Lahore saw high drama and excitement on Thursday when the Indians played their opener, a warm-up match, at the Qadhafi Stadium and the spectators, not very large in number, were surprised to witness a resounding victory by six wickets for the Pakistan A side over a full visitors' line-up.
In fact the Indians had a taste of the resilience of the promising players of this country, which had fielded literally a second string for a practice duel against the tourists.
A score of 335 in 50 overs by the visitors with a run-rate of 6.5 per over appeared to be a tough one for many of the players in the 'A' pack who have not made a debut for the senior set in international competitions.
Yet unconcerned with the heavy score the 'A' players took up the challenge with enthusiasm, determination and defiance. If the Indians had opened out from the start and had a run-rate of above nine the Pakistanis too set the tone of true aggression.
Imran Nazir, for long sidelined as an irresponsible stroke-maker, wielded the bat like a scimitar and plundered 17 runs in the initial over of Zaheer Khan, an experienced and skilful seamer. If the Indian first wicket fell at 149 with both Sehwag and Tendulkar hitting out with abandon, the A openers, Imran Nazir and Taufiq Umar, displayed the daring to the delight and cheers of the crowds.
Their stand was not broken before 127 had been put on the board.
Imran Nazir was the picture of menace in his belligerent 65. Taufiq, the more steady among the batsmen, came to a well-deserved, century, treating every ball on merit, not having the rampaging brilliance of Imran Nazir or the Indians Tendulkar and Sehwag, yet sound and assured in his stroke-play.
Both Taufiq and Imran deserve a calling to the mainstream line-up even though one finds a plethora of talent, both in batting and bowling in the country.
Even Faisal Iqbal could not be contained and had the punishing shots to deal with Zaheer Khan and spinner Kartik.
Zaheer had a bad day for 78 runs had been blasted from his nine overs. Tendulkar and Sehwag had a good practice with scores of 76 and 75 to their cricket and gave warnings of their aggression and valour in the next fixtures, both one-dayers and the Tests.
Rahul David was unlucky to miss century but turned out to be the spinal cord of his side in batting.
The Indian medium-fast bowling in this warm-up tie lacked fire and venom, taken all the three seamers viz: Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan and Balaji. There was no spinner of the class of Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.
The 'A' outfit's success cannot be described as upset seeing the emphatic margin of victory and the confidence exuded by the Pakistan players to answer the earlier Indian enterprise in batting.
The Pakistani bowlers have been, time and again, lambasted for conceding a large number of extras but in this match the Indians gave away so many no-balls and wides that the onlookers were surprised.
Sourav Ganguly, the visiting captain, has no doubt said that he has come here to win matches but the first defeat, even though in a warm-up tussle, should make him and his team careful.
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