Sachin Tendulkar did not score a century. But it was still one of the best innings he has played, according to Rahul Dravid, his captain.
I watched most of it (tape delayed) and I must say, Dileep Premchandran’s thoughts are quite on the money. I think he went a little overboard to say that the way he was leaving balls outside the off, was almost as good as his cover drive off Gul. No. The cover drive was better to watch 🙂
Anyway, India was able to chase quite a tough target at the end, despite Pathan failing early on and Gambhir unable to provide the kind of start the a chasing team would need.
Yuvraj and Dhoni continue to be the dependables in the middle order and I just hope this winning becomes a habit rather than a one-off thing.
Romit's Stream 
Anything on Dhoni?
Congrats to the Indian Team :D. Well played indeed.
Dhoni played a wonderful innings, and he is now becoming a standard in the Indian innings. If needed, he can pace himself, and if needed he can blast out the opposition. The reason I am amplifying Sachin’s knock is because it has made India win (so much for Sachin has not played match-winning innings), and has done after scoring a century earlier. Stop the Endulkar talks – the only thing to end here, as Dileep Premchandran said, is the trash.
@reza: If not for the stupid dropped catches in the early part of the Pak innings, it could have been much easier.
On Dhoni ? It seems someone likes his hairstyle 🙂
Yea ive heard Rana bowled very waywardly and there were a few dropped catches in the Indian Innings second time too. Ah well.. In the end. well played by both teams generally.
1. Must admire the plan that India has and which they are executing as only professionals can and should. Since Gambhir went early, pinch hitter was sent. But since he also got out, stability in form of Dravid came out (in an earlier game when things went better, Dhoni had followed Pathan, to keep the hitting going on). Sachin provided the initial aggression, in absence of Sehwag. Again, after the 2 wickets, and a slight settling down, he continued to blast while Dravid anchored on (although he helped himself to scoring opportunities when they came). Then when Yuvraj came in, and looked to be in good nick, Sachin slowed down a bit to let Yuvi provide the aggro. Again, after Sachin and then Kaif left, Dhoni comes out. And Yuvraj, the settled one, realises that he needs to be there till the end, to see India through. And he plays calmly, while Dhoni does the blasting. Realising that in the end, if a final push is required, Yuvraj can always provide the same.. ! Of course, sounds better when it works. But irrespective of that, there is a clear plan. Unlike earlier, when every move was absolutely formula driven and predictable..2. It was surprising to see Zaheer as super-sub. And also see him come in place of Agarkar, who had gone for 20-something in 6 overs. Not bad at all.. And not that Zaheer would provide better batting later..? Why is Powar not kept as the super-sub, since he can be used in batting or bowling, where the need is felt?3. Sachin did take chances initially. And was also lucky on at least a couple of occasions. Including the third-man six which could have easily become a catch. But then thats the nature of the one day game. You have to take the chances. 4. BTW, also saw Symonds and Ponting the other day.. what an awesome performance.. 5. Dhoni is a phenomenal plus for India. He does not just slog, but has fairly good technique. I would rate him higher than Afridi, and also more reliable for his team. And he has awesome power in his arms and shoulders. 6. Quite a change for the Indian team – that we have become good chasers. There was a time few years back, when we just could not chase.Lets keep the winning habit on! Cheers to Dravid and Greg Chappell.
@SPM: Super sub was almost a forced decision. Agarkar had some fitness issues, and since the squad of XII was already announced, Zaheer was called in.Now, Zaheer has been a good bowler at the end and I think the thinking was ok in terms of having him bowl the 4 overs he needed to bowl, at the end. The only problem is that he had not ‘tested’ the pitch by bowling earlier. He had to start bowling on it right away, with Pakistan trying to get as many as possible. Some of the runs he gave were quite lucky hits with the ball flying over the ‘keeper and stuff. In any case, the planning was correct, but the execution not so good. And yea, I agree. There was a good plan going – you missed the part where in the beginning, after losing 2 quick wickets and with Asif and Gul making the ball do stuff, Sachin and Dravid decided to let the spell get over – and it ended up looking even better because we won. And I was surprised how India has successfully chased in the recent past. Good!
I would like to review Tendulkar’s performance for the whole series.I pray he makes runs in all the matches in a style that we associate with Tendulkar only.
@Tarun: I hope ‘review’ means you want to see again, and not ‘question’ his performance. This blogger like Sachin, if you have not noticed in reading some of the earlier posts 🙂
I believe India will win the series since Shoaib and Afridi are now out.
@Reza: Afridi is a loss for Pakistan. They won without Shoaib and I think if Naveed can hold his line, the bowling is quite alright. The next match is Pakistan’s 😉
My last comment did not get past the moderation, looks like :-)Anyways, as we see, the series is nicely wrapped up.. and my conviction about a clean Dravid/Chappell/Sachin, etc. team is reinforced!Yay..!
@SPM: I don’t think there was any comment from you that was rejected. Sometimes, if you misspell the word verification, you may not realize it, but the comment was not sent. I was surprised that the series wrapped up in the 4th game itself. I thought they would let it go all the way. Oh well.
What I had mentioned in my earlier comment that ‘did not make it’, was in response to your comment that the 4th game will be Pak’s.That if it was the ‘bad old days’ (think Sharjah and the like), it would have been a certainty that Pak takes it. But in today’s times, with an apparently clean management at the helm of affairs in Indian team, and also the keenness of youngsters like Raina, Pathan, Dhoni, etc. to go for wins, it looks like India is not stoppable. When Dravid got out yesterday, with so little distance to go, I had a worst fear, just for once. That if there is a collapse (“engineered”) now, then we’ll know that the menace of fixing is still present. Thankfully, Raina with little opportunity to bat, made it his show, and wound it up nice and clean. And I slept in peace 😉
@SPM: I understand the faith in the New India. After walloping Sri Lanka in the home series, I knew that this team has something going for them.And now, winning the series in the 4th game of the series shows that there is no fixing shadow. Good! Will make it interesting going forward. I guess Sachin will not play the next game. Hope Kaif comes through – he’s been having a bad patch and the last thing you want is him getting replaced by Ganguly! 🙂
I hope in fact, that they give Venugopal Rao another chance – I think they will. He was very good in the home series, before this one. There should be pressure on the batsmen in the team, with young guys knocking the door. I don’t think Ganguly will return. His will be a case like Steve Waugh’s. Once out of the ODI team, its hard to get back – howsoever one may like to do so. Just too many young chaps out there. Did you follow the India U-19 team’s march to the finals of their world cup? That finals is also against Pak! Interesting. They walloped England in the semis. Hope the India-Eng home series goes like that too :-)Did you read about the HUGE amount that BCCI media rights got sold at? More dominance for India in world cricket.. all the money is here, indeed! India does not like Twenty20 world cup. So it will not happen 🙂
@SPM: India does hold a strong financial advantage over the other boards, and therefore indirectly, over the ICC. I do not like the idea of a twenty20 world cup. It is a good thing to have before a regular series, just to get the crowds excited with some slam-bang cricket, but come on, world cup?? Please.And yea, I do think Ganguly is out of the ODI team now. But my fear is that the politics will come into the picture and people will start pushing his success in Ranji One Dayers as reason to get him back. The media as you know is also going strong in India. Anyway, yea, I do think this team is solid now and should continue to improve to 2007 in West Indies. Fingers crossed.
What a fun last game to cap it all?! It was a pleasure to get to watch most of the second half, being a Sunday. The final rampage by Dhoni was amazing. Like they always knew that they could take it, and were just waiting for the last 7-8 overs to get going and finish it off! Awesome..
@SPM: I just finished seeing the Indian innings. Man, Dhoni is too good! Unbelievable power! And of course, the confidence. Which is new for this Indian team (well, after 2003).