A half-chance that cost the match

It's not really fair to blame a fielder for dropping a half-chance but when the batsman is Sachin Tendulkar, the fielder Pakistan's Abdul Razzaq, there may just be some reason.

It was the match of the tournament and Tendulkar was carving up the Pakistan attack with some brute force. The opening bowlers had been destroyed, especially Shoaib Akhtar who had much to say before the game. One over from him had cost 18 runs and he was out of the attack. The captain Waqar Younis replaced him and soon, had his rewards.

In the fifth over of the match, Waqar Younis dealt a double blow to India dismissing Virender Sehwag (21 off 13b) and Sourav Ganguly (0 in 1b) off successive deliveries. India, who had raced to 53/0 was suddenly looking suspect at 53/2. Pakistan had the runs on the board and the momentum was about to shift back towards Pakistan.

From the other end, the master Wasim Akram was bowling beautifully and one such delivery enticed Tendulkar, already in an aggressive mood, to drive over the top. He didn't quite middle the ball and as it made its flight over mid-off, Abdul Razzaq leapt to take the catch. To his credit, he did get his fingertips to it, but in the context of the game, that was never going to be enough.

In any other game, the chance would not have been looked at too harshly, but this time around, Razzaq's misfortune would let India run away. At the time Tendulkar was dropped, he was on 30 and he would add another 68 runs in no time to take the game beyond Pakistan. It would eventually be an injury that stopped him.

But the real testimony to the magnitude of the miss came from the bowler who was heard asking the fielder if he knew whom he had dropped. Coming from Wasim Akram, it showed the respect and fear that Tendulkar evoked in his opponents. Razzaq definitely knew and he would also find out how costly the miss was!

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