Sachin 'treatment' for Akhtar

This is one beating Shoaib Akhtar will want to erase from his memory while it will be forever etched on the minds of several million Indian fans. The build-up to the match had been hyper, as always happens with any India-Pakistan clash.

Meeting as they were after a gap of almost three years on March 1, 2003, the tension was palpable. Sourav Ganguly’s men had a reputation to protect (India had never lost to Pakistan in three previous meetings in World Cups) while Waqar Younis and co had an equally difficult job of breaking the duck. Batting first, Pakistan thrived on India’s eternal nemesis Saeed Anwar, who cracked a well-crafted 101. Set a target of 274, India had the onerous task against a four-pronged pace attack -- Younis, Wasim Akram, Akhtar and Abdul Razzaq. Akhtar had let his mouth run before the match, saying he would be targeting Sachin Tendulkar, in imperious form then. After going through his opening over, the paceman was shut for good. Tendulkar had creamed Akram for two fours but had reserved Akhtar for some special treatment. In three strokes -- his class, skill and technique stamped on all of them -- off the last three balls of the over, he had wrested the initiative.  A slightly widish rising delivery was deposited several rows behind the backward point fence as he unleashed a ferocious cut, the sound of ball speeding off bat resonating through the packed stadium. The trade-mark flick off the pad followed and the ball diasppeared to the square-leg fence. The crowd was going ballistic when the Little Master worked the next ball to mid-wicket with a twirl of his wrists. 6, 4, 4, and Tendulkar had taken the wind out of Akhtar’s sails.  An equally effective Virender Sehwag was out after a 14-ball 21 while Ganguly was trapped in front by Waqar off successive balls to peg India back but Tendulkar was unshakeable, unmindful of the shooting pain in his left leg.  On the cusp of a well-deserved century, the right-hander received an unplayable bouncer from Akhtar to be out after a scintillating 98 (75b, 12x4, 1x6), but by that time, he had nicely set the match up for India. The calm of Rahul Dravid (44 n.o.) and the flamboyance of Yuvraj Singh (50 n.o.) took India to a famous win with 4.2 overs and six wickets in the bank.