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):



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