The pressure is on Pakistan

Follow us:WhatsappFacebookTwitterTelegram.cls-1{fill:#4d4d4d;}.cls-2{fill:#fff;}Google NewsIt was a resounding victory for India. Basically in my opinion the bowlers should be given all the credit for this win. Generally the One-Day matches are won by the batsmen but today the bowlers did the trick for India.

On a wicket that was not very helpful for the bowlers India did an excellent job.

Early wickets always puts the batting side on the backfoot and today also the same thing happened. This builds up the pressure on the batsmen and that was proved today.

The delivery that Irfan bowled to take the first wicket reminded me of the hat-trick delivery that he had bowled in the Karachi Test match. It was the same kind of delivery and even the batsmen was same.

Then the second wicket also fell soon and those two wickets put the pressure on Pakistan. Apart from that the Pakistan team also threw away some wickets by four run outs. When the team has already lost early wickets then run outs become unpardonable.

But even then Pakistan recovered well to reach 265, which was a very good total. Indian fielding has also been very good in today's match and that also made a lot of difference. The youngsters have raised the level of Indian fielding.

Chasing the target the Indian batsmen applied themselves well and when Virender Sehwag plays the kind of innings that he played today then no total looks big enough.

Sachin also played a very intelligent knock and gave more of the strike to Sehwag. When the team scores over 100 runs in 15 overs then two important things happen. Firstly the run-rate comes down drastically. Today also the run-rate came down from about 5.5 to 4.5 and that means the even if the wickets fall the next batsman is in no hurry to score quickly.

Theoritically, Pakistan had a chance to make a comeback when India lost Sachin and Swehwag quickly. But the run-rate was manageble and both Dravid and Yuvraj took their time to settle down and then played their shots.

Secondly the bowlers also lose their rhythm after being hit all over the park and by the time they get back their rhythm, the batsmen are set. Sehwag's blazing start did the trick for India.

Over all a very good team performance by India was behind the splendid victory.

Now the pressure will be on Pakistan beacuse in the overall analysis at Peshawar both the teams batted well and the bowlers could not perform. But today India bowled and batted well. This victory will also give boost to the confidence of the Indian team.

Dravid captained very well and he kept on the pressure on Pakistan. The run outs were also the result of the pressure.

So for the next match India should continue in the same way as they played today.

(Krish Srikkanth is a former skipper of Indian cricket team. He maintains a regular blog on IBNLive. His website is www.krishinfotek.com)

About the AuthorKrishnamachari Srikkanth Krishnamachari Srikkanth was one of the most destructive batsmen who could decimate the strongest and most fearsome attacks in the world by his vast r...Read Morefirst published:February 11, 2006, 19:48 ISTlast updated:February 11, 2006, 19:48 IST
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