THE OPENING WORLD Cup encounter has cast the die for Pakistan, which won the toss, opted for bowling but lost the match. West Indies scored a thunderous 241-9 with a splendid 63 from star batsman Marlon Samuels and almost assured its slot among the Super Eight qualifiers.
The Pakis started roughly with their chase and struggled to build pace, but were struck by Smith’s aggressive blows. Shoaib Malik (62) and Rao Iftikar (3-44) were the only two players who tried to perform even while losing.
Smith was declared the man of the match. He wound up with figures of 3-36, having dismissed the key Pakistan batsmen Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam-ul-Haq and then adding the wicket of Kamran Akmal to his tally.
The decision by Pakistan to bowl first was taken to allow Umar Gul and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan to test out the dry Caribbean wicket. The wicket was slow and offered some movement to the seamers. Though Malik made a quick score, he was left with the tail and Pakistan finally wound up at 187 with 16 balls remaining.
After Umar Gul had Chris Gayle caught behind at just the score of two, Ramnaresh Sarwan should have gone next but Younis Khan floored a chance at second slip. Sarwan successfully added 49 and put on more than 50 runs for the second wicket along with Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
The Pakistani seamer, Iftikar, took both the wickets of these two Guyanese batsmen, and Samuels and Brian Lara had to rebuild the innings. The new batsmen made a conscious effort to improve the sluggish scoring rate that read 80-3 after 27 overs. Samuels initiated the adrenaline rush by hitting Iftikhar for an awesome six and adding 14 off Danish Kaneria’s next over.
Kaneria’s leg-spin had Lara playing a lazy lofted off-drive for six and a late cut for four in the same over. A strong partnership of 91 in only 17 overs was the outcome and this was the climax of the match.
Inzy’s constant persistence with spinners led to Lara bottom-edging Mohammed Hafeez and soon Samuels was also headed to the pavilion. The seamers took over the last four overs, after Akmal had taken three splendid catches and executed a wonderful stumping. This was Smith’s clue to display some tremendous shots, before he too fell to Gul. The innings ended with a smashing six from Corey Cillymore.
Pakistan’s opening batting line drew the match in the Indies’ favour. Imran Nazir struck the second ball for six but was caught by Daren Powell on the very next ball. Jerome Taylor again had the crowd cheering wildly as Younis Khan’s attempted pull failed and Danish Ramdin conjured a second catch. Mohammed Hafeez was unsuccessful in clearing the mid-on with an attempted drive, which left it to Inzamam and Mohammad Yousuf to take on the responsibility. The scoreboard almost stagnated for the next few overs. But with the seamers coming in, the batsmen began to strike and Inzamam started to hit boundaries. Smith’s fifth over had Pakistan rumbling under pressure.
The ruthless quicker short delivery forced Yousuf into playing a nasty cut shot off the next ball that edged behind. The Pakis stood at a meager 60 in 18 overs and then the medium-pacers stepped in with full charge.
Smith had Inzamam leg before playing across the line and Dwayne Bravo caught Akmal in a brilliant manner. The exciting chain of events turned into a roaring victory for the Indies. Malik tried to swing but Bravo effectively sent the tail-enders to the pavilion, with Gul departing on a duck as the Trinidadian all-rounder took a quick catch off his own bowling.
The last wicket fell when Chanderpaul caught Malik at long off and the crowd went berserk with joy that the hosts had won the opening match of the World Cup.
Brian Lara refused to look too far ahead: "It’s just one match." But one could clearly see the sheer pleasure on the captain’s face in recognition to the manner in which West Indies thundered to a 54 run victory in the curtain-raiser match. In front of a raspy crowd, they succeeded in defending their 241 runs.
Inzamam’s disappointment was infectious, as gloom shadowed the faces of all the Pakistani cricketers. But they still have a long way to go. This was only the beginning.
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