Shahrukh Khan
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Pakistan v West Indies, 3rd ODI, Lahore
Farhat stars in seven-wicket win
The Bulletin by Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
December 10, 2006
Pakistan 192 for 3 (Farhat 58) beat West Indies 207 for 7 (Simmons 70) by 7 wickets by D/L method
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Rana Naved-ul-Hasan ended with three wickets and received the Man-of-the-Match award © AFP
In a contest that kept everyone on the edge of their seats, on a pitch that assisted swing, seam and cut, and in a setting where the decibel levels often reached a crescendo, Pakistan prevailed. In yet another low-scoring contest that was turned into a tricky run-chase thanks to Messers Duckworth and Lewis, they scampered to a seven-wicket win to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
Two matches panned out at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore this evening either side of a floodlight glitch, one that caused the day-night game to be, quite bizarrely, halted by bad light. The first was an attritional contest under murky skies with the West Indies, led by a responsible 70 from greenhorn Lendl Simmons, battling against a disciplined attack. The second was a frenzied harum-scarum under lights, with Imran Farhat leading a streaky run-chase as the West Indies fielders made a hash of the chances that came their way.
Two dropped catches, a run-out mess-up straight out of Cricket for Dummies, and a fielding exhibition that veered from the brilliant to the pedestrian left West Indies clutching at straws. Adding to their frustration was Farhat, who connected with almost everything - pad, thigh guard, hips, air - but rarely his bat. Farhat did execute some gorgeous shots on his way to his half-century - the successive pull and drive off Dwayne Smith, in the 23rd over, were probably the picks - but even cats rarely enjoy such dollops of good fortune.
He should have been back in the hutch as early as the second ball of the innings after a calamitous mid-pitch mix-up left him stranded. Daren Ganga, though, committed two blunders - dislodged the bails without the ball in hand, fumbling clumsily, before uprooting the stumps without the ball in hand - and allowed him to go scot free. Simmons and Brian Lara grassed one chance each, an edge flew between the wicketkeeper and first slip, and a rash of fielding lapses added to their woes. Corey Collymore and Ian Bradshaw summoned a few unplayable deliveries but the result, it seemed, was foregone. Despite the absence of the sage Inzamam-ul-Haq, incapacitated owing to an injury to his little finger, Pakistan's middle order steered them home.
Curiously, Pakistan were left to chase close to five-and-a-half runs an over despite their bowlers doing a fine restrictive job, keeping the West Indies down to 207 for 7 in 46.3. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan set the ball rolling with an incisive inswinger to dismiss Lara for a first-ball duck. He was soon overwhelmed by a violent Chris Gayle - who came up with an innovative technique to counter the prodigious movement and pulped him to the tune of 21 runs in an over - but got his revenge by changing his length and inducing a tentative front-foot prod.
Simmons, walking in to face the eighth ball of the innings, produced a sensible effort in trying conditions. He assessed the situation smartly, bided his time against the swinging ball and consolidated in the middle overs. Most of his strokeplay was textbook style - a couple of edges flew wide of the slips but that was bound to happen with the ball moving around so much - and brought out some gorgeous straight-drives after his fifty. The rest, though, struggled against disciplined bowling. Rana Naved came back to remove Simmons at the death, upending the middle stump with a late-swinging 86mph yorker, and had 3 for 37 in 8.3 overs. If one discounts the 21 runs that Gayle plundered off the sixth over, his figures read a superb 3 for 16 from 7.3.
Matching him was the surprise left-arm spin package of Abdur Rahman. Under leaden skies, with batsmen in a tangle over swing and seam, he gained wonderful drift and turn, ending with 2 for 33 from his allotted ten overs. Ganga, who assisted Simmons in negotiating the turbulence, missed one that floated in and turned away and Runako Morton was beaten in the flight, cutting one that was too close to his body and seeing the stumps offset.
must be VCD
