Pakistan V India 2005, Offiical Tour Thread Options

[Flex001]

Most of us know the match situation, if not check the following inks.

Full scorecard can be found here:

http://uk.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/NE...-12MAR2005.html

Match bulletin here:

http://uk.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/AR..._08MAR2005.html



Here's a great article from Cricinfo.

This part was funny - Unsatisfied, I persisted: But why come all the way over here, with all the bureaucratic hassle that is involved? Finally, sheepishly, he gave a clue when he asked about how he could go explore the "nightlife of Chandigarh, you know, disco-shisco."


The oneness of two countries

Roving Reporter by Osman Samiuddin in Mohali

March 8, 2005

The first three days of my stay in India confirmed what a growing number of people had told me – that there is little real difference between the two countries and especially the two Punjabs.

For three days I happily drifted along with this stereotype. Sure, Delhi has a thriving, seemingly active middle class but there is, as in Karachi and Lahore, a posh housing society set up by the armed forces (Delhi's Defence Colony is in parts remarkably similar in spirit and architecture to Lahore and Karachi's Defence Housing Authorities). The roads are also occasionally potholed and the Delhi taxi driver (mine was called, unsurprisingly I thought, Raju) could give his Karachi counterpart a real run for his rupee.

And as I took the Shatabdi Express out of Delhi to Chandigarh, I might have been in a curiously rickety yet contemporary train (it had plug points for laptop access!) that is unlikely to be seen in Pakistan, but outside, on the outskirts of the city, was the other face of Delhi. An endless stream of the most wretched slums, stuffed with tinned and mud excuses for housing – the kind so ubiquitous in the metropolis of Karachi - provided maybe the most startling reminder that Pakistan and India were both after all, one country once.

Chandigarh itself is surely the long-lost twin of Islamabad, partitioned quite possibly in time-honoured Bollywood fashion – at the Kumbh ka mela. Both are planned cities (from the 1950s) and evoke a similar sense of ominous, dislocated alienation in the evenings – the roads are incredibly smooth and wide and lined by enviable greenery. If Chandigarh benefits from the beauty of the Shivalik Hills, then Islamabad boasts the Margallas. Above all, both cities are mapped – as if in an unknowing ode to the soulless future depicted in Blade Runner - not in districts or suburbs but sectors.

But by virtue of being inhabited by the gregarious and ostentatious Punjabi, and not a foreign diplomat as is the case with Islamabad, Chandigarh is the more fashionable and with-it twin. There are bars, pubs, numerous restaurants, apparently some discotheques as well and a bustling marketplace in Sector 17 which will satisfy the most ardent shopaholic from across the border. Last night, in the centre of the marketplace, there was also a Pakistani poetry recital event.

By far the biggest difference, the most startling reminder that you are not in Pakistan comes from inside the PCA stadium in Mohali on my fourth day, the first of the Test match. In size, shape and design it is not a world away from the stadium in Rawalpindi.

The day before the game started, the stadium was home to typically subcontinent chaos inside; journalists scrambling for practice sessions, looking for media accreditation passes, the best seats in the press box, the best seats for the press conferences. All were trying to be handled by simultaneously amicable and intimidating security guards. But once the match got underway this morning, the stadium – and India – was transformed. From early in the morning, the stands were over three-quarters full.

Briefly, until the players appeared in their whites, I thought we were at a one-day match. Having watched the series last year surrounded by empty concrete and barely a whisper from the crowd, 15-18,000 colourful, jovial, loud Indians and Pakistanis for a Test match was as much a shock to the system as any. They banged drums, blew horns, waved flags, flew inane banners and all with unflagging enthusiasm.

The greater shock is the presence of, according to officials, approximately 3000 Pakistanis in Chandigarh and its surrounding areas to watch this Test. If that is the case, then there are more Pakistanis, and by a considerable margin, than appeared in the Lahore Test between the two sides last year; more, probably, than appeared in any of the tests from that series. Explain please?

One 25-year old fan from Lahore, using his Pakistani flag as a superhero's cape, explained that he had come here not just for the match. "I also wanted to explore at least some of India. Youngsters in both countries are educated from a young age to dislike India or Pakistan. But I wanted to explore the place myself and find out what it is like. Both countries are barely different." And why didn't he go explore some Indians at the Lahore test last year? "It's much easier watching it on TV." Unsatisfied, I persisted: But why come all the way over here, with all the bureaucratic hassle that is involved? Finally, sheepishly, he gave a clue when he asked about how he could go explore the "nightlife of Chandigarh, you know, disco-shisco."

And despite talk that the dosti-dosti bandwagon might have run out of steam, other fans were unequivocal that they had received a royal reception. And if some of the banners are to be believed – "I hate politics but I love cricket" and "We have only love for each other"- then maybe there is some more mileage, albeit limited in this dosti.

© Cricinfo

[humble_rafi]

congrates we won.






kudos to TEAM INDIA

[cinemaniac2]

yups we won-400+ was always a tough job

was scared after the way Afridi played

but i guess pitch plays differently the next morning.

salaam to kumble

cinemaniac2

[unni]

In our desire to see "our" team win, are we not depriving ourselves of appreciation and enjoyment of the game?

To me personally, India's win in Kolkata was satisfying, but no big thrill. Whereas Pakistan's fightback in Mohali made for glorious cricket.

Pakistan came as the underdogs in this series to play (on paper) a stronger team on their home turf. It is "expected" of India to win. For that matter, even losing to Pakistan would be considered no big deal, in the light of a perceptible drop in temperature in their traditional match-ups. Especially after India's loss at home to Australia, an aberration for a team which is a tiger at home and a lamb abroad. That is why the performance in the earlier away-series against Australia is deservedly rated a tremendous achievement.

In what I consider the greater interest, viz. the game, I was hoping that Afridi's blitzkrieg the previous evening would be a harbinger of a historic day for Cricket. That was not to be. Sure, had Pakistan pulled off a win, I would have been disappointed for the Indian team. Yet, thrilled by the kind of cricket that would have pulled off such a turn-around!

In the absence of Shoaib, the pace-attack of both teams seem to be on par. If the grass on the wicket had not been shorn off just prior to the match, there might have been a more intriguing tussle. Not that Kaneria has been found wanting.

I had the good fortune to watch some all-time greats, e.g. Garfield Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, and later Alvin Kallicharan. To see Lawry's Australians and Dexter's MCC. On such occasions it was a dilemna for me: would I rather miss out on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness the artistry of Sober's blade or the bludgeoning by Kanhai's, just to see "my" team win? The match-result is, after all, relegated to the record-books. Whereas the sight of a fiery Hall/Griffith pace-attack, of Lock spinning a web round the Indian batsmen, of my then super-heroes Harvey and O'Neill displaying their vaunted batting skills --- they are memories to last a life-time.

Eventually I made a pact with myself, albeit a selfish one. I wanted to see great performances from the visitors in the match I witnessed, even if India lost comprehensively. And that the visitors should fail miserably in all the matches at the other centers, so that India would win!

But then, I preferred to see Viswanath score 30 rather than Gavaskar score a century. The technical perfection of Gavaskar that might set up an Indian victory was (to me) of lesser value than the class and grace and style than went into those few runs made by Vish in a doomed effort.

[Anil4]

Most normal human beings would prefer to see great performances from their own team members, not the oppositions. If you want to see a great performance by a member of the opposing team, then hopefully it would be against some other team , not your own team!



Anil

[anurag]

In our desire to see "our" team win, are we not depriving ourselves of appreciation and enjoyment of the game?

Sir, How does it matter what "we" desire? The performances by our or other team's players would still remain same, irrespective of our wishes.

If Afridi did n't last and Inzy did n't deliver, then we have n't really deprived ourselves of their good performances. They deprived themselves of a victory. No?

By the same token, herculean performance of Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid's perseverance exhibited in two immaculately made centuries was every bit satisfying and joyful a performance as it could be.

[pranavjh]

Well there are two things in any game. One is supporting your team (regional, college or national). Second is watching the game for the sheer joy of the sport and competition. People like to watch and enjoy any competitive event with different degrees of the above two depending on their preferences.

Now, of course the team that you support wins, it's the best of both worlds. But if it doesn't, there's still joy if the game was well fought.

Personally, I would want to see India win regardless of the quality of the game. For instance, everyone fails but Gangs scores a century against Kenya and India wins, I am ok with it! Later, however, I will curse my luck that now he has cemented his place for next 5 games at least!



Pranav

[Flex001]

Check the link:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...5176659963&rd=1

[Akhtar]

Pakistan draw the test series !

Great series...great cricket !

[Akhtar]

YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH!

4-2!

Pakistan ROCKS!

[princeali]

Great performance by Pakistan, they deserved to win after the way they fought back from being down 2-0.

A team considered to be the weakest ever sent on a tour to India return with their heads held high !

[Dharmaan Khan]

Ashish Nehra to Afridi. Just outside off, swing and miss. Hmmm, Nehra must have thought, maybe that's the wrong line. Second ball, down leg, glanced for four. Third ball, on his hips, tucked away for four. Fourth ball, down leg again, glanced for four again. Fifth ball, short ball on middle stump, a high pull that looped up as if being sucked in by a cloud, and then fell on the fence for six. Hmm, Nehra must have thought, let me try something else. Last ball, outside off, slashed for four through point. Twenty-two off the over.
Nehra walked away, looking down at the ground. All this had happened before.

"Familiarity, in the case of Afridi, does not breed contempt; it breeds fear."