India assert their class in Karachi

By John Cheeran
The eight-wicket win that Rahul Dravid’s India carved out against Pakistan at Karachi, though in an inconsequential game, has its own merits.
I cannot recall an occasion when India ever beat Pakistan in a series by such a big margin as 4-1. That too in Pakistan.
This big margin of victory would not have come even in other disciplines, hockey, football, kabaddi or whatever.
That makes me say that no game is inconsequential when India is playing against Pakistan, especially in cricket.
A 4-1 margin of series win is a great morale booster compared to, what could have been a 3-2 margin, again in favour of India.
It could have been 5-0 in favour of India, if not bad light done India in the first game.
All that is history now.
But I would rate the win in Karachi as the best achieved by India in a long, long time in one-day cricket.
It was a perfect chase; an eight-wicket win, chasing 286, with three overs to spare must be perfect, isn’t it?
India was without Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Irfan Pathan, three key players who have been the bulwarks of the side in the recent past.
Apparently skipper Dravid had a plan for this chase, which could have gone terribly wrong, if the finer points were not executed as superbly as India – namely Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni – did today.
It was a big target, but the idea was not to flail the bat at the ball from the very beginning and precipitate a crisis. Don’t panic was the message.
Dravid opened and played anchor’s role very well. Dravid threw his wicket away at the right moment when he was finding it a bit tiresome to step up the pace. MSD was brought in at the right time.
Quite a few Indian hearts were missing their beats first when Dravid and Yuvraj let the asking rate climb to almost to nine; later Yuvraj and Dhoni did the same.
This was a confident India, under Rahul Dravid and Greg Chappell. There is a time to do certain things. And Dhoni did it through some lusty hitting well after the final ten overs began.
Suddenly it all looked too simple, too easy.
Could you believe it that this can happen, of all the places in Karachi, where India lost the Test and the series a few weeks ago?
Dravid has picked up the broken pieces from the Test series defeat to organize a comprehensive demolition of Pakistan in a short time.
Leadership, consistency and imagination.
Indian skipper has displayed these three qualities in abundance in this crucial series.
More power to Dravid and Chappell.