By Syed Zarir Hussain
Guwahati, (IANS) Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh propelled India to an emphatic five-wicket victory over Pakistan to take a lead in the first One-Day International (ODI) at the Nehru Stadium here Monday.
A 105-run partnership between Dhoni and Yuvraj in 122 balls sealed the fate of Pakistan, defending a modest total of 240 runs.
India reached the target in 47 overs scoring 242 runs for five wickets. The two batsmen literally tore apart the Pakistani attack scoring at ease – Dhoni hit 63 runs off 77 balls with eight boundaries. Yuvraj struck 58 runs off 74 balls that included six boundaries and a huge six.
With the duo hitting fluently and picking up easy singles and twos, there were drooped shoulders in the Pakistani fielding team. The bowling was a little wayward and the Indian batsmen exploited the situation to the hilt.
The ‘Rawalpindi Express’, Shoaib Akhtar, struck early in the innings claiming Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket. Tendulkar was trapped leg before after the ball hit on his knee and rolled in front of the stumps in the third over. Tendulkar scored four runs and India were down to 14 runs for one wicket.
Sourav Ganguly and Gautam Gambhir then steadied the ship with a solid 82-run partnership in the next 14 over.
Both batsmen hit some lusty shots, including a lofted six by Ganguly, bringing the jam-packed 22,000 capacity stadium to life. Salman Butt broke the partnership with a brilliant throw from short fine leg and Kamran Akmal whipped off the bails to dismiss Ganguly.
Gambhir refused the run and Ganguly casually tried grounding his bat but television replays found his bat on the line as the bails came off. Ganguly scored 39 runs of 55 deliveries with six boundaries and a six.
Dhoni promoted himself up the order ahead of Yuvraj and Uthappa. In the 21st over, Pakistan struck again when Afridi clean bowled Gambhir – the off break delivery pitched outside leg stump and spun to hit the stumps.
Gambhir scored 44 runs of 51 balls with seven boundaries. Indian score 113 runs for three wickets at this stage. Irfan Pathan and Robin Utthapa finished the Indian innings.
For Pakistan, Akhtar was the most successful bowler claiming two wickets for 52 runs in eight overs. Earlier, a fine unbeaten knock of 83 runs of 88 balls by Mohammad Yousuf helped Pakistan score 239 runs for seven wickets in 50 overs.
Electing to bat first after winning the toss, Pakistani openers Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal negotiated the first few overs with ease. The pitch played easy without much bounce or pace in it.
Irfan Pathan struck in the 11th over of the match taking Akmal’s wicket. The ball was pitched on leg and middle stump and it beat Akmal, hitting him on the pad in front of off and middle wicket.
Akmal made 12 runs in 30 balls. The first Pakistan wicket fell when the score was at 44 runs. Butt played some exquisite shots through the covers and was middling the ball well along with Younis Khan when in the 17.5 over Butt was out after a horrible mix-up.
It was Harbhajan Singh’s first over the match and Butt got a leading edge with the ball rolling towards Yuvraj in the extra cover.
Butt wanted a quick single but was sent back by Younis, before he could return to the crease, Yuvraj sent a one hand throw to Dhoni broke the stumps with Butt inches short. Salman Butt scored 50 runs in 57 balls with eight fours.
This was Butt’s first half-century against India. The two spinners, Harbhajhan and Kartick choked the Pakistani batsmen and between the 18th and 33rd over gave away just 51 runs.
Runs were hard to come by with just singles and doubles being taken against the spinners bowling in tandem. Both Younis and Mohammad Yousuf tried to accelerate thescore.
In his attempt to play some big shots against Harbhajan, Younis tried to clear the long-on boundary but was caught by Irfan Pathan.
Younis scored 25 runs in 60 balls with no boundaries or sixes. The fall of Younis Khan’s wicket brought in Shahid Afridi to the crease and he gave some momentum to the innings, which was by then turning sedate.
The first six of the match was hit by Afridi off Zaheer Khan in the 35th over. The fourth wicket partnership saw a run-a-ball 50 runs between Afridi and Yousuf.
But Afridi’s innings was cut short with Tendulkar bowling cleverly outside the off stump and beats the outside edge of his bat and Dhoni quick to stump him.
Afridi made 30 runs in 31 balls with one six and a four.
Tendulkar struck again in his next over bowling a juicy full toss to the Pakistani skipper Shoaib Malik who mistimed the shot and the ball went straight to Gautam Gambhir in the deep midwicket boundary. Malik scored two runs.
Yousuf along with Misbah-ul-Haq added 68 runs in the next nine overs. The sixth wicket partnership was the highpoint of the match.
Misbah-ul-Haq scored 27 runs in 26 balls before being caught by Harbhajan off Zaheer. The seventh wicket fell on the last ball with Abdur Rehman run out with the score at 239 runs.
For India Tendulkar was the most successful bowler getting two wickets for 33 runs in five overs. Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh claimed one wicket each. There were two run outs.
MATCH SCORECARD
Pakistan innings (50 overs maximum) R B 4s 6s SR
Salman Butt run out(Yuvraj/Dhoni) 50 57 8 0 87.71
Kamran Akmal lbw b Pathan 12 30 2 0 40.00
Younis Khan c Pathan b Harbhajan 26 57 0 0 45.61
Mohammad Yousuf not out 82 89 7 0 92.13
Shahid Afridi st Dhoni b Tendulkar 31 32 1 1 96.87
Shoaib Malik c Gambhir b Tendulkar 2 8 0 0 25.00
Misbah-ul-Haq c Harbhajan b Khan 27 26 2 0 103.84
Abdur Rehman run out(Dhoni) 0 1 0 0 0.00
Extras (lb 4, w 5) 9
Total (7 wickets; 50 overs) 239 (4.78 runs per over)
Did not bat (Iftikhar Anjum, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul)
Fall of wickets: 1-44 (Kamran Akmal, 10.1 over), 2-69 (Salman Butt, 17.5 over), 3-104 (Younis Khan, 29.5 over),4-163 (Shahid Afridi, 38.5 over), 5-165 (Shoaib Malik,40.2 over), 6-233 (Misbah-ul-Haq, 49.2 over), 7-239 (Abdur Rehman, 49.6 over)
Bowling O M R W Econ
Z. Khan 9 0 50 1 5.55 (1w)
R.P. Singh 8 1 42 0 5.25 (1w)
I.K. Pathan 8 2 45 1 5.62 (1w)
H. Singh 10 0 30 1 3.00 (1w)
M. Kartik 10 0 35 0 3.50
S.R. Tendulkar 5 0 33 2 6.60 (1w)
India innings (target: 240 runs from 50 overs) R B 4s 6s SR
S.C. Ganguly run out (Butt/ Akmal) 39 55 6 1 70.90
S.R. Tendulkar lbw b Akhtar 4 7 1 0 57.14
G. Gambhir b Afridi 44 51 7 0 86.27
M.S. Dhoni c Akmal b Akhtar 63 77 8 0 81.81
Y. Singh c Afridi b Rehman 58 74 6 1 78.37
R.V. Uthappa not out 11 11 2 0 100.00
I.K. Pathan not out 5 8 1 0 62.50
Extras (b 4, lb 7, w 6, nb 1) 18
Total (5 wickets; 47 overs) 242 (5.14 runs per over)
Did not bat (Harbhajan Singh, M. Kartik, Z. Khan, R.P. Singh)
Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Tendulkar, 2.5 over), 2-96 (Ganguly, 16.5 over), 3-113 (Gambhir, 20.6 over), 4-218 (Yuvraj Singh, 42.6 over), 5-225 (Dhoni, 44.1 over)
Bowling O M R W Econ
Shoaib Akhtar 8 0 52 2 6.50 (3w)
Umar Gul 7 2 26 0 3.71 (1w)
Iftikhar Anjum 8 0 50 0 6.25
Shahid Afridi 10 0 34 1 3.40 (1w)
Abdur Rehman 10 1 54 1 5.40 (1w)
Shoaib Malik 4 1 15 0 3.75 (1nb)
Player of the match: M.S. Dhoni (India)