Date-stamped : 23 Nov93 - 08:48 Pak v Ind, Shj ODI2, 23 Oct 91 In a thickening gloom, in light so bad that the street lights outside the stadium were on for the last 6 overs, Pakistan over- came India's late charge to finally subdue them. In the process, they qualified for the final to be played on Friday. Pakistan batted first. There were three changes in the side: Aamir Sohail, Saeed Anwar and Zahid Fazal were flown out to Shar- jah to replace Rameez and Javed Miandad who were out with strained backs, and Sajid Ali who had failed miserably in three innings. Saeed Anwar was out early, but Sohail, Zahid and Salim Malik put Pakistan in a solid position. However, the run rate was still quite low (at 40 overs, they only had 160-odd runs). Sohail scored 91 runs in 133 balls, with 4 4s and a 6 to provide the backbone of the innings. But after the 45th over, Imran showed what could really be done with the Indian bowling, when he pound- ed out 43 runs in 24 balls with 4 4s and 2 6s to help Pakistan reach an excellent total. Prabhakar and Srinath, who had earlier held the Pakistanis to 30 runs in 15 overs, were both mauled beyond recognition in this late charge. In reply, Shastri and Kambli (newly promoted to opener) set In- dia on a firm footing with an opening partnership of 124 at over 4 runs an over. After both of them and Azhar fell in a short spell (Azhar was bowled by a freaky ball from Akram Raza, offer- ing a tentative stroke), Manjrekar and Tendulkar brought the In- dian team to within 38 runs, with Tendulkar in his usual dazzling form, scoring 49 runs in 38 balls. At this point, with the dark- ness settling in, he and Kapil fell on successive balls, and Pra- bhakar was not able to force the pace enough (though he certainly tried hard enough). Finally, in the thick gloom, India needed 12 runs in the last over off Waqar, but as on Monday, he produced his best bowling for the occasion. More's heave at the last ball (for the 4 runs he needed to tie the scores and win the match) was futile. Apparently, there was great confusion about the outcome of the match in case it was abandoned due to bad light. The umpires were uncertain as to the procedure, as were the organizers, and in a welter of confusion, the Indians batted on (the umpires claim that the Indians did not appeal; Manjrekar and Prabhakar claim that they did appeal, but that the umpires were confused about the procedure and that they, as a result, asked the Indians to bat on). Whatever, the result was meaningless after the first innings (when Pakistan crossed 198 and reached the final). As a matter of interest, upto the 45-over mark, the Indians were ahead on the run-rate and the wicket rate at all checkpoints... (Yeah, yeah : excuses, excuses :-) Aamir Sohail was declared the man of the match. Contributed by probal (probal@*rutgers.edu)