One of the best matches I have ever seen

[Team Slayer]

1999
The first Test between Pakistan and India for nine years ended today at Chennai, and it was a classic. A see-saw game went this way and that, and when 18-year-old Shahid Afridi belted 141 to take Pakistan to 275 for 4 (a lead of 263), the tourists were in charge. Then Venkatesh Prasad took 5 for 0 in 18 balls, and India were left to chase 271. They collapsed to 81 for 5 before Sachin Tendulkar, with a glorious 136, took them to 254 for 6 – just 17 away from victory. Then Tendulkar holed out off Saqlain Mushtaq and the tail was swept away. Saqlain finished with ten wickets as Pakistan won by 12 runs.

Pakistan in India, 1998/99, 1st Test
India v Pakistan
MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai
28,29,30,31 January 1999 (5-day match)

Result: Pakistan won by 12 runs
Series: Pakistan leads the 2-Test series 1-0

Toss: Pakistan
Umpires: RS Dunne (NZ) and VK Ramaswamy
TV Umpire: AV Jayaprakash
Match Referee: CW Smith (WI)
Test Debut: S Ramesh (Ind).
Man of the Match: SR Tendulkar

Close of Play:
# Day 1: Pakistan 238, India 48/0 (Ramesh 30*, Laxman 18*, 8 overs)
# Day 2: India 254, Pakistan 34/1 (Shahid Afridi 16*, Ijaz Ahmed 11*, 8.5 overs)
# Day 3: Pakistan 286, India 40/2 (Dravid 8*, Tendulkar 20*, 19 overs)

Pakistan 1st innings R M B 4 6
Saeed Anwar lbw b Srinath 24 50 30 4 0
Shahid Afridi c Ganguly b Srinath 11 35 27 2 0
Ijaz Ahmed lbw b Kumble 13 57 37 2 0
Inzamam-ul-Haq c & b Kumble 10 27 17 2 0
Yousuf Youhana lbw b Tendulkar 53 143 107 6 1
Saleem Malik b Srinath 8 39 34 1 0
+Moin Khan c Ganguly b Kumble 60 145 117 7 1
*Wasim Akram c Laxman b Kumble 38 75 59 5 1
Saqlain Mushtaq lbw b Kumble 2 46 31 0 0
Nadeem Khan c Dravid b Kumble 8 18 17 1 0
Waqar Younis not out 0 12 9 0 0
Extras (lb 5, nb 6) 11
Total (all out, 79.5 overs) 238

FoW: 1-32 (Shahid Afridi, 8.1 ov), 2-41 (Saeed Anwar, 10.6 ov),
3-61 (Inzamam-ul-Haq, 15.5 ov), 4-66 (Ijaz Ahmed, 19.3 ov),
5-91 (Saleem Malik, 30.4 ov), 6-154 (Yousuf Youhana, 51.3 ov),
7-214 (Moin Khan, 67.3 ov), 8-227 (Wasim Akram, 71.3 ov),
9-237 (Nadeem Khan, 75.6 ov), 10-238 (Saqlain Mushtaq, 79.5 ov).

Bowling O M R W
Srinath 15 3 63 3 (6nb)
Prasad 16 1 54 0
Kumble 24.5 7 70 6
Joshi 21 8 36 0
Tendulkar 3 0 10 1

India 1st innings R M B 4 6
S Ramesh lbw b Wasim Akram 43 66 41 5 0
VVS Laxman lbw b Wasim Akram 23 57 45 4 0
R Dravid lbw b Saqlain Mushtaq 53 152 113 5 1
SR Tendulkar c Saleem Malik b Saqlain Mushtaq 0 5 3 0 0
*M Azharuddin c Inzamam-ul-Haq b Saqlain Mushtaq 11 53 28 2 0
SC Ganguly c Ijaz Ahmed b Shahid Afridi 54 213 138 3 2
+NR Mongia st Moin Khan b Saqlain Mushtaq 5 13 6 1 0
A Kumble c Yousuf Youhana b Saqlain Mushtaq 4 49 46 0 0
SB Joshi not out 25 100 67 4 0
J Srinath c Ijaz Ahmed b Shahid Afridi 10 17 7 1 0
BKV Prasad st Moin Khan b Shahid Afridi 4 15 11 0 0
Extras (b 2, lb 2, nb 18) 22
Total (all out, 81.1 overs) 254

FoW: 1-67 (Laxman, 12.5 ov), 2-71 (Ramesh, 14.5 ov),
3-72 (Tendulkar, 15.6 ov), 4-103 (Azharuddin, 27.4 ov),
5-156 (Dravid, 47.2 ov), 6-166 (Mongia, 49.1 ov),
7-188 (Kumble, 61.2 ov), 8-229 (Ganguly, 73.5 ov),
9-246 (Srinath, 77.1 ov), 10-254 (Prasad, 81.1 ov).

Bowling O M R W
Wasim Akram 20 4 60 2 (10nb)
Waqar Younis 12 2 48 0
Saqlain Mushtaq 35 8 94 5 (5nb)
Shahid Afridi 7.1 0 31 3 (3nb)
Nadeem Khan 7 0 17 0

Pakistan 2nd innings R M B 4 6
Saeed Anwar lbw b Prasad 7 19 15 1 0
Shahid Afridi b Prasad 141 305 191 21 3
Ijaz Ahmed c & b Kumble 11 33 20 2 0
Inzamam-ul-Haq c Laxman b Tendulkar 51 98 74 10 0
Yousuf Youhana b Tendulkar 26 27 25 5 0
Saleem Malik c Dravid b Joshi 32 110 69 4 0
+Moin Khan c Mongia b Prasad 3 6 7 0 0
*Wasim Akram c Joshi b Prasad 1 20 15 0 0
Saqlain Mushtaq lbw b Prasad 0 2 2 0 0
Nadeem Khan not out 1 16 6 0 0
Waqar Younis c Ramesh b Prasad 5 6 7 1 0
Extras (b 1, lb 4, nb 3) 8
Total (all out, 71.2 overs) 286

FoW: 1-11 (Saeed Anwar, 3.6 ov), 2-42 (Ijaz Ahmed, 10.2 ov),
3-139 (Inzamam-ul-Haq, 32.2 ov), 4-169 (Yousuf Youhana, 38.5 ov),
5-275 (Saleem Malik, 64.1 ov), 6-278 (Moin Khan, 65.3 ov),
7-279 (Shahid Afridi, 67.3 ov), 8-279 (Saqlain Mushtaq, 67.5 ov),
9-280 (Wasim Akram, 69.5 ov), 10-286 (Waqar Younis, 71.2 ov).

Bowling O M R W
Srinath 16 1 68 0 (3nb)
Prasad 10.2 5 33 6
Kumble 22 4 93 1
Joshi 14 3 42 1
Tendulkar 7 1 35 2
Laxman 2 0 10 0

India 2nd innings (target: 271 runs) R M B 4 6
S Ramesh c Inzamam-ul-Haq b Waqar Younis 5 15 14 1 0
VVS Laxman lbw b Waqar Younis 0 25 15 0 0
R Dravid b Wasim Akram 10 110 55 1 0
SR Tendulkar c Wasim Akram b Saqlain Mushtaq 136 405 273 18 0
*M Azharuddin lbw b Saqlain Mushtaq 7 59 34 1 0
SC Ganguly c Moin Khan b Saqlain Mushtaq 2 31 25 0 0
+NR Mongia c Waqar Younis b Wasim Akram 52 192 135 3 1
SB Joshi c & b Saqlain Mushtaq 8 40 20 0 1
A Kumble lbw b Wasim Akram 1 7 5 0 0
J Srinath b Saqlain Mushtaq 1 17 8 0 0
BKV Prasad not out 0 14 6 0 0
Extras (b 8, lb 10, nb 18) 36
Total (all out, 95.2 overs) 258

FoW: 1-5 (Ramesh, 3.4 ov), 2-6 (Laxman, 5.4 ov),
3-50 (Dravid, 22.6 ov), 4-73 (Azharuddin, 35.1 ov),
5-82 (Ganguly, 41.5 ov), 6-218 (Mongia, 86.1 ov),
7-254 (Tendulkar, 91.5 ov), 8-256 (Kumble, 92.6 ov),
9-256 (Joshi, 93.1 ov), 10-258 (Srinath, 95.2 ov).

Bowling O M R W
Wasim Akram 22 4 80 3 (16nb)
Waqar Younis 12 6 26 2
Shahid Afridi 16 7 23 0 (2nb)
Saqlain Mushtaq 32.2 8 93 5
Nadeem Khan 13 5 18 0 (1nb)

[Team Slayer]

here's a clip (Dravid b Wasim):

http://www.student.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~maanwer/images/was.gif

Still remains one of my fav. Wasim deliveries...just 2 balls before he was denied a PLUMB LBW...and what does the man do? comes back with one that pitches OUTSIDE leg, seams away JUST enough to brush the bail off the top of the off-stump....and in the process squaring up Rahul Dravid....doesn't get any better than that :-)

For those who want to kill some time, skim through the ball-by-ball commentary....especially the end (and the Wasim and Saqi overs)...man such sweet memories! :-)

[Team Slayer]

Even though Sachin played a blinder, and Saqi bowled his heart out...it was Wasim's wicket of Mongia that opened the game back up once he and Sachin had settled into a nice groove and were taking the game away from Pakistan....brilliant stuff! :-)

[Team Slayer]

bump!

I still remember when India were certain victors just before Saqi got SRT out and the tail crumbled