Pakistan achieved the impossible at the Eden Saturday night. How else do I describe Inzamam?s team successfully chasing 293 in front of over 70,000 fans rooting for India? At the halfway mark, I was absolutely certain that the home team would emerge victors in this BCCI platinum jubilee match.

The captain played his part to perfection, but it was young Salman Butt who stole the show with a gritty unbeaten ton. Not many in India had heard of this youngster before but I can assure you he is a man for the future. The Lahore teenager has been under the spotlight since scoring two double centuries ? one in South Africa while touring with the Pakistan A team and another in the Qaid-E-Azam Trophy. Picked ahead of two established openers (Imran Farhat and Taufiq Umer), Butt reposed the faith shown in him by the team management.

Inzamam, of course, was a class act, not for the first time. He may not always convey it, but Inzy reads a game very well and knows exactly when to step on the accelerator. Under Bob Woolmer, he has become an even more reliable and dependable batsman.

India were hurt by their inability to pick wickets. They relied on Harbhajan, who was picked ahead of Kumble, but didn?t quite deliver. To be fair to him, the heavy dew made sure the ball didn?t spin and bounce. The pacers also didn?t get much swing.

In the first session, the Indians had got their act together. Despite the early loss of Tendulkar, it was a tremendous batting effort. There was some talk before the match that the captain winning the toss should opt to field first because of the dew factor.

I was a little surprised Sourav didn?t come out at No. 3 simply because I feel the team?s best players should get as many overs as possible. Maybe, he wanted Laxman to bat freely with the field restrictions still in force. VVS is a traditional batsman who loves to play his strokes from the outset. Well, the move paid off for the hosts as Laxman and Sehwag batted beautifully and maintained a healthy run-rate.

A brilliant spell of leg-spin by Shahid Afridi slowed India down as they lost Laxman, Sehwag and Dravid in a span of 40-odd runs. It required a magical knock to revive the innings and take India close to 300. Yuvraj is a type of batsman who can not only dent the rivals? confidence but also send the right signals to his own dressing-room.

On Saturday, the talented left-hander just exploded. He was a tad tentative at the start of his innings and played a couple of false strokes including an ill-advised sweep. But importantly, Yuvraj didn?t throw his wicket and stuck it out to flourish in the skipper?s company.

It?s not at all easy to bat at No. 6, you can either be a hero or a zero. For a man who was not among runs of late, it was even tougher. But, to his credit, he used his brains after seeing off the early crisis. Yuvraj is usually very strong on the off-side and it was clear the Pakistanis had done their homework as they attacked the southpaw?s leg stump. Yuvraj saw through the gameplan and adjusted his game superbly. That nearly 70 per cent of his runs came on the onside reflects how well he stymied the Pakistani tactic.

The Pakistan pacers were below par. Shoaib and Sami were guilty of bowling too many wides and no-balls, forcing Inzy to give the inexperienced Naved the innings? final over. This is the first time Naved was playing in such an atmosphere and I won?t blame him too much.

The Pakistan captain, I felt, missed a trick or two. Firstly, he shouldn?t have under-bowled Shoaib Malik on a pitch which was giving assistance to the other spinner Afridi. The off-spinner should have got his full quota of 10 overs, not just six.

Also, Inzy should have given Shoaib Akhtar or Sami an over or two more when Sourav came in to bat. Shoaib was brought on but had a solitary delivery at Sourav before being taken to task by Sehwag. The pacer was promptly taken off. He should have been replaced by Sami and asked to bang in a few short at the India captain.

Sourav batted quite sensibly. It?s important for the captain to be out there in the middle during a crisis and he did steer the ship through troubled waters calmly. His presence helped Yuvraj play his natural game.