Earlier, New Zealand struggling to 200/9 in their 50 overs. Daniel Vettori’s pulled out ahead of the toss virtually sealed his team’s fate. In his absence Brendon McCullum led the side though and the decision to bat first backfired badly with the top order unable to come to grips with Australia’s fast bowlers Brett Lee, Peter Siddle and Mitchell Johnson. McCullum did not even trouble the scorers, feathering an edge to Tim Paine behind the sticks off a bouncy Siddle delivery.
 
Aaron Redmond and Martin Guptill struggled to score 66 in the next 15 overs before Redmond was dismissed by Nathan Hauritz.
 
With McCullum, Guptill and Redmond out of the way, it was left to Ross Taylor and Grant Elliott to pull the Black Caps out of the fire. Both however, failed on the day, Taylor brilliantly snapped up at point by a leaping Mike Hussey off Johnson and Elliott, the hero of the semifinal win over Pakistan trapped by the pacy Lee.
 
Neither was able to even reach double figures, and credit goes to the lower order for at least making sure that the total did reach the 200 mark with Neil Broom (37, 62b, 5×4) and James Franklin (33, 43b, 4×4) keeping the middle overs ticking along.
 
A measure of Australia’s control with the ball comes from the fact that through the 50 overs, just 18 boundaries were conceded. Not one ball went over it.

Overall a supeb victory for the deserving champions Australia who will be happy to be back in the groove and how! Cheers Australia!

The turning point of the match came when Pakistan skipper Younis Khan dropped a straight-forward catch off Eliott when 64 were still needed for the Kiwis to clinch victory. The bowler Mohammad Aamer and that changed the course of the game altogether. Vettori kept his cool even when the runs were hard to come by and the runrate had shot up past the seven-run-an-over mark. The Kiwi captain took the batting powerplay and immediately the match changed its direction. Runs came in a hurry and the match turned when Eliott smashed Umar Gul to all parts of the ground in the 45th over with two fours and a towering six.

Earlier in the day, the Pakistan innings surprisingly had to depend on tailenders Muhammad Aamer and Saeed Ajmal to score those crucial 35 runs towards the fag end as Pakistan stuttered against New Zealand.

As many as four of his top batsmen made starts, but failed to kick on thereafter as the innings never really picked up momentum. The New Zealand fast bowlers clearly were successful in extracting bounce in the pitch to good effect, and only an 80-run partnership for the fifth wicket between Mohammad Yousuf and Umar Akmal kept Pakistan ticking in the middle overs.

Sharp bowling from new-ball operators Kyle Mills and Shane Bond in particular pinned the batsmen back. Bond’s first spell of six overs in which he gave away just 17 runs and removed Imran Nazir, pushed the scoring rate right down. Given the bounce, the batsmen had to be wary and were never allowed to settle down. Bond made the initial breakthrough in the 10th over when Nazir was forced to fend off a snorter that reared right at his face and Ross Taylor cleaned up the lobbed chance.

Shoaib Malik was the next to go, snapped up sharply in slips by Taylor off Ian Butler. Kamran Akmal will probably never forget the abysmal scoop he attempted against Butler that looped towards Ian Redmond in the covers. Khan followed when his counterpart Daniel Vettori induced a leading edge on an attempted steer. At 86/4, Pakistan were in serious danger of embarrassing themselves but for the 80 runs Yousuf and Akmal junior posted. In the end it was not a score that the Pakistanis could defend.

Younis Khan’s side are the only one in the competition to never have even qualified for a shot at the title and the Pakistan captain is keen to set the record straight.
Kiwis received another blow with news that the all-rounder Grant Elliott could miss the game with a side strain. Three frontline members of the team are already back home, and this latest development came as another jolt to the 2000 champions. However, expect no let up from the NZ side who are known to fight till the very last moment.
Pakistan will be happy with the return of Mohammad Asif after the ban and with the lanky pacer getting the bowl to talk the way he did in the last match against Australia, it will be a big ask from the Kiwi batsmen to find answers against the pacer.
New Zealand will be banking on a strong start from Brendon McCullum and that KKR opener will be asked to stay at the wicket than play rash shots like he did in their last match against England. Pakistan have no such problems at the top as Afridi and Akmal will be looking to open the batting and score some brisk runs so that

Two relatively similar sides, and both with a lot to play for going by what their captains have said, it should make for an absorbing tussle. Vettori’s presence down the order is of immense reassurance particularly after the departures of Jesse Ryder and Jacob Oram.

March 4, 1992, Sydney

India win by 43 runs

At the World Cup, Pakistan’s Javed Miandad was the cynosure of all eyes after his tussle with Indian keeper Kiran More when he jumped up and down in imitation of Indian wicket-keeper Kiran More’s constant appealing. The match also young Sachin Tendulkar in full flow as he scored briskly and freely in the company of Sanjay Manjrekar and skipper Mohammad Azharuddin.

March 9, 1996, Bangalore

India win by 39 runs

On the eve of the match, skipper Wasim Akram pulled out of the contest citing injury and this match will be remembered for the antics between Aamir Sohail and Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad who took three crucial wickets. Chasing a 288-run target, Pakistan were 113-1 before Aamir Sohail was bowled for 55.

June 8, 1999, Old Trafford

India win by 47 runs

It was Prasad again who took five crucial wickets to help India win by 47 runs in a Super Sixes fixture.

March 1, 2003, Centurion

India win by six wickets

The 2003 Cup match was dubbed as a duel between Tendulkar of India and Pakistani paceman Shoaib Akhtar. Tendulkar smashed a robust 98 before becoming the paceman’s lone victim.

PAKISTAN

April 18, 1986, Sharjah

Pakistan win by one wicket

Javed Miandad hit a last-ball six off Chetan Sharma and ended unbeaten on 116. Miandad anchored the innings as Pakistan chased a stiff 246-run target in 50 overs.

April 12, 2005, Ahmedabad

Pakistan win by three wickets

India made 315-6 in 48 overs which included 123 by Sachin Tendulkar who then had to bowl the final over with Pakistan needing three to win. Tendulkar bowled four dot-balls but Inzamam took two off the fifth, leaving one off the last ball for victory. The final ball was steered towards point and Inzamam ran to complete victory.

March 11, 1978, Sahiwal

India conceded the match in protest at short-pitched bowling by Sarfraz Nawaz. Pakistan had made 205-7 before India managed to reach 183-2, needing just 23 off the last three overs. Sarfraz’s four deliveries in the 38th over were all out of reach of the batsmen, but not called wide. Indian captain Bishen Bedi called his batsmen Anshuman Gaekwad and Gundappa Viswanath back and conceded the match.

September 19, 2004, Edgbaston

This Champions Trophy win was Pakistan’s only victory against India in an ICC event. Pakistan paceman Shoaib Akhtar and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan shared eight wickets between them to bundle India out for 200. Rahul Dravid made 67 and Ajit Agarkar played a handy 47 to help India reach the second hundred-mark. Pakistan relied on Inzamam-ul-Haq, who made 41 and Mohammad Yousuf 81 to help them win.

Only a dramatic reversal in form can stop Pakistan from cruising past the Windies. The Pakistanis will know that this will the only easy match in the group as the other two teams are India and Australia, both ODI heavyweights in their own right. West Indies board was forced to send a strong string side following a contract row between the players and their cricket board.

Pakistan have tougher assignments ahead as they clash with arch-rivals India and world champions Australia in the next two matches. The top two teams will be advancing into the last four stage of the tournament.

Speaking to the media about the first match, Pakistan skipper Younis Khan had said, “The West Indies have always been my favourite team and I’d love to compete against a full-strength side.”

However, the first match of Pakistan will have a lot of focus on whether they indeed select disgraced pacer Mohammad Asif or not. The team management has been tightlipped about the lanky pacer and will be announcing their playing eleven only moments before the toss on Wednesday.

Even as the suspense over Asif’s inclusion in the side remains, it will be interesting to see the performance of West Indies after they lost to Bangladesh in July and have been literally mocked at in this tournament. Their captain Reifer in an interview recently had said, “I want the people in the Caribbean to know that this is a West Indies team that is dedicated to the West Indies cricket. This is not a second-string team.” Brave words indeed!

The team which won the 2004 edition in England and made it to the finals in the next will have to play out of their skins (quite literally) in order to make a mark.

Pakistan (from): Younus Khan (capt), Imran Nazir, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umer Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Rana Naved-ul Hasan, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Yousuf, Kamran Akmal, Umar Gul, Mohammad Aamir, Mohammad Asif, Rao Iftikhar, Saeed Ajmal

West Indies: Floyd Reifer (capt), Darren Sammy, David Bernard, Tino Best, Royston Crandon, Travis Dowlin, Andre Fletcher, Nikita Miller, Kevin McLean, Kieran Powell, Dale Richards, Kemar Roach, Devon Smith, Gavin Tonge, Chadwick Walton

Since the training camp started on Saturday, Miandad has  focused on holding special sessions with groups of players and  on Sunday he spent his time concentrating on Misbah-ul-Haq,  young Umar Akmal and Shoaib Malik.

One method has been to make the batsmen play on a bouncy  pitch with reduced width forcing them to play straight and avoid square on shots.
Another method has been to get them to negotiate with extra bounce by making them short pitched balls which come off a concrete slab at fast pace thrown by Miandad.

“These are scoring strokes in the South African conditions specially in the Champions Trophy if they are played with care. As long as the rate of success is more then failure these shots are very productive in scoring runs,” the former master batsman told a Indian news agency.

Pakistan is grouped with West Indies, India and Australia in the Champions Trophy qualifying stage that begins from  September 22.
“We have a very strong pace attack and we are blessed with pace bowling talent so why not use it effectively to our  strength,” Miandad said.

The Pakistan squad for the eight nation tournament includes pace bowlers, Muhammad Asif, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar, Rana Naved and Muhammad Aamer and Miandad says all these  bowlers carry plenty of pace and the ability to bounce out batsmen.

I have witnessed many make mince meat of the opposition’s bowling on myriad tracks but do it with a religious regularity over a period of TWENTY seasons against 2-3 different generations of gentlemen is a feat which Sir Don may not have been capable of. I fully agree Sir Don that your career was affected by the World War II but it necessarily needs to be considered that Sachin has faced thousand times more criticism and millions times more expectations from the second most populated country in the world and has batted out odds not only on the field but off it.

What is so special about this pint sized dynamo from Mumbai which has a legacy of producing great cricketers such as Nari Contractor, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Ajit Wadekar but Sachin entered the cricketing scene with a blast and never turned into a whimper, akin to so many that started out along with and names such as Vinod Kambli instantly comes to mind.

What makes him so special?

Sir Geoffrey Boycott had once mentioned that this man always had an extra time to place the ball at will throughout his career and could play shots on the rise both from back foot and made batting look ridiculously simple. Another important aspect of his batting was the balance, hand-eye coordination and the big-match temperament, something which youngsters could take a leaf out.

Another important of Sachin’s batting is the amalgamate beauty with power, something which mere mortals manage to enact albeit with lesser regularity. He literally stood up and delivered against the mighty Mark Taylors’ all-conquering Australians in the summer of 1998 and after being dismissed cheaply by his nemesis Shane Warne for a paltry 4 in the first innings at the first Test at Chennai, came back with a 150 plus score in the second to literally give a nightmare to Warne not just on it but off it too.
His baptism began at the 1989 tour to Pakistan when he was asked to make his debut against Pakistan in the Karachi Test, scoring 15 in the first innings and following it up with his maiden Test fifty at the next Test at Faisalabad.
The 5 feet 5 inch champ got his first Test century at Manchester the following year when he batted out England to secure a draw and was instrumental in keeping the Englishmen at bay.

The year 1992 saw the Indian score two scintillating centuries at Perth and at Sydney to commence on a long-time run-making spree Down Under. Harsha Bhogle during the 2007-08 tour to Australia had named SCG as Sachin Cricket Ground for his century making spree at the ground.
The shot that got registered in my mind was the back-foot punch of Merv Hughes in that chanceless knock but his career soared after the brilliant knock of 82 from 49 balls when he tore the Kiwi attack on that afternoon of 1994 in Auckland, on a day when Holi is celebrated widely across the nation.
Yes, there have been critics who have often questioned his commitment towards the game even when the Master has silenced them only with the willow.
While the ambidextrous artist of the game may hang his boots in a couple of years from now on, he will long be remembered as the most the man who took the game of cricket to a new level altogether with his passion and performance.

Career statistics

Tests 159 matches, 261 innings, 12773 runs, 248* highest, 54.58 average, 42 centuries and 53 fifties.
One-dayer 425 matches, 415 innings, 16684 runs, 44.37 average, 186* highest, 43 centuries, 91 fiftees.

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