Sachin again proves to be modern cricket's Bradman

One must whole heartedly acknowledge that Sachin Tendulkar is the best batsman the world has seen after Sir Donald Bradman. He is hailed as modern cricket's most complete player and whose stroke-play once reminded late Sir Donald Bradman of his own batting - a rare tribute. Recalling the days of Sir Don, it is a historical fact that every opposition remained at his mercy until he had been removed. So much so, that England had to devise the infamous bodyline bowling attack only principally to trap the phenomenal batsmanship of the legend in 1931-32 series. Likewise, today no team can breathe a sigh of relief until Sachin is off the crease.

Pakistan, though lost their match against India did play well under the circumstances. However, their tactical mistake was the failure to anticipate that a target of 273 was not good enough when Sachin is in such a terrific form. The least they could have done after giving away 50 runs in the first 5 overs was to revise their game plan with a strategy to contain the Indians. Their misery increased further with dropped catches, too many wides and noballs and of course by virtue of some scratchy fielding.

Even more surprising was leaving out Saqlain Mushtaq in this crucial match and they could have preferred Mohammad Sami over Shahid Afridi. The team selectors must be answerable to why Azhar Mahmood was included in the squad at all and especially in case he is still unfit. The coach, manager and captain also need to be questioned for lack of good game strategies that have been the subject of many media reports.

Brief review of the match
Waqar Younis won the crucial toss and elected to bat. Saeed Anwar (101, 126 balls seven fours) played a long overdue and brilliant innings. He anchored and held Pakistan together till 40 overs. By this time Pakistan had posted 195 runs. In fact, had Abdul Razzaq not crawled along for his 12 runs and Inzamam-ul-Haq not run himself out for the 35th time in his carreer, Pakistan could well have crossed 300 runs. Still, Yousuf Youhana (25), Younis Khan (32) and Rashid Latif (29) contributed useful runs. Ashish Nehra, the Indian bowling hero against England failed this time with only 2 for 74. Anil Kumble also remained wicketless for 51.

It must also be appreciated that there was nothing at stake for the Indians in this match except they were motivated by being arch-rivals in trying their best to beat Pakistan. They had already qualified for the Super Six stage. The Indian team therefore, did not panic but relished and charged the much vaunted yet wayward Pakistan bowling attack from the very beginning.

Trump card Sachin Tendulkar, scored 98 from 75 balls with 12 boundaries and a six. He was the last Indian batsman out at the score of 177. Later, Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh associated in an unbeaten 99 run stand to earn India a well deserved victory with 4.2 overs to spare. Rahul Dravid remained not out with 44 and Yuvraj Singh with 50.

One has to give full credit to India as Pakistan's failure must not be attributed to their poor performance but more to the superb performance of India on the day.