Cricket: India swept aside by Wasim

India 125; Pakistan 129-2 Pakistan win by eight wkts

PAKISTAN EASILY took the Coca-Cola Cup final in Sharjah yesterday. From the moment their captain Wasim Akram took two wickets in the first over India never looked like challenging their fiercest rivals.

The veteran fast bowler, who was running a temperature, dismissed the opener Sadagopan Ramesh and the No 3 Rahul Dravid, both leg-before and both for nought, with the third and fourth balls of the innings.

Wasim returned to clean bowle the tail-ender Ajit Agarkar for 20 to end India's innings in the 45th over. He claimed 3 for 11 off eight overs to secure the Man of the Match award. His fast bowling partner Shoaib Akhtar took the Man of the Series award.

India never recovered from the double blow as Shoaib followed up with the dismissal of Mohammed Azharuddin to a simple catch in the slip by Azhar Mahmood.

Azhar added to India's misery having Ajay Jadeja and pinch-hitter Javagal Srinath dismissed in successive overs as India sank to 46 for 4 by the 19th over.

Only the opener Saurav Ganguly looked remotely comfortable against Pakistan's pace attack, contributing 50 runs in 96 balls, as India made a total mess of its decision to bat first on a bland pitch.

The 125 total was never a challenge for the confident Pakistan batsmen and Ijaz Ahmed and Inzamam-ul-Haq finished the final off in style, taking 18 off Ajit Agarkar, winning the game with 22 overs to spare.

India won toss

INDIA

S Ramesh lbw b Wasim 0

S C Ganguly c Yousuf b Arshad 50

R R Dravid lbw b Wasim 0

*M Azharuddin c Azharb b Shoaib 2

A Jadeja c Saeed b Azhar 14

J Srinath c Moin b Azhar 3

R R Singh run out 15

N Mongia run out 0

A B Agarkar b Wasim 20

A Kumble run out 7

B K V Prasad not out 1

Extras (nb9, w4) 13

Total (45 overs) 125

Fall: 1-0, 2-0, 3-14, 4-46, 5-50, 6-82, 7-84, 8-104, 9-122.

Bowling: Wasim Akram 8-3-11-3 (nb2); Shoaib Akhtar 8-1-31-1 (nb4); Azhar Mahmood 10-0-31-2 (w3); Saqlain Mushtaq 7-0-20-0; Arshad Khan 10-0-24- 1 (nb3); Shahid Afridi 2-0-8-0.

PAKISTAN

Saeed Anwar c and b Kumble 30

Shahid Afridi c Ganguly b Kumble 24

Ijaz Ahmed not out 21

Inzamam-ul-Haq not out 40

Extras (w5, nb9) 14

Total (for 2, 28 overs) 129

Fall: 1-53, 2-65.

Did not bat: Yousuf Youhana, Moin Khan, Azhar Mahmood, *Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq, Arshad Khan, Shoaib Akhtar.

Bowling: Srinath 8-0-31-0; Prasad 6-0-17-0; Agarkar 5-0-52-0; Kumble 9-1-28-2.

Umpires: D B Hair (Aus) and K T Francis (Sri Lanka).