``In the 42nd over, the ball got out of shape and the umpires had no reserve balls as old as that one. As a result, we got the new balls and though shine was taken off, it still was hard enough,'' Saeed Anwar said later.

Anwar strongly defended Saqlain Mushtaq who was hit for a six when India needed eight to win in six balls. ``he just couldn't grip the ball. It was not his fault but of the authorities who couldn't provide the ball as old and soft as the one which was being replaced.''

Anwar maintained the wicket was beautiful for stroke-play as evident from the fact that each team batted at an average of over 5.5 an over. ``On a tailor-made wicket, the hard ball would have been easily hit and India were lucky that during their innings, the ball was changed twice.''

Anwar said another unfortunate thing was the loss of 16 precious balls as the match was reduced to 47-over-a-side after crowd violence. ``At that stage, Inzamamul Haq and Moin Khan was well set and could have easily added another 25 to 30 runs to further bolster the score. But sadly, the crowd trouble affected the team of the spectators. ``Three other stoppages also affected the concentration and momentum of our batsmen,'' Anwar said.

However, Anwar had all praise for Robin Singh who played a match-winning innings of unbeaten 31. ``No doubt he benefited from harder balls, still it was a difficult situation for India and he played very intelligently. Very rarely you will find this type of innings that is as cool and calculated as this one.''

Anwar was certainly unhappy with the crowd misbehaviour. ``It was not a good thing. There were a couple of guys who wanted to spoil the fun of others and brought a bad name to the country. The people who try to damage the game should not be allowed inside the ground and if caught red-handed, should be put behind bars so that a clear message is passed on to others. The crowd of Hyderabad was exemplary but here we had a trouble and we didn't give the Indians the honour and respect they deserved.''

Haroon Rasheed stressed for a face-lifting of the National Stadium. ``The enclosures were flooded with spectators. I think it would be better if the authorities extend the stadium and increase the seating capacity to another 10,000 to 20,000.''