up well for the Indian innings and well into the first half of Pakistan’s chase before it started to slow down all of a sudden.

As I said earlier, it still needed bowlers to exploit the conditions and that the Indians did very well.

The series has shown that these are two very evenly matched teams and the next two games should be exciting affairs. Pakistan face a must-win game at Gwalior and I am sure they will come out fighting.

—News Watch Asia