Sport | Cricket
Dhoni and Yuvraj guide India to five-wicket win
Sachin Tendulkar hit a superb 95 to help India take a 2-1 lead in their one day series with a convincing five wicket win.
- Agencies
- Published: 23:32 May 3, 2009
Lahore: Sachin Tendulkar hit a superb 95 to help India take a 2-1 lead in their one day series with a convincing five wicket win.
But it was not all plain sailing for the Indians as they stumbled to a slow start while chasing a target of 289 at the Gaddafi stadium.
Pakistan paceman Mohammad Asif dismissed Gautam Gambhir (two) and Irfan Pathan (nought) in the third over to leave them on 14 for 2, before Tendulkar steadied the ship.
Yuvraj Singh also hit 79 while Mahendra Dhoni notched up a rapidfire 42-ball, 72 not out to leave the Indians easing to victory with 14 deliveries to spare.
Pakistan sorely missing the pace of Shoaib Akhtar, who was ruled out of the series with an ankle injury.
And they did themselves no favours by dropping Tendulkar when he was on 36 - Kamran Akmal failed to get a leg-side glance off Umar Gul.
He went on to hit 16 boundaries and a six during his 104-ball knock.
Pakistan's innings was shored up by Shoaib Malek's fifth one-day century. He came to the fore to lead Pakistan's recovery from an equally precarious 128-5.
The 23-year-old 's 120-ball knock featured 11 boundaries and one six.
He was dropped by Gautum Gambhir dropped when he was on just 12, and then held the innings together after left-arm fast bowlers Pathan (3-49) and Rudra Pratap Singh (3-51) caused chaos amongst the Pakistani openers.
Pathan took the scalp of Salman Butt (0) with the second ball of the game before claiming the wicket of Shahid Afridi (19) in his fourth over.
Singh then sent the Pakistanis into panic - sending Kamran Akmal (34) and Mohammad Yousuf (one) back to the pavilion as the home team failed to capitalise on four dropped catches - all off Sreesanth.
Indian skipper Rahoul Dravid congratulated his side after the victory, saying: "You need to play well to beat a good team like Pakistan and we did the same in the two wins we have achieved. Tendulkar set the platform, then Yuvraj played well and Dhoni was outstanding."
Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq admitted India were worthy winners, saying: "We put up a good total and bowled well but did not take our chances. When we got Tendulkar out, the match was in our control but Dhoni was outstanding."
Scoreboard
Pakistan:
S. Butt c Gambhir b Pathan 0
S. Afridi c Kaif b Pathan 19
K. Akmal c Pathan b R.P. Singh 34
S. Malek c Dravid b Pathan 108
M. Yousuf c Dhoni b R.P. Singh 1
Inzamam-ul-Haq c Dhoni b Tendulkar 16
Y. Khan c Dhoni b R.P. Singh 16
A. Razzaq not out 64
Naved-ul-Hasan run out 7
Y. Arafat not out 1
Extras (lb-5 nb-6 w-11) 22
Total (for 8 wickets, 50 overs) 288
Fall of wickets: 1-0 2-39 3-75 4-82 5-128 6-158 7-244 8-277
Bowling: I. Pathan 10-2-49-3 (w-1), S. Sreesanth 10-0-74-0 (nb-4 w-2), R. Singh 10-0-51-3 (w-4), A. Agarkar 6-1-21-0 (w-1), S. Tendulkar 10-0-52-1 (nb-2 w-1), Z. Khan 4-0-36-0 (w-1).
India:
G. Gambhir b Asif 2
S. Tendulkar c Farhat b Razzaq 95
I. Pathan c Akmal b Asif 0
R. Dravid run out 22
Y. Singh not out 79
M. Kaif lbw b Gul 0
M. Dhoni not out 72
Extras (lb-11 nb-5 w-6) 22
Total (for 5 wickets, 47.4 overs) 292
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-12, 3-84, 4-189, 5-190.
Did not bat: S. Raina, Z. Khan, R. Singh, S. Sreesanth
Bowling: M. Asif 10-0-47-2 (nb-1 w-2), U. Gul 10-1-42-1 (w-2), Naved-ul-Hasan 8-0-72-0 (nb-3 w-1), Y. Arafat 9-0-53-0 (nb-1), S. Afridi 3-0-24-0 (w-1), A. Razzaq 7.4-0-43-1.
Result: India won by 5 wickets.
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