Nov 06: Dhoni, Yuvraj hit fine half-centuries cruising India’s victory
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh struck fine half- centuries and stitched an important 105- run partnership for the fourth wicket to guide India to a five-wicket win over Pakistan in the first One-day international played here on Monday.
Man of the match Dhoni (63) and Yuvraj (58) paved the way for India to achieve the target of 240 set by Pakistan with ease. India finished off 242 runs on the board in 47 overs with 5 wickets in hands after restricting the Pakistanis 239 for seven on a slightly challenging pitch in the stipulated 50 overs.
Chasing the target of 239, India didn’t have a good start as Shoaib Akhtar gave Pakistan some glimmer of hope early on when he trapped Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar in front at the score of 14. Sourav Ganguly and Gautam Gambhir then added 82 runs for the third wicket after safely negotiating the pace and fine bowling of Akhtar.
The match could have been gone in the Pakistan’s pocket because neither Ganguly nor Gambhir was in firm batting control at the beginning. They dished out some streaky strokes initially through the slip region, but it was the bad fielding by the Pakistanis, which let them down and was also admitted later by Skipper Shoaib Malik.
Had those catches were not put down at the start it would have been an entirely different story. Both Ganguly and Gambhir capitalised through the chances provided by the Pakistan.
After doing all the hard work in the beginning, Ganguly (39) got run while trying to take single after guiding the ball towards fine leg. Soon after Gambhir was bowled round his legs as he missed the leg stump line ball while trying to glance it to fine leg.
Then came India's captain and vice-captain who sealed the doors of victory for the opponents. Dhoni alongwith Yuvraj Singh hit the ball as hard as anyone. Both of them reached the half-century mark and after that only 22 runs were needed for victory but Pakistan split the partnership at that juncture.
Yuvraj (58) did not quite connect the ball while trying to sweep left-arm spinner Abdur Rahman. It went high in the air but Aridi easily got hold of it in the deep. Dhoni (63) blazed one Shoaib’s delivery, which safely landed in the hands of wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal. Only 15 were needed then for victory and Robin Uthappa with Pathan finished off the remaining proceedings to give India a crucial 1-0 lead in this five-match series.
Earlier Shoaib Malik won the toss and chose to bat. The decision was not bad at all after seeing the conditions of the pitch. It appeared dry and on the slower side, and susceptible to break up in the latter half.
Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal gave Pakistan a brisky start. Akmal square drove crisply for boundaries everytime he was offered width and Butt timed the ball into the gaps quite well by using his wrists.
Akmal was adjudged lbw off to an Irfan Pathan delivery that pitched outside leg, which changed the course of the innings. Younis Khan was not at ease batting on this pitch, with the ball slowing a bit and not coming on to the bat properly. He was very much disturbed as India's spinners put a control on the flow of runs.
Butt did wrong for himself as he charged down the pitch and the leading edge went to cover but got run out as his partner sent back him. Runs dried up after Mohammad Yousuf joined Younis in the middle.
Yousuf frustration reached to the hilt as singles were not a problem but for a painful 21.2 overs Pakistan could not able to get a single boundary. Even Afridi could not get much in his 31 off 32 balls before being smartly stumped by Dhoni while going down the pitch to Sachin Tendulkar.
Malik then added to the pressure guiding full-toss straight down to the mid-wicket Only Yousuf steadily reached to his half-century and decided to go for fireworks in the last five overs to increase the tempo. But the late bust by Yousuf could only manage 239 for Pakistan. Yousuf remained unbeaten at 83.
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