Second two One-Days.

Well, things have a taken a complete turn around. Pakistan did exceedingly well to level the series, and look better placed to win the series.

In the third match, same story was repeated - win the toss, score lots of runs and defend them. Only difference from the first two matches was that India did not at all put up any fight. The batting collapsed most embarrassingly.

It is in the Fourth match that Pakistan announced a decided advantage over India. They lost the toss, and were rather mediocre in the field and conceded 315 runs in 48 oversaw. But then they came out and won the match quite comfortably, not withstanding the seemingly dramatic last ball finish. They were helped to a large extent by extremely inept bowling of India, but they deserve credit for sticking in there. Indians have to improve their bowling to lay any claim to being a top team in one-day cricket. The lack o quality bowling is a major reason for our languishing at 8th in official one-day rankings, above only Zimbabwe, Kenya and Bangladesh.

It was heartening to see Sachin Tendulkar regain his form and score a fantastic 123. Of course, it is sad that India did not win the match. It is his 38th hundred and 9th in a losing cause. Go here for his record in the matches that India lost. Sourav Ganguly was very disappointing and he looked very unsure and hardly inspiring. His six match ban might be a blessing in disguise. In any case, this will give him time to relax and assess the situation. BCCI is challenging the decision and the ban might be removed. In any case, he is not playing the fifth one-day.