You are in your seventh Test, having scratched around for 15 balls and two runs, against the oldest enemy. You have just come in and are battling to erase a
sizeable deficit with almost half your team gone. You are facing a living legend playing in his 92nd test and who has just dismissed your captain, talisman and
best batsman before tea. What do you do? If you are Asim Kamal, you hit Anil Kumble for four successive boundaries.
The first ball of the over, Kamal tried a cheeky late cut; he caught an edge and Rahul Dravid at slip failed to get his hands onto a sharp chance. Fearless, he
tried the same shot next ball, except he played it later and with more control; same result. Kumble flighted the next two balls outside off-stump, Kamal
coolly deposited both through the covers, the last on bended knee. Pressure? What pressure? (OS)
Two Giants
So there they were: India's would-be matchwinner and Pakistan's
would-be matchsaver. Anil Kumble came in to bowl to Inzamam-ul-Haq,
who was 86, having added 139 with Yousuf Youhana after Pakistan were
10 for 3. The match hinged on this partnership, and Inzamam was
batting beautifully. All afternoon Kumble had toiled, and now he got
his man. The ball pitched just outside off, and went straight with the
angle to hit Inzamam, who took a big stride forward, in line with the
off stump. He was quite far ahead, but was hit low on the pads. It was
a fair decision.
Kumble jumped up and punched the air with both his fists, in childlike
glee. Inzamam turned slowly and walked back to the pavilion,
laboriously, in little baby steps. He had been out in a similar manner
in the first innings, and this was quite the worst kind of deja vu. (AV)
The satisfaction of a long-distance bowler
VVS Laxman rocked back to cut; the ball, a googly, came into him,
caught the edge of the bat and hit the stumps. Kaneria exulted; this
was his fifth wicket, in his 54th over. Now, which should one clap for
more? Those 54 overs under the sun? Or the five wickets (that became
six when he had Zaheer Khan caught-and-bowled soon after)? Those
overs, unquestionably, for it was his endurance, his ability to keep
bowling with guile and accuracy over after over, that got him those
wickets. He strode back towards the dressing room a satisfied man, no
doubt looking forward to lying on the massage table, with the
contentment of a man who had done a job only he could have performed
for his side. (AV)
Sir George Balaji
"Bala, Bala," a few members of the sparse crowded chanted when L
Balaji walked out to bat. After he'd hit Shoaib Akhtar for six last
year, John Wright had written on his bat, "to the next Black Bradman".
Here, he played out a couple of overs from Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, before
finally getting a full over against Danish Kaneria. What would happen?
Would Kaneria beat him in flight, or with a googly? Would Balaji try
to tonk him out of the ground?
First ball, Balaji steered it to third man for four. Not entirely
intended, perhaps. Next ball, dot. Third ball, a two to midwicket.
Surely he was getting impatient. Then, a lovely square-drive for four,
backward of point. Then he played forward and was beaten by a
legbreak. Last ball, fullish in length. Balaji played a majestic
off-drive, that evoked memories of, well, what Wright had written in
jest on his bat.
"You can call me George," he must have said to himself. "George Balaji." (AV)
Osman Samiuddin is a freelance writer working in Karachi. He will be following the Pakistan team all tour.