Azhar shows a touch of glamour at last (8 June 1999)

8 June 1999

Azhar shows a touch of glamour at last

Trevor Chesterfield

Manchester - For Mohammad Azharuddin it has not quiet been the World Cup he would care to remember. Jostled by a drunk at Hove after defeat to South Africa, verbally abused at Leicester on losing to Zimbabwe and just so happy to scrape into the Super Six stages.

This came after the remarkable batting display at Taunton: centuries by Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly settled old scores and accounts against Sri Lanka; for Azhar, however, runs have been hard to score. Until today at Old Trafford against Pakistan when he finally managed to get an innings of 59 on the board.

When India ended on 227 for six after 50 overs the possibility it may be 23 runs light of a competitive total did emerge. Azhar's contribution was at least showed some of his old flair and aggressive display.

His classically correct mantle may now be worn by Dravid who was as elegant as ever, pacing his innings with style and calm until at 61 he undid all the good work when trying to lift the ball over the inner ring. And this after Sachin Tendulkar was dismissed in similar fashion after reaching the 40s.

Azhar has watched all this, perhaps wondering if he was going to make an impression as a batsman in an event likely to be his last major tournament; his flair for making runs lost in some remote corner of his psyche as he battled to find a stage where to show the world that he still has the capabilities to make runs when it matters.

With Ganguly out of the game through a knee injury Azhar needed to add a little more than a rupee or two to the innings, especially as he had been succumbing all too often to the malaise of self doubt which so often manifests itself in his game if he is partly responsible for the loss of wicket. Today there were no such complications in his batting.

His habit of playing spin off his pads or taking advantage of the width of some deliveries, especially by Shoaib Akthar in the closing overs was as calculated here at Old Trafford as Lance Klusener had been explosively demonstrative at Trent Bridge. It upset the Rawalpindi Express to the extent he was running out of steam: the 85 mph deliveries far short of the expected 95s clocked against South Africa and other sides.

While Azhar was a sweetly moving as the Ganges can be, Tendulkar displayed mixed touches: the magic and the ordinary served up in the same over. As for Dravid he looked as accomplished as normal; whether driving or cutting he had the measure of the Pakistan bowlers.

Although while Australian commentators hint that Tendulkar has the 'surprising ability to pull the short ball for one so short' displays a certain ignorance or arrogance. The Don, Sunil Gavaskar, Peter Kirsten, Alvin Kallicharran and even Brian Lara are short men and their pull shots off anything short were strokes of impressive stature.

Wasim Akram was forced to clean up Pakistan's bowling act's although Azhar Mahmood line and his length was tidy enough without being over brilliant on pitch where runs, at first, were not easy to score. Perhaps India's decision to open with Tendulkar shows a certain lack of trustworthiness in the top-order, with Ganguly out, however, there was no option this time.

Yet the lasting memory is of Azhar putting it together. Whether it has come too late to help India keep their semi-final hopes alive is another matter. Zimbabwe were able to squeeze a lucky point out of their washed-out match with New Zealand, now the Kiwis are hoping they can pull one off against India to qualify for the last four. They meet India at Trent Bridge on Saturday.

It could be the game which may yet be Azhar's last appearance.