Out of control

As Pakistan piled on the runs at Faisalabad, it may not be a bad idea for India's bowlers, the captain, coach and the rest of the support staff to introspect on how ridiculously poor the bowling was.

Pakistan have scored 340 out of their 553 runs (currently) in fours and sixes now, in 129 overs. Those boundaries make up 61% of Pakistan's total so far. Seventy fours and ten sixes. That looks positively bad, doesn't it? Remember though that this total includes the maniac's 20 fours and 6 sixes and we're left with 224 out of 397 in boundaries, in 108 overs. So let us discount the runs he made, because whatever the bowlers and fielders did, it would have had little bearing on his intentions. But was it so difficult to string together 5-6 overs at a time repeatedly to restore control when at most a couple of runs were scored every over?

Rudra Pratap Singh is thus far the only bowler to have not scored a century. He isn't too far away from the target though. The hiding Pathan has got will (hopefully) make him a better bowler in conditions where there is barely any assistance from the pitch or in the air and (hopefully not) scar him. If you bowl 125 kmph on these wickets without sticking to a decent line and length consistently, you could end up conceding a double century as well.

Why haven't the likes of Sehwag, Yuvraj and Tendulkar bowled? Having five bowlers doesn't mean you don't use anyone else!