In my earlier article “Here Comes the Special Occasion”, I wrote: “We are in for one of the most memorable Cricket series of our times. Near me both the sides have equal chances of winning in both the Test and One-Day matches. The team, which would show nerves of metal and play as a well-knit unit, will obviously come out with flying colors. It will indeed be a close encounter.”

Yes: It indeed turned out to be a most absorbing series, with both the teams coming out with the most appropriate 1-1 result, after a well fought out draw in the first test match at Mohali. Had it not rained in Mohali during the test match, we would have seen a nail-biting finish there. One thing was very evident. The scoring rate maintained by both the team’s batsmen was quick, which meant that even if you make 400+ runs, you could still loose the match. Like India made 516 first innings and Pakistan scored 496/9 second innings at Mohali. But in the end had fifty overs not lost in the game due to rain, most likely Pakistan, but India as well, would have lost that test match. Then Pakistan made 393 (almost 400) in the second test match, still lost the game by 195 runs. Then India made 449 in the last test match, only to see loosing the game by 168 runs.

All this happened because batsmen played attacking cricket and this is very good for sub-continent cricket, where we used to see high scoring draws, but now we are witnessing huge scoring result games, where the matches go all the way into the fifth day’s last session.

Before the beginning of the series, Cricket pundits were calling Pakistani team to be the weakest ever to have landed in India. Pakistani players defied all of those assessments and played beyond all expectations with true team spirit.

Although several new and experienced players from both the teams played outstanding Cricket, the main difference between the two sides was Pakistani Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq. He led from the front. His attacking fifties in the two innings of the first test match set the stage for his team members to try and play more than 100%. Pakistan was 204 in arrears after making 312 and India replying with 516 in the first test at Mohali. Pakistanis soon were tottering at 10/3 in the second innings against sustained attacking bowling of Balaji and Pathan. In came Inzamam and hammered dangerous Balaji for three consecutive fours. Pakistani team never looked behind from that point onwards and was always trying and fighting till the very end. Inzi deservedly scored his 21st century a superlative 184 in his hundredth test match (just like Javed Miandad). He is three centuries and around 1,500 runs away from breaking the highest centuries and score record for Pakistan respectively. He must be eagerly looking forward to these records before hanging his boots. He looked much more accomplished and attractive than Sachin in this series. Well played Inzi: You are a real crowd puller.

After dropping two crucial catches and getting out cheaply in both the innings of the first test match, Younis Khan came back with scores of 147, 0, 267 and 84 not out. About that in between zero, had he played with the same resilience as the other innings, Pakistan would have at least drawn the second test match, if not win it and that would have meant unbelievable series win by 1-0 or 2-0. When ever Imran Khan remarks something about a player, it means his verdict is strong. Younis Khan did not disappoint him and Pakistan. Scoring a double hundred in India is quite an achievement, especially when according to Indian commentator and former test batsman Sanjay Vijay Manjrekar that crowd is totally biased against you. Younis Khan has strongly declared to the whole world that he is back, everyone should be on the look and that he is a very strong Vice-Captain.

It was wonderful to see Shahid Afridi getting nod for the second game to play in the test matches. His bowling has remarkably improved and he played three most solid quick-fire innings of 32, 52 and 58, while in one of the innings he went for zero. His fielding was outstanding as usual; he is truly a God Gifted talent for Pakistan and must be cherished in both the forms of Cricket (although we have the third emerging 20-20 form of Cricket as well absolutely suited for Shahid).

Yousuf Youhana proved again that he is a great player. It can be seen from his superb innings of 68, 104 and 37 (gave a strong position consolidation stand to Younis Khan). He usually starts each series in a bad manner. His 104 in India and 111 earlier in Australia mean that he needs to concentrate a little harder to score huge 150+ centuries. Definitely he has God Gifted capacity to be the best batsman in the whole world. He has to sort it out in the nets with the help of Coach as to how to leave and play the balls just outside the off-stump, just a small glitch in his otherwise superb technique.

I am little surprised with the exit of Yasir Hameed from ODI, as he didn’t play the first two test matches. The same thing happened to Asim Kamal in Australia. He is very good in ODI and his Test match record is also not bad (scored centuries in each innings of his first test match and two fifties in the last test match at Sydney in Australia). He after Zaheer Abbas has the fastest first 1,000 runs in ODI and after Saeed Ahmed; Yasir has scored the fastest 1,000 runs in test matches. In last 4 innings in test cricket he has crossed 50 three times, with elegant 76 in the last innings of this series. How can drop him? It is true he has not been handled well as far as selection choices are concerned. This time, it may be a case of some disciplinary action; otherwise his performance has been superb.

Once again Asim Kamal showed his inspired performance. He is a classical left-hander and one of the most valuable number six batsmen, although he has the confidence to come up in the order if needed.

The outstanding century in the first test match by wicket keeper Kamran Akmal proved his selection for this series. He made hundred against West Indies in an one-day game in Australia; however overall his performance down-under was average and people thought he would not able to take the pressure in India. But now his 109 in Mohali test match can be rated as one of the best ever match saving inning ever for Pakistan. Along with steady and solid Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal played aggressively to amass incredible 184 runs for the seventh wicket. Kamran could not repeat the same batting performance again and this is what he needs to work on, consistency. He moves a bit towards the leg, while playing spinners, which is quite peculiar technique and he needs to work hard on this. His keeping was better, when compared to his performance in Australia; he is bound to improve with time and become a real asset.

Abdul Razzaq had a reasonable series with both bat and ball. He got bogged down in few innings, where his natural attacking game was required. In one innings he hammered 5 4s in 26, where caution was called for. He needs to improve on pacing his innings by reading the situation of the game. His match-saving innings at Mohali was incredible and played under immense pressure. He came of age in that innings. His bowling in the second test match and last innings of the series was excellent as well. He needs to further improve his bowling keeping examples of Michael Kasprowicz (A), Andrew Flintoff (E) and Lakshmipathy Balaji (I) in perspective.

Pakistan had problems with the opening batsmen, where they tried three different pairs in the three test matches. Pakistanis need to adopt a policy of trying the same two openers for at least two series before thinking about making any change, as it takes time for openers to settle down. Salman Butt is a very talented left-handed opening bat, but needs to keep learning rather than becoming happy with a few good scores here and there. He needs consistent talks from Coach and senior players, just like Imran Khan used to have long talks with Saeed Anwar.

With Shoaib Akhtar out due to injury, there was a lot of pressure on Danish Kaneria and Mohammad Sámi in this vital series to perform with the ball. I feel they both gave 100%+ to their captain. I am sure with good health and fitness, Danish will be the highest wicket taking leg spinner in not only Pakistani, but most likely in Cricket’s history; meaning I see him taking 550+ test match wickets.

After being out of sort in the first three innings of the series, especially his consistent over-stepping problem, Mohammad Sámi came back strongly in the last three innings. He now looks comfortable playing without speedster Shoaib Akhter on the other end, a good omen for Pakistan’s future. With Shabbir Ahmed and Umer Gul likely to return by next season and once Shoaib Akhtar gets fit as well, healthy competition will start in the fast bowling department.

Once again Virender Sehwag punished Pakistan bowling line up. He has very good body balance like David Boon of Australia used to have. If you develop with consistent practice this appropriate body steadiness, then you can bat beautifully on any kind of pitch. That is why Sehwag has performed well all over the world and scored huge 100s.

A most superlative performance came from Rahul Dravid. He has now proved without any doubts that he is the champion batsman of today’s world and even better than his counterpart Sachin Tendulkar. He deserves to receive ICC best batsmen of world award a second time.

Sachin Tendulkar played some good of 50+, but his overall performance was not top level. May be lay-off from cricket due to tennis elbow injury had its toll on him. He should come good in one-dayers.

There is question mark of the batting performances of Captain Sourav Ganguly and Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman. Sourav was totally out of sort. Had he begun the series playing his natural attacking game in the first test match, Indian could have won the match despite rain and this series would have been a different story. Laxman did leave some mark in the series with some patient fifties; however just like Sachin, Indians need expeditious hundreds from Laxman, full of elegant drives; that did not come off his bat.

Good looking Gautam Gambhir is a decent bat. His batting stance reminds Cricket fans of Andy Flower, who used to open for England in the 1980s and 90s (scored a double hundred in India). He is a superb fielder. However he needs to score regular fifties and hundreds, since there are so many other opening batsmen in Indian knocking at the doors.

Dinesh Karthik is a vociferous wicket keeper, needing much improvement in his keeping. He gave away too many extra runs. However he is a very solid bat and scored a vital match-winning partnership with Dravid in the second innings of the 2nd test match, where Karthik made 93. I have always wondered why Indians have never produced any world class wicket keeper. Farokh Maneksha Engineer, Syed Kirmani, Kiran Shankar More and Nayan Ramlal Mongia were all very good wicketkeepers, but still not world-class.

Irfan Pathan’s hype is almost over. He looked an ordinary medium fast bowler. He has developed a kind of mixed front and side on action, which has heavy toll on the body and he gets weary soon. This can also lead to severe injury just like Umer Gul of Pakistan, who also has a similar mixed action (the only difference is Pathan is a left-handed bowler, who is already putting pressure on his heart, since he is bowling from heart’s side of the body).

Lakshmipathy Balaji bowled with big heart and much accuracy. He mixed up his out-swinging deliveries with the surprising in-cutter and slower ones. His bowling action is very good. He uses his shoulder like Richard Headley and Wasim Akram and that has helped him with the movement on both the sides.

Kumble is simply the best match-winning bowler for India. Usually if he performs, there is no chance for India to loose. Harbhajan Singh (Bhajji) bowled beautifully as a modern day off spinner, who is required to have more variety than the previous years’ off-spinners. In the past, off-spinners used to be defensive run saving bowlers and used to rely on the mistakes and loosing of concentration of the batsmen to get wickets. Now-a-days the off-spinners have become much more aggressive like leg-spinners and this trend was started by Saqi and Murali. Bhajji’s bowling action is almost the same as possessed by Shoaib Malik. I think both of them are unlucky to be reported for bowling action, as one can not see any fault in the TV footages.

After this series Pakistan have a great future but India must have lost quite a bit of team spirit. With John Wright leaving as the Coach, question is who can bring that spirit back to Indian Cricket? There is big question mark on the performance and captaincy of Sourav. With excellent batsmen like Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif waiting on the side line, is it now may be Dravid’s time to lead the Indian team? Near future will inform us about that, since if Ganguly fails in the one-days, his future will become bleaker. It is my feeling that Sourav will be successful with the bat in the one-dayers.

Even though Pakistan drew this series, in my opinion Pakistan has gained much needed confidence. There is kind of competition among the youngsters for several spots in the team and Pakistan’s future looks very dazzling. Hopefully Pakistanis will take the win at Bangalore most professionally, do not take it in their heads and become complacent. They need to keep working hard without becoming contented just like the Kangaroos. There is always room for more improvement and innovation (salient ingredient for regular victories). If they stick to such a policy and frame of mind, they are indeed going to be a force to be reckoned with in the very near future.

The writer of this piece is the past Captain and Wicketkeeper of Pakistan Cricket Team and Chairman of the Rashid Latif Cricket Academy (RLCA) Karachi - Pakistan. You can E-Mail to him at info@rlca.com.pk