By Qaiser Mohammad Ali, IANS
Kanpur : Left-handers Yuvraj Singh, who scored a fine half-century, and Rudra Pratap Singh, who captured three wickets, steered India to a 46-run win over Pakistan here Sunday to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match one-day international (ODI) series.
Yuvraj (77 off 95 balls, 4x4s, 3x6s) and R.P. Singh, playing the first international match in his home state, bagged three wickets for 62 runs to guide India to victory with 2.4 overs to spare at a jam-packed Green Park Stadium.
After registering 294 for six wickets in 50 overs – thanks also to captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s 49 (52 balls, 4x4s, 2x6s) – India dismissed Pakistan for 248 in 47.2 overs to take the crucial lead with two matches to go.
Pakistan’s defeat meant that left-handed opener Salman Butt’s fourth ODI century (129 off 142 balls, 17x4s) went in vain as was Misbah-ul-Haq’s 38 (47 balls, 2x4s).
Among those who chipped in with useful scores for India were Sourav Ganguly (39 off 46 balls, 4x4s, 1×6) and Sachin Tendulkar (29 off 27 balls, 5x4s).
India had won the first match in Guwahati but Pakistan had levelled the series in Mohali.
The fourth match will be played in Gwalior Thursday.
SCOREBOARD
Third One-Day International, India vs. Pakistan, Green Park Stadium, Kanpur
India:
Sourav Ganguly b Tanvir 39
Sachin Tendulkar c Akmal b Tanvir 29
Gautam Gambhir b Rehman 25
Yuvraj Singh c Misbah b Rehman 77
Mahendra Singh Dhoni b Akhtar 49
Robin Uthappa b Gul 19
Irfan Pathan not out 17
Harbhajan Singh not out 10
Extras (b 6, lb 3, w 17, nb 3) 29
Total (for six wickets in 50 overs) 294
Fall of wickets: 1-68 (Tendulkar, 10.4 overs), 2-82 (Ganguly, 14.1), 3-129 (Gambhir, 27.6), 4-229 (Dhoni, 43.1), 5-260 (Yuvraj, 46.3), 6-265 (Uthappa, 47.2)
Bowling:
Shoaib Akhtar 10-1-40-1 (2nb, 4w)
Umar Gul 10-0-70-1 (1nb, 2w)
Sohail Tanvir 10-1-26-2 (1w)
Shahid Afridi 7-0-57-0 (2w)
Shoaib Malik 6-1-34-0 (2w)
Abdur Rehman 7-0-58-2 (2w)
Pakistan:
Salman Butt lbw b Harbhajan 129
Shahid Afridi b Pathan 12
Younis Khan b R.P. Singh 21
Mohammad Yousuf run out (Yuvraj) 16
Shoaib Malik lbw b Yuvraj 12
Misbah-ul-Haq b Kartik 38
Kamran Akmal c Harbhajan b R.P. Singh 2
Sohail Tanvir run out (R.P. Singh/Dhoni) 0
Abdur Rehman b R.P. Singh 2
Shoaib Akhtar c sub (Rohit Sharma) b Khan 1
Umar Gul not out 2
Extras (lb 1, w 12) 13
Total (all out in 47.2 overs) 248
Fall of wickets: 1-27 (Afridi, 3.2 overs), 2-72 (Younis, 8.6), 3-104 (Yousuf, 17.4), 4-134 (Malik, 27.3), 5-214 (Misbah, 41.6), 6-226 (Akmal, 43.4), 7-231 (Tanvir, 43.6), 8-244 (Rehman, 45.6), 9-246 (Butt, 46.5)
Bowling:
Rudra Pratap Singh 8-1-62-3 (1w)
Irfan Pathan 10-0-61-1 (1w)
Zaheer Khan 7.2-2-25-1 (1w)
Harbhajan Singh 10-0-32-1 (3w)
Murali Kartik 6-0-38-1 (1w)
Yuvraj Singh 5-0-18-1 (1w)
Sachin Tendulkar 1-0-11-0
Toss: Pakistan, elected to field
Man of the match: Yuvraj Singh (India)
Umpires: Ian Gould (England) and Amiesh Saheba (India)
TV umpire: Suresh Shastri (India)
Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka)