September 21, 1996, Toronto, Canada.
The very name of the venue: Toronto Cricket, Skating, and Curling, will not evoke images of a picture-perfect traditional cricket ground in your typical English countryside but, there it is and it is a fine ground. Now, if only they would do something about its name. However, that was the least of the featured teams' worries as they filed in to do it all over again-- fourth time this week, owing to the whims of the atmospheric conditions. For the uninitiated, the teams are playing in a neutral environment because:
a. They are getting paid a lot of money.
b. Due to various reasons, they will not be permitted to play in their own countries against each other.

The whole scenario is rather like a Hindi movie--there is this chap and then there is this chapess, and for some rummy reason, families of both are opposed to ideas of a union, with the result that the hearts are compelled to jostle elsewhere. In the case of India and Pakistan, many argue, since there is so much strife and political animosity, relations, even those of a sporting nature should be ceased. Then there are those who make a point about the excitement onlookers bleed from such a contest. A confrontation that, in the eyes of many, is the closest to simulated warfare. Though the Sahara "Friendship" Cup is steeped in double standards, everyone is having such dashed fun. Particularly the Indian cricket team and its followers. Not so Pakistan. They go into Saturday's game after blowing two to the enemy--games they could have won but didn't because many in the squad felt they had to overwhelm, shame and vilify India. In the three games leading up to the day, Pakistan's pace aces looked quite confused with all the skills they have at their disposal-- they appeared hell bent on skittling the little Indians, an insane concept, when they should probably stick to the straight and narrow--literally. Waqar's stray 100 MPH bombs had not the desired effect and the Indians swung away lustily at him. Likewise, Pakistan's batters, for most part, have behaved in an addle-brained fashion. The trigger happy quartet of Anwar, Sohail, Inzamam, and Malik have enough on their resumes to suggest an easy time for the side at the crease. But, the last few days demonstrated that the Pakistani's have, at least momentarily lost the mental battle. They have erred in approaching each meet as a grudge-contest. The rancor is plastered all over their faces. The World Cup semi- final defeat in Bangalore, it appears, has not been stowed away as a distant memory. On the other hand, there are the Indians. They went into the Sahara Tournament in the aftermath of a sound clobbering by England and then, recently, by Sri Lanka and Australia. So nothing awesome was really hoped from them--always a nice position to be in if you are an average cricket side. However temperate they might be as tourists, when it comes to the old enemy, they pull out all sorts of fierce promises. Their most recent--to disembowel the Pakistani's in Toronto--only belied the suspicions of many--that well- meaning though India's lads are, they simply lack the killer instinct to go for the jugular. A 2-1 status, as of late Friday, however, seemed to have put a new spin on India's outlook on cricketing life. It appeared, the change in administration, with young master blaster Sachin at the head of the table, had started to spring the long desired results. Since Wednesday's triumph, India's supporters had plenty to say about their lads' gallantry and resource and particularly, about Sachin Tendulkar's expressive captaincy.

This is a day of reckoning all around. For Wasim and Waqar, it is important to shake off impressions of their declining potency. For Wasim, it is especially important to unite his often disconnected team. Tendulkar now has worries about justifying his elevation to captaincy. I mean, after all, it isn't too pleasant to dislodge a successful skipper and then lose an entire series to Pakistan. That really chafes.

Pakistan Innings:

The day began with the coin falling in Tendulkar's favor. A shake of the hands later Anwar and Sohail were dispatching some accurate but unhurried Indian material to miscellaneous sites on the ground. Sohail was the slower of the pair, and he batted with an integrity not seen from him in recent times. They had added 42 when Anwar called for the check and his departure dragged Salim Elahi into the discussion. Elahi is quite popular with the Indians, owing to his fleeting stints in the middle. He made another guest appearance--short , sweet and to the point, the point being he exists in the line-up to unload his mates in muggy waters. Which he did with usual flair, sticking out a brazen leg to Srinath. Sheperd's stubby finger received some sun and in the process surely brought down the curtains on an international career. Elahi's furtive steps to the dressing room were lost in the hubbub over Ijaz Ahmed's intro. I have noted elsewhere that Ijaz is a modern enigma. However, the manner of his crease occupation today lifted much of the fog that envelops the man. A year ago, his arrival to take inventory of a crisis would have induced his partner to pass a hand over the forehead. Ijaz, you see, was one of the fair- wicket types. He would look at the contingency this way and that way, then screw up the nose and with a shake of a head a word of luck to his colleague, would weasel out of the matter. Then he realized he was more accepted if he hung outside longer and helped sort things out. He did a lot off that in England and lately, in Toronto. Sohail and Malik quickly departed from his company and he tottered a bit upon finding--somewhat quicker than he had expected, the burly Inzamam next to him, at what was a pretty poor Pakistan score: 91/4.

Inzamam-ul--Haq, if it isn't already evident, punches a fairly big hole in the atmosphere--when he moves. When he doesn't, it can be plain distressing--especially to someone like Ijaz who is a speed freak. There were times, when the two were fighting it out for Pakistan, that it appeared Ijaz was going to haul off and let Inzamam have one on the spot--so laggard was Haq's approach to taking the quick single. Inzamam huffed and puffed through 40 runs and the duo installed 86 on the board before Ijaz, realizing enough was enough, called for one that had Inzamam's wicket written in bold Times-Roman on it, and as the Toronto Cricket, Skating, and Curling Club resonated in the big man's frantic pounding down the wicket, Jadeja shrieked in joy and let it loose. The timber rattled and Ijaz heaved a sigh of relief. Suddenly, the ball and chain was no more. Moin Khan, who wears the side's 'keeper's gloves hoofed in and you could read his thoughts as he marked his guard with more than necessary venom. Moin was a nice contrast to Inzamam's torpidity. He ran himself to the ground and then did the same to Ijaz--by the end of their innings, both could be observed being several inches shorter. With the aid of a top-notch innings of 90 (110 balls; 7x4, 1x6) Ijaz had nipped Pakistan back into the deal and Wasim walked in and clubbed a monstrous few--one was deposited in the tennis courts outside the stadium. Saqlain chipped in with his bit and when you added up the numbers, Pakistan had wiggled up to 258.

For the second time in the series, Tendulkar's decision to leave Ganguly at the Hyatt astounded me. Saurav is a gifted player and a man with his abilities should have been playing in place of Vinod Kambli. Sachin perhaps felt his child-hood crony needed the exposure, however, either Joshi or Ashish--both by the way churned out some abominable material--could have made way. Ganguly is understood to be a bowler of some description and that should have made it easier on Sachin to rope him in.

As it turned out, nothing the Indians chucked up made any appreciable difference to a fiercely determined Pakistan outfit and Tendulkar's bowling the last over, was laying it a tad too thick.

Indian Innings:

Through Nayan Mongia's visor, all one could see was apprehension. He blinked and skipped every time the ball thudded into the pads and when he finally made contact, it was cause enough for Wasim to abandon mid-off and institute a second slip--this in over #1. It was an excellent ploy and Mongia's frantic, fruitless slashes to get the thing through cover, brought amused grins on the fielders' dials. Waqar took up over #2 and he had Tendulkar springing on the heels to play some nice cuts. Over #3, Wasim was back and so were the two slips. A tentative prod down leg was all it took to commence the unraveling of another Indian side and Ijaz--it was difficult to keep the man out of the picture, blasted through a congregation of fielders and claimed part responsibility in knocking off India's first wicket. Tendulkar has got to re-examine this Mongia-as-opener arrangement. Nayan, as his bagel for the day verifies, is no Romesh Kaluwitharana, and you don't send him out against a blood-thirsty Pakistani captain. Period. Rahul Dravid walked in to see Tendulkar's violent slash yanked in mid-flight to point boundary by Salim Malik. The score was 9 and the India Captain trudged back, a disconsolate figure. The last sentence perhaps underlines the state of Indian cricket. "Pressures of captaincy" is the term automatically tendered for the leader's dismissal under such circumstances and one can understand. Tendulkar, who a few weeks ago batted with eyes closed and one hand behind the back, filled out the time-sheet with an inverted smile. It is inevitable--no man--given the volatile nature of Indian cricketers and the fans, can play with the abandon that a responsibility- less position allows. In the last game, he was out to a gentle push, as if checking his natural urge to wallop the ball. Today, the shot was more extroverted, but badly selected. Prestigious though the captaincy is, it would be a disastrous if India's finest bat loses his form with the addition of the title.

Mohammad Azharuddin gamboled in like a playful lamb. Slimmer and noticeably fitter, he addressed Wasim with a most remarkable shot--a gentle push to square-leg crashed into the boundary and tipped off a minor run-fest that, had it continued for a few overs more, would have given the Pakistanis a stroke. Waqar stuck out in Dravid's opinion as the one to go after and he whipped the pace ace for what surely raises cause for Younis to be dumped from One-Dayers--at least, until he trims some of the silly supersonic stuff. Azhar then blasted him through covers for what, surely, was the play of the day. 23 runs came off Waqar's fourth over and Wasim after finishing with his, motioned Waqar to stay back. "Ruk jaao, Waqar," the Captain said. Younis's response, as the camera panned to him, is not something that is printable, however, for the sake of enquiring minds, it rhymed with "shuck."

Saqlain Mushtaq was then pulled aside in a conference that rivaled the allies' D-Day meeting for duration and gravity and, a few seconds later Dravid was dismissed--owing more to umpire Barker's napping on the job than the off-spinner's excellence. Saqlain, unlike Joshi or Kumble, is not a spinner in name only and though fortuitious to extinguish Dravid, he made the ball assume various angles off the surface--dashed difficult to attack, Mohammad Azharudin, another casualty and the finest player of spin, will nod in agreement. With Azhar's tame dismissal, the bottom fell off the Indian innings--all too reminiscent of the semis game against Lanka, '96 'Cup. September 21, 1996 was a day that found the Indians at their magnanimous best and, one after the other, they respectfully handed their wickets in--all this as emergency vehicles wailed aptly in the background. Kambli tried everything in his grasp to return early and was swiftly rewarded for his efforts through a run-out. Jadeja, meanwhile, occupied crease and kept instilling false hopes to whoever joined him and there were plenty of those--Joshi, Kapoor, Kumble, Prasad. Mushtaq pipped in with a few ordinary overs, while Malik redressed his dud with the bat by scooping a couple. Not to be left out, Waqar ducked back and lapped up two Indians and everyone was happy. Everyone on the Pakistani payrolls, that is.

Game five, finds the Indian's--as always--suddenly short of a meaningful bowler-- although today's contest indicated the necessity of a dozen additional batters. If Tendulkar gets his numbers right, he'll realize the need for Saurav. He'll also understand the importance of batting first, since his men have choked up, with little remorse, on the chase. Unless they display an extraordinary level of determination, very little stands in Pakistan's course. It is important for Indian cricket's future that the eleven do not let Toronto become another Sharjah.

Simply put, tomorrow's match-up will boil down to the totals--the contingent that procures the higher will walk away winner. For some, that reads P-A-K-I-S-T-A-N.

Copyright©1996, "On Drive", Mesmer Productions. All rights reserved.