INDIA may have beaten Pakistan in the ultimate World Cup local derby yesterday, but the real

winners were tolerance, common sense, and the sport of cricket.

The nations have their

enormous and topical political differences, but the Old Trafford civil war that was feared never materialised.

It was noisy and it was colourful, but apart from a handful of minor skirmishes between rival factions immediately after the match, peace prevailed.

Wouldn't it be fine to imagine that the fanatical supporters of two other teams who play in blue and green in another sports-mad city 220 miles north could behave in the same manner as the Indians and Pakistanis at Manchester? There was no segregation, never mind partition, among the 22,000 crowd. They took part together in several bouts of the Mexican wave - and the symphony of whistles was unremitting.

It is doubtful if a single Acme Thunderer could be found today on any shop shelf in the North of England.

Seeking 228 for victory,

Pakistan fell short by 48 runs. Despite the reverse, they should still clinch a place in the semi-finals. For India, the success was a tournament lifeline - it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the sides could meet again in the final at Lord's.

India had launched their innings at a rate of knots and looked destined to post a target of well over 250, but superbly

controlled spells from unsung seamers Abdul Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood pegged them back.

Razzaq made the first breakthrough in the twelfth over with the tally on 37 when Sadag Ramesh lost his middle stump as he tried to swipe to leg.

Sachin Tendulkar looked in fine form until he fell for Wasim Akram's sucker punch. Wasim sent mid-off Saqlain Mushtaq back 20 metres, and immediately Tendulkar lofted a drive off Mahmood straight down his throat.

The quick departure of Ajay Jadeja left India with a dose of the jitters on 107 for three, but a breezy stand of 51 featuring Rahul Dravid and Mohammad Azharuddin steadied the ship.

Both passed the half-century mark with 61 and 59 respectively, while former Carlton pro Robin Singh chipped in with a brisk 16, which included a huge six off Saqlain.

The start of Pakistan's response was equally slick and exciting, but the loss of four quick wickets sent them into a lull from which they could not fully recover.

First to go was Shahid Afridi, who was safely held by Anil Kumble at slip off Javagal

Srinath. It was justice for the bowler, who had seen his previous delivery being flukily carved over the close-fielding cordon for four.

Srinath then claimed the

crucial scalp of Ijaz Ahmed, also caught at slip by Azharuddin. He was followed back to the pavilion almost immediately by Salim Malik, who has had a wretched tournament.

Saeed Anwar had played the anchor role, but with the score on 65 he became Azharuddin's

second victim for 36.

The writing was well and truly on the wall for Pakistan when Azar Mahmood was snapped up by keeper Nayan Mongia.

They were left needing 125 from the last 20 overs, but they had lost too many men to make the target realistically feasible and when Moin Khan's thrilling knock ended for 34, there was only going to be one result.

Srinath came back into the attack to dispose of Razzaq, who had required the help of a runner after pulling a hamstring while slamming Venkatesh Prasad for six.

Inzamam and Saqlain were both snared lbw and the last rites came when Wasim Akram holed out at square leg.

Indian captain Azharuddin shrugged off his personal contribution after his side ended a sequence of losing results against their fiercest rivals.

Pakistan have enjoyed victory in five of the last six encounters between the Asian cricketing giants but he stressed: ''We have achieved nothing yet. We still have to beat New Zealand and see what happens.

''Of course I'm pleased with my own performance. It's better to get 59 and win than a century and lose, but nothing would have been possible without our bowling and fielding display.

''I thought 227 was a very low score. It was touch and go at times but our bowlers put us in control.''

The captain's masterstroke came when he brought back man-of-the-match Venkatesh Presad, who immediately removed dangerman Moin Khan.

After seeing his side slump to a third straight defeat, Pakistan counterpart Akram confessed: ''That was the turning point, but in the end India played better cricket than us and deserved to win.

''Getting them for 227 was good, but our top order isn't firing. Once again we were all out within 50 overs and we have to start occupying the crease.

''We're going through a bad patch after six great months, but we've got a vital match against Zimbabwe on Friday and I'm sure we'll pick ourselves up.''

Ironically, India's chances of reaching the last four depend on both Pakistan and Australia beating Zimbabwe.

India v Pakistan at Old Trafford

India

S R Tendulkar c Mushtaq b Azhar ............. 45

S Ramesh b Abdul ...................................... 20

R S Dravid c Afridi b Wasim ...................... 61 A D Jadeja c Inzamam-ul-Haq b Azhar ...... 6 M Azharuddin c Ahmed b Wasim .............. 59 R R Singh c Akram b Shoaib ..................... 16 N R Mongia not out ..................................... 6

Extras 14. Total 6 wkts ...................... 227

Bowling - Wasim 10-0-27-2; Shoaib 10-0-54-1; Abdul 10-0-40-1; Azhar 10-0-35-2; Saqlain 10-0-67-0

Pakistan

S Anwar c Azharuddin b Prasad ............... 36 S Afridi c Kumble b Srinath ................... 6 Ijaz Ahmed c Azharuddin b Srinath ......... 11 Salim Malik lbw b Prasad .......................... 6 Inzamam-ul-Haq lbw b Prasad ................... 41 Azhar Mahmood c Mongia b Kumble ....... 10 Moin Khan c Tendulkar b Prasad ............... 34 Abdul Razzaq b Srinath ............................ 11 Wasim Akram c Kumble b Prasad ............. 12 Saqlain Mushtaq lbw b Kumble ............. 0 Shoaib Akhtar not out ................................. 0

Extras 13. Total (45.3 overs) ............... 180 Bowling - Srinath 8-1-37-3; Mohanty 10-2- 31-0; Prasad 9.3-2-27-5; Kumble 10-0-43-2; Singh 8-1-31-0.