India knock (Azh)arch-rivals Pakistan out

While India made no changes to their playing eleven, the Pakistanis made seven changes to theirs – Ghulam Ali, Asif Mujtaba, Moin Khan, Wasim Akram (who was leading the defending champions at this edition of the tournament), Zafar Iqbal, Naeem Ashraf and Nadeem Khan made way for Ijaz Ahmed, Saleem Malik, Javed Miandad, Rashid Latif, Mushtaq Ahmed, Waqar Younis and Ata-ur-Rehman.

On winning to bat, Mohammad Azharuddin, India’s skipper, chose to bat. Tendulkar, who faced 59 balls, scored 31. HiS(ach)innings included three boundaries. Ata-ur-Rehman broke the 90-run stand.

Sanjay Manjrekar, who faced 43 balls, scored 20. He was caught by Miandad, who was playing his final One-day International. The 48-run stand was broken by Aamer Sohail, Pakistan’s stand-in captain. Navjot Singh Sidhu, who scored 93, bagged the player of the match award. His 115-ball innings included 11 fours. Mushtaq broke the 30-run partnership.

Azharuddin, who faced 22 balls, scored 27. His innings included a boundary and a six. He was caught by Latif. Waqar broke the 32-run stand. Vinod Kambli scored 24. His 26-ball innings included a boundary. Mushtaq broke the fifth-wicket stand, which was worth 26. 

The sixth-wicket pair put on 10. Nayan Mongia, who faced three balls, scored as many. He was run out. Anil Kumble, who faced six balls, scored 10. His innings included a couple of boundaries. He was caught by Miandad. Aaqib Javed broke the 24-run stand. 

Ajay Jadeja, who faced 25 balls, scored 45. His innings included four boundaries and a couple of sixes. He was caught by Sohail. Waqar broke the 19-run stand. Javagal Srinath, who faced four balls, scored a dozen. His innings included a couple of boundaries. He was unbeaten, as was Venkatesh Prasad, who didn’t face a ball.

Pakistan conceded 22 extras. India scored 287 for the loss of eight wickets off 50 overs. Malik bowled five wicketless overs, conceding 25. Sohail, who bowled five overs, conceded 29. He picked up a wicket. Aaqib, who bowled 10 overs, conceded 67 and picked up a wicket. 

Ata-ur-Rehman, who bowled 10 overs, conceded 40 and picked up a wicket. Waqar bowled 10 overs, included a maiden. He conceded 67, picking up two wickets. Mushtaq bowled 10 overs, conceding 56. He picked up a couple of scalps.

Saeed Anwar, who faced 32 balls, scored 48. His innings included five boundaries and a couple of sixes. He was caught by Kumble. Srinath broke the 84-run stand. Much has been written about the showdown between Sohail and Prasad. The former faced 46 balls, scoring 55. His innings included nine boundaries and a six. The second-wicket stand was broken by the latter.

Ijaz, who faced 23 balls, scored a dozen. His innings included a boundary. He was caught by Srinath. Prasad broke the nine-run stand. Inzamam-ul-Haq faced 20 balls, scoring a dozen. His innings included a four. He was caught by Mongia. Prasad broke the 10-run partnership.

The fifth-wicket pair put on 52. Malik faced 50 balls, scoring 38. His innings included four fours. He was trapped (Kumb)leg before wicket. Latif, who faced 25 balls, scored 26. His innings included a boundary and a couple of sixes. He was caught by Mongia. Venkatapathy Raju broke the 47-run stand. 

The seventh-wicket stand was worth a run. Mushtaq, who faced a couple of balls, didn’t open his account. He was caught by Kumble off his own bowling. Miandad scored 38, which was, incidentally, his age at that point. His 64-ball innings included two boundaries. He wasn’t in seventh heaven, because he was run out.

The ninth-wicket pair didn’t open its account. Ata-ur-Rehman, who faced a ball, didn’t score and was trapped (Kumb)leg before wicket. Waqar, who faced 21 balls, scored four. He was unbeaten, as was Aaqib, who faced 10 balls, scoring six.

India conceded nine extras. Pakistan, who scored 248 for the loss of nine wickets off 49 overs, lost by 39 runs. Tendulkar bowled five overs, conceding 25. He was wicketless, as was Jadeja, whose five overs yielded 19.

Srinath, who bowled nine overs, conceded 61. He picked up a wicket. Raju, who bowled 10 overs, conceded 46. He picked up a wicket. Kumble, who bowled 10 overs, conceded 48. He picked up three scalps, as did Prasad, whose 10 overs yielded 45.

India advanced to the semi-finals.