Moin says...

Just came across this piece by former Pakistan 'keeper Moin Khan in which he presents his profound assessment of the Faisalabad match. Most of it is quite as mundane as the match itself, but it gets interesting before it dulls down. Moin has some laughable opinions about Sachin Tendulkar and his batting at the moment. He claims that Sachin sort of excused himself off the pitch by saying...

Then what prompted Sachin to leave the pitch on which six centuries and two 90s were scored? Hostile bowling by Shoaib Akhtar, or the tension-filled dressing room atmosphere that often gets on the nerves of the batsmen who start feeling suffocated?

He even goes on to suggest that the sheer sight of Shoaib was enough to unsettle Tendulkar!

Shoaib was charging in at Sachin, bending his back and putting all his energy into his deliveries. One could see those terrifying, hungry and wild looks in the eyes of Shoaib when he reached Sachin at handshaking distance on his follow-through

Now, I can't say that I enjoy Sachin's batting today as much as when he used to toy with the opposition bowling in his prime, but to claim that fear and lack of confidence was the reason for his dismissal had me rolling on the floor. Given his predilection for Shoaib, Moin has precious little to speak of the superb knocks by Dravid and Laxman as also the Pakistani batsmen. Do read the whole piece if you have enough time to waste (well not completely waste if you consider the element of humour).