Date-stamped : 12 Mar97 - 10:24 10 March 1997 Cricket triumph in SAARC contest Lateef Jafri THE SAARC gold cup tournament, launched in 1992 to enhance goodwill and friendliness among regional cricketing countries, was deservingly clinched by Pakistan at the Dhaka Stadium, built during the days when Bangladesh was the eastern wing of this country. Pakistan had been eliminated from the final of the previous com- petition, held in December 1994 and it was India which had per- formed excellently to gain the honours of the four-nation con- test. The tournament is supposed to be competed by the second string of the Council members of the ICC, though Bangladesh, short of first class cricketers, must be fielding their main and national side. However, the encounters cannot be downgraded since they are occasions to spot out talent. The skill and technique of some of the fine performers can be honed to develop them into crafty bowlers and sound batsmen. Many may not like a relegation of classification to the competi- tion since there were many Test players, apart from fresh hands in the squads of Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. Some critics may, nevertheless, dismiss the contests as of low level since the Bangladesh cricket officials have not yet under- stood the significance of turf wickets. They point out that the nylon surface, on which the matches were arranged, gave little aid to the pacers, howsoever effort and labour they put in their deliveries. Others are of the opinion that a few medium-pacers who toiled hard with their outswingers and cutters reaped the dividends. The artificial surface suited the slow spin and the bowlers experimenting with the curving line of the flight. Bangladesh may have staged the matches on the Astroturf because most of the south-east Asian countries try their luck on it to bag the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) trophy honours. However, to develop cricket and to throw down the challenge to the heavy- weights of the continent it is important for Bangladesh to switch over to grass strips. That will determine their true merit and help the officials eliminate the flaws in their players. Nevertheless, the result=97 a triumph in the final for Pakis- tan=97 cannot be down-rated. The Indian coach, Srikkanth, thought that the rain, which came in the later stages of the last match, spoiled their chances. He felt that the Indian batsmen were going on the right course and with five wickets in hand victory was not difficult to attain. But the inclement weather changed the whole thing. Zaheer Abbas, the Pakistani coach and a famed Test batsman of yore, on the contrary, was of the opinion that his side`s total could not have been overtaken by the Indians, even if the rain may not have come. For the lower order batsmen it was rather dif- ficult to raise the run-rate to five per over, which was the re- quirement for victory, according to Zaheer. The triumph was significant for the Pakistan A side, apparently a second string of the country, since it propped the morale of some youngsters and also because the first contest was abandoned due to crowd protest against the desecration of the Babri mosque in India, and Pakistan could not measure strength with its arch- rivals. In the second one the country, captained by Rameez Raja, had put up a lacklustre show and surprisingly Bangladesh, the babes among the combatants, had clawed their way into the final and India had picked up the laurels. For Asif Mujtaba, the skipper, this was a triumphant visit. He earned the verdict of the scribes for the man of match (final) and the man of the tournament. As a batsman he scintillated on the field with a responsible innings of 91, though studded with slick stokes on a day of lowering clouds when four wickets had been lost for a numerically small score of 85. Pakistan had lit- tle chance. But Mujtaba rose to the occasion confidently to play watchful cricket with handsome shots to give India a hard target. His captaincy in the competition had been praiseworthy for in the league matches both the strong challengers, India and Sri Lanka, were brought down. It is rather surprising that he is being passed over as a reliable middle order batsman, if not as an all-rounder. Even Zaheer Abbas, sent to Dhaka as a coach but a member of the selectorial set, gave him his approbation quite warmly for the way he handled the difficult situation in the fi- nal and his mode and manner of batting. Akhtar Sarfraz of Peshawar also showed guts while facing rival bowlers but it is difficult to pass a final judgment on his level as a player since the strip was synthetic. As a bowler pacers Mohammad Zahid and Aqib Javed harassed the batsmen. On an uncertain wicket on which skill and variety were required Aqib demonstrated a rhythmical action with controlled outswingers that puzzled the batsmen. Here was again a case of injustice to a bowler, who has plenty of energy, zest and fire in him. And whenever he has been given a chance in Test and one-day international he has proved his prowess and has been a success. Source :: Dawn (http://xiber.com/dawn) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)