Young Pakistan defeats Young India

TPR liked what it saw from team pakistan today. they had fire. they had presence. they were aggressive. they fielded a lot better. they batted with purpose. they competed. and, most of all, they won.

thank allah that pakistan triumphed today. this win from them, and wake up call for india, will make for a better test series. this win will, we hope, remind shoaib how much more he can bring to this pakistan side.

we think it helped shoaib and pakistan that shoaib and younus khan were not in the side. quite obviously, it allowed him to assert himself. the replacement wicket-keeper, too, sarfraz was a brilliant addition. ignoring the error he made when he missed a relatively simple opportunity to stump the dangerous yuvi, he was an electric presence behind the stumps. goodbye kamran. hello sarfraz. at least, for now. (after all, you can never tell with the rising stars in pakistan cricket. they have an infuriating habit of falling by the wayside.)

even though, india lost this match, dhoni and team did a lot of things right today. they got a good look at praveen kumar in pressure situations. we think he's passed his debut test with above average marks and could make for a sturdy complement to pathan. something, we're sure, the think tank will agree with us on.

no question about it. rohit sharma needs to be spanked on his baby-cheeked bottom for giving it away and depriving us all of the pleasures of watching him glide his way to a maiden, match-winning hundred. 'something you must never hold against us if he doesn't make it' tells us this boy is cut out for big things.

in other observations, tpr is pleased to...umm, report that the joyous celebrations by team india at the end of a match they lost convincingly was a...well, joy to behold. it said good things about the state of this indian team.

finally, and below all, we're most pleased for the charmingly guile-less shoaib malik, young captain of pakistan. we think this team, like india's, performs better in its younger avataar.